Zip Lining in St. Maarten

[3JM]

Has anyone ever gone zip lining in St. Maarten? I want to make arrangements for 11/12/09 when cruising on Freedom w/o 11/8/09. I would like to know if anyone has gone to Loterie Farm Treetop Adventure and zip lined. Has anyone done the flyzone extreme? Love to hear about it.

3JM

[felixdacat]

Sorry 3JM, but I'm just seconding the question.

I have two additional questions.

First, what caught my eye was that Loterie Farms had a 4 ft tall minimum. The zip line tour thru Celebrity Cruises had a 54" minimum. I have a 9 year old son who is currently 51", and a 11 year old daughter who is 52". The boy is fearless, and the girl is on our health club's rock climbing team. They will have no problem with a zip line.

Second, I read a thread that mentioned that Loterie Farm's was adding more lines. Has anyone been there recently? The common quote concerning this activity was that is was more obstacle course than zip line. Is thet still true?

Appreciate any information you can give 3JM and myself.

[Spurs Fans]

There was more obstacle course than ziplining two weeks ago. It was fun, but a bit disappointing since there was not more zipping. I can not speak to the extreme course, but note that you should be in good shape for the regular course.

[milkman_tom]

Hello,

 

I have read tripadvisor and alot of people do enjoy the zipline, I will be on Liberty of the Sea on Aug 15th, 2009.

 

I am looking at the extreme option at Loterie Farm as it have more zipline then obstacle. Anyone else going on the same date as me?

[3JM]

We are checking out 11/8/09 Freedom of the Seas. We are working with a travel club right now picking our cabin. : ) Milkman_Tom, if you do go on the extreme be sure to let us all know how you booked it; how you arranged to get to Loterie Farms and back to ship; if you found the guides to be helpful at each zip stop, did they assist with your hooking your gear to the wire; and in general how you rate this extreme zip course. Did you ever zip line before? Where? Once we finally pay for cruise I will be asking if anyone wants to book the extreme zip at the same time. Thanks, Milkman, have a wonderful cruise.

3JM

[milkman_tom]

To 3JM,

 

I will let you know the results. So far I have emailed the place but no reply yet. I did not want to go with the RCCL cause of the price and you can not do the 'Extreme' version. My plan is get to the port and check if there are available taxi to go to the farm, I think past travelers mention $70 for 'Extreme'. Anyhow, will find out if other members in our cruise is going. :)

[notsoonenuf]

Hey,

 

Thanks for the post because the last time I checked they were closed and I was looking forward to doing a zip line on my next cruise-----18 DAYS and notsoonenuf:D. Please let us know how you liked it and how the best way is to get there. There will be 4 (maybe just 3) going and 2 of us especially were looking forward to it and then I thought it was gone!!!!

 

Thanks,

 

Karen

[willyguy]

Well when anybody find out any information or get picture please let us all know. What are the price and how long does it take to get up their?

[vavasmom]

We had reserved the PR zipline for Freedom in April 2009. The ship canceled the tour citing our arrival at 3pm (which had always been the schedule) in San Juan. I changed to the St. Maarten Zipline instead because that was the one activity my 13 yo DD wanted to do.

 

The St. Maarten zipline is a lot more of an obstacle course than zipline. I chickened out about 1/3 of the way through because I could not do the wire tightropes. I loved the zips but some of the tightrope and open bridge obstacles were too much for me. The entire staff at the Loterie farm was very professional. It was a wonderful experience for my DD. One smaller child in our group had to dropout about 1/2 way through because she was so exhausted from all the reaching. She was about 52 to 54 inches tall.

 

We did the tour through the FOS - they were taking almost no walk-ups the day we were there. Walk ups must wait behind any pre-reserved group and must also yield on the course to a group. I don't think you can pre-reserve the standard course if you are on a ship and don't go thought the ship's excursion. They do not offer the "extreme course" as an excursion so possibly you can pre-reserve that.

 

My cruise album is posted at:

http://travel.webshots.com/album/571...a?vhost=travel. There are several photos from the Loterie Farm in St. Maarten starting on page 5.There is another site on the web with excellent photos - google St. Maarten Loterie Farm Treetop Zip-Line Adventure. These pictures are why I did not book it in the first place.:D

[CoolSingleDad]

Posted this reply from Loterie Farm on another thread. You can go to thier website at www.loteriefarm.net or e-mail them at info@loteriefarm.net. It appears they do not allow ANY kids under 18 on the extreme version. Seems a bit of an "extreme" policy and may cause us to not go at all. Anyway, it does appear to be their policy.

 

 

 

 

Hello Tom,

The age limit for the Fly Zone Extreme is 18 years old and we cannot make any exceptions. The time that the cruise ship groups arrive varies and sometimes they arrive before we are officially open. You can try to beat the groups but there is a chance that you have to wait until the group is finished.

Regards,

Pierre #yiv204220630 {font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:12px;}

 

 

 

On Sun 02/08/09 21:05 , Tom Mueller muellertjm@yahoo.com sent:

 

Thank you for your quick reply. Since you do not allow kids on the extreme zip line, what is your age cut off for that (any exceptions to this policy??)? Also, what time do the cruise ship passengers start to arrive? You recommend coming in the afternoon to avoid the cruise passenger rush, however, would we beat them there if we came around 9:00am? Thank again for the info!

 

--- On

Fri, 7/31/09, Loterie Farm

wrote:

From: Loterie Farm

Subject: Re: Loterie Farm Saint Martin, Eco preserve: activities

To: "Tom Mueller"

Date: Friday, July 31, 2009, 5:22 PM

 

Dear Tom,

 

Loterie Farm is a private nature reserve of 154 acres with a

beautiful secondary humid forest. Here we have our award winning,

"Hidden Forest Cafe" which serves lunch 12pm to 3pm and dinner 6:30pm

to 9:30pm Tuesday to Saturday. Sundays for an extended lunch from 12pm

to 6pm. We also have our new venue, "Tree Lounge" which is open from

12pm to late evening for tapas and drinks. Apart from our restaurants

we also have several hiking trails on our property. You can either

take the self guided tour which costs Eur 5.00 per person. We also have

a guide available here if you would prefer to have a guided tour. For

the guided tour, we require a minimum party of 6 persons and the fee

is Eur 25.00 per person. Also, we recommend making prior arrangements

for this so we have a guide here for you. We also have our, "Fly

Zone" which is our treetop canopy tour for those of you who need an

adrenaline kick as well as a good workout. The Fly Zone cost Eur 35.00

per person and no reservation is possible for this activity, basically

it's a first come, first serve basis. We recommend people to come

either in the afternoon or in the weekend as we often have large

groups from the cruise ships in the morning. The Fly Zone usually takes

about 45-60 minutes to complete. Since December 2007 we also offer Fly

Zone Extreme which is our new elite zip line. This zip line is not for

the weak hearted and if you require an adrenaline shot, this one is

for you. For the Fly Zone Extreme, you can just walkup here and we

will sign you up and transport you up the mountain of Pic Paradis. The

price for the Fly Zone Extreme is Eur 55.00 per person. We do not offer

any type of transportation and we recommend either taking a taxi or

renting a car. We are located about 30-40 minutes from Philipsburg if

you travel via car. If you ask your car rental company, they will

provide you with a map and they will also be able to give you the best

directions to Loterie Farm.

 

We accept Visa, MasterCard credit cards.

 

Some people get the impression that the regular Fly Zone is

easy or strictly for kids. This is not the case. Our, extreme

Fly Zone really is extreme and is not for kids at all. The Fly Zone

Extreme usually departs at about 10am, 12, 2pm and it usually takes

about 1:30 to 2 hours to complete the course.

 

Normally in the weekends we have fewer visitors which mean less

likelihood of waiting. We are closed every Monday.

Best days to visit are Saturday and Sundays as we do not have any

groups from the cruise ships in those days.

 

Currently our exchange rate is Euro 1 = USD 1.39 and we follow the

international exchange rates which changes daily.

 

We do not have an age restriction though for the Fly Zone we do have

a height restriction. Participants have to be taller than 54 inches

(1.30m) and weight less than 250 pounds (115 kg). We do not allow

children to do the Fly Zone Extreme. It is called extreme for a reason

and it is quite hard and also more dangerous. We recommend wearing

sport shoes or sneakers. You can not wear sandals or flip-flops.

 

We do not price per age but for activity and we do not offer group

discounts.

 

If you need any additional info, just let me know.

 

All the best

 

Pierre Lenoci

Operations Manager

 

 

 

On Thu 30/07/09 22:52 , Tom Mueller

muellertjm@yahoo.com

sent:

This is an enquiry e-mail via

http://loteriefarm.net/

from:

Tom Mueller <

muellertjm@yahoo.com

>

 

What is the difference between the regular and "extreme" zip line? Are there all the rope bridges and other obstacles on the extreme zips? How many zips are there on the extreme course? What is the cost in US dollars of the extreme course? What time would we need to get there to avoid all the cruise passengers? Thanks!

 

[milkman_tom]

Hi,

 

Just got back from Liberty of the Sea on the Aug15th cruise line. Went on the Loterie Farm Zipline of the 'Extreme' version. Pay $70 US per person. Summary: Worth it!! Caution: You should be physically fit to join this.

 

I will write a full review of my trip later this week as I just got back and lots of work to be done at work.

 

Tom

[notsoonenuf]

Hi,

 

Just got back from Liberty of the Sea on the Aug15th cruise line. Went on the Loterie Farm Zipline of the 'Extreme' version. Pay $70 US per person. Summary: Worth it!! Caution: You should be physically fit to join this.

 

I will write a full review of my trip later this week as I just got back and lots of work to be done at work.

 

Tom

 

Please hurry with details as it is not listed as an excursion on Glory and when I contacted them they said unless I was staying on the island or could book thru the cruise we could not do this and this is one of the things that we really really wanted to do!!!! :eek: WE LEAVE FRIDAY FOR PT CANAVERAL!!!!:D

 

Thanks,

 

Karen

[3JM]

Notsoonenuf, you lucky dog. We have to wait until 11/8/09 on FOS. Enjoy your cruise, and let us know how you liked the extreme zip line and how you got from the ship to Loterie Farms. We too are thinking of doing the extreme. We zip lined in Jamaica and loved it. We are waiting to hear from anyone who has gone to the extreme zip line from a cruise ship. We contacted Loterie Farms and got the same response that we could not do it if we are on a cruise. Hopefully milkman_tom will take a break from work and let us all know how he managed it. Enjoy your cruise.

Karin

[notsoonenuf]

notsoonenuf, you lucky dog. Karin

 

Just like the name-----NOTSOONENUF, BUT CLOSER EVERYDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[milkman_tom]

Hi,

 

Since some of you want to know.

 

We ask if we can pay for the "extreme" as the excursion on the ship, they said could pay for the "regular" and then when we get to Loterie Farm, we can ask to pay the difference to upgrade to "extreme". I said forget that.

 

So on the day, we took a taxi into the Loterie Farm. Knowing that they ONLY offer extreme at 10am, 12pm and 2 pm, scheduled timing so we can go on the 12pm. Once we got there, some of the "regular" are already zipping from the excursion from the ship. There was no one zipping on the extreme at 10am because no one joined. Beside my wife and I, there was 3 younger kids that joined us (in there early twenties). There are about 15 to 17 zipping lines in the extreme, this does not include bridges. It took about 1.5h to 2h to complete the whole course. You can rent a car instead of taxi, it will be cheaper but you will need to find the place and the street signs on the road is not that good. So you decide, unless you are good navigators then you will be like joining the "Amazing Race" to find the place.

 

Total cost per person (include taxi for to and back) $100. So this is relatively cheaper then doing zipline in Labadee or just $20 more compared to the ship excursion of the "regular" version.

 

Again, if you are physically fit. Just do it!

 

There is no reservations for the extreme, even if you go this coming week it is off season so it will not be crowded. Email me if you need additional info milkman_tom@yahoo.com

 

Enjoy!:D

Tom

[notsoonenuf]

THANKS SOOOOO MUCH!!!! The girls (in our 50's) wanted to do this really bad so we will probably go for it and should be fine----we all walk and do other exercises and are not overweight and lift hand weights so our upper body strength is pretty good as well.

 

Thanks again and I will probably email you with a couple of questions.

 

Karen:D

[Damon B]

We did the Extreme Zip Lining at Lotterie Farms back in October 2008. We were on a Holland Cruise and this excursion was not offered. We tried to make reservations directly with Lotterie Farms, but I think we were told to just show up in the morning and sign up for the Extreme Zip Lining.

 

We took a cab to Lotterie Farms, I do not recall the fare, but I always feel I am getting ripped off by everyone, so I can not say if it was a good price or not...since I was getting ripped off. I think it was less than an hour trip. The night before I had a few- Wine, Champagne, Vodka, Rum, Bourbon, Rum, Beer, Gin, Rum, Tequila, Wine Coolers, Rum Coolers, and Rum, so I was not feeling 100% during the cab ride. I recall it was not too much fun. Picture during the cab ride

 

We got to Lotterie Farms and signed up for the Extreme Zip Lining. It was about $70 each. There were a couple of other cruise ships in port at the time and there were several large groups of cruisers doing the standard zip lining. You can see the standard zip lining course from the main Lotterie Farms Entrance- Welcome Area. Looks pretty casual and fun for Family. I don't have any details about the standard ziplining.

 

We waited about 20 minutes. There was water, punch and Rum Punch in the waiting area. Then we were met by our Guide and the other two people in our group. We were outfitted with the equipment- A Repelling Harnass, with a carabiner and strap on each side, the slide and a glove. The equipment was in good condition. We then hopped in a Huge Flat Bed 4 Wheel Drive Truck with Bench Seats. We headed strait up the mountain for about 10-15 minutes or so. There are great views of the jungle canopy and the island during the truck ride up. Unfortunately my pictures are not too good- Pic1, Pic2, Pic3.

 

We got off the truck and had a quick, informative safety briefing and were told what to expect and how not to get seriously injured or die. The Extreme Course has 17 or so Zip Lines, but you don't always Zip, from Line to Line, sometimes you have to traverse over wire bridges, wire bridges 2 (right side of pic), climb up or down wooden ladders #1, #2, or hoof it across the jungle to get to the next zip Line. The most important thing when going over bridges or ladders is to keep one of your two carabiner straps attached to a safety wire or loop at all times. If you fall you die. You have to be strapped to something at all times, except for the occasional stroll through the jungle. Watch out for snakes though! Only kidding about the snakes.

 

The actual Zip Lining aspect is pretty simple- Attach your slide to the wire, give a little push off of the platform and your zipping across the jungle canopy. You can slow your rate of movement by gripping the wire with your gloved hand. Here I am going slow (and scared), here's Laurie going very fast without a care in the world. There is also a padded landing area at the end of each zip line, so don't worry about smashing your face into a tree.

 

Some of the Zip Lines are very high and very long- You get a great speed rush and the views are breathtaking- Pic 1, Pic 2, Pic 3, Pic 4. There's a good view of one of the wire/wood bridges in Pic 2. Not for the faint of heart.

 

If you are afraid of heights, like I am, you need to suck it up and you'll have a good time. If you are not afraid of heights- you will absolutely love the Extreme Ziplining.

 

Our guide was great; Very informative, fun, safe and knowledgeable about ziplining. Unfortunately I don't recall his name and the pictures we had of him didn't turn out.

 

The extreme tour took about 3 hours. It was kind of hot and humid and I would suggest this tour to people in relativlely good physical condition. The ladders and bridges required dexterity, balance and strength to climb or cross.

 

After we were done ziplining there is a; Gift Shop which sells T Shirts ( I was so sweaty I changed into my new T Shirt) and Swag, a nice restaurant/bar, and a seperate jungle bar. We had the bartender call us a cab and had a few drinks while we waited for the cab. The cab took about 45 minutes to arrive. We walked around the Farms and enjoyed the scenery Pic 1, Pic 2, Pic 3, Pic 4. Supposedly there are monkeys on the Farm but we did not see any.

 

I would recommend this to people in good physical condition who are not afraid of heights and enjoy a "Rush".

 

Have Fun,

 

Damon

[felixdacat]

Got a interesting email back from Pierre at Lotierie Farms:

 

"The Celebrity website is giving you the correct information regarding the height requirement. The minimum height is 1.30 meters which is about 54 inches. Your children might be able to do the Fly Zone activity but we cannot make any guarantees.

We do not take reservations here at Loterie farm but it is possible to come as a walk up customer. We are open Tuesday to Sunday from 9 in the morning until 4 in the afternoon.

Best regards,

Pierre"

 

So basically he's saying that my kids (51 & 52 inches tall currently) can not do the Fly Zone...maybe.

And on that 'maybe', I'm suppossed to make a reservation or take a cab ride to their place in hopes I will be able to have a family activity?

I sent him an email for clarification, but it looks like I will have to skip this one.

 

FX

[Crusin till Im Dead]

To help with your decisions to go or not:

My two kids & I went through this and had an absolute blast! I highly recommend it. I think your shorter kids (50" something, fearless as I recall you saying) will be fine. I don’t think they’ll check height or age… more based on ability.

My kids were 15 & 17 at the time (I was 51)...

It is 50 / 50 obstacle course / Zip lines and you actually appreciate the "zips" as it give you a chance to relax from all the hard work you end up doing. It was hot & humid and I was sweating a bunch.... But everything was pass-able and I was not the oldest there. There were some 60-70 year old men & women that made it through.

There are a few spots that long legs help... stretching to the next foot hold or rope. A few require leaps of faith... you know your foot is lined up to make contact, but you lean into it with a commitment...Scary? Not really. The guys working there are all over the ground and you've got the double hooked harness. You are supposed to unhook one, rehook it, then move the other hook. A few times I tried to beat the system and had one hook not hooked on as I moved the second one (sort leap froging them) and right away one of the guides was telling me to re-hook that lead. They very on top of it, watching closely.

One is a 20 foot 4 x 4 suspended by cables… like walking a balance beam. (Easy)

Another was looped ropes spaced about 4” further than my normal step (leap of faith?) Hardest?

Another was a bunch of 4 x 4’s, but independent of each other, swinging- hard

Single cable, like a tight-rope walk

Dual cable, one foot on each

Dual cable with foot cable way left, hanging on cable way right (caused you to “lean”)

That’s about all I remember (I’m old):o

My son flew through the course, as he is agile & fearless too. He was done in 30-45 minutes... the rest of the group, maybe an hour +.

I too tried to book without Royal Caribbean and found it impossible, so had to book through the cruise line. $79 if I remember right.

Oh they take your picture on one of the final Zips, you never see the camera: $20 a pop (ouch)... but it was a nice shot, 8 x 10 (I quietly asked, after everyone was about to leave, without others standing to listen, how about $45 for my three photos? Said yes.... a bit of a deal, but $60 was more than I was willing to pay.

hope this helps

[dlhoward]

3JM

I see that you have been ziplining in Jamaica. My daughter wants to do it but I am afraid to. I can't ride roller coasters because my stomach drops out. I want to do it but am afraid to pay the money than can't. What is it like? Can you just do the easy ones and not do the rest? Do they take you back down if you can't finish it?

Thanks

[3JM]

dlhoward,

When we were in Jamaica, May '07, we did the Chukka Cove Canopy Tour, in Ocho Rios, there were 9 of us. Here is a web site by someone else and his experience http://gocaribbean.about.com/od/attrac5/gr/JamaicaZipline.htm , good reading but more of a dare devil than I was, although one young man with us tried it. Read the review, you will understand.

 

Then go to the web site for the tour http://www.chukkacaribbean.com/OchoRios/canopy.php . All of us loved it and would recommend it to anyone, including those who feel they are not physically in shape, neither was I. You don't do anything other than walk through the jungle to the trees. We were a large group, us and others, maybe 25. You don't need upper body strength, you are sitting and zipping through the trees. A real blast. I do remember one person not able to complete the tour and that person did have a guide walk them back to the vehicles and wait for us to finish. I don't know why that person was unable to finish the tour. So, yes there is a path to return to the rest stop at the end, but I am not sure if that path is available the entire length of the course.

 

The most scary part of the tour was the bus ride up the mountain. The bus is not the typical bus, one side of the bus, behind the driver, only had one seat per row instead of the usual two, and of course that is the side my family and I chose. Driving up the mountain I could swear that the tires of the bus on our side were off the pavement, and you see down the mountain. At any moment you felt the bus could fall, I guess that's why they had the majority of the people on the opposite side of the bus.

 

Read that review I mentioned, it will give you a good idea of the trip.

 

Talking to the family now, that was the BEST cruise vacation out of the 8 we have had. Most talked about vacation and would recommend that zipline tour to all. If you go to Jamaica you MUST try this Canopy Tour, amazing, I would gladly do it again.

 

3JM

[jojacheez3]

we did the extreme zip lining at lotterie farms back in october 2008. We were on a holland cruise and this excursion was not offered. We tried to make reservations directly with lotterie farms, but i think we were told to just show up in the morning and sign up for the extreme zip lining.

 

We took a cab to lotterie farms, i do not recall the fare, but i always feel i am getting ripped off by everyone, so i can not say if it was a good price or not...since i was getting ripped off. I think it was less than an hour trip. The night before i had a few- wine, champagne, vodka, rum, bourbon, rum, beer, gin, rum, tequila, wine coolers, rum coolers, and rum, so i was not feeling 100% during the cab ride. I recall it was not too much fun. picture during the cab ride

 

we got to lotterie farms and signed up for the extreme zip lining. It was about $70 each. There were a couple of other cruise ships in port at the time and there were several large groups of cruisers doing the standard zip lining. You can see the standard zip lining course from the main lotterie farms entrance- welcome area. Looks pretty casual and fun for family. I don't have any details about the standard ziplining.

 

We waited about 20 minutes. There was water, punch and rum punch in the waiting area. Then we were met by our guide and the other two people in our group. We were outfitted with the equipment- a repelling harnass, with a carabiner and strap on each side, the slide and a glove. The equipment was in good condition. We then hopped in a huge flat bed 4 wheel drive truck with bench seats. We headed strait up the mountain for about 10-15 minutes or so. There are great views of the jungle canopy and the island during the truck ride up. Unfortunately my pictures are not too good- pic1, pic2, pic3.

 

We got off the truck and had a quick, informative safety briefing and were told what to expect and how not to get seriously injured or die. The extreme course has 17 or so zip lines, but you don't always zip, from line to line, sometimes you have to traverse over wire bridges, wire bridges 2 (right side of pic), climb up or down wooden ladders #1, #2, or hoof it across the jungle to get to the next zip line. The most important thing when going over bridges or ladders is to keep one of your two carabiner straps attached to a safety wire or loop at all times. If you fall you die. You have to be strapped to something at all times, except for the occasional stroll through the jungle. Watch out for snakes though! Only kidding about the snakes.

 

The actual zip lining aspect is pretty simple- attach your slide to the wire, give a little push off of the platform and your zipping across the jungle canopy. You can slow your rate of movement by gripping the wire with your gloved hand. here i am going slow (and scared), here's laurie going very fast without a care in the world. There is also a padded landing area at the end of each zip line, so don't worry about smashing your face into a tree.

 

Some of the zip lines are very high and very long- you get a great speed rush and the views are breathtaking- pic 1, pic 2, pic 3, pic 4. There's a good view of one of the wire/wood bridges in pic 2. Not for the faint of heart.

 

If you are afraid of heights, like i am, you need to suck it up and you'll have a good time. If you are not afraid of heights- you will absolutely love the extreme ziplining.

 

Our guide was great; very informative, fun, safe and knowledgeable about ziplining. Unfortunately i don't recall his name and the pictures we had of him didn't turn out.

 

The extreme tour took about 3 hours. It was kind of hot and humid and i would suggest this tour to people in relativlely good physical condition. The ladders and bridges required dexterity, balance and strength to climb or cross.

 

After we were done ziplining there is a; gift shop which sells t shirts ( i was so sweaty i changed into my new t shirt) and swag, a nice restaurant/bar, and a seperate jungle bar. We had the bartender call us a cab and had a few drinks while we waited for the cab. The cab took about 45 minutes to arrive. We walked around the farms and enjoyed the scenery pic 1, pic 2, pic 3, pic 4. Supposedly there are monkeys on the farm but we did not see any.

 

I would recommend this to people in good physical condition who are not afraid of heights and enjoy a "rush".

 

Have fun,

 

damon

 

 

 

 

excellent review, this helps a lot!