Tortola vs SXM

[rere101399]

Looking at Winter 2021 SWDAS Fantasy 7 day Eastern. Haven’t done this route yet, need to choose a stop in Tortola or St Maarten along with St Thomas. We’ll have 8 and 9 year olds at the time. Not looking for anything too adventurous but would like to disembark and do a safe excursion, which could be a nice and safe beach at either St Thomas or the other port and then something besides a beach at the other. If you’ve done Tortola and St Maarten with kids, any advice on choosing one over the other?

 

[lklgoodman]

We did Secret Sands beach at St Thomas, lovely beach. They only allow one ship there at a time and limit it to 75 people so it's not crowded. Will go there again if we do another EC. My dd was 10 when we went there earlier this year. At Tortola we did the Beach Express to Beef Island. Also enjoyed this and would do again. We went to St. Maarten many years ago and did a jeep tour of the island. Didn't enjoy it, sad to see the poverty and had a reckless driver. We were scheduled to go to St Maarten again in 2018 on DCL, but rough seas diverted us. I'm looking at the cruise that goes there Feb.2021. Keep in mind the beaches allow nudity in St. Maarten, something to consider or not with kids. We felt safe on all 3 islands, maybe slightly more so on Tortola than St. Maarten.

 

[rere101399]

We did Secret Sands beach at St Thomas, lovely beach. They only allow one ship there at a time and limit it to 75 people so it's not crowded. Will go there again if we do another EC. My dd was 10 when we went there earlier this year. At Tortola we did the Beach Express to Beef Island. Also enjoyed this and would do again. We went to St. Maarten many years ago and did a jeep tour of the island. Didn't enjoy it, sad to see the poverty and had a reckless driver. We were scheduled to go to St Maarten again in 2018 on DCL, but rough seas diverted us. I'm looking at the cruise that goes there Feb.2021. Keep in mind the beaches allow nudity in St. Maarten, something to consider or not with kids. We felt safe on all 3 islands, maybe slightly more so on Tortola than St. Maarten.

Super helpful, thank you!

 

[lklgoodman]

One thing about Secret Sands is that's part of a nature preserve so there's no bars/restaurants. There are nice clean bathrooms and picnic tables. We went right after breakfast and were back on the ship in time for lunch. The host did have drinks and snacks(bags of chips). There were pool noodles included, don't remember if snorkels and masks were extra, you could bring you own. At Tortola there was a water trampoline that was $5 extra. They also had pool noodles and kayaks that were free. There were tents with food, drinks, and souvenirs. They had outdoor showers and bathrooms brought in on these large platforms. They were clean, so if you go there, don't be put off when you first see the bathrooms. The host said they are trying to get the govt to build permanent baths. This had been a locals only beach, but they opened it to cruise ships after the hurricane hit in 2018. By 2021, maybe they will have permanent baths, I would still go there even if they don't. Both beaches had hosts that were very friendly and would come and see if we needed anything.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

Our last cruise rerouted to SXM because Tortola was a wreck. We did a day sail with an outside company (Soualiga) and would recommend it. Our boat was 50% kids and they had a blast. We spent some time snorkeling, we did a couple beaches, including 2 that we had 100% to ourselves because the only way to get there was by boat, and watched planes land at Princess Juliana. Lunch was included. It was about a 10 minute, very safe walk from the dock to meet the excursion, and when we were back on ship that night, most people who had done ship excursions were meh about them, and envied our pictures of sea turtles and beaches, and our gnarly sunburns.*

* yes, we reapplied sunscreen non stop. Didn't work, okay?! We're northerners!

 

[celebrationej]

No kids here, but did an Eastern Carib DCL cruise last year that was originally scheduled to go to Tortola, but was rerouted to St Maarten due to the awful damage from the hurricanes in 2017, and then visited Tortola on a DCL sailing earlier this year.

We strongly preferred St. Maarten, and during our 2018 cruise, nearly every CM we talked to about the rerouting said they liked St. Maarten better too, and that we got lucky to get the different route. St. Maarten is the perfect port for just relaxing on the beach, no excursion needed. You do have to take a ferry boat to the main beach, which is a nominal fee, but once you get to the beach you can rent a couple of chairs and an umbrella, and they'll even bring you out a bucket of bottled waters or beers. It was the perfect lounge day, and I enjoyed the beautiful blue waters. It might be boring if you're looking for a more active day, but I'm certain there are excursions that would be more "exciting."

We like to wing it on our first trip to any port, so we didn't book an excursion in either port. There was very little to do in Tortola without having booked a prior excursion. There was a small shopping and dining area just where we got off the boat, and there were taxis you could pay to take you somewhere, but most of these didn't look particularly promising to us. If I want to do something far away from the dock, I like for it to be booked through Disney so I know that the person will actually come back to pick us up at the appointed time. So we walked around for a while, made it to a point where we would have to walk alongside a major road with no sidewalk, and decided to bail and head back to the ship (luckily we were able to enjoy our Senses Rainforest Passes while everyone else was ashore)!

I don't think either port is bad, I would just recommend booking an excursion if you visit Tortola. Think about what type of vacation you like to take, and decide if the St. Maarten day might be "too" laid-back for your kids? Have a great trip! Love the Eastern Caribbean cruises

 

[Mainsail Minnie]

One thing about Secret Sands is that's part of a nature preserve so there's no bars/restaurants. There are nice clean bathrooms and picnic tables. We went right after breakfast and were back on the ship in time for lunch. The host did have drinks and snacks(bags of chips). There were pool noodles included, don't remember if snorkels and masks were extra, you could bring you own. At Tortola there was a water trampoline that was $5 extra. They also had pool noodles and kayaks that were free. There were tents with food, drinks, and souvenirs. They had outdoor showers and bathrooms brought in on these large platforms. They were clean, so if you go there, don't be put off when you first see the bathrooms. The host said they are trying to get the govt to build permanent baths. This had been a locals only beach, but they opened it to cruise ships after the hurricane hit in 2018. By 2021, maybe they will have permanent baths, I would still go there even if they don't. Both beaches had hosts that were very friendly and would come and see if we needed anything.

They had water trampolines at Secret Sands beach, or was that a different beach? How much beach time did the DCL excursion give you at Secret Sands beach, btw?

 

[lklgoodman]

They had water trampolines at Secret Sands beach, or was that a different beach? How much beach time did the DCL excursion give you at Secret Sands beach, btw?

The water trampoline and kayaks were at the beach at Tortola, Beef island. Both beaches had pool noodles. I think Secret Sands may have had snorkels you could rent, but don't remember. The beach reminded me of CC as far as the sand and calmness of the waves. We were there over 2.5, close to 3 hours. The drive was around 20 mins to the beach.

I just bumped a thread about Secret Sands that has some pics of the beach.

 

[cvjw]

We thoroughly enjoyed the catamaran excursion in st. Maarten that we booked thru Disney. The catamaran was right by the fantasy. It stopped at 2 beaches. One on the Dutch side and one on the French side. We had plenty of time to snorkel or use the beaches. We would book this excursion again in a heartbeat