snorkel trip to De palm Island

[rickhurley]

I took a half day snorkle trip to De Palm Island off a celebrity cruise ship, infinity, on march 22 and it was a disaster from beginning to end. First, it took them an hour and 15 minutes to get us to the isalnd-they held our bus while the waited for more tourists to get off another ship. The island was packed, and by the time we got there, all the shade areas were long taken. The snorkle is just ok-they have conditioned the fish to come around only when fed-they sell fish food in the gifit shop. If you go, the first thing you will realize is that you a short feey boat ride away from the biggest oil refinery in the Caribbean; the bath rooms were overused and there were no attendants tyring to keep up with even the most basic sanitary conditions. Food was good, but conditions in the kitchen were not sanitary, which was clearly visible from the eating areas. I will repeat this info in the comments i will do for the entire Infinity cruise I took. If you only have a half day, folks on our ship really like the tour that reads:

sail,snorkel,swim and swing(the swing is optional), great tour.

[MiniMom57]

rick -- I agree with you! We were at DePalm Island during the week of 3/4 to 3/11 -- the beach wasn't crowded at all the day we were there, but I felt completely ripped off by the expense of the excursion! The water was rough the day we were there, the beach for swimming was nasty (exposed black mesh that they poured sand on the create a beach, piles of storm debris just beyond the beach, and that lovely view of the oil refinery/electric plant!) Oh, and construction noises....saw, hammers, sawdust, etc. The food the day were were there was terrible.......not sure WHAT that burger was made of!:eek:

 

That excursion completely soured me to ever returning to Aruba. I saw nothing worth going back for on the trip between the ship and the island.

[CorbinCatFan]

We took this excursion in 1999 and 2000 and loved every minute. We saw some improvements in the grounds between the two. I hate to hear that this place is going down hill.:(

[Jacqueline]

I was on another cruise line= did not find it to be worth the value at all !!

Instead do the Jolly Pirate- Great snorkeling.

[Aloha_Jackie]

what a bummer! We had a great time last time we were there Christmas of 2005 aboard the Sea Princess. We did the Helmet dive and it was tons of fun. We have this one scheduled for full day on 5/3 and now I am wondering because this isnt the first post/thread about the poor conditions there - whats the deal?!?!!?:(:confused::mad: