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Hi everyone,
I'll be taking my first cruise in May, and I heard snorkeling in St. John is quite the experience. Does anyone know of a good St. John snorkeling excursion or have any advice? My ship will be docking at St. Thomas on May 22nd from 11AM - 7PM, so I know I will have to take a ferry over to St. John. I don't have too much of a preference on how long it is, as long as I have time to get there and back to the ship in time, as well as have plentiful time to see some fish! My budget is around $100/person. Thanks for your time!
You should be able to book shore excursions right through the ship. I took NCL this last February and there were several snorkel tours. I think all were under or around 100$
You can also contact the National Park to see if they are offering any tours or can hook you up during this time frame.
I have cruised to St. Thomas many times over the past 12 years. One of the best snorkeling experiences we ever had was at Trunk Bay in St. John. We just got up and off the ship as bright and early as possible, grabbed a safari taxi to Red Hook (where the ferry to St. John is on the east end of the island) and then took the ferry over. At Cruz Bay we took another safari taxi to Trunk Bay and did the underwater guided trail. It was wonderful and there is a snack bar restrooms and showers and I believe you can rent the snorkeling equipment there as well. Just don't walk on the coral! You'll hear the lifeguards whistling to folks all the time about that.
So it's completely doable on your own time frame without a paid excursion -not to steal money from business people on island. You need to pay for taxis to and from ship to ferry and ferry to Trunk Bay and there's a small fee at Trunk as it's part of the National Park system. Lunch and whatever else added to that and it could still be less expensive. Just get an early start and you will have had enough and be ready to go back to the ship in plenty of time for sail away.
Most or all of the ships offer an excursion to Trunk Bay. Most also offer a boat excursion to Honeymoon Beach on St John.
The DIY snorkeling excursions to St John make snorkel gear rental extra if you're not on a tour or bring your own.
ms411 wrote:
Most or all of the ships offer an excursion to Trunk Bay. Most also offer a boat excursion to Honeymoon Beach on St John.The DIY snorkeling excursions to St John make snorkel gear rental extra if you're not on a tour or bring your own.
Yes, you are right about that. We brought it with us early on in our cruising but then decided renting for the one day was better than lugging it along for the whole trip. But DIY would allow a much more "personal and customized" trip. Ship excursions are more money for much less time.
Of course, if you are on your own you do have to go early and leave early, as suggested, because the ship won't wait for you as it will for it's own trips. That would be a consideration for folks too if they don't want to be concerned with or aren't good at timing it for themselves.
