Excursions with young children

[axsimpson]

Before I left, someone had asked about eastern excursions with young children. In St. Maarten we did the butterfly farm and Simpson Bay (boat ride). In St thomas we did coral world.
The butterfly farm was nice, but it was small and you did not get to spend much time there, about 35 min. For my daughter (she will be 3 on Jan 8th) it was good because she got bored quick. I did not have time to even look at the gift shop. The shopping part of that tour was also short. You went to a flea market area and had about 45 min.
The Simpson Bay boat ride was very similar. She enjoyed being on the boat and trying to call the dolphins. It was about a half an hour to the shopping area then you got to spend about 35 minutes there.
Coral World was nice but small. You stop and take pictures in the mountains and then you get to spend about 40 minutes in coral world. Again we got to see everything except the gift shop. Then it is off to shop. We got to spend as much time as we wanted shopping but you had to get back to the ship on your own before they departed (4:30) for me this was nice. I got to visit with a friend that was on the island working at a hotel while my sister took my daughter back to the ship.
We decided just to hang out on the beach for Castaway cay day. This worked out perfect because all of the excursions were cancelled that day. It was very cold and windy.
If I had to do it all over again, I would only go to the butterfly farm in St maarten. St thomas I would choose a beach excursion and castaway I would do the beach thing as well.
Be prepared to rush, rush, rush on whatever excursions you choose.
Arlene

 

[BibbidyBobbidyBoo]

Thanks! I really appreciate you posting this "report"... as I will have young children with me. Not babies- but under the usual age 5/6 minimum on some excursions- so our excursion possibilities are a little limited.
I might LIKE the idea of not much time to shop afterwards... save money. LOL If I had more time- I'd probably buy more! LOL But seeing as I've never been- I might enjoy a little more time.. so that's good to know that there's not much shopping time with those excursions!

Uhoh, I don't like the idea of rush, rush, rush... supposed to be a relaxing vacation! I'm kinda scared about just "winging" it on each port of call though... (not doing excursions) and then doing the beach/snorkeling on Castaway Cay. CC would be great I'm sure- but the other ports without excursions planned might not be a good idea for my family? Not sure... we'd be totally lost on what to do I think. LOL

 

[QueenTrident]

Thanks for the information.

Would you have enjoyed doing Coral World on your own timetable? Is there a lot of interaction with the fish/marine life there?

I'm not planning to do excursions with DD in St. Maarten and want to go to Coral World on my own in St. Thomas. Then, we can head to Coki Beach for a bit.

Thanks again for posting this! Did you have a good time on the cruise? I know you had some concerns before going. Was DD able to go into the clubs? If so, did she like them?

Thanks for any info. DD is 3 1/2, so I love hearing stories from parents with the littler one.

 

[HappyMommy2]

Thank you so much for posting this! We'll probably cruising next year, at which time our kids will be 4 and 2, so details like this are really helpful to us as we begin to plan.

Thanks again!

 

[4kidsandadog]

We were on the 12/13 cruise with 4 kids ages 3, 5, 8, and 12. We did the Under Two Flags tour on St. Maarten (BIG mistake!) and the Coral World excursion on St. Thomas. That one wasn't too bad. We had time enough for the kids to play next door at Coki Beach for 30 minutes or so before catching the tram back to town. Next time (and there WILL be a next time!) we will probably do St. Maarten on our own and do some type of beach day on St. Thomas, either on our own or through Disney. Depending on the time of year, I don't want to plan my beach day just for CC... did that this time and missed out because it was so darn windy and cool!

Karen

 

[mardal]

Hi! We're doing the Western Jan.31st. Son is 8 and Daughter is 5. In Key West, we've arranged a jetski tour of the island, 27 miles around. They said we'd see all kinds of neat things. it's about 3 hours long... Both kids have grown up riding jetskiis (we have 2) so I'm not really concerned about that. In Cayman, we've booked Soto for Stingray city.... Cozumel, we'll probably just go to the beach.... I'm sure my kids will be fine, just go with what you're kids are used to.... mine are pretty adventerous!
Mark