Bernard's In St Maarten....Can Anybody Recommend?

[Iamcruzin]

6 hours ago, A2Mich said:

 

Have you done the America’s Cup Regatta race?  I did that back in 2002, and while it was a lot of work (assuming you’re probably in good physical condition), but was a wonderful experience.

Thank's for the suggestion but unfortunately I recently had surgery for a torn meniscus so that would be out of the question at this time.

[JBSteelerfan]

Another recommendation for Bernard's Tours.  Very good company, and we had an excellent day!  Thank you rum punch!!

[kitkat9438]

The private tour is awesome.  We've been to Pinel Island a couple of times.  We wanted to make sure no problems getting back to the ship in time with all the traffic.  It's more private and secluded than the touristy beaches and you have to take a boat to get across to it.  (unless you want to take a kayak).  LOL  The private tour definitely lets you customize what you want to do and how long you stay.  We usually organize a group in our roll call for this.  I think we had over 30 people last time. The only downside to that is not everyone showed up like they were supposed to and you have no way of knowing who the people even are that wanted to go.  

[GTO-Girl]

8 hours ago, A2Mich said:

 

 

Have you considered doing a private Jeep/4x4 tour, whereby you can customize it more to what you want to do and not make all of the other stops?  We are considering this for next May. Does your trip have to go to Orient?  I know there is a nice and quiet beach just down the way from Maho (Mullet Bay?) that would keep you on the Dutch side and possibly give you more time to shop, visit a local restaurant, etc?  We aren’t sure what we’re going to do this time around. 

 

I really do appreciate your suggestions.....we have been to St Martin numerous times and have seen about all there is to see.  Orient and Maho is what we enjoy if we decide to get off the ship.

 

After almost 50 cruises sometimes the view from the ship is all we need to see...😉😉

[SuiteLady]

I just booked Bernard's for St Maarten as a result of the great reviews on my roll call!  We will be there in May and I will be sure to report back on how it was!

[A2Mich]

5 hours ago, GTO-Girl said:

 

I really do appreciate your suggestions.....we have been to St Martin numerous times and have seen about all there is to see.  Orient and Maho is what we enjoy if we decide to get off the ship.

 

After almost 50 cruises sometimes the view from the ship is all we need to see...😉😉

 

 

 I get that for sure.  If I were to ever go to Nassau again, I would just make it a nice relaxing (and quiet) day on the ship, so I can certainly appreciate that.  I like your idea of low key, though, and may just do something similar.

 

Sorry to be off topic, but any suggestions for San Juan?  Went there once about 30 years ago as a kid.  Didn’t want to start a new thread and didn’t see what I was looking for under the ports forums, and will not post multiple questions here, but if you have a single post suggestion, would be interested.   

Edited April 4, 2019 by A2Mich

[trrn2016]

Would highly recommend Bernard’s Tours!!! 

[CruisinBarb63]

We love Bernards and also recommend Mailman.  The tour was very insightful and perfectly timed.  We got to Maho just before a line of planes were landing and stayed long enough to see a huge jet take off (and all the people who thought they could hang on to the fence roll into the ocean).  We got to the French side just off lunch hour so we were able to have a nice lunch at a patisserie with no crowds and shop the vendors without rushing.  The rum punch was plentiful and delicious.  Bernard's is a great way to see many parts of the island. 

[GTO-Girl]

4 hours ago, A2Mich said:

 

 

 I get that for sure.  If I were to ever go to Nassau again, I would just make it a nice relaxing (and quiet) day on the ship, so I can certainly appreciate that.  I like your idea of low key, though, and may just do something similar.

 

Sorry to be off topic, but any suggestions for San Juan?  Went there once about 30 years ago as a kid.  Didn’t want to start a new thread and didn’t see what I was looking for under the ports forums, and will not post multiple questions here, but if you have a single post suggestion, would be interested.   

 

San Juan is really not a beach port so we enjoy either walking to the forts or we hop on one of the many tour vans right at the end of the dock who offer a 2hr or 4hr tour for a good price.

 

Or there are plenty of places to shop....

[RBKL]

We really liked this tour the first time we were in St Maarten.

 

The only thing we didn't like was the last stop we made was at a discount and souvenir store. It was unnecessary and took time away from our doing other things before having to head back to the ship. Fortunately the store was just a few blocks from the down town area and we could leave the tour at that time.

 

Other wise highly recommend them.

 

 

[Iamcruzin]

8 hours ago, A2Mich said:

 

 

 I get that for sure.  If I were to ever go to Nassau again, I would just make it a nice relaxing (and quiet) day on the ship, so I can certainly appreciate that.  I like your idea of low key, though, and may just do something similar.

 

Sorry to be off topic, but any suggestions for San Juan?  Went there once about 30 years ago as a kid.  Didn’t want to start a new thread and didn’t see what I was looking for under the ports forums, and will not post multiple questions here, but if you have a single post suggestion, would be interested.   

We have been to San Juan several times. I'm done with the Fort and the tours around Old San Juan. We booked the Rain Forest through RC because that's the one thing that we have never done. I almost never book through the cruise line but it's going to be a hit and run port of call. 7:00 am to 2:00pm. I figured that to make the most out of the port it would be best to have something planned through the cruise line. I thought $46 dollars pp was on par with what the cruise line charges. Royal did advertise it as a sale but as usual no original price to confirm that it is a sale. As a matter of fact I checked today and it went down a dollar now it's 44.99.

[HBE4]

10 hours ago, A2Mich said:

Sorry to be off topic, but any suggestions for San Juan?  Went there once about 30 years ago as a kid.  Didn’t want to start a new thread and didn’t see what I was looking for under the ports forums, and will not post multiple questions here, but if you have a single post suggestion, would be interested.

 

Wander around town. There are 2 forts you can walk to. One overlooks the sea and the other on top of a hill, overlooking the town.  The one on top of the hill gets slightly strenuous on a really hot day.

 

Then zig-zag thru the street of Old San Juan. Lot's of old, colorful buildings and cobblestone streets. We always duck into some hole-in-the-wall place for a quick drink or snack on an appetizer.

[A2Mich]

5 hours ago, GTO-Girl said:

 

San Juan is really not a beach port so we enjoy either walking to the forts or we hop on one of the many tour vans right at the end of the dock who offer a 2hr or 4hr tour for a good price.

 

Or there are plenty of places to shop....

 

1 hour ago, Iamcruzin said:

We have been to San Juan several times. I'm done with the Fort and the tours around Old San Juan. We booked the Rain Forest through RC because that's the one thing that we have never done. I almost never book through the cruise line but it's going to be a hit and run port of call. 7:00 am to 2:00pm. I figured that to make the most out of the port it would be best to have something planned through the cruise line. I thought $46 dollars pp was on par with what the cruise line charges. Royal did advertise it as a sale but as usual no original price to confirm that it is a sale. As a matter of fact I checked today and it went down a dollar now it's 44.99.

 

3 minutes ago, HBE4 said:

 

Wander around town. There are 2 forts you can walk to. One overlooks the sea and the other on top of a hill, overlooking the town.  The one on top of the hill gets slightly strenuous on a really hot day.

 

Then zig-zag thru the street of Old San Juan. Lot's of old, colorful buildings and cobblestone streets. We always duck into some hole-in-the-wall place for a quick drink or snack on an appetizer.

 

 

Thank you you all for your suggestions.  Will keep all in mind...

[JBSteelerfan]

16 hours ago, A2Mich said:

 

 

 I get that for sure.  If I were to ever go to Nassau again, I would just make it a nice relaxing (and quiet) day on the ship, so I can certainly appreciate that.  I like your idea of low key, though, and may just do something similar.

 

Sorry to be off topic, but any suggestions for San Juan?  Went there once about 30 years ago as a kid.  Didn’t want to start a new thread and didn’t see what I was looking for under the ports forums, and will not post multiple questions here, but if you have a single post suggestion, would be interested.   

 

If you like rum, there is always a tour at Bacardi!

[Dayman9966]

With so much positive feedback, I booked the tour.  Thanks everybody for the insight!!

 

Steve

[The Fun Researcher]

We've done both the standard island tour, and a custom tour with Bernards and it's been fantastic both times.  Highly recommend it.

 

They are the first tour operation we ever went with that drove us around most of an island and gave the history, all the while stopping at great beaches and fun locations.  After Bernards, we've looked for similar tours on all the islands we visit.  I love that style of touring, and getting a better appreciation for each Caribbean island that we visit, rather than just plopping at one beach for a while and then returning to the ship.   We've done that and enjoyed it too, like Magens Bay on St. Thomas, but sill prefer a full tour.

Dan

Edited April 5, 2019 by The Fun Researcher
spelling

[jdg623]

Bernard's Tours are awesome! We had a fabulous time a few years ago on his tour; we were supposed to be on the Oasis this Sunday and had booked again, taking family this time. When the cruise was cancelled, our deposit was refunded within hours. 

[CruisinCrow]

We did the Island Tour I in 2015 and really enjoyed it even though we didn't get Mailman as our guide.   Here's a link to my review with pictures, if you are interested: http://susancrow.blogspot.com/2015/05/celebrity-summit-day-6-st-martinst.html

 

[A2Mich]

13 hours ago, JBSteelerfan said:

 

If you like rum, there is always a tour at Bacardi!

 

I probably would do that if I didn’t have 3 kids under the legal age!  May either do an El Yunque rainforest tour, or just grab lunch in town and otherwise hang out on/near the ship.  Thanks!

[A2Mich]

6 hours ago, The Fun Researcher said:

We've done both the standard island tour, and a custom tour with Bernards and it's been fantastic both times.  Highly recommend it.

 

They are the first tour operation we ever went with that drove us around most of an island and gave the history, all the while stopping at great beaches and fun locations.  After Bernards, we've looked for similar tours on all the islands we visit.  I love that style of touring, and getting a better appreciation for each Caribbean island that we visit, rather than just plopping at one beach for a while and then returning to the ship.   We've done that and enjoyed it too, like Magens Bay on St. Thomas, but sill prefer a full tour.

Dan

 

They also provide quite a bit of Carib beer and some decent rum punch (though the best rum punch I had was on a tour in Barbados). I really liked that they thought of everyone and had cold bottled water and canned soda.  I’ve been on sone tours that only brought alcoholic drinks, and the non-drinkers and kids had to find a store and buy other drinks.

[catugirl]

We did Bernard’s Tours in St. Maarten a few years ago and loved it.  It was much more extensive and less expensive that ship sponsored tours.  Whatever there was to see on that island, we saw it and also had a couple of hours beach time.  It was a long tour, but well worth it.

[Shacky316]

Used twice.  Excellent!

[Virtopia]

Done his tour twice and enjoyed both times. One of the times I went on his tour, my parents were on the following sailing. I asked him if I could prepay their tour and he said no problem. I was a little worried there would be an issue, but it went off so smoothly, they had a great time.

[A2Mich]

Was just thinking of one bit of trivia that Mailman told us.....as you drive around, you will see many houses that are occupied, but have portions of the house that are unfinished, and have been for a long time.  Was told that if a house isn’t completely built and painted, then the owners are not assessed property tax, so homeowners will leave a wall unfinished or unpainted, or an addition only built with block supports, but no walls, etc. 

[The Fun Researcher]

15 minutes ago, Virtopia said:

Done his tour twice and enjoyed both times. One of the times I went on his tour, my parents were on the following sailing. I asked him if I could prepay their tour and he said no problem. I was a little worried there would be an issue, but it went off so smoothly, they had a great time.

 

 Very cool, that was awfully nice of you! 

 

Dan