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Just a word of caution to people booking an all day BVI trip with New Horizons II. Me and my wife were picked up on STJ on 10/3 by New Horizons II. It was overcast that morning and there was a weather system hanging around and affecting all the nearby islands. And by the way, we called New Horizons the day before in regards to the weather and they assured us that the system was moving North and would not affect the excursion. OK, so the next morning we left for our first stop, the Baths at Virgin Gorda, and on the way there you could visually see the rain and the weather system we were about to enter. A little rain can't hurt anyone in the Virgin Islands, right? Well, this was no casual rainshower.
The charter boat and the crew decided to proceed.
The result--A whole hour of pounding rain, fog, the boat pounding up and down over 4-6 foot waves, gusting winds, people soak and wet and shivering from being cold, and last but not least a little lightning. I am not an older retired person and I don't get shook up very easily but if you could have been there to see the faces of the passengers, including the crew, you would realize how serious this really was. The rain and wind were so intense that our captain was wiping the water out of his eyes every few seconds in order to see where he was steering, albeit visibility was next to nothing. Why they did not turn back when they saw what was coming is beyond anyone's comprehension.
When we returned, luckily, later that afternoon even the locals were astonished that our trip was not cancelled.
Evidently, the almighty $ dollar $ is more important to New Horizons II than the safety and well being of 10 passengers and 3 crew members. To lack the common sense and jeopardize anyone who was on that boat was totally irresponsible and incomprehensible. There were some older retired couples on board with us that actually felt and thought that they were taking their last breaths on this earth.
Personally, me and my wife thought it was the most miserable and senseless joy trip we were ever involved with, vacation or otherwise. Thank God I'm still here to share and relate this horrific experience.
Now I on the other hand was sooo upset my ride on "True Love" was cancelled do to weather. It was actually a sunset cruise set up as a rehearsal dinner for my wedding which was the next day. They called and said the weather was too rough to go out. Boy, was I devistated!....so we ordered some pizzas and played some volley ball at Sapphire Beach. Had a blast.
But now after hearing this other experience by ROV I am really glad we hadn't gone out.
I've done the excursion with NHII 6 or 7 times (I'm losing count). We have on a couple of the trips headed into cloudy doom filled weather. It rained on us for about 20 minutes and then passed. This has happened more than once on the trips we have been on so I'm sure they thought maybe this was the case on your trip. I'm so sorry that your trip didn't go well. I know how great this trip can be so I really think they should have offered you some money back or some type of certificate for another excursion.
Ironic! My NH Breakaway trip was cancelled due to weather and we were devastated as well!
We were supposed to be at Sapphire Beach at 7am, and they had decided to cancel at 7:15. No one was at the boat, no sign left or anything. We had to walk to the Sapphire lobby in the rain to call them. So we were out a VERY early morning and taxi fare to and from the marina. No discount offered for another excursion or anything.
Oddly enough the rain stopped around 9am and it was sunny and beautiful the rest of the day.
Go figure. I do hear it is a great excursion, but their customer service is lacking in my humble opinion.
I don't know if we have enough facts to judge whether New Horizons took an unnecessary risk or whether the weather forecasts on this particular day were badly off. From my experience as a boater, a squall line that is producing 4 to 6 foot waves and frequent lightning strikes would normally be seen on radar and communicated in a weather forecast, particularly if it was only one or two hours away. I would like to see the forecasts for that morning before I made this judgment.
Sorry guys, but we were also on this terrible trip, and yes, we checked with them the day before and they told us the radar was clear. Not sure what they saw on the radar, but being sailors, I can tell you they must have seen something. This weather system eventually lasted three days.
There wasn't one person on this trip that wouldn't have re-scheduled it for a day later in the week - the money was there ready and willing ! Being the off season there was plenty of room.
We've been to the BVI before, we know how the storm systems travel thru the area, but this day was badddddd. It left flooding in St Thomas, trees down all over the place... I wish you could have seen the front page of the local newspaper the next day !!
Anyway, we agree that the trip should have been cancelled. 13 peoples lives were at risk that day. Signing a waiver cannot protect you when you are dead.
Hi Burnett,
There seems to be a few subjective opinions from people who were not sitting in the boat on that trip and nor do they have any idea of what the circumstances were that day. But isn't that always the case?
It's nice to hear from someone who was actually there.
But why complain.
Doesn't everyone want to go on a BVI trip and have the fortunate opportunity to capsize, drown, get struck by lightning, swim to Sapphire, or see a rainbow?
As a captian myself, let me give you a little input. You were in no danger of capsizing, or getting struck by lighting. You were not in the most disirable of sea condition. But belive me the boat is very sea worthy. and you were in no danger. Yes it really sucks that you paid good money for a bvi trip and you got rained on and soaked all day. What i would have done is ask the guests what they wanted to do. Turn back to Stt or go on and hope it clears up. The only problem doing that is if half the people want to go on and half the people want to go back? Usually its 50/50. If everyone want to go back. The boat gets turned around.I am sure your captain would have rather been home, warm, and cozy also
Due to the conditions that we encountered on this excursion NH II has since apologized for our disappointing experience and has refunded our money.
