which excursions for 7-day Eastern caribbean ? or no excursions ?

[heathertwins]

First time DCL trip, actually first cruise ever ! I've tried to look up various excursions but not finding much luck. We don't have unlimited expenses so I'm wondering if we can get away with not booking excursions for Tortola and St. Thomas ? We will have some seniors and kids in-toe but the youngest is 7 yrs old. Is is possible to just walk off the ship and see enough or must we at least book a taxi somewhere ?

thanks for any additional tidbits for a first-timer.... (I've read the thread that is first listed for Disney cruises)

 

[pilka214]

Considering the size of your group, and the fact it's your first cruise (how exciting) I'd highly recommend shore excursions! You can definitely just walk of the ship and hop a taxi in either port, take it to a local beach and find your own way back and it will be much less expensive. But the excursions from the ships are vetted and guaranteed by disney, so if weather or some other issue arises you will get your money back. I've been to St. Thomas many times, i recommend walking around downtown a bit if you like shopping, but the beaches there are great (megan's bay, turtle beach or take a ferry to st johns, it's the best!!!) I didn't do an excursion in St thomas my last trip and ended up grabbing their plentiful taxi's to get around. Tortola doesn't have quite the vast network of public caravans, so taxi's are available but not as much.. The most important thing is making sure you're back to your ship on time.

quick thing to think about as well, if you have AT&t, Tmobile or sprint you should get phone service in St Thomas, which might make getting around the island alone a lot easier.

So if you want to just relax and enjoy a beach or shopping, don't do an excursion. If you want to see as much as possible and get a really unique experience, disney does a pretty good job with their excursions desk, and you can book them once you get one board normally pretty easily.

I also recommend snorkel rentals in Castaway Cay, unless you bring your own. it includes a floating vest, flippers and the snorkel and mask. Also biking can be nice if you like being active, and they do a 5k on the island in the morning if you're into that

Here's the link to disney's carribean excursions--

https://disneycruise.disney.go.com/port-adventures/caribbean/

 

[ChuckElias]

For Tortola, there's not a whole lot to see without an excursion. I know you said finances might be an issue, but I HIGHLY recommend taking a ferry from Tortola to Virgin Gorda and seeing the The Baths. (Do a Google search and look at some pictures. It's amazing.) If DCL doesn't offer it as a Port Adventure, it's very easy to do on your own. Here's a link to a ferry company that will get you to Virgin Gorda, and to the Baths, and they'll even throw in a free lunch. Just make sure that your ship is in port long enough to make the trip. The whole thing is only $48 per adult ($40 for kids).

http://www.bviferries.com/specials.html

I don't work for them or anything, but we did do this special the first time we were there. By the way, when I sailed on the Breakaway earlier this month, their Virgin Gorda excursion was $70 per person, with no lunch. So it really is a good deal. I highly recommend this.

Seriously, highly recommend.

 

[ChuckElias]

You also might want to check out this thread that Tammy put together a while ago. It has some good information on excursions:

http://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/disney-cruise-line-excursion-reviews.837325/

 

[MaryJaneP]

On our multiple cruises, budgeting for excursions was very tight. While we did a few DCL excursions (we wanted to make sure ships did not leave prior to our return, a DCL excursion guarantee), there were numerous ports where we did not do an excursion. We walked off the ships but stayed in their vicinity if there were shops to see. We did eastern Caribbean but not Tortola. Castaway Cay was our only definite must have and fortunately, weather cooperated. Good luck.

 

[Ralphlaw]

On our Eastern Caribbean cruise, we booked no Port Adventures. None appealed to us, and both Puerto Rico and St. Thomas can be done on your own from the ship. We got back to the ship early because we preferred being onboard, to be honest. Both Ports are close to most attractions.

Of course, if some unique excursions look amazing, definitely go for it. Good luck.

 

[BigRedDad]

The problem for first time cruisers on Disney (even Silver level) is the excursions are booked early and may not be available to you. I recommend looking at the ports on other sites to get an idea of what can be done inexpensively or free even. I would at least get off in the ports to look around the port area, grab a bite and drink, and then back on early. The kids can stay in the kids clubs as well if you just want it to be adults getting off.

 

[Kingdom Konsultant]

I'm doing the 7 night Eastern next month! When are you cruising @heathertwins ? We have the zipline set up for St.Thomas and the tour in Tortola that goes to Virgin Gourda and the Baths.

Pam

 

[heathertwins]

Thank you so much for all the wonderful advice !! Very excited for our first cruise and for it to be a Disney. I am not going next month, leaving in Dec. 2016