USVI-On-Line

Sorry to bring up this topic again, but I tried to do a search and could not really find out my answers.

We want to take a boat trip with the family, but it has to be economical. This will be for a family of 4. Two adults 46 and 47 and a 16 year old and an almost 12 year old. The old people and 16 year old are excellent swimmers and the 12 year old, not so much, but he did snorkel fine in a pool.
I would like to go the the BVI, but that is not necessary. I would like to go to some snorkeling spots. Any kind of boat is fine. I have a few written down from reading the forum.

Questions I have are:
Is is absolutely necessary to book ahead of time or do you think we can wait until we are there (June 8-15) to decide what we want to do?

What do you feel is the best trip for the money?
Is it possible to keep it under $300. My husband is not wanting to spend a lot more on this trip.

Is there anyone out there who wants to share a charter?

Thanks!
Terese

When are you going?

$300 for four people won't get you a charter or a bareboat rental (when you factor in fuel costs). If I remember Stormy Petrel and others were around $450 or so.

You might be able to do it if you do a booze cruise. But not sure if you want your kids around that.

This was listed below on the forum as a new sponsor...

Prices for 4 come out to $480 though -- which honestly is the going rate.

Please give a warm forum welcome (I know many of you already know who he is) to Capt. Doug:

Gypsy Spirit Take advantage of an awesome CARRIBEAN sail! Full day cruise on Gypsy Spirit with a reasonable $120 per person boat rate, and a child discount of $35!! Full day is $120, halfday is $65, Sunset $65, children under 12 $85 day, and $45 half and sunset sails. For custom wedding packages, contact Captain Doug for details. Typicaly wedding charters are $95 in addition to the price of the sail. Special discounts available, call Captain Doug for details at (340) 344-2211 or email: captaindougross@hotmail.com

Sea-nile - so sorry we couldn't work out the coordination of our vacation times so we could share a charter I would suggest you look in the travel calendar for folks going to STJ when you are and send them a PM to see if any are interested in sharing a charter for the day. I can recommend companies to rent the boat. If you split it, it should end up around $250/family including fuel, captain, tip. I hope you find someone. Otherwise, as Gromit indicates, there is the group tours like New Horizons II which is like $120/pp (not sure of child prices). This goes to Baths and JVD I believe.

Good luck!!

If you want to go around STJ you could go with Rusty I think the last time It was 65 a person had a couple of snorkle stop and a so so lunch

Thanks,
I did see that captain Doug post and that looked interesting.
Do you think we could wait until we get there to decide?
I would pay more than $300 so I will have to start being real nice to my husband.

Personally I would NOT wait, unless you want an excuse not to go. When it comes to important stuff like that, that I want to do, I book well in advance to get the day I want.

You can always take the chance, but if it's something you really want to do I'd book sooner rather than later.

One other thing that you MIGHT consider -- and this is just me -- contact the Captain and tell him/her when you will be on island. Tell him/her that you'd like to do a trip but you can't afford more than $300. Tell him/her where to contact you and in the event that he doesn't have a booking that week and wants to make something for the day maybe he/she would be willing to take $300.

I'd also offer to do a really nice review on Trip Advisor, write a letter for his/her web site and/or offer to be a reference.

Lots of folks living on island do the whole barter system thing. If you're flexible but your pocketbook is not, then it's worth a try

Hi Sea-nile:

Just for reference, I did the New Horizons II day trip and it would have been fine for kids/teenagers. I suppose you could always end up with someone that goes beyond their limits, but on the day we went, everyone was very well behaved. The itinerary included breakfast (fresh fruits and breads), the Baths, lunch on Marina Cay (which was excellent), snorkeling at Guana Island, and the Soggy Dollar on JVD. It was a good day and I would have had no problem taking my daughters (left them at home though)!!

Ok this might sound a little wierd, but if you go to the information booth that is run by the Westin, tell them you want to go to the Baths or snorkeling trip through Cruz Bay Watersports. If you take the Westin Timeshare tour they will knock off about $100.00 or more, hagle with her on it. The tour takes about and hour and half. Plus I think they will even throw in lunch the day at the tour. Make your husband take the tour you take the kids to the pool for the hour and half. We did this and had a great day going to the Baths and then to the Caves at Norman Island. It was a great trip, They do serve drinks, but when I went it didn't get crazy like a typical booze cruise. We did end up buying a timeshare though so the money we saved cost us.

Thanks everyone. This has been very helpful and I know that it is a topic that has ben asked too many times. I just need to make a decision now.