Tropical Delight Catamaran

[Giorgi-one]

We did this excursion in Antigua last week. Big, Big disappointment. This is description provided by Celebrity.

 

"This tour is ideal for the person who wants to get away from it all, sip on exotic local juices, as well as blended cocktails and experience 'pure saling in an uncrowded atmosphere,' on the Tiami catamaran.

 

Your Captain will brief you on the places of interest along the coast. You will see Antigua's famous coastline from the sea, and pass places of interest such as Fort Barrington.

 

Specifically designed for the serious snorkeler, the Tiami will take you to some of Antigua's best underwater scenery, the National Park of Cades reef. Protected by law, this reef is home to many rare and beautiful species of fish and coral.

 

Anchored in a beautiful bay, you'll be served a sumptuous meal prepared by some of the Caribbean's top chefs, a delicious choice of chicken or fish served with local side dishes and salads. For dessert you can enjoy freshly baked banana bread."

 

This is reality.

 

Catamaran is an old bare bones boat. You have to climb down a ladder backwards into one of the hulls to use the bathroom. "Uncrowded atmoshere?" Excursion was way oversole. There were not enough seats for all passengers. Luckily, some of the younger passengers moved to the net up front (full sun). My wife and I never got seats. My wife sat on a step and had to move every time someone wanted to move forward. I stood the whole time.

 

"Serious Snorkeler". We were in the water for about 1/2 hour. Not much to see anyhow. Another passenger told me the reef was dead. I have had much better snorkeling off the beach on most Caribbean islands.

 

"Sumptous meal" was dried chicken, dried rice, macaroni salad and cole slaw.

 

Boat made a beach stop. Antigua is supposed to have 365 beautiful beaches. Our captain found the 366th beach which was awful. About 10' of sand with lots of scrub brush. Main reason for this stop was to give local vendors a shot at the passengers. My wife thought she saw Captain Mango take his cut from one of the vendors.

 

This excursion is basically a 6 hour ride in a dumpy, crowded old catamaran. They did provide drinks and thankfully this did not turn into a typical "booze cruise". Unfortunately, I never saw any reviews on this excursion and was naive enough to believe the description. Actually, I didn't really think it would be as good as described, but did not imagine it would be a total fabrication. This was first ship excursion we have done in last 10 cruises and it will probably be at least 10 more cruises before we do another ship excursion.

 

SHAME ON YOU CELEBRITY!