Bargainista

angles the 60 euros price is for the vehicle, so however many people you fit inside could split the fare. We did fit 4 into our car comfortably. I did not see any vans, at the time we finally found the private taxi area and located a driver who spoke English and was willing to take us around, there was only one option- the driver we took. I believe his name is Marc or Marcus, he drives a white Mercedes. I don't remember the name of the company, sorry.

If you don't want to hire a taxi driver, you could walk around the city for a few hours. There are many things to see there and a very easy to read map that they hand out at the pier. There also is a ferry to Trois Ilets that is right off the pier, I think that was $10 per person and took you to the beaches located on that island. There were lots of people from the ship who were doing that.

NCTribeFan the 60 euros is for however many you can fit into a car. We fit all 4 of us very comfortably. If you don't want to do a ship excursion (I'm with you there) and you don't want to pay the taxi rate, you can easily spend 3-4 hours walking around the city. There are tour ambassadors wearing red vests and red hats as soon as you walk off the pier. They will have maps and can describe where to go to see different things in the city. We walked around for 3-4 hours with our 2 little girls and saw many things, but not even half of what was on the map. We saw the cathedral and walked around inside, a school, the library (go inside it is very beautiful), the spice market (again very interesting), the savanne, the 'local' beach, and fort st. louis (which you can't go inside or near). There are many other things marked on the map and it is pretty easy to navigate the city. There were also several tourist ambassadors wearing the same red cap and red vest in the city to help with directions as well.

Martinique is just a very different port than most of the others in the Southern Caribbean. I wouldn't have felt comfortable taking a local bus, because my French speaking skills are non-existent and we have two little children (they are more demanding/impatient than an adult). I also don't have a strong sense of adventure and get stressed out about making it back to the boat before all-aboard time. But if you did have someone in your roll-call group who was fluent or even semi-fluent you could have a great time!

I can't comment on renting a car, we rented one in St. Croix and my husband thought that was enough of a challenge without having to navigate in another language. So we opted to find a taxi driver to take us where we wanted to go. We went to Cruzan rum distillery at the suggestion of our driver, I wanted to go to Clement House. The rate for a taxi is 60 euros per hour, that is the government rate. The private taxis are tough to find, they are all located in a private gated lot off of the cruise ship pier. We were lucky to find one who spoke English. He did also say there should have been many around the town offering to do tours, but after walking through town for three hours we saw none. Martinique is very different from many of the other islands in the S. Caribbean.

It would be possible to get a taxi driver to take you to a distillery and to a black sand beach. We drove by several black sand beaches along our way back to the pier. Possibly you could do 2 distilleries, it would depend on their location.

I posted a response on one of the other threads, but I'll put it here too since I know there is very little information about Martinique and that can make it difficult to plan. You can hire a private taxi driver for 60 euros an hour, that is the government rate. They do not accept usd, so be prepared with euros. Many drivers did not speak English, we were lucky to find one that did, so we went with him. I believe his name was Marcus, he drives a white Mercedes. Very nice, but not talkative. If you do take a taxi anywhere outside of the city, be sure to take something like bonine or Dramamine.

We took a taxi through the rainforest, stopped at a church and a waterfall. Then we visited Mt. Pelee to take pictures and use the bathroom. Beautiful sight, but often covered by clouds. Then we went to the Depaz Rum Distillery at the suggestion of our driver. I had originally wanted to go to Clement House, but he suggested this route with the rainforest and volcano. On the way back we drove through a fishing village where you can see the remains of buildings from the eruption. He offered to stop for the museum that is there, but we chose to go straight back to the ship. It took about 4 hours for this driving tour. I'm sure many of the drivers in that small private lot could offer a similar tour. It is a lot of time in the car and if we had to do it again, I wouldn't.

We just came back from a cruise on the Jewel that included a stop in Martinique. We had found very little information prior to going, so I had a small list of things to see from Trip Advisor and we were going to get off the boat and see what else there is to do.

Getting a taxi is very difficult. There is a section for local taxis that you are not permitted to use. This is very large and easy to see as you get off the boat. There is a very small gated parking lot that is for private drivers. The rate is 60 euros per hour plus tip. This is a government set rate. Our driver was nice, but not very talkative. He was the only English speaking driver there that morning, there may be others I don't really know. I think his name was Marcus, he drives a white mercedes. He will take you anywhere you want or he can recommend a driving tour. Be sure to take something for the roads, bonine or Dramamine.