cruise excursions help!!

[Firefighter22]

My wife and I will be going on our first disney cruise on board the Fantasy this weekend. We will be going to St Martin and St Thomas. I was wondering if anyone has tips or suggestions on what to do while we are at those two islands.

 

[DISNEY FANTASY]

St Marten, Google Bernard's tours there great.

 

[tvguy]

St. Martin. 12 metre regetta. I've been on 9 cruises, and this was in the top 3 excursions I have ever taken.
http://www.12metre.com/

 

[Aby]

We LOVED Captain Nautica's Snorkeling Expedition on St Thomas! 2 snorkel sites - amazing experience with sea turtles and the crew were great!

Aby

 

[kittylady1972]

We are doing our first cruise stop here as well and I'm still on the fence about the tours. We have booked the Helmet Dive for St. Thomas because my family really wants to do that, but honestly I may skip it. I've done Scuba Diving in the Great Barrier Reef and snorkeling before as well, so I don't think the helmet dive will do much for me. I think our kids might like it though.

I have no idea what we will do in St. Maarten. Somebody suggested Random Wind, which looks really nice but for the five of us...just so expensive. I think we may just try to wing it there and do some touring on our own.

 

[hoffman1]

We just got off the Fantasy Eastern cruise this past Sat.
We did the Coral World excursion with the boat ride in St. Thomas. I would not recommend it. We did not see many fish on the boat ride and Coral World was not very impressive. There was not much to see or do.

 

[kittylady1972]

We just got off the Fantasy Eastern cruise this past Sat.
We did the Coral World excursion with the boat ride in St. Thomas. I would not recommend it. We did not see many fish on the boat ride and Coral World was not very impressive. There was not much to see or do.

I've heard this about Coral World, but we are mostly doing that excursion because the kids really want to do the helmet dive. I'm trying to tell them we could always do something like that elsewhere (they don't have the only helmet dive around) but I think they are looking forward to it.

 

[sdjen]

We did coral world and their sea lion encounter last cruise and really enjoyed it. It's not Seaworld but we enjoyed the exhibits. Btw they have a nice gift shop and the lunch was yummy too. Have a good time

 

[skylynx]

We've been to St. Maarten a couple times and each time rented a car with all insurance coverage for under $100 and drove around the island. My DH is an avid aviation fan and pilot, so each visit for us includes a quick trip to Orient Beach and a couple hour stop at the Sunset Beach Bar by Juliana airport. This is the legendary place at the end of the runway where it appears the planes are going to land on your head and folks get tumbled around by jet blast. If you are only mildly into that sort of thing ;-) you could easily just spend an hour or so there and drink a beer then move on. The only caveat is that traffic can be horrendous, especially around Marigot, so leave yourself lots of wiggle room to get back. The rental car places are literally as you walk off the ship in port. It's one of the few places we feel confident about doing excursions on our own rather than through Disney.

 

[kittylady1972]

We've been to St. Maarten a couple times and each time rented a car with all insurance coverage for under $100 and drove around the island. My DH is an avid aviation fan and pilot, so each visit for us includes a quick trip to Orient Beach and a couple hour stop at the Sunset Beach Bar by Juliana airport. This is the legendary place at the end of the runway where it appears the planes are going to land on your head and folks get tumbled around by jet blast. If you are only mildly into that sort of thing ;-) you could easily just spend an hour or so there and drink a beer then move on. The only caveat is that traffic can be horrendous, especially around Marigot, so leave yourself lots of wiggle room to get back. The rental car places are literally as you walk off the ship in port. It's one of the few places we feel confident about doing excursions on our own rather than through Disney.

We were considering this for St. Maarten but then I started reading some real horror stories about people getting taken for lots of extra "damage" to rental cars that never happened. That scared me away from that idea but maybe that's why you mention all insurance coverage so they don't try that. We always waive the insurance when renting in the US because it's usually covered by your usual auto insurance policy anyway. I know my kids (and husband) would love to see the airplanes but not sure I should take them to the bar!

Already rethinking our St. Maarten plans because I JUST read the fine print for the Coral World Sea Trek helmet dive and it mentions an 80 pound weight minimum. My 12 (almost 13) year old and my 11 year old are SMALL...not even sure they are 60 pounds! So now I've dropped that one, and added the one at St Maarten instead because that one doesn't mention a weight minimum anywhere. I should probably make sure though.

I also got information about surfing lessons at St Maarten which sounds like a lot of fun. We've never done that but I think it's something we would enjoy and would be different. I'm not sure we can swing both but I'm going to look into it.

That will just leave me with now finding something to do in St. Thomas instead. I have a friend who used to live in St. John for many years. Might be time to reconnect with her and see if she has suggestions.

 

[skylynx]

We've rented cars in St. Maarten four times using a major US based company like Avis or Hertz and took the full collision/damage insurance (we never do that in the US). There was a "cruise ship special" on some rental car companies' websites that included full insurance and the car for the day and was around $100. A lot, I suppose, for a rental car for a day, but less than the two of us taking most port adventures and we got to do whatever we wanted and worked within our own whimsical timeline. There is a self serve gas station right next to the port so we've always refilled there. I'm always apprehensive about bogus rental car charges, too, so we make the exception in the Caribbean and just pay for the insurance coverage. We did the same thing twice in Grand Cayman, renting a Jeep with full insurance coverage. Was worth it for the peace of mind, and we really loved the option to go where we wanted to, stop on the side of the road for pictures, etc. While I'm sure we might get better daily rates at "Crazy Joe's Kokonut Kar rentals," we figure we've at least got some argument power using Hertz or Avis.

 

[skylynx]

For what it's worth, there are always lots of families at the Sunset Bar because there is a beach there, too, Maho...and the kids get a charge out of the planes screaming over the top of them while they splash in the water. The website, http://sunsetsxm.com/ has some pretty racy photos but we have been there about five or six times during the day and it is completely tame. They have a great grill menu, as well, and pretty decent food kids like (burgers, chicken fingers, etc.) Beer for the big kids, too! There's a surfboard/chalkboard just outside the entrance that lists the times the bigger jets land and take off, though smaller inter-island planes are coming in all the time. The main event is when the KLM jumbo lands around 2 pm. It is something to behold. Check out youtube for videos.

 

[carolynsanta]

My first trip to the Eastern Caribbean was on the Magic a LOOOONG time ago. This was without kids. We did the St. Maarten Island Tour. It was ok but nothing special. It was interesting to see how each side of the island is so different (Dutch vs. French). On St Thomas, we did the St John Eco Hike. I have traveled to many countries and this was by far one of my most favorite memorable beautiful places I have ever seen. You take a ferry from St Thomas to St John, meet up with a tour guide (ours was so informative), hike for an hour or two around the island, visit an old sugar mill, and end up on this private deserted beach where you have about an hour to swim and relax. It was really amazing.

Second trip was last year with an 8 year old on the Fantasy. For St Maarten, we wanted something active so we went with the downhill hike, forgot what it was called. It was really cool!! You take this open air truck to the top of a mountain and then hike all the way down. The tour guide is what made it stand out. For St Thomas, I didn't want to miss seeing St John again, so we did the Champagne Catamaran. It was wonderful!! The water was so calm. You board a catamaran from St Thomas and sail over to St John. We stopped at a beach where you could relax or snorkel. Again, St John is one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen.

Hope that helps!!!

 

[hoffman1]

Just some FYI about Maho beach... We were there last week around 10:30am. There was no beach by the bar -- just large boulder/rocks. Our guide did tell us about this before we arrived. Some people were climbing down the rocks to get to the water but most just stayed up by the road.
Also the bar there had a few topless women putting on a bit of a show for free drinks.

 

[skylynx]

Oh that is disappointing. Sounds like more than high tide affecting the beach area...wonder what has changed it so? The last time we were at the Maho beach bar (about 18 months ago) there was a kid's birthday party going on...far from topless displays. That's too bad...it is otherwise such a neat place to sit and watch the planes come in.