St Maarten & St Thomas with 2 kids?

[Sunshine101]

Hi all,

 

We are taking our girls on their first cruise in October (sailing the Freedom). While my husband and I have been to St Maarten and St Thomas often, we arent too sure what to do with the kids when there. Anyone have any good suggestions?

 

Many thanks!

[O2cruise_again]

There are a couple of threads on this topic in the port calls section. Sorry, don't know how to paste the link :-(

[cantw8togo]

How old are your girls? Our boys really enjoyed both islands.

[Mom2B&Z]

Hi all,

 

We are taking our girls on their first cruise in October (sailing the Freedom). While my husband and I have been to St Maarten and St Thomas often, we arent too sure what to do with the kids when there. Anyone have any good suggestions?

 

Many thanks!

How old are your girls? We were at both ports in January, our boys were 3 and 5.5 yrs. In St Thomas we took a taxi to Coral World, and spent about 45 mins at Coki Beach. In St. Maartin we took the water taxi to town and just wandered around...there's a neat Star Wars museum (the guy who made Yoda) and a fantastic chocolate shop. There are also lots of great beaches, I'm sure you could grab a cab and spend the day there easily.

Do check out the ports of call forums, there's lots of great information over there too.

[Sunshine101]

Thanks folks!

 

My girls are 7 and 4....was leaning towards Coral World and then Coki afterwards. Do you pay to get into Coki, or no?

[snorkelman]

My wife and I have also been to St. Marten and St. Thomas many times without kids and this time we are bringing our 7 year-old twin girls with us. For St. Maarten we are renting a a car and taking a trip around the island. My wife and I did that on an ATV on our own last time we were there and we had a blast. This time we will rent a car. I know that the kids will love the beach by the airport (Maho) and they will like the fort in Marigot and of course they will love playing on Orient beach.

 

In St. Thomas we decided to do both Coral World and Coki Beach, as they are right next to each other. Coral World has exhibits, Sea Turtle encounters, Sea Lion Swims, etc. We booked "Sea Lion Swim" for the four of us.

 

If you are looking for something to do in Nassau, FYI we booked "Blackbeard Cay Stingray Adventure" which cost us $166 for the four of us. They bring us by boat to the small island and we can feed and snorkel with the stingrays and then play on the beach.

[cantw8togo]

I second the vote for Maho beach. We only had about an hour there, but it was so much fun watching the planes come in. A 747 took off and just about sandblasted everyone into the water, but if you are off to the side, it is fine. The beach is not ideal for little kids as it drops off quickly, but it is more about the planes anyways. There is a bar at either end of the beach, er, runway. We stopped at the first one closest to the main road as we didn't have a lot of time before we had to head back. The facilities are pretty primitive but the beer was cheap and cold ($2 each) and the atmosphere festive and local - the bar is made out of an old boat.

 

The best time to go is in the afternoon when more of the big jets come in. You can find out more info on the Ports of Call boards.

 

We took the local bus around St. Maarten as it is so much cheaper than a taxi and it gives you a chance to see more of the real island. Buses and taxis both use the identical white vans (look for a sign in the window to be sure you're not flagging down the more expensive taxi) and while the trip to the capital by bus for 4 would $8, it would cost $50 by taxi. We had to transfer buses to get to Maho beach and it was a second fare, but it was still cheaper than by taxi. Sit at the back if you can and watch local life unfold. Everyone was quite helpful and friendly.

 

We also did Coral World and Coki Beach last time. Your wrist band from Coral World allows you to use the changerooms before and after the beach. Someone at the beach was selling dog treats to feed to the fish and our youngest didn't want to leave because he loved seeing the fish so close.

[Momto3cuties]

We were in St. Thomas with our 6,4,and 2 year old this past spring. We went up to Blackbeard's Castle. Walked around checking out the pirate statues, learned about sugar cane/rum, climbed the turret and then swam. There are two pools up there and we had it to ourselves. The kids had a blast! We then walked down the 99 stairs and went to Cuzzin's for lunch.

[elephant98]

Coral World/Coki Beach are good options in St. Thomas. The snorkling at Coki Beach is terrific. All you do is just wade into the water and the fish and coral are right there.

 

As for St. Maarten, we went to the St. Maarten Park Zoo and enjoyed it. About a 15 to 20 minute cab ride from the ship, if I recall correctly. The zoo is not huge. But, there are a decent number of animals to see and it is just the right size for kids under 10. You can buy a bag of peanuts and feed all the animals -- from peacocks to goats. And, there is even a nice playground area for the kids to run around. There are several different playsets for kids of different ages (a couple for toddlers, a couple for older kids). We found it to be the perfect morning excursion. Park opens at 9 am. We got there when it opened, roamed around the zoo area for about an hour and a half or so. Then let our little one play in the playground area for a half hour. Caught a taxi back to the ship for lunch.

 

http://www.stmaartenzoo.com/