NCL Excursion to the Baths (Tortola)

[natefish95]

For anyone who has been to Tortola recently, was the NCL excursion to the Baths offered? I'm sailing on the Getaway in May and don't see it listed. Checked the general excursion website and don't see it listed there either. I know they were hit hard by the hurricanes, but I thought it was open?

 

Yes, I know it's possible to do it on your own, but this is one I'd rather do through NCL given the ferry rides and early departure from Tortola.

[zqvol]

The last report that I saw is that the Baths themselves are fine, they suffered no damage, which was expected. The restaurant at the top of the Baths has reopened, as of about December 1.

[Pattakins]

We did this last year on the Escape and my advice is to stay away from it. I generally don't book my excursions off the ship because they are so pricey, but we did it that way for this one. Unfortunately, ever since the cruise ships "found" the baths, it has gotten extremely over booked. Apparently there are no limits as to how many people go on this excursion. A river taxi took us to the island. It was large and totally full. Many people were sick, and throwing up, but the River Taxi people wouldn't clean it up, nor would they ask the people on the upper deck to move downstairs so the poor sick people could get some air. We were all asking for water, but they wouldn't give us that either. All they were interested in was having us all sign waivers. When we got to the island, they herded us into mini buses, but they didn't have enough, so we had to wait around for more to come and get us. These people were really very rude to us. When we finally got to the bathes, we had to stand around for awhile, then we were told where to walk to get down to the baths and to be back in an hour and a half. No guides, or anything...Anyway, once we got down to the water, it was literally so packed with people you could barely move. We wanted to go into the water, but it was soooo crowded. We were also worried about time. So we got in line to walk through the rocks to go back out, and worried the whole time that we wouldn't make it back in time. It was not enjoyable at all because it was like standing in line for a Disney ride. Just tooooooo many people. And then there were the people who went through the wrong direction and were trying to slide past everyone. The rocks are very narrow passages, and it just didn't do well unless there was a single line.They really ought to put a limit on how many people the cruise lines can send out, and make it enjoyable again. I'm sure it's a beautiful and wonderful place to see....if you ever get the chance to do it without the crowd. We hope to try it again sometime when not on a cruise ship. When we can go early in the morning before the cruise ship passengers arrive, or late in the afternoon, when they've all left port.

[offtopic]

The May sailings of the Getaway are now all going to be Western Caribbean, just FYI.