St Maarten

[KEH]

We are trying to decide what to do on our day in St Maarten. We have a few ideas for excursions but are also toying with the idea of just getting off the ship and exploring the port for a while and then reboarding for lunch, with maybe another trip ashore in theafternoon. Has anyone done this? Is there plenty to see near the port? Will we have a lot of hassle from people trying to sell us stuff etc? Any thoughts appreciated.

 

[NJ Cruisers]

A politie "no thank you" will have the vendors moving along. If you don't want to buy then don't show ANY interest and it won't be a problem.

Whether there is enough to do in the port depends on what you like to do. On our last 2 trips we spent a good part of the day at the beach in front of the port. Beautiful water and view of the ships, sailboats and blue sky. Gets crowded but not a big deal to us.

Other things to do in port
- shop or window shop
- people watch
- sit at an outdoor table, have a drink and stare out at the water

Diane

 

[Kimnicki]

We took it easy in St. Maarten. We slept in, took the water taxi to Greate Bay and walked the streets for a little while, DD got her hair braided and then we did the beach for a little while. It was a very stress free day!


Kim

 

[newtodisney]

Do you recall how much the braiding was in St. Maarten?

 

[TheWog]

We just stayed right at Great Bay in St. Maarten as well. We got off in the morning, went over to the beach on the water taxi ($5 per person all day and kids free). Spent time playing in the water, we rented jet skis, used the water trampoline etc. We had two chairs with an umbrella. Chairs were $10 for 2, $40 per 1/2 hour for jet ski and trampoline was $5 for the day. You talk to them and bargain it up, we got everything for $45. We then returned to the ship to shower, change and have lunch then used the all day water taxi again and did some shopping on Front Street. It was a really nice day. There are a lot of vendors walking the beach, we found it to be pretty annoying at some points, but as said above, a polite no thank you keeps them moving.

For braiding, my wife had it done there and they gave her the "today's special" of $1 per braid, did hear some people talking about $2 per braid. I talked with the girl and made sure she told me the most she would charge. She told me a bout 20-25 braids. I said fine but no more than $40 total. She said ok. It turned out my wife had 36 braids so $36 total. I just gave her the $40 and called it a day. If it were $2 per it would have been over $70 so just make sure up front you know what you are going be charged. Our table mates had two little girls with really long hair and they wanted to charge them almost $150 for the two. I remember them saying they finally settled on $100. So just know up front. But they did a great job.

So have fun.....

 

[mhb]

Hi KEH, we're cruising with you. We are doing the Golden Eagle Catamaran in the morning. I think we'll get back to the ship for lunch. Then whatever we want. I think I would like to shop, but the children and DH may want to stay onboard.

From what I read on the boards, this excursion was well worth the money. It has snorkeling, (I'm not a great swimmer but was told they give you things to float on) and sunbathing. Hoping it was on a beach, but if it's just on the catamaran, it will be enough sun for me. I'm very faired skinned.

 

[krhardy]

MHB, you will love the catamaran! DH and I have done it twice! The morning is a great time to go...the first time we did it in the afternoon, and the heat made DH a little sick...no chumming, but he just didn't feel great going out...he was fine coming back when it wasn't so hot. The crew is wonderful! My only caution is that if you are likely at ALL to suffer from motion sickness, you take something before hand, and sit towards the back of the cat. Have a great time...I'm envious and it's only been a month since mine!

 

[musicgirl]

If I were to go again (hopefully), I would go to Great Bay beach. With the water taxi's that are $5 unlimited rides, you can go back for lunch on the ship, get cleaned up and go shopping.

We went to Dawn's beach to snorkel first this time. It was nice, but the taxi was $42 roundtrip for 3. The taxi was very convenient, just be very specific about where you want to go.

Then, we went back to get cleaned up, ate and then went into town to shop. By the time we were done shopping, we were pretty tired! We had planned to go to Great Bay beach in the afternoon, but we were too tired. It was a really pretty beach and I couldn't stand it!!!!

Make sure to have a guavaberry colada at the guavaberry store. It is on the main street, easy to find! It is very yummy!!!!

lorie

 

[Kimnicki]

We did just about everything that TheWog did...and I totally agree about the hair braiding. I was told that it would be $2 a braid and as the girl is doing DD's hair, I started to add it up in my head....I finally told her that I only had $40 to spend on the braids and she compromised and did 1/2 DD's head, ear to ear and it really was cute. Had she done the whole head, it would've cost us at least $75. They offer hair braiding on the ship as well, at $2 a braid, I believe.


And the ease of having the water taxi right there was great. DH was sick when we were there so it made it easy for Dkids and me to go back and forth between the beach and the ship for only $5 for me since they were free.


Kim