St Maarten Excursion-Orient Beach???

[kengor]

My wife, 2 daughters (10 & 7)and I are considering the French Riviera Beach Rendezvous excursion on St. Maarten. Two concerns: 1) Will we be back in time to let my wife shop for a few hours in Phillipsburg? 2) Is Orient Bay Beach ok for my 2 daughters? Any comments from anyone who has been on this excursion would be great. Thank You!!!:)

[ruvidu]

We did the Orient Bay excursion in May of 2000, just the two of us, and enjoyed it.
You will almost certainly see full nudity. The nude beach area is to the right of where you will be but those folks did come strolling by a good bit.
The food and beverage is good as well.
The bus driver dropped us off in Phillipsburg for a couple of hours of shopping before returning to the ship. We walked back.
The price of the excursion includes transportation, a rum drink when you arrive and a lunch including beverage. You have over padded lounge chairs to sit in and you will be inundated with hair braiders and souvineir salesmen.
We enjoyed our tour and it did give us somthing to tell our friends in SC about when we got home. Our friends at the Baptist Church couldn't believe we went to a Nacked beach.
My wife is a K4 teacher and was concerned about the children on the beach when the nudist came by. Most never even looked up. They just kept making sand castles.
Have a great trip. You will make wonderful memories on whichever excursion you take.