Private Tours

[Diggerof4]

Newbie here! Doing research. Hoping that the mild, medium and HOT seasoned veterans can help me. This maybe the only time we get to visit the south carb. What we (as in family of 4) want to do is our own private tour, see as much as the island as possible, explore, swim, snorkle and shop. We can move very fast if have to, but so open to what ever comes our way.

 

Planning excursions: St Maarten, Philipsburg -what wld you recommend? I thought I read on the under the PORTS section, Bernards was good.

 

St Kitts: Would you recommend: Javin My Island Tours, Thenfordgrey, Roosevelt Tours, Rose and Jim's Tacie and Tour Service? I am stuck on who to choose. There was also an article on Lorenz ? Any who...any advice, comment or suggestion would be greatly appreciated. ;)

 

Also, with a private tour, if we like our guy or gal, would they take offence if we bought them lunch or snack or a goodie? Besides a tip.

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Couple more question....When the interary states that ship docks at 8 AM. When can you get off the ship? At 8 or is it always after that? Are you able to go back and forth to the ship as much as you want?

 

Thanks!

Molly

[paul58]

Javin has good reviews on Tripadvisor. We have used Royston several times & have used Rose & Jim. We have not cruised for several years but do stay in St Kitts for an annual vacation.

[LewesBeach]

We have stayed in St Martin 20+ times and love this island. However, it is a flourishing, vibrant, commercial island and the traffic is HORRENDOUS - even on non-ship days! To simply drive the perimeter of the island with no stopping, would take the most of the day. A private car may not get you back to the ship in time. If you want to see any of the island - my advice is to book a morning 1/2 day ship excursion to someplace that interests you (because there are some great places to see) then eat lunch on the ship or in town and spend the rest of the time shopping in Philipsburg as this is some of the best in the Caribbean. OR - If you are not opposed to a clothing optional beach, disembark the ship as soon as you can & take a taxi to beautiful Orient Beach before the hordes arrive. You'll beat the traffic, & it won't be as crowded or hot. Orient Beach is huge, and has many beachfront food shacks, restaurants, craft/souvenier stands, etc. Note - this is not a good beach for snorkeling as there are waves - there will be other islands with better snorkeling. You could even have lunch there before grabbing a taxi back to Philipsburg for afternoon shopping. There is also an excellent beach right off the boardwalk in the middle of Phillipsburg for sunning/swimming while the others are shopping. Good luck.

[caribhasher]

My choice would be for Javin. We as a family of 6 did a tour with him where he does a unique rainforest adventure - not the usual one at Wingfield, visits Spooners, an old cotton/sugar estate, goes on an island tour to Black Rocks and then over to White house Bay for some very good snorkelling. This was an all day experience and an exceptional one at that.

When the ship docks you have to wait for customs, port authority, ships security and the ships agents to complete all their checks etc before anyone comes off and as long as you have your ships pass you can go and come as you like.

[erniesband]

For sightseeing and history I'd recommend Thenford Grey's tour , for adventure and something different I'd recommend Javin. We've done both.

[ibcnusoon]

We booked with Rosevelt Taylor's Island Paradise Tour Best of St. Kitts Panoramic + Beach time. He was rated #1 for tours in St. Kitts on Trip Advisor, responded to my email and when we decided to book, gave me a confirmation number (no money until day of tour) and instructions on where to meet.

 

In St. Maarten, we decided we do not want to go Orient Beach and would like to spend more time in Marigot and Maho Bay so we are going to leisurely get off the ship and utilize taxis.

 

It's perfectly fine to offer your private tour guide lunch if you are stopping, as well as a tip.

[grammyprf]

We booked with him in Jan on RCI Vision of the Seas.. Excited! Sounds like a wonderful tour!

 

 

We booked with Rosevelt Taylor's Island Paradise Tour Best of St. Kitts Panoramic + Beach time. He was rated #1 for tours in St. Kitts on Trip Advisor, responded to my email and when we decided to book, gave me a confirmation number (no money until day of tour) and instructions on where to meet.

 

In St. Maarten, we decided we do not want to go Orient Beach and would like to spend more time in Marigot and Maho Bay so we are going to leisurely get off the ship and utilize taxis.

 

It's perfectly fine to offer your private tour guide lunch if you are stopping, as well as a tip.

[LondonTowner]

In St Kitts we booked a trip with Pereira Tours and had an excellent driver/guide called Scotty.

 

In St Marten we did one of bernard's Tours. Although there was nothing wrong with the tour this was the island we liked the least, full of very loud, rumswilling unsvoury people. Seems more like a party island with not very upmarket clientele.

 

However, we were amazed at the planes landing on Maho Beach.