Tortola, St. Thomas, Puerto Plata NCL excursions

[kuku77254]

I know there's excursion discussion pages on the boards but I have questions about NCL specific excursions and I'm having trouble when searching for those. I normally would not book with the cruise ship but I have extra FCC so it makes more sense to use it for that instead of losing it. My 9 year old and I are looking at "Snorkeling at Norman Island" in Tortola, the "St. John Champagne Catamaran Sail & Snorkel" in St. Thomas and the "Dolphin Swim & Ocean World Adventure" in Puerto Plata, DR.  Has anyone done any of these that can give a thumbs up or down? Any "I'd never do that again!" Are there any long bus rides involved in any of these? Any NCL excursion in any of these ports that I should look at instead? Our intention is to do all of these but obviously the way things have been going, we probably won't make all the ports. The FCC expires anyway so I want to book any that we might want to do before it does. TIA

[Epic_Bear]

I've done the St. John Champagne Catamaran one a few times.  It's awesome, whether you snorkel or just swim in to the beach.  Highly recommend.

 

Last time we were in Tortola we did the sail to Jost Van Dyke, which I can recommend if you're looking for a great beach and boat ride.

[Sailing12Away]

In Tortola we originally had the Virgin Gorda baths trip booked but they cancelled it due to weather. Ended up just catching a city bus to a beach for I think like $5 each, walking around and finding a locally made rum distillery selling 4 tastings of the rum from a shack on the side of the street for $1. Then we bought 2 bottles of BVI Gin from a different shack on the side of the road after some gin & tonic tastings and stumbled back to the ship. Lots of cheap and tasty liquor, that's all I remember. Oh, and I lost my glasses. Forgot I was wearing them when I went in the water and dove under a small wave and came up without them. D'oh! So they're at the bottom of the water somewhere... let me know if you find them.

 

In St. Thomas we did a trip that takes you over to St. John for a nature hike. I think it's called Eco Hike or something. It was nice, they stop at a beach where the water was crystal clear - just wasn't a long enough stop there. I ended up staying a bit longer with a few other passengers that didn't want to do the hike back and we caught a golf cart ride back to the pick-up point instead of hiking through the forest all the way back. I got my PADI certification in St. Thomas so it'll always hold a special place in my heart for me, you can't go wrong with any of the beaches there.

 

Never been to the DR yet so can't help you with that one.

[lepidoptera]

41 minutes ago, Sailing12Away said:

In Tortola we originally had the Virgin Gorda baths trip booked but they cancelled it due to weather. Ended up just catching a city bus to a beach for I think like $5 each, walking around and finding a locally made rum distillery selling 4 tastings of the rum from a shack on the side of the street for $1. Then we bought 2 bottles of BVI Gin from a different shack on the side of the road after some gin & tonic tastings and stumbled back to the ship. Lots of cheap and tasty liquor, that's all I remember. Oh, and I lost my glasses. Forgot I was wearing them when I went in the water and dove under a small wave and came up without them. D'oh! So they're at the bottom of the water somewhere... let me know if you find them.

I lost my glasses in Tortola too, had a few too many painkillers at The Soggy Dollar 😂 and then couldn’t find them when I got back to the cruise ship. Thankfully I had prescription sunglasses, otherwise I don’t know what I would have done on the last few days sailing back to NYC and then flying home. 

[Sailing12Away]

12 hours ago, lepidoptera said:

I lost my glasses in Tortola too, had a few too many painkillers at The Soggy Dollar 😂 and then couldn’t find them when I got back to the cruise ship. Thankfully I had prescription sunglasses, otherwise I don’t know what I would have done on the last few days sailing back to NYC and then flying home. 

Same here! I was wearing my sunglasses all hours of the day. My eyes are not as bad as my hubby's so I could manage for the most part, but it was funny. There was another person on the beach that day who also lost their glasses - they should put up warning signs hahaha.

[Mandalay5]

We did Ocean World Dominican Experience and really enjoyed our day there. We watched folks who got the dolphin experience and they all seemed to be having a blast.

[KurtMo]

17 hours ago, Epic_Bear said:

I've done the St. John Champagne Catamaran one a few times.  It's awesome, whether you snorkel or just swim in to the beach.  Highly recommend.

 

15 hours ago, Sailing12Away said:

In St. Thomas we did a trip that takes you over to St. John for a nature hike. I think it's called Eco Hike or something.

I second both of these.  Can't remember if we did them with NCL or another line, but the excursions were good and the sail to St. John is nice.

[Travelicious]

I've been to Tortola twice, and it is my favorite port.  The first time, I took a private snorkeling excursion to Norman Island and the Indians.  It was the best snorkeling I've ever done.  There was so much to see. I'm sure that would be the same through NCL.  The second time, took the NCL excursion to Jost Van Dyke.  It has beautiful white sand, clear water and the most delicious Pain Killers.  I loved both excursions.

[dpepper64]

Tortola is a great place but go to Jost VAn Dyke.  Great boat ride and the best beach I have ever been to.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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