Bernards tours question on Maho

Have taken Tour 1 and Maho beach with Bernard's tour may times and I would say maybe 4 times out of 10 there were small children on these tousr. The kids are going to love those planes coming in over the beach, enjoy!

We did Bernards Tours on St. Maarten last year, which included Maho Beach, and it was a great tour. There were so many ships in port that day that I was convinced that the best way to get around (and we wanted to go to a bunch of places) would be with Bernards. It was a great day, and I highly recommend it to anyone going to St. Maarten, be it their first time or their 3rd time (as was our case.):cool:

How much is it to rent chairs/umbrellas at Orient Beach? Also what part of the beach does he drop off at? We want to make sure there is decent food/drinks close. Don't care about the nudity.. well DH probly will ;) we were going to just take a cab to Maho but after all the glowing reports we will book with Bernard.

Bev

Sent from my DROID4 using Tapatalk 2

thanks for the replys, I am interested in seeing the island too and orient beach, not sure what the one poster meant by interesting, i think i do,lol. nudity is not a big deal to me.

 

I want to see more of the island than just the planes but do not want to miss the planes so i don't think i would chance missing a good tour and also take a chance of a taxi making me late when the local tour guide would be better at planning times and travel than me.

 

sounds like i will book them.

 

do they offer free drinks on the tour and lunch ?

what is the extra costs for lunch if so.

 

How much do we tip?

Lunch you do on your own........as far as drinks.....your driver will have a cooler full of complimentary soft drinks, water, beer and RUM PUNCH!!!! :D.

Need I say more?????? :D

How much is it to rent chairs/umbrellas at Orient Beach? Also what part of the beach does he drop off at? We want to make sure there is decent food/drinks close. Don't care about the nudity.. well DH probly will ;) we were going to just take a cab to Maho but after all the glowing reports we will book with Bernard.

Bev

 

Sent from my DROID4 using Tapatalk 2

You will probably be dropped off at Pedro's......the vendors that rent chairs are literally one right after the other. It was very reasonable to rent a chair & umbrella I think it was around $10 and that was for two chairs, umbrella and one free drink for both of you.

We usually rent from Orange Fever which is just a few spots down from Pedro's

The bigger planes usually come in the afternoon. Bernard's guys definitely know the schedule and will make sure you are there to see the really good ones. They will also keep up with traffic ( which can be a bear in the afternoons) to make sure you are back to the ship in plenty of time.

No worries with Bernard......everyone on St Martin knows him!

We agree - we loved going with Bernards and not having to worry about timing our return to the ship or if we'd be able to get a taxi once out at Moho Beach. (It's quite a distance out there from the ships).

We spent our time at the Sunset Bar & Grill - had fantastic dolphin (the fish, not the mammal) sandwiches and Caribe beers. Saw lots of planes and got lots of good pics.

There are folks who will say a taxi is cheaper and easier - and it may be - but like I said .... it's the peace of mind for us that made Bernards well worth the cost.

Bernards tours include free drinks - soda, water, beer and his infamous Rum Punch :D Drink and beware. Beware and dare.

Yeah, beware. his rum punch has a punch. We had a rather large group so Bernard brought several bottles. There were some non drinkers with us; those of us who partook didn't let any go to waste! I say large...I think there were 12 of us LOL. I heard now he has bigger vans/busses than when I went.

Deleted.

I see pedros is in euro's ,I assume they will accept US dollar's too, can you trust their exchange rate there?

I'm not sure we care about seeing the lizards or sea creature things, that sounds like a ripoff, Is it ?

How much of the tour is fun .

I do like the knowledge and comfort that bernards knows the plane times and no worries about making it back to the ship on time.

how much cash do we need to bring for the tour day besides the money for the tour.

which reminds me, how do you pay for the tour when you get there off the ship.

This question is for all the people who have used Bernard's tours and went to Maho beach to see the planes, In the short time the tour has you there do you get to see many planes land?

 

This is a once in a lifetime chance here and I would hate to visit the beach and not see a plane land.

 

Should I take a cab and skip the Bernard tour ?

Bernard knows the flight schedules so he will take you there around the right time. No worries.

I see pedros is in euro's ,I assume they will accept US dollar's too, can you trust their exchange rate there?

 

I'm not sure we care about seeing the lizards or sea creature things, that sounds like a ripoff, Is it ?

 

How much of the tour is fun .

 

I do like the knowledge and comfort that bernards knows the plane times and no worries about making it back to the ship on time.

 

how much cash do we need to bring for the tour day besides the money for the tour.

 

which reminds me, how do you pay for the tour when you get there off the ship.

You get to see so many beautiful parts of St Martin with Bernard and his guys and if you don't want to drag a camera or bag with you to the beach you can leave it in the van because it is locked and the driver stays with the vehicle, which to me was amother great perk.

Did we have fun??? If you have a fun group on the van then yes you will!!!

When you stop in Marigot, be sure to go to Sarafina's. Delicious french bakery. Your belly will love you.

Watching the planes at Maho is fun too.

We saw this guy take off. Very impressive jet blast!

how do you pay for the tour from Bernards.

do i pay online somehow or pay when i get there with credit card, cash ?

This question is for all the people who have used Bernard's tours and went to Maho beach to see the planes, In the short time the tour has you there do you get to see many planes land?

 

This is a once in a lifetime chance here and I would hate to visit the beach and not see a plane land.

 

Should I take a cab and skip the Bernard tour ?

Hello fellow Ohioan, What ship and what day are you there? Bernards gets you there for about 90 minutes and they usually time it for the biggest planes. which is usually only one or two a day. That is what we did the first time. But I'm now going back for the third time. This time we are going on a Sunday when a KLM 747 lands, and Bernard doesn't get there early enough for that one.

What you don't want to miss is the KLM flight from Amsterdam. That's a 747 and is quite an experience. I'd look up the schedule on KLM's website and confirm the time for your day. Note that they can be early or late, so I'd want to at Maho at least 45 minutes before the scheduled arrival time. You would be looking for the flight from AMS to SXM.

That is currently on Sunday, my previous two visits to the island were on Thursday when the biggest plane was a Airbus A340, The KLM 747 on Sunday currently lands around 11:30am on average and takes off again about an hour later. My roll call has tasked me with noting the time of the arrival before our cruise. Ive been watching the webcam on Sunday. Depending on Wind the plane can arrive up to an hour early or an hour late. I don't know if Bernards gets people there that early on Sunday. (I did Bernards my first time there. They have changed the public tour, IMO, not for the better spending less time at Orient and more time and two manufactured spots- Iguana Farm and scenic overlook where they have people showing animals for tips.

we arrive at st martin on a Thursday.

freedom of the seas.

How do i pay for the tour.

I'm not too crazy about the two side trips either, but it does give us some time at orient and not have to worry about transportation around the beaches and airport and back to the ship on time .

how do you pay for the tour from Bernards.

 

do i pay online somehow or pay when i get there with credit card, cash ?

I believe there is a very small deposit when you book online and the balance is paid when you get to St Martin to start your tour...

That is currently on Sunday, my previous two visits to the island were on Thursday when the biggest plane was a Airbus A340, The KLM 747 on Sunday currently lands around 11:30am on average and takes off again about an hour later. My roll call has tasked me with noting the time of the arrival before our cruise. Ive been watching the webcam on Sunday. Depending on Wind the plane can arrive up to an hour early or an hour late. I don't know if Bernards gets people there that early on Sunday. (I did Bernards my first time there. They have changed the public tour, IMO, not for the better spending less time at Orient and more time and two manufactured spots- Iguana Farm and scenic overlook where they have people showing animals for tips.

Maybe some sort of schedule change, but we saw the KLM 747 on Friday Jan 31.

we arrive at st martin on a Thursday.

 

freedom of the seas.

 

How do i pay for the tour.

 

I'm not too crazy about the two side trips either, but it does give us some time at orient and not have to worry about transportation around the beaches and airport and back to the ship on time .

For the public tour, they just ask for email confirmation and you can pay when you get there. For private tours they take visa via email or phone.

For the public tour, they just ask for email confirmation and you can pay when you get there. For private tours they take visa via email or phone.

Hey Bill....at one time he started asking for a very small deposit, I think $5 just to book, because he was having problems with people not showing up.

But it sounds like maybe he's gone back to the way it was every time we used him......we made our reservation online and paid the total amount when we got there.

Either way it's a great tour!!!

Bernard's Tour was great! Our driver's name was John and he was outstanding. We saw alot of the island and he was very informitive. Got to Maho in plenty of time to see the big ones land and some of the smaller prop planes also. At Orient Beach we paid 12 dollars for 2 loungers, umbrella, and all day bathroom/changing room pass.

The nude beach (Club Orient) is is separated from the the rest of the beach even though there is not a privacy fence.

We parked in the parking lot by the entrance to Club Orient. If they park there and you have kids do not sit near that area because people would get nude in the parking lot and walk right pass you to get to the nude beach.

We at lunch at Maho at the Sunset Bar. 2 very big delicious juicy burgers and French Fries was about $14.00 dollars. Bernards provide bottled water, beer, soda and the best Rum Punch ever during the tour! One great thing we really thought was great was that when we left Maho the traffic was backed up like a parking lot around the airport so John got off the main road and took some back streets through some neighborhoods to get us to Phillipsburg to be dropped off to do some shopping and took those who wanted to go back to the ship, to the ship. John said if he would have not gotten off the main road we would not have been able to get dropped off for shopping and it would have been close to getting back to the ship on time. After spending about an hour in Phillipsburg we took a water taxi back to the ship.

Hi, I wonder if someone could offer some advice.

When searching for Bernards tours there appears to be 2 websites (one with shoreadventure in the url and one with SXM in the url) with the same itinerary for the tour.

Can anyone confirm if they are the same tour company or 2 different companies using the BernardTours name?

Thanks, Ben

Hi, I wonder if someone could offer some advice.

When searching for Bernards tours there appears to be 2 websites (one with shoreadventure in the url and one with SXM in the url) with the same itinerary for the tour.

Can anyone confirm if they are the same tour company or 2 different companies using the BernardTours name?

 

Thanks, Ben

This is the website I booked on. http://www.bernardstours.com/

We did a bernard tour last week and it was excellent. The iguana farm was closed and so we had more time at orient and Maho. Good to get commentary about the island. Took a cab on another visit and didn't learn anything about a really interesting place. And the stop at Sarafina's is a must. Best almond croissant anywhere.

You can pick more beach vs shopping time or just do Maho. We liked the balance of seeing different things and still saw plenty of planes.

We took Bernards Tours Last year on the Freedom and it was wonderful. You see so much, we chose the shopping tour. Unfortunately we had a big delay in Marigot and the group opted to stay and shop there and skip Maho. If that is your only requirement in St. Marten, you might want to do it on your own. With Bernards Tours you see so much and it is worth every penny. They know the schedule at Maho and really try to time it right.

A big delay in Marigot?

The group opted to stay and shop and skip Maho?

AAAAHHHHHHHH I would have called for a mutiny!