Coral World - have you been there? - Cruise Line Fans: Cruise Forum, Reviews and Chat From Real Cruisers

Big4Chaps · 07-26-2005, 12:53 PM

Has anyone been to Coral World at St. Thomas? Please tell me what you think. And what you would recommend.

Krazy Kruizers · 09-04-2005, 11:37 AM

We were just at Coral World this past spring. It is so much different (and built up more) since we were there in the 90's before the original observation tower was destroyed. There is a lot to see there. They have separate tanks for the sharks, turtles, dolpins, stingrays, etc. There a couple of walking paths through the duck and bird areas. There are a couple of ampitheaters. There is an area where children can experience a hands on type of thing - like touching star fish, etc. There is also a couple of souvenier shops and a couple of places to buy food. When you enter the place, you are given a map which lists the imes of several shows like feeding the sharks, etc. In the observatory you walk down a couple of flights of stairs to view the underwater world. You can also mail postcards from the observatory. We were part of a tour and wished we had gone there on our own - not enough time to view everything leasurly.

Krazy Kruizers · 09-04-2005, 11:43 AM

Also from the observation tower they have a new attraction - called snuba. You don a helmet with a hose attached to it and follow an underwater trail through the reef and observe sea life like that. It is an additional charge (when we were there). You go in a small group of about 8 with a guide that will point out everything.

Next door to Coral World is Coki Beach - also known as Dive World - great for snorkeling.

Big4Chaps · 09-12-2005, 05:32 PM

We had tickets to Coral World because we had purchased tickets to snuba there. Snuba is a great experience. The guide, Frank, had so much patience in teaching us how to snuba. It doesn't use a helmet. That's completely different & much more expensive than our adventure was. I think that maybe called helmet diving & I think it's around $94 pp. Also, we didn't have a marked trail. Frank took us to Coki Beach to teach us snuba & we were under the water for about 35 minutes.

We did take a short tour of Coral World. Just took in the highlights since we were so tired & hungry & ready to head back to the ship to rinse the salt water off. Coral World wasn't as good as I was expecting it to be. But, maybe they are still improving it. Next to it is Coki Beach. It was very small with lots of people. Also, while we were there, we saw a man's foot that had stepped on some fire coral. He was in a lot of pain!

sweet angel · 10-01-2005, 10:53 PM

It looks like we've decided to do Coral World and Coki Beach -- but not through the ship. We're going to be brave on our first time in St. Thomas and do it on our own. Looks like cab fare should be about $21 each way, right? Are there plenty of cabs there to take us back? Can you rent snorkel stuff at Coki?

Will we have enough time to do Coral, Coki and still have time for Duffy's Love Shack?

Caribbean Girl · 10-03-2005, 02:35 PM

We were at Coki Beach as well on an excursion which could include both, if you chose...we stayed at the beach. It was small and there were quite a lot of folks there, but the water was lovely and we were hungry for sun and sand. One of the drawbacks...the bathrooms at the beach were out of order, but there was a bathhouse very nearby which was clean and open to the public. All in all, we had a fun time...it was my birthday!!!!

Big4Chaps · 10-03-2005, 06:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sweet angel

It looks like we've decided to do Coral World and Coki Beach -- but not through the ship. We're going to be brave on our first time in St. Thomas and do it on our own. Looks like cab fare should be about $21 each way, right? Are there plenty of cabs there to take us back? Can you rent snorkel stuff at Coki?

Will we have enough time to do Coral, Coki and still have time for Duffy's Love Shack?

We were there the first week of September 2005. As soon as we disembarked from the ship, we were met with people shuffling us to a taxi. We overheard the driver tell the last couple that got on that "this is the taxi that will give you a tour of the island". We thought we were taking a direct drive to Coral World. The taxi driver took a long way around to get there (cost us $8 a person), but it took us 45 minutes to an hour to get there. He gave us info all along the drive about the island. Once we got ready to return, we stepped out of Coral World & there were taxis waiting to take people back. Cost us $8 per person, was a direct trip there & probably took 15 to 20 minutes.

The beach at Coki was pretty but extremely small with quite a few people there. We didn't snorkel, but did do the snuba thing through VI Snuba company. Loved it! I didn't see any place to rent snorkel gear, but I wasn't looking for it either.

My 3 concerns there at Coki was that there wasn't any lockers, didn't see restrooms, & I was concerned about "our stuff" being left on the beach. Fortunately for us, our ticket with snuba included passes to Coral Beach (that had restrooms & showers), & Frank had a private locker for us to store our stuff.

Hope this answered some of your questions.

Ziggy7 · 10-03-2005, 06:17 PM

Thanks for the great info everyone !!! We want to go there the next time we are in St. Thomas

Ziggy7 · 10-03-2005, 06:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sweet angel

It looks like we've decided to do Coral World and Coki Beach -- but not through the ship. We're going to be brave on our first time in St. Thomas and do it on our own. Looks like cab fare should be about $21 each way, right? Are there plenty of cabs there to take us back? Can you rent snorkel stuff at Coki?

Will we have enough time to do Coral, Coki and still have time for Duffy's Love Shack?

Whats Duffy's Love Shack ????

sweet angel · 10-03-2005, 07:15 PM

Big4Chaps, what's Coral Beach? Part of Coral World?

Ziggy7, apparently Duffy's Love Shack is a bar/restaurant that is not to be missed.