This shore excursion is one of my favorite experiences! If you’re looking for what to do in St. Thomas, especially with a family, then keep reading, as this post will share photos and our experience on the Anchors Away USVI Catamaran Charter.

When searching for St. Thomas excursion options, I was looking for something different and away from the crowds. Many excursions offered through the ship were for large groups of people and we didn’t want to do that this time. St. Thomas has tons of private tour operators, so I spent some time searching for our best options. We wanted something priced competitively that could accommodate 6 people, including 2 children. We also had some individual requests from family members, like needing a boat with shade coverage and possibly food/drink offerings.

I stumbled upon Anchors Away USVI St Thomas Catamaran Excursion and they met all the requirements:

• A Catamaran with plenty of room and shade
• Time options that fit our port schedule
• Food/drink included
• Able to accommodate 6 people and allowed kids
• Great price!

Booking our Catamaran Excursion

I was able to view their availability right on their website, so making sure they had an opening on our port day was the first step. Next, I had some questions…this was our first cruise after the shutdown, so I was nervous about the potential of plans changing and wanted to ask about their cancellation policy. I used their contact form and got a quick reply from the owner. He was extremely helpful and responsive. Their cancellation policy put me at ease and he even let me modify their “Half Day Charter” to add an additional hour and snack for a small additional charge, since they didn’t have anyone booked for the evening. This allowed us to have more time on the excursion and not waste any time while in port. We are so glad we did this because the time flew by so fast because were were having so much fun.

Arriving in St. Thomas, we knew we were going to have a great day…it was absolutely gorgeous!

Arriving at our Catamaran Excursion

The dock that we had to meet at is not where our cruise ship docked. It was about a 20-25 minute drive to Compass Point Marina from the Cruise Ship Dock.

We considered booking a private car to make sure our timing would be good, and the owner provided a contact for one if we wanted, but also said there are plenty of taxis at the cruise pier and that would be okay too. The funny thing is that when we arrived to the taxi line, we told them where we needed to go and they looked kinda shocked and had to scramble around a little to find someone to drive there that could fit 6 people. There wasn’t an issue, it just took a bit for them to decide and get situated amongst themselves.

We arrived at the marina on time and were greeted by our Captain that walked us to the catamaran. We were introduced to his wife, who took care of all our food and drinks. Both were extremely personable, attentive and nice. He shared the tour of the catamaran and safety considerations and then told us what plans we had for the day as far as food, drinks and locations we would visit. This was based off of what I shared with the owner in emails prior to the tour, but the Captain also asked if we wanted to change anything or if we were good with the plan…they basically wanted to accommodate whatever we wanted to do the best they could and bring us to the best places to do those things.

Based on this, the plan was to go to two locations…the first was a great large area to snorkel to see lots of different fish and the second was a sunken ship to snorkel at that always has turtles and was close to the pizza delivery boat that we requested for lunch (more on that later).

What I loved about this catamaran was that there were so many options to relax. You could relax in the front, either in the padded bench nook…

…or on the nets over the water.

You could climb up to the padded roof for a great view.

Or you could sit in the shaded dining area…

…or the dining area inside.

The food was all fresh and handmade in the kitchen right on the catamaran. For our first snack when we arrived, we had large trays of fruit, veggies, cheese, hummus and crackers.

Once we arrived at the first location, all of our activity options were shown to us – all provided and included in the tour. We could use snorkel gear (we brought our own full face snorkel masks, but used their flippers and life-vests), paddleboards, floating mats attached to the catamaran to relax or the motorized water scooter (so fun!). We were told about how long we would be in this location and then we all scattered off to adventure.

As we were adventuring, they were preparing snacks for our return – tortilla chips and a bowls of freshly-made salsa and guacamole. Sorry, didn’t get a good before photos of those…we dug in and devoured them so fast, especially this snack monster!

Drinks were also included: Local & Seasonal Beer, Rum Punch, Sodas, Water, Fresh Brewed Coffee, and a Nespresso™ Bar. They also offered upgraded drinks, but we were all more than happy with the beer and rum punch, which was kept full for us to pour ourselves as often as we wanted.

We then ventured to our next location and were free to adventure as we pleased. And as promised, we saw the turtles! The kids loved looking at the fish guide to see if they saw any of those fish while snorkeling.

Shortly after we arrived to this location, our pizza arrived by boat! When looking up options in St. Thomas, I found two really cool options for getting food while out on the boat. One option was Lime Out, a floating taco restaurant only accessible by boat, and the other was Pizza Pi, a floating pizza restaurant that could deliver. We chose Pizza Pi since it was closest to where we were and it could be brought to us. We did have to make this decision at the beginning of our excursion, as they said orders need to be placed well ahead of time. Here comes our pizza…how cool is this!?

I was grateful for the opportunity to try paddleboarding for the first time. Can I confess…it looks much easier than it turned out to be!

I was so wobbly and by the time I made it up and balanced, I turned around and was yards away from the catamaran! Oh my gosh, I’m about to be Cast Away!

I had to fight the current to get back nearby the catamaran.

I’m sure it gets quicker and easier with practice, but me and my sister-in-law were quite entertained at our struggles and experience, but once we got up, we were quite proud of ourselves! We then determined kneeling and paddling was much more efficient on our way back.

My son made sure to let us old ladies know how easy it was for him to stand up on it…

Before we knew it, it was time to gather back on the catamaran for our trip back to the marina. For our trip back, we were spoiled with my absolute favorite, freshly-baked, warm chocolate chip cookies. Cookies, rum punch, kids entertained….I was a happy gal!

Pricing

The price for a half-day charter was $1000, not including gratuities. This included the fresh fruit/veggies snack. We added an extra hour for $250 and they added chips/guacamole/salsa and the chocolate cookies. This made the per person cost $1250/6 = $208 + gratuities. That price is phenomenal and comparable or even better than other cruise excursions AND this was our own private, personal excursion on an incredible catamaran with amazing service, food and unlimited drinks! They could accommodate up to 12 guests, so the more people in your group, the better the per person cost. They also offer full day, sunset and overnight options.

Do we recommend this excursion?

Heck yes! We felt like we hit the jackpot with this excursion. I know some people get nervous about booking excursions from private companies (i.e. not through the cruise ship) but I highly recommend seeking out all options, as most private operators offer a return guarantee and will do everything in their power to make sure you are back on that ship. There are some real hidden gem excursions out there.

I will share that when writing this post and going to their website to grab links and info, I am not sure Anchors Away USVI still operating. Their last social post was from over a year ago and their booking page wouldn’t work for me, but everything else was still as I remember it, with charter options, menus, etc. still shown. If you are seeing this and are interested in booking with them, you could try contacting them. Otherwise, and the reason I still continued to share this post, I suggest you check out any one of the private charter tours/excursions. There are lots of options for you to explore if you’re looking for something different/more private than the ship excursions.

Looking for more Shore Excursion posts? Check the out here!