St Thomas and St Maarten excursions

[ucbears22]

going on Allure at the end of april to st thomas and st maarten. anyone have any suggestions for excursions at both of these places?

[cruiseguy1016]

My favorite thing to do on St. Thomas is to take the ferry to St, John and spend the day at Trunk Bay. My favorite thing to do on St. Maarten is to take a taxi to Maho Bay to watch the planes land/take off and to watch the chaos as the planes take off.

[gerelmx]

I love the Beach, @ St Thomas go to Magens Bay, at St Maarten I love Orient Beach but after Hurricanes there is only the beach, ships shorex now go to Simpson bay

After the morning in the beach, we return to the ship for lunch, then go to port again for a walking and shopping near the pier.

[vwgolf]

Watch the planes come in to land at St Maarten. You can almost reach up and touch them!

[bradsnana]

We are going to St Maarten in May, Last time we explored Phillipsburg, this time I want to see more of the French side. Is Marigot worth spending the day at? Not really a beach couple but we do love to sightsee.

[BrentD]

If you're adventurous, the Screamin' Eagle jet boat ride in St. Thomas is a lot of fun and departs right from the pier. Everyone doing the beach thing in St. Thomas will head to Magen's Bay, which for me is enough reason to avoid it. I've spent a few weeks in St. Thomas and I enjoyed Sapphire Beach on the east end near where the Red Hook ferry departs. It seems to stay nice and quiet if you're just wanting to relax on a beach. If you're a golfer, St. Thomas has a great golf course called Mahogany Run. If you book through a ship that will likely run you $400+ for 18 holes, but you can always just take a taxi to the course and pay regular rates. That will run $125 to $165 with cart depending on the time of year...figure in another $50 if you need clubs, and $15 for shoes.

 

I've only been to St. Maarten once, but really enjoyed using Bernard's Tours. Took me on a long (4-5 hrs if I recall) tour of both sides of the islands with a stop for shopping and lunch if you wanted, as well as a stop at a beach, and specifically another at Maho Beach to watch planes for 30-45 minutes. That one was only about $40-45 I believe.