Excursion help! Eastern Caribbean

[nkereina]

We'll be on Oasis of the Seas for the first time with my parents who will be visiting the Caribbean for the first time ever!

For Nassau, I'm thinking about possibly booking the Atlantis Aquarium tour either from the cruise line or ResortForADay.com. Anyone done this? It actually gets mediocre to bad reviews, but we're only in port from 8am-3:30pm so we're not interested in the water park. This would mostly be so my parents can see Atlantis, and then we'd probably do some shopping at Marina Village, aand maybe lunch at the new Margaritaville if time permits. Does this sound doable? Anyone have a better suggestion?

For St. Thomas and St. Maarten, we know we want a beach day at one port and a resort day pass at the other one, but I can't decide which would be best. The beach needs to have umbrellas and a bar/food options available. I'm leaning towards taking a taxi to Maho Beach (Airport Beach) in St. Maarten and hanging there and at Sunset Beach Bar. That means I'd like a resort day pass in St. Thomas. The Marriott Morningstar Beach Resort sells them - any opinions on this resort or know of any others? The Westin Dawn Beach in St. Maarten has day passes as well, if that resort is any better.

Thanks for your help!!

 

[msjprincess]

When we stopped at St Martin this past summer we took a taxi to Maho. We hung out there for a few hours and then took a taxi back to downtown Phillipsburg ate lunch and then hung out on the beach at Great Bay. We then took the water taxi back to the ship.

Our original plan was to go to Maho beach first and then walk over to Mullet Bay, but we spent more time at Maho then we planned. There was no sand at Maho when we were there. So we hung out at Sunset Beach Bar for awhile and them walked to the other side past the Driftwood Boat bar where there was a sandy are in front of the Royal Islander Club.

 

[keishashadow]

We'll be on Oasis of the Seas for the first time with my parents who will be visiting the Caribbean for the first time ever!

For Nassau, I'm thinking about possibly booking the Atlantis Aquarium tour either from the cruise line or ResortForADay.com. Anyone done this? It actually gets mediocre to bad reviews, but we're only in port from 8am-3:30pm so we're not interested in the water park. This would mostly be so my parents can see Atlantis, and then we'd probably do some shopping at Marina Village, aand maybe lunch at the new Margaritaville if time permits. Does this sound doable? Anyone have a better suggestion?

For St. Thomas and St. Maarten, we know we want a beach day at one port and a resort day pass at the other one, but I can't decide which would be best. The beach needs to have umbrellas and a bar/food options available. I'm leaning towards taking a taxi to Maho Beach (Airport Beach) in St. Maarten and hanging there and at Sunset Beach Bar. That means I'd like a resort day pass in St. Thomas. The Marriott Morningstar Beach Resort sells them - any opinions on this resort or know of any others? The Westin Dawn Beach in St. Maarten has day passes as well, if that resort is any better.

Thanks for your help!!

Nassau - if going to Atlantis we do the waterpark, usually via renting room @ choice suites. Would think you could just grab cab/spot on jitney over and buy tour tix there.

St Thomas - Magens bay is beautiful, again easy/short walk to grab a cab or jitney to beach. If you are looking for an all inclusive or resort beach day, check out cruise critic for suggestions.

St Maarten - we like Bernard's tours, has one that includes stops @ Maho timed for airplane action.

 

[nkereina]

Thank you both!

@msjprincess - were taxis in the Maho beach area and downtown Phillipsburg area easy to come by to get back to port? How far is the cruise port from Maho and Phillipsburg? Is there shopping and stuff to do in the downtown Phillipsburg area?

 

[keishashadow]

Thank you both!

@msjprincess - were taxis in the Maho beach area and downtown Phillipsburg area easy to come by to get back to port? How far is the cruise port from Maho and Phillipsburg? Is there shopping and stuff to do in the downtown Phillipsburg area?

Maho beach is very congested, narrow road and lots of people milling about to get next to the airport fence for the wind tunnel effect. Traffic can be daunting in the afternoon with many wanting to get back to the ship. Make sure to leave yourselves plenty of time. It's one of the few ports I book excursions with a company as I know they rely on word-of-mouth to stay in business & know we'll make the departure.

If anything, schedule your shopping I port after the beach time to build in a time buffer.

 

[msjprincess]

Taxi were easy to find at the bot the port and Maho. At the port just follow the signs to a stand. There is someone there putting people in cabs. There is a price list posted. Fare to Maho is $9 pp up to 5 people more than $5 it's $8 pp. I'm guessing it took somewhere around 30 minutes. From Maho there is a parking lot behind behind Sunset Beach with official taxis. There are also other people in cabs that aren't official taxi drivers. Make sure the license plate says Taxi in it.

There are tons of restaurants and stores in downtown Phillipsburg. You can see the ship from the beach. I think the water taxi was $7. here is a picture taken from Philipsburg near the water taxi stand.

 

[Frozen2014]

For Nassau, we did the Blue Lagoon excursion which we quite enjoyed. Atlantis would be great if you have enough time.

For St Thomas , we went to Coki beach and loved it. It's soooo beautiful. We don't snorkel but it's apparently great for that. Food and umbrellas are available. We ordered lunch on the beach. It is small though so it gets crowded. Didn't bother us but it may some. Waves were perfect for our kids...there were some to make it run but not too rough.

For St Maarten, we did Little Divi. It's a short ride. The waves were a little rough the day we went (crashing over at knee deep length so it was hard to actually get into the water without being knocked over). But it's close with food available I know others have gone and liked it so it might have just been the day we went. It also has the necessities...food, washrooms, rentals.

 

[nkereina]

Great info - thank you all!

@keishashadow - how much time would you allow to get back to port from Maho beach in the afternoon? All aboard should be about 4:30pm. If we plan to leave Maho by 2-2:30, is that reasonable?

@msjprincess - awesome pic! Are those chairs/umbrellas/noodles available to rent there or do they belong to a resort? Is this beach near the shopping/dining in Phillipsburg?

 

[msjprincess]

There are chair/umbrella rental stands all down the beach. It's really cheap, it was $15 for 2 chairs, an umbrella and a bucket of beer or soda.

 

[keishashadow]

Great info - thank you all!

@keishashadow - how much time would you allow to get back to port from Maho beach in the afternoon? All aboard should be about 4:30pm. If we plan to leave Maho by 2-2:30, is that reasonable?

@msjprincess - awesome pic! Are those chairs/umbrellas/noodles available to rent there or do they belong to a resort? Is this beach near the shopping/dining in Phillipsburg?

I don't ever want to be ship-runner lol. Always plan on being back onboard a solid hour before stated time. I'd think that time would work. Make sure to check the flight arrival times there, it's all about catching the activity around a plane landing or taking off as the beach itself leaves much to be desired IMO. PS there is an interesting beach bar (sunset bar & grill) , topless women drink free. I'm sure my DH keeps hoping to be treated to that sight when we visit but no cigar lol.

 

[msjprincess]

I wish I could remember what time we left Maho. Our all aboard time was 6:30. We were in port 10-7. Which is better for planes since the big plans normally start around 11am. So we were able to hang out for about 3 or 4 hours before heading back downtown Philipsburg.

 

[Mdtigger99]

My favorite excursion without question is the America's Cup sailing on St. Maarten.

 

[zoo2tycoon]

My favorite excursion without question is the America's Cup sailing on St. Maarten.

Totally agree
We did this in January and it was outstanding!

 

[Vijoge]

Sapphire Beach is my favorite on St. Thomas, but I like Coki Beach, too. Loved the America's Cup sailing on St Maarten, as well as Orient Beach (it's a beautiful beach and not ALL nude-we took our granddaughters who were 9 and 11 at the time) on St Martin.

 

[Laz]

When in St. Thomas, we love to take the excursion over to St. Johns and go to Trunk Bay. Beautiful beach with an underwater snorkeling trail. You can take a ferry, but don't miss the last ferry of the day back to St. Thomas