St. Maarten Excursions

[oakleycat]

Lunch is currently sandwiches, chips and fruit because of the destruction of the former eateries. And be aware this is a speedboat, not a gentle cat. If anyone is prone to motion sickness prep for that.

Couple pix:

Lunch is currently sandwiches, chips and fruit because of the destruction of the former eateries. And be aware this is a speedboat, not a gentle cat. If anyone is prone to motion sickness prep for that.

Couple pix:

Thank you! Capt. Bob advised us of the change in lunch and speedboat in the booking email, but I'll be sure to give my husband motion sickness meds!

 

[_auroraborealis_]

Yeah. It's always been a speedboat, not a catamaran. And even if the water isn't choppy, it's you, 16 friends, a captain and a skip in a speedboat, in the Atlantic Ocean sometimes without a lot of break in the path. You bounce. I've seen complaints on TripAdvisor about it, but I think it's expectations, not a flaw in the excursion.

 

[Doofenshmirtz513]

Having just been on the Fantasy at St. Maarten last week, I would advise against the Golden Eagle Catamaran or Mullet Beach (the Golden Eagle Catamaran goes there after the snorkeling). The tour was disorganized and slow at the start, with it taking a long time to move us off the dock. The boats are a bit small for the number of people we had. They didn't have enough snorkel vests, especially kids snorkeling vests on our boat, so adults had to use noodles and kids life jackets. The crew, including the captain, was mostly inexperienced and seemed unfamiliar with the tour and ship. The snorkeling was pretty poor.

The cats anchor off shore from Mullet Beach, then you have to swim a few hundred feet to shore. The waves were heavy, making it hard to do much in the water, and the waves were washing the sand off the rocks near the shore, meaning you got beaten up when the waves pushed you around. At the end, you had to swim back out to the boat, which was difficult through the strong waves. My wife saw one topless beachgoer as we arrived (I did not), and another pair (couple?) seemed to be doing some sort of amateur bikini shoot on the beach as well. The beach is big enough these people didn't interfere with us, but be aware if that sort of thing might put you off.

In short, we didn't think it was an excursion worthy of a Disney cruise and complained to them about it once back on board.

 

[starvenger]

My wife saw one topless beachgoer as we arrived (I did not), and another pair (couple?) seemed to be doing some sort of amateur bikini shoot on the beach as well.

It's better to claim that you didn't, even if you did.

Thanks for the tip. What was the exact name of the excursion?

 

[Dug720]

My wife saw one topless beachgoer as we arrived (I did not), and another pair (couple?) seemed to be doing some sort of amateur bikini shoot on the beach as well. The beach is big enough these people didn't interfere with us, but be aware if that sort of thing might put you off.

In short, we didn't think it was an excursion worthy of a Disney cruise and complained to them about it once back on board.

Hopefully the topless beachgoer was not part of the complaint as that is perfectly normal and acceptable at St Maarten.

 

[Doofenshmirtz513]

Hopefully the topless beachgoer was not part of the complaint as that is perfectly normal and acceptable at St Maarten.

Thanks for letting me know what I am and am not permitted to complain about.

 

[Doofenshmirtz513]

It's better to claim that you didn't, even if you did.

Thanks for the tip. What was the exact name of the excursion?

SM03 Golden Eagle Catamaran

 

[Dug720]

Thanks for letting me know what I am and am not permitted to complain about.

I'm just saying that any research into beaches at St. Maarten would reveal that topless is the norm. Disney doesn't own the beaches and cannot dictate dress code for them.

 

[Doofenshmirtz513]

I'm just saying that any research into beaches at St. Maarten would reveal that topless is the norm. Disney doesn't own the beaches and cannot dictate dress code for them.

As we did not see a single other topless person on the beach last week, I can't speak to whether it's "the norm" or not. But that was pretty inconsequential to the overall poor experience given that only my wife saw it.

Do you have any other thoughts about my excursion experience I should know?

 

[Dug720]

As we did not see a single other topless person on the beach last week, I can't speak to whether it's "the norm" or not. But that was pretty inconsequential to the overall poor experience given that only my wife saw it.

Do you have any other thoughts about my excursion experience I should know?

The other things you described are all valid complaints. All I said was blaming Disney for something beyond their control - like what someone NOT on a Disney excursion is wearing on the beach - isn't really fair to Disney. It's like blaming them for bad weather.

 

[Doofenshmirtz513]

The other things you described are all valid complaints. All I said was blaming Disney for something beyond their control - like what someone NOT on a Disney excursion is wearing on the beach - isn't really fair to Disney. It's like blaming them for bad weather.

Who is blaming? All I said was that you should be aware of the nature of what we observed on the beach if it might put you off.

I think you should stop commenting on my review of the excursion, which is just an effort to give people as much information as possible about an excursion that we found to be below standard. But I look forward to your next effort at getting in the last word.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

Like @Dug720 I have seen a lot of people get back from cruising and freak out about topless beaches (Disney do warn in excursion T&C that they are such) or about people wearing swimwear they do not appreciate.

If you cannot handle other people's choices to wear or not wear swimwear of their own preference, beaches are probably a bad choice for you even in the US.

 

[Dug720]

The

Like @Dug720 I have seen a lot of people get back from cruising and freak out about topless beaches (Disney do warn in excursion T&C that they are such) or about people wearing swimwear they do not appreciate.

If you cannot handle other people's choices to wear or not wear swimwear of their own preference, beaches are probably a bad choice for you even in the US.

Exactly my point.

And yes...It is in the terms and conditions and if I could figure out how to upload the picture from my phone I would post the screen cap of them.

 

[acndis]

We just were on the Fantasy in March and did Soualinga. Probably the best excursion we have ever done on DCL. We will do it again if we are in St. Maarten. Highly recommend!