St Martin Island tour - Bernards tours or St Maarten Presidential tours?

[lollyny1]

Will be in St Martin in May on Wonder of the Seas and want to book a full island, 5 hour tour.  Both Bernard's tours "Adventure Island 2" and St Maarten Presidential tours "St Maarten Best Island" tour fit the bill. Has anyone taken either of these tours recently and would you recommend it?  Thank you.

[MeganGC1983]

1 hour ago, lollyny1 said:

Will be in St Martin in May on Wonder of the Seas and want to book a full island, 5 hour tour.  Both Bernard's tours "Adventure Island 2" and St Maarten Presidential tours "St Maarten Best Island" tour fit the bill. Has anyone taken either of these tours recently and would you recommend it?  Thank you.

We’ve done Bernard’s, and I definitely recommend it. It’s a great tour around the whole island and gives lots of information. The Mailman was our guide and he was fun. When Orient had a lot of seaweed… he changed and took us to Mullet Bay so we could enjoy the beach. He scheduled Maho perfectly to see a large and several small plane land and take off. Definitely 👍🏻👍🏻

[lollyny1]

19 hours ago, MeganGC1983 said:

We’ve done Bernard’s, and I definitely recommend it. It’s a great tour around the whole island and gives lots of information. The Mailman was our guide and he was fun. When Orient had a lot of seaweed… he changed and took us to Mullet Bay so we could enjoy the beach. He scheduled Maho perfectly to see a large and several small plane land and take off. Definitely 👍🏻👍🏻

Thank you MeganGC1983

[jordanaire]

On 3/27/2023 at 1:55 PM, lollyny1 said:

Thank you MeganGC1983

We've done Bernard's tour 4 times now and highly recommend them. You get 2hrs at Orient Beach, 2hrs tour of island and 2hrs at Maho Beach. Plus all the water, soda, beer and rum punch you want included FREE.

[lollyny1]

44 minutes ago, jordanaire said:

We've done Bernard's tour 4 times now and highly recommend them. You get 2hrs at Orient Beach, 2hrs tour of island and 2hrs at Maho Beach. Plus all the water, soda, beer and rum punch you want included FREE.

Thank you Jordanaire.

[jordanaire]

54 minutes ago, lollyny1 said:

Thank you Jordanaire.

You're very welcome. Enjoy your cruise 

[sebas030]

On 4/22/2023 at 3:33 PM, jordanaire said:

We've done Bernard's tour 4 times now and highly recommend them. You get 2hrs at Orient Beach, 2hrs tour of island and 2hrs at Maho Beach. Plus all the water, soda, beer and rum punch you want included FREE.

And they do both sides of the Island ? If so, is there a little bit of time in Marigot to visit ?

 

Thank you in advance,

[jordanaire]

7 hours ago, sebas030 said:

And they do both sides of the Island ? If so, is there a little bit of time in Marigot to visit ?

 

Thank you in advance,

I don't believe we stopped at Marigot

[sebas030]

I watched a video on YT this weekend about Bernards tour and now I remember that I did that tour back in 2016.

 

It was a great tour and I will do the same tour again in January with my teens. 

 

They are on a schedule and we do not waste any unnecessary time at the stops. Stop at marigot was long enough to enjoy pastries at a bakery and a little shoping also.

 

I do recommand.

[lynncarol]

Five of us went with Bernard's tours in March of 2022. We were able to completely customize our tour as we had all been there before and each person wanted to see something different this time. 1. Orient beach to see the planes roll in  2. a small pond where tons of iguanas lived in surrounding trees 3.  (my wish list) a deserted beach where I recalled years ago a man giving me a sea urchin to hold 4. Star wars museum in town 5.  a part of the island where locals lived totally off the beaten track.  We had a blast and it wasn't that expensive at all. 

[mets123]

Orient Beach is usually the last stop. If you're not interested, he will take you back to the ship, or drop you off at Front Street. Highly recommended.

[kristap]

Is there enough time to bother with the beach at the end?  (I've seen videos where he goes to a different beach than Orient (Grand Case, or something?) and they only have an hour at that beach. Not talking about Maho.  45 mins is plenty for Maho.)

[sandc4e]

Another vote for Bernards!  They are amazing!

 

[Cruise till you drop]

Done Bernard’s twice now (based on Cruise Critic testimonials) and really enjoyed their tour.  I 100% recommend Bernard’s 

[ccheng6401]

Does either tour guranteed to see at least one large plane at Maho beach?

[ccheng6401]

On 4/22/2023 at 12:33 PM, jordanaire said:

We've done Bernard's tour 4 times now and highly recommend them. You get 2hrs at Orient Beach, 2hrs tour of island and 2hrs at Maho Beach. Plus all the water, soda, beer and rum punch you want included FREE.

Did you see big planes during that 2hr at Maho Beach?  I booked a rental car but I wonder if a tour is more relaxing. 

[Cruise till you drop]

2 hours ago, ccheng6401 said:

Does either tour guranteed to see at least one large plane at Maho beach?

I’m pretty sure none of them would give you a guarantee but in our 2 Bernard’s tours, we’ve seen plenty of planes landing on both.  They likely time the last stop of this tour to coincide with plane landing schedule but that’s a guess (Maho is the last stop on the tour)

 

 

Edited September 28, 2023 by Cruise till you drop

[jordanaire]

4 hours ago, ccheng6401 said:

Did you see big planes during that 2hr at Maho Beach?  I booked a rental car but I wonder if a tour is more relaxing. 

It seemed like the best time to see the big airliners is between 11am-1pm. Check St.Martin airport schedule online and it will show what type of planes, and times, of the big planes.

[MRVEGAS711]

Four of us took the Presidential Tour, Best of Saint Maarten. It was a hot an exhausting day. Their AC doesn't work that well and the itinerary was rough shot. The guide kept telling us you decide where we go next. Well, in a van of strangers, how are you going to come up to any resolution! I do not recommend this tour, most from a comfort point of view.

[Cruise till you drop]

4 minutes ago, MRVEGAS711 said:

Four of us took the Presidential Tour, Best of Saint Maarten.
 

The guide kept telling us you decide where we go next. Well, in a van of strangers, how are you going to come up to any resolution!

What a terrible idea!! I agree with you

 

 

Edited September 28, 2023 by Cruise till you drop

[sebas030]

Bernards Tour for the win !

 

Did it before and will do it again on my next cruise with the teens.