Orient Bay or Magens Bay Beach Excursion?

[Disney-Bride2005]

Hi Everyone!
Would you all please share which beach day excursion is your favorite between the two?
Which is the best for a family?
Thanks again everyone.

 

[Grumpyismyfavorite]

I haven't been to Orient, but I personally think that Magen's Bay is one of the prettiest places I have ever seen. You can walk out really far and see perfectly clearly to the bottom (this was in May of 2006) and there seemed to be a lot of fish to see. We didn't book an excursion. Instead, we just took a cab from the port to the beach. Now, there was not a lot of activity if you're looking for a bunch of fun. We enjoyed the beauty, peace and quiet of it all.

We saw it when we took a tour and ended up on the top of a mountain at some famous place that makes banana daquiris. The view of it from up there was so spectacular that we had to go check it out.

Good luck finding something fun!

 

[WDW Princess 71]

I haven't been to Orient, but I personally think that Magen's Bay is one of the prettiest places I have ever seen. You can walk out really far and see perfectly clearly to the bottom (this was in May of 2006) and there seemed to be a lot of fish to see. We didn't book an excursion. Instead, we just took a cab from the port to the beach. Now, there was not a lot of activity if you're looking for a bunch of fun. We enjoyed the beauty, peace and quiet of it all.

We saw it when we took a tour and ended up on the top of a mountain at some famous place that makes banana daquiris. The view of it from up there was so spectacular that we had to go check it out.

Good luck finding something fun!

I am planning to do Magen's Bay on our Eastern cruise in January too, but I really want to go to that scenic overlook showcased in the DCL video and it sounds like what you described here. You said you took a tour to get to the overlook, and then how did you get to the beach? Does anyone know how to do this entirely on your own, ie get a cab to the overlook then a cab to the beach, how much money and time that would be? TIA!

 

[SweetSpot]

I've been to both and also to Coki Beach 3 times. Magen's Bay is a bay so there are really no waves and no snorkling really. It is really beautiful there and I loved it for a quiet relaxing day. My kids were bored. I went to Orient Beach last year and it would be my third favorite. It is beautiful but there is a good amount of coral and rocks close to the shoreline. Not a kid favorite.

Coki beach is very pretty, had the most wave of the 3 and the snorkling was good, and very close to the shoreline so great even for little kids. It is right next to Coral World and you can always go there for a little while the same day.

We did all of the beaches very easily on our own. There is an abundance of taxis waiting both at the port and beaches so it is cheapers and more to your time frame to go it on your own.

No matter which you choose you will love it. St. Thomas and St. Maarten are beautiful!

 

[razorbackfan]

Orient Bay is on St Maarten and is probably not so family friendly as it is a nude beach (although the 12 year old boy on our cruise last summer couldn't stop saying how beautiful it was at supper that night.)

 

[SweetSpot]

I forgot to mention the nudity. We only saw one topless woman and one old man in speedos. The people in less were further down the beach and didn't seem to come down to where the families were. My kids still weren't thrilled with what they did see.