Suggestions for Eastern excursions

[chieften]

My DW and I will be taking our DS(11) and DD(8) on the 11/1 Eastern Cruise. Does anyone have some suggestions regarding the excursions available for St Martin and St Thomas/St John? I'd be interested to know what people think of the beaches on those islands for both swimming and snorkeling. Thanks.

 

[bahama97]

My dh & dd12 did the Golden Eagle Catamaran on St. Martin & LOVED it! They both said they would love to do it again. I know they did some snorkeling too.

 

[dave&kim]

Our family did the Buck Island Sail and Snorkel in St. Thomas and this was one of the highlights of our vacation. Our children are inexperienced sailors and snorkelers. They are 15,14 and 10. All three of them loved the sailing experience and the captain allowed all of them the opportunity to sail on the way home. On this excursion, you actually jump of the boat to snorkel. You do not go to a beach at all. One of our children was very apprehensive but the guide (Toni) calmed her down and everything worked out perfectly. They boats hold up to six guests so the five of us had the boat to ourselves. They sailed us to a very calm area and the snorkeling was truely amazing. The cost of the excursion was $50 per person and we all felt it was well worth the money. We would not hesitate to do it again.

 

[GOOFY D]

At St. Thomas, the Trunk Bay excursion was wonderful. Trunk Bay is paradise!

 

[Axeman]

In St. Maarten, check out my DUCK TOUR Have fun whatever you choose to do!

 

[tezb]

Our family did the SNUBA lessons at Coki Beach in St. Thomas. Price reasonable and they loved. SNUBA is a cross between Scuba and Snorkeling w/out all the Scuba gear. She also took digital pics of them under water and mailed us the disc later.

 

[JimB.]

Rhino Riders at St. Maarten.

 

[eye R.N.]

The beach was lovely, the price was reasonable, it is something we could never do at home and they throw in Coral World (where there is a shower for the participants).

 

[aa4mom]

I haven't yet looked at the DCL excursions, so excuse the question if it is obvious. Is SNUBA offered thruough DCL or did you arrange it on your own. It looks like something that DDs would love to do.

 

[trishy]

Okay, here's an idea. We booked a 25 ft. cuddy cabin to putt around St. John's and had a blast. Your kids are at a good age to do that. Only negative to some people is that you buoy at some points and you will have to climb/jump into 20 ft. water. Was not a problem for my kids who are all very good swimmers. The place is out of RedHook - you can catch a cab from the ship and arrange for the cab to pick you up around ??? time (worked really well for us). Anyway, if you're interested in this and want the name of the boat company, pm me; they have a website. Some friends of ours who booked with them last time are using them again for their August cruise.

 

[4myguys]

We snorkled at St. John. Took a small catamaran booked thru DCL. The trip over was just as fun as snorkling. If you're going 11/1, is that one of the cruises where they are skipping St.Martin and going elsewhere?

 

[danamay]

Hi Chieften,

I think we will be on the same cruise (11/1/03 Eastern on the Magic), I have been researching about excursion also and came across this thread.

We are thinking of doing Coral World and Coki Beach by ourselves.

 

[xABearx]

Originally posted by JimB.
Rhino Riders at St. Maarten.

This is an awesome one, we just did this on our 8/23 trip and a great time, also, a couple of years ago we did the 12 Metre Regatta which was also alot of fun.....you race another America's Cup Yacht and actually get to participate in manning the Yacht....you can either work alot or very little on this one......Andy

 

[SweetSpot]

Hi chieften and danamay we are also on the Nov 1 cruise there has been a rather active thread with other Nov 1 cruisers if you are interested.

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?threadid=322718

We were on the Nov 2nd cruise last year and spent the St. Thomas day at Magens Bay. We caught a taxi on our own and had a wonderful beach day. The beach is beautiful and it was very easy to do. Our kids were 12, 10 & 7 and they had a great time.

This year we are going to try Coral World and Coki beach on our own. It is really easy to grab a taxi and you are able to come and go in your own time frame.

 

[danamay]

I am already in the 11/1/ thread. Still waiting for my room assigment.