Excursions

We will be in St. Maarten and St. Thomas with a just turned 3 year old. As in he's turning 3 two weeks before the cruise. Does anyone have any kid friendly recommendations for excursions at those ports?

Well, what is it that your family enjoys? That's what we'll need to know to recommend something, aside from beach time! That's always a hit with kids...they love the sand, and water....plenty of beaches to choose from, and none require an "excursion".

Do you have something else in mind?

I suggest taking the ferry over to St. John and then a taxi to one of their lovely beaches. It is so much nicer than St. Thomas IMO. A three year old will enjoy the ferry ride.

St. Maarten I would stay on the ship. It's just not wildly exciting for a three year old. If you like riding in crappy taxi's and having people constantly try to braid you hair and sell you stuff... then it is the place for you.

We will be in St. Maarten and St. Thomas with a just turned 3 year old. As in he's turning 3 two weeks before the cruise. Does anyone have any kid friendly recommendations for excursions at those ports?

Like the others said a beach day would be really nice. I wouldn't say to stay on the ship in St Marten though. There are beaches there too that would be fun for a 3 year old, or an island tour, or you can just walk around the port.

Do beach days your self ...

coral world or coki beach

In St. Thomas, it is very easy to rent a car for the day at the port (bring your own car seat!) and then do a self guided beach tour. The island is quite small and you can drive around easily and take your time to accomodate nap schedule. We really liked Sapphire Beach and Coki Beach (this is where Coral World is). Bring snorkel gear if you have it, and take turns snorkelling from Coki Beach, there is a lot to see. The cost of a compact car for the day from Budget was cheaper than roundtrip taxi for 3 people to Coki beach, plus there was the additional safety of seatbelts and car seat for the kid!

In St. Maarten, if you dock on the Dutch side, the water taxi is a fun way to get over to the shopping area of Phillipsburg. Round trip was $6 per adult, I think our son was free, he was 19 months at the time. The beach is also rightthere and is quite adequate for 3 year old. Treat yourself to rented beach chairs and an umbrella and enjoy some fruity adult drinks while the little one plays. You can negotiate price, there are countless vendors all vying for your money. Once you settle in, you may get approached to buy trinkets from wandering vendors, but we didn't find them to be very aggressive.

Beach time is the best at this age; most kids won't like a bunch of driving around touring sights, or shopping. Anything active will be best.

Me too! Actually she's turning 3 on the ship. I used to live in SXM so I'm renting a car and doing either the zoo or butterfly farm and the beach. Hanging out with friends in STT so no suggestions there-maybe Coral World?

We really enjoyed Megan's Bay in St Thomas. Get there early if possible as it can get busy in the afternoon. We considered St John ferry as some

Said but our port got cut short that day so we did Megan's bay and it was beautiful. As for St Marteen I'd avoid Maho Beach aka

Airplane beach as it's super

Crowded I wouldn't want my

Three year old with those

Crowds. Good luck cruising with your little one!

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We did a private tour in St Maarten and had them take us to La Galion beach. It's relatively quiet, much less busy than Orient Beach, the water was shallow and calm and the kids made some great sand castles. We'll be taking a taxi back there when we take another cruise this spring. It's a great family beach.

My just turned 3 year old loved swimming at Magen's Bay in St Thomas!