St. Maarten by Segway excursion

[rinse82]

Me and my girlfriend just reserved this excursion for our CB sailing Valentines 2007.

 

Does anyone have any experience with this excursion? Is it worth the $79/person? I figure it would be a pretty cool experience to glide through the boardwalk with one of these.

 

All input is greatly appreciated.

[Northender]

Don't know anything about the excursion but good luck. Phillipsbug get very crowded when cruise ships are in town. St. Martin is also very hilly, what is the criteria for this. Do they just give you one and let you go and where do you pick them up. Can give you better answers once I know that. The traffic is SXM is horrendous on a good day.:eek:

[rinse82]

It's a guided tour along the boardwalk.

 

After the boardwalk you can relax on the beach, or take the Segway onto a closed hilly course that they have where you can race other people on your segway, heh.

[Shoalwater]

Me and my girlfriend just reserved this excursion for our CB sailing Valentines 2007.

 

Does anyone have any experience with this excursion? Is it worth the $79/person? I figure it would be a pretty cool experience to glide through the boardwalk with one of these.

 

All input is greatly appreciated.

 

You do know Segway recently issued a recall of many of its transporters due to a software glitch that caused the Segway to lose balance and tip!!! Just for grins, ask if they had their carts repaired (or even if they heard about the recall!).

 

http://www.segway.com/support/recalls/recall_002.html

[donna5]

The board walk isn't really that long of a walk(now if they'd meet you at the gangway of the ship and let you ride it to the boardwalk, that would be fun). I don't think it would be worth it unless you just want to do it for kicks. Check 1st to see how many ships will be in on that day. One time we were on the star clipper, it was Sunday and we were the only ship in. Boy was it dead. (Our ship only had 128 passengers too on that trip) Let us know how it is if you use it.

[pamwinn]

I believe the recalls were on first generation models and in order to tip you had to perform a series of maneuvers in a precise order. I rode one of the recalled models without issue but it is not as easy as it appears and depending on your age, they could be dangerous...I know I am lucky to be here.:D

[arabrab]

Cruise critic seems to have lost my earlier response, so here goes try #2.

 

We took a Segway tour of San Francisco and absolutely loved it. My then-fourteen year old considered it to be the highpoint of her time in SF.

 

The company that did the tours started with a thirty or forty minute training session in a small area so that we learned how to control the Segways. They had little cones set up in a slaalom course; I squished a few and they cheerfully explained that it was people like me that made them stop using guinea pigs to mark the turning points.

 

We went along relatively uncrowded streets (in SF they can't be used on sidewalks) and wore orange safety vests and helmets. It was a blast, and they are incredibly stable even when descending very steep hills. They stop and turn on a dime. After you get a bit of experience, you find that you can steer them just by shifting your body weight unless you need to make a sharp turn.

 

You also find that you are the subject of many other tourists' cameras and videos -- I'm sure we were featured in homes all over Japan.

 

We've talked about trying to do more Segway tours in other cities -- it was definitely a highpoint for us, and the picture of the three of us on our Segways with Alcatraz behind us in the distance is our favorite picture from the trip.

 

Hope this helps.

[fdwt994]

You may want to check other sites that show who's in port that day. We sailed in on Carnival Valor this past May, and since we were the only ship in port, Philipsburg was nearly empty. Traffic was very light. And yes, the Valor was nearly full. My opinion, there's a few level blocks around town that should be enough without having to venture into the mountains.

[pamwinn]

LOL, I just read the recall link and that is exactly what happened to me and by some miracle I was not injured...just looked funny. I was feeling really confident as I'd been riding around an RV park in Myrtle Beach on the segway for several days. I felt very confident and pretty cool whizzing past all the people in their tricked out golf carts.

 

I returned to our campsite moving pretty fast and came to an abrupt stop. When I stepped back to get off, I inadvertantly tilted the platform backwards at which point the segway (and I) zoomed backward about 15 feet....very, very fast. I was completely off balance and instinct caused me to lean forward...so I zoomed forward the same distance, again, very fast. Of course, I again leaned back....you get the picture. I was very lucky it did not throw me. They have 3 speed settings depending on the key used to turn them on. Stick with slow...trust me on this.:o