Has anyone done the Fan-Ta-Sea catamaran cruise in St. Kitts?

[smudge's mom]

Marie - I'm so glad the negative comments did not dissuade you. Yeah - any excursion can have an "off day" but, in my opinion, to miss this excursion would be a big mistake.

[nwu]

Sorry, have to put my .02 cents in again. I guess the thing that bothers me the most with some excursions is when they treat the tourists like 5 year old kids and order you around all day. That just infuriates me--just leave me alone and enjoy the day. This was not at all like that. The crew is very friendly and goes around refilling drinks constantly. The ride over is quiet and beautiful. The beach is great. The ride back has some music, and yes there are some people who need to be escorted back to the boat in golf carts, but it is kind of fun to watch. You get a great view of your ship on the way back in.

 

The best thing is you get to one of the most beautiful beaches in Nevis. I'm not too familar with Nevis but I think the only resort is the Four Seasons. So if you can't afford the Four Seasons for a week, this is a way to see Nevis on the cheap.

[Marie & Ian]

nwu, you mentioned The Four Seasons being on Nevis. How long are you actually at the little beach in Nevis? Is there any way/ enough time to leave the little beach and do a bit of exporation of Nevis? Or is the beach out in the wilderness with no taxi's in sight?

 

I LOVE a beach, especially a nice one (we were at the beach in Phuket last year where Leonardo DiCaprio filmed the movie "The Beach" and it sounds like this Nevis beach is going to be much the same) ... however, just wondering if there's an opportunity to see a little of Nevis?

 

Marie

 

Summit 4/04

Days remaining

 

Celebrity Mercury 1999

Norweigan Dream 2000

 

[nwu]

I don't know if it is as nice as Phuket (never been there but on my to-do list). The beach was not as nice as Kauai or Maui but pretty darn close.

[smudge's mom]

The lunch and swim only lasted a couple of hours - I doubt there was time to go far - I suppose you could take a walk around the beach area, but I don't think you'd want to leave and miss the trip back to the boat. There was a tree line and I couldn't see beyond it - so I don't know what was in the immediate area beyond the trees.

[mocruiseguy]

Actually, when you get to the beach on this excursion you can visit the Four Seasons. Just walk to the right all the way to the end of the beach. You can see the Four Seasons from there. A few people on our excursion actually went onto the property for a quick visit.

 

Summit 12/04, 12/03 and 1/03

Millenium 1/02

Century 6/00 and 6/98

[CAC104]

We were on the Zenith last fall and took the Fan-ta-sea trip. I had mixed feelings about it. We had a good time, but I think if they are charging $96.00 for it now they are over charging. The catamaran ride was nice, but the snorkeling was nothing special. The lunch was very disappointing. I think the other bad reviews of the lunch were pretty accurate. If you like to drink alcohol, and can drink a lot, you can get your money's worth. Personally, I would take a snorkel trip that did not include lunch and was much cheaper if I am there again. We don't drink alcoholic beverages during the day, so even though we enjoyed the sailing part, we felt like we paid too much for what we got.

Carol KC

[woodofpine]

We were on Summit last week. Didn't do "Fan-ta Sea" in St. Kitts, having just independently done the "Heatwave" snorkle/turtle/lunch cat in Barbados the day prior (there $72 w/cab adults, $37 per child incl. cab). Saw "Fan-ta Sea' from a distance.

 

St. Kitts is a lovely island. We took a dedicated cab r/t to Brimstone Hill Fortress (interesting with superb views over neighboring islands) for a couple of hours, then returned to town for a brief look around then a r/t cab to S. Friars beach (excellent) with lounger and umbrella. Excellent day - the foregoing totalled $25 pp.

[smudge's mom]

Whenever we've taken these "combo" tours which include snorkeling, the snorkeling part of it is short and usually not very good. I would have to agree with the others - if snorkeling is your main objective, there are probably better ways to go about it.

 

For me, what I liked about the trip was that it encompassed several different things - with just enough time to actually enjoy the water at the beach.

 

So many people talk about price - and they are so right. You can always do things cheaper if you do them on your own. But for us, having someone else plan the day and take care of us, is worth the extra cost.

[captain1]

Just a thought on St. Kitts - when we were there we didn't sign up for any shore excursion that day. We got off the ship, found a cab driver and asked him to take us (my hubby and me and another couple) to the most beautiful beach on the island. We had a spectacular drive with breathtaking views and then arrived at Turtle Beach. It was wonderful - crystal clear warm water, lounge chairs, fascinating green vervet monkeys to watch - truly a tropical paradise! There was a little restaurant/bar and a waitress who brought us buckets of beer every half hour on the dot. We hated to leave when our cab driver came back for us. By far one of the most relaxing, enjoyable days I have ever had. Just goes to show that you don't have to take an excursion to have a great time!

[smudge's mom]

captain - That sounds like what I would like to do when I get to St. Kitts/Nevis again. I couldn't believe how beautiful the entire area is and I'm eager to get back there.

 

Sometimes it's just nice to sit and relax, isn't it?

[CAC104]

Captain1...How much was the cab ride to Turtle Beach? Did you pay a fee for the use of chairs and umbrellas?

[Lsimon]

Don't miss this great trip!!

We just finished the Summit 10 day trip. The Fan-Ta-Sea excursion was the highlight of our trip. We don’t ususally do cruise sponsored excursions but made a couple of exceptions this trip and just loved the Fan-ta-sea!! Do it. Very relaxing smooth ride along and very scenic. The snoreling wsn’t bad and the beach on Nevis was just beautiful. Crew was fun too. Boat was full but not too crowded to be comfortable, I’d say about 50 people. I just wrote a review on our Summit trip which should be posted here soon and put up some pictures at http://home.comcast.net/~lfsimon/ which include many of the Fan-ta-sea trip.

Larry

lsimon@mail.com