Are you really telling me no Anguilla on a port day? I don't believe it.

I'm being somewhat provocative after doing some searches on this topic on this thread.

Let me start by saying, I've been to St Maarten enough times - I want to experience either St Barts or Anguilla. I do not spend my day at a beach. I want to see the island and make my own conclusions about it.

I will be in St Maarten from 10-7. I can do a St Barts excursion through Royal but it basically gets you there when all the shops and restaurants are closed for siesta.

I can do Anguilla on one of the private ferries from Julianna airport leaving at 11:15 ish and coming back from Anguilla around 3 or 4. In Anguilla I plan on asking a taxi to give me a private tour tailored to my 3 or 4 hour time frame.

If I am back on St Maarten by Julianna airport by 4 or 4:30, I find it hard to believe I won't get back to the ship by 6:30.

If I'm wrong, please tell me why.

I'm being somewhat provocative after doing some searches on this topic on this thread.

 

Let me start by saying, I've been to St Maarten enough times - I want to experience either St Barts or Anguilla. I do not spend my day at a beach. I want to see the island and make my own conclusions about it.

 

I will be in St Maarten from 10-7. I can do a St Barts excursion through Royal but it basically gets you there when all the shops and restaurants are closed for siesta.

 

I can do Anguilla on one of the private ferries from Julianna airport leaving at 11:15 ish and coming back from Anguilla around 3 or 4. In Anguilla I plan on asking a taxi to give me a private tour tailored to my 3 or 4 hour time frame.

 

If I am back on St Maarten by Julianna airport by 4 or 4:30, I find it hard to believe I won't get back to the ship by 6:30.

 

If I'm wrong, please tell me why.

You will make it back to the ship. Start planning. :)

I'd contact the ferry companies and get a better handle on the schedule from Julianna and mentioned in the link attached. Looks like the last ferry to Julianna leaves at 4:30PM, according to the attached. But that still gives you a nice chunk of time to tour the island.

http://ivisitanguilla.com/by-sea/

I think there are more ferries to and from Anguilla each day from Marigot that from the airport.

(Thanks for the positive outlook - sorry, I was cranky last night :))

Marigot does have a more frequent schedule, but I think it's probably easier to get to and from port from Juliana.

Frankly, I wish I could stick with the Ship's excursion to St Barts and not worry about making connections, but there seems to be no sense in going to St Barts when everything is closed, and I'm not looking to sit on a beach.

(Thanks for the positive outlook - sorry, I was cranky last night :))

 

Marigot does have a more frequent schedule, but I think it's probably easier to get to and from port from Juliana.

 

Frankly, I wish I could stick with the Ship's excursion to St Barts and not worry about making connections, but there seems to be no sense in going to St Barts when everything is closed, and I'm not looking to sit on a beach.

Why would St. Bart's be closed when you go? Would the rental Car agencies be closed? Renting a jeep and exploring that little picturesque gem of an island is a wonderful way to spend a day.

On the map the distance from the port to Marigot and to the airport look about the same?

We are planning to take the ferry from Marigot to Anguilla as it appears to go more frequently, is cheaper and is a shorter ride. Should be interesting and fun!

Most likely doable - bearing in mind the late PM traffic from Juliana back through Phillipsburg to the cruise terminal (including drawbridge opening time). While a bit longer, going from Marigot around the north end and down the east side, is probably more predictable.

The St Barts excursion leaves the ship at 11am, and you get into St Barts about noon, when all of (or most of) the stores and restaurants close in Gustavia (until about 3pm). Then you only have about 2 or 2 1/2 hours there before they take you back on the ferry. The whole tour is 4 hours door to door according to what I've read from others.

So it's not a lot of time there, even if you do want to go to a beach. I could probably get a cab tour but reports are that the cab tours run $150 and up.

I have friends that have spent a week there, and I hear how beautiful it is, but it seems like Anguilla gives me a few more options..

Does anyone know if there are cabs usually waiting at the Anguilla ferry dock?

Everything I've read says "yes" but be sure to arrange a return cab if you are going to a beach or something. Try Anguilla-beaches dot com.

The St Barts excursion leaves the ship at 11am, and you get into St Barts about noon, when all of (or most of) the stores and restaurants close in Gustavia (until about 3pm). Then you only have about 2 or 2 1/2 hours there before they take you back on the ferry. The whole tour is 4 hours door to door according to what I've read from others.

 

So it's not a lot of time there, even if you do want to go to a beach. I could probably get a cab tour but reports are that the cab tours run $150 and up.

 

I have friends that have spent a week there, and I hear how beautiful it is, but it seems like Anguilla gives me a few more options..

Noon to 2:30 when the stores reopen is plenty of time for an extensive site seeing tour or drive of St. Bart's. That would allow plenty of time for shopping as there are really only a few blocks in the downtown area. If shopping in St. Bart's is something that you would consider I can't imagine that even $150.00 for a taxi tour (which seems high even in St. Bart's) would even be a thought.

You mentioned that you are not into beaches but that is what Antigua is really all about. The island is very flat and small and the beaches are the islands treasure but if beaches are not what you are looking for I think that St. Bart's would be a better fit for you.

Noon to 2:30 when the stores reopen is plenty of time for an extensive site seeing tour or drive of St. Bart's. That would allow plenty of time for shopping as there are really only a few blocks in the downtown area. If shopping in St. Bart's is something that you would consider I can't imagine that even $150.00 for a taxi tour (which seems high even in St. Bart's) would even be a thought.

 

You mentioned that you are not into beaches but that is what Antigua is really all about. The island is very flat and small and the beaches are the islands treasure but if beaches are not what you are looking for I think that St. Bart's would be a better fit for you.

That should read ANGILLA and not Antigua:o

Noon to 2:30 when the stores reopen is plenty of time for an extensive site seeing tour or drive of St. Bart's. That would allow plenty of time for shopping as there are really only a few blocks in the downtown area. If shopping in St. Bart's is something that you would consider I can't imagine that even $150.00 for a taxi tour (which seems high even in St. Bart's) would even be a thought.

 

You mentioned that you are not into beaches but that is what Antigua is really all about. The island is very flat and small and the beaches are the islands treasure but if beaches are not what you are looking for I think that St. Bart's would be a better fit for you.

That should read ANGUILLA and not Antigua:o

Another thought is that although I can speak rudimentary French, I am an Anglophile. What would really be great is if someone would write a real review of the Royal excursion to St. Barts.

At least I have time to make up my mind. :)

Another thought is that although I can speak rudimentary French, I am an Anglophile. What would really be great is if someone would write a real review of the Royal excursion to St. Barts.

 

At least I have time to make up my mind. :)

Have you looked under the review section here on cc? Perhaps someone reviewed it under the ports review area.

If this excursion is technically only a ride to the ferry,the ferry to St. Bart's and this in reverse there isn't much to review. If you find out the company they use you can also check on TA for reviews of the company and how people have fared with the sea conditions as that trip is known to cause many folks to use their barf bags or at least grab them.

What I am trying to say is that it sounds more like a ferry trip to St. Bart's than an excursion as the best part of your day really is the time on St. Bart's and that part is DIY.:)

In going to St.Bart's, one should keep in mind the words of Anthony Bourdain:

MY WORST HOLIDAY EVER WAS TO...

St Bart's - it is the epicentre of evil. If Lenin or Marx ever saw who really runs this world - and what they do for fun - they would never have become socialists. They would simply have killed themselves from despair and revulsion. Caligula would have been shocked. It is so awful as to be beyond parody. After my week on St Bart's, I crawled under my bed, adopted the foetal position and just lay there whimpering for days.

Caveat Emptor:eek:

In going to St.Bart's, one should keep in mind the words of Anthony Bourdain:

 

MY WORST HOLIDAY EVER WAS TO...

St Bart's - it is the epicentre of evil. If Lenin or Marx ever saw who really runs this world - and what they do for fun - they would never have become socialists. They would simply have killed themselves from despair and revulsion. Caligula would have been shocked. It is so awful as to be beyond parody. After my week on St Bart's, I crawled under my bed, adopted the foetal position and just lay there whimpering for days.

 

Caveat Emptor:eek:

He was an hour ferry ride from St. Maarten and an hour flight to San Juan so I'm not sure why anyone especially someone with money would gut through a vacation somewhere that they didn't like. That does not make any sense to me.

He was an hour ferry ride from St. Maarten and an hour flight to San Juan so I'm not sure why anyone especially someone with money would gut through a vacation somewhere that they didn't like. That does not make any sense to me.

As I recall the story (forget which book), he was on SM and his girlfriend at the time wanted to go to St Bart's to see "friends" and they spent a terrible(for Tony) period of time there and he felt a bit trapped. I think he left her there in the end.

We stayed on St. Martin for a week in April and took the ferry over to Anguilla one day. We were on one of the morning ferries (9:45, I think) from Marigot. The process of checking in (two steps, so two lines), waiting in the terminal, and boarding took about 25 minutes. The ride over took 20-25 minutes the day we went. I wish I had known before we went that there are different sizes/types of ferries! The boat we boarded was small and very low in the water. The passengers sat at water level in a mostly enclosed area. I'm very prone to motion sickness and had taken 2 Bonine (vs. my standard 1) that morning as a precaution. Didn't matter -- about 15 minutes in I started to feel sick and within a minute or two had passed out. Not fun!

Once we docked in Anguilla (and I had recovered a bit), we lined up to go through customs. That took about 15 minutes. There was a taxi stand outside and we were very quickly pointed to a van to take our group of 7 to Shoal Bay. We got a really nice driver (I'll see if I can find his card at home) who gave us a narrated tour of the island and gave us some priceless advice regarding the ride back to SXM. He recommended that we take the 5:15 ferry because it is a much larger boat with open air seating on top. I'm not sure whether that boat runs at other times (I'm guessing it does) and have so far been unable to find that information online. It took us about 20 minutes to get to Shoal Bay -- not sure how direct our route was since none of us had ever been to the island.

My seasickness issues aside, I don't think I'd attempt to go to Anguilla while on a cruise stop unless the ship was going to be in port for a l-o-n-g time. Even then, I'm not sure whether I'd want to. There was a lot of transportation involved, as well as a lot of lining up and waiting. There's already enough of that on a cruise, IMO!

One thing I would consider doing is going to Pinel Island for the day. All you have to do is take a taxi to Cul-de-Sac and then either take a very short, calm ferry ride or kayak to Pinel. We kayaked (there is a great rental place at the water's edge in Cul-de-Sac: http://www.caribbeanpaddling.com/) and it took us about 20 minutes to kayak across. We absolutely loved Pinel. The water was amazingly clear, with none of the seaweed that we encountered in parts of Orient Beach. We ate lunch at Karibuni and loved it.

As I recall the story (forget which book), he was on SM and his girlfriend at the time wanted to go to St Bart's to see "friends" and they spent a terrible(for Tony) period of time there and he felt a bit trapped. I think he left her there in the end.

Sounds like he should have just done a day trip from St. Maarten.:D

Thankfully, I do not get seasick, even in smaller boats (famous last words :)), so the ferry ride to either island should be fine for me.

Royal Caribbean's shore excursion department sent me a timetable today. It says, the first 30 minutes are to get to the ferry, ticketed, and onboard. Then they plan for 30 minutes to St. Barths (which seems a little ambitious given what I have read on travel times). Then 3 hours on the island. So it's four hours from the ship to waiting for the ferry back from St. Barths. According to the timetable, the ferry back to St. Maarten and transport back to the ship is not part of the advertised 4 hours. If that is the case, given the various information and input, it makes a better argument for me.

Thankfully, I do not get seasick, even in smaller boats (famous last words :)), so the ferry ride to either island should be fine for me.

 

Royal Caribbean's shore excursion department sent me a timetable today. It says, the first 30 minutes are to get to the ferry, ticketed, and onboard. Then they plan for 30 minutes to St. Barths (which seems a little ambitious given what I have read on travel times). Then 3 hours on the island. So it's four hours from the ship to waiting for the ferry back from St. Barths. According to the timetable, the ferry back to St. Maarten and transport back to the ship is not part of the advertised 4 hours. If that is the case, given the various information and input, it makes a better argument for me.

The ferry must leave from Oyster Pond which on the East side of St. Maarten and you are most likely on the Voyager Ferry. This would work out as it would be 20 minutes ride via bus to the ferry and 30 minutes to get to St. Bart's. I have gone from the Simpson Bay Marina, Marigot and from the Grand Case Beach Club that one was on a sailing catamaran though but I have seen 30 minutes via the Voyager from Oyster Pond advertised.

Is there an optional taxi tour for $35 on this excursion? If so it would definitely be something to consider.

I'm being somewhat provocative after doing some searches on this topic on this thread.

 

Let me start by saying, I've been to St Maarten enough times - I want to experience either St Barts or Anguilla. I do not spend my day at a beach. I want to see the island and make my own conclusions about it.

 

I will be in St Maarten from 10-7. I can do a St Barts excursion through Royal but it basically gets you there when all the shops and restaurants are closed for siesta.

 

I can do Anguilla on one of the private ferries from Julianna airport leaving at 11:15 ish and coming back from Anguilla around 3 or 4. In Anguilla I plan on asking a taxi to give me a private tour tailored to my 3 or 4 hour time frame.

 

If I am back on St Maarten by Julianna airport by 4 or 4:30, I find it hard to believe I won't get back to the ship by 6:30.

 

If I'm wrong, please tell me why.

As Anguilla is a British Territory, and being American, you may just have enough time to clear immigration and get past border control before catching the ferry back. :D

Think this delay is a type of resiprosity ;)

Some people on our latest cruise went on an excursion to St. Barts and really liked it. I have vacationed on Anguilla and they have some of the most beautiful beaches I have ever seen. Other than beaches there really isn't much to see. If you aren't into the beaches I wouldn't encourage you to go there with the time constraint.