Island Marketing St. Thomas Helicopter Tour

[YoungGangMom]

Has anyone used Island Marketing's Lost Beach Private Getaway and Island Tour by Helicopter! We are thinking about this excursion and wondered if it is as glamorous as it seems. Also, would it be too scary for children ages 6 & 8 to ride on a helicopter?

[YoungGangMom]

Okay, we are going to go for it. Hope it turns out to be the journey we expect. :rolleyes:

[YoungGangMom]

We did it! The highlight of our vacation was this helicopter ride and the time spent on a private island by ourselves. It was a majestic experience and well worth every penny. If I could figure out how to post photos, I would. A perfect day!

[YoungGangMom]

Hans Lollik from the helicopter.

[SPADGER]

Hi this looks fab! We were very interested in doing this tour. However, when we enquired about this we were told that the website was due an update and the price was higher than expected. They also said that the price didnt include taxis to the helicopter and that we had to get our own taxi or we could pay extra for them to arrange it. This has put us off doing the tour now as it doesnt seem very professional. Did you have any problems with them? We would be grateful for more information from you.

Many thanks :confused:

[YoungGangMom]

We did not experience any problems with our arrangements. Sorry you are having problems. We did have to pay for our own taxi, there were 4 of us and it was 32 dollars each way for our group. Finding a taxi was not a problem.

I believe we paid a little under 900 for the excursion (not including taxi fare). We did go in the begining of October, which is considered the off season however. In our opinion it was one of the best days of our lives, but that is just our opinion. It is quite costly, but we made sacrafices elswhere.

Island Marketing books the excursions, but they contract out the actual tours. We were very happy with our excursion operators. They made sure we had snorkels to use and plenty of cold drinks.

On the island we saw chickens, wild donkeys, and hermit crabs galore.

We could have spent the entire day just exploring, but the white sandy beaches and warm waters called to us as well.

[SPADGER]

Hi Im so glad for that reply because we had just booked it!!! It looks fab though Im feeling very extravagant now. I wouldnt usually spend anything like that on a trip! I had a chat with the online rep and was able to ask a lot of questions. They are arranging a private taxi for us at extra cost but I feel better that way just because there are 7 ships in port on the date we are there. Cant believe it wasnt already booked with so many people in port that day. Saying that we wouldnt have even know about it if we hadnt have read your post so thank you. My children are now mega excited.....and so are me and hubby lol :D

[YoungGangMom]

I am so happy for you. We also don't usually spend that kind of cash, but it seemed like a once in a lifetime opportunity and we had to grab it.

I hope you enjoy every moment as we did and don't forget your camera!

[SPADGER]

Hi did you take a packed lunch from the ship?? did you have any problems getting off the ship with food?? we have read that there are some ports which do not allow you to bring food into the country and dont want it to cause us any problems getting of the ship Thanks :)

[Quampapetet]

Do you have any photos of the inside of the helicopter? I need to see how much space it has, preferably if you have any pix that show floorspace.

 

Thanks!

[YoungGangMom]

We were also told by others that you can not take food off the ship unless it was packed and sealed, like chips and bottled water. However when we got off the ship there were no searches of our belongings performed what so ever. I don't think there would have been a problem bringing other items off the ship to eat.

 

I don't have inside photos of the helicopter, except of my family members. There were four of us and one of us sat up front with the pilot. We had enough room to easily bring two full tote bags and fit the three of us in the cab very comfortably. I do think we could have managed another bag or too if we wanted.

[YoungGangMom]

[Quampapetet]

Thanks for the photos! It looks like your kids had fun! :)

[Quampapetet]

Hi, again. We're now looking into the private beach helicopter excursion that you did (instead of the twenty-five minute tour). Do you have any other photos of the island that you can post? Also, is the island hikeable to the top? Or only the beach is accessible by foot?

 

Thanks! :)

[YoungGangMom]

The island is pretty heavily wooded and with a 6 and 8 year old in tow, it was all about the beach and animals. Not knowing what kind of creatures lurk more inland I'm not sure I would want to venture to far with no facilities or help on the island.

 

 

[Quampapetet]

Thanks for the info. and additional photos! According to Wikipedia, there might be a few lizards, snakes, rabbits, birds, and rats on the island. Nothing too dangerous, I don't think. I would hope they wouldn't go leave ppl on a deserted island with dangerous creatures!!

 

Where did you see the wild donkeys? Were they friendly? Were they the small ones or big ones?

 

Also, flipping through your other photos again, I saw the rope swing your daughter was on. Was that there on the island or did you bring it?

[YoungGangMom]

Thanks for the info. and additional photos! According to Wikipedia, there might be a few lizards, snakes, rabbits, birds, and rats on the island. Nothing too dangerous, I don't think. I would hope they wouldn't go leave ppl on a deserted island with dangerous creatures!!

 

Where did you see the wild donkeys? Were they friendly? Were they the small ones or big ones?

 

Also, flipping through your other photos again, I saw the rope swing your daughter was on. Was that there on the island or did you bring it?

The donkey's were full sized, and seemed scared of us. We observed a couple but they took off whne we took a few steps closer to them. They were about 50 feet or so off shore in the wooded area. We tried to get a photo, but I'm not sure would would be able to make them out as they were leaving as the camera flashed.

Watch where you walk in the wooded area. There were a lot of the leaves on the ground that served as camouflage for the hermit crabs. They were glorious in there different colored shells!

 

The rope swing was on the island as are other traces of visitors.

[Quampapetet]

The donkey's were full sized, and seemed scared of us. We observed a couple but they took off whne we took a few steps closer to them. They were about 50 feet or so off shore in the wooded area. We tried to get a photo, but I'm not sure would would be able to make them out as they were leaving as the camera flashed.

 

Ah, good that they weren't "attack donkeys"! ;)

 

Watch where you walk in the wooded area. There were a lot of the leaves on the ground that served as camouflage for the hermit crabs. They were glorious in there different colored shells!

 

Very helpful info.! Thanks!!! :) They sound quite beautiful, I just would not want to step on them.

 

The rope swing was on the island as are other traces of visitors.

 

Cool about the swing. When you say "other traces", do you mean litter and stuff? I hope ppl wouldn't do that.

[lilpootr]

I was so happy to see this thread:)

 

We will be cruising to St. Thomas in April and I keep going back to this excursion. DH & I will be celebrating our 19th Anniversary on the day we go to St. Thomas. Our two children will be with us, DS 14 and DD 17. We are a fairly adventurous family, enjoying different excursions on our cruises. In Honduras we went horseback riding through the country and in Cozumel we went swimming with the dolphins, all tours that I thought would be pretty hard to top, until this one...

 

Your review was great, but was hoping to hear any more info that could be helpful in making my decision. Were you required to put all of the $$ down, or just a deposit, what was the "refund" policy like (in case we don't make it to that Port of Call). Also, I noticed there are no "facilities" does that mean bathrooms too? Silly question, but did you feel safe??

 

Thanks so much for your help :)

[Quampapetet]

Most of your questions can be answered by looking at Island Marketing's Web site, but here are the answers:

 

1. A deposit is required in order to book the tour (your spot will not be reserved without it) and is $200-something. The rest of the money is due in cash when you go on the tour.

 

2. They don't refund your deposit if you decide to cancel, although for a year or so you'll be able to use that money towards any of their other excursions (they have excursions in several different ports), but if your ship has to change plans and misses the port, they will give you a refund. Do check their site to make sure this is the latest policy and the correct one, as I'm just going on memory here!

 

3. Correct, there are no bathrooms or anything else man-made on the island. There are no other people, no houses, no cabanas, no bars/restaurants, etc. They do give you a cooler full of drinks (water/sodas) and at an extra cost can give you beer/wine and/or a catered lunch.

 

4. I can't answer the "safe" question yet 'cause I haven't been on the excursion yet (it is later this month), so hopefully the OP will write her experiences. However, I don't see why you would feel not safe - are you asking about in case somebody drowns or something? Keep watch over your children, maybe have one adult not in the water when the others are (take turns if you both wish to swim), if you feel that something might happen.

 

BTW, in case the private island is not your thing due to water safety or lack of bathrooms, the same company also offers a tour that is just the helicopter part. I think it is about 25 minutes in the helicopter and you get to see all the nearby islands and stuff as you fly over them.

[lilpootr]

Most of your questions can be answered by looking at Island Marketing's Web site, but here are the answers:

 

1. A deposit is required in order to book the tour (your spot will not be reserved without it) and is $200-something. The rest of the money is due in cash when you go on the tour.

 

2. They don't refund your deposit if you decide to cancel, although for a year or so you'll be able to use that money towards any of their other excursions (they have excursions in several different ports), but if your ship has to change plans and misses the port, they will give you a refund. Do check their site to make sure this is the latest policy and the correct one, as I'm just going on memory here!

 

3. Correct, there are no bathrooms or anything else man-made on the island. There are no other people, no houses, no cabanas, no bars/restaurants, etc. They do give you a cooler full of drinks (water/sodas) and at an extra cost can give you beer/wine and/or a catered lunch.

 

4. I can't answer the "safe" question yet 'cause I haven't been on the excursion yet (it is later this month), so hopefully the OP will write her experiences. However, I don't see why you would feel not safe - are you asking about in case somebody drowns or something? Keep watch over your children, maybe have one adult not in the water when the others are (take turns if you both wish to swim), if you feel that something might happen.

 

BTW, in case the private island is not your thing due to water safety or lack of bathrooms, the same company also offers a tour that is just the helicopter part. I think it is about 25 minutes in the helicopter and you get to see all the nearby islands and stuff as you fly over them.

 

Thank you so much for your response! So you are going to be doing this excursion this month??? I bet you are so excited:p

 

I will check out Island Tour Marketing's policies, although the terms you described definitely seem reasonable.

 

That's great that they supply sodas/waters. Having no bars, other people or facilities sounds very appealing. This sounds silly, but I'm not 100% sure what "safety" issues I'm concerned about. I guess just the vulnerability of being the only people on the island. Maybe I've watched too many episodes of lost, lol.

 

I looked at the helicopter ride excursion, but I think I just love the idea of our very own paradise!

 

Again, thanks for the info! Would love to hear a review of your trip upon return!

[Quampapetet]

Thank you so much for your response! So you are going to be doing this excursion this month??? I bet you are so excited:p

 

Yup! I'm very excited!! :D I've never been in a helicopter before, only planes. Several ppl in my group are going (we're filling two helicopters - well, I think the same one goes and comes back for the second half of those going), so it should be an awesome time.

 

That's great that they supply sodas/waters. Having no bars, other people or facilities sounds very appealing. This sounds silly, but I'm not 100% sure what "safety" issues I'm concerned about. I guess just the vulnerability of being the only people on the island. Maybe I've watched too many episodes of lost, lol.

 

They also supply snorkeling gear - I forgot to mention that before.

 

If you need to pee, there's plenty of foliage (as you can see from the OP's photos in this thread) you can hide behind ... or there's always the ocean.... :p It'll be like Vegas - what happened on the island, stays on the island!!

 

Haha, don't worry, I'm sure they'll remember to pick you up after.... ;) They leave you with a loaner cell phone in case you need to call them (if you want to be picked up early, in case of emergency, etc.). If it wasn't safe, I'd think they wouldn't offer it.

 

I looked at the helicopter ride excursion, but I think I just love the idea of our very own paradise!

 

That's the excursion I originally wanted to do (more flight time/photo-taking opportunities), but the group was more likely to do it getting their money's worth with the island included, so I'm okay with it. Should be fun! :)

 

Again, thanks for the info! Would love to hear a review of your trip upon return!

 

Will do!

[lilpootr]

Thanks again for all the great info! I feel more relieved after your last reply!:)

[YoungGangMom]

Thank you so much for your response! So you are going to be doing this excursion this month??? I bet you are so excited:p

 

I will check out Island Tour Marketing's policies, although the terms you described definitely seem reasonable.

 

That's great that they supply sodas/waters. Having no bars, other people or facilities sounds very appealing. This sounds silly, but I'm not 100% sure what "safety" issues I'm concerned about. I guess just the vulnerability of being the only people on the island. Maybe I've watched too many episodes of lost, lol.

 

I looked at the helicopter ride excursion, but I think I just love the idea of our very own paradise!

 

Again, thanks for the info! Would love to hear a review of your trip upon return!

 

While we were there we were given a phone to use to contact the pilot in case of an emergency. There is no way to be "safe" anywhere you go because you can never predict an accidental fall or other mishap. However as long as you are careful there is no need to worry. My 6 and 8 year old were fine, we just didn't let them wander off on their own.

I'm sure you will have a great time!

[lilpootr]

While we were there we were given a phone to use to contact the pilot in case of an emergency. There is no way to be "safe" anywhere you go because you can never predict an accidental fall or other mishap. However as long as you are careful there is no need to worry. My 6 and 8 year old were fine, we just didn't let them wander off on their own.

I'm sure you will have a great time!

 

Good to know about the cell phone. I guess my safety issues were more along the lines of abduction (lol) or "vanishing" (again too many episodes of Lost) than everyday mishaps. I agree that supervision will help :)

 

Another quick question for you, was it a long taxi ride to the helicopter. I am assuming you met the helicopter at an airport?

 

Thanks again for your help!