Grand Turk Ultimate Snorkel Excursion

[KarimaJ]

Hi. I posted this on Grand Turk page but didn’t get much feedback. We’re considering booking this from Carnival or a smaller vendor. They go to the same 2 snorkel spots but I know Carnival will be more crowded. My question is: for those who have done this excursion how crowded is crowded? I’m envisioning getting kicked in the face by flippers. Also is this a bigger catamaran type boat? Thanks!

 

 

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[A&Jfamily]

Your vision from flippers to motor catamaran are correct; we were herded like cattle and with all the first timers, we had to swim away from the group. It is much better to book a private group that will maneuver around the mass market crowd.

[purplephenom]

This was great when we did it. Not sure about the type of boat, but it had benches on both sides- maybe 50 people? They combined all the first timers and let the rest of us go off on our own. i hate flippers in the face and will usually find my way to the edges to avoid this, but wasn't a problem for us on this excursion.

[moondog73]

We used a non-Carnival excursion and it was perfect. Yes the boat was smaller but we only had 10 people total. We did the Wall and one other stop. We were the only boat at each stop. we could see the mass carnival excursions off in the distance. NO THANKS!!!

[KarimaJ]

Can I ask which vendors you used?

 

 

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[Native9999]

We used White Sands Charters for our snorkeling in 2016. They were awesome! They have a fairly small boat but we were able to get away from the crowds. 2 snorkel stops plus diving for conchs.

[moondog73]

We used Blue Water Divers. We took a taxi there and they dropped us off close to the cruise port in the boat so we only had a short walk back. Definitely check them out. They were very fast to reply to my email inquiries.

[KarimaJ]

Are the waters pretty smooth there? So a smaller boat wouldn’t be a big deal as far as motion and choppiness?

 

 

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[ReinitaPR]

We've done the reef & rays & beach getaway through Carnival twice. It was crowded, but the crew was fantastic both times and we had a lot of fun. They had lots of safety instructions and took extra care with newbies. We let most people get off first and then went in the water, so no issues with kicking.

 

The rays portion was amazing. They let us take lots of pictures; you could buy some afterward.

 

We'll be in Grand Turk again in December and seriously considered doing the excursion again, but ended up with something else instead but only because el husbando gets burnt so badly in the sun that we chose something with more shade.

[A&Jfamily]

Are the waters pretty smooth there? So a smaller boat wouldn’t be a big deal as far as motion and choppiness?

 

 

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Waters can be choppy with wind anyplace. But on the whole, GT is calm - the waters are so shallow close in, and then you hit the 5000’+ Wall. I highly doubt because of how close it is you would have significant motion issues.

 

 

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[GradUT]

We were in Grand Turk about 3 weeks ago and did a snorkeling excursion through Carnival. Normally, I choose private vendors for our excursions, but our cruise was diverted at the last minute to GT and HMC from Bermuda due to Hurricane Florence and I had no time to research and book private tours. So we booked the Reef and Rays excursion through Carnival and it was EXCELLENT. I was really surprised by how good it was.

 

The boat was not a sailboat or catamaran. Rather it had a roof and bench seating on both sides. While the boat could have carried more people, there were less than 20 on our excursion. The equipment they provided was among the best I have ever had on a snorkeling excursion—the mask fit perfectly and was super-clear!

 

The first stop did not have a bunch of diverse coral, but it did have a ton of diverse fish. There was never a problem with too many snorkelers in a small area either. We stayed here just the right amount of time.

 

The 2nd stop, which differs from yours, was at the stingray cove which was very neat. This stop could have been shorter, but it was so neat having the rays swim around me!

 

The final stop was at the same beach that you’d be going to. It was not crowded at all and the lounge chairs were very comfy. My only complaint was that the music played there was too loud for my tastes, but it was a minor annoyance.

 

If I were going to GT, I would book this tour again.

[moondog73]

Non-Carnival excursion are usually considerably cheaper and much smaller groups. I prefer not doing excursion with 50-60 of my not so close friends!!! Ever excursion we have ever done was not a Carnival excursion and they were all much smaller in size and cheaper than the ship excursions. We usually leave first and arrive back at the pier around the same time as the ship sponsored excursions.

[KarimaJ]

Non-Carnival excursion are usually considerably cheaper and much smaller groups. I prefer not doing excursion with 50-60 of my not so close friends!!! Ever excursion we have ever done was not a Carnival excursion and they were all much smaller in size and cheaper than the ship excursions. We usually leave first and arrive back at the pier around the same time as the ship sponsored excursions.

 

 

 

Surprisingly the Carnival excursion is $4 cheaper per person. Not huge by any means but it did surprise me. I think I’m leaning toward White Sands/Exclusive Escapes since they also leave at 1:00 instead of 1:30. So hoping we can beat some of the crowds.

 

 

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