Eastern cruise excursion recommendations

[tink70]

We are going on our first cruise this saturday, and did not book any excursions. We have a DD that is 3 years old and a DS that is 8.

We just wanted to do see the beaches and maybe a small amount of shopping.

I looked online and saw a few beaches that looked nice at St. Marten.
Baie Rouge, anse Marcel or Pinel Island. Has anyone been to any of these? Or can you recommend a family one? We also would need somewhere to get lunch while we were there.

Any recommendations for St Thomas also?
Thanks!!!

Marnie

 

[mommasita]

Hi, We did Megan's Beach in St. Thomas..It was approximately 6$ per person for the taxi ride. We enjoyed it very much. Clean, and not too far. We brought room service sandwiches and cookies, and just purchased bottled water. THe kids loved the waves, and it was a nice relaxing break..

HTH

 

[tink70]

That was what we were hoping. Not too far and nice. Our kids love the beach so that will be entertaining in itself.
Thanks for the info!

 

[CTFamilyCruisers]

We've been to Pinel Island on St Maarten. It is really nice - fairly quiet. You have to take a "ferry" (think refugee boat) to the island, but it is absolutely beautiful. You can rent chairs and umbrellas. There were lots of kids there when we went.

PS - We are on the same cruise! See you on board!

 

[cookielulu]

Hi Tink70 and CTFamilyCruisers! We are on the same cruise- me,DH and DD14.

We are getting soooooo excited!

Tink70 - check out the CruiseCritic.com boards. I got alot of info for places to go from them. In St. Thomas we have set up a tour with Sunny Liston Tours for $20pp includes shopping, sightseeing and beach. He is wonderful to deal with - in fact he called me when I first emailed him and has responded to all my questions promptly.

In St. Maarten, we are renting a car - we are being adventurous or crazy - we'll have to see how that turns out
While we are there we are going to drive to the Butterfly farm and then Horseback ride at Bayside Stables.

Be sure and check out he Cruise Critics boards and they can hopfeully give you more ideas!

See you Saturday-
Jean

 

[ratfam]

If you want an easy beach access in St. Maarten, take the water taxi (VERY near where you get off the boat) and there are beaches on either side of the water taxi dock. An all-day wrist band for the water taxi is I think $5 for adults and free for kids and its very quick back and forth to the boat, so you can go back for lunch and, if you choose, return to the beach later in the day. You can rent two chairs and an umbrella for around $15, or just stay on the beach for free. Its not the nicest beach on St. Maarten from what I understand but we have enjoyed it both times we did it, and we were glad not to have to travel far to get there with young kids. In St. Thomas first cruise we did Magen's Bay, second time went on our own to Coral World and Coki Beach. We brought food along both times. If you are just doing beaches I think Magen's Bay was nicer. Coral World is a marine park, it was very interesting, not too big and our kids (6.5 and 9) really enjoyed it. Coki Beach is right next to Coral World, and if you have paid for admission to Coral World you can return from the beach to use their facilities. Coral World did have two counter service restaurants, I believe. It was $7 or $8 per person cab to Coral World, and admission for four ran about $50 with a coupon I got off the internet from their web site.

 

[tink70]

Thanks Everyone! I hopefully will see you by the pool on sunday.

We are leaving thursday morning and will be at the magic kingdom on friday and then the boat on saturday.

See you then!

Marnie