Can we walk to the beaches?

[New2Cruisin'07]

We will be on the Victory 5/13-5/20 going to St Maarten & St Thomas. We are traveling with our 3 children (7,5&1yr). Our plan is to simply spend time at the beaches on port days. I really want to have some relaxing time hanging out. Here are my questions:

 

Can we just walk to the beach, or do we need to book an excursion? Would we need to take a taxi or anything?? (money saving tips are great!)

 

Is there anything that we should DEFINATELY see??

 

What can we expect from the beaches? Are they 'family friendly'??

 

We will not have a car seat for our youngest. We are hoping to aviod any driving. Is this possible??

[truecruiser]

we did little divi beach break. it wasn't w/in walking distance, but it also wasn't far (i wld have liked to have driven a bit more through st. maarten). it was a nice excursion, actually.

[Caliber1]

New2, you might check the port of call boards for those ports and find more info. Welcome to cruise critic and happy cruising!

[big_duck]

No beaches within walking distance of either port.

 

Beaches on St Thomas are reachable by a 6-8 dollar cab ride, however most cabs are safari trucks with bench seating (I don't remember seatbelts).

 

No sure about cab costs in St Maarten, check the ports of call board. (I believe there is a water taxi to Little Divi.)

[hooked on cruzin]

water taxi to St Maarten beach and shopping area ( 5 minute ride) and you can go back an forth all day to the ship ($5.00 pp) and st. thomas either an excursion (very reasonable $$) or taxi to the beach. no seat belts on excursion transport bench style seating and exciting driving :eek:

[denisey]

What can we expect from the beaches? Are they 'family friendly'??

 

St Maarten is half Dutch and half French. The beaches on the French side are usually tops optional (there are even a couple of nude beaches)

[PelicanBill]

On St. Thomas, there are 2 places I would recommend as family friendly for small kids:

1. Magens Bay. Pretty, sheltered, low wave action, small admission fee. Long taxi ride (30 minutes or more). No facilities.

2. Bolongo Beach Resort and Iggies Beach Bar/Restaurant. Beach not as pretty but also sheltered with low wave action. They offer use of beach and water toys for a fee but will waive it if you have lunch there. Great food and drink. Shorter taxi ride (15 min). You can't avoid a taxi on St. Thomas, and they are mostly hard seated open air bouncy things.Put the little ones between you and hold on tight. Everyone else has to do the same thing.

 

On St. Martin,

most cruise visitors go to Orient Bay but the waves can be rough and topless and nudity are common. Take the water taxi to downtown and just use the mile long beach along the waterfront of Phillipsburgh. Little Bay at the Divi is also a good choice and there might be a water taxi to the resort. So you can avoid car taxi here!

[truecruiser]

...What can we expect from the beaches? Are they 'family friendly'??...

 

i took my 3 to little divi bay and they had a great time. at the time, i think they were 4, 7, and 8. in st. thomas we did the aquarium, but truthfully, i thought that was stinko, and wldn't do it again. wld try that sunny liston tour or go to magen's bay.

 

here are some links: http://www.virginisles.com/activities/beaches.html

http://sunnylistontours.com/

[big_duck]

On St. Thomas, there are 2 places I would recommend as family friendly for small kids:

1. Magens Bay. Pretty, sheltered, low wave action, small admission fee. Long taxi ride (30 minutes or more). No facilities.

 

I don't know what you mean by facilities, but Megen's has washrooms, showers, change areas, a bar, restaurant, beach equipment rentals...