Caribbean_Dreamer37

We took a taxi from our cruise port to Sapphire Beach ($6 pp) and we're so glad we did! The beach is beautiful and the views of St. John from the shore are stunning. The weather wasn't really on our side and we had some clouds, some sun and lots and lots of wind. Because of the wind, the water was quite rough and a bit chillier than we had hoped for. Other than that, it was the perfect place to go. It was not crowded, there's a place to rent chairs and umbrellas. You can rent snorkel gear by the hour or the day, along with kayaks. (We rented snorkel gear but had to give up since it was so rough.) There are beautiful Seagrape trees lining the beach, so if it were sunnier out, there would have been plenty of shade and it was quiet scenic overall. We set up under the trees and had a very nice day. We did eat there, though we were told the hotel had a snack bar (which looked liked burgers and dogs) and they said we could order pizza from a local pizza place that would be delivered. We got a few beers from them ($3 each! Can't complain about that!) and had a very nice time. We didn't stay as long as we'd hoped due to the weather, but we would go back in a heartbeat again when in St. Thomas.

The last time I visited Sapphire Beach, was my first visit to St. Thomas back in December 2007. If we do a specific cruise I'm interested, that includes a stop to St. Thomas, that beach will be the one we visit for the day. During out previous cruise 2 years ago, we went to Coki Beach, but we want to head back to Sapphire.

I have a question, since you took a taxi to that beach, were there plenty of taxis available at the ready, when you were ready to head back to your cruise ship?

I'd pay it in a heartbeat, if we're going to a port of call with tenders, and I want to get off the ship quick, otherwise not.

Sonicbuffalo, you and I are a lot alike. I book cruises based on the itinerary, and I take many pics of everything on the ship and off. Thanks for sharing your pics; hopefully I'll be on the Breeze in 2 months, if not that one, I may be doing a cruise on the Freedom or a land-based Caribbean island vacation.

It was a busy day inside the terminal as it was the day for the VIP's to board for the naming ceremony. We received our sail & sign cards right away, and as you will see, Ginny held onto our zone 6 card for boarding. We were there at the terminal at around 11:00 and onboard closer to 1:00 pm.

 

 

 

Man!!!! There are some GRUMPY Gus's in that picture!!! Smile folks!!!! You're on vacation!!!! :D

Same thing I was thinking; they're about to take a cruise and hardly anyone looks excited. :D

We did not have much time when we got back. We had to go right to a tender but as I said our guide knew where the Carnival bus was and made sure we were in front of it because they know that they wait for the Carnival bus. Also it said the last tender for us was 4:15pm but we got on one after that as there were many people trying to get back. JP our guide will make sure you are back and he gave us such good info I would go any other way!

The tour I want to take will be to Altun Ha (I forgot that Xunantunich is farther away), and it says the Altun Ha tour lasts approximately 4 hours.... seems like we'd have enough time without too much worry about missing the ship. There's such a big difference in pricing, where Carnival charges $58 and the tour company charges $42.50. Thanks for sharing that link.... it helps me to make my decisions.

We went to Xunantunich last week. We were on the Valor. We did not use Carnival. We went through belizecruiseexcursions.com. They were absolutely wonderful. Yes it was a long day. We got the first tender available for non carnival excursions and made it to the mainland in plenty of time. There were only 8 of us on the excursion. We were in a van. The guide was JP and he was excellent. He totally emerged us in the culture and answered any questions we had about there culture. We were never scared about missing the ship as JP knew what the carnival bus looked like and made sure we were in front of it. We had a local lunch that was delicious. This is there business and they are going to make sure you are back to the tenders in time. This has been the best excursion we have taken and it was because of JP. We learned so much about Belize and the Mayan Indians. He ran out of time as we could of stayed there much longer because he was so full of information. He told us about herbal medicine and had us try some of the different leaves at the ruins. I don't think anyone else got this kind of information. Also this was cheaper than going with Carnival. Next time I am in Belize I will go with them to another ruin as they are excellent!

I read some information on the website for 'Belize Cruise Excursions' and it's half the price that Carnival charges for the same excursion. I'm sure everything went well for you, but how far in advance did the tour company return you to the ship port? I'm a little nervous about missing the ship.

Waiting with Bated Breath for the review :cool:

I just returned home from San Juan today, and here's my review of 'Scenic Tours'. I was scheduled to have a 'private tour' for just my BF and I, but when we got to the port and met up with the guy I had been corresponding with via email, he walked me over to a driver who was going to wait to see if he could get more people, and asked if we were okay with it. I was okay with it, since I decided I didn't feel like spending that much money afterall (on a private tour), so we waited until he had about 20 other cruise passengers for the tour. Instead of us paying $150 for the 'private tour', we were okay with paying a total of $40 ($20 apiece) to tour with others. The driver, "Charles In Charge", took us on tour on an open-air vehicle around the island, giving us a little history of a few places, before getting us to the English Harbor and Nelson's Dockyard. He then took us up to Shirley Heights, and to another lookout point nearby.

Since my BF and I were the only two on tour, wanting to go to a beach, he asked if he were okay with riding with another driver who had others going to the beach, and we were okay with it. We were in a clean air conditioned van, and the driver took us to beautiful Darkwood Beach, and we stayed there for 2 hours. He got us back to the dock in enough time to get to our ships, and we payed him $20 for the ride. Overall, it was a decent tour, for the low cost we payed.

LuvofTravel,

 

I see you are leaving soon. Please report back on Scenic Tours as I have e-mailed them over a week ago and no reponse.

I just returned home from San Juan today, and here's my review of 'Scenic Tours'. I was scheduled to have a 'private tour' for just my BF and I, but when we got to the port and met up with the guy I had been corresponding with via email, he walked me over to a driver who was going to wait to see if he could get more people, and asked if we were okay with it. I was okay with it, since I decided I didn't feel like spending that much money afterall (on a private tour), so we waited until he had about 20 other cruise passengers for the tour. Instead of us paying $150 for the 'private tour', we were okay with paying a total of $40 ($20 apiece) to tour with others. The driver, "Charles In Charge", took us on tour on an open-air vehicle around the island, giving us a little history of a few places, before getting us to the English Harbor and Nelson's Dockyard. He then took us up to Shirley Heights, and to another lookout point nearby.

Since my BF and I were the only two on tour, wanting to go to a beach, he asked if he were okay with riding with another driver who had others going to the beach, and we were okay with it. We were in a clean air conditioned van, and the driver took us to beautiful Darkwood Beach, and we stayed there for 2 hours. He got us back to the dock in enough time to get to our ships, and we payed him $20 for the ride. Overall, it was a decent tour, for the low cost we payed.

LuvofTravel,

 

I see you are leaving soon. Please report back on Scenic Tours as I have e-mailed them over a week ago and no reponse.

When I was first looking for an Antigua tour, I emailed them too, and didn't get a response in within 5-7days. I then emailed them back, letting them know that I would be looking for a tour elsewhere. Within a day, someone responded, telling me they didn't have internet access, due to being off the island (so they weren't able to access their email, supposedly). After talking with the guy, I went ahead and booked it; I didn't find any other companies that interest me.

I'll let you know how the tour is. :)

Wow, It is a great price, and yes it does sound to good to be true- You going to try it? I'll have to think about it, this was the one island that we were just going to wing it, get a taxi and just go, but this sounds as if it would be alot cheaper.

After much research, we decided on using Scenic Tours.

We are also going to Antigua and have found Sunshine to be EXTREAMLY Affordable but have not seen any reviews. anyone???????:rolleyes:

Thank you for your help.

I'm searching for a tour on Antigua, and this is one of the many tours I found online. Does anyone know anything about this tour company or has gone with them? He does go to the few locations I am interested in seeing.

Here's some info on them:

http://www.antiguanice.com/sunshine_island_beach_tours/gallery.html

http://www.sunshinetoursantigua.com/page.htm