Coral Breeze Tours...

[5-5-07]

My DH and I are thinking about using Coral Breeze tours for the Manatee Watch, Reef Snorkling and Beach Break at Bannister Island.

 

Has anyone ever used Coral Breeze tours or done this excursion?

 

Any feedback would be helpful.

[sugarsmacks]

We did this tour 5 weeks ago. Coral Breeze will treat you right. The currants can be alittle strong but you will have on life jackets and Mr. Big will go in the water with you. They try their best to see manatees. We saw 7 of them. Bannister Island is also real nice.

[runnersmate]

I just finished with them last week on the Sun. They were horrible! It took us 45 minutes to get three different groups together-divers, snorkelers, and beach goers to get on the boat. We were all in one boat to go 45/50 minutes to Banister Island. The boat had motor problems. The snorklers/manatee watchers were set on the island for 45 minutes and then another boat came and we loaded and went to the reef area. This area was no different than any other reef with fishes. It took our group of six an additional 20 minutes to get to the reef. We then spent 35 minutes wandering around looking at the fish and then we were taken back to the island for lunch and a snack. (Get the hot dog as all the deep fried fish/chicken/fries are all fried in the same grease.) We had to wait for the divers to return before we went to watch the manatees. The motor had problems (again) and when we got to the groves to see the manatees they cut the engine. It took about 10 minutes to get it started. They asked us if we wanted to try another area as there weren't any manatees there. Due to time constraints the boat elected (unamiously) to return to port. It was the worst excursion I have ever taken and not worth the money.

 

This is not sour grapes folks. I scuba dive but wanted to snorkel due to some inner ear problems. I cruise four-five times a year and always use the boards to make my excursions. (I don't use the lines.) This company also contracts out with Hammerhead Water Sports which makes the booking issue difficult - no control over how the multiple booking goes.

 

They didn't ask for a tip and kept telling us all to post on Cruise Critic how great the trip was. For what its worth my travel agent was also on this trip and the four of us couldn't believe how poor things were handled. I was glad to get back on ship.

 

I'd be interested in hearing from other people.

[sugarsmacks]

Runnersmate, sorry to hear that you had a bad time. We loved Coral Breeze. We did have a large group and I was in contact with Mark (From Coral Breeze) the whole time. We were able to get our own boat, which I asked for. We did not have to wait long for them and we were on the island in 15 minutes. It also only took us 5 minutes to the reef.

[moopigsdad]

We did the same excursion a few weeks ago and were very pleased with it. Staff was very knowledgable and informative. Snorkeling was good but not great. We did see a couple of manatees far off. Bannister Island is gorgeous!