emcraft

Thanks all! How much does an open-air taxi cost?

My group of 8 adults is sailing on the Harmony this Saturday and will be in St. Thomas next Tuesday August 1. Our ship arrives at noon and leaves at 8:00 PM. We'd like to visit Magens Bay on our own. Is it safe/reasonable to just grab a taxi at the port rather than booking something in advance? How expensive is a taxi ride to Magens Bay? Are there vans big enough to accommodate a group of 8, or will we need to take two vehicles? Are there plenty of taxis waiting at Magens Bay to take us back to the port? What time does the restaurant/bar close? I know there's a St. Thomas board, but I wanted to ask the RC group specifically. Thanks in advance for any advice you can offer!

Has anyone taken a dune buggy tour with Mad Max? I searched and didn't find any mention of it in this forum. They have good reviews on TripAdvisor, but I'd love to hear from someone here who has gone with them. Alternatively: any other recommended tour companies in St. Kitts? We're a group of eight adults, six couples in their 30s-40s, plus Mom and Dad in their 60s-70s. We're looking for something somewhat adventurous/unique, not just your typical taxi to the beach for a couple hours, but not TOO physically strenuous so Mom and Dad can keep up. We're traveling on Royal Caribbean in August, and none of the ship tours look particularly great. Any recommendations of reputable companies with fun tours? Thanks in advance!

Thanks so much for the info about good snorkeling at Coco Cay. That's one thing I want to do that no one else in my party seems interested in, so I'll plan to get my fix at Coco Cay. Do they have snorkeling equipment for free? Thanks also for the St. Thomas advice. We've been once, many years ago (I think 2007!), and we went to Magen's Bay. Glad to hear the wifi is okay. I won't need it to be super fast, just functional for checking in with my parents who will be watching my kids. Thanks for the message! Much appreciated.

This is interesting, because even that long ago, we used to notice the number of people who ignored the dress code and went to the MDR in shorts and t-shirts. Back then I used to enjoy dressing up, but nowadays I basically live in sweatpants at home, so the idea of not having to dress up as much is more appealing.

Thank you for your message, especially the bit about there being an e-muster. (What even is that? Is it on the app?) Nice to know we won't have the chaos of going to muster. Thanks for the tips about Coco Cay. I admit I'm tempted to splurge on the waterpark -- it would be a very rare opportunity to play at a waterpark withOUT the kids! -- but I think we'll probably plan to just walk around and explore free options that day. Thanks also for the St. Thomas/St. John and St. Kitts feedback. What do you normally do at St. Kitts? We've never been, and the RC excursions don't really look that exciting.

Yes! We had to tender every time we visited Coco Cay. And it was mostly a pristine beachfront wilderness with a few areas with some lounge chairs and like two covered picnic shelters. Looking forward to seeing the transformation!

My husband I went on six RC cruises from 2007 to 2014, then we started having kids and all that cruising came to a screeching halt. I used to be a frequent contributor here but couldn't even log into my old account just now, so I look like a n00b again. We'll be cruising in July (without the kids!) for the first time in nine years, and I have many questions. We'll be on the Harmony, which is a class that didn't exist last time I cruised. What are some basics I need to know about the ship specifically? What about RC in general? What do I need to know about dining, booking entertainment, etc? In the olden days, we used to eat lunch at the Windjammer and dinner in the dining hall at our predetermined dinnertime, same time and table and waiter every night. I gather that has changed a lot. Should we consider booking individual restaurants ahead of time? Stick with generic dining hall food? Obviously this is a preference thing to a certain extent, but I welcome your opinions. Our itinerary goes to Coco Cay. Last time I was there, it was a couple picnic shelters and a beach on one side, literally untouched pristine wilderness on the back side. Obviously it's very different now! What can we do at Coco Cay now without spending hundreds or thousands extra? Other ports of call are St. Thomas and St. Kitts. We've been to St. Thomas, to Magen's Bay, but never to St. Kitts. Excursion recommendations for either location? General guidance about sticking with RC excursions vs branching out to local companies? I know in the past there were certain islands where it was generally safe to do your own thing vs others where it was highly recommended to stick with RC. My husband is agonizing about whether to get the alcohol package. Any prevailing opinions here about whether it's worth it? How many drinks a day we'd need to drink to break even? How's the wifi? In the past, one of the things we loved most about cruising was being totally disconnected, turning off our phones when we boarded and throwing them in the safe and forgetting about them for a week. Now, with our kids left behind with my parents, we'll need to have the ability to communicate with them. I read or heard somewhere that the wifi isn't so great. Advice? Obviously a lot of this is subjective, and I remember from the old days here that newbies who didn't bother to read FAQs and search old posts first weren't very, um, popular. But honestly I just feel so out of the loop that I don't know where to begin. Even this site itself looks totally different than it did last time I logged in. If anyone can point me in a good direction to start, I'm not afraid of research. Thanks in advance!