jbiker

We will be in Tortola from 7am to 4pm.  Any ideas on being able to stay on Jost Van Dyke longer?  The New Horizon Ferry would be 8am over there but we would have to do a 12pm back because i think the 2pm Ferry would be pushing it.  Any information would be great!

Does anyone know if we can rent chairs here?

Has anyone gotten a taxi from the cruise port and gone to this beach for the day?  Wondering about chairs and facilities and how easy to get taxi there and back.

We will be visiting in February and wondering if anyone has done either one of these excursions or any other ideas on beach breaks.

We will be visiting in February and we were looking for the best beach to visit for the day?

We will be in Curacao from 1 to 11 that day and i noticed its a holiday for Carnival.  Does anyone know if alot of places will be closed?

We are looking for a short tour with beach time but not alot of people, I'm thinking the cruise tours will be crowded, also best beach to visit.  Ty

We will be visiting in February and looking for a beach with calm water, food and umbrella and chair rentals but not super crowded.  Any recommendations would be great since this is our first time visiting. ty

This is our first time to Aruba.  Looking for a more quiet beach, great sand and water.  Also need chair and umbrella rentals and a small bar would be great.  Have been looking at Eagle, Palm and Arashi beach. TIA

Do they do tours with 2 people or do you need at least 4?

Looking for a good but small tour group.  Looking to see alot of the island and maybe a beach or two.

Looking for recommendation for what to do at this location, what would be must have's to see or do.  First time here and not here for a long time.ty

Does anyone know if you can use the NAAT walgreens test?

Has anyone done this ferry out of West End?  Looking to spend more time at Soggy Dollar Bar.  Checking to see if their schedule is running the same and if you would need to arrange for tickets ahead of time or if we can just wait until that day. thanks

Has anyone done Soggy Dollar on their own lately instead of the short ship excursion using New Horizon ferry out of west end?

Does anyone know if you can rent chairs before Dinghys open at 1030 since we will be there early?  Cruise ship leaves at 1.

Heading to San Juan in April and checking to see if anyone has gone here and opinions.

5 hours ago, blue_water said:

Are you thinking a shared cat or private charter? Excellent cat sails for small groups to share with others are Aristocat, Kuralu, and Patouche.  They offer a couple options, one of which includes White Bay, SS, and perhaps Little Jost…

Most of these seem to already be booked.  ty

Looking for a good catamaran company to take a small group for the day.  Looking at going to Jost Van Dyke and maybe Sandy Spit. Any suggestions would be great!

Looking for a nice calm uncrowded beach.  We have been to Jacqui O's and loved it now looking for something different.  Has anyone been to any of these places and which would be the best to try next.  thank you

On 2/20/2022 at 12:26 PM, Froufie said:

I also emailed and heard back from Little Divi in St. Martin in regard to beach use:

 

 

We do not charge a fee for day use at Divi Little Bay Beach Resort. The beach is open to public access as well as the restaurants and water sports department. The beach chairs and umbrellas are available for rent daily at the activities hut at a cost of $5.00 per item. Pools and hot tubs are for registered guests of the resort only.   
Parking is $10 per vehicle, per day for guests not staying at the resort. 
Please be sure to "check-in" with the Front Desk upon arrival at the resort. 
*Day use not available during Christmas week.

Thank you

Jacqueline Parker
Reservations Agent
Divi Resorts Group
6320 Quandrangle Drive, Suite 210
Chapel Hill, NC27517
1-800-367-3484

Great thank you i have been looking for this information im glad we can just go over there and rest a chair and umbrella and grab some food!

On 1/2/2022 at 10:36 AM, cruisewisely said:

I did the beach break, my cruise was Dec. 12-19, and Puerto Plata was the last port that week, so after two fairly active days at St. Thomas and Tortola, I was ready for a beach day. 

 

My beach day tour in detail:   Some disorganization  at the port in getting everyone onto the buses, but it was their first time, so hopefully they've worked it out. The drive to the beach was a good one hour drive each way, over dirt roads and crossing rushing streams. More newbie issues, our guide didn't have a mic, and since I was at the very front of the open air vehicle, and he stood behind me facing the back, our row couldn't hear him over the engine. I missed the info that I was supposed to get back on the same bus for the return trip. The beach itself was nice, water very wavy and I enjoyed jumping in the waves, but maybe wouldn't have been suitable for small kids.  I had the all inclusive option so lunch was provided, at a set time, so everyone ate at once. Alcoholic drinks were included, but it was a small list of provided drinks, rum punch and a few others.

 

For the return drive, there was a bit of a fuss because I had "missed" my bus, not knowing everyone was going back with the same guide, whose name I never got nor did I get a good look at him. I pointed out that all vehicles were going back to the Encore, so surely it didn't matter? After checking with a supervisor, it was agreed I could take any of the vehicles. Overall I enjoyed the day, but given the driving time, I'm not sure I would do it again, especially if I had Great Stirrup Key as a final port day.

 

Other tours:  One person in my group did the crazy trucks, and they ended that tour at my beach, where I ran into him. So both of those tours have a 1 hr drive back to port.

 

Horseback riding and kayaking:  the person who did this was very unhappy with the tour, they had a 2 hour drive each way which did not leave enough time for the activities. She said the horses were not very well trained either, so she did not recommend this tour at all.

 

Shark encounter:  the guy who did this enjoyed it, he got back to the ship much later than the other tours, sorry but I don't know if that was due to a long drive or it was just an intensive tour.

 

 

We are looking at this tour also.  How long were you on the catamaran and do you remember the name of the catamaran?  ty

On 1/9/2022 at 8:13 AM, Bonobochick said:

I did Party At Sea via Dec 23rd Escape cruise. I enjoyed it buy it was a bit disorganized. We had bad weather the night before so a number of excursions, e.g. the beach day, were canceled due to flooded roads. We were also late docking and getting off (by about an hour).

 

Now, the hostess (Mercedes) was a fun guide. We took a van from the port to Sousa Beach, which was about 35-40 minutes. Once we got there, we took a little boat from the beach to the Catamaran. With this part I would suggest that if anyone has any mobility issues, they should skip this excursion cause getting from the little boat on to the Catamaran took effort & some flexibility. 

 

The Catamaran was fine. Lots of room cause there were maybe 20 of us. The crew supplied us with lots of beverages - alcohol, soda, water - and some light snacks of cheese, bread, + cold cuts. I didn't go snorkeling but several who did saw lots of different fish & sea life so they were happy. I jumped in to do some swimming but it was still a bit rocky from the prior night's storm so I wasn't in the water more than 10 minutes. Water was nice temp and fine otherwise.

 

It did feel a bit disorganized once we got to the beach plus rather short with us being late to the port plus the commute to / from the port but I did enjoy myself. The crew was relaxed, the drinks were strong, and the music (once I asked them to switch from country to reggaeton) was entertaining. More positives than negatives with Party At Sea IMO.

 

We did Fryer's beach in January and it was great!  Got a cab from the port--was about a 25 minute ride--someone was waiting there with chair and umbrella rentals and a small bar with drinks--maybe about 20 people total on the beach--perfect.  Nice water-there was a restaurant there also called Dennis's but we didnt go in.

On 2/15/2022 at 1:16 PM, crewsweeper said:

It is.  We were there once pre-covid.  Good food.  Calm water.  You can see it across the bay from the pier.  When we were in St Maarten this past January, people from out ship went there and said they had a good time.

Can you just go to the resort and rent chairs or is this something you need to make a reservation for? ty