St. Maarten - our opinion

[flyerfan22]

Saint Maarten – We planned a family beach day. We did a lot of pre-cruise internet research, and decided on Kakoa beach. We piled into a cab to go to Orient beach (roughly $7 pp). We asked for Kakoa beach, but the taxi driver acted confused and dropped us off at Bikini beach. It turns out, that it is one long beach, with different bars/operators lined up every 50 ft. We walked past Bikini beach and quickly found Kakoa. For the 13 people, we rented two umbrellas and 4 chairs – total price approx $50. We spent most of the time in the water, so we didn’t need that much. The beach is one of the best we’ve ever been on. White sand, calm turquoise water . . . everyone agreed that it was the best excursion. We did see some nudity on the clothed side of the beach, so warn your kids. We returned to the ship around 1, had lunch, and ventured out to do some shopping. We took the water taxi over to the town ($5 pp for all day riding). The town reminded us of old San Juan, with its small streets and mixture of shops. On the way back to the ship, we stopped at Fat Tuesday’s on the pier for a few drinks. Now, we’ve been to New Orleans, and like the FT drinks, and these were not the same – not much variety and not very strong. We also tried a drink at one of the bars in town – not impressed! (see our complete review of AOS 4/24/05 sailing in the reviews section)

[mamax4]

Hi, thanks for your quick review of Orient beach. We are planning on going to Bikini Beach in 2 weeks. I understand what you mean about it being ONE BIG BEACH. Are they really all that different? If so, how was Bikini different from Kaiko?

Thanks for your help. Kelly

[mamax4]

Oh I forgot one more thing...

Like you guys, we were going to spend a couple hours at the beach and then "change" and do some shopping. Is there a place to shower off and change there? You said you went back to the ship, how long did this process take to get back, change and get to the shopping area by ferry?

Thanks again!

[MamaParrotHead]

this is st. maarten, not st. thomas board.

[Zeno]

Hi, thanks for your quick review of Orient beach. We are planning on going to Bikini Beach in 2 weeks. I understand what you mean about it being ONE BIG BEACH. Are they really all that different? If so, how was Bikini different from Kaiko?

Thanks for your help. Kelly

 

Honestly the various beach bars/restaurants are NOT that different from one another - just find one you like, in a location on the beach that you like and park yourself there.

[Zeno]

Oh I forgot one more thing...

Like you guys, we were going to spend a couple hours at the beach and then "change" and do some shopping. Is there a place to shower off and change there? You said you went back to the ship, how long did this process take to get back, change and get to the shopping area by ferry?

Thanks again!

Most of the bar/restaurants have some sort of cold water outdoor shower - not usually the greatest but it does get the salt and sand off.