Tortola Virgin Gorda & Baths or Land Rover tour with children?

[Swice]

Holland America:

We have a 6 year old and a 4 year old...

Looking at Virgin Gorda & the Baths or Land Rover tour.

 

What are your thoughts since we will have children along?

[JerseyGem]

If your kids are good swimmers- go for the Baths! At that age (4-6), my DD would have been very bored with the Land Rover tour (of course she was a very active kid and a great swimmer- who wouldn't want to sit still in a vehicle when she could have been running around, climbing over rocks, swimming, etc).

 

If your kids aren't good swimmers, ask how strenuous the shore excursion will be before you sign up- NCL's excursion to Virgin Gorda required you to swim ashore to go through the Baths (the rock formations). (There isn't a dock at the Baths.) Depending on sea conditions, the swim to shore may not be for weak swimmers- even with a flotation vest and flippers- ask if they have a kayak to transport non-swimmers to shore.

[judyf]

I believe NCL offers two excursions one you swim the other you walk in through the rocks formations. Am I wrong on this?

[JerseyGem]

Judy- I've only been to Tortola twice with NCL (Dawn in 1/06 and Spirit in 1/07), so I'm not an expert- hopefully someone who's cruised since 1/07 can give you more info. I do know that on our Spirit cruise (3 months ago, so things do change), the shore excursions listed on the web site for our cruise where not all actually offered once we arrived at each port. Two of our shore excursions had significant time changes. For each, we had signed up (online- and received confirmations) for afternoon departures, but on reading the very small print on the actual tickets, we noted that the time was early AM. For one port, we cancelled that excursion (you have 24 hours to do so), and for the other we just "toughed it out" and woke up early. The shore excursion desk wasn't very helpful- explained that the NCL website hadn't been updated in a long time, etc. Also, they will cancel excursions and put you into a similar one if too few people sign up, or the ship's arrival or departure times change (due to weather issues, etc), or if the local operator has an issue- one less boat, etc.

 

So I recommend that you check your excursion tickets asap (they'll be in your cabin when you board). Read everything to make sure there aren't any changes. Also, in 1/07, at least one shore excursion (not Tortola) was cancelled on the dock as people waited for it to start- not enough people according to the staff. I don't remember exactly how many different excursions to Virgin Gorda actually took place. In 1/06, I do know that we saw the NCL excursion arrive at the Baths by boat- and several people had a difficult time getting to shore. Several stayed on the boat-and never had the chance to walk through the Baths- and complained the rest of the cruise. Also, DD (a competitive swimmer and Red Cross Lifeguard Instructor) was very upset that people were being put into somewhat rough seas so far from land, with such currents and rocks to smash in to, with no lifeguards, etc. (Not that you'll find lifeguards at any beaches in the Caribbean LOL). Flotation vests were mandatory, but they don't help you swim- just keep you from sinking.

 

That said- we loved the Baths- absolutely beautiful!. On the Dawn, we had enough time in port to go there on our own (walk to ferry, then taxi from ferry dock on Virgin Gorda to the Baths). However, on the Spirit, the time in port was much shorter- we felt it was too short to do it on our own- and we did leave several people behind that day. While I don't know that the missing couples went to the Baths, that was the "scuttlebutt" on board. We waited for over an hour-constant pages for them in multiple languages- and we watched the empty dock as we finally sailed away......

[judyf]

Thank you for all the info and so right on with everything I have seen in Tortola and read about.