Has anyone taken shore excursion from St Marten to St Bart's?

We are on the Reflection Feb 7 and would like to visit st Bart's from st Marten. Has anyone done this? Thank you so much (from Dallas)

I've taken a day trip to St. Barth's while staying on St. Maarten. We left from Oyster Pond at about 9:00 AM and got back at about 6:30 PM. There are boats leaving from Phillipsburg - but you should check out on line to get times and prices.

It is an interesting place, but I would not suggest it for a port call. It is about an hour and a half boat ride each way - sometimes across fairly rough water. You can fly, but getting to and from the St. Maarten airport and going through the check in process would eat up a lot of time. Once there, you could walk around the main town, Gustavia, but would need to rent a car or hire a taxi to see anything else. Also, you must have a passport to go there.

It does not make sense on a port call.

Day trips to St. Barths usually just don't work for cruisers.

I'm aware of three ferries, but your 8-5 port time just doesn't work for any of them.

The Great Bay Express says 45 minutes from Great Bay, and The Voyager claims 30 minutes from Oyster Pond, but for both the only return that would work would be basically just stay on the boat and ride it back.

The Edge, from Simpson Bay, says 45 minutes and has a return that just might almost work, but check in for the trip to St. Barths is at 8:00.

Any of these would cost you about $80 - $90 per person, plus significant port fees.

Most flights are from Grand Case, airport code SFG. I didn't easily come across flight schedules, but prices were about €140 per person. I'm pretty sure there are also departure fees.

gary

We are on the Reflection Feb 7 and would like to visit st Bart's from st Marten. Has anyone done this? Thank you so much (from Dallas)

I have never ever read of anyone going to St. Bart's from St. Maarten on a cruise stop. You may want to check out the schedule of the Voyager from Oyster Pond. It says that it only takes 30 minutes on this high speed ferry to get to St. Bart's. Oyster Pond is about 20 minutes via taxi from the port. Just out of curiosity what is your next port after St. Maarten?

karysa,

Are you thinking that they might be flying back to Miami to greet the ship? :)

That's the next port, after two days at sea.

gary

Maybe we shouldn't do this one. Thank you!!!

karysa,

 

Are you thinking that they might be flying back to Miami to greet the ship? :)

 

That's the next port, after two days at sea.

 

gary

No I was thinking that maybe they were at a port near St.Maarten the next day and were thinking to take their chances and if they missed the ship meet it in say St. Thomas or San Juan.

Maybe we shouldn't do this one. Thank you!!!

You would be the first so if you do go please come back and share your experience.

There is actually a shore excision from the Reflection that takes you to st Barts and drops you off and then takes you back to the ship. So it would just be a 4 hour deal. However, if enough people don't sign up, perhaps it won't happen!

Check out the prices once there ( Celebrity only includes getting there and returning). $100 taxi to beach, $100 p/p lunch.i looked into it for my Silhouette cruise but decided it was not worth it! $500 for 4 hours on a port day?

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Check out the prices once there ( Celebrity only includes getting there and returning). $100 taxi to beach, $100 p/p lunch.i looked into it for my Silhouette cruise but decided it was not worth it! $500 for 4 hours on a port day?

 

 

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Don't have any idea where you come up with those numbers but a short walk to Shell Beach costs nothing and food at Shell Beach is not that expensive. If you have a ships excursion it is a no brainer to go to St. Barths if you have never been there.

Excluding the excursion cost, what would you estimate the cost to be for a day at Shell beach including lunch, a couple of drinks each (couple) and chairs/umbrella?

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There is actually a shore excision from the Reflection that takes you to st Barts and drops you off and then takes you back to the ship. So it would just be a 4 hour deal. However, if enough people don't sign up, perhaps it won't happen!

Oh a ships tour changes the game totally. St. Barts is beautiful. If you have 4 hours to explore there and you have been to St. Maarten or plan on going back there then I say take the excursion to St. Bart's. You must take a taxi tour or better yet rent a jeep though IMHO. It is a very small and picturesque island. Shell beach is very different and worth a peek but if you only have 4 hours in St. Barts I would 100% recommend getting out and seeing it. We took our kids back in 2006 and one of our then 10 year olds said "I don't know which window to look out of the front or the back because it's so pretty everywhere". It is a very hilly island and I agree with her that the views from the top of the hills are stunning. I love that the cruise ship has this excursion.

We are going to be on the Reflection in November and was thinking about this excursion as well. To the OP (or anyone else) - did you take this excursion? If so, what did you think?

Thanks!

A full day at shell beach will run you

- 30 Euro per chair (including parasol)

- ~50 euros per person for a simple lunch with 2 drinks (more like 75+ if you want to go appetizer lunch desert and fancy drinks)

So count 160 euros +

If you are lucky and it's a slow day in low season, you may get a discount on chairs.

A full day at shell beach will run you

 

- 30 Euro per chair (including parasol)

- ~50 euros per person for a simple lunch with 2 drinks (more like 75+ if you want to go appetizer lunch desert and fancy drinks)

 

So count 160 euros +

 

If you are lucky and it's a slow day in low season, you may get a discount on chairs.

A full day at Shell beach when you only have one day in St. Bart's would be a really bad use of your time IMO anyway. It's ok for an hour or two as it is unique and quite lovely.

I say, if you never done it, then do t and get it out of your system. We missed t when they first offered a shore excursion to St Barths. Now that is back and RCCL is offering it again I am going to try to do it. Just to experience it. ;)

A full day at Shell beach when you only have one day in St. Bart's would be a really bad use of your time IMO anyway. It's ok for an hour or two as it is unique and quite lovely.

Before going to Shell beach check what the condition it's in. We went on May 21st and there was a huge patch of seaweed by the shore. It was 25x35 feet and the shells were old and really grey. We went 3 years ago and it was really beautiful. The shells were bright and there were so many. It was quite the sight. There was a bathing suit modeling shoot going on as well. Apparently they have been having seaweed issues there now for about 2 years. It was so bad about a month ago that I heard the beach was closed.

Any updates? Has anyone actually done the "On your own" shore excursion through the ship? How was it? Did you take taxi tour? Did you prearrange? Any email address for a tour/taxi driver? What was the cost? Was it worth it?

All info greatly appreciated.

I'm in St Martin from 9am to 6pm and I'm actually thinking of booking flights to go to St Barths for the day. The shore excursion only gives you 2.5 hrs on St Barths which isn't enough. I'm coming from Australia and St Barths is very high my bucket list and I'm think what the hell just do it!!!$ I was in St Martin 2 years ago so I want to make the most out of another day there. Flights across to St Barths are 15mins and are €140 return - I can book 10.45am departure and returning from St Barths on a 4.10pm flight. There a 10am flight and the they've said that if I get there for that they will put me on. Taxi takes 15mins from port and coming back it'll be 10 mins getting through as it's not the main airport. Am I completely mad to be doing this???? The worst that can happen is that I catch a plane to the next port the following day to catch up with the ship. I'm generally a risk taker but do people think this is too risky? I know it's going to be an expensive day bug who cares when you've flown 28 hrs just to get to the ship initially anyway!

I'm in St Martin from 9am to 6pm and I'm actually thinking of booking flights to go to St Barths for the day. The shore excursion only gives you 2.5 hrs on St Barths which isn't enough. I'm coming from Australia and St Barths is very high my bucket list and I'm think what the hell just do it!!!$ I was in St Martin 2 years ago so I want to make the most out of another day there. Flights across to St Barths are 15mins and are €140 return - I can book 10.45am departure and returning from St Barths on a 4.10pm flight. There a 10am flight and the they've said that if I get there for that they will put me on. Taxi takes 15mins from port and coming back it'll be 10 mins getting through as it's not the main airport. Am I completely mad to be doing this???? The worst that can happen is that I catch a plane to the next port the following day to catch up with the ship. I'm generally a risk taker but do people think this is too risky? I know it's going to be an expensive day bug who cares when you've flown 28 hrs just to get to the ship initially anyway!

You can't depend on those puddle jumpers. What is the next port? Something else to take into consideration is that there is a lot of traffic at the time the plane is scheduled to get back.

There is plenty to do in St. Martin.

If St. Bart's is on your bucket list why not just go to St. Bart's before or after the cruise? I considered the ship excursion but from my reading it does not seem worth it for the excursion or and it does not seem worth it for the few more hours you would get flying in to St. Bart's. If you only want to mark it off a list why not take the cruise line excursion?

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Just my own St. Barths experience: It was a port call on Celebrity Century last year. Before the tenders started operating, the Captain announced there would be no public toilets available in town - supposedly because of a plumbing problem. As soon as we stepped foot onto the island, we could see they didn't want the cruisers there. Shop owners literally turned door signs to "closed" as people were walking toward the door. Other places had large signs announcing there were no restrooms. I went to the airport (where the restrooms worked just fine) and rented a car and my friend and I drove all over the island. One bar on the beach right by the airport would charge us $15 each for drinks but wouldn't allow us to sit inside, only out on the sand. Outside of town, things were a tad friendlier. But I will never step foot on that island again.

Hi! We were on Celebrity ships last January and March. St Barths was also on my bucket list so we signed up for the shore excursion. In Jan the time was changed from 9am to 11:00 am. By the time we got to St Barths it was about 11:45. The boat ride, although in a nice boat, was very rough. It was a lot better on the way back. The main reason I wanted to go to the island was for the shopping. However, unbeknownst to me, most stores close from 1-4 pm. So only one hour in stores. Yuk! However, in March we decided to go back if the boat left at 9. It did, so we had several hours shopping time. Both times, the captain of the boat let us have about 30-45 extra minutes in St Barths. We never have made it to Eden Roc or any of the great beaches and fancy hotels, so we may go again. We have been to St Martin many times and love it. However, we just wanted to do something different.