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Bernard's sxm island tour

jbiker

By jbiker,
in St. Martin/St. Maarten

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  • 2 weeks later...
catcruizer

catcruizer

Posted
Posted

I have done this tour several times. The first few times they used vans, but the last time the tour was a bus. This tour has become very popular. I have not done this tour since the cruise restart, but plan to next month.

 

Bernard usually gets back to you pretty quickly. I got a confirmation email within 2 days.

 

 

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blueslily Great Review Rare

blueslily

Posted
Posted
On 12/1/2021 at 12:01 PM, GalwayGirl03 said:

I put a deposit down on his website for our December stop at the end of the month last week but I haven't heard anything back nor have I gotten an email....is this normal or should I be getting a confirmation email too? thanks!

 

Maybe reach out again, i wonder how things are running during COVID. 

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Froufie

Froufie

Posted
Posted
15 hours ago, SpaceCowboy9 said:

Took the tour a week and a half ago - we had eight total on the tour.

 

If you are still having trouble contacting Bernard, try through facebook?

https://www.facebook.com/BernardsTours/

 

Love Bernard! -- Tour with his group every time we visit St Maarten.

So I am having trouble booking my tour on March 28 - when I get to the pulldown menu for name of ship - mine is not there!  LOLOL  Any ideas? (and yes I did email Bernard's as well)...

 

Also asking for local time arrival?  Ship info says 7 am - 4pm - but no idea if that is ship time or island time?

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Froufie

Froufie

Posted
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2 minutes ago, SpaceCowboy9 said:

right now, according to timeanddate.com, St Maarten and US Eastern time are the same (in the winter, they are an hour different).

not sure what to tell you about getting in contact with them, I've had luck going through facebook

Thanks - I was able to finally make contact and reserve our tour - just not sure about ship time vs island time - if we move clocks back/forward during the cruise - sure hope not - would make things much easier!

 

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  • 2 weeks later...
lynncarol

lynncarol

Posted
Posted
On 3/18/2022 at 8:39 PM, Froufie said:

Thanks - I was able to finally make contact and reserve our tour - just not sure about ship time vs island time - if we move clocks back/forward during the cruise - sure hope not - would make things much easier!

 

Just had a Bernard tour last week.  When the ship is on USA daylight savings time, it is same as island time.

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CruisingHogFan

CruisingHogFan

Posted
Posted
3 hours ago, lynncarol said:

Just had a Bernard tour last week.  When the ship is on USA daylight savings time, it is same as island time.


How was the tour? I’m still researching options. Seems like Bernard’s is great but also is bigger vans/busses.

I personally think I want a tour with no other people so we can choose how long and where to go….

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lynncarol

lynncarol

Posted
Posted

There were five of us, so we chose Bernard's "Do it your way" independent tour.  For six hours we had a nice airconditioned van by ourselves with an excellent driver/guide (Action Jackson).  The cost was, I believe $340 for four people with an additional $40 for the fifth person.  Not as cheap as when we rented out own car there years ago, of course, but a lot less hassle. We asked Jackson to take us to Maho Beach in addition to other scenic overlooks, a deserted beach (that even had a wrecked sailboat on it, and a tour of the island's original slave market. Plus, as I do each time we go privately, I asked Jackson to take us to somewhere beautiful that tourists didn't usually see and so he took us on a very scenic rural road and a special spot where the trees were filled with iquanas. The one thing we didn't want was 'shopping opportunities' and by choice spent no time in the local markets.  We all definitely felt we got our money's worth.

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CruisingHogFan

CruisingHogFan

Posted
Posted
6 hours ago, lynncarol said:

There were five of us, so we chose Bernard's "Do it your way" independent tour.  For six hours we had a nice airconditioned van by ourselves with an excellent driver/guide (Action Jackson).  The cost was, I believe $340 for four people with an additional $40 for the fifth person.  Not as cheap as when we rented out own car there years ago, of course, but a lot less hassle. We asked Jackson to take us to Maho Beach in addition to other scenic overlooks, a deserted beach (that even had a wrecked sailboat on it, and a tour of the island's original slave market. Plus, as I do each time we go privately, I asked Jackson to take us to somewhere beautiful that tourists didn't usually see and so he took us on a very scenic rural road and a special spot where the trees were filled with iquanas. The one thing we didn't want was 'shopping opportunities' and by choice spent no time in the local markets.  We all definitely felt we got our money's worth.


Thanks for the review! I didn’t know they did private tours so I’ll have to look into it. There is just 3 of us so a little more expensive but worth it not to have to deal with other people and be able to do what we want!!

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Froufie

Froufie

Posted
Posted
On 3/30/2022 at 6:01 PM, lynncarol said:

Just had a Bernard tour last week.  When the ship is on USA daylight savings time, it is same as island time.

Just back from our cruise - island time was the same as ship's time.

 

We had David Taylor as our guide and he was excellent - only us and one other couple - like a private tour almost! 🙂

 

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lynncarol

lynncarol

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I forgot to mention that we asked to be taken to the Yoda Guy exhibit since one of us was a big Star Wars fan. This museum is run by Nick Maley, a special effects and designer for over 60 movies. He was involved in the creation of Yoda for the Star Wars trilogy. His shop is free but there is a 15 dollar apiece charge to enter the museum which had rooms full of memorabilia from all his works. Quite interesting.

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  • 4 months later...
Donsyb

Donsyb

Posted
Posted
On 3/4/2022 at 3:35 PM, RocCruisers said:

I reserved the Calypso Tour on the web yesterday.  10% down.  Very efficient process.  Got a confirmation email right away.  Actually three emails.  They do have a field that you can write notes.   

@RocCruisers Have you done this tour yet - if so, how was it?  We are thinking of booking it for November.

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RocCruisers

RocCruisers

Posted
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2 hours ago, Donsyb said:

@RocCruisers Have you done this tour yet - if so, how was it?  We are thinking of booking it for November.

Yes, we did the Adventure Tour 2.  Nice drive around the island for three of us total.  Plenty of stops for pictures and lunch.  Didn't go swimming though.  Fun time!    

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