Post your Eastern Caribbean Excursions here!!!

[LoveMickey]

Looking for recent reviews of St John ECO Hike!

Me too. Looking for reviews of this and the Mt. Top at St. Thomas.


thanks

 

[Debs Hill]

bump!
Debsx

 

[Disney_Alli]

Anyone done the Catamaran and Chanpagne Sail? Thoughts on the excursion and would you recommend it and/or do it again?

 

[Debs Hill]

Bump!
Debsx

 

[Disney_Alli]

Bump

 

[Beth D]

There is another thread on here with a few reviews of the Turtle Cove/Honeymoon Beach excursion, and they are giving it great reviews! Sorry, i don't know how to link the thread to here? Can someone more tech savvy do it?

We are on the Eastern Magic sailing Saturday, and are doing Bernards Tours (reserved with another group from our ship for a private tour). We are skipping Orient Beach and going to the other one since we have small kids and are not wanting to spend the entire time explaining to the boys that some folks walk around topless!

We are also booked for the Turtle Cove/HM Beach excursion through DCL.

I will post a review of both when we get back!

 

[LovingDisney11]

Also, interested in any info on the Catamaran Sail!

 

[marshmellow86]

We also did the St. John Island Tour. This was a narrated, open air bus tour. He took us to some amazing places to take pictures. I would highly recommend this for those who don’t want to spend the day at the beach. We were able to spend about 45 minutes in the shops near the return boat dock and had some desserts at a small café in St. John.

We enjoyed a scenic boat ride along St. Thomas coastline towards St. John. On the way over, we sat on the top deck of the boat. Since it was morning and spring time, the sun really wasn’t too hot and we really enjoyed it. On the way back I would suggest trying to get on the lower deck on the side benches. This will let you enjoy the outdoors and see everything on one side of the boat, but have the shade from the boat.

This tour allowed us to see the entire island. Next time we are going back to Trunk Bay because it looked absolutely beautiful on our tour.

Here are a couple of photos of St. John we took on the tour.

We are going in June and this was one of the options I was looking at. We have 2 dds age 14 and 8. We aren't crazy about snorkeling and will do some at Castway and therefore looking to do something a little different at the other ports. We live in Fl, so beach time is something that is easier for us to do at other times. We enjoy learning more about the places we are having the fortune of visting, so this looked good. The other problem I am running into is that some of the other port adventures that we might enjoy (for example, biking) has a miniumum age of 10, so my youngest wouldn't be able to do it.

We were also looking at the tour of both flags of St Maartin. Anyone have feedback on that one?

 

[ITGirl50]

We are going in June and this was one of the options I was looking at. We have 2 dds age 14 and 8. We aren't crazy about snorkeling and will do some at Castway and therefore looking to do something a little different at the other ports. We live in Fl, so beach time is something that is easier for us to do at other times. We enjoy learning more about the places we are having the fortune of visting, so this looked good. The other problem I am running into is that some of the other port adventures that we might enjoy (for example, biking) has a miniumum age of 10, so my youngest wouldn't be able to do it.

We were also looking at the tour of both flags of St Maartin. Anyone have feedback on that one?

My DD 14 doesn't like to swim with fish, so she picked this tour. One of the interesting things about St. John is the terrain and the roads. The roads are narrow, they drive on the 'wrong' side of the street, and it has VERY steep hills. The terrain made the tour more interesting. Of course, it is just a tour, no zip lining excitement with this one. We had never been to the carribean, so the views were exciting to us.

 

[catgirl]

Looking for recent reviews of St John ECO Hike!

I'm looking for reviews as well. We have this booked for our April 21st sailing on the Fantasy. Would love to hear from someone who as gone.

We also booked the private Randomwinds snorkel on St. Martin and was so very glad to hear a good review.

Thank you!

 

[txsoccermom]

Two I would recommend for St. Maarten would be:

Bernards Tours - http://www.bernardstours.com/

Great overall sampling of the island. A nice mix of sightseeing, shopping, and beach time, hitting both Orient Beach and Maho beach to see the planes land. We had a larger group and were able to get a private tour with just our group for just a few dollars more per person than the group tours, then we could customize the tour to what worked for us, a little more beach time and a little less shopping time.

Do you think Bernards Tours would work well for 2 older people that are physically challenged with walking? We are taking my soon-to-be 80 yr old mom and her friend (club foot) on the Fantasy in June. Was thinking about the "Under 2 Flags" tour thru DCL, but heard that didn't leave too much time for shopping and was boring?! Any insights to that one? Thought maybe Bernards might be better....what do you think?

TIA!

 

[shburks]

We were also looking at the tour of both flags of St Maartin. Anyone have feedback on that one?

I don't have personal experience with this one, but it's what we're planning to do on St Maarten. My friend recently did the E Caribbean cruise on the Wonder (I think!) with her family and they did this tour and really enjoyed it. They have two kids (6 and 8, I believe) and she said their guide was entertaining. They enjoyed that it only took the morning and then they had time for lunch/shopping before heading back to the ship. They had done the dolphin excursion in Tortola so I think they also liked having one day kind of busy and one day a little more quiet!

 

[all5ofus]

Do you think Bernards Tours would work well for 2 older people that are physically challenged with walking? We are taking my soon-to-be 80 yr old mom and her friend (club foot) on the Fantasy in June. Was thinking about the "Under 2 Flags" tour thru DCL, but heard that didn't leave too much time for shopping and was boring?! Any insights to that one? Thought maybe Bernards might be better....what do you think?

TIA!

The most walking distance we did was during the shopping part of the tour and I think you could walk as far or as little as you chose. For the stop at Orient Beach there were bars where you could have a seat or beach loungers for an additional charge within a short distance of where they stop.

I guess it would depend on how mobile they are.

 

[Debs Hill]

bump!

 

[Beth D]

Do you think Bernards Tours would work well for 2 older people that are physically challenged with walking? We are taking my soon-to-be 80 yr old mom and her friend (club foot) on the Fantasy in June. Was thinking about the "Under 2 Flags" tour thru DCL, but heard that didn't leave too much time for shopping and was boring?! Any insights to that one? Thought maybe Bernards might be better....what do you think?

TIA!

We did a private tour with Bernards with another family, and he drops you off right at everything! If you're concerned, do a private tour. It's not that much more $$, but you get your own van, no bus, and can request changes to the stops! We had our driver stop at a pastry shop on the French side and had wonderful chocolate eclairs for a mid-morning snack! We also chose a different beach. With 2 kids onboard we didn't want to hit Orient. We went to a more private beach with only a few girls selling beads.

We drove by Orient, and as DS pointed out - "That man's naked!" It also looked crowded and full of street hawkers, as did some of the other beaches. Our guide was very informative and answered all questions! He dropped some folks off in Phillipsburg for shopping, and the rest of us at the pier.

 

[nikknyc]

all of the following are booked for our april 13th eastern carribean. anyone have any suggestions? going all out because this is our first one!

st. maarten - 5 hour beach day at orient bay
st. thomas/st. john - champagne catamaran
castaway cay - bike/float rentals AFTER our cabana massages

we are bff/mother and daughter. i'm 24, mom's in her 50's... neither of us have been on a cruise before!

 

[Floridagram]

I did this excursion last year with my family, 4 adults and 3 kids (14, 10, 5). We loved it. The ride out to Turtle Cove was beautiful and there were lot's of turtles when we got there. Honeymoon Beach was nice, the food wasn't great, but the beach was pretty. I plan on doing just the turtle cove without Honeymoon beach on my next cruise. BTW....they had 2 ships, a pirate ship and a catamaran (sp). I was bummed for my boy's that we didn't get the pirate ship, but found out it had no shade at all, so I was glad we got the catamaran :0)

can you tell me how hard it was to get on board the pirate ship? I was considering this tour but we have always gone on catamarans before. DH and I have had joint replacements and we do not want to do anything to strenuous when we try to get back on the ship.

 

[roliepolieoliefan]

Anyone go to coral world on their own?

 

[runskyhy]

On St. Maarten, we have taken the 'Island Cruise & Explorer' excursion. We chose that over the 'Two Flags' tour because it is the same route to/from Marigot but also includes a short boat ride around Simpsons Bay. It was a good way to see a quick overview of the island.

On St. Thomas, we independently rode the Sky Ride in Havensight and took a taxi into Charlotte Amalie to do the 99 Steps Walking Tour (between Blackbeard's Castle and Hotel 1829.) These were fun. I would do either of them again.

Both are summarized in more detail in my trip report starting on pp. 35. To get to it, click on the '10/2011' date link in my signature. It will take you to a folder that will let you download the PDF file named 'tripsumm'.

 

[Mamiamjo]

On St. Maarten, we have taken the 'Island Cruise & Explorer' excursion. We chose that over the 'Two Flags' tour because it is the same route to/from Marigot but also includes a short boat ride around Simpsons Bay. It was a good way to see a quick overview of the island.

On St. Thomas, we independently rode the Sky Ride in Havensight and took a taxi into Charlotte Amalie to do the 99 Steps Walking Tour (between Blackbeard's Castle and Hotel 1829.) These were fun. I would do either of them again.

Both are summarized in more detail in my trip report starting on pp. 35. To get to it, click on the '10/2011' date link in my signature. It will take you to a folder that will let you download the PDF file named 'tripsumm'.

Thanks For Sharing,
How far from away was the Sky Ride and do you remember how much it cost? I think we may want to do that after our visit to the Maagen's beach