On Deck Ocean Racing

[vikqueen]

We went on this excursion with our 12 year old and our 15 year old and we had a blast! We keep debating on whether this or our snorkeling in Bonaire was our favorite of our trip. There were a total of 6 "passengers" and 2 men who worked for On Deck on the boat. They took us out and showed us the ropes first, we each had a job to do. After practicing awhile we set off on a race with 3 other On Deck boats. It was so much fun! I had never sailed before so I learned a lot as well as just had a good time! After the race was complete we drove around the harbor for awhile and they let each of us take the wheel. It was really beautiful. I highly recommend this tour!

[smatterchu]

Great to hear you enjoyed your excursion. DH and I are planning to do this one, so I'm happy to see a thread on it.

 

Anyone else done the On Deck Racing?

[lsk]

In December, booked through X (your only choice) If you have any control, book the afternoon. The morning bookings encountered very little wind, but we had a pretty good breeze and we were able to tip that sailboat! I don't know why they don't tip over, but I also haven't been able to figure out how a cruise ship floats. The kids running the show were very good, but they relieved this grandmother of her responsibility and gave it to my teenage son, who obviously is much stronger than I am. It's fun and you don't need to have any sailing experience, just some muscle. The ship's price is actually $10 less than if you were staying on the island and booked it independently (as my sister did).

[lsk]

One other item. Take them some strawberries. They said a small basket was $15.00 on the island.

[smatterchu]

I just read on Trip Advisor that they sell photos of the trip on a flash/jump drive at the end of the day.

 

Does anyone remember how much they were?

 

Do they sell you the whole bunch of pictures, or do you purchase them per-image??

 

Thanks in advance for any info...

[smatterchu]

In case anyone else is curious -- I got an answer from a poster on another site -- about $35 for all of the pictures put on a flash drive -- awesome!!

 

I can't wait to do this!!

[ozysanj]

We went on this excursion with our 12 year old and our 15 year old and we had a blast! We keep debating on whether this or our snorkeling in Bonaire was our favorite of our trip. There were a total of 6 "passengers" and 2 men who worked for On Deck on the boat. They took us out and showed us the ropes first, we each had a job to do. After practicing awhile we set off on a race with 3 other On Deck boats. It was so much fun! I had never sailed before so I learned a lot as well as just had a good time! After the race was complete we drove around the harbor for awhile and they let each of us take the wheel. It was really beautiful. I highly recommend this tour!

 

Hi Vikqueen,

you sold this excursion to me very well so i wonder through which company we can do it as well..

Is there any names or links you can give me please?

thanks

[cavok]

we also took the ondeck ocean sailboat race tour during our cruise on celebrity solstice.

 

my girlfriend and i can highly recommend it! we booked it spontaneously through celebrity the night before and they luckily had just some spots left.

 

the tour started early, so we were among the first off the ship. not being able to sleep in was about the only downside to it.

 

we were met at 0810 on the pier by a friendly lady and taken to their office just near the port.

great group of people from the cruise, as it turned out most of them were fellow airliners / aviation guys with their spouses. and in one case their parents (guess their age was about 65)

it is quite a sporty and wild ride on the boat, so definitely something for the fitter/being able to move on the boat is crucial.

however it doesn't require any previous knowledge of sailing or much force/power. the girls had a blast, just as well as the guys.

also, i can't swim, at least not rely on it. they had great swimming vests available that don't hinder you instead of the usually awkward lifejackets, so that went great, too.

 

we were split in 2 groups of 6, then lead out to the boats.

the skipper then introduced us to some basics while motoring out and a second staff sailor helped with coaching and getting the boat ready.

we had a nice breeze and great teams on the boats, so after only a few practice maneuvers we were racing!!!

and i mean racing... it was fun, great action and you got do the actual rigging and trimming of the sails. also what we liked so much was that this was the real deal, you were trusted with actually doing the tasks, of course with a great and experienced skipper that knows how to save the day in case somebody screws up. And the boat is leaning to the point where you think it is about to tip over. Sitting on the lower side, you're skimming inches above the waterline with the occasional splash of course :-) my gf got a bit wet, depends on the seating position however.

unfortunately, one of the girls got seasick and we had to ease a bit for a short cleanup session ;-)

 

after the race, we relaxedly cruised around for some picture taking and everybody got to take the steering wheel for a while. it was nice racing and sailing around the same bay, where the cruiseship had docked only 2 hours earlier.

 

after you're back on land, they take you back to their office/merchandise store and you get a free drink / rum. They show pictures that the sailing coach took while in action on a big screen and you could buy them for $35 on a 1gb usb stick. Although there was one or two great pictures of us, some of them were also blurry and overall not worth the $35 in our opinion. The tour itself however was a great value with a lot of bang for the buck :-)

 

we can definitely and highly recommend it. exactly the opposite to the segway tour in san juan (wrote a review there as well)

the tour was over by about 1100/1130 and we had half a day left in st.thomas, which we ended up spending on deck at the back of the great solstice with a panoramic view of the bay.

[The Islander]

If you want to see a video of a sailing race on St. Thomas that took place in the Charlotte Amalie Harbor which is where On Deck sails and included a student race done aboard the On Deck boats check out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H51RbVfj94Q. It will give you an idea of the scenery and a little taste of sailing our beautiful waters!

 

--Islander