Mariner: Eastern Caribbean Shore Excursions

[Gardening Girl]

These boards have been so helpful, I really appreciate everyones feedback. Would love to hear from those of you that have done the Mariner Eastern Caribbean cruise and have done some of Regent's shore excursions. Which ones did you like and which ones would you not recommend and the reasons why. Also, if you did some on your own privately which ones would you recommend? Would appreciate any feedback!! Thanks, GG

[Gardening Girl]

I was disappointed that no one responded to my question re:experience with shore excursions. We have recently returned from our cruise which was fabulous!! So I thought I would share our personal experiences with the Regent Mariner sponsored shore excursions that we participated in to help folks out in their decision making!

 

On St. Thomas we signed up for the hike, kayak & snorkel in Cas Cay. The kayaking was great, we paddled through mangroves, was very peaceful and relaxing, informative and very enjoyable. The hike was actually a walk, not too exciting! According to my husband (I didn't snorkel) the snorkeling was a bust (didn't see any interesting fish). The description said that we would get snacks, we were disappointed when they handed each of us one mini snickers bar, you may want to bring your own. The guides were helpful, and entertaining! They provide a cabinet to lock up your belongings while you are kayaking, etc.

 

My husband participated in The America's Cup Race in St. Maarten and loved it, he sailed on the stars and stripes that actually won in 1987 and said he would do it again in a heartbeat!!

 

In St. Barts we rented a car thru Regent for convenience (much cheaper to do privately) to drive around the tiny island to their many beautiful beaches. The car was waiting for us as we disembarked the ship. The agent asked my husband to sign the contract first before inspecting the car for scratches, dents, etc. and documenting it, which left us with an uncomfortable feeling, haven't encountered this before overseas!! The car was a rust bucket including the seat belt anchors, there appeared to be some better looking cars around, but alot were in pretty poor shape. The car served it's purpose without problems! Part of the deal was that we didn't have to fill up with gas, which was fine.

 

When we returned the car a few hours before the place was going to close we expected to hop out of the car and hand the keys to the agent and board the ship, this was not the case. We were told that we needed to find a parking place for the car and then turn in the keys. Needless to say by this time, 3p.m there were no available parking places within several blocks and we didn't feel comfortable parking blocks away, what if something happened to the car after we parked it, we would be liable for it, just not cool!! The agent told us after we had been driving around for awhile that if we couldn't find parking we could return it to the airport and then catch a shuttle back to the dock. This was not acceptable to us because we paid more than double the price of booking privately so we wouldn't have to hassel with the airport and shuttle, etc. After driving around for 1/2 an hour luckily we found a spot right in front. We were not happy with this experience, we let the Regent travel concierge know about our experience and his response was: you should have been able to drive up and give them the keys!!

 

We had a great cruise, Regent is a class act!!

 

Hope this helps folks out! GG

[Travelcat2]

Sorry you did not receive the response you hoped for. Unfortunately, CC boards do not permit naming specific tour companies.

 

Glad you had a great time!:)

[Gardening Girl]

If you read my Original Posting I was mainly asking for recomendations for Regent sponsored shore excursions, is that against Board Rules?? I was interested in the activities not the tour companies that were used!! Maybe that wasn't clear in my posting! GG

[canadagal]

Sorry to hear you had such a hard time with the car GG. That was the exact opposite experience to what we had the month before. We had a brand new looking car in very good condition and we were told to just leave the keys under the seat when we left. We also didn't have to sign the contract until we actually inspected the car. I would have complained too if the car was a rust bucket. Regent must have contracted with a different rental agency for your cruise. Sorry, I never would have recommended you renting through Regent if I thought you were going to have such a negative experience but it sounds like you made the best of it and I'm glad that you mentioned it to Regent so no on else gets the same bad treatment next time. Just a thought.... were there any other ships in port with you at the same time in St. Bart's? Ours was the only ship there when we pulled into port although Seadream arrived later on when we were getting ready to pull out. Also, you are very correct about the parking lot in St. Barts getting more crowded as the day wears on. We noticed that too and just double parked on the side of the main road closest to the entrance as there was no way we were going to leave the car blocks away either.

Thanks for the info about the America's cup. My husband remarked that next time he might want to do that too when we passed by the ships on our way to the museum.

Pat

[SuzCruise]

Hey GG!!!

 

We were on the cruise with GG and we rented a car in St. Bart's on our own. It was a breeze and over half the price of what Regent charges. It was actually the same company that Regent booked thru. Car wasn't great - but it was about what I expected after reading posts on CC. We stepped off the tender and took 3 steps and there was a sign up at the info booth for National. Our car was parked out front. We did get to check out the car before signing the paperwork and we had to fill up before we returned it. And all this junk about it being hard to fill up is just hogwash!!! The island is tiny so you can't miss the gas stations!!! We didn't have any problems finding a spot when we returned our car - but we got back to the ship earlier than GG. I am sure my husband's good parking karma just came in handy. And we just locked up the car and handed the keys to the girl at the info booth as instructed. No worries. We also rented a car in St. Martin and while I reserved one with Avis - we went with Budget because we saw them first and they offered us a good deal. They were very nice and helpful. Can't recommend renting a car in St. Martin enough. It was fabulous. I will try to post more details later - but I just wanted to add to what GG had to say.

 

GG - glad you complained to Regent about the car. Regent should be ashamed charging that much more for nothing extra. That wasn't my experience with the one other excursion we wound up doing - ziplining in San Juan. It was actually just a little bit more than if we had booked ourselves and since it included transportation it was actually a bargain.

 

Talk to you soon GG!

[Wendy The Wanderer]

If you read my Original Posting I was mainly asking for recomendations for Regent sponsored shore excursions, is that against Board Rules?? I was interested in the activities not the tour companies that were used!! Maybe that wasn't clear in my posting! GG

 

I think that Travelcat2 was referring to the fact that you can only mention a private tour company by name if somebody asks for recommendations. Glad you had a great cruise, we did a similar itinerary on Navigator in 2007.

[SuzCruise]

Opps - I meant we paid less than half of what Regent charges for a car on St. Barts. Sorry. It was clearly too late for me to be posting. ;)

[Ragnar Danneskjold]

This was an eye-opening experience, both in terms of scenery and cultural awareness. Not for the weak or faint of heart though, the trails are rough and the stream crossings "exciting". And make sure you have medivac insurance, no helmets are provided...

 

Probably our best excursion on a 10 day East Carib. cruise (we did one on each island).