Quick advice - kid friendly beaches on Eastern ports

[scschnur]

I have read these boards SO much these last few months, that I am drawing a BLANK when it is time to go!! Could some of you please direct us to kid friendly (ie. no nudity - 9 & 10 year old boys just don't need to deal with it yet - I know, I know - different culture, explain the differences, yada yada. It seemed to me there were great choices without having to be "exposed" to that part of the culture) beaches in St. Marteen and St. Thomas? We're just looking to park ourselves for the day at the best beach you can suggest. Where should we go. AND - with a family of 5 and a family of 4 going together - would we be best off taking a couple taxis to these recommendations - or renting a van - or bus - or water taxi?

I know all of this info is somewhere in the archives of this board. I just cannot find it - and I am down to the wire....

Thank you SO much everyone! I am looking forward to being the one offering experienced advice soon!

 

[sandee]

My granddtr. loved Magen's Bay in St. Thomas. You could go way out and still only be waist high in the water and the water is calm because it's a bay - no big waves to worry about. It was crystal clear and she enjoyed her version of snorkling - putting on a mask and leaning over so mask just touches the surface. She saw just enough sea life to excite her. She also loved the pizza at the snack bar. There's a changing room and showers (salt water so only good for getting sand off) and you could rent rafts which she also enjoyed. The place is perfect....often makes list for most beautiful beach. The adults loved it too. We were worried about not having umbrellas available but there are lots of palm trees for shade and also a couple picnic tables.
You can get a driver with a van to take you. It was something like $6 each and a discount for my granddtr.

 

[kajohn]

I just got back in February from the east and that is exactly what we did for our family of 5. shore excursions were just too much money when all we wanted to do was go to the beach.

On St. Maarten we took the water taxi from the pier, which is $5 pp for the whole day, as many times as you want to use it. I believe children under 10 or 12 were free. The water taxi takes you to the pier in downtown Phillipsburg. The beach is right there, behind the main street of town. There are people who rent chairs and umbrellas, the going rate was $10 for two lounge chairs and an umbrella. they also had a water trampoline that was $5 for an all day bracelet for each child, but the guy sold them to me for 3 for $10. There are restaurants that are right on the beach for something to drink etc. The place we rented chairs also rented waverunners. They had a little shack set up, and if you went up to them, they gave you a key to their bathroom, which for being on the beach was fairly large, and as clean as you can get with all that sand.

It was very nice laying on the beach and having a great view of the cruise ships. There was some surf, but very small. And, no nudity on that side of the island.

The only drawback was that people kept coming up to you trying to sell tshirts, and hairbraiding. All it took was a polite no thank you and they would move on.

On St. Thomas we rented a car and went to Megan's Bay. That was gorgeous, much prettier than the beach at St. Maarten, so thankfully you go to St. Maarten first. Beach chair rentals and floats were available, but no umbrellas. But like the poster above said, shade was easily available. Beware the cost of food. There is only one food vendor, but a hamburger was $7 each. 3 hamburgers, 2 hot dogs and 2 fries were $35, with no drinks (we had stopped at a store and bought soda). The food was very good, but I wish I had taken other people's advice and packed food from the ship.

We also bought sand toys in Cape Canaveral at the Target store before boarding the ship. We used them all week, and then left them with the cabin steward to pass on to another family the next week. Hopefully that family tipped him extra for passing them on!

Good luck and have fun, I wish I were going back!

 

[Maria395712]

 

[jrabbit]

St. Maarten
We spent the morning walking on the beach in Philpsburg. It was nice. Orient Beach on the other side of the island was breathtaking (and I AM talking about the beach, water, hillsides NOT the few nude or topless people). We had a great time there in the afternoon. I believe that there are different sections of the beach for various stages of undress. Just ask you driver to take you to the family beach and you will really be OK. Your kids really won't notice they will be having to much fun on the beach! Oh and don't worry about your husbands because "playboy" it's not.

 

[rundogrun]

Another vote for Maegins Bay.

When you get to the beach, hang a left and walk down about 200 yards. You'll find a bathroom conveniently located and the beach won't be packed with people at that point.

It costs $3 per person and .50 for the kids. On our last trip they didn't even bother to charge for the kids.

Get out early, then head back to the ship for a late lunch to avoid the high snack bar prices.

Don't forget towels!

 

[Lloyd Dobler]

On St. Maarten, I'd say Great Bay beach (you can take the aforementioned water taxi), or Little Bay beach, which is probably a 5-10 minute cab ride from the pier. I prefer Little Bay, because it's a bit quieter, but Great Bay is very convenient to and from the ship.

On St. Thomas (no nude beaches there), I'd recommend Coki Beach for a family. It is right beside Coral World, which is a fun thing to see with the kids. Coki does get a bit crowded when there are several ships in port. Magens Bay is very large, so is likely to be less crowded. Both are probably a 20-minute ride from the ship.

 

[westjones]

How do you get to Maegins Bay? Did you take a taxi? Does Disney offer an excursion there?

Our neighbors said this was a very nice beach and highly recommended it, so we might try to find it next year on our first Easter Cruise.

DJ

 

[plutospup]

Here's another vote for: St Maartin-Great Bay Beach & St Thomas-Magen's Bay.

Great Bay: Easy access via water taxi. Clean, food & chairs available. DD loved collecting shells there.

Magen's Bay: Transportation via taxi (LOTS of taxis at pier), calm, clear water, food, floats, chairs available. DD & I built many sand castles there, and loved floating in the calm water.

 

[westjones]

We have never been to St. Thomas, so this will be a new adventure for us.

How much (approximately) would it cost to take a taxi to Maegins Bay? Is it easy to find a taxi to get back to the ship from Maegins Bay? Do they use US $$'s?

Thanks,
DJ

 

[SINK]

St Thomas is part of US Virgin Islands, and therefore uses US currency. Not sure on the cab fare, but could negotiate a price. We've just rented a car (expensive midsize from Avis at around $60). Be careful driving in St. Thomas, the roads are small and drive on the left hand side instead.

Although, there are portions of "family" area at Orient beach, but there still some "nudist" walking from side to side. Not very pleasant. Stay at Great Bay.

 

[hilltopfamily]

we went to Great Bay at St. Maarten---previous poster was right---this is a great place for collecting shells (there are TONS of them) and we did the 2 chairs/umbrella for $10. $5.00 for water taxi. Shopping was a lot of fun here after playing at the beach.

On St. Thomas the 5 of us took a taxi to Coki Beach & Coral World on our own. Taxi $7.00 each person one way == total of $70 plus tip for round trip all of us. Cost to enter Coral World was $52.00 for family. Cost to snorkel at Coki-- $10/per set if had paid admission that day at Coral World, $15.00 if not. Nice lockers for about a buck at Coral world to keep items in until you go to the adjoining beach, good bathrooms & shower. Beautiful calm lagoon-type area at Coki, not the least bit rough.

We didn't eat at any of these places as we followed advice from the board & used our soft-sided cooler & ordered room service (sandwiches, chips, cookies) to help keep costs down. We had already paid for our food on the ship so I felt we were not cheating Disney by doing this. good luck in deciding.

 

[rundogrun]

Taxi to Maegin's Bay is $6.00 per person. One time they charged half price for the kids (2 of them), and one time they didn't charge at all. Depends on the driver.

Returning from the beach, both times they charged for the kids. In fact. I think we had the same driver back on both trips.

PLENTY of taxis...they'll be a line at the port as well as a line at the beach. They tend to load them up before they send them on their way...most are either vans, or open aired mini-buses.

Transportation back and forth is a perfectly mindless experience. It's quite easy to manage.