Bernard Tours

[dale88fan]

I cannot even begin to tell you how wonderful Bernard and Bernard Tours is! If you are going to visit St. Maarten, I highly recommend this tour. I

booked a tour for my group of 10. Bernard even called me at home in NY to confirm this with me. There was no money or credit card needed to hold your spot. And you pay after the tour is completed by either cash or credit card. We got off our Royal Caribbean Freedom of the Seas ship and walked straight ahead just a few minutes. Waiting outside the yellow information building was Bernard. We had to wait a few minutes for a few other people then we walked around the side and there was our van waiting for us. It was very clean inside and out and seemed pretty new. The air-conditioning was on, which was nice. He had water, soda, beer and rum punch for us to drink. We got a tour of both sides of the island, made a stop at the water for pictures (beautiful area) and a local was there looking in the water for things for us to hold (saw sea urchin and star fish). We went to Orient Beach for two hours (that water is amazing!) and went to Sunset beach to see the planes fly in (very cool!!!). We had enough time to order a drink and some food. Then some of our group went shopping and some wanted back to the ship. We even had a problem where one of our group had to be brought back to the shopping district because someone else was holding their seapass card and couldn't get through the gates without it, so Bernard turned around and waited until they found who they needed. Bernard was courteous and very informative, and I felt safe at all times and I highly recommend him and his tour service. For $35.00 per person it was a bargain...and cheaper than a Royal Caribbean tour!! And after we got back to the ship we realized one of our passengers left his sunglasses in the van. We figured oh well gone forever. The other day I got a package from St. Maarten...inside were the sunglasses! Unbelievable!!! I e-mailed Bernard asking how much to reimburse him for sending these back. And he said no charge, part of his service. How kind was that?! The locals need our business, this is how they make a living. I wholeheartedly recommend Bernard Tours to everyone! I found Bernard Tours through other people's comments and thought I would give it a shot. And let me tell you, I was not disappointed and neither will you be!

 

http://www.bernardstours.com/

[IRONGUT99]

I second the motion. Had the same wonderful experience.

[morningglory69]

We have him booked for our cruise in March! Could you tell me how long was the tour, we are doing the same one as you. Is there a time difference between ship and island? We will be there after daylight savings time here in NY. Thanks for all your info...we are very excited about this tour!

[dale88fan]

Yes there is a difference in ship and island time (I think an hour), but you always go by ship time, never change your watch to island time (they even tell you this on the ship). We got off about 8:30 a.m. and walked to meet Bernard. He asked us what time we needed to be back and I think the latest you could reboard the ship was by 4:15. We got back to the ship about 2:30-3:00 or so. He gave ya time to go shopping if you wanted. Have a great time, you will love it!

[Kikkycat]

There isn't *always* a difference between ship and island time. It depends on which ship you're on. For example, on both of my cruises, we sailed out of Puerto Rico, and our ship time was the same time as all of the islands we visited.

[dale88fan]

We sailed out of Port Canaveral and when we got to St. Maarten it was an hour difference. So I guess it depends on where you're sailing from and going to.

[morningglory69]

we will be cruising out of ft lauderdale on the Independence of the seas. I was just wondering if there would be a time difference after daylight savings time. So when he told you to meet at 9 am does that mean 8 am ship time?

 

dale88fan... just noticed where your from, we are like neighbors I live in Oneonta, NY

[skatie]

Yes, until daylight savings time hits in mid March (I think), there will be an hours difference. When I emailed Bernard to confirm the time for our March 10 tour and mentioned about ships time vs island time, here is his response...

"We are one hrs ahead of ship time, so when its 7 am its 8 am island time..

 

Bernard.."

 

we'll make sure we get off ship by 8am ships time to meet him for our 9am island time tour! Don't want to miss this tour!

[Willbcruisin]

We have him booked for our cruise in March! Could you tell me how long was the tour, we are doing the same one as you. Is there a time difference between ship and island? We will be there after daylight savings time here in NY. Thanks for all your info...we are very excited about this tour!

 

 

March 14 is daylight savings.......after that we the east coast will be on the same time as St Martin.

[pearls4t]

My group of 6 will be touring with Bernard Tours in April. I've heard so many good things about Bernard and really hope he is our tour guide for the day.

[catcruizer]

My husband and I took Bernard's tour last April and enjoyed it so much that I am repeating it with friends on my upcoming cruise in May. We started out with one of Bernard's associates (can't remember his name) and he was wonderful. We switched over to Bernard while at Orient beach so that we could be in the same van with friends and Bernard was wonderful too! The only problem we had was with the time. We thought we were meeting Bernard 1/2 hour early, but some of the group had already left (the reason we didn't start out with our friends) and then we had to wait another 1/2 hour for other people to arrive for the second van to leave. But it all worked out and we had a great tour.

[Buckett]

Based on many positive reviews I have read about Bernard on these boards, I booked him for our upcoming cruise. I am so happy to hear you had such a nice time. We are really looking forward to it! :D

[brickhousesm]

I cannot even begin to tell you how wonderful Bernard and Bernard Tours is! If you are going to visit St. Maarten, I highly recommend this tour. I

booked a tour for my group of 10. Bernard even called me at home in NY to confirm this with me. There was no money or credit card needed to hold your spot. And you pay after the tour is completed by either cash or credit card. We got off our Royal Caribbean Freedom of the Seas ship and walked straight ahead just a few minutes. Waiting outside the yellow information building was Bernard. We had to wait a few minutes for a few other people then we walked around the side and there was our van waiting for us. It was very clean inside and out and seemed pretty new. The air-conditioning was on, which was nice. He had water, soda, beer and rum punch for us to drink. We got a tour of both sides of the island, made a stop at the water for pictures (beautiful area) and a local was there looking in the water for things for us to hold (saw sea urchin and star fish). We went to Orient Beach for two hours (that water is amazing!) and went to Sunset beach to see the planes fly in (very cool!!!). We had enough time to order a drink and some food. Then some of our group went shopping and some wanted back to the ship. We even had a problem where one of our group had to be brought back to the shopping district because someone else was holding their seapass card and couldn't get through the gates without it, so Bernard turned around and waited until they found who they needed. Bernard was courteous and very informative, and I felt safe at all times and I highly recommend him and his tour service. For $35.00 per person it was a bargain...and cheaper than a Royal Caribbean tour!! And after we got back to the ship we realized one of our passengers left his sunglasses in the van. We figured oh well gone forever. The other day I got a package from St. Maarten...inside were the sunglasses! Unbelievable!!! I e-mailed Bernard asking how much to reimburse him for sending these back. And he said no charge, part of his service. How kind was that?! The locals need our business, this is how they make a living. I wholeheartedly recommend Bernard Tours to everyone! I found Bernard Tours through other people's comments and thought I would give it a shot. And let me tell you, I was not disappointed and neither will you be!

 

http://www.bernardstours.com/

 

I am thinking about booking a tour with Bernard. I just wondered about the other island tours that they offer at the pier for $20 or so. Would I be shortchanging myself if I took one of those cheaper tours?

[Willbcruisin]

We will be touring with Bernard for our 2nd time in April:D:D

 

I would not miss his tour for the world while in St Martin. Bernard and his tour was the highlight of St Martin for us last time and we are so excited to get to tour with him again.

 

Personally I believe his tour is worth every penny and then some!

 

Enjoy!

[CYN2920]

Did you call them or just fill out the information on their web site? I did the latter today and have not heard back from them yet. Sounds like a great tour. Thanks.

[mrpayroll]

Did you call them or just fill out the information on their web site? I did the latter today and have not heard back from them yet. Sounds like a great tour. Thanks.

When i booked, i used the form on his website. I recvd e-mail the next morning....:rolleyes:

[happytimes]

I also filled in the form online, recieved e-mail conf. today for our Apr. cruise on the FOS Just so excited 2nd cruise 1st on eastern:)

[twinlges]

Bernards Tours is awesome--no way to explain how awesome! On our last tour he got our 17 yo (at the time) daughter who is terrified of everything--to get in the water and hold a sea urchin! She loved it! This time she'll be 19 and can't wait to see him again! He's the best customer service rep ever, whatever you want, he'll do it, if it's at all within his power! Going to Fill out the form today!

 

Katie

[brickhousesm]

I'm convinced. I will book him for our St. Maarten tour. Thanks for all your responses.

[bishop35]

We just returned from using Bernard's tours last week. My whole family enjoyed the tour including my two teenagers. We had Slim as a tour guide and he was great. It is nice to have free refreshments along the way, and as much as you want. We waited at Maho Beach for a plane to come in and we figured it was too windy. As soon as we got back on the bus, here comes a plane. Slim got as close as he could so we could see it go over the beach. My only complaint would be parking the bus right next to Orient Beach Club. We stopped, looked out the window, and there were quite a few people on the beach totally nude. I would have preferred to be dropped off further to the left of the nude beach. After we walked to the left and found us a couple of chairs on the beach, all was fine. Every so often we would see a topless gal, usually older, that would walk by. We expected this so no problem. We didn't think Orient Beach was as beautiful as other people think and it was very crowded. Overall we really enjoyed the tour, it was fun, informative, and gave us many lasting impressions.

[lives-to-travel-er]

Along which beach club/concession did Bernard et all drop people off at Orient? Are they amenable to having drop you off where we would prefer (Kakao's)?

[bishop35]

Along which beach club/concession did Bernard et all drop people off at Orient? Are they amenable to having drop you off where we would prefer (Kakao's)?

 

We were dropped off at Pedro's, the very last beach bar and grill before Club Orient.:eek: