We are really watching out budget since splurging for a Cat 6 on our 12/8/07 Eastern cruise. What can we do on St. Martin that is either within walking distance OR should we consider taking a water taxi to one of the beaches? I'm a bit nervous to wander too far from the ship - want to be sure we're back in time. But I figure if we head out early and give ourselves lots of lead time, we shouldn't have a problem. I know some have rented cars, but I don't think we want to do that. Has anyone went to St. Martin and NOT taken a DCL excursion, but still did some sightseeing/beach or shopping? Thanks!
We grabbed a taxi, went to Coral World & then had our driver take us to a beach. Was about $30 in cab fare for the day. Don't recall the name of the beach, but was plenty of cabs available when we were ready to return.
There is a water taxi just down the pier from where you will dock. It goes back and forth over to the town, and I think the fare is $5 or $6 per adult. That price lets you ride all day. There are a couple of beaches on either side of the dock in town, where you can rent chairs and umbrellas (don't recall the price). Since the water taxi drops you off pretty much in the middle of town, it's easy to wander around and do some shopping. You can see the ship from either beach and it's only about a 5 - 10 minute ride on the water taxi.
We took a cab over to Divi Little Bay Beach, it was not crowded at all, and a beautiful beach. It was my DH, DD5, and nephew (7yo) they had so much fun in the water, small waves,and warm water. We got off the ship, around 9:30am?, and we were back on by around 1:30pm, we had lunch on the ship, then got back off to do some shopping at the pier. The beach was free, we just paid for the cab, I think it was around $16.00 ($4 each), each way. Very easy and cheap day.
Shopping you can do on your own. The water taxi system was $5 for unlimited riding all day (you get a wristband) or $3 one trip. There are 3 stops on the system. You can do the island tour on your own without booking thru DCL--land cabs are available at the pier. Little Bay is a wonderful beach--just a land cab ride away from the ship. Personally, I'd skip Orient Beach with a family. It supposedly has a "family friendly" area, but I've never found that part of it. If you go shopping, be sure to stop in at "That Yoda Guy."(or some similar name.) One of the artists who did Yoda for the movies has a shop--fun to look at even if you have no intention of buying anything. The above poster mentioned Coral World--that is on St. Thomas.
hi! we also took a cab (in fact we shared one since it was just the 2 of us) and went to Little Divi Bay - we had fun! In fact, we are big snorkelers, and we snorkeled all the way out to where one of the snorkel excursions from the "tourist village" took you to! and it was really that we were snorkeling down the left side of the beach/rocks!!! lol!! very cheap day and fun!! have a great time! wendy
Personally, I did not like St Maarten at all! We took the water taxi and walked around the beach front area. If we ever went to St. Maarten again, I would probably book an excursion via DCL or not leave the pier the ship docked at.
