I was completely mistaken. I cannot say enough about the great time we had on the Jolly Roger. The crew was very friendly and entertaining, and the ship looks like an authentic pirate ship. There is a tiny bathroom below along with an area that has T-shirts and bandanas for sale. We sailed for 30 minutes and then anchored in the middle of the ocean.

You and your party could decide whether you wanted to go to the beach or stay on the ship. Everyone except our party chose the beach, so we had the ship to ourselves. We walked to plank and swung off the Tarzan rope. The water was so blue and very deep. I was nervous - I kept looking for sharks!

A bus picks you up at the ship terminal and takes you to the pier, where the Jolly Roger is docked. There is free rum punch (50% rum, 50% punch), strong but surprisingly very good and thirst-quenching. The schooner takes you out to a beach (The Boatyard) for 45 minutes of swimming, and then you are allotted time to jump off the plank, swing from the rope, and dive off any other part of the ship. It was great fun, but I thought the crew were fake and didn’t seem to like their jobs. It was obvious they do, and say, the same thing all day, every day. Get in line for the rope swing right away; otherwise, you might not get a chance to do it. I didn’t.

This is a fun excursion for hanging out with young people (20s, 30s, and 40s), getting crazy, and dancing. The crew does a good job of keeping everyone entertained with a pirate wedding on board, congo lines, and learning different dances. It’s a 3-hour trip, and you have to just let go and have fun and get crazy; otherwise, you won’t have much fun. It’s great for people-watching, because people get pretty drunk and silly.

They play great music--lots of 80s--but I was surprised they didn’t play the Pirates of the Caribbean song. It was probably a copyright issue.

I would not call this a family excursion.