HELP!!!!!!! What to do? I am on information overload?????

[ganggreen88]

Hello everyone. I will be sailing on the EPIC 11/2 out of Miami. My fiance and I are sooooo excited. I have been doing my research and am getting to the point where I am on information overload. I would love suggestions and positive feedback on your experiences at the Eastern Carribbean stops we are going on (st maarten, st thomas, bahamas).

 

We are from Miami so the beaches and hotel pools I can do or not do. Doesn't matter to us. Where are the best places to shop? Safest areas?

 

St. Maarten - Seems like everyone likes the Bernard's Tour. Seems great and would cover alot of St. Maarten and we wouldn't have to worry about seeing things on our own since they would take us to the major parts. Plus, I would love to see the airplane landing at Maho Beach.

 

St. Thomas - Seems like the beaches there are great, but seems like they are always crowded. Is this a good place to just stay on board?

 

Bahamas - We have never been there and I would love to see Atlantis, but is it worth going if you're not staying there? Can I use their slides? See their aquarium? Hotel on the inside? What access can I get there? Anything else to do in the Bahamas besides Atlantis?

 

Any information would greatly be appreciated. I am a big fan of this message board since its helped my information overload!!! Cruise on!

[WildcatRock]

My DW and I LOVE St Thomas. If you're in to snorkeling taking a catamaran to Buck Island and snorkeling in the cove is a great way to spend the day. But, there's lots of great things to do there - have a great time doing whatever you choose.

 

 

Sent from my DROID4 using Forums mobile app

[HarpHarp]

Believe me, you haven't seen beaches like on St Thomas. My favorite beach is Sapphire, my hang out when I lived on St Thomas.

 

If you have time, go to St John. The national parks offers a lot to do, and the beaches are even better than St Thomas.

 

Several tour operators get good reviews & it is a shoppers paradise. Enjoy.

[Medtech2]

Hello everyone. I will be sailing on the EPIC 11/2 out of Miami. My fiance and I are sooooo excited. I have been doing my research and am getting to the point where I am on information overload. I would love suggestions and positive feedback on your experiences at the Eastern Carribbean stops we are going on (st maarten, st thomas, bahamas).

 

We are from Miami so the beaches and hotel pools I can do or not do. Doesn't matter to us. Where are the best places to shop? Safest areas?

 

St. Maarten - Seems like everyone likes the Bernard's Tour. Seems great and would cover alot of St. Maarten and we wouldn't have to worry about seeing things on our own since they would take us to the major parts. Plus, I would love to see the airplane landing at Maho Beach.

 

St. Thomas - Seems like the beaches there are great, but seems like they are always crowded. Is this a good place to just stay on board?

 

Bahamas - We have never been there and I would love to see Atlantis, but is it worth going if you're not staying there? Can I use their slides? See their aquarium? Hotel on the inside? What access can I get there? Anything else to do in the Bahamas besides Atlantis?

 

Any information would greatly be appreciated. I am a big fan of this message board since its helped my information overload!!! Cruise on!

If you decide to skip Atlantis and want to explore Nassau on foot Frommer's has a great walking tour which gives you some history...

 

http://www.frommers.com/destinations/newprovidence/0251010008.html

 

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[madisonlee]

I did this same exact cruise last year at the same time of year for a friends wedding.

For st martens we did Bernard's tours and it was great. A must do is maho beach. It is absolutely hilarious to watch people get jet blasted. Our tour was filled with our friends so it made the tour a lot of fun

St Thomas was actually whereupon friend was married so I didn't get to explore. From what I have heard from my friends, st Thomas has some of the most beautiful beaches and I leave in key west and go to the Bahamas every year so I would love to go back here and actually experience the island.

In Nassau we did the watermark at Atlantis. You get access to the beach and aquariums. The lines for the slides were long but do able. We were able to every slide but the one that went straight down. There were also three other ships besides Epic in Nassau so that contributed to the watermark being so crowded.

Hopes this helps

[TravelDiva88]

Believe me, you haven't seen beaches like on St Thomas. My favorite beach is Sapphire, my hang out when I lived on St Thomas.

 

If you have time, go to St John. The national parks offers a lot to do, and the beaches are even better than St Thomas.

 

Several tour operators get good reviews & it is a shoppers paradise. Enjoy.

 

Sapphire has some fantastic shallow water snorkeling. Definitely a must do for us

[Sauer-kraut]

Seriously in my opinion Atlantis is NOT WORTH the price you pay to use the slides. I went when we could walk around the lobby for free and saw the aquarium I think the aquarium in San Francisco or in Baltimore much better than Atlantis. Now you must pay entrance fees just to see theirs. You can go into the casino with no charge. BORING.

 

So.... find something else, book a day at one of the hotels on the beach, take a taxi to Cabbage Beach, do a segway tour, visit the straw market and then cool off at Senor Frogs, do a swim with the dolphins/sting rays/whatever that is offered.

[TravelDiva88]

Seriously in my opinion Atlantis is NOT WORTH the price you pay to use the slides. I went when we could walk around the lobby for free and saw the aquarium I think the aquarium in San Francisco or in Baltimore much better than Atlantis. Now you must pay entrance fees just to see theirs. You can go into the casino with no charge. BORING.

 

So.... find something else, book a day at one of the hotels on the beach, take a taxi to Cabbage Beach, do a segway tour, visit the straw market and then cool off at Senor Frogs, do a swim with the dolphins/sting rays/whatever that is offered.

 

I agree that Atlantis is overpriced. We are doing the Riu day pass on our next trip to Nassau.

[SliceOfLife]

I will also agree with the above posters that Sapphire Beach is a fantastic place to visit! It wasn't too crowded when I went there.

 

Bernard's Tour was okay, it was a great way to see the island, however you spend such a limited time at each location. I wish I would have just taken a Taxi to Maho and called it a day. Another thing I didn't like about Bernard's was the group we were with insisted on drinking rum punch non-stop. It held us up from getting to other locations quickly because the driver was busy filling up everyone's cups.

[ganggreen88]

Thanks everyone

[ganggreen88]

Book Bernard's yesterday. I got my confirmation and am ready to go. Looking forward to it. As for STT, I will head to Sapphire Beach, relax and enjoy the day there. Thanks.

[jennyprovo]

We did this same cruise earlier this year. At ST.T we took an excursion to St. John's to the National Park for a short hike and a stop at the most beautiful beach I have ever been too and I don't really like beaches (hate sand). Honeymoon Beach.

 

We also did Bernard's at St. M and enjoyed every minute!!!

 

Happy sailing!:)

[jackparts]

Congrats on Bernards. We have used him (party of 11) and he was GREAT. Endless supply of drinks, beer, soda and water, all ice cold. As we had the tour to ourselves, We asked for suggestions. You have to plan for traffic or you WILL BE LATE. The driver knew all the problems so we felt safe. Maho Beach is a must and the driver got us there in time for lunch and then the fun began. The planes come in for a landing very low, some have even hit the fence. When the planes depart, they turn around and the exhaust can throw you back into the water. Fun to watch, not too fun to experience it except to brag about it. Keep in mind that nudity can be found on all beaches and some of it ain't purty!!. There is more to sightsee, trust your driver to help you out. As always, tips are more than welcome.

[Warm Breezes]

When we did this itinerary on Epic we did Bernards Tours in St. M. and loved it. We did Airforce One Tours in St. T. which was good but our favorite excursion so far in St. T. was the Screaming Eagle Jet Boat. Nassau is our least favorite stop. On the Epic we stayed on board and enjoyed an empty ship.

[Fishbait17]

Hello everyone. I will be sailing on the EPIC 11/2 out of Miami. My fiance and I are sooooo excited. I have been doing my research and am getting to the point where I am on information overload. I would love suggestions and positive feedback on your experiences at the Eastern Carribbean stops we are going on (st maarten, st thomas, bahamas).

 

We are from Miami so the beaches and hotel pools I can do or not do. Doesn't matter to us. Where are the best places to shop? Safest areas?

 

St. Maarten - Seems like everyone likes the Bernard's Tour. Seems great and would cover alot of St. Maarten and we wouldn't have to worry about seeing things on our own since they would take us to the major parts. Plus, I would love to see the airplane landing at Maho Beach.

 

St. Thomas - Seems like the beaches there are great, but seems like they are always crowded. Is this a good place to just stay on board?

 

Bahamas - We have never been there and I would love to see Atlantis, but is it worth going if you're not staying there? Can I use their slides? See their aquarium? Hotel on the inside? What access can I get there? Anything else to do in the Bahamas besides Atlantis?

 

Any information would greatly be appreciated. I am a big fan of this message board since its helped my information overload!!! Cruise on!

 

St Thomas is an excellent port for shopping, if you desire. For Nassau, we enjoy hitting the straw market for a bit, then drinks at Senor Frog's and early back to the ship. Atlantis is overpriced and we have no use for the waterslides, etc for that price. I haven't done Bernard's tour on St Maarten, but I also hear good things about it - we tend to just hit a beach for a bit (or skip it) and casino for a few hours there.

 

Robin

[mjkacmom]

Visit the specific CC boards of where you are going - you will find tons of information. We've been to Atlantis before, and have booked it again for our November cruise. We are on the Breakaway, and the prices for our week (same as your week, I believe) are the lowest I've seen - $99 for adults, $59 for kids.

 

You can't do anything but the casino at Atlantis (not even the lobby, I believe) without paying. There are also lots of other options in Nassau - check out the port of call board.

[eiffeltower07]

We all loved St. Thomas - I would not suggest staying on the boat there! We did the Champagne Sail and Snorkel and the scenery was perfect. Here is a link to the blog I post I did for our Epic excursions: http://sweettampa.blogspot.com/2013/05/sailing-away-on-norwegian-epic-part-3.html

[fshagan]

Nassau is probably my least favorite port, but we did have fun when we went to a sea lion encounter at Blue Lagoon (I think that was the name of it). We flew to Miami, took a cruise ship to Nassau, to get up close and personal with California sea lions (which we can see about a mile from my house every day). But even being familiar with them, it was a fun experience to be in the water with them.

 

It's a very controlled environment; the sea lions are from an aquarium destroyed by Hurricane Katrina and were born in captivity, and the Blue Lagoon enclosure has constant and voluminous fresh sea water exchange. We thought it was a very nice setup.

[elizabeth612]

Watching the planes land in St. Maarten at Maho beach is something you need to experience if you have not seen them before.

 

I live in S. Florida as well, so beaches are not the thing we do on cruises. In St. Thomas, the best thing I ever did was the zip lining, I believe it's call Tree Limin' Zip Line. You'll get to see the islands from a perspective that you would never be able to otherwise.

 

Atlantis is sooo over-priced, although if you have children travelling with you, it is something they will never forget. No kids, skip it, do the walking tour if its not too hot, you will learn a lot of Bahamian history and then shop at the straw market.

 

Just my two cents, whatever that's worth, have fun!