Dream cruisers- Bernards St. Martins tour

[jbitzer]

Sailing on 8/14 and have a question on anyone who has taken Bernards tour in St. Martin.

 

On the beach stop (Ok, really anywhere!) are there tons of people asking you for money or having you pay for services.

 

On our last cruise there were tons of people just begging us as we walked down the street and it got really bothersome?

 

Just wondering if we should cancel the tour and just taxi ourselves to Maho...

[sonicbuffalo]

We were on The Miracle last October, and we stopped in St. Martin. We took Bernard's Tour and had no issues with street people. We enjoyed his tour so much we're going to go with him again as we sail on The Dream.

[kiraryker]

We went to Orient Beach and had a wonderful time! No one asked us to buy things - just sat in front of a resort while the kids parasailed.

 

Then we went to Maho Beach and also no one tried to sell us anything we sat at the resort and had a few drinks while watching the planes.

 

Bernards tour was the BEST!!! The highlight of our cruise for both of our families.

[TortieGal]

We were at Orient with Bernard in April and though we were approached by vendors a few times (we were at the last bar before the nudity side), a polite no sent them on their merry way.

 

I really enjoyed Bernard's tour and it would be one that I would do again.

[Grannycb]

Bernard's tour stopped for shopping that was the least expensive place on our whole cruise. Sorry, I don't remember the name of the store. No one bothered us at any of the beaches or other stops. The tour was one of the better ones we've taken in the Caribbean. Don't cancel it! You'll be glad you stayed with the plan.

[mferris77]

Sailing on 8/14 and have a question on anyone who has taken Bernards tour in St. Martin.

 

On the beach stop (Ok, really anywhere!) are there tons of people asking you for money or having you pay for services.

 

On our last cruise there were tons of people just begging us as we walked down the street and it got really bothersome?

 

Just wondering if we should cancel the tour and just taxi ourselves to Maho...

 

Was your last cruise a western itinerary? There's a marked difference between eastern/western in that respect - every western port we went to had beggars or people aggressively trying to sell something - not so on the eastern stops.

[CruiseLover824]

My advice is to keep your tour booked with Bernard!! I saw sooo much of the island on his tour!! It was well worth it. The store that the other poster couldn't remember the name of is RIMA. We stopped there too. They did have a ton of inexpensive stuff there!

 

As for 'being bothered' by the vendors at Orient....If you talk to one of them, expect to have them all come over. In total, I think we only saw about 5 ladies selling towel-bags and bracelets on the beach. Just say no thank-you and they will leave you alone. We sat in front of Pedro's, which is the last bar before Club Orient (the nude beach).

 

 

I personally wouldn't want to spend the whole day at Maho---it is very, very cool to see the planes land, however, the beach is small compared to Orient. The planes are also very loud, and they blow the sand around.

 

I have been on 3 caribbean cruises---Bernard's tour was one of the best I have ever taken!!

[2thesea]

We are sailing on the Dream August 14th too!! We booked a private tour with Bernard Tours and can't wait. Everything I had read give Bernard and this tour glowing reviews :D

[jbitzer]

Our last cruise was a Disney Magic Eastern back in 2006. We were pestered fiercely at St. Martin-- and truth be told bothered the heck out of us

[StevieG]

We went to Orient Beach and had a wonderful time! No one asked us to buy things - just sat in front of a resort while the kids parasailed.

 

Then we went to Maho Beach and also no one tried to sell us anything we sat at the resort and had a few drinks while watching the planes.

 

Bernards tour was the BEST!!! The highlight of our cruise for both of our families.

 

I see your kids went parasailing, there was no time issue?

[crusnbee]

When on Bernard's tour last year when we were on the Glory. Very nice tour. We had no issues at all on Orient beach. The tour did stop at a market type place on the French side for about an hour. Typical of all the places like this in the Caribbean, the vendors there were quite pushy.

CJ

[scorp111]

Big thumbs up for Bernard's tour!

 

We had Junior as our driver, and he was fantastic! Kept it fun the whole time! The rum punch is quite potent :D

 

There is a great creperie in Marigot, just down the main street from the market.....not cheap, but fantastic!

[rjrice1]

Had a blast with him.. Since we had a younger teen girl with us he took us to a non-nude beach. Very private with nobody else on it.

Cathy

[kiraryker]

I see your kids went parasailing, there was no time issue?

 

 

Nope we had plenty of time on Orient beach - his tour guide let us stay as long as we wanted then we went to Maho Beach to watch the planes

[stay_or_go]

We did the tour a few years ago before the dream came along and there were hardly any vendors on the Orient beach. You will have a great time.

[dalitos]

Sailing on 8/14 and have a question on anyone who has taken Bernards tour in St. Martin.

 

On the beach stop (Ok, really anywhere!) are there tons of people asking you for money or having you pay for services.

 

On our last cruise there were tons of people just begging us as we walked down the street and it got really bothersome?

 

Just wondering if we should cancel the tour and just taxi ourselves to Maho...

 

When we were there we didn't experience any begging.

The only things we were offered were chairs/umbrella on the beach while walking looking for chairs/umbrella to rent, and later a woman came selling bracelets or something like that, we politely said no thanks and she left.