Soggy Dollar Bar MORNING excursion

[rstackjd]

We are booked for the Soggy Dollar Bar excursion off the Disney Magic on Sunday 11/17.   We've been to Soggy several times but this excursion is 7:45 AM to 12:15 PM.   

 

Has anyone done this specific excursion?   Do we LEAVE JVD at 12:15 or are we back at the ship at 12:15?   Is Soggy Dollar even serving in the morning?

 

From other ships we've always arrived early to mid-morning but weren't headed back to the ship until mid to late afternoon.

 

Anyone who has done this and can give insight would be appreciated.

 

Thanks

 

Bob

[EatonDoolittle]

Ummm yum, Painkillers for breakfast. 

I can't answer your questions specifically - tho if Disney is like every other cruise line - 12:15 means back to the ship time. 

 

I just checked their webcam (9 AM on a Saturday), and there are people on the beach, and a few boats moored in the bay. 

There is a message feature on their FB page, you could ask there if they will have a Painkiller waiting for you. 

Looks like you would arrive 9ish. 

Enjoy, I love that place. 

[blue_water]

The times given are the departure and return times (or the excursion length in hours), so I would assume that yes 12:15 you would be back at the cruise dock. Short time in White Bay on these excursions...☹️

On a happier note, according to their site they are open at 8:30 every day! 😀

[EatonDoolittle]

4 minutes ago, blue_water said:

On a happier note, according to their site they are open at 8:30 every day! 😀

 

Good info to have - thanks.  I looked, but did not see that anywhere. 

[blue_water]

Actually I just saw the hours by googling it, before going to their site...

I didn’t think they would be open that early, especially with the Sandcastle Hotel still closed. But the cruise ship excursions probably drive that too...

https://www.google.com/search?sxsrf=ACYBGNSGBCrkOg2_S1IkwS15RYDr10SzmA%3A1573309543569&source=hp&ei=Z8zGXZObIMG-ggex95LgDw&q=soggy+dollar+bar&oq=soggy+do&gs_l=psy-ab.1.0.35i39j0j0i131j0l7.2356.5071..6167...0.0..0.105.841.7j2......0....1..gws-wiz.....10..35i362i39j0i10.QgXXT-Ezjy8

[rstackjd]

3 hours ago, EatonDoolittle said:

Ummm yum, Painkillers for breakfast. 

I can't answer your questions specifically - tho if Disney is like every other cruise line - 12:15 means back to the ship time. 

 

I just checked their webcam (9 AM on a Saturday), and there are people on the beach, and a few boats moored in the bay. 

There is a message feature on their FB page, you could ask there if they will have a Painkiller waiting for you. 

Looks like you would arrive 9ish. 

Enjoy, I love that place. 

yeah I’ve sent a couple FB messages and emails.  No responses.    
 

that’s ok.  We will just head over.  I’m sure even if SG isn’t serving Hendos or another will be 

[blue_water]

Soggy Dollar Bar

Hours:

Tuesday	8AM–6:30PM
Wednesday	8AM–6:30PM
Thursday	8AM–6:30PM
Friday	8AM–6:30PM
Saturday	8AM–6:30PM
Sunday	8AM–6:30PM
Monday	8AM–6:30PM

 

Let us know if you find something different

Edited November 12, 2019 by blue_water

[bkrickles1]

5 hours ago, blue_water said:

Soggy Dollar Bar

Hours:

Tuesday	8AM–6:30PM
Wednesday	8AM–6:30PM
Thursday	8AM–6:30PM
Friday	8AM–6:30PM
Saturday	8AM–6:30PM
Sunday	8AM–6:30PM
Monday	8AM–6:30PM

 

Let us know if you find something different

And I believe Hendos opens at 10am 🕙. 

[bkrickles1]

I'll be on the "Escape to JVD" excursion 1/23/20 from the NCL Encore and I chose the early morning time slot of 8:15.

It sounds like we'll get to the beach around 9am and will have close to 3 1/2 hours to enjoy the beauty before heading back to the pier. 

I'm actually leaning towards hanging out in front of Hendo's (which is literally right next door) on their loungers and bouncing back and forth for drinks, but having lunch at Hendo's which gets some great reviews.

 

Hey Blue, I'm hijacking here but if you happen to read this, give me your honest opinion on prettiest beach to visit on St. Thomas that has the best sand and water, little to no seaweed, rocks or shells, but still has a bathroom and chairs available to rent.

I don't care about snorkeling or any other activities.

Soft sand and beautiful water is what we desire.

TIA

[PATRLR]

On 12/12/2019 at 9:59 AM, bkrickles1 said:

I'll be on the "Escape to JVD" excursion 1/23/20 from the NCL Encore and I chose the early morning time slot of 8:15.

It sounds like we'll get to the beach around 9am and will have close to 3 1/2 hours to enjoy the beauty before heading back to the pier. 

I'm actually leaning towards hanging out in front of Hendo's (which is literally right next door) on their loungers and bouncing back and forth for drinks, but having lunch at Hendo's which gets some great reviews.

You should be returning today - would love to know if you did this excursion and how it went.  We're on Encore in April, thinking of doing the same excursion.

[blue_water]

Sorry I missed your post bk, hope you enjoyed your visit to the VI's! 

If I had to choose there nicest beach on St Thomas with amenities it would be Sapphire...with just restrooms Lindqvist...Did you get to either?

 

[rstackjd]

5 hours ago, PATRLR said:

You should be returning today - would love to know if you did this excursion and how it went.  We're on Encore in April, thinking of doing the same excursion.

 

Sorry for the delay.  Got back and swept into the holidays.   Short answer we loved the morning at White Bay.   Plenty of time for pain killers and swimming.   Due to the timing of our tender we opted not to try and eat, though there was food service at a few of the bars.   We hung at Soggy (where we always do) and it was a nice morning.  Honestly if your not concerned about the food issue, don't mind breakfast drinking and are ok with a short excursion, you're rewarded with a less than packed beach, so that was nice.   Of course it's always hard to leave JVD, especially at noon, but it was well worth it. 

[bkrickles1]

10 hours ago, PATRLR said:

You should be returning today - would love to know if you did this excursion and how it went.  We're on Encore in April, thinking of doing the same excursion.

I'll get back to you tomorrow with a little detail but short answer is it was awesome! 

[bkrickles1]

On 1/26/2020 at 5:32 AM, PATRLR said:

You should be returning today - would love to know if you did this excursion and how it went.  We're on Encore in April, thinking of doing the same excursion.

Do the excursion. It's great!

Left the pier at 8:15 on a very nice catamaran and took a lovely ride around Tortola into the bay at White Bay Beach.

Got there approx. 9am and it's just beautiful.

They pulled right up to the beach and let us off to the right of Hendo's, which is right next door to the Soggy Dollar and is the last place on this side of the beach.

We chose to sit right in front of Hendo's as they had much nicer loungers and umbrellas. They were free with the expectation that you'd purchase something at their bar. All the places along the beach had loungers and they had the same expectation.

We stayed until around 12:15 and then headed on back to the pier.

The crew was very nice. One young girl went around with a map on the ride there and showed us exactly where we were and the surrounding islands and gave a nice explanation. 

On the ride back, they served up rum punch and made it a little more fun.

It was me, my wife and daughter and we all loved it!

My wife, who can be critical (lmao!), said it was the prettiest beach we've been to and we've been to many.

BTW, there was always a pretty sizeable line at Soggy Dollar waiting for painkillers and I never waited more than a minute at Hendo's. Glenmore was the bartender and was super nice and made just as good of a painkiller.

I had 5 of them and was feeling no pain.

They also had a very nice menu but we didn't partake as the time flew and we were on our way back before we knew it.

Book it. You'll be glad you did.

[heffror]

Question for you, bkrickles1, we are going on the Encore the beginning of March and have the 10:30 excursion.  Not sure if your Tortola stop was changed from 8-5 to 6-2, but ours is.  Needless to say, they cannot run the 10:30-3:30 excursion.  Any chance same thing happened on your sailing and if yes, what did they do for the 10:30 time-slot?  NCL hasn't given us a solid answer yet and JVD for us is actually a major reason why we booked this sailing.

 

Thanks in advance!

[blue_water]

Sorry I asked bk...😆

 ?

Edited January 27, 2020 by blue_water

[bkrickles1]

2 hours ago, heffror said:

Question for you, bkrickles1, we are going on the Encore the beginning of March and have the 10:30 excursion.  Not sure if your Tortola stop was changed from 8-5 to 6-2, but ours is.  Needless to say, they cannot run the 10:30-3:30 excursion.  Any chance same thing happened on your sailing and if yes, what did they do for the 10:30 time-slot?  NCL hasn't given us a solid answer yet and JVD for us is actually a major reason why we booked this sailing.

 

Thanks in advance!

Our stop was changed to 6am to 2pm but we had from the beginning booked the earlier time slot of 8:15. We were obviously unaffected. People who had the later time slot were cancelled. I do know someone who had changed there reservation from the late to earlier time, but when they got to their cabin they had received a letter saying they didn't have a spot for them.

This excursion books up fast so I believe you might be out of luck. Sorry about that.

[bkrickles1]

On 1/26/2020 at 9:48 AM, blue_water said:

Sorry I missed your post bk, hope you enjoyed your visit to the VI's! 

If I had to choose there nicest beach on St Thomas with amenities it would be Sapphire...with just restrooms Lindqvist...Did you get to either?

 

We actually decided to stay on board in St. Thomas.

Jost Van Dyke excursion was sort of expensive and we booked a cabana in GSC and decided to chill out on an empty ship instead. Turned out to be very nice too. Thanks for the reply. You are extremely helpful.

[JENXYZ1234]

Hi! How deep is the water where the catamaran pulls in at White Bay? Hoping to book excursion with a weak swimmer in the group? Thanks! 

[bkrickles1]

On 1/27/2020 at 11:14 PM, JENXYZ1234 said:

Hi! How deep is the water where the catamaran pulls in at White Bay? Hoping to book excursion with a weak swimmer in the group? Thanks! 

On the rebel yell catamaran, exactly one week ago, we pulled up right to the beach and stepped down into maybe 12 to 24 inches of water. Pretty much the same when we boarded about 3 hours later.

As I mentioned previously we had the 8:15 excursion through NCL and arrived at White Bay at around 9am.

It was definitely a highlight of our Encore cruise.

[blue_water]

On 1/27/2020 at 11:14 PM, JENXYZ1234 said:

Hi! How deep is the water where the catamaran pulls in at White Bay? Hoping to book excursion with a weak swimmer in the group? Thanks! 

Depends on how many cats arrive before you or moor overnight. Some can go right to the beach and you don’t even get your toes wet, others are as bkrickles mentioned.

Worst-case is 4 - 6’, anything deeper and they will dinghy you in if you prefer that over swimming. 
 

“Soggy $” is accurate! ☺️