West Indies Explorer Question

[Grettiegoo]

With many beach/water excursions on this cruise, what do you wear off the ship?  Are there always places to change or do you wear swim wear from the beginning?  I did read somewhere that you can grab a towel from the pool area to take with you.  Thanks.

[Jim Avery]

30 minutes ago, Grettiegoo said:

With many beach/water excursions on this cruise, what do you wear off the ship?  Are there always places to change or do you wear swim wear from the beginning?  I did read somewhere that you can grab a towel from the pool area to take with you.  Thanks.

Most beach bars have a bathroom. Some have outdoor showers too.  Not too hard to find a place to change if you want.  Depends on your choice of beach 

[longterm]

2 hours ago, Grettiegoo said:

With many beach/water excursions on this cruise, what do you wear off the ship?  Are there always places to change or do you wear swim wear from the beginning?  I did read somewhere that you can grab a towel from the pool area to take with you.  Thanks.

We went to 4 or 5 beaches on the WIE cruise; there were bathrooms at all the beaches, if I remember correctly--not necessarily dressing rooms, but at least something you could use to change. It was a few years ago, but I think towels were provided--these were paid excursions. You could always sneak a towel off the ship, I suppose, but we never did that.

My favorite was Jost Van Dyke Island; there's a bar there, so you can get good drinks as well. One of the beaches included a drink--a Pina colada, most likely--but I don't remember if all of them did. With the paid excursions, beach chairs and umbrellas were included.

You can always walk off the ship to some of the beaches, which would be just as good, and cheaper, in many cases; we would probably do that if we were doing the cruise again.

I'd also recommend the snorkeling excursion; I don't remember where it was, but I had a blast. A guide takes you over a reef, and it was a fun afternoon.

[EchoIsland]

We did this cruise in Feb 2023.  On our beach excursions, the women mainly wore their bathing suits with a cover-up and the men wore their suits with a T shirt off the ship.  One excursion took us to a private beach with no facilities to change, so best to be prepared. Or ... you could change in the very small bathroom on the catamaran!

[Grettiegoo]

12 minutes ago, longterm said:

We went to 4 or 5 beaches on the WIE cruise; there were bathrooms at all the beaches, if I remember correctly--not necessarily dressing rooms, but at least something you could use to change. It was a few years ago, but I think towels were provided--these were paid excursions. You could always sneak a towel off the ship, I suppose, but we never did that.

My favorite was Jost Van Dyke Island; there's a bar there, so you can get good drinks as well. One of the beaches included a drink--a Pina colada, most likely--but I don't remember if all of them did. With the paid excursions, beach chairs and umbrellas were included.

You can always walk off the ship to some of the beaches, which would be just as good, and cheaper, in many cases; we would probably do that if we were doing the cruise again.

I'd also recommend the snorkeling excursion; I don't remember where it was, but I had a blast. A guide takes you over a reef, and it was a fun afternoon.

Thanks for the info! We do hope to do a snorkeling trip or two. And hoping for the river tubing. What to wear, what to wear!

[Grettiegoo]

8 minutes ago, EchoIsland said:

We did this cruise in Feb 2023.  On our beach excursions, the women mainly wore their bathing suits with a cover-up and the men wore their suits with a T shirt off the ship.  One excursion took us to a private beach with no facilities to change, so best to be prepared. Or ... you could change in the very small bathroom on the catamaran!

Thanks. That was my concern!

[Lovesgreys]

We  are taking Viking Sea West Indies on Jan 26th 2025   Anyone interested in joining some private boating trips to snorkel and swim.   Viking list one at 435.00 pp for the day , sure we can find more reasonable.    We just signed on today so will do some research.   Thanks, Linda

[LindaS272]

You’ll want to post this in your roll call, not here.