CJ0226

We will be in port on Friday, May 17 from 7am to 2pm and will be traveling with our children ages 11, 6 and 4.

I think they are going to get kinda bored quickly wandering/walking around Old San Juan and looking at the forts, so we would like to get out of this area but time is gonna be our enemy I think.

Can anyone point us in right direction to make this a fun day for all of us?

Hello, I was there last June, the beach area around ship wreck bar did seem narrow in comparison to areas further down the beach towards the Carambola Beach club where it was much wider beach front. Either way, it was still a beautiful area and we loved it here.

I tried to connect to the WiFi at M-ville and had no luck. A Turk's Head lager was $5.00 there. I went down the beach to the Barefoot Cabana and got a great wifi connection and the same beer was only $3.00.

Do you recall if they still offered a tour at this place? When we were there last time, the place was called "Local Village Bar" and they had offered people to do a tour around island. It was only like $5 or $10 bucks per person.

Hello Experts,

I do so appreciate you, thank you in advance.

 

We're looking at the two tours offered by Bernard Tours. Does Tour 1 get you to Maho to see the really big planes landing?

 

We're really debating this at our home. 1 or 2. Any input you have would be greatly appreciated.

I have personally only done tour # 2, however as per Bernards Website Tour # 1 also goes to Maho beach.

SXM Island Tour I

9:00 am - 1:30 pm

Sightseeing and Shopping - $40/pp | $5/pp Deposit

All tours depart from the Cruise Information Center

Pickup at the cruise pier

Iguana Farm( currently under construction until further notice)

Stop at the French and Dutch border [2 mins]

Brief stop at Oyster Pond over looking the island of St Barths [5-10 mins]

Photo opportunity at Orient hilltop

Marigot - open market (French Capital) [60 mins]

Maho Beach - see low flying planes[45 mins]

Drive through Simpson Bay marina

Harold Jack Hill (View of Simpson Marina,Airport & Anguilla)

Return to Philipsburg depends on tour departure time; all guests will be returned in time to meet their ship's sail time.

Upon return to Philipsburg, transfer back to the ship will be provided free of charge, or you may choose to remain in Philipsburg to shop or sightsee at your own leisure. Walking back to the ship takes between 12 and 15 minutes, or a taxi may take you for approximately $3.

Grand Turk is best to be reserved as a beach day, the beach within the port area is very nice. If Margaritaville does not fit your style, there are some other places down the beach to hang out and relax it.

We did do an island tour last year and yes there is not much of scenery, outside of the port area its rather undeveloped and not much to really see or do.

It is a good balance between time on and off the bus. This time we will be traveling with our 4, 6 and 11 year old....so I can relate to the concern ;) I think this tour is appropriate for kids, when you stop at the oyster pond she will have a chance to hold some different sea creatures and take along some sea shells.

If I were to guess, you will be on bus about 15-20 minuets between stops? I never felt we were on the bus for too long, and I'm rather impatient so I would know.

There are brief stops for photo opportunities maybe like 10 minuets and then the extended stops such as Orient beach (1-2 hours), Marigot (30-45 min), and Maho Beach (at least an hour or more)

Oh and just a heads up, Orient Beach is clothing optional....I really was not prepared for this announcement :eek: however, I did not encounter any nudity. From what I gathered there is a section down the way where people could go nude, I stayed at the other end.

If possible, request "The Mail Man" to be your tour guide, he was fantastic.

We also went to Maho Beach last year via Bernards Tours. I believe we spent at least an hour or more here which was enough time to see several planes land and take off. For a small island, the airport is rather busy!

I loved Maho beach it was a great experience. I dont think it is worth spending an entire day here unless your plan is to get wasted at the bar and blown over by planes taking off all day. From what I see, it appears that people do just that.

Bernards Tours was great because it offers many highlights of the island little by little. At $45 pp it was money well spent. Oh I didI mention they offer beer, rum punch, soda and water in the price? :eek:

DO NOT miss Maho Beach where the planes land right over the beach. You and your family will enjoy that, its an experience worth having.

I would HIGHLY recommend Bernards Tours and doing the island tour, its $45 per person. We did this tour last year, enjoyed it so much we booked it again this year!

We just booked for a second time with Bernards Tours.

What makes it so special? Well for one its $45 pp, in other islands we have paid $75-90 pp for a tour. Also included in this tour is free beer, rum punch,soda, water. So right there that makes it special! :)

Bernards takes you all over the island with several stops and provides good info. We stopped down in Marigo and ate lunch at Sarafina's, its a french eatery. In addition they operate very nice equipment. Some tours we have done we were unsure if we were going to make it back.

They just really pack a lot into the tour and its a great value in my opinion, St. Maarten is on of my favorite places! Loved it there and Bernards Tours really made it special for us. Our tour guide was the "Mail Man" and he was awesome.

Trust me you will love Bernards Tour and will have no regrets.

We are a family of 5, and looking to book a cruise.

Upon checking out RC, we can only book 4 per state room and it comes up that we have to book two state rooms? If you book two staterooms the price obviously goes way up.

Does anyone know if there is any way around this considering our children are 11, 6 and 3?

In comparison we can book all 5 of us into one state room with Norwegian so it does not make sense that we cannot do it with RC.

In St. Maarten, I would HIGHLY recommend Bernard's Tour's (http://www.bernardstours.com/tours.html) and request "The Mailman" as your tour guide, he was great and we had an excellent time!

In St. Kitt's we went to the Carambola Beach Club by way of taxi where we had reserved an umbrella and chairs ahead of time. This was a nice beach, with nice facilities, however, the prices were kinda high. We ended up walking up the beach and stumbled upon Ship Wreck beach bar, very affordable prices and we ended up having a blast there, in fact cannot wait to go back.

The Ship Wreck seemed to be a local hangout whereas Carambola seemed to be a tourist trap, just my opinion.

We are looking to take a family cruise this year with our children ages 11, 6 and 4.

We have sailed with Carnival three times now (Legend, Valor and Pride), but never with our children so this will be a new experience altogether. After the third time sailing with carnival, it all seemed the same so we are after some change and experiences.

Currently we are looking at the NCL Escape, however I would prefer 4 ports instead of 3. The second option would be the Breakaway which would eliminate airfare, but I'm concerned about being at the same place the whole time. We would be looking to go in May or September.

To those who have sailed CCL and NCL and can offer comparison, will it be a change to what we have experienced?

We did this tour last week and the mudbath and waterfall were included, no extra charge. Also included was the boat ride to and from the beach. Some people complain about the bus ride back to the port from Jalouise Beach, its not bad...in fact there are several other stops along the way.

Considering our bar bill was roughly $1500 :eek: during our last cruise, I think this next cruise will be a dry one!

This post brings back some good memories, this was our first cruise. Good times, good times.

The Legend may be an old school ship, but it was all new school to us and we loved it! We loved this itinerary too, but Belize was kinda a culture shock.

Wasnt sure what to think when we got out of town and hit a road block checkpoint with the military holding the machine guns. I thought that was it for us haha

We heard of this reputation before we took out first cruise on the Legend, however we did not experience this reputation at all.

We even went out of Tampa so we kinda expected more of a party crowd

Our experience was a very diverse group of cruisers, but mainly middle aged folks, not a ship full of college kids. About the only "party" atmosphere we really experienced was when we went to Medusa's Lounge.

Now this is what I would clasify as a party cruise: