Excursion and going on your own?

[MissScarlet]

After an excursion do you get back on the boat or can you go explore on your own? If we did the Sea and See tour on St. Marten in the morning could we go to the beach in the afternoon on our own? Which beach would you go to? Thanks!

 

["Ginger"]

Excursions on St. Maarten and St. Thomas are very easy to do on your own. There are taxi's everywhere just get one and tell the driver where you want to go. Most of them will drop you off and before leaving you will ask you what time they should come back to get you and they do. Do your homework before you go, you'll save a small fortune and see more than on a tour. On our last cruise to St. Maarten's I lead a small group to another island, Anguilla, we had a great time it was one of the high point of our cruise.
If you do decide to go with the tour you'll have time to go to the beach. There are beach areas where you get off the water taxi's in town.

 

[candleonwater]

We did the See and Sea, and the driver gave us the option of going back to the ship, or being dropped off in the shopping district - we chose shopping (of course). From there it was really easy to get back to the ship (via the water taxi) to drop off our purchases, change into bathing suits, and head back to the beach.

 

[willow0256]

We went to Dawn Beach on our own. Which wasn't bad. You can snorkle their, though the waves are a little rougher than what you will find the following day in St. Johns. There was a snack shack there and facilities. So all in all, it was a good time.