excursions

[myboo]

My family and I are going on a eastern caribean cruise in April. My question is should I book my excursions through princess or with an independent vendor? What if I just want to spend the day on a beach, do I need to book that through princess or just take a taxi to the beach? Also, can anyone recommend some fun excursions that you have done. We are going to Princess cay, st. thomas, st. marten and turks and caicos. Looking forward to your responses.

[spoheat]

My favorite on St. Thomas is to take a cab to Red Hook and take the ferry to St. John where we like Trunk Bay. It is beautiful on St. John, 90% of the island is National Park so not urban looking. There is easy snorkeling from shore there also, equipment rental, clean wash rooms, concession. On a more adventureous note: we did charter a sailboat for the day last year through Simplicity Charters and went snorkeling from it, made some island stops, had a great lunch. The boat is clean and amazing (The captain's parents live aboard but they were at their day jobs while sonny charters it out). The first mate is a college educated marine biologist I believe, they were both fantastic guides. This was not that expensive considering what other trips cost "per person" and I would do it again in a minute.

[myboo]

Thanks spoheat. The boat ride sounds like alot of fun. Will look into it.