How's Orient Beach at St. Maarten?

[Disney-Bride2005]

I'm thinking of booking this excursion. Did any of you like or dislike Orient Beach?
How was the snorkeling?
Did you include the lunch? How was it?

Thanks again guys...

 

[Mickeyhugger]

I'm thinking of booking this excursion. Did any of you like or dislike Orient Beach?
How was the snorkeling?
Did you include the lunch? How was it?

Thanks again guys...

We have been there twice...the snorkeling is nothing to write home about, infact all I saw was a large women s bare chest Lunch is over priced and only so so. There are beaches that are nicer. Orient beach is just well known because it is topless at one end and clothing optional at the other.

Rob

 

[kcashner]

There is supposedly a "family friendly" area of Orient Beach, but the part we were taken to was "clothing optional." We have several family jokes from that trip. And..."clothing optional" was not topless. We saw NO women using the option.

 

[mmouse37]

We have been several times....sometimes on our own via taxi and once with the DCL excursion. One end of the beach is a nudist beach but it is pretty far away down the beach....the other part of the beach is clothing optional but we only saw a topless woman now and then...it was not really a big deal at all.

Orient Beach is a series of smaller beach clubs each distinguished by their different colored umbrellas. I believe DCL takes you to the Waikiki Beach Club and had maroon colored umbrellas. When we went on our own via taxi we were always taken to Bikini Beach with Green/Blue umbrellas. We have rented jet skis before and had a good time. You can rent chairs/umbrellas.

Don't let the clothing option thing scare you.....it really is not like everyone is walking around with things hanging out.

MJ

 

[grizbuzz]

We went to Orient Beach with Bernards Tours -- I think it was the Bikini Beach area. The beach itself was gorgeous and there were chairs with umbrellas to rent for a fee. We did not see many topless or nude bathers -- just a couple but nothing to scare you away. One thing I will say is that the lunch was very pricey and in Euros to make it that much more. The tour also stopped at that Maho Beach with the airplanes (I think that is what it's called) and I liked Orient Beach WAY better.

 

[HallsofVA]

We did the DCL excursion to Orient Beach that included lunch and everything. It was wonderful! They took us to specifically to Waikiki Beach, and while it was pretty crowded with several cruise lines that were there, we had our own reserved section of chairs. (Umbrella was an extra $3 I think.)

The included lunch was fabulous! Choice of chicken, ribs or fish, with fries, salad and beverage.

We didn't see any nudity on the beach while we were there. The kids loved playing in the sand, and while it was pretty windy, we were able to go out into the water for a little bit (it was much warmer than CC was on the same trip in Dec.) We didn't do any activities since our kids are small, but they had lots of things out there to do.

 

[diznefamily]

We took a taxi last year to Orient beach and had the best time as a family. Our favorite beach by far. There are plenty of water activities for kids and adults. food is a bit pricey but the service is friendly. We spend hours there, kids played on water trampoline for hours, went jetskiing, and if you have great endurance there is a small island out by the nude beach that you can swim to. I would not think a child could make the swim but a few adults in our group did and found large conch shells. We took them to one of the lunch stands and they took out the meat to use and we brought back the shells. A great time, did not want to leave. We will be visiting Tortola this year and was a bit disappointed that it couldn't have been St. Maarten. Just couldn't do those dates. We stayed at the end by the nude beach since it was less crowded and the kids chuckled a bit (dd age 10 and ds age 12) but thought nothing about it.

 

[stevenpensacola]

we went there...you'll have to remember that my opinion is influenced by the fact that I live about 15 miles from Pensacola Beach...where it's possible to visit Gulf Islands National Seashore...where you can find a spot on the beach where you're the only one around....

When we got to Orient Beach, there were 4 or 5 rows of beach chairs we were assigned to...if you were not fortunate enough to some of the first ones off the bus, you ended up sitting in one of the back row of chairs...where you could barely see the beach due to the chairs/umbrellas in front of you.

As far as the nudie resort...my wife and I did walk down there...hey, we were on vacation...the kids were back at home with the grandparents...and we figured this would probably be our only chance to ever see such a place....trust me on this...there are some things you really don't want to see.

Seeing flabby/saggy old folks with skin like leather parading down the beach with all their junk jiggling with every step, who, in their sun-baked minds, really think they are lookin' good, can scar a person for life!!!
It's like we were in Baywatch opposite bizarro world.

I think you'd be better taking a cab where you'd have more freedom as to where you can "pitch your tent" on the beach.

 

[stevenpensacola]

 

[MickeyCruiser]

Does anyone remember how much a taxi to Orient Beach costs? I am trying to decide if we should do the Disney excursion or go on our own. We went to a beach in Grand Cayman on our own and saved a lot, had a fantastic time and I am hoping we can do the same for Orient.

 

[Eeyore'sthebest]

St. Maarten is so easy to navigate that you should save your money and just take your own taxi to the beach.

We went to Dawn Beach after a private island tour with Joyce Prince. DH was tired so he went back to the ship (important point). Anyway, the beach is smaller than Orient but clean, good restaurant (Mr. Busbee's - I think was the name - bring cash, no cc), had a bathroom, very mellow, you can rent chairs and umbrellas for $5 each. We rented one chair and no umbrella.
And we saw one topless bather the entire time. And this was the type of young (mid-20s) woman that you see pictured on all the websites. You know, the kind that makes you think "Dang, if I ever had that body I might take my top off too!" And all I thought was "Poor DH went back to the boat and missed it!"

I then knew that I've been married a long time when I thought about DH and how bummed he was going to be.

 

[Cruise]

I then knew that I've been married a long time when I thought about DH and how bummed he was going to be.

 

[d'Isigny]

Love - love - love Orient Beach. We will be returning in 2010.

My bride calls the sand - 'fluffy'. The water/waves when we've been there are gentle and very relaxing. Did notice a little undertow so be careful with your precious little ones.

Here's one of our pictures of Orient Beach from oct 2007

 

[owensjro]

Orient beach is very beautiful and we love it. Our daughter (age 6 last time we went) loves the sand as it is perfect for building anything.

Taxis to/from Orient beach are plentiful. The prices vary depending on the number of people in your party. We paid $7/person as we had 3 in our party. At four people it was $6/person. You can arrange for the same taxi to pick you up at Orient and bring you back or you can just find a taxi when ready. The two times we have done Orient on our own the taxis dropped off and picked up outside Bikini Beach.

We prefer to walk down the beach to the right (as you look at the water) and find chairs down by the Pirate (google search "The Pirate Orient Beach"). Chairs are cheaper down there as is the food. The Pirate has a full menu for review online with prices. Rum punches are included with each chair.

As for nudity, yes you probably will see topless women anywhere on Orient. However, keep in mind that the entire French side is European style which means you may see topless women on any beach on that side. While the Dutch side is not explicitly European style I have read/heard that it is not uncommon to see topless bathers on those beaches as well. The far end of Orient (all the way to the right) is Club Orient which is a clothing optional resort. While full nudity is not allowed on the rest of the beach you may occasionally see someone who decides to flaunt the rules and walk the length of the beach. C'est la vie. Our daughter has no problems so far with nudity and as long as we don't make a big deal over it she doesn't even notice.

Activities seem plentiful on this beach. There are many places to rent jet skis, a water trampoline or two, etc. If you enjoy the active life you should have no problems finding something to do here.

The water is beautiful and we found the bottom to be nice and smooth with few rocks. The first time we went the waves were non-existent. The second time we went the waves were small in the morning but picked up with intensity and made for some fun wave jumping and body surfing.

Hope this helps.

Jim