Jost Van Dyke Escape Through CruiseExcursions.Com

[NickAndJessicaInMO]

Has anyone ever booked this excursion? The JVD excursion through Virgin is booked so wanting to find an alternative way to JVD. The itinerary seems to suggest that the excursion includes the cost of the ferry to and from JVD, and seems to suggest that this leaves from the cruise port. However, I am not aware of any ferries leaving directly from Road Town. Does anyone have any specifics on this? Is the 4 hours advertised as the excursion time including travel time to/from? 

[FLcruisergrl]

It’s likely not a ferry. I know Rebel Yell does Escape to Jost Van Dyke.

[Wishing on a star]

I am not familiar, but I have the same question...

I notice whenI looking at these excursions online, and they do use the ferry.

I would like to have more time than the Cruise excursion allows,  but I am thinking it might be the way to go.  They seem to charter a boat that will depart from the Cruise Port.   ( I will def. book it early as possible. )

 

They must pick you up at the Cruise Port, I some kind of bus/minibus... and then drive you over to West End, where the JVD Ferry departs from.

 

Here is from the same 'escape' thru Shore Excursion Group.

"all-inclusive - 4-hour whitesand beach extravaganza, with FERRY ride and iconic beach "

 

Here is the description if booked thru Viatour...

"Your tour includes four hours of fun and covers your round-trip FERRY ride fee to explore the grand island of Jost Van Dyke "

Edited January 15 by Wishing on a star

[Wishing on a star]

I am still searching for info,  but it seems the Rebel Yell is one (if not the only one) that is providing this tour for the Cruise Ships.

I do not know if anyone can book independently???

What I am seeing shows Private Charter.  $$$$  so no other open group excursions to book for a couple or family.

 

The link to the Rebel Yell website does not seem to be working.

But looks like you can try to email them at  rebelyell@islandshipping.com

Edited January 15 by Wishing on a star

[Wishing on a star]

Here is another option that I found.

Aristocatdaysails.com

 

The departure is not really easy to understand.

For West end departures, it might include the taxi to West End..  so not a big organized tour.

Then sails to JVD and White Bay from there.

It also mentions departures that are where the Cruise Ship is docked.

 

It is unclear how to find shared (per person) sailings that depart from the Cruise Ship location.

The web-site encourages travelers to contact them by email.

 

[Wishing on a star]

After looking for more details..  here is how this excursion seems to work.

This is on one of two of their identical catamarans.

The kicker, this seems to be available to ships that will be in port until 6:00 pm

  Ours is not. : ( 

It looks like they will include a pre-arranged taxi over to West End.

Then sails to JVD and White Bay (some other stops?) from there.

 

[NickAndJessicaInMO]

23 minutes ago, Wishing on a star said:

Here is another option that I found.

Aristocatdaysails.com

 

The departure is not really easy to understand.

For West end departures, it might include the taxi to West End..  so not a big organized tour.

Then sails to JVD and White Bay from there.

It also mentions departures that are where the Cruise Ship is docked.

 

It is unclear how to find shared (per person) sailings that depart from the Cruise Ship location.

The web-site encourages travelers to contact them by email.

 

Thanks for the info. Yes, ironically, I am between Aristocrat and the ShoreExcursionsGroup.com Option. From what I have been able to find out from Aristocrat, this would basically be a 9:30-3:30 affair, and sounds like would include the 30-35 minute trip to the West End and the 20-30 minute ferry from West End to JVD, and then the return to Tortola and the cruise port. All in all, I am assuming that this would likely amount to about 4-5 hours of beach time. From what I have been able to gather, we would be able to split the cost of chartering with others, so the cost I believe is around $170 or $175 per person. 

 

I did email ShoreExcursionsGroup.com for more info, but was only provided the following response: "The tour duration normally includes a buffer for travel time to and from the meeting location", so this seems to me that they are suggesting the 4 hours is inclusive of travel time. This might not be a bad option, if I could determine whether it departs directly from the cruise port, or if a tax ride to the West End/some other ferry terminal would be required. The description states "our tour includes four hours of fun and covers your round-trip ferry ride fee from your ship to explore the grand island of Jost Van Dyke (JVD)" which seems to indicate that they may be chartering a boat directly from the cruise port, but again, unfortunately this is somewhat unclear. The description also indicates it is from "near Romney-Pier Park". 

[NickAndJessicaInMO]

7 minutes ago, Wishing on a star said:

After looking for more details..  here is how this excursion seems to work.

This is on one of two of their identical catamarans.

The kicker, this seems to be available to ships that will be in port until 6:00 pm

  Ours is not. : ( 

It looks like they will include a pre-arranged taxi over to West End.

Then sails to JVD and White Bay (some other stops?) from there.

 

Are you talking about the Aristocrat option, or the option booked through ShoreExcursionsGroup.com? The ShoreExcursionsGroup.com option seems to allow you to put in all of your itinerary and ship information and includes a guarantee that you will arrive back at the ship prior to departure, or they will pay for your travel costs to the next port, plus $1,000. For us, we have an 8 AM arrival time and 5 PM departure. ShoreExcursionsGroup.com seems to indicate we have the option of departing at 9:15 AM or at 12:30 PM. Given our departure time, makes sense that the 4 hours includes travel time, but again, still not clear to me whether this requires a taxi ride to another location (like West End), which, when adding up all of the time, leaves very little time to enjoy the beach :(. 

[Wishing on a star]

You might not be able to book the nice catamaran with that 5:00 departure.

The Aristocat web-site starts by having you choose your ships port time, and then shows the options available.  JVD might not be possible.   I would be happy to book that if we were in port till 6:00!!!!

 

Even the Ships excursion on our cruise only has like a couple of hours at White Bay.

But, we take what we can get!!!   

[EatonDoolittle]

2 hours ago, Wishing on a star said:

Here is another option that I found.

Aristocatdaysails.com

 

The departure is not really easy to understand.

For West end departures, it might include the taxi to West End..  so not a big organized tour.

Then sails to JVD and White Bay from there.

It also mentions departures that are where the Cruise Ship is docked.

 

 

 

I've gone to JVD a couple times with Aristocat. They have a taxi bus at the port to drive you to Soper's Hole West End, then you take their catamaran over to JVD - although they have never raised the sails, always some excuse. You have probably 4 hours over there. You have to wrangle up your own group, they require 12 to go. 

 

They also have another  catamaran that goes to different islands (I think Norman and Peter), which leaves from a marina just a few blocks from the port. 

 

If they are offering a trip to West End to get the scheduled ferry over to JVD, you can just do that on your own.  Cab fare would be approx. $25 each way, as I recall. 

[blue_water]

>> They seem to charter a boat that will depart from the Cruise Port.   ( I will def. book it early as possible. ) They must pick you up at the Cruise Port, I some kind of bus/minibus... and then drive you over to West End, where the JVD Ferry departs from. <<
Aristocat does have a cat based in RT and one in Soper’s Hole. But all trips to JVD are out of West End (Soper’s Hole). You will taxi 25 minutes to the ferry or cat dock. If on a cat they will rarely hoist sails for such a short run…

 

They also have a 27’ powerboat they charter, as does Patouche. If considering sharing the cost with others from your Roll Call I’d suggest looking into one of those. You could actually get 3 - 4 hours by going straight to WB, and even choose to stop at B Line on Little Jost, Sandy Spit, or have some time to snorkel at Diamond Cay..

Just a thought! 

The taxi fares for two are noted in post #25 here-

 

[HS2BS]

In the past, all of the means of getting to White Beach(Yost Van dyke) pull up “near”the shore, and from there it is feet wet; therefore the name Soggy Dollar bar.

is it still the same?

 

Hal

[blue_water]

4 hours ago, HS2BS said:

In the past, all of the means of getting to White Beach(Yost Van dyke) pull up “near”the shore, and from there it is feet wet; therefore the name Soggy Dollar bar.

is it still the same?

 

Hal

Hi Hal,

It depends on the boat, AND on the number of boats already there. Most multihulls can get you ankle, or worst-case knee deep. Many powerboats will drop you chest deep. But we’ve seen it so crowded that you cannot navigate close to shore and have to dinghy in…

Just depends! 😄

[Wishing on a star]

For anyone who is considering doing the excursion on-your-own (because port times do not work, or because the other excursions offer such limited time on JVD.)

These seem to be options to get to West End, and the link to the JVD Ferry.

This transportation/taxi service seems reputable and recommended.

Sebastian's Transport service.    https://www.transportbvi.com

Link to the ferry...   https://newhorizonferry.com

This video shows what seems to be a nice, large, ferry that makes the run to JVD

But,  does not indicate New Horizon Ferry service?

 

 

 

[blue_water]

23 hours ago, Wishing on a star said:

For anyone who is considering doing the excursion on-your-own (because port times do not work, or because the other excursions offer such limited time on JVD.)

These seem to be options to get to West End, and the link to the JVD Ferry.

This transportation/taxi service seems reputable and recommended.

Sebastian's Transport service.    https://www.transportbvi.com

Link to the ferry...   https://newhorizonferry.com

This video shows what seems to be a nice, large, ferry that makes the run to JVD

But,  does not indicate New Horizon Ferry service?

 

 

 

Not sure what you are asking…? 🤷🏼

 

The New Horizon ferry is the primary ferry service between Soper’s Hole (West End) and Great Harbor, JVD, and has a regular and reliable schedule. Both locals and visitors alike rely on this ferry service. There are other options of course, including charters through New Horizon and other outfits.

 

We’ve never used the Sebastian Transport service (ground transportation) so cannot comment. A.C.’s Taxi service is a highly recommended private ground transport or tour option for Tortola…

The taxi to West End, ferry, and taxi to White Bay is sometimes the best option, just depends on your cruise line options and your time in port…

Edited January 25 by blue_water

[ajtraveler66]

We did this excursion back in 2020.  Beautiful place.  Unfortunately we made the mistake of going to a restaurant (I forget the name, but it was nice).  We waited a huge amount of time to be seated, get our meal, etc.  ....   My suggestion .... forget doing food .... spend all of your time on that wonderful beach area.  By the time we got out of the restaurant, we only had about 20-30 minutes to enjoy the beach.  (I looked it up.  It was Hendo's Hideout.  Trust me, I'm not knocking the restaurant....it was nice.  We just wasted too much precious beach time while there.)

[bkrickles1]

1 hour ago, ajtraveler66 said:

We did this excursion back in 2020.  Beautiful place.  Unfortunately we made the mistake of going to a restaurant (I forget the name, but it was nice).  We waited a huge amount of time to be seated, get our meal, etc.  ....   My suggestion .... forget doing food .... spend all of your time on that wonderful beach area.  By the time we got out of the restaurant, we only had about 20-30 minutes to enjoy the beach.  (I looked it up.  It was Hendo's Hideout.  Trust me, I'm not knocking the restaurant....it was nice.  We just wasted too much precious beach time while there.)

We also did this excursion in 2020. January, 2020 with NCL. 

And we parked ourselves on the loungers in front of Hendos. We got our painkillers from their bar and we ordered a couple of things to eat. 

The bartender was fabulous and called for us when our food was ready. 

It was our best day of the cruise and we're going back in April with the plan being to park in front of Hendos again. 

[NickAndJessicaInMO]

1 hour ago, bkrickles1 said:

We also did this excursion in 2020. January, 2020 with NCL. 

And we parked ourselves on the loungers in front of Hendos. We got our painkillers from their bar and we ordered a couple of things to eat. 

The bartender was fabulous and called for us when our food was ready. 

It was our best day of the cruise and we're going back in April with the plan being to park in front of Hendos again. 

Thanks, this is the information I was looking for. Not counting travel to/from, do you have a sense of how much beach time you got?

[NickAndJessicaInMO]

1 hour ago, bkrickles1 said:

We also did this excursion in 2020. January, 2020 with NCL. 

And we parked ourselves on the loungers in front of Hendos. We got our painkillers from their bar and we ordered a couple of things to eat. 

The bartender was fabulous and called for us when our food was ready. 

It was our best day of the cruise and we're going back in April with the plan being to park in front of Hendos again. 

So, is this the same excursion group as the shoreexcursionsgroup.com site?

[bkrickles1]

14 minutes ago, NickAndJessicaInMO said:

Thanks, this is the information I was looking for. Not counting travel to/from, do you have a sense of how much beach time you got?

Probably 3 hours and, as I said, we booked through the cruise line. 

It's called Escape to Jost Van Dyke and it's on a catamaran called the Rebel Yell. 

[NickAndJessicaInMO]

18 minutes ago, bkrickles1 said:

Probably 3 hours and, as I said, we booked through the cruise line. 

It's called Escape to Jost Van Dyke and it's on a catamaran called the Rebel Yell. 

Thanks so much. I think I have seen a few references that indicate it is the same group. We just wanted to make sure we weren’t signing up for something only to find that the bulk of the day was spent traveling to and from the meeting point. Now just need to find a way to watch the Chiefs from the ship that night.

[blue_water]

For anyone who hasn’t seen this option, if interested -

 

[rendal]

23 hours ago, bkrickles1 said:

We also did this excursion in 2020. January, 2020 with NCL. 

And we parked ourselves on the loungers in front of Hendos. We got our painkillers from their bar and we ordered a couple of things to eat. 

The bartender was fabulous and called for us when our food was ready. 

It was our best day of the cruise and we're going back in April with the plan being to park in front of Hendos again. 

Is Henfos  a place you can just lay on the beach with umbrellas? My group nervous about getting off and not making the ship 

[bkrickles1]

5 minutes ago, rendal said:

Is Henfos  a place you can just lay on the beach with umbrellas? My group nervous about getting off and not making the ship 

Hendos has loungers and umbrellas right in front of the bar and right next to the Soggy Dollar. It's right by the water and so beautiful! 

[blue_water]

Hendos is just 1 of several beach bars/restaurants in White Bay. Soggy $ Bar is the most popular, Gertrude’s is another. There is a new vendor at Gertrude’s now, see link below.

Seddie’s One Love (Foxy’s son) was our favorite spot, unfortunately he passed.

Ivan’s Stress Free Beach Bar is now our favorite because it’s away from the biggest day tripper crowds on the east end of the bay…