What was your favorite excursion?

[scher]

What was your most favorite excursion booked through RCCL? Not ones that were private. I want to know what the best excursions RCCL has to offer.

[BobBeaSea]

The Kon Tiki Party excursion in St.Thomas :D. Sadly, this rusting hulk of a barge is no more, I think it died an unglorious death a while back. I never laughed so hard in my life, just had an awesome few hours. This one HAD to be booked through the cruiseline...for reasons that soon became apparent, namely to get the passengers back to the ship :).

 

Anyone know or heard if this excursion will ever come back?

[scher]

The Kon Tiki Party excursion in St.Thomas :D. Sadly, this rusting hulk of a barge is no more, I think it died an unglorious death a while back. I never laughed so hard in my life, just had an awesome few hours. This one HAD to be booked through the cruiseline...for reasons that soon became apparent, namely to get the passengers back to the ship :).

 

Anyone know or heard if this excursion will ever come back?

Thanks for your reply. Actually was looking for excursions still available to take. Sounded like fun though, at least when I didn't have kids.

[Sue L]

there are 3 actually that are my favorites.

 

1 Helicopter to the glacier in Juneau this past August off the Serenade. Phenomenal

 

2. White water rafting in Costa Rica, not only a wonderful tour but one of the best organized we have ever been on.

 

3. America's Cup regetta in St Martin. Did this many years ago but still remains a favorite.

[DonnaK]

River Tubing in Ocho Rios

[cruzkitty]

Swimming with the StingRays in Grand Cayman! Loved It!!

[English Jane]

Dolphins in the Bahamas (hello Andy the dolphin!)

[ronandannette]

Loved, loved, loved ocean kayaking off Catalina Island - 3 of us on a 7ft. slab of plastic in the middle of endless water - so exhilarating!

 

Really liked the wave runners in Labadee; the short training course they give was very worthwhile and good preparation for renting wave runners independently (and cheaper!) in the other ports.

 

We also always take the city tour (with airport drop-off) offered at the end of every cruise. Some are better than others but all of them are a great way to get expedited disembarkation and a more gradual re-entry back into reality.

 

Happy Sails,

 

Annette

[CaptData]

I have two. River tubing in Coasta Rica Sting Ray City in Grand Cayman.

[scher]

there are 3 actually that are my favorites.

 

1 Helicopter to the glacier in Juneau this past August off the Serenade. Phenomenal

 

2. White water rafting in Costa Rica, not only a wonderful tour but one of the best organized we have ever been on.

 

3. America's Cup regatta in St Martin. Did this many years ago but still remains a favorite.

Hi Sue we actually signed up for the America's cup in st Martin this past Feb but we got a call the night before to tell us it had been canceled. I do not know why. Had been looking forward to it. We just went to the Divi bay beach resort instead, but did hear the Regatta was one of the top ten excursions. We will be in the Dominica and have been looking at a tubing excursion and can't decide to do it through RCCL or Wacky Rollars. There are a few advantages and disadvantages of both.

[scher]

Swimming with the StingRays in Grand Cayman! Loved It!!

Loved that one also. My daughter and I watched from the boat while my husband and 12 year old son at the time, wrapped himself around my husband like a boa constrictor, while in the water. Did you do it through RCCL? we did it through a private company. Captain Marvin.

[scher]

Were all of these excursion through RCCL? That is really what I want to know.

[DonnaK]

Almost all of the excursions posters have recommended are available both through RCI and independently. Stingrays, river tubing, America's Cup rafting, wave runners, etc.

[critterchick]

I think the America's Cup is captive to RCI - we tried to book it independently in St. Maarten & couldn't do it. It's a fabulous excursion, though and IMHO well worth the price! Our tour ended up being combined with another ship's (Empress) and we still only had 25 or so people, but that made our crew a good size, I thought.

[scher]

Almost all of the excursions posters have recommended are available both through RCI and independently. Stingrays, river tubing, America's Cup rafting, wave runners, etc.

I know they are available through the cruise lines, I was trying to check out personal experiences for each experience. Like Sting Ray City Private tour could be better then ship tour. I know what is offered, trying to find out good and bad experiences.

[DonnaK]

I know they are available through the cruise lines, I was trying to check out personal experiences for each experience. Like Sting Ray City Private tour could be better then ship tour. I know what is offered, trying to find out good and bad experiences.

 

 

OK. We did River Tubing in Ocho Rios through the cruise line in 2002. It cost $58 and we loved it! When we returned to Ocho Rios in 2007, we booked the same excursion through a private tour guide (Marva Shaw) for $35, which we loved even more than the first one because Marva's bus was newer and seemed in better condition (safer), and she and her son are wonderful people and great ambassadors for their country, meanign they were better tour guides. The RCI excursion starts a little higher up the river than the private excursion and we were in the water tubing about 15 minutes longer with RCI than private. To us, that isn't worth the huge difference in the price.

 

We also did Sting Ray city through the cruise line, and while we would not rank this excursion as a favorite, it was a well-done tour and recommendable to someone who is more inclined to like swimming with stingrays better than we did.

 

 

After visiting these island so many times, and having the resources available on Cruise Critic, I don't think I'd ever book through the cruise line again, unless it was in an unsafe place, an exclusive tour only available through RCI, or a full-day tour that had us returning to the ship close to departure time. You can save so much money and do so much more independently, but again, only with reputable companies and only for tours that have you returning to the ship in plenty of time to allow for unexpected delays,

[scher]

OK. We did River Tubing in Ocho Rios through the cruise line in 2002. It cost $58 and we loved it! When we returned to Ocho Rios in 2007, we booked the same excursion through a private tour guide (Marva Shaw) for $35, which we loved even more than the first one because Marva's bus was newer and seemed in better condition (safer), and she and her son are wonderful people and great ambassadors for their country, meanign they were better tour guides. The RCI excursion starts a little higher up the river than the private excursion and we were in the water tubing about 15 minutes longer with RCI than private. To us, that isn't worth the huge difference in the price.

 

We also did Sting Ray city through the cruise line, and while we would not rank this excursion as a favorite, it was a well-done tour and recommendable to someone who is more inclined to like swimming with stingrays better than we did.

 

 

After visiting these island so many times, and having the resources available on Cruise Critic, I don't think I'd ever book through the cruise line again, unless it was in an unsafe place, an exclusive tour only available through RCI, or a full-day tour that had us returning to the ship close to departure time. You can save so much money and do so much more independently, but again, only with reputable companies and only for tours that have you returning to the ship in plenty of time to allow for unexpected delays,

You seem to have some good advice. Thanks so much for you input. Would love to hear from some others also on their each and individual experiences. Also in other places to. The more information I can get the better I feel about certain decisions that I make.

 

We have actually booked a private tour in Antiqua that will bring us back to the ship close to depature time but the ship does not offer this tour and I understand it is a good one.

[derrick22]

Swimming with the StingRays in Grand Cayman! Loved It!!

 

I second that.

 

Denise

[Buccaneergirl]

Mine has to be the helicopter tour to the glacier with the dog sledding in Alaska! It was absolutely amazing and worth the $$

[scher]

Mine has to be the helicopter tour to the glacier with the dog sledding in Alaska! It was absolutely amazing and worth the $$

That sounds totally incredible..........I will remember that one when I go to Alaska.

[Penguinlo]

I'd like to preface this with the fact that I now book most of our tours independantly from the cruise line.

 

Many years ago on our first curise, we did Sting Ray City with RCCL. We enjoyed our trip. Bus to boats hot, but it's the Cribbean. Boat was ok. Snorkel gear was in a big tub of water in the middle for everyone to grab. This is one of the reasons why we take our own now!

 

We had a good time at the sand bar. Photographer and one of the boat's crew were in water so you could get your picture taken with a sting ray and purchase it if you like.

 

Everything was good until the trip back. The boat had problems. Other boats were passing us like we were standing still. We putt-putted along. Would have thought the company would have sent one of their other three boats back to transfer us to get us back quicker, but we just kept crawling along. Bus back was a little scary, driver trying to get us back quickly.

 

Jump out of bus and onto tender. Ship was being held for us because it was a ship's excursion. If it was a private excursion, we would have been left behind. Nothing like hearing the ship getting ready to leave and you're not quite on it yet, still bobbing around in the tender!

 

Anyway, this is one reason to take ship excursions, but as I said, I now book most of ours outside of the ship. We don't like the bigger groups you get on most ship excursion and I make sure it is someone who is known and recommended.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Also, did not like the snorkel trip we did with the cruise line in Coz. Climbing Dunn's River Falls was just ok, again with cruise line. Had an amazing tour of the Rain Forest in San Jaun with Jerry, sadly he is no longer there. The Night Tour with Debbie from Ledgends of PR was very nice. She was very informative. We walked all around Old San Juan and then she helped us find a place for dinner and made sure we got our orders placed before she left. We did the Animal Encounters in Curacao. Different from what you see in the U.S. in terms of safety, but the dive was nice. We were in a section with the sting ray and fenced off were sharks on one side and sea turtles on the other. You could feed all of them. You did not need to be a certified diver to do this, only in 12 ft. of water. You were only able to book it through the cruise line, but we enjoyed it. This was done as small groups multiple times during the day. Did the cruise line catameran (sp?) trip in St. Martin. I did not snorkel, but hubby said not much to see. Lots of rum punch and some sandwiches for lunch. Champagne on the way back to ship.

 

Sorry if this is not the info you were looking for.

[cruiserbryce]

our favorite has by far been the zipline canopy tour in Jamaica

[cruznsugs]

for us it was the Bob Marley Zion experience in Ocho Rios. I was so much fun. They gave you beer and rum punch on the way up while listening to Bob Marley and learning about his life. We stopped on the way up for a snack (these little meat patties, awesome). Then we made it up to the estate of Bob Marley. You learned so much about Bob Marley , just what he means to the Jamaican people. It was an experience we will never forgot...Oh on the way back we had lunch at a local restaurant (jerk chicken and pork).

[susibell2]

We did the dolphin royal swim in Cozumel. It was awesome!! We booked it directly through Dolphin Discovery which is where the ship does their swim. We did have to pay for the cab there and back and entry to the park,but it was still more worth it than the ships dolphin encounter.

[ronandannette]

Were all of these excursion through RCCL? That is really what I want to know.

 

The ones I mentioned were. Where exactly are you sailing to? That might make the information we're giving more relevant to you...

 

Happy Sails,

 

Annette