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What is the best excursion you have been on?


LovetoCruise87

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For me, it was the all-day boat trip we did in St. Maarten through Soualiga Destinations. Saw tons of interesting places, had two good snorkeling stops (at least that's what my wife and kids said; I stayed on the boat and talked with the couple who were our pilot and guide), and just an overall great day.

My wife would probably say her best was the dolphin swim we did in St. Kitts. Mainly because it was a bucket list item. The huge smile on her face when she was lying on a boogie board and being pushed by one of the dolphins, or when she had one pose next to her in the water, says all you need to know.

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What really opened my eyes was my first snorkeling excursion out of Labadee over 10 years ago.  To a degree, it changed my life.  But aside from that, Chacchoben, Dunn's River Falls Climb, and the Amazing Secret River at Playa del Carmen are ones I'd heartily recommend, physical exertion required!

In Europe, Pisa and the Acropolis were underwhelming, but Ephesus really piqued my curiosity.   Some historical sites you've just got to visit to compare your direct observations with what you've read over the years.  The quality of your tour guide makes a difference (not too much talk, not too little).

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Cycling in Skagway.  They towed the bikes and people up the Klondike Highway, just into Canada, and then we cycled down.  And by cycled I mean coasted.  It was not a workout, but it was beautiful - we had stops along the way to take photos or admire.  Highly recommended, and we might just do it again.

2nd favorite was ATVing in San Juan.  That was tons of fun as well (and muddy!).

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For my wife, it was Dog Sledding Adventure on the Norris Glacier by Helicopter. The sled ride by the husky's on a glacier was an amazing adventure with incredible sights and sounds. Cuddles with the husky's was priceless. 

For me it was the Helmut dive in Bora Bora Tahiti. You spend quite a good amount of time under the water, and armed with a bag of fish food; the large variety of colourful fish and even a sting ray, all come out to play and you are engulfed by the most beautiful looking fish of various sizes.       

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Can't pick just one - different responses defined by different parameters.

Nature - ocean kayaking in Sitka with my brother - we took our time and spotted two different mama grizzly with their cubs as well as many bald eagles, one of which snatched a salmon out of the water not twenty feet from us.

Activity - Glacier View Bike and Brew in Juneau. Combination of active bike ride with tasting from Alaska breweries with my two sons and at-the-time-fiancee of my oldest.

Wonder - Aruba Butterfly Farm with grandkids, aged 3.5 and 1.5 at the time (also included beach time and was the first time my then-3.5 year old granddaughter had gone into ocean water deeper than her knees - she held my hand tight and insisted we go out until she couldn't touch the bottom anymore and the waves were lifting her up).

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

Back in 2012ish, we stopped in Labadee and did this small 20-person or so excursion which was basically just a half-day floating in the water and drinking. They took you on a 25-30 minute boat ride far from anyone else, to some small little "island", and you basically just floated in the crystal waters and drank unlimited Prestige and rum punch. That was it. That's the excursion. I have such great memories of it...and then at some point in the day, the memories end. Note the unlimited Prestige and run punch. 

 

On 5/25/2021 at 8:54 AM, JLMoran said:

For me, it was the all-day boat trip we did in St. Maarten through Soualiga Destinations. Saw tons of interesting places, had two good snorkeling stops (at least that's what my wife and kids said; I stayed on the boat and talked with the couple who were our pilot and guide), and just an overall great day.

We did that one in early 2018 and had a great time too. It wasn't long after Hurricane Irma and the guide (the owner's son...Brett? Brent?) told us about his story of escaping the storm, and had a good mix of showing us the real impacts on St. Maarten (including sunken boats and yachts, destroyed homes, etc.) while also making sure we had a blast and enjoyed the vacation. 

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46 minutes ago, Zacharius said:

We did that one in early 2018 and had a great time too. It wasn't long after Hurricane Irma and the guide (the owner's son...Brett? Brent?) told us about his story of escaping the storm, and had a good mix of showing us the real impacts on St. Maarten (including sunken boats and yachts, destroyed homes, etc.) while also making sure we had a blast and enjoyed the vacation. 

Wait, when in 2018?? That was the year that we went, sailing was on Freedom of the Seas from March 31 through April 7 (8-night sailing). Had the same boat captain (with his fiancee on board; they have a story around that as well that ties into his escape), now I'm wondering if we were on the same boat on the same week! ?

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26 minutes ago, JLMoran said:

Wait, when in 2018?? That was the year that we went, sailing was on Freedom of the Seas from March 31 through April 7 (8-night sailing). Had the same boat captain (with his fiancee on board; they have a story around that as well that ties into his escape), now I'm wondering if we were on the same boat on the same week! ?

It was early May, I think. So not quite as early in 2018 as I thought, now that I actually put brain power in to it. We were on Freedom of the Seas too, though, as it re-positioned from Ft. Lauderdale to San Juan via Nassau, St. Thomas, and St. Maarten. 

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I think I will always pick the Horseback riding in Falmouth. I love horseback riding and then getting to combine it with going in the water *chefs kiss*

I also really liked that, once they heard and saw I had some experience on horseback, one of the guides let my horse actually run in the water while everyone else trotted or walked. Now THAT'S an experience! Feeling those powerful muscles crash against the waves and not even take a break in stride ?

 

Runner-up might be the Salsa Salsa Salsa in Cozumel. I like eating and the fact that they gave us stuff to nibble on while we made the salsa was great! Plus you get those salsa recipes as part of the excursion to take back home. I made it at home and my friends LOVED it.

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3 hours ago, CrimsonCruiser said:

I also really liked that, once they heard and saw I had some experience on horseback, one of the guides let my horse actually run in the water while everyone else trotted or walked. Now THAT'S an experience! Feeling those powerful muscles crash against the waves and not even take a break in stride ?

This is now a new LIFE GOAL for me!!  Thank you for sharing. That must have been awesome.

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On 5/28/2021 at 8:13 AM, ChessE4 said:

What really opened my eyes was my first snorkeling excursion out of Labadee over 10 years ago.  To a degree, it changed my life.  But aside from that, Chacchoben, Dunn's River Falls Climb, and the Amazing Secret River at Playa del Carmen are ones I'd heartily recommend, physical exertion required!

In Europe, Pisa and the Acropolis were underwhelming, but Ephesus really piqued my curiosity.   Some historical sites you've just got to visit to compare your direct observations with what you've read over the years.  The quality of your tour guide makes a difference (not too much talk, not too little).

Ephesus was just added to our Odyssey Holy Land/Greece October 2022. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

So many amazing recommendations in this thread for future cruises - thank you!

Having only been on one cruise so far I don't have a lot to choose from but I did love swimming with the pigs off the coast of Cococay!

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On 6/24/2021 at 6:11 PM, CrimsonCruiser said:

I think I will always pick the Horseback riding in Falmouth. I love horseback riding and then getting to combine it with going in the water *chefs kiss*

I also really liked that, once they heard and saw I had some experience on horseback, one of the guides let my horse actually run in the water while everyone else trotted or walked. Now THAT'S an experience! Feeling those powerful muscles crash against the waves and not even take a break in stride ?

 

Going to Falmouth in August'22 - now very tempted to try this, thank you for sharing!

 

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On 6/28/2021 at 1:40 PM, Jill said:

Ephesus was just added to our Odyssey Holy Land/Greece October 2022. 

We did Ephesus on another cruise line but it was so beautiful and a fun stop. I loved Istanbul too, we didn't do an excursion but just wandered the city. Turkey was breathtaking. 

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My favorite excursion I have ever been on was in Costa Maya. We did an ATV tour. It had stormed very hard prior to the excursion so the ground was all muddy. We were flying through puddles, hitting the riders (in our party) behind us with mud. By the end of the excursion, we were sore from laughing so hard and COVERED in mud (and most likely cow ?). It was so fun and funny, I still burst out laughing when we look back at the pictures. I am pretty sure we threw away all of those clothes too.

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For us it would be Dog Sledding on the Mendenhall Glacier by Helicopter in Alaska.  Not a cheap excursion but worth every penny.  The flight up was awesome...The view of the glacier was spectacular.   Weather was great for our dog sledding adventure...The mushers live on the glacier all summer and had a kennel of puppies you could pet and spend time with.  You could spend as much time as you wanted and grab a helicopter back when your ready.

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 7/14/2021 at 10:13 AM, Psycho and Barb said:

For us it would be Dog Sledding on the Mendenhall Glacier by Helicopter in Alaska.  Not a cheap excursion but worth every penny.  The flight up was awesome...The view of the glacier was spectacular.   Weather was great for our dog sledding adventure...The mushers live on the glacier all summer and had a kennel of puppies you could pet and spend time with.  You could spend as much time as you wanted and grab a helicopter back when your ready.

They don't seem to be offering this on my August 19 2022 cruise (Ovation)- I'm praying it's added!! If not, I have some difficult decisions to make...

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