I am cruising on Carnival Victory in two months and I'm really interested in hearing about some awesome (and not so awesome) shore excursions in both St. Maarten and St. Thomas. I love the water activities such as snorkeling, but there are five that I'm stuck on deciding between. They all look amazing and I want to do them all but I know we can't. One goes to St. John, One is a two-in-one snorkeling, one is Parasailing, one is snorkeling, kayaking and hiking in St. Thomas, and another is Buck Island. They all look amazing. We LOVE to snorkel so we want something great. I'm even more confused which excursion to take in St. Thomas. There are so many great ones. Anything anyone could tell me would be really great!

I have done the Barefoot Sail-away (snorkeling) in St Thomas, had a good time.

Actually did that same excursion twice.

Hi Jerseygirl218, welcome to Cruise-Chat. I'd do the snorkeling to St. John. It is beautiful over in St. John. Trunk Bay is awesome. Scott Taylor did the sail/snorkel and I believe they went to Honeymoon Bay in St. John, his picture was just as beautiful as Trunk Bay and he said the snorkeling was great. Buck Island is good snorkeling as well, but the water around St. John is amazing. I definitely was NOT impressed with the snorkeling in St. Maarten. We did 3 or 4 different sail/snorkels there, which were just ok. The most fun excursion we took there was the America's Cup Racing Yachts. What a hoot! A bunch of tourists crewing a sailing yacht. Hope you have a wonderful time and once again, welcome aboard!

I am with Penny on this one. We did Trunk Bay last year and are doing it again in a couple of weeks.
In St. Maarten we did the catamaran/snorkel tour to Tintamar. We like it very much but my wife got sick, because there was a lot of motion on the boat.

We were at St. Thomas a year ago and booked a snorkeling trip through "Captain Nautica"....

One of the highlights of our cruise. Young, friendly staff who tooks us to some out of the way, protected reefs. We ended the trip on a very secluded beach out on Water Island; really a great time.

http://www.captainnautica.com/index.php

We were back on shore with time to climb to Blackbeard's Castle which gives you a great view and feel of the island. We did not try to get to the tramway which we learned form others ended up being packed with long lines.

http://www.blackbeardscastle.com/

Have a great time.