Coral World beach

[cmsnyder77]

We are doing the Eastern Caribbean in November. It will be myself, DH, DD15, DD6, and my parents in who are in their 70's. My parents would like to be able to see a pretty beach and spend some time walking it. None of us are huge beach bums or into water sports, so we don't want to spend hours at a beach. I was considering the Coral World excursion, but you only get 90 minutes there. Do you feel like this is enough time to be able to enjoy everything including the beach, or is there a better option? Thanks.

 

[Maggie'sMom]

We are doing the Eastern Caribbean in November. It will be myself, DH, DD15, DD6, and my parents in who are in their 70's. My parents would like to be able to see a pretty beach and spend some time walking it. None of us are huge beach bums or into water sports, so we don't want to spend hours at a beach. I was considering the Coral World excursion, but you only get 90 minutes there. Do you feel like this is enough time to be able to enjoy everything including the beach, or is there a better option? Thanks.

We did Coral World when we were there this summer. Instead of booking the excursion through DCL, just get a cab there and back yourself. That's what we did and it was super easy. It was also much less expensive.

 

[cmsnyder77]

We did Coral World when we were there this summer. Instead of booking the excursion through DCL, just get a cab there and back yourself. That's what we did and it was super easy. It was also much less expensive.

Good. Thanks. So the ride there isn't too rough? We took a cab in St. Maarten and that was a wild and crazy ride!

 

[Maggie'sMom]

Good. Thanks. So the ride there isn't too rough? We took a cab in St. Maarten and that was a wild and crazy ride!

I don't remember it being a scary ride but I've also experienced cab drivers in a number of US cities that had me gripping door handles white knuckled.

If you are mostly interested in a beach and not Coral World itself, I'd recommend going to Magen's Bay.

 

[cmsnyder77]

I don't remember it being a scary ride but I've also experienced cab drivers in a number of US cities that had me gripping door handles white knuckled.

If you are mostly interested in a beach and not Coral World itself, I'd recommend going to Magen's Bay.

Yeah, I'm undecided. I know Magen's Bay is supposed to be beautiful. Like I said, we probably won't spend a ton of time on the beach itself. That's why I was thinking of Coral World so there would be other things to do. Is Magen's Bay a much farther drive?

 

[JP350Z]

4 years ago when cruising on the Magic we went to the Emerald Beach Best Western. It's 5 minutes from the port by cab and they offered free "day passes" to cruisers. You just had to rent the loungers and thatched roof umbrellas. They have a beach bar and resteraunt onsite. I even jumped in their pool to rinse off the salt before changing in their poolside bathrooms that were really well kept. Yes Megan bay is epic and world famous but it also is very crowded when multiple ships are on port. It's also a much crazier open air cab ride over the hills to the other side of the island.

 

[cbnsoul]

Coral World and Megan's Bay are relatively close to each other but neither are particularly close to where the ship docks (other side of the island). The beach is ok but there isn't a lot there besides some vendors and it's a bit nondescript. We've been to a lot of beaches and while I wouldn't say we felt unsafe there, we were a bit uncomfortable. We've only been there once but while there were a lot of locals on the road nearby, the beach itself was pretty much empty. Unfortunately, if you are taking a tour, your options to get both a beach and a "destination", like Coral World are gonna be fairly limited.