Soufriere by Spanish Galleon?

[EeyoreRN]

Does anyone here have personal experience with this particular RCI excursion in St. Lucia? I'm trying to decide between this and an independent company that does basically the same highlights (Soufriere, Pitons, mud baths, snorkel, lunch) but with a speedboat. I would have already booked the independent company for its high TripAdvisor ratings, but they require a small PayPal deposit (I don't have a PayPal account) and a large cash payment on the day of the tour (I would rather not have to carry all that cash). I'm leaning toward the ship-sponsored excursion for the convenience of paying in advance with my Amex card, but if there is significant difference in the quality of the tour, I'd opt for the independent one, despite the paying hassle.  I should probably establish a PayPal account at some point, it's 2018 after all. The price is essentially the same.  WWYD?

 

Thanks in advance for your response. Also posting this question on the St. Lucia board.

 

Eeyore

[xsteph1022x]

The Spanish Galleon boat ride was very long about 2 hours each way, but we saw about 50 dolphins.  

The Pitons were off in the distance, just a photo opp,  there were about 300 people filled into a small mud bath,  it wasn't a snorkle it was a swim in the water on the way back, about 25 mins, and the lunch was ok.  I wouldn't pay over 100PP to do it again.

[EeyoreRN]

4 minutes ago, xsteph1022x said:

The Spanish Galleon boat ride was very long about 2 hours each way, but we saw about 50 dolphins.  

The Pitons were off in the distance, just a photo opp,  there were about 300 people filled into a small mud bath,  it wasn't a snorkle it was a swim in the water on the way back, about 25 mins, and the lunch was ok.  I wouldn't pay over 100PP to do it again.

Thanks for this response. They are asking $109 pp vs $105 for the independent company. Since the other is a small speedboat, I believe it gets closer to shore and hits more spots, and it's definitely a snorkel but I think maybe we have to bring our own gear, which isn't an issue as we intend to bring it for the cruise anyway. How many passengers were on the sailboat? What time of year did you see all those dolphins?

[xsteph1022x]

Just now, EeyoreRN said:

Thanks for this response. They are asking $109 pp vs $105 for the independent company. Since the other is a small speedboat, I believe it gets closer to shore and hits more spots, and it's definitely a snorkel but I think maybe we have to bring our own gear, which isn't an issue as we intend to bring it for the cruise anyway. How many passengers were on the sailboat? What time of year did you see all those dolphins?

there were about 50 people on the boat maybe a little more, you are also transported to the mud baths in smaller vans with no AC, this is not a huge deal because the trip from the boat to the mud baths was less than 10 mins, but keep this in mind as well.

 

We saw dolphins in December 2017.  

[FionaMG]

I see you've posted on the Saint Lucia board too. You probably didn't spot it, because it's towards the bottom of page 2 on that board, but there's a pretty extensive review of the Spanish galleon trip there.

Here's the link to the specific thread. Hope it helps.