Are All Beaches....

[D A P & I]

Nude Please let me know where, what to expect. I have small children. I don't want any BIG surprises. Thanks for anyone's help.

Anne

 

[wovenwonder]

I'm not sure which cruise itinerary you are traveling on. On the eastern cruise, the french side of St. Maarten does have some nude beaches - but the dutch side does not. No nude beaches in St.Thomas.

 

[Señor Ferrari]

On the 7-day, the only nude beaches are on the French side of St. Martin. On the Dutch side, there are several good beaches. Dawn Beach is my personal favorite. Great Bay Beach is easy to access via the water taxi from the pier, and Little Bay beach is probably a 10 minute cab ride from the pier. There are no public nude beaches on St. Thomas.

 

[prymsu]

at least the day we went it was. A few years ago we spent a week in Cancun going up and down the shore line and almost everywhere there is topless. I do not remember seeing this in Cozumel though.

Grand Cayman - no
Cancun - yes
Bahamas - no
Isle of Mureles - yes
Isla Contoy - yes
Jamacia - yes

I have had past experience finding this stuff out when it happens because it really depends on the type of crowd at the beach. Europeans are more likely to go topless if they are around.

 

[D A P & I]

I forgot to say the eastern 7 day cruise. Can you tell me a beach near the port? We are on a very tight budget.

Anne

 

[prymsu]

dawn's beach was an $18 ride for three people and it took about fifteen minutes to get there - st. marteen. Then in St. Thomas you can take the water taxi that is very close to the ship over to a beach. I think it is called magens bay or great bay. It cost five bucks per adult for as many round trips as you can make in a day, and is about a ten minute ferry ride from the ship. at both places you can rent umbrellas and chairs pretty inexpensively.

you really should go to dcltribute.com as Dave has tons and tons of info out there on the beaches for the eastern itinerary, and all that info is very helpful.

 

[wishiwasgolfing]

Just came back from the May 4th Cruise. We went to Dawn Beach and it was about $18 for 4 of us. If other people are going just tell them your all together and you can negotiate a better price.
Dawn Beach was nice. The color of the water is incredible and you have a view of I believe St. Barts off in the distance. $.75 cent beers too! Dawn Beach is topless but we only saw 2 people topless and our kids (son 6 1/2 and daughter 3 1/2) did not even notice. I did though. Ha Ha.
I think Dawn Beach is worth going to. Your going to spend $5.00 apiece anyways on the water taxi to Phillipsburg so for the little extra money I think you will find it was worth it.
have fun

 

[SC Minnie]

The beach we were on at St Maarten(Mullet Bay) was topless. There was 3 or 4 women without tops. I thought DD7 would say something about it but I don't think she even noticed - she was having too much fun playing the sand.

 

[Señor Ferrari]

To clarify an earlier post, the water taxi is from the pier in St. Maarten to downtown Philipsburg, and Great Bay beach is right there. There is no water taxi to a beach in St. Thomas.

 

[DreamsDoComeTrue]

I think I've prepped my kids for the possibility of toplessness. What do you think?
I explained how, if I were to walk down the street of a Muslim country in shorts and a T-shirt, that would be considered very inappropriate, vulgar, wrong, wrong, wrong. Yet, here in our culture, it's OK, just so certain parts of the body are well covered. That's just our culture. We accept bare face, arms and legs, they don't.
Now, on one of the islands we'll go to, part of their culture is that toplessness and even full nudity on the beach is acceptable. To them, it's no big deal, just like to us, shorts are no big deal.
I hope to let it serve as a lesson in tolerance of cultural differences, in various locations of the world.

(My DD9 would probably cover up even more, while DS6 would peel his clothes off and run with the wind )

 

[MICHELLENDEAN]

Dawn's beach in St. Maartin is beautiful, it might allow topless, but I didn't see anyone topless. (on the Dutchside on the French border)

On St. Thomas we went to Megan's it was beautiful and again, I didn't notice anyone topless...

 

[prymsu]

the first time we came across this on vacation, i think my son was six or seven. He was pretty surprised, and needless to say so was I! After I used a similar explanation such as what Dreams is using, it was never a big deal again.

He really understood that explanation, and half the time he doesn't even notice now.

 

[HelenC]

wishiwasgolfing: if you had said you had a two daughters (rather than one son and one daughter)...I'd think that you were my husband in disguise!! He too enjoyed 75 cent beers....and the topless girl (who planted herself right by the waters edge!) from the May 4th cruise!

Dawn Beach was nice........Magen's Bay is a MUST!!!...soooo beautiful!!!!

Helen.

 

[SingingMom]

Check out Dave's site for information about Great Bay Beach. He was so very helpful with our planning and we had a "Magical" day at Great Bay Beach. Our 7 year old daughter, normally a "pool only" girl, was in the ocean for 5 straight hours! DH & I enjoyed rum punches, rentals of lounge chairs, and beach umbrellas, and lunch for three - all for under $40 the entire day!

Dave has all the info on his site www.dcltribute.com
(Dave's my hero!!)