Eastern Non-Excusion Activities

[Davids-Coco]

On the eastern - with St. Maarten - what is there to do within short walking distance of the ports? We will have two little ones, including one that will be going back to the ship for nap time most likely.

 

[Davids-Coco]

Seriously? No one? I just want to know what is available to do right off the ship in port.

 

[LivingtheWDWdream]

I know in St. Maarten there is a water taxi, that took us to the downtown area where you could do a little shopping, there was a pirate musuem I believe (this was over 2 years ago) but there was a neat store that sold items that when you had it in the sun would change from black and white to color.

I believe there were also beaches near there as well that you could visit.


In St. Thomas there was shopping within walking distance but other then that you might want to research getting a taxi and having it bring you to a beach or something as I don't remember there being much that close to the ship other then shopping.

 

[Jennifer_W]

Hey David--

I just found cruisecritic.com today. Go there, then click on Caribbean, then Eastern caribbean, then they have a page for EACH PORT. Lots of good info. We will also have a small one (22 mo.), in addition to 2 tweens (12 & 14). We opted not to do scheduled excursions, as for 5 it gets quite costly and on our last cruise we really enjoyed just exploring the ports.

After reading the passporter info on St. Maarten, I was convinced we should rent a car for the day. Now I am thinking there is enough to do in Philipsburg, and that it is easy enough to get a cab to Marigot if we want to go. As for St. Thomas, it looks like there is also a lot of stuff fairly close by.

One BIG QUESTION though--does anyone know if cabs have car seats for toddlers??? What do we do about that? We are so used to having rental cars with pre-arranged seats, and don't live in "the big city," so am totally clueless on this.

Hope this helps!

 

[Davids-Coco]

Car seat laws are non-existent. Hence why we wouldn't do a rental or taxi. Its just one of those things. I guess I wouldn't be so hard core about it if I wasn't training for my CPST.

I'll check out cruise critic. Thanks!

ETA: how do you know where we actually dock? Nevermind, found it.

 

[Jennifer_W]

Car seat laws are non-existent. Hence why we wouldn't do a rental or taxi. Its just one of those things. I guess I wouldn't be so hard core about it if I wasn't training for my CPST.

OK, what's a CPST?

 

[frdeb1999]

There is a very nice beach area not far from the port. You can walk it, but if you don't have a stroller I'd opt for the water taxi instead. We did shopping, beach area and then back to ship and had a very good time.

 

[Jennifer_W]

OK, UPDATE on the stop at St. Maarten:

We just got back from the Eastern Itinerary stops of St. Maarten (were there Feb. 17, 2009) & St. Thomas (Feb. 18). In St. Maarten we arranged for a tour with Joyce Prince (I had read reviews about her on cruisecritic.com) and she was FABULOUS!!! She provided a car seat for my toddler, had a cooler full of beverages for all of us in the back of her brand new, very clean, air conditioned American made SUV. She asked what things we wanted to see ahead of time, and was so easy to work with. Our toddler was a little grumpy in the late morning, and Joyce was so helpful, even suggesting a stop for French pastries in Marigot (which did the trick for him).

She will take you wherever you want to go, including spending time at beaches, visiting the "insider's stop" for souvenir shopping, etc. We saw the entire island, got a good dose of history, and stopped for many photo ops. Anything that looked interesting, she would accommodate. We had a tour of 4 hours. My older boys (ages 12 & 14) raved about the tour! St. Thomas could not compare after this, and Miss Joyce.

In St. Thomas, we just took a taxi into town and shopped. It was kind of disappointing. Probably because we didn't see more than the commercialized part, but Joyce Prince and St. Maarten were great! The peace of mind we received from having a safe vehicle with seat belts for everyone and a car seat for the baby were priceless. Just walking up to a driver and asking for a tour is not going to get you those ammenities. The price was $40 per person (baby was free), another 2 people were supposed to be with us, but they bombed out at the last minute (didn't take their cruise, or something), so we had the "private" tour for our family at the "group" price, but I still think it would've been just as great even with 2 extra people.

 

[lbgraves]

Thanks so much for the information! I have added it to the FAQ St. Maarten thread. Is there a website for this person's tours? It is something that I would be interested in booking next trip.

 

[sftnslky]

Is there a website for this person's tours? It is something that I would be interested in booking next trip.

DITTO..

 

[Jennifer_W]

Thanks so much for the information! I have added it to the FAQ St. Maarten thread. Is there a website for this person's tours? It is something that I would be interested in booking next trip.

Her website is princepersonal.com. She will also rent cars, and lots of services if someone is going to be staying on the island for a vacation. She even e-mailed us after we got home to say thank you and to see if we enjoyed the rest of our vacation.