7 day magic....excursions or not

[ganurse]

has anyone just not done any planned excursions and just done the beaches and touring the cities by themselves. i am just wondering as we can not decide what to do and think we would be just as relaxed and not have to wait in lines or anything......thanks

 

[KeenHo]

Hi!

We went on the Magic (Eastern) cruise last May. During our time in St. Martin/St. Maarten, we decided to not do anything formal. We met friends at the beach, in this case, Orient Beach. Once off the ship, we hailed a taxi, asked them to take us there and when we got there, they asked when we'd like to be picked up. They came back to pick up up right on time. We also did this on St. Thomas whe we went to Magan's Bay. We did a bit of shopping on St. Thomas on the way back to the ship. We loved both beaches and had a great time.

So, I believe you can do things on your own and not do a planned excursion. Whatever you decide to do, have a great time!

Howard

 

[disney6]

When we cruised Oct 2000 we didn't do any excursions. In St. Maarten we shopped (walked there from the dock) and went to the beach right there next to the dock - were the only ones there but it was great because we were so close to the ship we could back for lunch and when the kids were ready.
In St. T we shopped in the "mall" right next to the dock again and spent the rest of the day on the near empty ship and had the Mickey pool almost to ourselves - it was FABULOUS!
You don't have to do excursions to have a great time. This time around we will do one or two but the kids are a wee bit older and we've enjoyed the ship last time.

 

[mikeymars]

You will inevitably get a range of opinions on this subject. What they will boil down to is the folllowing:

Packaged excursions:

The primary -- and perhaps sole -- "benefit" of a packaged DCL excursion is the turnkey element, e.g. pay one price, get an experience where someone else takes care of all the details (transport, entry fees, reservations, etc.) In other words, no logistics to worry about.

The big DOWNSIDES of packaged excursions are (a) the "herd" element (being crammed onto boats, busses etc. and being marched around in elementary school fashion during your excursion), (b) the fact you don't use your shore time as efficiently as possible (every packaged excursion inevitably involves a lot of waiting and group transit time), and (c) cost.

Do-it-yourself:

The primary benefits are flexibility, timing and cost.

Regarding flexibilty, if you plan your own itinerary on shore, you aren't limited to the DCL "menu." As example, when we were in St. Maarten, we wanted to go to Dawn Beach. There is no DCL excursion there. Frankly, excursions are generally only to brand name, "beaten path" type attactions, and that list doesn't always inlcude the best things on every island. If you want something unique or more individual, you are almost forced into do-it-yourself.

Timing: in most cases, doing it yourself gives you more beach, diving, shopping or sightseeing time than on any DCL excursion. As example, when we were in St. Thomas, we took a cab to Red Hook, took the ferry to St. John, took a cab to the beach (Hawksnest, which by the way I strongly recommend, much less crammed than Trunk and the reefs are in better shape, too). We spent over 3 hours at the beach before returning back to St. Thomas, and still had time to shop in Charlotte Amalie. Those who took the packaged DCL excursion to St. John had less than HALF the time we did, and at busier beach.

Costs: using the same case history above, our total costs per person to go to St. John were about $37. That was less than the DCL excursion.

Downsides to do-it-yourself? Logistics. You have to plan what you want to do in advance, put together a "battle plan" to accomplish it and be willing to manage things yourself while "on the road." Understandably, that isn't everyone's cup of tea while on vacation, particularly a cruise.

 

[ganurse]

that was a lot of help and i am really excited. i wish i had more time to research things to do before saturday...

 

[KeenHo]

Have a wonderful time!! Give my regards to Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Goofy, and the rest of the crew!

Howard

 

[Steve BWV'99]

Another advantage of DCl excursions is that the ship will not take off without you in the event of a delay. However, if you are on your own and run into transportation issues and miss the ship, it is your responsibility to get back on (fly to next port,etc). However, this rarely happens and would not base your decision on this alone. Just consider this if your taking your own excursions that require lots of travel time.

 

[KeenHo]

http://www.virginisles.com/activities/beaches.html#stjohn

This site maybe helpful to check out.

Howard

 

[Steve BWV'99]

Another advantage of DCl excursions is that the ship will not take off without you in the event of a delay. However, if you are on your own and run into transportation issues and miss the ship, it is your responsibility to get back on (fly to next port,etc). However, this rarely happens and would not base your decision on this alone. Just consider this if your taking your own excursions that require lots of travel time.

 

[bweppner]

Hi Ganurse,

We JUST got back from the 4/6 - 4/13 Magic. We did not book any excursions and had a wonderful time. In both St. Maarten and St. Thomas we rented a open air Jeep (KIA clone in St. Maarten) for about $70 per day. In each case we drove around the Island and stopped at the hot beaches and shops (Orient Beach in St. Maarten and Megan's Bay and Coki Point in St. Thomas.)
This was a great way for our family of six to explore and enjoy while saving a ton of money. Additionally, we were able to set our own schedule and see more than if we were on a planned excursion.

Have a good trip!

 

[NellBell]

Hi bweppner,

Where did you rent the jeep? Did you rent in advance or when you got to port? We too are a family of six who like to explore on our own. Gotta a year to wait so I have to live for the planning!

Nellbell

 

[bweppner]

NellBell,

We walked off the ship a little ways over to the car rental agencies by the port. Simply ask a Cast Member before you debark the ship that day. We rented from Thrifty in St. Maarten and Avis in St. Thomas. Be ready to negotiate! We played a few rental agencies off each other in St. Maarten before we received the $60 price - it started at $90.

 

[DreamsDoComeTrue]

Is there a type of shuttle service between central areas on the islands? Taxi's charge per person, right?

 

[Dave_from_Marietta]

Originally posted by DreamsDoComeTrue

Is there a type of shuttle service between central areas on the islands? Taxi's charge per person, right?

Here's some info about the prices you can expect to pay at St Maarten:

www.greatbay-port.an/greatbay_port_taxi_service.htm

In addition, there is a water taxi from the dock at St Maarten to the downtown shopping area. The cost for that is $5 for unlimited trips until 6pm. Kids under 5 are free.

Here's some info about the prices you can expect to pay at St Thomas:

www.st-thomas.com/week/taxi.html