Tortola/st Thomas Outside excursions recommendations

[ashleyasiegel]

Tonight port adventures opened for first time cruisers for the 4/1 fantasy cruise and I tried for 30 minutes and almost everything is sold out. I was on right before midnight and couldn’t get anything. Anything that was showing available wasn’t actually when I checked for times.

I really don’t like the idea of booking outside Disney but don’t want to stay on the ship either. My daughters are 14 and 11.

Ideally we wanted the baths or virgin gorda. Was going to settle for a day at the jost van dyke beach.

St Thomas we wanted coral world dolphin or sea lion or ultimate island experience or ANY of the beach ones.

Just real disappointed that there was legit nothing available for a first time Disney cruise. I have not had this trouble on other lines so now it’s making question why I spent the extra money to sail Disney. Hopefully they wow me onboard as right now it’s left a real sour taste in my mouth.

 

[SeanSD]

Hi there. I know you said you prefer to book with Disney but if you can’t find anything, we did the Fantasy in September and on Tortola did a non-Disney snorkel trip with Aristocat due to recommendations here and elsewhere. Was a GREAT trip even with some inclement weather. Friendly, capable crew and not crowded. Dock is easy walk from ship pier.
https://aristocatdaysails.com/

Also keep checking back on Disney port adventures too. Sometimes they will open up. I did this weekly at least and for St. Thomas I finally got the St John’s Champagne Catamaran Snorkel (1/2 day) that was great also. It had showed no availability up to a few weeks before cruise.

 

[auntlynne]

 

[warrenz1963]

Following along for suggestions, as I am a first-timer DCL cruiser on Fantasy in October. Have been worried about not being able to book anything by the time it all opens for us.

 

[auntlynne]

 

[warrenz1963]

St Thomas has a bunch of beaches. It’s hard to go wrong with Magen’s, Sapphire Beach, or Lindqvist (Secret Sands if from a cruise ship) at Smith Bay.

For The Baths at Virgin Gorda (Tortola stop), check out a YouTube video by Cruise with Ben & David. They visit without a ship excursion. You can see how a good detail of transportation and the excursion itself. (They took a tender to Virgin Gorda. Then a shuttle by Speedy’s Taxi to the top of The Baths.)

I would not attempt a DIY trip to St John unless you have an extremely long port day. A catamaran / sailing cruise, sure, if booked with an independent provider.

Here is the title of the video. You notice they were on the Fantasy

View attachment 732508

I appreciate the info, puts my planner/worrier mind at ease! hehe

 

[TJ95]

I would say first of all, keep trying. People cancel. Our cruise (same as this one) was actually booked within the PIF window, so most excursions were already full. I checked every week (ok, sometimes every day), and the excursion we wanted for Tortola opened up about a week before our cruise. The St John's excursion we wanted actually opened up the first day of our cruise, so we got both of our excursions-

 

[RedHead0186]

Yes, I second (third?) the suggestion to keep checking. People will cancel, and sometimes new excursions will be added. That happened to us when we sailed this itinerary in 2018. All I wanted to do was ziplining, but when our booking window opened none of those excursions were listed because of damage from Hurricane Maria. As our sailing date got closer, the ziplining excursion in Tortola got added so we were able to book it. That also could happen here if tour operators are trying to figure out staffing, etc.

 

[5Texans]

I booked a private charter from St Thomas for our 4/29 Eastern on the Fantasy. We'll snorkel a couple places and hang out on the beach and pick up lunch at a floating taco stand.

If the baths excursion is not open by my booking date, I'll probably do it on my own. I've gone to the Baths on my own before from Tortola and it's not hard at all. I was just looking for the ease of the Disney tour.

I've spent a lot of time in the BVI (mostly on Tortola), but this is my first time by cruise ship.

 

[SteveMouse]

no issue at all taking a taxi on St. Thomas. Getting to a beach early makes a hige difference in the ezperience.

 

[LetsGoSteelers]

Any recommendations for Tortola (first time) if renting a vehicle? eg, beach, snorkeling, good food

 

[Mitura]

My recommendations:

Tortola - Cane Garden Beach. Easy to do with the taxi's at the end of the pier. Cash for the Taxi's and beach chairs/umbrellas. We have been there 5-6 times and was just there at Xmas. Xmas was the busiest I ever saw it and it was still only mildly crowded.

St Thomas - Megan's Bay is almost a requirement for first timers. I would recommend it, but realize it will be very crowded. So get there early.

Instead of Megan's Bay we now do St John's. Its a little cumbersome to do on your own, but doable and well worth it. The beach at Trunk Bay is beautiful and not crowded at all. I would recommend Trunk Bay over Megan's Bay hands down.

Hope you have a great vacation!

 

[Vicki106]

We did an Eastern this past summer. In Tortola, I can't recommend Aristocat day sail snorkel trip enough. It was a fantastic day! Our family group included ages 11, 14, 18, 21, 40-somethings, 50-somethings and 70-somethings. Everyone loved it!

In St. Thomas we booked a tour that drove us in an open air tram to the highest point on the island so we could look down on the port and Megan's Bay. Great photos. From these we went to Megan's Bay and spent a few hours on the beach. It was very uncrowded. The tour offered a stop off for shopping in town, but no one voted for that, so we spent more time on the beach. The water was gorgeous and there were turtles swimming around. In the afternoon, some spots on the beach started to get crowded, but if you don't plan to hangout near the beach bar/food shack, crowds weren't a problem.

 

[Graymoon]

This video shows our day in Tortola with Aristocat Charters. Loved it!

 

[Disney mac]

If you cannot find anything, the first day on the ship, go to the port adventures desk and talk to them too. They may be able to help with openings.