Champagne Catamarans?

[malacajo]

I had this excursion suggested to me, heard it was great. However, cannot seem to get any info on it, when I go on their website and punch in RCCL, it takes me to a page with no info...Do I have to book this by calling RCCL?? Can this not be booked privately?? Forgive me if this post is in the wrong place..

[sharpasice]

I had this excursion suggested to me, heard it was great. However, cannot seem to get any info on it, when I go on their website and punch in RCCL, it takes me to a page with no info...Do I have to book this by calling RCCL?? Can this not be booked privately?? Forgive me if this post is in the wrong place..

 

What ship, what port?

[CntPAcruiser]

If you're talking about the Champagne Catamaran from St. Thomas to St. John, it's likely you can only book through the ship. Many excursion operators have such exclusive agreements.

 

We were on the above excursion, which we also saw many good comments about beforehand. Our opinion was that it was okay, not great, especially for the price, compared to similar excursions we've done elsewhere in the Caribbean. The ride from port to where the cat was docked was hellish. The catamaran was decent, and the crew were nice and helpful. In fact, the one crew member gave a lovely description of the islands we were passing by on the way to St. John, and another crew member gave the best explanation of how to use snorkel equipment I've ever heard. The sail out was fine, the snorkeling was okay, mostly smaller fish, though someone reported seeing a turtle. For the sail back, the bar was open, which meant lots of cheap champagne (after which the cat is named), rum with a few mixers, rum punch, and soda. They served cubes of cheese along with slices of French bread, and possibly a little fruit or something else. In any case, they ran out. The sail back was slower, and just before reaching the dock area, they basically stopped in the middle of the water to give a speech about how glad they were to have you on board (and how much they'd like a tip).

[malacajo]

Yes, our cruise is FOS Eastern in Sept....Trying to figure out if we will go out on our own to St John, but we've never snorkeled so I almost hate to do this...

[Blue Wave]

If you're talking about the Champagne Catamaran from St. Thomas to St. John, it's likely you can only book through the ship. Many excursion operators have such exclusive agreements.

 

We were on the above excursion, which we also saw many good comments about beforehand. Our opinion was that it was okay, not great, especially for the price, compared to similar excursions we've done elsewhere in the Caribbean. The ride from port to where the cat was docked was hellish. The catamaran was decent, and the crew were nice and helpful. In fact, the one crew member gave a lovely description of the islands we were passing by on the way to St. John, and another crew member gave the best explanation of how to use snorkel equipment I've ever heard. The sail out was fine, the snorkeling was okay, mostly smaller fish, though someone reported seeing a turtle. For the sail back, the bar was open, which meant lots of cheap champagne (after which the cat is named), rum with a few mixers, rum punch, and soda. They served cubes of cheese along with slices of French bread, and possibly a little fruit or something else. In any case, they ran out. The sail back was slower, and just before reaching the dock area, they basically stopped in the middle of the water to give a speech about how glad they were to have you on board (and how much they'd like a tip).

 

Of all the catamaran snorkel tours we have been on this was the worst. They blasted the music so loud you couldn't have a conversation and couldn't find a place on the boat to avoid hearing damage. Service was poor. So many boats were off St Johns that it felt like a stadium parking lot. The buy a t-shirt and tip your crew speech was like a time share sales pitch. I didn't think you could screw up a catamaran/ snorkel/ rum punch afternoon but this crew did.

[debshomespun]

You can go over to the St. Thomas/St. John ports of call section here:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=133

 

You can read up on many different types of excursions that can be done there.