St Maarten, St Thomas and San Juan

[Tigergenesis]

I’m looking for some excursion suggestions for our upcoming cruise (April).  We typically avoid ship excursions (unless something we really want to do is only offered by the ship) and prefer to book with local tour operators. We’d love some suggestions on what to do on our cruise. 

 

Our ports are:
St Maarten
St Thomas
San Juan

 

We are not too big on tours or shopping.  We love nature, food, drinking/distillery tours, adventure.

 

We usually like to do a boat side snorkeling at one port.  Which port would be best?  Any tour operator suggestions?

 

We also like to do something with a unique animal experience (other port examples:  swim w/ sea lions, swim w/sharks, visit monkey farm).  Any suggestions at these ports?

 

We also like adventure tours (other port examples: ziplinging, waterfall jumping, river tubing, etc).  Any suggestions?

 

What are the “must do” excursions at these ports?

 

Thank you in advance!

[Tigergenesis]

We would also love to know of any ports with good beach massage options.  🙂

[OCSC Mike]

Big fan of Captain Bob's boat tour on St. Martin. Has a little bit of everything... snorkeling, beach, lunch, limited beverages, Maho airport, etc.

 

We went in 2017 and are going back in March.

 

https://www.soualigadestinations.com/most-popular-tour-for-cruise-ship-visitors/

[WisCruiser2]

Depending on your port times in San Juan, a visit to El Junque National Forest could be nice. There are several hiking trails and waterfalls. You would have to take a taxi (no idea of the cost there and back) or rent a car. I believe you also have to book a time for the park. Maybe see if there is an independent tour that goes there? 

[Tyler414]

I've done the Bacardi Rum tour in San Juan and really enjoyed it.  I booked it directly through Bacardi and took an Uber to and from port.  

I've been to St Thomas many times, both by cruise ship and staying on the island.  Last cruise I took the ferry from Tickles Dockside Pub area to Water Island and spent the day at Dinghy's beach bar (Honeymoon Beach)  

I will be in St Maarten for the first time in March '24  I am doing a Rhino rider adventure the taking a cab to Maho beach to do drinking and plane watching...

[Tyler414]

I also did a Night time zip line in San Juan in 2019.  I did book that through the cruise line, very cool.

[ishap]

On 1/2/2024 at 5:02 PM, OCSC Mike said:

Big fan of Captain Bob's boat tour on St. Martin. Has a little bit of everything... snorkeling, beach, lunch, limited beverages, Maho airport, etc.

 

We went in 2017 and are going back in March.

 

https://www.soualigadestinations.com/most-popular-tour-for-cruise-ship-visitors/

 

I really like the looks of this tour.  I will be going in September and was looking for something like this.  I like to snorkel and the beaches, but I also wanted to see the Maho experience.  I was debating on just taking a taxi to the Sunset Beach Bar, but have also heard that it's very crowded and not worth it.

[OCSC Mike]

49 minutes ago, ishap said:

I really like the looks of this tour.

 

Here's my review from 2017 if you're interested. It's a bit long-winded; you've been warned. Also, if you do read it, sadly the small bar/restaurant Bob used to take people to lunch at was completely destroyed by Hurricane Irma and never re-built so lunch is now sandwiches on french baguettes. Obviously it's not stopping me from going back but I'll miss that little lunch spot.

 

DW took the morning off from running and we slept in a bit to be well rested for our 6-hour excursion. After a light breakfast in the Solarium we got off the ship shortly after 9:00. Our excursion was booked privately with Captain Bob of Soualiga Destinations. We had never done a non-RCI excursion but the reviews between CC and TripAdvisor were so off the charts we couldn’t resist. It also seemed especially appealing b/c it had a little bit of everything. Well, Captain Bob delivered all that we had hoped for and then some. The only way it could have been better was if it had lasted even longer. We followed Bob’s instructions for the 10 minute walk down the sidewalk to the dock where his boats are kept. “Turn left at Chesterfield’s and ask for Bob at the docks” sounds sketchy but it wasn’t. After paying Bob our balance and waiting for more people to arrive, we were handed off to his son Brett (captain of one of Bob’s several boats) who introduced himself and his crew member Mike, collected everyone’s shoes since they weren’t needed the rest of the day, gave us a short safety speech, showed us where the coolers of unlimited beer/soda/water were, laid out the day’s plans, and off we went, flying and bouncing through the water. We sat in the back with the family of 4 of an extremely nice woman I “met” in our roll call on CC while the other 8 or so people sat in the front. The front was bouncier and perhaps more fun but the back provided shade as well as quite a bit of ocean spray, especially if you sat in the very back facing front.

 

First stop was for snorkeling in an area known for sea turtles. Unfortunately, we didn’t see any. Next stop was a short one on an island literally crawling with huge iguanas that would eat from your hand. You could also swim in the shallow water just off the beach and spot fish. After that was snorkel stop #2 by a large rock and coral area. Snorkeling is more DW’s thing than mine so I sat this one out while she saw a bunch of different fish. I remained on the boat, talked to Brett for a bit, and had a couple beers.

 

Next up was lunch on the beach on the French side of the island. Bob staggers his tour groups as best he can and literally helps serve lunch. We happened to be the last group to eat but that was no big deal. We had use of lounge chairs and umbrellas while we waited. I think I even dozed off for a few minutes. Lunch was served on real plates with silverware at picnic bench style tables. The restaurant looks like a bit of a hole in the wall but the food was delicious. We actually placed our lunch orders with Brett before we first left. We were given a choice of chicken, ribs, or fish along with either rice and beans or fries as a side item. Everyone also got a small salad. I had e-mailed Bob ahead of time and asked if picky DW could get a burger or chicken breast (the offered chicken was dark meat) and was assured it was no problem. When I mentioned this to Brett he told me no problem on the burger. I had mahi mahi and you could taste that it was freshly grilled. The rice was plentiful and tasty as well. DW’s burger was pretty large and she enjoyed it. The only thing not included on the excursion was drinks at lunch. I tried a guavaberry colada based on online reviews and it was good (DW even liked it until the rum hit her) but not sure I would bother paying $6 for a small cocktail again when the boat is stocked with beer and the bar also had cheap beers as well as huge bottles of water for $2 (which DW got).

 

After lunch, we headed for Maho Beach, famous for being adjacent to St. Martin’s airport and so close that you can watch planes land at less than 100 feet above your head. Sadly, it’s also infamous for the occasional incidents that occur when people hang on the fence (and get blown off) directly behind the planes as they fire their engines for takeoff. As it turned out, Brett somberly told us how a woman was killed the day before our excursion. Anyway, as I’ve mentioned, this boat flies, but we hadn’t experienced its full capability until this point. We headed off from lunch at the speed we had experienced all day (which was quite fast). A short time later I saw Mike talking to Brett and pointing up into the distant sky. Suddenly we were going full throttle. We later learned that the summer is less busy so there are fewer large planes to see land. So when Mike spotted one Brett did all he could to race it to the beach before it landed and came pretty darn close to getting there in time. We saw it pass over just before we got to where he parked the boat offshore. Apparently it was an American Airlines flight out of Charlotte. We saw a few smaller planes land before leaving for one last swim stop just outside of what appeared to be a beach resort.

 

The water was calm there and Brett encouraged us to take this opportunity to (safely) jump, cannonball, or dive off the front of the boat. He then offered up beverages by tossing them into the water to any takers. This was just a short relaxing stop before we had to head back to the dock by 4:00 since we had to be back on Oasis by 4:30. Brett joked about the all aboard being 6:00 which I think worried the family I had met through CC. I, however, appreciated his humor. He was soft spoken but full of both genuine information as well as the occasional comic relief. I failed to mention that he shared plenty of island information when we weren’t flying along.

 

Sadly, all good things must come to an end and we arrived back at the dock just before 4:00. After saying goodbye to Brett and Mike (and leaving them some gratuity) we stopped for one last treat. There’s a Dutch cheese shop right across from the dock and all of Bob’s guests get a free ice cream cup on their way out to eat on the way back to the cruise ship. I’m sure he has a deal with the shop and the ice cream doesn’t cost very much but it was a nice way to end an already amazing day (also, fwiw, the pistachio was actually delicious). I can’t imagine not going back on this excursion the next time we’re in St. Martin. Even with the ice cream slowing us down a bit (not really) we arrived back on Oasis at 4:10.

[ishap]

20 hours ago, OCSC Mike said:

 

Here's my review from 2017 if you're interested. It's a bit long-winded; you've been warned. Also, if you do read it, sadly the small bar/restaurant Bob used to take people to lunch at was completely destroyed by Hurricane Irma and never re-built so lunch is now sandwiches on french baguettes. Obviously it's not stopping me from going back but I'll miss that little lunch spot.

 

 

Thank you very much for this review!  Sounds fantastic!