St. Martin Butterfly Farm

[kcashner]

Does anyone know anything about how to arrange this privately rather than thru DCL? In my experience, most of the shore excursions can be privately arranged, but I've never done this one. Thanks,
Kathryn

 

[CRSNDSNY]

We did this excursion back in 2001 and really enjoyed it. But we booked through DCL.

You can get to their official website at www.thebutterflyfarm.com -- I'm sure you can find information there if nobody else replies.

 

[thegales]

We did this on our own. While it was nice to save some money, more importantly, it gave us some flexibility.

At our leisure, we had breakfast on the ship, then prepared to disembark. Because most of the Disney excursions were earlier, there was no wait to disembark.

As you leave the pier, you will see signs pointing you to the taxi stand. The taxis are 15 passenger vans, so they will try to organize people to fill the vans. We shared a ride with a group from another cruise line who was going to a beach near Butterfly Farm. I believe the total for the four of us was $15. The cab driver told us the people in Butterfly Farm could call them for the return trip, or we could walk to the beach. I gave the cab driver $20.

We went inside, and ironically, we arrived just after DCL did. We were invited to join them for the tour. After the tour, they provide a free fruit drink, and encourage you to wander around and try to get a butterfly to land on your finger. It seemed that as soon as we went back in, they were calling the DCL people to go back to the buses. At this point, the place became deserted, and we had a great time wandering around. The lady from Butterfly Farm came over and told us our cab was waitng outside, whenever we wanted to leave (my guess is the people going to the beach didn't tip, so she came for us). After a half hour, we left, and we went to the shopping area (I think it was $15 again, and I gave another $20). We stayed there until DD5 and DD7 got tired, then we took the water taxi back to the pier.

In the end, we probably paid about 85-90% of the cost of the DCL excursion price, but we got to do things on our own schedule. This was the best part.

It was not difficult at all to do on our own.

 

[dianthus]

We had a similar experience to thegales. Definitely do it on your own...We got up & had a leisurely breakfast at Topsiders & watched all the excursions being herded together on the dock very early.

We got off the ship around 9AM. We rented a Jeep Wrangler at the Port for about $60. We had an online ressie with Avis. We went to the Butterfly Farm- very cute, nice people. We were there about a 1/2 hour & it was deserted, the excursion had just left. Admission was cheap. ( They have a website) Orient Beach is just down the road, we went there for about 3 hours- rented cushioned loungers for $5 each- really nice ( family side of the beach is to the left...), our DD got her hairbraided on the beach by a nice woman and then went into Marigot for lunch & shopping, which was really nice. They have a nice open air market in a square- good bargains. Cleaner than Phillipsburg... The french side is much nicer imho...

We were back to the ship by 5PM. Sounds like the cost of cabs is comparable, but you have the freedom of sightseeing & having a car at your disposal if you rent one. It depends if you feel like driving or not. I agree ~ much cheaper than the excursion costs & you are not part of a "herd" of people. Much more flexibility with car rental, or cabs too.

~ Linda

 

[MrsPete]

While I have not done this particular excursion, next time we are going to "go it on our own" rather than using Disney's excursions. While we loved the things we did on excursions, we did not really enjoy the inflexibility that comes with being part of a big crowd.

 

[Magicboundagain4]

What car rental place is close to where we dock in St Martin?

 

[conny264]

I´m bumping this up,because I´m also interested to know,which rental car companies are close to the docking pier at St.Maarten.

Lots of greetings from Germany

conny264

 

[dianthus]

We used AVIS, but there were several there- Budget & a few local companies. They are all in one section. When you get off the ship, go down the promenade & bear right toward where the buses are parked. You will see the car rental offices. They are all together. Several people behind us just walked up & got comparable rates so I don't think a prior reservation was required. They seemed to have plenty of cars. Unlike St. Thomas, they drive on the right- the same as the US, so it's not confusing ( not sure which side you drive on in Germany?). Gas is in litres, not gallons. I think we spent about $5.00 filling the Jeep back up before returning the car.

Dave has a link to a St. Maarten tourism site on www.dcltribute.com and some car rental companies are listed there, so you can get an idea of pricing. It was quite reasonable.

Hope that helps!

~Linda

 

[tink5697]

Okay, I just looked on the Avis website and it's giving me an option of 3 different areas to choose from on St Martin. Could you possibly tell me which one it is? LOL.
I appreciate it, Thank you!

Grand Case
Philipsburg
Simpson Bay

 

[conny264]

Thanks dianthus.

Luckily we are also driving on the right side.Only Britain and associated countries go on the left.Tried it in London once,never again.
I also looked at the Avis site and would like to know,which location is the pierlocation.Hope somebody can help.

Lots of greetings from Germany
Conny264

 

[dianthus]

I did a little research for you, as Avis was at the pier in 4/2002 ( the pier was new then) They have them listed as Great Bay Marina in Phillipsburg, but that may be next to the Pier. I don't know, so they may have moved since we went. We made the ressie thru a local St. Maarten Avis website, not the general one, so maybe it has indeed changed.

Here's a link to St. Maarten rental cars. Hertz & Dollar are listed at the pier. I really don't think you need a ressie, unless it's a holiday week, or you are very picky with the kind of car you rent.. If you do reserve online, a deposit is req. I remember we had to do that. Good luck! www.stmaartencarrentalguide.com/index.php click on the one day cruise ship passenger link.

Kathryn~ so sorry your thread went so off topic, but for a good cause...The Butterfly Farm is nice. Don't do the excursion- too rushed...

~ Linda

 

[conny264]

Thanks a lot,that was very nice.I will check the link.
Conny

 

[JeffPort]

St. Maarten is a great island to rent a car and explore for yourself. As others have pointed out, there are several car rentals available right at the boat dock. You should be able to negotiate a single day rental for under $50. The island is small and has reasonably well-kept roads.

The Butterfly farm is really nice, but don't expect something extravagant -- it's full of beautiful butterflies in a garden environment under a large net. Be sure to speak with the employees there. They love to share their knowledge of these beautiful creatures.

After the farm, you should consider travelling over to Marigot over on the western shore. It's a quaint French town with lots of shopping and cafes. It's much prettier and cleaner than the port town where the boat docks.

The best secret of this island is the great restaurants all over -- but particularly in Grand Case. (There are a great many European chefs who now call St. Maarten home.) Unfortunately, there's no time to enjoy a great dinner on the island when day tripping from the cruise ship.

Here's a link to a map of the Island. It takes about 15-20 minutes to get to the butterfly farm from Phillipsburg and about 1 hour to get around the entire island.

http://www.caribbean-on-line.com/sm/smmap.shtml

 

[ClarabelleCow]

I have visited St. Maarten almost 30 times (we have a timeshare there!) The butterfly farm is nice, get there as early as you can, if you can get off the ship around 8:00am, hookup with a taxi or rent a car, they will be right there. The Farm opens at 9:00am, and that is when the butterflys come out of their cocoons. After you do the farm, head to either LeGallion Beach, just down the road past the riding stables, its a great beach for little kids, very shallow, just be prepared, several times a year they have a seaweed problem, they have a nice restaurant there also. Or go over to Orient Beach, my favorite section is Bikini Beach, but be prepared, it is a "clothing optional" beach, Club Orient is the nude resort, and they tend to wander down then entire beach, every beach on the island is pretty much topless, and you get some that think tvery beach is nude, so just be prepared if this would be an issue for you. I have kids and started going to the island when I was 15, this hasn't been an issue, but just thought I'd give a heads up, because I have heard passengers get very upset because they didn't know! If you have any St. Maarten question, feel free to ask away!!

 

[Magicboundagain4]

Thank you

That was very informative and my family looks forward to driving the island and exploring.
We have done the excursions with disney before and this time look forward to seeing everything on our own time and pace.