DonTreadOnMe

We loved Eastern, St Thomas and St Martin are great. Do some reading however on how often Cococay gets skipped due to rough seas (as it did for us in Jan). 4 Days at sea is a bit on the boring side. I would probably not do an Eastern Itinerary again if it only had 3 stops and 1 was Cococay. Freedom is fantastic!!!!

We had a fantastic experience 2 weeks ago. You board the boat 25 feet from the cruise ship. It took us almost an hour getting there due to sea conditions (quite rough). Taxi is quick and painless. Trunk is very nice. There are picnic tables, BBQ pits, restrooms, showers (think any state/national park in the States). Water was a little cloudy, but we could still see the bottom 20+ feet down.

Trip back was only 45 mins and seas had calmed a bit and we were going with the wind. I would highly reccomend using the self tour as apposed to trying to get there yourself. The $5 or so dollars you would save is just not worth it.

On our boat (Capt Jack), there were serving alcholic drinks on the way back. We just asked for some juice (pre alcohol) and they gladly mixed up the juice first and poured ours before adding the rum. Our boat was two level. If you are worried about getting sick, stay on the lower level.

FWIW we did not eat anything there as we had packed Cliff bars and bananas from the ship. We also took our own snorkel gear, but they had plenty to rent if you need it.

We were in St Thomas on Freedom 10 days ago. We were in port from 7-3 and did Trunk Bay. We did it through the CL however as it was almost as cheap and the boat to St John left 25 feet from the cruise ship. This was on RCCL. $35pp to St John (self guided tour). $12 taxi pp/rt, $4 to get in to Trunk. It was awesome. Took us almost 1hr to St John and 50 mins back. We had plenty of time to snorkel, swim and lay around. Taxi from the dock to Trunk is only 5 mins or so.

Some nights may be different depending on your port times. One night the show is the Ice Show so they show a 3D Movie in the theatre. Most nights are the same. 7 and 9.

We stayed at the Courtyard Marriott last week. While the lobby was quite new, the rooms were a bit dated and musty.

Residence Inn is very close and we heard from others that stayed there it was very clean/nice.

You can't go wrong either way. You may want to consider the number of boats that would be in port on St Thomas/St Martin when you would be there.

We had 6 in port on St Martin last week and it was pretty crazy.

Taxi to Red Hook $12 per person, ferry $6, taxi to Trunk Bay $6, entrance fee $4. We took a ship sponsored ferry directly from the cruise terminal to Cruz bay for $35 a person which included punch +/- rum on the way back.

 

IMO, cheaper and easier to go to Coki, Sapphire or Maegans Bay beaches on St Thomas. The beaches are still really nice, even if they aren't ST John.

We did the St John self tour last week while on Freedom. It was well worth the $35. We left 25 feet from the freedom (other side of the concrete peir), and landed right at the National Park Visitors center (a 5 min cab ride to Trunk). Taxi was $6 each way to Trunk, with $4 entrance. It was a pretty rough boat ride for 30 or so of the 45 mins each way, but was no stress way to get to Trunk.

It was opperated by Capt Jack of Independant Tours BTW.

Awesome place!!! (Xel Ha)

We did a Tulum/Xelha combo tour through RCL. It was fantastic. Jus enough time at Tulum to explore around a bit. Had @ 2-5 hrs at Xelha. Could have used more time here, but sufficient. Only down side was the 30 min souveneir shop stop where prices were just plain STUPID!

I had booked my 7th deck room and when the price dropped 2-3 weeks later for the guarantee I swapped it. We had our room assignment 5 days later.

I booked with Princess guarantee in the past and only got a room assignment the day we departed at the dock. Good thing it was an oceanview room instead of the interior I had booked. :D

We are sailing on Freedom in Jan and went guarantee. I went from a aft 7th fl to a forward 8th floor and saved $200.

Here is another vote for KSC. Best attraction in FL IMHO.

We did Tulum/Xel Ha tour on our first cruise. It was fantastic. Plenty of time at Tulum, could have used a few more hours at Xel Ha. If you want to see ruins but not spend the whole day at a smaller site, that might be a good way to go.

Marriott also has a deal.

Great thread for folks new to cruising. I figured I would post my budget for our upcoming FOS cruise in Jan. We decided to go fairly inexpensive this time and not splurge on excursions and such.

$1,325 -- Cruise, Tax, Fees, Insurance, and Pre-paid Gratuities

$240 -- Fly Snooze and Cruise transport and hotel from MCO

$90 -- Bernards Tour on St Marteen

$40 -- Transport to beaches

$50 -- Drink/Ice Cream/Other fund

$40 -- Airport Parking

$100 -- Meals to and from cruise

$69 -- Chase Card Fee

Total $1,954 for 2! We don't drink or gamble. Flights were free after signing up for Chase SW card. I had hoped to get in under $2k which we should be able to do no problem.

Last time we went on a cruise it was @ $2,400 IIRC and the first time on Navigator was basically free since I had gift cards to pay for the cruise and flights. :)