Freeport - Captain Tony's Sand Dollar Cruise

I've been reading bits and pieces about this tour on multiple threads but was hoping that I could get some more reviews about the Sand Dollar Cruise. Our cruise stops in Grand Turk, Free Port and Half Moon Cay.

Originally we were thinking of doing the catarmaran tour in Grand Turk, but with all the wonderful things I am reading about Captain Tony's tour I am startgin to re-think this. Plus, the price is much nicer. Any opinions? Thanks!! :D

with all the wonderful things I am reading about Captain Tony's tour. Any opinions? Thanks!! :D

Capt Tony and the Sand Dollar are quickly becoming one of Freeport's "Best Bets". We went last year and had a wonderful time and from the posts I have read he just keeps getting better. We are planning our next cruise and we all agree it has to include Freeport and Capt Tony!

Thanks! We decided to go for it as well. We'll be sailing with Captain Tony next Thursday the 28th, woohoo! :)

Does anybody have a link to this? Looks like fun, but when I googled it all the hits came back to cruisecritic.

Does anybody have a link to this? Looks like fun, but when I googled it all the hits came back to cruisecritic.

http://www.sanddollarcruise.com/snorkel/default.html

Thank you so much. This looks like fun. We did a shore excursion like this in Cozumel and had a blast.

We leave on our cruise in 15 days and will hopefully be doing the Sanddollar Cruise with Captain Tony in Freeport. I will give a review when we get back.

I have posted several times,,,Me and my wife arrived for 9am cruise,,no one else showed up so his crew took us out by ourselves. We had a blast,,,they let me pour my own drinks(it was noon some where)!! We swam/snorkeled,,,went to get sand dollars,,did some swimming with other air breathing mammals and went up and down the local beach so we know where to go after the cruise,,also had great tropical music. Well worth the 45 bucks per person. I have his business cards and flyers if you need one.

thompson,Was it extra to swim with those fish?If so how much? Thanks alot

Yes it was extra but way less than paying some where else(hint hint). Take about 40 bucks for the ones that wish to jump in! BTW the rum was great,,it took the chill off the water temp(at that time it was kinda cool).

We leave on our cruise in 15 days and will hopefully be doing the Sanddollar Cruise with Captain Tony in Freeport. I will give a review when we get back.

What ship are you on? We will be on the Pride in 15days and will also be on Capt. tony's 6/11.

We are looking forward to going on this excursion too. It sounds like fun, thanks for the info!

We just did Capt Tony's excursion this past Wed and enjoyed it very much. The boat is very nice...plenty of room to spread out in the shade or sun. They have a large cooler of help yourself Bahama Mamas, or maybe they were rum runners...whatever they were, they were good. They also had water. There is a restroom and cabins to change in. Capt Tony met us near the taxi drop off and got us to the boat, before going to look for his other passengers. He didn't sail with us that day, but we felt like we were in good hands with Bernard and Tino (I think that was his name). The waves were rough that day, but the crew gave good instructions and I felt like we were in safe hands. Because the water was so rough, we couldn't get right on top of the reef, because the waves were breaking there. But we were able to see plenty of fish where we were. There were about 13 people on our trip. When we saw another boat hauling about 40 people, we were glad we chose Sand Dollar.

Has anyone tried Pat and Diane's snorkeling safari, we wondered what the difference would be between Captain Tony's and their trip. Thanks for any help.

I believe that Pat and Diane's boat is the Fantasia. If I'm correct, that is a double decker boat with a slide that goes from the top deck to the water. If that's the boat I think it is, we saw it at the dock when we went to Tony's and also saw it out on the water. Once I saw it on the water, I was so glad we had booked the Sand Dollar catamaran. Our ride was so smooth, even though the waves were pretty good size. But the Fantasia really looked like it was rocking and rolling in those waves. It's probably fine in smooth waters, but I wouldn't want to be on it in heavier seas. JMO

Glad for so many positive reviews! We'll be with Capt. Tony's next week. Can't wait!!! We have a group of about 20 going so hopefully we'll be pretty much the only ones going. He says his cat. can hold 30 comfortably.

I've got 4 going w/ Capt Tony on 6/11 also.Maybe we can share a van from the Pride.

We plan on going too next month. How much would you tip Tony for this?

What ship are you on? We will be on the Pride in 15days and will also be on Capt. tony's 6/11.

have you checked out the roll call for your week?

we are on the pride too and long with clb6110 we have 4 going too!

We just did Capt Tony's excursion this past Wed and enjoyed it very much.

kwbound, How was getting off of the Conquest at Freeport? We'll be on the Conquest's next visit to Freeport.

-peabody

kwbound, How was getting off of the Conquest at Freeport? We'll be on the Conquest's next visit to Freeport.

 

-peabody

Getting off wasn't bad at all. We were on our way down when they made the announcement that we could disembark. They had two different gangways to exit from, so the line moved quickly. When you get off the ship, you will go through some gates and see a little straw market to your right. Walk through the straw market to the taxi/shuttle stand. The taxi guy will ask how many in your party and put you on a shuttle to Port Lucaya. It cost $4/pp and took about 20 minutes, maybe a little longer to get there. The taxi will pull up in front on the Sheraton and let you out. You will need to walk across the street to find the Sand Dollar. You will see a Sand Dollar sign directing you. If you go to the Sand Dollar website, Tony has a new map that you can print out. The map also his phone number and other local emergency numbers. I had printed that out and had it with me in case we couldn't find him.

I'm sure you are going to have a wonderful time!

Thanks for all the great info. I read a recent review that came up on a cruise that sailed to Freeport and the woman said it is a horrible port so she didn't get off, LOL...these people with their attitudes!!!

Now, this is our situation: 12/12/09, daughter, her 14.5 mo. old son and I will be sailing from NOLA on Triumph for a family semester break cruise. This will be her first cruise. We hear the only time that Carnival, who charges full fare for our little guy but excludes him from everything, inc. babysitting, does rare babysitting for a fee in Camp Carnival during excursions. With that in mind...

I would like to take DD on Tony's tour and a tad of shopping in Lucaya before returning for surprise spa treatments. This day, I was thinking of utilizing the rare opp for a sitter onboard for a partial day excursion. I am worried, of course, about going on those long multi-transport excursions where we could not get back if we were notified by the sitter to return for some reason. How long does it take to get to and from Lucaya--LOL, if it's anything like getting to the ferry to Trunk Bay... Any other must-do's, must-drinks in Lucaya?

Also, since most going to FP are going to Nassau, can anyone tell us how long it takes to make a round trip run back to the ship from Atlantis? We are bringing the lil guy this day, but should he not be able to make the duration, I wonder how much is involved in going back to the ship for a nap. At $110-125 pp for the water park, don't want to waste the day.

Any alternative suggestions for our lil guy, such as a beach in Freeport very close to the ship that is nice would be appreciated. If I give up the spa discounts that day, maybe we could take him out that afternoon for a bit.

Thank you all for your help. I'm used to doing rugged or drunken adventures without little ones and I need to gear up to travel with the lil guy. He already goes with the flow but we don't want to stress him out too much.

This is just me, and you may get other opinions, but I don't think that I would leave him on the ship in Freeport and go off without him. It was a good 20 minute ride, if not longer to Port Lucaya, and that was just ride time. That doesn't take into consideration the time it takes for the taxis to fill up. The taxis are actually shuttle vans and they don't leave until they cram as many people as they can in them. Leaving the ship it wasn't an issue, but when we started back, we had to wait a little while until enough people had gathered to fill a van. And what would you do if the sitter called and said there was an emergency and you needed to get back while you were out with Capt Tony? He couldn't call everyone out of the water to take you back. Well, I guess he could, but you can see it would be an issue. I may be a worry-wart, but I would be nervous going so far away from him in a foreign country. I think it would probably be fine if you took him with you on the Sand Dollar. You and DD could take turns snorkling. The Sand Dollar has several cabins. If he got tired, you could probably let him take a nap in a cabin. I'm sure you could bring a stoller and stow it in one of the cabins. If I were you, I would email Capt Tony and see what he says about bringing him.

I don't know about any beaches near the ship, but when Capt Tony brings you back, you can walk across the street and through the Sheraton to their beach. There are also some restaurants back there.

In Nassau it is the same deal with the taxis...they want to fill them up before they start off, so that can take a few minutes. When we came back from Nassau, there was a funeral letting out in town, and since the streets are mostly one way, traffic was really backed up. I think it took us about 40 minutes to get back to the ship.

Hope y'all have a good time.

We feel like we "found" him...as I was one of the first to post a review about his trip.

That said....glad that he is still giving a quality tour.

Ira

That is exactly the way I had felt. I just did not think that Tony might let us bring him on board, but from the way you describe the boat, I feel sooooo much better. I am going to contact him. Yes, although a short break is nice, unfortunately, Carnival is not the friendliest of cruise companies for lil ones under two. The time we would want babysitting is when we are on the ship--such as late formal dinners. But no matter what we do, it will be a lovely, lovely cruise!!! It never ceases to amaze me how people complain about cruises. There would have to be a really big life-altering incident for my cruise to be ruined.