Americas Cup Regatta

Hi Everyone, my wife and i will be cruising RCI-AOS this January and were looking at the Americas Cup Sailboat excursion. Has anyone does this? Is it worth booking thru the cruise line and paying the extra markup?

Thanks!

Hi Everyone, my wife and i will be cruising RCI-AOS this January and were looking at the Americas Cup Sailboat excursion. Has anyone does this? Is it worth booking thru the cruise line and paying the extra markup?

 

Thanks!

Hi,

I don't know if you can book this independently, but my son did this a few years ago through the cruise ship and loved it. We are going the week of Christmas, and he plans to do this again. He still talks about it!

Linda

my husband did this through the cruiseline a couple years ago, he adored it, one of his best excusions to date. Not sure about renting outside the cruise ship on this one, sorry. Have a great time.

Carole

Ditto on what the rest have said ... I did it several years ago and loved it! You have your choice of playing an active or passive role on the crew. And, while the boat are getting older, they all actually raced at one time in the America's Cup races.

DW & I did this excursion last March while aboard the Carnival Miracle. As with many things one looks forward to anxiously, the actual event doesn't meet preconceived expectations. This was absolutely NOT the case with the America's Cup race. We were blessed with a perfect day for "racing" - sunny, warm & breezy. After learning some history of the America's Cup, along with a thumb nail explanation of what we could expect, we were split into teams, taken to our yacht (True North for us), assigned tasks (as easy or hard as you want), given instuctions on that task, and "the race was on". I will never forget the first time the wind filled the sails, and the boat seemed to "stand" on edge - totally exhilarating!!!!!!!!

The race continued for about an hour, and although we were beaten (barely), it was hands down the most exciting excursion we've ever done. My recommendation - DO !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We have this excursion booked thru the Miracle when we sail on the 23rd. I'll be sure to come back and fill everyone in on how it was.

Hi Everyone, my wife and i will be cruising RCI-AOS this January and were looking at the Americas Cup Sailboat excursion. Has anyone does this? Is it worth booking thru the cruise line and paying the extra markup?

 

Thanks!

It was a blast. Not sure if you can book it yourself but you can give it a try. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

We just got back from the 11/29 sailing on the Carnival Liberty and did this excursion in St. Martin. It cannot be booked independently; they have contracts with the cruise lines. It was our first Carnival excursion (we always do private excursions). We had a BLAST! It was a picture perfect day to sail--80 degrees, sunny, with a light-medium wind. The history of the Regatta Race was great and the crew was fantastic. We were out for at least 2 hours. Dh and I were primary grinders, which is the heaviest work, and we had so much fun. My shoulders and back were a little achy they next day though. If you just want to sit back and relax, you can request jobs like 'iceberg spotter', 'bartender', or 'time keeper'. Each boat had 3 crew members and then 16-18 of us cruisers.

I highly recommend this excursion to anyone!

Sounds like everyone whos gone on this has enjoyed it! We went ahead and booked it for our trip in Jan on RCI AOS.

Thanks for all the info!

This was the best excursion we took. We actually did two races that day, as they needed crew for the next race. We did not have that many crew members, so we really worked hard. But it was so worth it. The history of the cup was interesting, too. We healed so much that my butt got wet! Very exhilarating. Hang on and have fun.

We also just did this excursion a few days ago (Miracle 12/23 sailing) Was very exciting, and a once in a lifetime experience. Stars and Stripes v Canada 2 in our race. Boy, can those boats move!

My 12 year old daughter and I "competed" in the regatta during our January 8th trip on the Carnival Miracle AND LOVED IT!!!!!

My daughter was thrilled performing as a "winch wench" on Stars and Stripes (racing against True North 4) controlling the boom, especially when the captain informed her that she was in charge of $225,000 worth of rigging!!! The wind the day we were sailing was gusting over 16 knots and we were MOVING!!!

Carnival charges $91pp which was worth every penny - this coming from a seasoned cruiser who almost never purchases shore excursions on-board.

Couple of items of interest - life jackets are available if desired, beer, soft drinks and water are served on the boats (although mostly during the training portion as you are hanging on during the race) and there aren't any bathrooms on the boat.

My 12 year old daughter and I "competed" in the regatta during our January 8th trip on the Carnival Miracle AND LOVED IT!!!!!

 

My daughter was thrilled performing as a "winch wench" on Stars and Stripes (racing against True North 4) controlling the boom, especially when the captain informed her that she was in charge of $225,000 worth of rigging!!! The wind the day we were sailing was gusting over 16 knots and we were MOVING!!!

 

Carnival charges $91pp which was worth every penny - this coming from a seasoned cruiser who almost never purchases shore excursions on-board.

 

Couple of items of interest - life jackets are available if desired, beer, soft drinks and water are served on the boats (although mostly during the training portion as you are hanging on during the race) and there aren't any bathrooms on the boat.

hey there FlaMilkman- We were on the boat with you and I have some pics of you and your daughter- my email jmc @ missouri. edu (remove spaces)

We also had FUN! jeancmo

A terrific excursion that we took on the 1/11/09 Easter Caribbean sailing of the Solstice. My DGF and I were on True North and there were 4 boats crewed in the competiton - Stars and Stripes 1 and 2, Canada 2, and True North. What a thrill! I was on the port aft grinder for the main brace and had a ball! I heard the ultimate compliment on the excursion from my DGF - "Next time you won't have to twist my arm!".

Highly recommended!

Just got back from our cruise yesterday and we did book this excursion for our day in St.Martin and it was exactly as everyone has said. AWESOME we had a great time and would do it again the next time we make it down to St Martin.

Captain Ernie along with Chris and Trey were excellent and we ended up taking the win!