Thruhiker48

5 hours ago, NeedToVacation said:

I'm not sure which parts are still open. Where the shuttle ($6 pp each way) dropped us off was just a straw market, with local ladies selling souvenirs and t-shirts. I didn't look around too much, so not sure if there are restaurants open nearby. 

 

What I did is walked down the block to get to Lighthouse Pointe where I had booked the resort day pass for $25. Others had paid more for the all-inclusive package which includes lunch and drinks at their poolside restaurant. I just ended up ordering ala carte off the menu and paid an extra $15 for my lunch & a soda. That might be an option for you, just to get out and walk the beach and have lunch. (?)

 

My other suggestion / recommendation for a great local lunch is Cleveland's Beach Club. There is a recent review on trip advisor, says they visited in Dec 2019. My Mom & I ate here about 4 years ago. The local couple that owns it are wonderful! He goes fishing early every morning for the seafood they will cook at the restaurant. Beautiful beach right in front. Just bring cash as I don't think they can take credit cards.

 

I included pictures of the beach, and infinity pool / restaurant area at Lighthouse Pointe. As you can see, there are NO people around anywhere! 

 

Hi NeedToVacation, is Clevelands beach club walkable from the cruise port? This is our first time to Freeport and this place sounds very interesting for us. Also if not, how would one get there from the cruise port? thanks

Got back from our Eastern Caribbean cruise (1/21-28/18) with a little info to share regarding taxi service, St. Thomas to St. John and snorkeling. We wanted to do St. John on our own,especially since we had 12 hours in port. We went to the excursion desk on the ship to pick their brain. They said that the snorkeling in St. John(Trunk Bay which is what we were inquiring about) is not the same right now. Plumbing is not done, so the only facilities there are snorkel and gear rentals (the staff at the excursion desk did not know the prices), lockers (still don’t know how much they cost and how to pay for them. Probably rent from the snorkel rental area), and they have porta potties. The coral is damaged and most of the fish are gone right now. We are hoping things will be better for snorkeling there in a few years.

 

 

Because our purpose of going to St. John was to snorkel, we decided not to go there. Instead we did a cruise ship excursion of an island tour of St. Thomas and saw lots of devastation and also improvements that have transpired since the hurricanes. They are working hard to get things back to normal. Paradise Point was still closed – no power, so we didn’t get to go up there. I am attaching taxi prices that were posted from the port. I tried to get as close as possible to the sign for the picture. If you can’t read it, please let me know and I’ll tell you prices. As a side note, for the St. Thomas tour we paid $39.95 each for a 2 hour tour. After we got off the ship we saw the taxi sign with a price of $25/pp for a 2 hour tour. You can do the math there. We also did an island tour in St. Maarten of the top 10 hot spots on the island, which took us around the entire island. This 5 hour tour was only$24.95/pp and was well worth it! Driver got a good tip! Didn’t see any taxi signs posted at this port. Saw more devastation there. Both tours were good. Shopping, we did not barter. Locals need the money. They only get business when the cruise ships are in town. So bring your cash to help support the locals! Let me know if you need any other info.

 

 

sunlovernw, the tour in St Maarten, where did you find this tour and who was it with? We are going in April and this tour sounds great. Any info would be appreciated. Thanks

Good morning, I too also used cruiseett.com but have noticed they haven't been keeping up with port schedules. On a cruise I have booked in September, we're not even scheduled in a certain port :confused:. Anyway I looked at this site and found we are with 4 other ships that same day :eek: When you first go to this site you have to scroll down a little ways and over to the right there's a box that says cruise port schedules. If you click in that box, you will find in alphabetical order the cruise ship ports. HTH

http://crew-center.com/cruise-ship-port-schedules-2017