Excursions in Tortola

Hi,

We are going on the Gem in March and the last port is Tortola. We are only there for a few hours and given what I have read about the dock construction the best bet seems to do an excursion through NCL. I typically avoid them and enjoy doing my own thing. I was wondering if anyone had done the Best of Tortola or Tortola by Land and Sea excursions and their thoughts on them.

Thanks!

Hi,

 

We are going on the Gem in March and the last port is Tortola. We are only there for a few hours and given what I have read about the dock construction the best bet seems to do an excursion through NCL. I typically avoid them and enjoy doing my own thing. I was wondering if anyone had done the Best of Tortola or Tortola by Land and Sea excursions and their thoughts on them.

 

Thanks!

You are probably wise to use NCL. We too, do not use them often, but sometimes, if time or safety is an issue we feel better using the cruise line. Too bad you will only be there a few hours, it is sad to think you will be that close to Virgin Gorda and won't get to see it.

We were in Tortola last Friday. The tender ride from the ship is very short, so that shouldn't be a big factor. We did NCL's Baths at Virgin Gorda and snorkel, which was a lot of fun. It's not for everyone, because the swim back to the boat with the shifting currents can be a challenge for those not comfortable in the water. If you like to snorkel, it's an excellent choice for an excursion. And the unlimited rum punches on the way back to Tortola are an added bonus. We got back about ten minutes after the last tender was scheduled, but since it was an NCL excursion, no problem, mon.

Is Virgin Gorda worth missing seeing the rest of the island? I have never been to Tortola and am trying to see as much as possible in a short amount of time. Normally I would just rent a car and drive around, but because the stop is so short and having been reading that people have had to tender off the boat that doesn't really seem to be a good option.

Hi,

 

We are going on the Gem in March and the last port is Tortola. We are only there for a few hours and given what I have read about the dock construction the best bet seems to do an excursion through NCL. I typically avoid them and enjoy doing my own thing. I was wondering if anyone had done the Best of Tortola or Tortola by Land and Sea excursions and their thoughts on them.

 

Thanks!

We did it in Dec with the Gem and the tour guide, Speedy Tours (I think is their name) pick us up right from the ship and dropped us off at the ship. We booked thru the ship because it was such a short day. Good thing we did. There ended up being a medical emergency so we we had to wait to get off. Then Speedy was running late. NCL told us not to worry. They gave us a % back of our fee because of the medical emergency and then told us we will still have the same amount of time at the Baths, which we did. Our excursion ended up running a couple of hours late. The ship waited for us then left when we arrived.

It was a great time. We had a 6y/o and a 4y/o with us and they went thru the caves with no problems. The beach was beautiful. It almost felt like our own little private beach when we were there. The water was nice and calm. We would do it again but for a whole day if possible.

One thing to note is our tour guide with Speedy was great... He helped with the kids they the cave and everything. But he told us the taxis wouldn't be leaving until 12 and had plenty of time to go to the gift shop before heading back to the ferry. WRONG!! We were there at 11:45 and they left already! We had to wait for one of the taxis to come back and get us because security called them. If it wasn't for booking thru NCL we would of got left!

We booked an independant excursion and reading you post I am now a bit concerned due to you mention of dock construction. What did you read about construction?

Sent from my iPad using Forums

Virgin Gorda (the Fat Virgin) is a different island. You ride across the sound from Tortola to reach it. On the way back, the boat captain takes you on a tour of some of the islands that comprise BVI, including the one where Blackbeard stranded sixteen of his sailors for stealing from him. According to the legend, he left them with a bottle of rum and told them if they could swim to the next island, he'd take them back. Of course, they all drowned. Sixteen men and a bottle of rum--sound familiar? We also cruised by some of the private islands, such as the one owned by Richard Branson and another owned by Amway.

We booked an independant excursion and reading you post I am now a bit concerned due to you mention of dock construction. What did you read about construction?

 

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

The pier at Tortola is being renovated to accommodate bigger cruise ships. I don't know when that construction will be completed. In the meantime, you have to tender in, which is really no big deal. It adds maybe ten minutes.

Interesting hearing about the pier because the last time we were in Tortola, the ship docked. That was in 2008 on the Pearl. We scheduled a tour to the Baths, but it got canceled due to high surf. I hope NCL offers a tour there when we return in Jan. 2016 on the Gem.

Tortola is a beautiful island. We wound up taking a cab to a beach. The ride was beautiful as we rose well above the sea and could see the ship from high atop before ascending back down the other side to the beach.

The town itself is quaint and you can walk from the dock.

Tortola is a lovely island but IMHO there is nothing stellar about it except maybe the painkillers:cool: The beaches are nice, the people wonderful, but nothing there is making me pass up the Baths

The Baths at Virgin Gorda are just amazing & a unique experience.

Hi,

 

We are going on the Gem in March and the last port is Tortola. We are only there for a few hours and given what I have read about the dock construction the best bet seems to do an excursion through NCL. I typically avoid them and enjoy doing my own thing. I was wondering if anyone had done the Best of Tortola or Tortola by Land and Sea excursions and their thoughts on them.

 

Thanks!

We just did this tour for the same reason you are thinking of doing it. There is absolutely nothing going on by the port expect for construction. There is a nearby Yacht Club that we have walked over to in the past and had a drink with a very pretty view but the "Five O'clock Somewhere" thing just doesn't work for us at 7AM in the morning. I think at this time a ship excursion is the only way to go unless you like to stay on the ship.

Back to the tour.. We enjoyed it very much, the land part took us all the way up into the mountains, which gave us a very good idea of how people live in Tortola and some magnificent views. We stopped along the way for pictures and we also stopped at Pusser's Landing for about 20 minutes where there is shopping and free wi fi. Pusser's is where we boarded the boat for the sea part of the tour. That too was very good, nicely narrated and also an opportunity to take very nice photos of the many islands around Tortola. We really enjoyed the tour and I think you will too.

Tortola is a lovely island but IMHO there is nothing stellar about it except maybe the painkillers:cool: The beaches are nice, the people wonderful, but nothing there is making me pass up the Baths

 

The Baths at Virgin Gorda are just amazing & a unique experience.

I would agree about the baths but this time around we weren't up for the uphill climb.

I would agree about the baths but this time around we weren't up for the uphill climb.

The climb is why we can't do it anymore. We are getting older and both have bad legs. I just had a knee replacement. though we are not cruising til early April, I know I would not be able to take that climb. It is too bad. I think everyone that goes to Tortola should see Virgin Gordo onece.

Wow, very confused about a tour to Virgin Gorda for the "baths". One poster mentioned pick up and return to "the ship". Not sure if this means literally from the ship itself (I have done NCL tours which did that ) rather than having to tender in, or if they actually meant from the dock. I assume this tour by boat anchors in the baths area and you must then swim in, based on some other posts.

Yet another poster refers to "the climb", so I am assuming there is another tour which combines a ferry over to Virgin Gorda and then a ride to the area where you must climb down to the beach and then back up.

Does NCL offer both tours? If not which one? Would love to see the baths, but neither option sounds ideal. Some of us are neither good swimmers or climbers! Can someone clarify this? How far is this swim?

Wow, very confused about a tour to Virgin Gorda for the "baths". One poster mentioned pick up and return to "the ship". Not sure if this means literally from the ship itself (I have done NCL tours which did that ) rather than having to tender in, or if they actually meant from the dock. I assume this tour by boat anchors in the baths area and you must then swim in, based on some other posts.

 

 

 

Yet another poster refers to "the climb", so I am assuming there is another tour which combines a ferry over to Virgin Gorda and then a ride to the area where you must climb down to the beach and then back up.

 

 

 

Does NCL offer both tours? If not which one? Would love to see the baths, but neither option sounds ideal. Some of us are neither good swimmers or climbers! Can someone clarify this? How far is this swim?

Yes, I meant pick up and drop off literally from the ship. We didn't tender in and we had priority because we booked with NCL. Excursions books with NCL got off the ship 1st. The one I was on didn't anchor at the Baths. We took a ferry to a dock then open air buses "taxis" took all of us to the Baths. When you got there you could go straight to the beach, I think it's called Devils Bay or you can go the route so you can walk thru the caves to get to Devils Bay. We chose to go the route to go thru the caves. We were taken by tour guide to another beach (walking). While we were there we saw the the boats pull up nearby with people that were snorkeling and they swam to the beach. Then we all went into the caves.

NCL offers both. We didn't do the swim because we had little kids with us. We also didn't climb anything. I am not sure what others are referring to when they said they climbed. The excursion we had the kids were able to do with no problems so it may be ideal to do the one we did. If you read the description on NCLs site... One notes a short swim to the beach and another one doesn't. I will see if I can find exactly which one we did so you know the name.

Wow, very confused about a tour to Virgin Gorda for the "baths". One poster mentioned pick up and return to "the ship". Not sure if this means literally from the ship itself (I have done NCL tours which did that ) rather than having to tender in, or if they actually meant from the dock. I assume this tour by boat anchors in the baths area and you must then swim in, based on some other posts.

 

 

 

Yet another poster refers to "the climb", so I am assuming there is another tour which combines a ferry over to Virgin Gorda and then a ride to the area where you must climb down to the beach and then back up.

 

 

 

Does NCL offer both tours? If not which one? Would love to see the baths, but neither option sounds ideal. Some of us are neither good swimmers or climbers! Can someone clarify this? How far is this swim?

I just looked it up online. We did Virgin Gorda and The Baths. It notes the ferry and open air buses. Then they have the one called Virgin Gorda Baths and Snorkel. This has an age limit of 5y/o or older and says you have to be able to swim 50-100yds to the beach. We opt out of that one because we had a 4y/o and a 6y/o with us.

Again, we were on the Gem this past Dec and we all had to meet in the Stardust Theater and they escorted us off the ship when our tour was called.

Hopes this helps.

Yes, I meant pick up and drop off literally from the ship. We didn't tender in and we had priority because we booked with NCL. Excursions books with NCL got off the ship 1st. The one I was on didn't anchor at the Baths. We took a ferry to a dock then open air buses "taxis" took all of us to the Baths. When you got there you could go straight to the beach, I think it's called Devils Bay or you can go the route so you can walk thru the caves to get to Devils Bay. We chose to go the route to go thru the caves. We were taken by tour guide to another beach (walking). While we were there we saw the the boats pull up nearby with people that were snorkeling and they swam to the beach. Then we all went into the caves.

 

NCL offers both. We didn't do the swim because we had little kids with us. We also didn't climb anything. I am not sure what others are referring to when they said they climbed. The excursion we had the kids were able to do with no problems so it may be ideal to do the one we did. If you read the description on NCLs site... One notes a short swim to the beach and another one doesn't. I will see if I can find exactly which one we did so you know the name.

Thanks AlwaysNeedSun! We are looking at doing the same that you've described. We don't want to do the swim with a small child.

Is this the excursion that you booked?

Virgin Gorda and The Baths

Approximate Duration: 4½ hours

Take an approximately 40 minute cruise along the Sir Francis Drake Channel to Spanish Town, Virgin Gorda. Open safari buses take you on an approximately 20 minute drive through Spanish Town to The Baths for swimming in the unique atmosphere of mammoth boulders, palms, and sea caves. Travel along the trails and boulders to discover hidden caves and sea pools.

Thanks AlwaysNeedSun! We are looking at doing the same that you've described. We don't want to do the swim with a small child.

 

 

 

Is this the excursion that you booked?

 

 

 

Virgin Gorda and The Baths

 

Approximate Duration: 4½ hours

 

Take an approximately 40 minute cruise along the Sir Francis Drake Channel to Spanish Town, Virgin Gorda. Open safari buses take you on an approximately 20 minute drive through Spanish Town to The Baths for swimming in the unique atmosphere of mammoth boulders, palms, and sea caves. Travel along the trails and boulders to discover hidden caves and sea pools.

Yes that is the one.

Yes that is the one.

Awesome! Thank you :)

Awesome! Thank you :)

You're welcome then it's up to you guys when you get there if you want to take the small child thru the caves or not or just go to the beach. Ours were able to do it and there were other small kids doing it too. But, there are a couple areas where there is a ladder. Maybe that's what others were referring to as the climb?

Thanks for the info, AlwaysNeedSun. How long would you say you were actually at the Baths themselves? Any other option other than direct return to the ship? Any drop off in Tortola offered?

Has anyone taken the other option which anchors and requires a swim? How difficult was it? You'd think if a 5 year old could handle it, how hard could it be?

This is walking to the the beach where the caves are.

The boats that pulled up with the people snorkeling on it.

W

Walking thru the entrance of the caves

Shallow water in the cave

My niece going thru

Ladder

Devils Bay on the other side of the caves. Or you can go straight there and not do the caves.

Hope these pics post... Never posted pics before on this site. If they post... I hope they help you make a decision.

Thanks for the info, AlwaysNeedSun. How long would you say you were actually at the Baths themselves? Any other option other than direct return to the ship? Any drop off in Tortola offered?

 

 

 

Has anyone taken the other option which anchors and requires a swim? How difficult was it? You'd think if a 5 year old could handle it, how hard could it be?

A couple of hours because it takes time to get there and get back. You won't have time to stop anywhere else on the way back. Nothing was offered.

Wow, looks really wonderful. Lovely photos. Thank you for sharing. :)

Wow, looks really wonderful. Lovely photos. Thank you for sharing. :)

Anytime