Eastern Caribbean

[msminniemouse]

What beaches would you recommend to go to on Eastern Caribbean cruise? We've only gone on Western before, so don't know much about Eastern beaches.

 

[sherreis]

On St. Thomas, we went to Megan's Bay. Absolutely beautiful and is 1 of the top 10 beaches in the world.

 

[msminniemouse]

Megan's Bay sounds great. What about on St. Maarten?

 

[Tolson70]

Maho Beach on St. Maarten is cool to go see the planes landing, seems like they are going to hit the beach.

 

[slk]

Another vote for Megans Bay in St. Thomas - just beautiful!
In St. Maarten we took the water taxi to town and shopped and went
to the beach right there in Great Bay. Very nice and convienent. Kids did the banana boat ride there - great fun!

 

[mjaclyn]

We are going on the Eastern Caribbean Cruise for the first time as well. If you go to Megans Bay is it with a shore excursion? If not, do you walk there or get some kind of transportation?

 

[slk]

We did Megans Bay on our own (we had a group of 10) Went to town
and there are many taxis right there and he took us to Megans Bay and
we told him what time we would like to be picked up and he was there
(early actually) waiting for us. He also stopped at a lookout point overlooking
Megans Bay for us to take some pics! It's about a 15-20 min. ride (depending
on where your ship docks) Very nice guy that took us though.


My kids with Megans Bay in the background

The van/bus were rode in

 

[dreaming-of-disney]

Same for us as the above post except we had an air conditioned van. We told the driver what time to pick us up and he actually waited. There were several taxis there so they all conversed. The water was crystal clear and I could see some tiny fish swimming around at times. We went early and there were only about 3-4 other families there. It was absolutely breathtaking as you can see.

 

[rob_jen]

We wanted to go back to Megans Bay (Been over 12 years) but do not know if its worth it with 6 large cruise ships in port on the same day. Any ideas on how bad it will be?

 

[sherreis]

I agree with the beach where the planes are coming in on St. Maarten. It is a little bit rocky there but nice. My kids loved it.

We did an excursion for St. Thomas cause we wanted to see other stuff besides the beach. So, we had a nice tour of the island and then ended at Megan's Bay. They picked us up at a certain time and brought us back to the ship. Otherwise, there are plenty of taxis that will take you - no need to do an excursion. We used Sunny Liston for our tour and it was great!

 

[slk]

We wanted to go back to Megans Bay (Been over 12 years) but do not know if its worth it with 6 large cruise ships in port on the same day. Any ideas on how bad it will be?

Not sure about 6 but, when we were there last month there were 3
docked in St. Thomas (Carnival Dream, Carnival Freedom and RC Oasis)
3 large ships. Don't think the crowds were bad at all. Although the Oasis
was docked on the other side of the bay. So those pax were not
exiting/entering where we were. So I didn't really think it was a problem.

 

[seajay8783]

If Megan's Bay is crowded due to cruise ships try Secret Harbor.

http://www.secretharbourvi.com/water_activities.asp

I stayed there for a week in 2005 and it was beautiful. The beach belongs to the hotel/condos and they have a restaurant and a dive shop. As long as you are a patron to one of the two, I think you can use the beach. It was never super crowded when I was there.

 

[slk]

We also went to Paradise Point in St. Thomas (not a beach area but excellent vantage point for taking pics) just walked there from the
ship and rode the tram up the hill.

In this pic taken on Paradise Point you can see Carnival Dream with the
back of Carnival Freedom in front of it. And in the distance on the other
side of bay you see RC Oasis.

 

[msabol01]

Maho Beach on St. Maarten is cool to go see the planes landing, seems like they are going to hit the beach.

This is on my bucket list and am hoping I can convince my wife to visit while on our cruise. Any recommendations on getting to and from the port? Especially concerned about getting back to the Magic on time as I understand the ship docks on the other end of the island.

Thanks!

 

[Tolson70]

Some of the DCL tours offer stops or go to a taxi and customize your own tour, be firm on a return time with them.

 

[dpuck1998]

My all time favorite beach was Trunk Bay in st. johns, worth the trip over for sure! It was small, not busy and an incredible snorkel and beach stop.

 

[rob_jen]

We have done Trunk Bay the last few times in St Thomas - Awesome beach. We did it before kids so now its more expensive. Since we have not been to St Thomas in a long time we thought we would stay local.

 

[blessedmomofboys]

We did Le Galion beach in St. Maarten and LOVED it! It was perfect for our young kids and wasn't crowded at all. Had a place to eat, great drinks, and chairs/umbrellas.

I'm trying to decide now which beach to go to in St. Thomas/St. John. Can't decide between Megan's Bay or Trunk Bay.

 

[rusafee1183]

On our St Thomas day, we did the full day sail and snorkel excursion and it was fantastic! We swam with sea turtles and then had lunch on Honeymoon beach which was completely deserted except for our group.

On St Maarten we wandered around Front street for a few minutes, but then we got out of there as soon as we could. We grabbed a taxi to Orient beach and it was very nice there. We ate sushi at Kon-tiki and just relaxed. The beach was very nice and clean and you didn't have to go anywhere near the nude side if you didn't want to. On the way back we were leaving just as another family was leaving and we just shared a taxi with them coming back to the ship

 

[slk]

Some of the DCL tours offer stops or go to a taxi and customize your own tour, be firm on a return time with them.

If you are going on your own like this poster said be firm about return
time but also, do not pay them until you return. They will be there for
you if they want their money. That's what we did and they had no
problem with it.