Magens Bay.....with or without Disney!

[Debs Hill]

Hi guys,
We want to go to Magens Bay on our next cruise but wanted to know whether this is easy to do indpendently and how much it costs?
Also, if you do the Disney trip what time do you leave the ship and how did you rate the day?
Debsx

 

[Cruise]

We did it on our own and it was very simple. Taxis/vans waiting when you get off the ship. About $10/person or so cab fare - maybe a little less if you get in a full-ish van.

Also remember that there is an entrance fee to Magen's Bay which you'll have to pay. Rates are here: http://magensbayauthority.com/rates.html Have exact change as your driver will probably not have change and the booth won't have a lot. When we did this, there was a couple that had nothing but $100 bill - the driver had no change, the attendant couldn't make change. The rest of us on the van ended up having to make change for them just so we could get moving again.

 

[CanuckTraveller]

Definitely do it yourself, it is simple, you can come and go on your own schedule, and it is much cheaper than through any cruise line. Just be aware of when your ship plans on leaving, as you want to leave yourself plenty of time to get back to the ship on time.

 

[Magic3forme]

we did it by ourselves. We took a regular cab on the way there.. on the way home we split a huge van with another party. ( there were taxis waiting when we left.)

 

[3Mickeys]

Copying this from a past response I wrote up on this issue: This was Feb 2011.

We tried to get on the Magen's Bay excursion but it was booked. My kids are 8, 10 and 12. We walked off the ship, and went to the taxi area. They have these big open air bus/truck vehicles going to different locations on the island. We said we wanted Magen's Bay, it was $9 a person one way. Once there we rented two chairs for around $15. Kids swam for 3 hours, we relaxed. When we wanted to go we went back to the taxi area and got on a bus back to the port for $9 a piece. The DCL excursion would have cost almost $250 for the five of us. We did it ourselves for $115.

Editing to add that Magen's Bay has a $4 admission (back in 2011) for 13 and older, so we paid $8 to get in. Very easy though the bus pulls up to the admission booth and they walk down the rows and you pay there. The bus also tried to give you an "island special"... "Pay 10 now instead of 9 and your return trip will only by 7." Huh?? We decided easier to pay a straight rate each time.

Good luck planning!

 

[insureman]

There's a Budget car rental place a short walk from the Havensight pier. We always rent a car there, you can reserve online. I believe we paid around $70.00 for the day 18 months ago. Just remember to drive on the left. Also your US auto policy will cover you since it is a US territory.

 

[sue412]

Do it yourself!! We did this just last week when we were on the Fantasy. We got off the ship, found a taxi (easy!) and headed to Magan's Bay. We paid $8/pp plus a tip for one way. It is about a 15 min. taxi ride. Very easy!

Just a tip: When you get there, KEEP WALKING to the far/deserted end of the beach. This is a beautiful beach but people were almost sitting on top of eachother because no one 'spread out'. Everyone was trying to sit in the one area near the rentals. The other end is deserted!

We moved and found an empty picnic table under a palm tree. Perfect!
Walked to get some food ($3 for a slice of pizza and $5 for rum punch). Good and cheap.

We had a family we knew who went with DCL and they paid a lot more than us!

Have a great time. It is a beautiful place!!

 

[Debs Hill]

Thank you so much! I think we will be brave and go it alone!! ha! ha! Are there taxis etc waiting at the beach to get back or do you have to order one? Are there loungers/umbrellas to rent? Any photos of the beach?
Debsx

 

[J&K'sPrincessMommy]

It really is super easy and a HUGE savings to go it alone. We have done it before and plan on doing it again next summer too

 

[diz2011]

Thank you so much! I think we will be brave and go it alone!! ha! ha! Are there taxis etc waiting at the beach to get back or do you have to order one? Are there loungers/umbrellas to rent? Any photos of the beach?
Debsx

We did it on our own just last month and it was perfect! As previous posters have mentioned, we got the open air taxi bus right at the port and it was $8/person each way. Our driver asked what time we were planning to leave the beach and he said he would be there for us at that time...and he was! Kids under 12 are free to get onto the beach, so only my husband and I had to pay (believe it was $4 each??). We rented 2 lounge chairs and I think those were $7/each, but they had the smaller sand chairs for $5 each. I don't remember there being umbrellas available for rental, but there are plenty of palm trees on the beach to grab some shade. Aside from the $$ saved by doing it on our own vs. through DCL (about $70 for our family), all of the people on the DCL excursion were seated together in this giant cluster and were also all swimming together in the same area. We arrived before they all did and headed down the beach a little ways, right near a bathroom, and pretty much had the area to ourselves. Enjoy...it's beautiful!!

 

[Cruise]

We did it on our own just last month and it was perfect! As previous posters have mentioned, we got the open air taxi bus right at the port and it was $8/person each way. Our driver asked what time we were planning to leave the beach and he said he would be there for us at that time...and he was!

Ditto. The driver's really want that return fare as they know the trips from the port are easy to fill, but getting one later in the day could be hit or miss. I believe that's the logic behind the "island special" a pp mentioned.. the idea being if you're getting a "discounted" (really just partially pre-paid) rate back to the port, you'll definitely take their cab.