Maracas Beach On Our Own – Trip Report and DIY Details

[SG65CB]

Our cruise on Jewel of the Seas stopped in Trinidad on February 20, 2024. The cruise line was offering a beach break excursion to Maracas Beach for $79 per person. This was for transportation only and did not include chairs, umbrellas, food, drink, or restroom access. As you will see, this is way overpriced, and you have to go on their schedule instead of your own. I know people say you should take the cruise excursions so the ship won’t leave you behind, but we had 5 people and $400 for a ride to the beach was a huge premium to pay for this guarantee.

Given the price of the official cruise excursion, we decided to wing it and go to the beach on our own. 

Trinidad has regulated taxi services. The port operation seemed to be well-organized. When we got off the ship and went into the cruise terminal a taxi dispatcher approached us and asked where we wanted to go. I told her Maracas Beach and asked the price. It turns out the price is $25 per person round trip. This includes one hour drive to the beach, two hours at the beach, and one hour driving back. She said we could have an additional hour at the beach for $20 (this is a flat fee, not per person). The way it works is the driver takes us to the beach, waits for us, then brings us back to the ship. We did not have to pay the driver until we were back at the ship. When we arrived back in port we paid the agreed price and also gave a tip.

We were put into a taxi with two other passengers (7 total). The license plate started with an “H” which designates an official taxi. We wanted the extra hour at the beach and the other passengers agreed, as did the driver. This is something you’ll need to negotiate with your fellow travelers. The drive to Maracas was uneventful, the driver was quite personable and pointed out the spots of interest and answered our questions. His name was Dunston but goes by “Dubu”. We stopped along the way at the Maracas Lookout, a scenic overlook where we took pictures, then continued to the beach. The driver dropped us off at Uncle Sam and Sons restaurant and instructed us to meet him there at the agreed return time. This appears to be the place where the taxi drivers hang out during the day. There were free restrooms onsite which we could use. There were also showers in the restroom, although our driver asked us to please wear dry clothes when returning to the taxi. 

As we walked across the street to the beach we were greeted by a “chair guy”. He offered to set us up with lounge chairs and umbrellas. The price is $20 for two chairs and one umbrella. As a bonus he gave us a fifth chair for free.  He took us over near Richard’s Bake and Shark and gave us chairs. The chairs are hard plastic and we noted most people had pads on their chairs. We asked for pads and he brought some over. We were in the second row of chairs, eventually they added a row of chairs behind us. We had arrived before the bulk of the excursion buses. 

Since we were at Maracas Beach we of course had to try the bake and shark sandwich. If you don’t want shark they also have bake and kingfish, bake and shrimp, bake and chicken, bake and vegetables, etc. etc. “Bake” refers to the bread part of the sandwich. They give you the bread and your selected meat, then you go over to a buffet table and add vegetables and sauces. I had bake and shark plus fries, the price was $11. The prices are posted in local currency. They accept dollars and Richards gave us our change in dollars. The exchange rate is roughly 7 to 1 but instead of posting prices in dollars the cashier was using a calculator to determine the price. My sandwich was delicious, be careful because some of the sauces are more spicy than others and they were not labeled. There were a few people in line at Richards, but later I saw over 20 people in line and a long line at the place next door too. Plan accordingly. (There are many bake and shark restaurants at Maracas Beach, Richard’s is apparently the original.)

 

Drinks are reasonably priced for a tourist area. Bottles of Carib beer were $3, bottles of pop and fruit drinks were $2. Side note, the pop is made with sugar instead of high fructose corn syrup like in the States. (Pop = soda for all you non-Midwesterners.)  Richard's had a table set up where you could order drinks instead of standing in the long food line to get a drink.

Half of the drive is in the city and half is in the scenic countryside. You are basically climbing up a mountain, then going down the other side. The roads are narrow and there are lots of cutbacks as it traverses the mountainside. That's why it takes an hour to drive roughly 13 miles. On the ride back to the ship the traffic in the city was horrendous and it took over an hour to get back to port. Be sure to leave yourself plenty of time to get back to the ship. We left the beach at 2:00 and were at the ship at 3:15. The ship was scheduled to leave at 6:00 p.m. so obviously I gave ourselves enough time in case of any transportation issues.

A lot has been made about the U.S. State Department level 3 travel advisory for Trinidad. When we were in Barbados the day before, our tour guide told us there is an ongoing battle between gangs and the police in Trinidad and be careful. I suppose if you are a foolish tourist and go places in town you shouldn’t go then you could find trouble, but we saw nothing to cause any alarm. It was very much like any other Caribbean port. No roaming criminals, and no rifle-toting guards patrolling the port or the beach. Just a bunch of friendly people making a living. They were much more laid back than in Jamaica which also has a level 3 advisory. I saw no reason to be uneasy and given the chance I would gladly stop in Trinidad again. 
 

[EatonDoolittle]

Great review.

Thanks for taking the time to write it. 

[Joelle Frigault]

Thanks! For all the details 🧡 

very helpful and glad I know this for my excursion with Jewel

[newfiegirl4]

On 2/26/2024 at 2:15 PM, SG65CB said:

Our cruise on Jewel of the Seas stopped in Trinidad on February 20, 2024. The cruise line was offering a beach break excursion to Maracas Beach for $79 per person. This was for transportation only and did not include chairs, umbrellas, food, drink, or restroom access. As you will see, this is way overpriced, and you have to go on their schedule instead of your own. I know people say you should take the cruise excursions so the ship won’t leave you behind, but we had 5 people and $400 for a ride to the beach was a huge premium to pay for this guarantee.

Given the price of the official cruise excursion, we decided to wing it and go to the beach on our own. 

Trinidad has regulated taxi services. The port operation seemed to be well-organized. When we got off the ship and went into the cruise terminal a taxi dispatcher approached us and asked where we wanted to go. I told her Maracas Beach and asked the price. It turns out the price is $25 per person round trip. This includes one hour drive to the beach, two hours at the beach, and one hour driving back. She said we could have an additional hour at the beach for $20 (this is a flat fee, not per person). The way it works is the driver takes us to the beach, waits for us, then brings us back to the ship. We did not have to pay the driver until we were back at the ship. When we arrived back in port we paid the agreed price and also gave a tip.

We were put into a taxi with two other passengers (7 total). The license plate started with an “H” which designates an official taxi. We wanted the extra hour at the beach and the other passengers agreed, as did the driver. This is something you’ll need to negotiate with your fellow travelers. The drive to Maracas was uneventful, the driver was quite personable and pointed out the spots of interest and answered our questions. His name was Dunston but goes by “Dubu”. We stopped along the way at the Maracas Lookout, a scenic overlook where we took pictures, then continued to the beach. The driver dropped us off at Uncle Sam and Sons restaurant and instructed us to meet him there at the agreed return time. This appears to be the place where the taxi drivers hang out during the day. There were free restrooms onsite which we could use. There were also showers in the restroom, although our driver asked us to please wear dry clothes when returning to the taxi. 

As we walked across the street to the beach we were greeted by a “chair guy”. He offered to set us up with lounge chairs and umbrellas. The price is $20 for two chairs and one umbrella. As a bonus he gave us a fifth chair for free.  He took us over near Richard’s Bake and Shark and gave us chairs. The chairs are hard plastic and we noted most people had pads on their chairs. We asked for pads and he brought some over. We were in the second row of chairs, eventually they added a row of chairs behind us. We had arrived before the bulk of the excursion buses. 

Since we were at Maracas Beach we of course had to try the bake and shark sandwich. If you don’t want shark they also have bake and kingfish, bake and shrimp, bake and chicken, bake and vegetables, etc. etc. “Bake” refers to the bread part of the sandwich. They give you the bread and your selected meat, then you go over to a buffet table and add vegetables and sauces. I had bake and shark plus fries, the price was $11. The prices are posted in local currency. They accept dollars and Richards gave us our change in dollars. The exchange rate is roughly 7 to 1 but instead of posting prices in dollars the cashier was using a calculator to determine the price. My sandwich was delicious, be careful because some of the sauces are more spicy than others and they were not labeled. There were a few people in line at Richards, but later I saw over 20 people in line and a long line at the place next door too. Plan accordingly. (There are many bake and shark restaurants at Maracas Beach, Richard’s is apparently the original.)

 

Drinks are reasonably priced for a tourist area. Bottles of Carib beer were $3, bottles of pop and fruit drinks were $2. Side note, the pop is made with sugar instead of high fructose corn syrup like in the States. (Pop = soda for all you non-Midwesterners.)  Richard's had a table set up where you could order drinks instead of standing in the long food line to get a drink.

Half of the drive is in the city and half is in the scenic countryside. You are basically climbing up a mountain, then going down the other side. The roads are narrow and there are lots of cutbacks as it traverses the mountainside. That's why it takes an hour to drive roughly 13 miles. On the ride back to the ship the traffic in the city was horrendous and it took over an hour to get back to port. Be sure to leave yourself plenty of time to get back to the ship. We left the beach at 2:00 and were at the ship at 3:15. The ship was scheduled to leave at 6:00 p.m. so obviously I gave ourselves enough time in case of any transportation issues.

A lot has been made about the U.S. State Department level 3 travel advisory for Trinidad. When we were in Barbados the day before, our tour guide told us there is an ongoing battle between gangs and the police in Trinidad and be careful. I suppose if you are a foolish tourist and go places in town you shouldn’t go then you could find trouble, but we saw nothing to cause any alarm. It was very much like any other Caribbean port. No roaming criminals, and no rifle-toting guards patrolling the port or the beach. Just a bunch of friendly people making a living. They were much more laid back than in Jamaica which also has a level 3 advisory. I saw no reason to be uneasy and given the chance I would gladly stop in Trinidad again. 
 

Thank you for your review! We are doing the bird sanctuary tour through the ship. First time at this port and had some OBC to use so we decided to use it on this one!