St. Barths Tour???

[Raymok]

We will be on CB in January and considering the day trip to St. Barths.

 

Interested in any comments from anyone that has taken that tour.

 

Did you book on board with Princess or on your own??? I visited the St. Maarten web site and you can book several ferries on your own (any experience?)

 

Thanks in advance for your comments...

[negc]

We will be on CB in January and considering the day trip to St. Barths.

 

Interested in any comments from anyone that has taken that tour.

 

Did you book on board with Princess or on your own??? I visited the St. Maarten web site and you can book several ferries on your own (any experience?)

 

Thanks in advance for your comments...

We took the Rapid Express high speed ferry to St. Barts from St. Maarten when we docked there in October while we were onboard RCI's Jewel of the Seas. We booked through the cruiseline rather than on our own for two reasons:

First - Although this is the only time I have encountered such a situation, the price being charged by the cruiseline was lower than what the ferry company showed on their website.

Second- The schedule shown on the ferry's website did not show a return trip to St. Maarten at a time that would guarantee we would make it back to the ship before we sailed. The website only showed a 6pm return for the 45 minute ride and since our ship was due to sail at 7pm we did not want to chance it. Actually there was a 2pm return ferry which allowed us to spend about three hours on St. Barts, enough for our purposes.

St. Barts is very expensive and there was a $27 rental charge for beach chairs. A tour of the island on the other hand was in line with what we have paid elsewhere in the Caribbean.

The ferry ride was extremely rough on the way over and several passengers were seasick or queasy. The ride back, however, was quite smooth. Staff on the ferry boat was very accommodating and took good care of those who were under the weather. Make sure you have passports if you want to travel between St. Maarten and St. Barts.:)