Excursions-doing them on your own?

[JAN ENOS]

Well, there is only one week to go and I still have concerns about the excursions. We booked one for St Thomas. It is a basic sight
seeing tour including a trip to St Johns. The problem being there are 4 adults and three children. When we priced this excursion
they told us it is 29.00 per child and they charge for our 19 month old. So this is going to come to 160.00 for the 4 adults and another 90.00 for the children. This seems awfully expensive but
we know nothing about the islands and doing it on our own. There will be too many of us for one taxi (7) Any suggestions or
help would be appreciated. Also can we cancel a pre cruise
excursion booking? Also can we go right off the boat in either St
Martin or St Thomas for shopping??
Thanks for any advice!
Jan

 

[dis4me]

In St Marteen you can take the water ferry over to Philipsburg where there is a beach and shopping. It is $5 for the day per person and kids are free.I found that to be the biggest bargain. St Thomas there is shopping right where the boat docks but I felt the prices were more expensive than St Marteen.
We did the St John snorkeling excursion. It was expensive but I felt it was worth the money to be sure we got to the ship in time.(I know others will disagree ). I have seen people on both of our cruises get left behind on St thomas because tehy were late coming back.On was brought out by boat. The other forklifted onto the boat.( How embarassing)
Have a great cruise.

 

[Señor Ferrari]

You can definitely do excursions on your own for less. If you want a tour of one of the islands, you can usually make a deal with a cab driver for one. Many (most) of the taxis are vans, so you would be able to fit the whole crew in one taxi.

 

[reggie92762]

Not only do they have small cabs but usually larger vans that would be happy to do a tour of the island. Just shop around on the pier for the best price.

 

[mcfly]

For St. Thomas, are there boats close by where we dock that can take you to Trunk Bay (St. John) at a cheaper price. Do they run frequently or are they a high risk of not getting back in time?

Thanks.