Excursions in St. Maarten and St. Thomas

[tsmith4571]

Looking for some suggestions for excursions to book for our upcoming cruise. I have 2 boys ages 8 and 9...I am looking for something the entire family can enjoy. I would love to learn about the history of the island, any suggestions would be greatly appreciated! !

 

[minniemouse1]

Not sure when your cruise is but we booked a charter with Good Day Charters in St. Thomas. We have not done this before but will post a report when we return. They are bringing us to St. John to see the turtles, to a hermit crab island for the kids and lots of other places. they are rated on trip advisor too. that could be a site to look at for ideas.

 

[TinknPink]

we last did that cruise in 2010. In St Maarten we did the "st maarten island and butterfly farm tour". My daughter was 12 and we all loved it. did the morning one. bus trip around island with stop in Marigot where we got off the bus and spent time in the outdoor market area then back on the bus and a great stop at the butterfly farm which was really cool. back at the ship at lunch and then took a launch over to a beach where we spent the afternoon. would do it again.
in st thomas we did the Capain Nautica's snorkelling expedition. the rib boat ride was fast and exhilarating, got to swim/snorkel with the turtles but really didn't see any coral which is what i thought st thomas was famous for. another good day.
Hope you have a blast and wish i was coming with you!!

 

[ChristyBrown]

Looking for some suggestions for excursions to book for our upcoming cruise. I have 2 boys ages 8 and 9...I am looking for something the entire family can enjoy. I would love to learn about the history of the island, any suggestions would be greatly appreciated! !

My advice would be to stay on the ship when you go to St. Marteen. The boys would be able to enjoy the pools and the AquaDuck with no crowds. My DH and I went in October and we hated St. Marteen! The people were rude, the island was nasty and run down, and our excursion was a complete waste of time and money. We went to the Butterfly Farm. You could not pay me to go back there! It was a dump with overgrown weeds and a few butterflies that you could easily see in your backyard.

St. Thomas, on the other hand, was one of the most beautiful places i have ever seen and I would go back against in a heartbeat. We did an excursion that took us on a sightseeing tour around the island and dropped us off at Coral World Ocean Park for a few hours. We loved it! The tour was fun and beautiful. The park had all kinds of animals. Mind you, it is not a Sea World type place. It is much, much smaller, but we had a great time! I do think your boys would enjoy it. St. Thomas was our favorite day. We even had time to walk around the port shopping area when we returned. You will not be disappointed with this island! Enjoy!

 

[disny_luvr]

In St. Maarten we did a tour through Bernard's Tours. A group of us through our DIS Meet did the tour together. We liked it a lot. We went all over the island and our guide gave us a great tour pointing out many things. We stopped at Orient Beach first. It was beautiful and very empty. I'd read reports of people walking the beach and trying to sell things, and, yes, we did see people selling things but I wouldn't say they were pushy. A simple "no thanks" worked well and they were on their way. After Orient we headed to Marigot and spent some time walking in the open air market area. We weren't there really long and after finding a bathroom we only had about 15 minutes to explore so we just walked around and took some pictures. We then headed onto Maho to see the plans come and go. We were there to see the KLM jet take off and it was awesome. My boys loved that beach! They thought the waves were awesome. The beach gets really crowded though so be prepared if you venture there.

In St. Thomas we did a DCL snorkeling excursion to St. John's. St. John's is heaven on earth and I'd recommend it. We'll definitely be doing that one again.

 

[VAbears]

We are going on our first Disney Cruise on the Fantasy in April. We are booked for the Golden Eagle catamaran snorkeling excursion for St. Maarten and the St. John's Eco Hike with our three children (ages 12, 9, 9). Has anyone done these?

 

[lynn_s]

Looking for some suggestions for excursions to book for our upcoming cruise. I have 2 boys ages 8 and 9...I am looking for something the entire family can enjoy. I would love to learn about the history of the island, any suggestions would be greatly appreciated! !

If you can go to St Johns do it. We haven't cruised, but have vacationed twice in St John. Snorkeling off the beach is great there, and there are lots of small tours/excursion type things you can do on your own if you want.

 

[jimsubry]

My advice would be to stay on the ship when you go to St. Marteen. The boys would be able to enjoy the pools and the AquaDuck with no crowds. My DH and I went in October and we hated St. Marteen!

Aw, I wouldn't want to miss out on a stop, myself! We got off in St. Maarten, grabbed a taxi, told him to take us to the nearest beach, and were not disappointed. Our 10 year old loved the one he took us to, it wasn't crowded, people were friendly, we had a great time!

 

[loveysbydesign]

Looking for things to do on our cruise there in Nov. too. Kids will be 15, 12 and 7...needs to be cheap! LOL

 

[cozmo]

Our family did the Legenday Kon-Tiki cruise (or something like that) on St Thomas, and really enjoyed it! It takes about half the day so we had the rest of the time to explore the nearby stores and such. They take you on a 45 minute or so ferry ride to some beach, and on the way briefly talk about some of the island history. After spending about an hour at that beach, you head back and then they do limbo contests with a live band. The price wasn't too bad either.

 

[DisneyCruiseMAD]

We Love that cruise! We Did Snorkeling in St thomas it was amazing and I saw kids around that age jumping off into the ocean ready to go. St Maarten is great! we Loved it we didnt do any excursions took a small boat right from the port over to the side where there are shops went for a swim bought some stuff took some funny pictures and got back on the Magic. We went to the french side and the taxis are terrifying LOL its like driving in Puerto Rico ! We had a bearded lady driving us and my eyes were closed the whole time! Honestly the only fun thing to do there is shop and go to the beach.

 

[bumbershoot]

My advice would be to stay on the ship when you go to St. Marteen. The boys would be able to enjoy the pools and the AquaDuck with no crowds. My DH and I went in October and we hated St. Marteen! The people were rude, the island was nasty and run down, and our excursion was a complete waste of time and money.

Oh gosh, that is such the opposite experience to ours! We found the place to be gorgeous and the people AMAZING. I saw nothing run down in any way that isn't normal for an island nation that gets to deal with water water water all the time.

Then again...we got off the ship, took the water taxi to the main area (second stop on the water taxi), and just wandered around in there. Ended at That Yoda Guy's place and turned around. Nice, friendly people we chatted with the whole day. After lunch (at Hard Rock...not where I would have chosen but DH was over-hungry and irrational by then and was too nervous that the place I watched to eat (The Blue female-dog) wouldn't have a bathroom...Hard Rock was actually quite tasty, but rather spendy) we spent a few minutes on the pretty beach that is *right there*. Some people say that that stretch of beach used to be quite gross, but it wasn't gross when we were there (late January!).


When we go there again we'll take a Bernard's excursion so we can easily see the French side and also a beach or two.



I've heard that St John's has some of the best snorkeling anywhere, so I bet we'd do that if/when we go to St John's.