Shore Excursion Group vs. Bernard

Hello. I will be traveling on Royal Caribbean Harmony of the Seas leaving November. One of the ports of call is St. Martin. I want a tour that includes both sightseeing and beach time. The cruise line doesn't seem to offer such a combination shore excursion. I was looking at Shore Excursions Group vs. Bernard Tours. Shore Excursion Group is big and has been around a long time. I have read rave reviews of Bernard. Has anyone had any experience with Shore Excursions Group? The reviews of that company seem mixed.

- My biggest fear is not making it back to the ship on time. Shore Excursions Group offers a guarantee. Bernard does not. How common is it to literally miss the boat when do you an excursion?

- My ship arrives at 9:00 and Bernard's tour leaves at 9:30. Is it enough time to get off the ship (with thousands wanting to get off), find that yellow building, and find the tour operator within 30 minutes?

- Has Bernard's tours been around a long time? Odds of a smaller tour operator going out of business are lower than a bigger company like Shore Excursions Group going out of business in the next seven months.

- I called their number and got answers to my other questions. There are multiple tour guides so if Bernard gets sick, the tour still goes on. No minimum to a tour. So if 3 people on the whole ship sign up for Bernard's excursion, the tour still goes on.

Any recommendations on one vs the other? Thanks in advance.

Justin

We did the sightseeing/beach tour with Bernard's on our cruise back in Sept 2016. DH and I were the only ones that booked this particular tour and they took us anyways. It was great! Our tour guide was great and let us spend as much time at the beach as we wanted, walked us through Marigot pointing out things we asked for etc. Bernard's has my vote for next time we go to St Maarten.

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Thanks for replying. I am leaning heavily toward Bernard. I called and spoke to Bernard. He said that almost always people are able to get off the ship by 9:30 but they are willing to wait until 9:45 or 10:00. I figure that if there were issues with them starting tours before people have time to get to the meeting location or if they didn't get people back to the ship on time, the reviews on Cruise Critic and Trip Advisor would not be so consistently good.

Justin

Bernard’s is a big company. There are many people heading over there and many tours heading out. They know what they are doing.

I personally am one of the very few who didn’t love the tour we took (quite a bit of that was bc I didn’t much care for the French side of the island), but they didn’t leave without anyone and they got us back in time.

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We toured with Bernard back in 2011; glad to see he is still doing well! We loved our tour and are considering booking again for our next stop in St. Maarten.

I've toured with Bernard 3 times, and never felt anxious about missing the ship. Loved every minute !!

All the tours go to pretty much the same stops. Go with whoever is cheapest. You won't miss the ship.

Yep, you won’t miss the ship with any reputable tour company. They have too much to lose with social media, TripAdvisor and Cruise Critic existing.

I just did the Fascination. 4 island tours out of 7 islands visited . . .and Bernard’s was the best. Tremendous value.

It was the only tour I would do again, and I liked all of them, but Bernard’s was perfectly paced.

Five times with Bernard Tours. Wouldn't consider anyone else. Very easy to locate the meeting point and you will not miss the ship. Be aware that St. Martin post-Irma is not the same as before and the beach we were taken to last week was quite different from Orient, where all the buildings were destroyed and there are currently no facilities. We still enjoyed the beach itself, although we didn't love the restaurant, Rainbow at Grand Case. Limited flights into/out of St. Martin meant we didn't see any big jets at Maho, but that wasn't the tour company's fault. Damage to the airport and lack of open resorts for tourist travel has restricted airport operations. I believe you'll still get the best tour possible, but perhaps not what you have read about in pre-Irma reviews.

Love Bernard's!! I'll use them every time I go to St. Maarten.

Five times with Bernard Tours. Wouldn't consider anyone else. Very easy to locate the meeting point and you will not miss the ship. Be aware that St. Martin post-Irma is not the same as before and the beach we were taken to last week was quite different from Orient, where all the buildings were destroyed and there are currently no facilities. We still enjoyed the beach itself, although we didn't love the restaurant, Rainbow at Grand Case. Limited flights into/out of St. Martin meant we didn't see any big jets at Maho, but that wasn't the tour company's fault. Damage to the airport and lack of open resorts for tourist travel has restricted airport operations. I believe you'll still get the best tour possible, but perhaps not what you have read about in pre-Irma reviews.

I thought the food and drinks at Rainbow were surprisingly decent (had the Rainbow Sampler platter) and honestly cheaper than I expected. Plus we were able to use 2 chairs and a umbrella for $10 and get bar service. I could stay there all day. Only issue was it was a windy day and sand would easily kick up and we had to cover our drinks and it would also hit you a bit if laying back in the chair.

You won't have any trouble with Bernard's tours. They are a big company on a small island. Our favorite driver is The Mailman.

We've personally called and met Bernard himself in person, but he has a whole fleet of busses and drivers. They have pop (soda for you, likely) and water on the busses. They always have some homemade rum concoction as well.

The building is super easy to find in the port. Bernard and some of his people are always standing at the end of the walkway with signs and shirts advertising. You would have to try SUPER HARD to miss his place. It's a very short walk from the pier.

Once we decided about a day before the cruise left to take a last minute cruise. We called Bernard on the way to board the ship and he was "No problem! Come back to see old Bernard! I'll hook you up!" and in less than a minute or two we were booked for just a couple of days later. Bernard even managed to tuck us onto one of The Mailman's tours since we told him that he was our favorite driver.

It's not like Bernard is pulling his Honda around the corner and stuffing people in, this is a full-fledged tour company. They do great tours, although it appears the island isn't up to full-strength and won't be anytime soon.

Off topic, but has anyone ever done Orient-Maho beach tour with Bernard's? It's 2 hours at each beach, so it fits what I'm looking for. I can't seem to find any reviews for that specific tour. Amigo tours offers the same tour with good reviews.