st maarten celebrity excursions information

[d1cso4]

ok..i am going out on the celebrity eclipse on 11/26/11 stopping in st maarten. i know that from experiences from another cruise lines. that excursions do not change all that much if any. does anyone have a list of some kind of excursions offered ? i have heard from another that we will be docking in havensight ..but is that known or am i just too far out to know what i am getting. Please Help ! unit needs x43 !

[FunCruiser56]

Go to the Celebrity website and you can look at what would probably be offered. I have been looking since we will be there the first part of November.

Check out the port of call boards too for some other options too!

 

Bev

[packedandready]

If it's too early to see them under your cruise date, then just go to "plan your cruise" and pick shore excursions and look it up port by port.

[black forest]

We were at St. Thomas twice (with Carnival). First time we booked Godfreys Tours directly on his webpage. Shopping, sightseeing and beach. Second time we booked Champagne Catamaran Sail to a beach on St. John with Carnival - great tour. Perhaps Celebrity offers this, too. Next time - I don't know.

[alidor]

Certainly hope the captain has better info that you obtained - Havensight is in St. Thomas.

[FLOURTOWN]

We have been there two times and have used Bernard's Tours. They are not as expensive and the ships tours. They give you a tour of the island both Dutch and French sides. They stop at Maho Beach so you can watch jets land very close to your location. On both occasions they schedule their trip so you are there when planes are landing. They give you

very good punch, with plenty of rum. We are returning to St Maartan next year and booked with them. You can go to their website and reserve a tour. They do not request any deposit. Also, I almost forgot. They drop you off at Orient Beach for 2 hours. The north end of the beach is clothing optional. You won't be disappointed.

[d1cso4]

i know ..i noticed right after i logged on..sorry geo error on my part

[d1cso4]

Thanks all for the info..bernard tours does sound familiar ..just little eager to see what is out there !

[black forest]

We were at St. Thomas twice (with Carnival). First time we booked Godfreys Tours directly on his webpage. Shopping, sightseeing and beach. Second time we booked Champagne Catamaran Sail to a beach on St. John with Carnival - great tour. Perhaps Celebrity offers this, too. Next time - I don't know.

 

I am sorry - you asked for St. Martin.

 

At the pier there is a sign showing the Map of St. Martin. Here you can book tours over the island and choose from the routes. Prices are fix and depending on how many people. We choosed the tour over the island, including Orient Beach, Dutch and French side. We wanted to go with a full van and paid about 25 $ each. They filled up the van. You can see the prices depending on how many people are there. We went with Alma, she was very nice and informed us about everything.

[kitkat9438]

I agree. Go with Bernard's in St. Martin. Well worth the cost and it's much cheaper than what you can get through the cruiseline.

[d1cso4]

Hello Kathy,

i think they were the people in the green shirts..not sure its been two years.. i just want a nice place to relax and maybe do a little shopping ( if i have the money !). thing with eastern sailing is most of it is for divers and people who snorkel ..which i don't ..oh well hope i can find something..starting another week of work...yikes.

[kitkat9438]

Hello Kathy,

i think they were the people in the green shirts..not sure its been two years.. i just want a nice place to relax and maybe do a little shopping ( if i have the money !). thing with eastern sailing is most of it is for divers and people who snorkel ..which i don't ..oh well hope i can find something..starting another week of work...yikes.

 

While a lot of people do dive or snorkle the Eastern Caribbean has some of the most beautiful beaches in the world to lay back and relax. This is Orient Beach where Bernard takes you and the next pictures are at Maho beach where you see the large planes land right over your head. You also stop to do some shopping at Rhimas, a good touristy place for good prices.

 

 

 

Maho Beach:

 

[infoprof56]

Check out the St. Martin board here. If all you want is to go to the beach you don’t need to book a tour. It is easy to get cabs to and from any beach on the island much cheaper than a tour. That way you’re not restricted to a set time at the beach. You can go and come back any time as long as it fits the ship’s schedule that is.

[bubbachief]

I agree. Go with Bernard's in St. Martin. Well worth the cost and it's much cheaper than what you can get through the cruiseline.

 

We used Bernard's in April. Had a great time.

[d1cso4]

more and more its looking like a bernard tour !..can someone go to work for me..?

[CarolRick]

St Martin's is a good island to rent a car. Easy to get around.

 

Traffic can slow you down getting back to ship from Maho Beach.

[CCURN]

We sailed on the Solstice in 5/10. We were very dissapointed with our excursion to St. Marteen. We took the excursion that was a combination of site seeing, beach and shopping. We were able to shop @ Havensite in the morning and met @ the courthouse at 11:00. We took a bus to Marigott and spent about 2 hours there. Then we went to Boo Boo Beach.

 

Here's why we disliked the excursion

 

The AC on the bus didn't work and all of the windows were closed. Several people on the bus got car sick and were literally hanging their heads out of the window (for the few windows we could get open). During the entire trip multiple alarms were sounding and warning lights were on indicating multiple issues with the bus. It was very scary!!

 

According to information provided by the cruise line Marigott is described as the capital and filled with specialty shops. It was the dirtiest place I've ever been! If you want to use the facilities you have to pay or use a public restroom. The public restroom in Marigott was a block building, dirty, no soap, and 2 of the 3 faucets didn't work. Only a trickle of cold water available. There are large trashcans (overflowing) by each stool and signs posted not to flush any paper products down the toilet and to throw them into the trashcans. That includes toilet paper. The only ventilation in the building is an open window. Saying the restrooms stunk was an extreme understatement.

 

There is one large building with high-end shops. It was very nice and air conditioned so we spent most of our time there. There are only a few shops and they are shops that can be found at any large mall so I wouldn't call them "specialty shops."

 

There are a lot of tents with people selling stuff. I was hoping they would sell home-made items but they were filled with "cheap" stuff that was made in Taiwan (I know this b/c they had stickers on them saying made in Taiwan). The quality of stuff was very poor and the prices were high.

 

As for the food, we looked at several restaurants and we quickly lost our appetites.

 

We would have taken a cab back to Havensight but we could not find any cab drivers that spoke English. Honestly, we were too scared to take a cab.

 

Then we went to Boo Boo Beach (Celebrity's own beach). It was so dirty we didn't want to change our clothes into our bathing suits b/c of the filth. This place also would not let people flush toilet paper down the toilet and had huge trashcans full of used TP. Yuck! While there we were continuously bothered by an "island girl." She kept trying to get us to buy "magic beads." Again, we were very scared b/c this is an isolated, private beach.

 

Upon returning to the ship I spoke to guest services and shared our experience. I told them that we were extremely pleased with all of cruise including the other ports and excursions. I was telling them b/c Celebrity is known to be a "better" cruise line and I'm sure they would not want passengers being upset with excursions b/c that would be a reflection on them as a cruiseline.

 

We went to St. Thomas and Puerto Rico too and had wonderful excursions. That was our first cruise and we loved everything except for St. Marteen.

 

I did a lot of shopping and bought lots of diamond jewelry. All of my shopping experiences in St. Thomas were great and I got some super deals. Shopping for jewelry in St. Marteen at Havensight was totally different and it was horrible. I experienced high pressure tactics in every store. There were a few stores that actually followed me out the door and "got in my face" if I did not buy anything.

 

In summary, I think the water and sights were the most beautiful in St. Marteen. I might return there someday but not with Celebrity. I've talked to several people that have cruised w/ other cruise lines and St. Marteen was their favorite port.

 

We will cruise again and it will probably be w/ Celebrity b/c we really liked them. If we go to St. Marteen again, we might stay on the ship or visit the town on our own. I won't invest in another excursion there.

 

Hope your cruise is terrific!

[Lsimon]

... i just want a nice place to relax and maybe do a little shopping ( if i have the money !). thing with eastern sailing is most of it is for divers and people who snorkel ..which i don't ..oh well hope i can find something..starting another week of work...yikes.

 

If all you want is a nice place to relax and do a little shopping then don't do any tour at all!!

 

St. Martin has some of the best shopping in the Caribbean right at the downtown shopping area near the pier. Best way to get there is to walk down the pier and take the water taxi - can't remember the cost but I think it is under $10 round trip. You can also take a land taxi or even walk the 1 1/2 miles or so to the downtown area. There is a beautiful beach there which has several restuarants along it and often a nice Caribbean musician or two will be playing music mid day. You can relax at a restuarant or rent a chair for a while. While the swimming isn't nearly as nice as at the more distant beaches it is a wonderful place to relax that is close to the ship.

 

Personally, we like to head to one of the more distant beaches (Orient Bay is our favorite) to swim a little and have a nice seafood lunch before heading back to town for a couple of hours of shopping. We just hire a taxi to the beach and when we return we ask them to drop us off downtown for shopping.

[d1cso4]

Hello CCURN,

I am sorry you had a bad experience on st marten..we were there two years ago and found it not that bad..of course there will be some vehicles that just need to be scrapped. the open air market by the water was kinda of a mismatch of locals and the goods they collected and we only had one experience in phillipsburg were we started to walk out after learning the price of some wood bowls..after my wife had a discussion with them we got our price but numerous words were said to us in their local language. the high price people that would follow us..last time i just motion to a local police officer. like to know the excursions that you had in the other two ports.

[d1cso4]

Hello CCURN,

I am sorry you had a bad experience on st marten..we were there two years ago and found it not that bad..of course there will be some vehicles that just need to be scrapped. the open air market by the water was kinda of a mismatch of locals and the goods they collected and we only had one experience in phillipsburg were we started to walk out after learning the price of some wood bowls..after my wife had a discussion with them we got our price but numerous words were said to us in their local language. the high price people that would follow us..last time i just motion to a local police officer. like to know the excursions that you had in the other two ports.