Divi Little Bay Beach Excursion

[Andreaarm]

Can anyone please tell me if they have done the Divi Little Bay Beach Experience in St. Maarten. Is it worth paying 42.00 for a chair and changing room. Any comments would be appreciated!

[goscudder]

I haven't done it, but we're thinking about going there on our own when we sail the end of this month. There are a lot of discussions about Divi Little Bay Beach over on the St. Maarten board. From what I read, most people suggest not paying for the excursion and just going there on your own.

[puggdogg1]

I've done this excursion three times, once with Carnival, twice with RCCL, and I think it's worth it. I don't think the beaches you could get to on your own would be as nice, plus you get lunch without having to go back to the ship, and 2 drinks. I believe that RCCL has preference over Carnival b/c we seemed to get the better chairs both times, and I didn't with Carnival.

 

The other excursion that's great is the Orient Beach one. The tour guide was great, you get cushioned chairs and lunch, and the beach is beautiful. The only problem with lunch is that it's too early and my friend and I were still full from breakfast! :)

[sandytoes03]

We did it and loved it. Great beach day. I never left the water and would do it again without question. I don't know any details about doing it on your own. We usually just book excursions and are happy that way. If you go, I know you'll have fun!:D

[Pumbaamd]

We did it and loved it. They prefer that cruise ship guests stay in a certain area. However, we roamed the entire complex and found another pool and bar and a small shopping area. Enjoyed the deserted pool but did not visit that bar. Spent some time at Gizmo's bar. Gizmo is the parrot mascot of Divi. Would do it again.

Rick and Deirdra

[swmichigan cruiser]

You can get a van/taxi right off the ship near where the excursions leave from and when you get ready to leave to go back to the ship there is usually a taxi there. You can rent chairs and umbrellas when you get there. There is also a little store there we bought water from cheaper than the ship water. It worked for us because we were able to do it at the times we wanted rather then the excursion time.

[maggieq]

We did the rccl excursion back in 05 and this January 08 we did it ourselves.....$4 pp each way for a taxi and $15 for 2 chairs and an umbrella. We brought snacks with us and beers were about $3 .....we found this to be better that we could go back by ourselves when we wanted to. The buffet they offer for the rccl excursion is ok but you only get 3.5 hours there, I think

[Brenda33]

We went there on our own. Took a taxi and asked them to pick us up at a certain time. I think we paid $10 to rent a chair and we just paid cash for any drinks or food. I think this is the more economical way to go.

[JanineM]

We also just hopped in a taxi and rented a chair ourselves. We also carried our own snorkel equipment. It was MUCH cheaper, and when the weather turned rainy we were able to go back to the ship & have lunch, then change and wander back ashore for some shopping.

 

The $42 is a rip off, IMO.

[vator90]

We did this excursion last summer and HATED IT!!! The place is a timeshare, so get ready for them to try their speeches. The "buffet" was nothing more than a hot dog or hamburger. No side dishes. The cupons for drinks is for 2 drinks, beer or water, the sign and the bartender both say so. If you do choose to book this excursion, be warned, we were charged $4.00 p.p. to leave the place early. They will not tell you that most of the taxis there are not included in your price, and they will charge extra. This was our expirience, and others I'm sure have had better. BTW, we took pics back to the ship and recieved a full refund, thats how bad it was too us.

[Ocean State]

As other posters have said, do it on your own! We enjoyed it , and would go again.

[jackdiamond]

I concur with the assessment of Ocean State.

[sandytoes03]

We did this excursion last summer and HATED IT!!! The place is a timeshare, so get ready for them to try their speeches. The "buffet" was nothing more than a hot dog or hamburger. No side dishes. The cupons for drinks is for 2 drinks, beer or water, the sign and the bartender both say so. If you do choose to book this excursion, be warned, we were charged $4.00 p.p. to leave the place early. They will not tell you that most of the taxis there are not included in your price, and they will charge extra. This was our expirience, and others I'm sure have had better. BTW, we took pics back to the ship and recieved a full refund, thats how bad it was too us.

 

Sorry you had a bad time. We never heard anything about timeshares. It was just a great beach day for us.

[Doglady]

We did this excursion in May 07. We had a great time, kids were snorkeling most of the time and also did jet skis ( not included). The food was fine. There was a liquor store at the resort that was very reasonable also. I guess it would be cheaper to do it on your own but we had no complaints.

[torpeedo]

We did the ship excursion from the Jewel in February. Transportation to and from the beach is included in the price. Also included is a beach lounge chair, 2 drinks (beer, bottled water or rum punch) and lunch. Lunch is hot dogs, burgers, chicken, salad, cole slaw, chips, and was very good. You can rent a beach umbrella for $5. There is a time share as part of the resort, and they did ask if we wanted to see the property. We declined, and there was no pressure. The beach was very nice, beautiful pool and property is clean. We were on the beach for 3 1/2 hours. Distance from the ship to beach was about 20 minutes. We had a great time. Considering transportation cost, lounge chair, drinks & lunch, we felt we got good value for the pp cost. Might have saved a few $$$ by doing it myself, but it was a really nice excusrion.

[Douglase]

We did this excursion a few years ago and had a great time. Yes we felt the cost was worth it. We received a very good buffet lunch along with 2 free drink coupons. The beach is beautiful along with the calm waters.

 

Enjoy:)

[bakechef]

I am almost always an advocate of doing ship excursions, but we did this beach on our own and feel that it is only way to go.

 

When you do the excursion, you will be grouped in a cluster of beach chairs. When you do it on your own, you can rent a beach chair under a great thatch umbrella, and come and go as you wish.

 

Getting a cab is easy, they have built a nice area at the pier for the taxis and just tell one of the people where you want to go, and they will find you a taxi that will accommodate the number of people you have.

 

We were offered a time share presentation, but we declined, it wasn't a pushy situation, just some American guy that worked for the resort.

 

MAC

[jeh4554]

We also just got our own taxi and went to Divi. We loved it there and even thought it would be a nice place to go for a week sometime. Taxi's are inexpensive and plentiful. When you tire of the beach, there will be taxis waiting in front of the hotel. If not, the hotel staff can call one for you. We were not asked to listen to a time share presentation. Although, there were a few beach vendors asking us if we wanted to look at their jewelry or get a henna tatoo. When we declined, they left us alone. Enjoy your cruise!

[Host Kewlguy]

My advice is skip Divi and head for Orient. That's where all the action is. :D

[bakechef]

Here are a couple pics of Divi beach.

 

This shows in the distance the colored umbrellas where the ship's excursions passengers go, the thatch umbrellas are for rent for those going on their own

 

this is the money shot, facing the other direction

 

MAC

[Pumbaamd]

We did this excursion last summer and HATED IT!!! The place is a timeshare, so get ready for them to try their speeches. The "buffet" was nothing more than a hot dog or hamburger. No side dishes. The cupons for drinks is for 2 drinks, beer or water, the sign and the bartender both say so. If you do choose to book this excursion, be warned, we were charged $4.00 p.p. to leave the place early. They will not tell you that most of the taxis there are not included in your price, and they will charge extra. This was our expirience, and others I'm sure have had better. BTW, we took pics back to the ship and recieved a full refund, thats how bad it was too us.

 

Never heard the word "timeshare". Lunch had several items available, not just dogs and burgers. Chicken, salad, veggies, pasta, rice, etc.

Are there two Divi's?

Rick

[Sky616]

I've been to Orient and Divi little bay and enjoyed both of these beaches. I don't think you could go wrong with either. I would do Divi on your own though.

[hoosier78]

We stayed at the Divi Little Bay 2 years ago for the week through our timeshare. It is a beautiful resort and very nice beach. 2 years ago, Wednesday was the huge cruise ship day. My husband and I tried to get a taxi into Simpson Bay for an outing we had planned and couldn't due to the volume of cruise ship passengers needing to get back to the terminal. If you go on your own, make sure that you give yourself plenty of time to get back to the ship.

[birdie16]

We have been to Divi and Orient Beach but for a nice relaxing day we prefer to just take a water taxi to town and find an umbrella, some beer and spend our time on the beach in town. There is a little flee market near the beach and walking around downtown is very quaint.

 

If you have not seen St. Maartin, you might consider hiring a taxi (arrange price first) to give you a tour of the island and end up on the beach downtown. We did this the first time and it was fun seeing the French side, Orient Beach, stopping at the border for pics, shopping in Marigot and seeing a little countryside.

[SECWRIT]

Divi was AMAZING! I had a pretty dick time there myself! We rented jet-ski'sfor an hour and were allowed to go out as far as you wanted just as long as u didnt go to far left or right past the cliffs that were on each side of the bay.. we went all the way to the french side

 

As for the Buffet its actually PRETTY GOOD. Vator Im not sure when u went but maybe it was different Our coupon allowed us to have a Burger, Chicken or Chicken Sandwich and also Macaroni-Salad, Tossed Salad and Cole-Slaw. As for the drinks your allowed 2 and give the choice between Soda, Fruit Punch, Bottled Water, Amstel Light or a Fruit Punch CockTail NOT just Beer or Water and NOT just a Burger.. and the beach was BEAUTIFUL! Nice sandy beaches, no shells or rocks and beautiful crystal clear water! And the whole time they have music and/or a band playing in a couple sections of the beach