Tiki Hut Snorkel Park

[queenymm]

Any reviews on the Tiki Hut snorkel park or Shipwreck Cove snorkel excursions offered by RCCL?

[CEWayfarer]

Actually, I'd like to know too, since Carnival offers this as well.....

[New2Royal]

We were also looking at the Tiki Hut Snorkel Park for Aug! Can anyone tell me anything about it?

[New2Royal]

My husband & daughter went to the Tiki Hut last week! They loved it! Lots of fun! :)

[CEWayfarer]

My husband & daughter went to the Tiki Hut last week! They loved it! Lots of fun! :)

 

Can you give us any details?

[New2Royal]

I did not get to go because my other daughter got sick. :( They said they saw lots of fish and there were lots of other snorkeling in the area. The Tiki Hut has been open just under 2 years. The people that were running it were very nice and everything was clean. Before this trip it had been 12 years since we had cruised so I do not have anything to compare it to. I will check with my daughter and husband for more details.

[The Flying Pirate]

The Tiki Hut was built buy one of the local dive shops and is dedicated to snorkeling. The Tiki Hut itself is actually a floating raft anchored in Little Bay. The dive shop owner has collected several storm damaged sailboats and a retired tourist Submarine and sunk them in the bay around the Tiki Hut. The Submarine is right in front and the wreck is intact and fun to snorkel on. The other boats are in slightly deeper water (about 35') and are clearly seen from the surface. There are also several rock formations that are home to all sorts of fish. Also in the area are two antique cannons that blew off the hill behind the park in one of the hurricanes. Those are cool to see as well.

 

We saw all sorts of fish including an Eagle Ray.

 

For the tour the operator will meet you at the dock and take you in a converted Princess Cruise Line Lifeboat to the Tiki Hut, they have storage bins for your personal gear when you are snorkeling. The facility is quite safe being in the water you don't have to worry about you thing walking away while you are in the water as the bins are all kept behind the service counter.

 

If you have any questions, post them and I can try to answer them.

[cruz guy]

Princess doesn't offer this. Can it be booked privately?

 

Princess does offer an excursion to shipwreck cove. Is this the same area?

[The Flying Pirate]

To answer your questions, yes you can book it privately, the dive shop that owns the Tiki Hut has a website: http://www.snorkelstmaarten.com/index.htm

 

It is quite possible that Princess calls the same tour the Shipwreck Cove tour. If you e-mail the shop, there is a contact us link on the website above they will tell you if it is the same thing. Because they have contracts with some of the cruise lines they told us we would have to make our reservations through RCCL. But check with them, they might have a different arrangement with Princess.

[oceanview585]

Just got a message back from Tiki Hut and they are closed for the whole month of October...have to look for somethin else!

[lovinglucy]

I tried booking this myself (instead of with the ship) and they responded that I needed to book it with the ship. Maybe it depends on the day your ship will be in port? Oh well. Anyone know of any other place to snorkel with a nice beach to cool off at??

[My2Kitties]

The Flying Pirate, does the boat that takes you there have shade or is it completely open? it lloks open in the pics

 

I can not be in the sun and dh wants to snorkle so this looks like it can work for both...i may even try some snorkling...or floating...

[mslaabs]

If you have any questions, post them and I can try to answer them.

 

Ok, I have a question... Celebrity's website says the tour is 2hours, but you can stay longer and catch one of the shuttles back. Are these "shuttles" on a time schedule or do we have to just wait until one comes by and jump on? Also, there will be 5 ships in port when we are there, is this place going to be standing room only (on the floating platform) or is there a maximum number of people they bring out there? If there's a maximum number, does that mean you may not be able to stay past your scheduled time? Ok so I had more than one question :D. (We will be there in February)

[Meco21]

Does anyone have any photo's of this

[mississippibelle]

Does anyone have any photo's of this

There is a link posted a few posts ago.

[The Flying Pirate]

OK To answer the questions,

 

The "Shuttle" is actually a converted Princess Lifeboat named the "Overtaker" it has a full canopy so you will be in the shade while you are on the boat to and from the Tiki Hut.

 

Yes you can stay longer than two hours, the "Overtaker" makes runs when there is a demand. You might have to wait 15 min or so but they were pretty accomidating when we were there.

 

There is a limited amount of shade on the main platform. There is also a second boat that is anchored at the site, you will have to swim to it but it is not far. This boat has a canopy on it as well, and also has the only restroom on the site. (A marine toliet on the boat)

 

They also have several of those floating noodels and a couple of kayaks available to use. Here is a link to their website, which has some pictures. I will look back through mine and see if i have any that woudld be helpful. http://www.snorkelstmaarten.com/index.htm

 

 

We were hoping to go back in October but they are closed the day we are going to be there, so we booked the Captain Alan's 3-Island snorkel tour instead. http://www.captainalan.com/challenge/index.htm we haven't tried it yet but will give a report when we are back. Hopefully it will be as much fun as the Tiki Hut was last time.

[mississippibelle]

I just email them to see if we could do the TikiHut on our own instead of with the ship. This was their reply once I told them what day we would arrive on the island. They also answered their email QUICK!!

 

That's great because we will be open that day. The price per adult is 50 dollars and that is including the boat transfer to the Tiki Hut. We can pick you up at the cruise ship pier or at Bobby's Marina. Let us know around what time you want to come to the Tiki hut and we arrange a place and time to pick you up.



Kind regards,

Ingrid Eikelenboom

Snorkel Safaris N.V.

[The Flying Pirate]

That is great, they were very nice when I e-mailed them as well. They seem very accomidating. The people that run into the "you have to book through the ship" are usually on Royal Caribbean since they have an agreement with the company. That is common at a lot for ports not just in St Maarten.

 

You will have a good time at the Tiki Hut, we are looking forward to going back sometime.

[mslaabs]

Pirate - Thanks for the "shuttle" info. I'd like to see your photos if you find some. It's always nice to see photos from the customer's point of view as opposed to the ones posted on a company's website.

 

Sheila