Snorkel - Deadman's Reef in Freeport or Stuarts Cove in Nassau

[tarheelcruisegal]

I'm interested in one good snorkel and one good beach day...

 

Any opinions on which place is best for which one?

 

If we pick Stuarts Cove for snorkeling we will probably just do the beach at Lucaya. If we snorkel at Deadmans Reef we're weighing the beach day at Junkanoo (free), Sheraton ($25) or Hilton ($50 but with $30 voucher).

 

Thoughts or recommendations please.

[amy7371]

We just came back on Sunday form our Cruise on Carnival Pride. We booked Stuarts Cove and they did a great job. I would recomend this snorkel trip. They were right outside the cruise ship 1/2 early with their pink bus, we got to tour the island since Stuarts Cove is on the opposite end of the island.

The snorkel trip had 3 stops, the 2nd being most incredible inches away from the coral reefs. The 3rd stop you can hand on to a rope and see the sharks below.

We also did Old Lucaya in Freeport, take a taxi on your own and safe lots of $ not doing it through Carnival. Incredible beach and shopping in the market was great as well. You can purchase 2 Bahama Mama for $7 total and walk around the shops.

[TravElle]

Were there any timing issues with the Pride docking and getting to the Stuart's Cove bus in time? I am concerned since the boat only docks at 11 am and the bus picks up at 12:15pm. I have read that the bus will not wait at all. Can anyone speak to whether or not this is enough buffer time?

[CDNJehn]

Why not do both? That's what we did!

 

We took a cab from the port to Deadman's Reef. It was $15/pp round trip I think, because we didn't have enough for a full taxi load. The driver was very nice and arranged a time to come back and get us. The snorkeling there was great, reef was beautiful, beach was beautiful, drinks and food were reasonably priced and they rented everything from kayaks to umbrellas. We LOVED our day there.

 

We did have some issues with the Stuart Cove's excursion ...

We booked directly through Stuart Cove's and when the pink bus arrived to the meeting spot we hopped on board. After getting a seat, the guide was doing a head count and found she was short seats. We didn't realize that the bus was for the group booked through the cruise ship when we got on and the tour guide was very rude about it. She said "Who told you you could get on this bus?!? This is for TOUR GROUPS!!!" How embarassing. Us and another couple were kicked off the bus and told to wait for the next bus. The snorkel excursion at Stuart Cove's was AMAZING. We had a great time with that portion. However, afterwards we were told that a bus would be waiting to take us back to port right when we got off the excursion boat. We had a departure time at 5:30, while the other ships in port left at 7:00. When there was no bus waiting I started getting a bit nervous. They said it would be "right there". 45 minutes later it arrived. The chick from Stuart Cove's that was waiting with the group was VERY rude. I was clearly nervous about the wait, and possibly missing the ship, I get that. But when I went to sit in the only shade, near the gate she yelled over "The bus will be here when it's here ... sitting right next to the gate isn't going to make it get here faster!!!" She was just SO rude.

 

Eventually a bus arrived and they loaded the cruise ship people on it. The bus sat there for another 20 minutes, idling. Another bus arrived and people were loaded on that bus. A Stuart Cove's rep got on our bus, looking for the 5:30 cruise ship departure people. They pulled us off the bus we were on and put us on the other to "get us back faster". However, they put us on a bus with resort folks and rather than heading straight to the port for us and then dropping the resort folks off on the way back to Stuart Cove's they made EIGHT stops along the way. While dropping off resort passengers we were PASSED by the bus we were taken off it, which was going straight to the port.

 

We made it to the ship at 5:27. I thought I was going to vomit.

 

I'd think twice about doing the 12:15pm Stuart Cove excursion through them directly if you have an early departure time. But getting there at 11a, should leave you lots of time to get to the meeting area by 12:15pm. It's right outside the port market gates, you shouldn't have trouble getting there in time.