NCL Getaway, Eastern Caribbean shore excursions?

[Rebegutierrez]

My husband and I will be sailing on the Getaway Feb 28. We are first-time cruisers and, naturally, have a lot of questions!

 

I am interested in booking excursions during our port days and have the following questions:

 

St Maarten - I'd really like to book the Regatta excursion. It appears that we are only able to book through the cruise line. Has anyone done this excursion before? Will there be time to go on another tour after this one is complete? If so, does anyone have recommendations?

 

St Thomas - I'd love to do a beach/snorkeling tour and have read good things about the St John excursion. Any recommendations for/against?

 

Nassau - not sure what to do here. The reviews of this port aren't stellar.

 

In general, I am looking to spend long, relaxing days on beautiful, pristine beaches. If anyone has recommendations at any of these ports, I'd love the advice. Additionally, I am reading many recommendations to book excursions outside of the cruise line. I'd love any recommendations of local tours/tour guides.

 

Thanks in advance!

Edited February 2, 2015 by Rebegutierrez

[Mirrasi]

I can't help you too much since I haven't been to the first two. I'm going in April so can tell you what I chose.

 

For St. Maarten....I wanted to do the Regatta SOOO bad. :( But I can't because min age is 12 and I have a 9 year old. I guess something to look forward to in the future. But it does look amazing! If they aren't sold out, I am going with one of the little speed boats Captain Mike or Captain Bob. They look nice, not too many people with a combination of snorkeling, beach, and hopefully seeing the planes land from the water.

 

For St. Thomas I am going to do the horseback riding on the beach. Something I have never done. Then maybe some lunch, a skyway tram ride, and if time I'll hit the beach near the port.

 

Nassau....you are correct. I've been there twice and not a fan. First time I went to the straw market and then went right back on the ship. I hate vendors yelling at me to get my attention. Last time I just stayed on the ship. This time I think I'll pay for Blue Lagoon just to have a nice pretty beach to chill on. Atlantis looks really nice but I live in Orlando and am surrounded by water parks and aquariums so it doesn't call to me. I can see its appeal though.

 

Good luck! I'll be watching for feedback too.

[shapatack0]

I can't help you too much since I haven't been to the first two. I'm going in April so can tell you what I chose.

 

For St. Maarten....I wanted to do the Regatta SOOO bad. :( But I can't because min age is 12 and I have a 9 year old. I guess something to look forward to in the future. But it does look amazing! If they aren't sold out, I am going with one of the little speed boats Captain Mike or Captain Bob. They look nice, not too many people with a combination of snorkeling, beach, and hopefully seeing the planes land from the water.

 

For St. Thomas I am going to do the horseback riding on the beach. Something I have never done. Then maybe some lunch, a skyway tram ride, and if time I'll hit the beach near the port.

 

Nassau....you are correct. I've been there twice and not a fan. First time I went to the straw market and then went right back on the ship. I hate vendors yelling at me to get my attention. Last time I just stayed on the ship. This time I think I'll pay for Blue Lagoon just to have a nice pretty beach to chill on. Atlantis looks really nice but I live in Orlando and am surrounded by water parks and aquariums so it doesn't call to me. I can see its appeal though.

 

Good luck! I'll be watching for feedback too.

 

I'm also doing this itinerary in April and was thinking about the Blue Lagoon for Nassau. On their website it indicates you have to get to the Paradise Island ferry terminal (which is a hike and requires taking a cab or ferry). Do you konw if they have anything where they will pick you up from the cruise terminal?

[janetz]

The regatta is one of the best excursions you can do. We had a great time and it is well worth the money. You are correct that it can be only booked thru the ship. You have a choice on how you want to participate. DO nothing, that is fine.

 

http://www.12metre.com/

 

After visiting St Thomas numerous times, our last visit we did a turtle snorkel with Fury tours. This is a private excursion. With 5 ships in port we had 10 people on this trip. It was amazing. We saw so much. The captain timed our visit to Buck island so that we arrived before the ships tours and left just as more came in. With the ships tour, the tour operators try and get as many people on the boat to make a profit since the cruise line takes a good percentage. When we left there had to be over 200 people jumping in the water with 3 other boats. I bet they saw nothing. Here is the link.

 

http://www.usvisailing.com/daysails.html

 

If you are nervous about doing your own thing, just do the morning trip.

Edited February 2, 2015 by janetz

[david_sobe]

My cruise is 3 weeks away and for the first time I have no idea what excursions to book. This will be the third time with this itinerary. I don't find any of the excursions that appealing. For St Maarten, I have been to Maho Beach, done a full island tour, and did helmet diving. I am not crazy about St Thomas and always go to St John. But the St John beach break is not showing up on the NCL site. They did away with this excursion? NCL got rid of the St Maarten coastal hike a few years ago. Maybe its because I live near one of the best beaches but none of the excursions excite me.

Also, I have been reading that Orient Beach was hit by a hurricane last year and has not been fully repaired and is sort of run down. I also read Megans Bay in St Thomas is not looking so great either. Its a shame they take the cruise ship business for granted and don't clean up the beaches. Here in Miami Beach, they rake the beach every morning to keep it looking pristine.

Any suggestions would be most welcome :)

[cmarkovsky]

My cruise is 3 weeks away and for the first time I have no idea what excursions to book. This will be the third time with this itinerary. I don't find any of the excursions that appealing. For St Maarten, I have been to Maho Beach, done a full island tour, and did helmet diving. I am not crazy about St Thomas and always go to St John. But the St John beach break is not showing up on the NCL site. They did away with this excursion? NCL got rid of the St Maarten coastal hike a few years ago. Maybe its because I live near one of the best beaches but none of the excursions excite me.

Also, I have been reading that Orient Beach was hit by a hurricane last year and has not been fully repaired and is sort of run down. I also read Megans Bay in St Thomas is not looking so great either. Its a shame they take the cruise ship business for granted and don't clean up the beaches. Here in Miami Beach, they rake the beach every morning to keep it looking pristine.

Any suggestions would be most welcome :)

 

Hi David,

We are excited to be on the same cruise :). I was uninspired by NCL's options as well. In St. Martin you can take a ferry, paddleboard or kayak to Pinel island. It looks small and lovely - beach, restaurant, snorkel. It is an easy 20 minute paddle or quick ferry. St. Thomas has a water taxi to Water Island. They have a beach, bar, amenities and you can rent golf carts to tour around.

 

Nassau is unappealing at this point. We are open for suggestions as well.

 

Less than 3 weeks 😄

[JJS329]

I did this cruise last April.

 

For St Martin we did Bernard's tours based on recommendations here. No regrets - you get a full view of the island and have beach time and plane viewing time. Wasn't aware of regatta excursion - go for it if that's what interests you.

 

For St Thomas we took ferry to St John and I highly recommend. Beyond beautiful. We did snorkel but just going to Magen's bay to swim would have been enough.

 

For Nassau, I went to atlantis and bought tickets for water park primarily for lazy river. Was first time there so felt it was worth money to have the experience. (Like if I was in NYC for first time I would splurge for top of Empire State bldg.)

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

[Mirrasi]

I'm also doing this itinerary in April and was thinking about the Blue Lagoon for Nassau. On their website it indicates you have to get to the Paradise Island ferry terminal (which is a hike and requires taking a cab or ferry). Do you konw if they have anything where they will pick you up from the cruise terminal?

 

 

 

Not that I can tell, but I keep reading the ferry trip is nice and we seem to have plenty of time.

 

I am still not 100% sure on Blue Lagoon, but it is likely since I can't find anything better. I would like to find some sort of sail excursion but the only one I see is through NCL and not the best reviews.

 

The mini boat excursion looked nice too but since I'm already doing a speed boat thing in St. Maarten I decided against it.

 

I would love to like Nassau somehow. lol

[mnventure]

We did the Blue Lagoon in January. I booked it through NCL (while on the ship). We had to meet on the dock right outside the ship and then they walked us to the other end of the dock (near shore) and we got on a boat that took us to BL. The excursion included lunch (hamburger, cheeseburger, chicken or hot dog) and a drink (fruit punch or lemonade). There was a bar to buy beer/cocktails.

 

The adults in our group enjoyed the lounge chairs and hammocks. And some time in the water. The kids enjoyed the water too. They have inflatables in the water for an extra $15 per person - I thought my kids would do this, but they didn't want to.

 

I guess my biggest complaint is the return times to the ship - you could leave at 1, 2, or 4. (We got to BL at 11:30). It wasn't a big deal, but I had hoped for a 3:00 departure. 2:00 seemed too early to leave BL, but we wanted to buy souvenirs in port and so 4:00 seemed too late (I think all aboard was 5:30, but we had dinner reservations at 5:30 also).

 

In St Maarten, we took a taxi to Maho Beach. It was our first time to this island, so the kids wanted to see the planes. It was fun, but very crowded.

 

It St Thomas we did Coral World Ocean Park and Coki Beach. The Ocean Park was very small, but we enjoyed the beach. We also booked this one through ncl.

[Suzyrn89]

My husband and I will be sailing on the Getaway Feb 28. We are first-time cruisers and, naturally, have a lot of questions!

 

I am interested in booking excursions during our port days and have the following questions:

 

St Maarten - I'd really like to book the Regatta excursion. It appears that we are only able to book through the cruise line. Has anyone done this excursion before? Will there be time to go on another tour after this one is complete? If so, does anyone have recommendations?

 

St Thomas - I'd love to do a beach/snorkeling tour and have read good things about the St John excursion. Any recommendations for/against?

 

Nassau - not sure what to do here. The reviews of this port aren't stellar.

 

In general, I am looking to spend long, relaxing days on beautiful, pristine beaches. If anyone has recommendations at any of these ports, I'd love the advice. Additionally, I am reading many recommendations to book excursions outside of the cruise line. I'd love any recommendations of local tours/tour guides.

 

Thanks in advance!

 

we have done all these island before with and without the kids. Here is what we are doing, on 2 future cruise in the next 6 months:

 

St Thomas- we have done ship sponsored snorkeling trip, it was ok but we have had better snorkeling excursions, it was with royal.

 

We also done a tour we bought outside of the ship, it was with Godfrey's tours and enjoyed it, we had some others added to our tour at the last minute and it was the worst part, unrully loud and most likely underage drinkers, they were late coming back from one of the stops and the whole group had to waist 40min waiting for them. they threw bottles over the side of the van, one drop sunglasses out the window and on the next stop they started walking back to look for them and once again we were delayed.

 

Godfrey made some stops at the right spots for beautiful views and gave us some great historical info. The Magens Bay area was a beautiful beach and sort of deserted when we got there. If you have something else you would like to do I'd recommend it. We are going 2 more times and havent chosen this one if that gives you any hint.

 

St Maarten

We have done our own thing each time and love it. We normally get a cab out of the port and go to the Dutch side Marigot market area to the French pastry shop, we have a bite to eat, sometimes grab some bread bagguett to take with us to the beach, then grab a cab to Orient beach, we are trying the area know as orange fever this month. We love to people watch at one end its a topless beach, we have not sat right on that end but have at time seen topless beach goers walking by. We wont be stopping at St Maarten on the cruise with the kids though.

 

Nassau

Been multiple time, have to say last year was the nicest thing we have ever done in Nassau. We tried to book direct but as soon as they find you are from a ship they wont book, there must be some sort of agreement with the cruise lines that they wont sell direct. We took the kids to the dolphin swim at blue lagoon, you can do it as either a beach break or dolphin swim etc. It is a beautiful beach area, they will add charges for the water inflate-ables etc but a beautiful spot and we would definitely go again, one side is a little rougher and is a spot for snorkeling although there wasnt that many fish. They have a bar and lungh buffet, the buffet was food but Iwould have chose somewhere else if that was an option. They said life vest were free but when we go there they charged for them.

 

This year we are doing Atlantis, found that you can book a hotel room for 4 at the comfort suites next door and it includes passes for the Aquaadventure of Atlantis so for about $325 you get 4 people in Atlantis vs the $175-190 each charged by the ship or cruise line. You just have to take a taxi over to the comfort suites.

 

Good Luck!

[Suzyrn89]

We did the Blue Lagoon in January. I booked it through NCL (while on the ship). We had to meet on the dock right outside the ship and then they walked us to the other end of the dock (near shore) and we got on a boat that took us to BL. The excursion included lunch (hamburger, cheeseburger, chicken or hot dog) and a drink (fruit punch or lemonade). There was a bar to buy beer/cocktails.

 

The adults in our group enjoyed the lounge chairs and hammocks. And some time in the water. The kids enjoyed the water too. They have inflatables in the water for an extra $15 per person - I thought my kids would do this, but they didn't want to.

 

I guess my biggest complaint is the return times to the ship - you could leave at 1, 2, or 4. (We got to BL at 11:30). It wasn't a big deal, but I had hoped for a 3:00 departure. 2:00 seemed too early to leave BL, but we wanted to buy souvenirs in port and so 4:00 seemed too late (I think all aboard was 5:30, but we had dinner reservations at 5:30 also).

 

In St Maarten, we took a taxi to Maho Beach. It was our first time to this island, so the kids wanted to see the planes. It was fun, but very crowded.

 

It St Thomas we did Coral World Ocean Park and Coki Beach. The Ocean Park was very small, but we enjoyed the beach. We also booked this one through ncl.

 

We are considering Coral world, did you think it was worth the money? We have kids age 9-15, we have heard the beach can be very crowded, we are also considering a 2 stop sea turtle catamaran snorkeling trip.

[mnventure]

We are considering Coral world, did you think it was worth the money? We have kids age 9-15, we have heard the beach can be very crowded, we are also considering a 2 stop sea turtle catamaran snorkeling trip.

 

Probably not. We enjoyed it, but it's very small. We saw some birds, a couple of stingrays in a pool, some sharks in a pool, and the sea lion show. We then went out to their done thing in the water - where you can go down stairs and see fish underwater. By this time, the kids were bored (I was too) so we went to the beach. We enjoyed the beach, compared to Maho it wasn't crowded.

[Rebegutierrez]

Thanks to all for the recommendations. I really appreciate it!

[ShannonSC2]

 

Nassau

 

This year we are doing Atlantis, found that you can book a hotel room for 4 at the comfort suites next door and it includes passes for the Aquaadventure of Atlantis so for about $325 you get 4 people in Atlantis vs the $175-190 each charged by the ship or cruise line. You just have to take a taxi over to the comfort suites.

 

Good Luck!

 

We did this once and it was well worth it. We were able to leave Atlantis and go to the hotel and shower and change. We had some younger kids in our group so they were able to rest when the little ones needed to.

 

We took a ferry over to Atlantis and walked to Comfort Suites. They let us check in and we were able to get our passes. After a day in Atlantis we walked back to the hotel and changed, watch football games and enjoyed. We then took a van taxi back to the port.

[david_sobe]

I like to snorkel but I am used to excellent snorkeling in the Keys, GSC, or Bahamas. I have seen the boats with the tourists in St Maarten who don't see that many great fish. I am leaning towards the Golden Eagle sail, swim, and snorkel. To pull up on a beach and stay an hour and then move along. That could have my interest longer than a crowded tourist beach.

[janetz]

I like to snorkel but I am used to excellent snorkeling in the Keys, GSC, or Bahamas. I have seen the boats with the tourists in St Maarten who don't see that many great fish. I am leaning towards the Golden Eagle sail, swim, and snorkel. To pull up on a beach and stay an hour and then move along. That could have my interest longer than a crowded tourist beach.

 

Golden Eagle is a nice trip but the snorkeling was a disappointment. Saw nothing at all on our trip.

Edited February 3, 2015 by janetz

[david_sobe]

Golden Eagle is a nice trip but the snorkeling was a disappointment. Saw nothing at all on our trip.

Yes that is what I figured. Do you get beach time if you don't want to snorkel? I have reservations about this too. I don't want to be on a crowded boat if everyone is snorkeling and no beach time.

I snorkeled in St Maarten once and saw nothing too. But I don't want to take a snorkel tour but am I this desperate to take one just to get to a beach :eek: ????

[janetz]

Yes that is what I figured. Do you get beach time if you don't want to snorkel? I have reservations about this too. I don't want to be on a crowded boat if everyone is snorkeling and no beach time.

I snorkeled in St Maarten once and saw nothing too. But I don't want to take a snorkel tour but am I this desperate to take one just to get to a beach :eek: ????

 

Yes, there is a small beach you can hang on while others are snorkeling. Another option is to take a taxi to Divi Little Bay beach. It is less then 10 minutes from port. The resort allows people to use the beach which is very nice. They will also call a taxi when you are ready to go back to port. Last time we were there, a few years ago, there was no charge. You might want to email them to be sure.

 

http://www.diviresorts.com/divi-little-bay-beach-resort-st-maarten.htm

Edited February 3, 2015 by janetz