which activity...which port?

(I have posted this in the St. Thomas board, but have not received any responses yet...hoping someone can help me out..)

we will be on Carnival Sunshine 8 day Exotic Eastern 2/20/15-2/28/15. we will likely be arranging our own shore excursions rather that booking them thru carnival, and have picked out some things we would like to do, just not sure which island is best to do it on.

1. we are in St. Thomas on 2/23 from 1-9 pm (ship time). We have been to st. thomas 2 x's before, one did an excursion to st. john, and the second time went to megans bay and then up the tram to Paradise point. Since we will be in port into the evening, we are planning on either taking a taxi or paying the 20.00 p/p to take the tram up and down (advice on which way to go cost wise??) and have drinks and watch the sunset, so from 530 pm or so is covered.... so trying to decide what to do during the day. One option is to do the mini boats that you drive yourself in a group, to Christmas Cove, snorkel for an hour and then drive the boats back. The excursion is about 3 1/2 hours so would fit the time frame well.

2. We are in St. Maarten 2/25 from 8 am to 4 pm (ship time) they have this same type of excursion (rhino rider--2 person boat) in St. Maarten that takes you from Simpson Bay to Creole Rock to snorkel and then cruise back along the shore to see both sides of the island. This excursion is about the same length of time (3 1/2 hours) and starts right when we get off the ship. Our MUST SEE in St. Maarten is Maho beach to watch some big planes come in, so if we did this on this island, we would go to Maho following the boat excursion and spend an hour or so at the beach and/or bar and then make our way back to the ship. We have been to St. Maarten once before, but am ashamed to say, I dont remember what we did..most likely just beach and swim (but not Maho).

so based on the times I have... which island would be the best to do the mini boat excursion (as far as time, snorkeling quality, etc.) also, based on my MUST DO on each island, (paradise point for sunset/evening and Maho for planes), do you have other suggestions if we didnt do the mini boat on that island. We like to beach, swim, snorkel, some adventure (but usually only if I am in control of the situation, like driving the boat fast myself!! dont know if I could handle being on one of the crazy fast boats driven by someone i didn't know..). Not big on shopping, but do like to spend a half hour or so wandering thru the shops browsing.

Which island would offer more opportunities for an alternative?

thanks!

(and ps... planning to just beach/pool it at the pier in Grand Turk, and maybe a segway tour in San Juan....other suggestions after the segway tour?)

(I have posted this in the St. Thomas board, but have not received any responses yet...hoping someone can help me out..)

 

we will be on Carnival Sunshine 8 day Exotic Eastern 2/20/15-2/28/15. we will likely be arranging our own shore excursions rather that booking them thru carnival, and have picked out some things we would like to do, just not sure which island is best to do it on.

 

1. we are in St. Thomas on 2/23 from 1-9 pm (ship time). We have been to st. thomas 2 x's before, one did an excursion to st. john, and the second time went to megans bay and then up the tram to Paradise point. Since we will be in port into the evening, we are planning on either taking a taxi or paying the 20.00 p/p to take the tram up and down (advice on which way to go cost wise??) and have drinks and watch the sunset, so from 530 pm or so is covered.... so trying to decide what to do during the day. One option is to do the mini boats that you drive yourself in a group, to Christmas Cove, snorkel for an hour and then drive the boats back. The excursion is about 3 1/2 hours so would fit the time frame well.

 

 

2. We are in St. Maarten 2/25 from 8 am to 4 pm (ship time) they have this same type of excursion (rhino rider--2 person boat) in St. Maarten that takes you from Simpson Bay to Creole Rock to snorkel and then cruise back along the shore to see both sides of the island. This excursion is about the same length of time (3 1/2 hours) and starts right when we get off the ship. Our MUST SEE in St. Maarten is Maho beach to watch some big planes come in, so if we did this on this island, we would go to Maho following the boat excursion and spend an hour or so at the beach and/or bar and then make our way back to the ship. We have been to St. Maarten once before, but am ashamed to say, I dont remember what we did..most likely just beach and swim (but not Maho).

 

so based on the times I have... which island would be the best to do the mini boat excursion (as far as time, snorkeling quality, etc.) also, based on my MUST DO on each island, (paradise point for sunset/evening and Maho for planes), do you have other suggestions if we didnt do the mini boat on that island. We like to beach, swim, snorkel, some adventure (but usually only if I am in control of the situation, like driving the boat fast myself!! dont know if I could handle being on one of the crazy fast boats driven by someone i didn't know..). Not big on shopping, but do like to spend a half hour or so wandering thru the shops browsing.

Which island would offer more opportunities for an alternative?

 

thanks!

 

(and ps... planning to just beach/pool it at the pier in Grand Turk, and maybe a segway tour in San Juan....other suggestions after the segway tour?)

The rhino riders leave from before the Simpson Bay Bridge, a little more than 1/2 way from the port to Maho. You would be best to just get a taxi to take you from where the Rhino riders finish to take you directly to Maho beach as you will save over 1/2 hour in transport time compared to going back to the ship first. The taxi from the Rhino riders to Maho should take about 15 minutes, that's if you dont catch a bridge opening. The best time at Maho in the winter is 11:30-2:30 IMO. Noon is a good time to aim for. The only good snorkelling that I have done in St. Maarten is out at Creole Rock. The beach snorkeling is not very good at all IMO.

In St. Thomas I have been to little Buck's Island and swam with sea turtles, we went on the Dancing Dolphin catamaran and used power snorkles. It was an awesome excursion but it was several years back now. For beach snorkeling on St. Thomas I prefer Sapphire over Coki. Is Christmas Cove on the way to St. John? I would do some research on it to make sure that the snorkeling is good.

I guess if it were me I would go to Sapphire Beach and snorkel and then have the driver drop me at the top of Paradise Peak in St. Thomas. For St. Martin I would do the Rhino Riders and Maho beach.

Are there any other suggestions? I feel bad because the poster posted this originally on the ask a question board and I told her that she would get more help over here.

The Rhino is not going to work.

Their website says that the morning excursion is at 8:30, but it also says to check in 20 minutes beforehand, so by 8:10. Even if you could get off the ship by 8:00, there is no way to get from the ship to the Rhino in time. Maybe if you got off the ship by 7:30?

Sorry,

gary

I was on the Getaway in June and we stopped at St Thomas and St Maarten. I'm on the Valor and doing the ports again-love them.

In St Thomas we went to Coki Beach to snorkel the last time. I thought it was pretty good snorkeling. I love St John though so I am going to do that this time. It is worth the trip!

In St Maarten we did Bernards tour. It was great for our first time. We went to Maho Beach, a lizard area, a few nice lookouts, Sarafinas Bakery for some awesome pastries. I would highly recommend going there-so good! Then we went Orient Bay which is a very beautiful beach (not good snorkeling though)

The Rhino is not going to work.

 

Their website says that the morning excursion is at 8:30, but it also says to check in 20 minutes beforehand, so by 8:10. Even if you could get off the ship by 8:00, there is no way to get from the ship to the Rhino in time. Maybe if you got off the ship by 7:30?

 

Sorry,

 

gary

That's a good point. Lots of cruisers report doing the rhino rider so I wonder just how they are doing it. Perhaps it's a cruise ship excursion on some ships?

There can not be many ships that arrive before 8 a.m.. Perhaps it's worth sending an email to the company and seeing how long they wait before leaving.

I was on the Getaway in June and we stopped at St Thomas and St Maarten. I'm on the Valor and doing the ports again-love them.

In St Thomas we went to Coki Beach to snorkel the last time. I thought it was pretty good snorkeling. I love St John though so I am going to do that this time. It is worth the trip!

In St Maarten we did Bernards tour. It was great for our first time. We went to Maho Beach, a lizard area, a few nice lookouts, Sarafinas Bakery for some awesome pastries. I would highly recommend going there-so good! Then we went Orient Bay which is a very beautiful beach (not good snorkeling though)

Did you go to Maho Beach first thing in the morning? Normally that is too early to see many planes. If so did you see many planes.:)

We were not there first thing. We did see a couple larger planes take off. We had missed the biggest one, but the ones we saw still blew people and their belongings into the ocean. It was a fun time! We also had a few bigger planes coming in and a lot of small puddle jumpers...very cool!

We were not there first thing. We did see a couple larger planes take off. We had missed the biggest one, but the ones we saw still blew people and their belongings into the ocean. It was a fun time! We also had a few bigger planes coming in and a lot of small puddle jumpers...very cool!

I have never been on Bernard's tour but have heard good things and I didn't think that Maho would be done early in the morning on one of his tours. We go to Maho each trip at least once. It really doesn't get old to us. People are in such a good mood there and "fun" is the perfect word to describe it.

Thank you everyone for the tips!

I think we are leaning towards doing the rhino rider (or its equivalent) in St. Thomas instead of trying to do it in St. Maarten.

We want to go to Maho in the early afternoon, so still trying to figure out what to do in the AM.

Thank you everyone for the tips!

I think we are leaning towards doing the rhino rider (or its equivalent) in St. Thomas instead of trying to do it in St. Maarten.

We want to go to Maho in the early afternoon, so still trying to figure out what to do in the AM.

The beach next to Maho is a beautifully beach. It's called Mullet and you can easily walk to Maho in 15 minutes. The combo makes for a really nice beach day.

The beach next to Maho is a beautifully beach. It's called Mullet and you can easily walk to Maho in 15 minutes. The combo makes for a really nice beach day.

Thanks! I think we just may try that :)

Karysa (and others..)

Just wondering your opinion on whether , in reality, it would be 'worth it' to go to Mullet Bay. I just remembered that St. Maarten this time of year (we will be there 2/25) is an hour ahead of ship time. We get into port at 8 am, so realistically, we would probably not be to a taxi until 830 am, then by time we got to Mullet Bay and got 'settled' (found a spot, got a chair, got relaxed), it would probably be about 45 mins. Which would put us at 1015-1030 local time (915-930 ship time). If we wanted to be to Maho by 1145 local time to stake out a spot for the big planes that start around noon, we would need to leave Mullet by 1130 (local) time for the walk to Maho. That leaves about 1 hour at Mullet. Wondered if we would be better off just heading right to Maho? Or is Mullet worth it even for that amount of time?

Also, if we just go to Maho, after we see some of the large planes around noon, we would proably leave there around 1 pm local time (depending on the flight schedules). Would you suggest taking a taxi all the way back to the pier or taking it to the center of town and taking the water taxi? I would like to browse through some shops (just not hard core shoppers). Is there a place close to the peir for this ? or what is the advantage of the water taxi?

thanks

Karysa (and others..)

Just wondering your opinion on whether , in reality, it would be 'worth it' to go to Mullet Bay. I just remembered that St. Maarten this time of year (we will be there 2/25) is an hour ahead of ship time. We get into port at 8 am, so realistically, we would probably not be to a taxi until 830 am, then by time we got to Mullet Bay and got 'settled' (found a spot, got a chair, got relaxed), it would probably be about 45 mins. Which would put us at 1015-1030 local time (915-930 ship time). If we wanted to be to Maho by 1145 local time to stake out a spot for the big planes that start around noon, we would need to leave Mullet by 1130 (local) time for the walk to Maho. That leaves about 1 hour at Mullet. Wondered if we would be better off just heading right to Maho? Or is Mullet worth it even for that amount of time?

Also, if we just go to Maho, after we see some of the large planes around noon, we would proably leave there around 1 pm local time (depending on the flight schedules). Would you suggest taking a taxi all the way back to the pier or taking it to the center of town and taking the water taxi? I would like to browse through some shops (just not hard core shoppers). Is there a place close to the peir for this ? or what is the advantage of the water taxi?

thanks

You may very likely be on island time when you are in St. Maarten. Most of the ships that I have been on switch to the times of the ports that they are calling on. You can post this question on the board of the cruiseline that you are sailing on to get the most up to date answer for your ship.

If you get to Mullet at 9:30 local time even and head to the left when facing the water. There are rocks where you can put your stuff down on very near the water. It's only 15 minutes walk to Maho and quite honestly these two beaches are really worlds apart. Mullet is a beautiful beach and Maho is a beach with airplanes landing right past it. I love Maho even after all of my visits there but 2 hours (timed right) is plenty of time there even for a first visit.

What day of the week are you in port? you need to find out if the KLM from Amsterdam is coming in that day. You wouldn't want to miss that if it is coming in on the day that you are there.

You may very likely be on island time when you are in St. Maarten. Most of the ships that I have been on switch to the times of the ports that they are calling on. You can post this question on the board of the cruiseline that you are sailing on to get the most up to date answer for your ship.

 

If you get to Mullet at 9:30 local time even and head to the left when facing the water. There are rocks where you can put your stuff down on very near the water. It's only 15 minutes walk to Maho and quite honestly these two beaches are really worlds apart. Mullet is a beautiful beach and Maho is a beach with airplanes landing right past it. I love Maho even after all of my visits there but 2 hours (timed right) is plenty of time there even for a first visit.

 

What day of the week are you in port? you need to find out if the KLM from Amsterdam is coming in that day. You wouldn't want to miss that if it is coming in on the day that you are there.

Thanks! I have posed this question on the boards and the general concensus is that the majority of the time Carnival (we will be on Sunshine) stays on SHIP time while in port, therefor we will be on hour different...arriving at Mullet at 1030 local time. I would like to see Mullet, so maybe I will just consider it an adventure and exercise, rather than a chance to to relax long, unless someone weighs in and tells me that it would be foolish to try to tackle both in that time frame.

we will be there on a Wednesday, so I will check the schedule and cross my fingers for a KLM from Amsterdam.!!