CCL Destiny Ultimate Snorkle-1st or 2nd Tour?

[keishashadow]

did a search, only saw 1 post re booking the 2nd (approx 11:45 am) offering of the Ultimate Snorkle excursion booked thru CCL.

 

Destiny's in port approx 7 am to 3 pm, hate to be the 'bad guy' and drag my family out of bed crack of dawn (every day;)so many early port days this itinerary) if the 2nd tour will be as 'good' as the 1st.

 

Would prefer taking our time disembarking from the ship, not particularly interested in anything but a quick dip in the pool (which we'll probably do pre-excursion if time allows, then double back to pickup site for excursion which i understand is back thru security).

 

we've had better luck with stingray tours elsewhere initiating in the early am, not sure if that's also a factor for sealife on the reefs or not when snorkling @ GT:confused:?

 

anybody know or who can report on their experience booking the latter excursion?

[WillieD13]

I don't know if this will help you any or not. I booked the early (8:30) Ultimate Snorkel excursion, and got a frown from my wife, until I reminded her that the ship docks at 7:00, and since we plan to be up early to watch the island come up over the horizon, and go into port, an 8:30 excursion is not a problem. Of course if you don't care about the arrival part of the trip, then another way to look at it is: you have only 8 hours in port, if you want to do things, sleeping half the morning away is wasting your limited port time. It is really a matter of what people want to do with their time, sleep, or see the sights.

[keishashadow]

thanx, i'll be up with the birds every am, but promised my family our very 1st ever 'relaxing' vacation;) (especially after we have to wake up @ 3 am to catch flight into miami, i needed to come up with @ least 1 or 2 days they could sleep until 9 am)

 

sounds as though I could easily get up & explore immediate port area on my own (saw it stated elsewhere here a 5 minute walk from the ship!), then meet them back @ excursion point by 11 am:)

[WillieD13]

Another thought occurred to me. Since the snorkeling expeditions are commercial, this means there are a lot of them to the same places. Depending on the size crowd and recent activity by said crowd, this can have a detrimental affect on the indigenous population (i.e. the fish), and chase them away. Taking an early morning tour may be better, as there will not have been a lot of other snorkelers there to scare them off. This can be particularly an issue if your cruise is not the only ship in port at the time.

The below website, allows you to check the port schedule for what/how many other ships will be there when you are (or the day before). This can be important because if you are there on a day when another ship is also in port, that may effect excursion availability, and how crowded the excursions will be (i.e. how much fish spooking/chasing is or has gone on recently). 2nd trip of the day excursions may not see much.

 

http://cruisett.com/ports.php

 

Scroll down to the bottom (Turks & Caicos) and click on the Grand Turk link. this will take you to another screen, where you pick the date you will be there. This will show you the port schedule for Grand Turk (or any other port and date you want to check)