Jump to content
Cruise Critic Community

Bernard's tour St. Maarten...Allure

Luxury mermaid

By Luxury mermaid,
in St. Martin/St. Maarten

 Share

Recommended Posts

Amtrack Springfield

Amtrack Springfield

Posted
Posted

We walked up last October and did Bernard's tour #2. We had a great time. There was things to do for little children. We stopped and looked a sea creatures. We had a nice stop at the beach, but their was seaweed. They serviced water, beer, and soda.It was busy at Maho with a lot of crazy people running to the fence to see the planes take off.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
garnetpalmetto

garnetpalmetto

Posted
Posted

We've done Bernard's twice now and never had any issue at all despite the first time being when a lot of road construction was going on and the second time when there was a civil disturbance going on (IIRC a portion of a main road was shut down because police were having to respond to a tense situation as a result of an eviction). The drivers all communicate well with each other to let each other know of any issues cropping up (traffic, etc) that might cause alterations in the schedule. As Amtrak Springfield mentioned their vans are equipped with a cooler full of water, beer, soft drinks, and rum punch. Their drivers are quite knowledgeable about the island and on our last cruise in October our driver made a great lunch recommendation in Marigot that we probably wouldn't have known about otherwise. Likewise, we've always been back to the ship with at least an hour to spare. You cannot go wrong booking with Bernard's.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
DonnaK

DonnaK

Posted
Posted

We highly recommend Bernard's tour. He is well-respected and has been in business a long time - his livelihood depends upon getting tourists back to the ship in time. We had him drop us off in Phillipsburg after the tour, so we could shop and use the beach there before walking back to the ship, which means we returned with a few hours to spare. (alternatively, there is a water taxi between Phillipsburg and the ship).

 

I would book his tour with full-confidence.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
SheehanDJ

SheehanDJ

Posted
Posted

We did Bernard's tour #1 in October (the one without the beaches).

 

Tour was done in plenty of time for us to spend additional time in the shops down the road from the ship. They offered to drop us there or take us back to the ship.

 

The only issue we had was finding them, walk all the way thru the port area and there is a tent outside the fence where the tour starts. If you get turned around ask anyone in the shops or security and they will point you in the right direction.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
MCC retired

MCC retired

Posted
Posted
We did Bernard's tour #1 in October (the one without the beaches).

 

Tour was done in plenty of time for us to spend additional time in the shops down the road from the ship. They offered to drop us there or take us back to the ship.

 

The only issue we had was finding them, walk all the way thru the port area and there is a tent outside the fence where the tour starts. If you get turned around ask anyone in the shops or security and they will point you in the right direction.

 

I can recommend Bernard's Tours also.

Very trustworthy and affordable.

As stated above , hard to find at the pier . We had trouble also.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Lizzielover

Lizzielover

Posted
Posted
Can anyone give me some insight on Bernard's tours in St. Maarten. Will be traveling on Allure in April with a 2 & 4 year old. Worried about not having enough time and not missing the boat. What time do the tours return to the dock? Anyone ever been close to not making it back?

They are very cognizant of your return time and get back plenty early. For a first-timer

to St. Martin, I highly recommend them.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
AtleeH

AtleeH

Posted
Posted

I highly recommend Bernard's tours. Our group used them the last week in Jan of this year. We had a roughly 4 hour tour, arranged by our TA who was traveling with us. Simon was our driver/tour guide. He was knowledgeable, and friendly.

 

Toured both sides of the island, spent time at the beach, and most importantly for us camera buffs, made sure we were at Maho Beach where the large passenger liners land.

 

If we were going back to St Maarten, we'd use Bernard's again.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
BillOh Holiday Sharing Rare

BillOh

Posted
Posted
Can anyone give me some insight on Bernard's tours in St. Maarten. Will be traveling on Allure in April with a 2 & 4 year old. Worried about not having enough time and not missing the boat. What time do the tours return to the dock? Anyone ever been close to not making it back?

 

The people at Bernard's are very familiar with the cruise lines and all their schedules. They depend on word of mouth for repeat business and they use their local knowledge to make sure people get back on time.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
milkman55

milkman55

Posted
Posted (edited)

We just did Bernard's tour #1 in mid-Jan off of Allure. Just OK, packed 11 people in a regular 12 passenger van. If you were in the back you had to basically crawl back there.

 

Not a lot of pretty scenery except on the French side along the coast. The shopping was pretty lame and so was watching the planes on an over crowded beach.

 

Some may like it, but we will pass in the future.

Edited by milkman55
Link to comment
Share on other sites
cyntil8ing

cyntil8ing

Posted
Posted
If toplessness is your concern, perhaps another island might be better suited for you. ALL the beaches in St. Maarten allow toplessness.

 

Only the ones on the french side.

 

We have done Bernard's twice. The first time was a private tour with our Cruise Critic Roll Call. We had a blast. Great tour, great driver. We were anxious to do it again.

 

Last summer, we did a shared tour. There were five others and our family of four. Our kids were 9 and 12. We picked tour #2 because we didn't want to visit Orient Beach. My son is at the age where we thought it best to go elsewhere. We didn't have much chemistry with the two other groups on the tour, so it wasn't nearly as much fun as our first trip. We still had a good day, but we will do something else when we visit next year.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
garnetpalmetto

garnetpalmetto

Posted
Posted
Only the ones on the french side.

 

We have done Bernard's twice. The first time was a private tour with our Cruise Critic Roll Call. We had a blast. Great tour, great driver. We were anxious to do it again.

 

Last summer, we did a shared tour. There were five others and our family of four. Our kids were 9 and 12. We picked tour #2 because we didn't want to visit Orient Beach. My son is at the age where we thought it best to go elsewhere. We didn't have much chemistry with the two other groups on the tour, so it wasn't nearly as much fun as our first trip. We still had a good day, but we will do something else when we visit next year.

 

Not so. The Dutch side allows toplessness as well. It's full nudity that's banned on the Dutch side that's allowable in some parts of the French side. Sunset Bar on Maho, for instance, gives free drinks to women who choose to go topless.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
bobmacliberty "Live from...." Rare

bobmacliberty

Posted
Posted

Add me to the list of Bernard's fans. We didn't see any topless women in the area of Orient Beach where we were. The southern part of the beach is better known as the nude beach, although it sounds like you could encounter topless women on any beach on the island.

 

We ran a little late because we spent more time than planned at Maho. As first time visitors, it was definitely worth spending the extra time there. As a result, we skipped the drop off in town and went straight back to the ship. Still got back with at least an hour to spare.

 

I will expand on the previous comment about the shuttle buses that they use. We were the last to get on our bus and DD and I ended up sitting up front with the driver in flip down seats. DD was in the middle and her feet were even with her bottom. It was a little awkward, but she's young. :D Required a little bit of climbing over seats to get in/out at each stop. This wouldn't be an issue for most people who sit in the "main" part of the bus and although it bugged me at the time, looking back it wasn't really a big deal. I actually had a great view from the front of the bus for taking pictures.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Chipmoose

Chipmoose

Posted
Posted

We just did Bernard's tour on Tuesday last week, and had a great time. Getting back on time was a big concern of mine, and although I never heard any such guarantees when signing up for this, the receptionist at the tent in Philipsburg said something to the effect that they definitely will ensure we will be get back on time, as they do not want to foot the bill for the hotel and transportation if we miss the ship (I cannot confirm that they would do this, but they have a pretty good reputation and would lose some footing there if guests missed their ship). Our driver, 'Mailman' also discusssed with us the time we needed to get back, and he did get us back with more than an hour to spare.

We enjoyed all the stops, and I also recommend Serafina's in Marigot for fanatsic beignets, pastries, sandwichs, and espresso. There were a few topless women at Orient Beach, funny my wife noticed this moreso than I did (I spent most of the time there in the water). The beach there is most beautiful, the colors of the water and sand just make it special. There was an additional charge of $10 at Orient Beach for 2 chairs and an umbrella at the Playa beach bar we were dropped of at, and that included 2 rum punches there. But the cooler on the van was filled with tons of Caribe beers and high octane rum punch, as well as water and soda. The van was very comfortable and well cooled. The airport/Maho beach was pretty cool, although now that I have done that once, not sure I need to go back there.

Overall, highly recommend this tour.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
 Share
Go to topic listing
  • Forum Jump
    • Categories
      • Welcome to Cruise Critic
      • New Cruisers
      • Cruise Lines “A – O”
      • Cruise Lines “P – Z”
      • River Cruising
      • ROLL CALLS
      • Cruise Critic News & Features
      • Digital Photography & Cruise Technology
      • Special Interest Cruising
      • Cruise Discussion Topics
      • UK Cruising
      • Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
      • Canadian Cruisers
      • North American Homeports
      • Ports of Call
      • Cruise Conversations
×
×
  • Create New...