How safe our your bags left on the beach?

[lisas414]

We are going to St Maartan (probably Divi Little Bay Beach Resort) and Meagan's Bay in St Thomas and then Labadee. How safe is it to leave our bags on the beach if we all want to swim together? Has anyone ever had any problems with something being stolen? What happens if your bag is stolen and your passes were in it? Are you able to get back on the boat? I am sure someone had this happen to them?

[2ladies]

No, your bags are absolutely NOT safe on any beach anywhere in the world!!!

 

You will get back on the ship because your photo is stored on the computer. However, they may insist you report the loss to the police etc.

[cb at sea]

Water won't hurt your seapass--it's plastic, like a credit card. Don't take tons of money of valubles with you to ANY beach! We've never had any problem leaving our towels, sunblock, etc.., on the beach. Just take your seapass with you into the water!

[lisas414]

Any suggestions of what people do? Do you take turns swimming. so that someone watches your bags? You don't swim together as a family then? If anyone can please tell me what they did, that would be helpful. Thanks in advance!

[masterbaker]

The only thing we leave on a beach is clothing and towels. We keep our valuables in a watertight case that we wear when we are swimming. You can buy them onboard most ships and in most ports. Never leave your ID or money unsupervised anywhere, not even on the ship.

[superjerryw]

Never leave any valuables on the beach. I use a waterproof fanny pack. I put our seapasses, money and any other valuables inside and wear it in the water while swimming.

[Sea and Me]

When we were at Megans Bay (we loved it there) we always had someone watching the "stuff". When we all took a walk together we made sure we had our cameras with us. My husbands suit has a plastic pouch with it and (even though I kid him about it) it comes in handy for money, sea passes etc. NEVER leave valuables unattended, just as you wouldn't when you are in a large crowd at home. Have a great cruise.:)

[lisas414]

So, alls I need to take off the boat even in PR is just the seapass cards, not the kids birth certificates? Are those waterproof cases, really waterproof or do they leak? Well, if they do, I guess its okay for the money to get wet. So the cases, you just wear them around your neck while in the water? So if that is the case, then alls I have to worry about is camera and camcorder.

[superjerryw]

You need your seapass cards whenever you get off the ship. You do not need to carry passports or birth certificates with you. On some cruises they tell you to carry ID with you in addition to your seapass card. For ID purposes a drivers license should be sufficient. Rather than carry their passports when goiing ashore, many people leave their passport in the safe in the cabin and carry a photocopy of their passport with them. If you are concerned about how waterproof the little waterproff cases are, put your money in a zip lock bag before putting it in the case.

[lyndamarie6]

I am going on my 30th cruise this saturday and firstly have to say St. Thomas and St. Maarten are one of your safest islands next to Grand Cayman. We go to the beach and this is what we do.

 

My hsuband has swim trunks that has a zippered pocket so we put our sail and sign cards and one credit card in two different plastic sandwich baggies two to be safe that they stay dry. Even if they get wet they are waterproof anyway. We only carry a little bit of cash so what we do we always bring a tote bag and towel to the beach, we leave the tote bag out plain as day which only has many sun screen and such and we hide our cash by wrapping it in the towel and then laying where the money is on the bottom of the towel on the sand, we figured that if anybody was going to steal anything and they would assume that our money and valuables would be in the tote bag hot this towel that we have wrapped up "sloppy" on the sand. We always place our stuff as close to the water where we are as possible not far away. So far we never had any problem. I have been to Megans Bay on the Thriller Boat ride twice where they take is most of the people that are there are from our own ship so locals would rather go to another part where its more quiet than a full beach load of people to steal things. Just my opinion, if anybody takes our things we dont care we just laugh that we are smarter and didn't bring anything valuable and if they took the cash in the towel it was never much for us to feel bad.

[LoLa_in_GA]

So, alls I need to take off the boat even in PR is just the seapass cards, not the kids birth certificates? Are those waterproof cases, really waterproof or do they leak? Well, if they do, I guess its okay for the money to get wet. So the cases, you just wear them around your neck while in the water? So if that is the case, then alls I have to worry about is camera and camcorder.

 

'Morning..

One week to go ;-)

 

I am going today to Dick's Sporting Goods...For $9.99 they sell a dive pouch that is not all that large, but will even hold our (very small) digital camera. It is waterproof to 15 feet. REI has one (I think its an Aquapac), and I believe even good ol' Wally-World has them. Divers use these, so they are watertight.

 

I'm not as worried about Coco Cay, but we will be finding a beach on Nassau....and we will have money with us, so this is imperative.

 

Of course, my DH will be wearing said pouch....it would seriously clash with whatever bathing suit I'll wear...and with any necklaces. (That's my story, and I'm sticking to it!):D

[Murphy]

Apparently, I look like a very honest, responsible person. On our cruise this spring we were on a beach in St. Maarten. A young couple had the set of beach chairs in front of us. After sunning for about 30 mins, they got up and walked over to us and asked if we were with the cruise ship. I said yes and they asked me if I would hold the wife's purse while they took a walk along the beach and did some body surfing. I did, but I was SHOCKED! I don't care if the person next to me is traveling on the same ship, I would never just hand them my purse! Of course I didn't go thru it, but I was hoping there really wasn't any money or anything of value in it!

[lyndamarie6]

Yes, I forgot to tell you that people on the beach from the ship they do ask if you can watch their stuff and I ask also! I don't hand my things over to them but if there is somebody right close to my things and they are from the beach yes, I trust them. Some would say you can't trust anybody and yes that goes for everywhere but again from the little we bring and leave asking somebody is an extra plus of safety. I have been asked numeriously and certainly don't mind but I always say "I will watch the best I can for them".

 

That water bag thing is perfect definately will work for you!

[Sue L]

This has worked for snorkeling, kayaking and swimming. Never leave anything valuable on the beach.

 

 

http://www.magellans.com/store/Wallets__Purses___Totes___Waist_PacksParent_Splash_Caddy?Args=

[superjerryw]

Apparently, I look like a very honest, responsible person. On our cruise this spring we were on a beach in St. Maarten. A young couple had the set of beach chairs in front of us. After sunning for about 30 mins, they got up and walked over to us and asked if we were with the cruise ship. I said yes and they asked me if I would hold the wife's purse while they took a walk along the beach and did some body surfing.

 

The same thing happened to us in St Thomas. Some passengers from a cruise ship asked my wife if she would watch their valuables. My wife said yes and we immediately grabbed a taxi downtown and bought us some goodies with their money and credit cards. I just love my new camera.....:eek:

[zqvol]

We are going to St Maartan (probably Divi Little Bay Beach Resort) and Meagan's Bay in St Thomas and then Labadee. How safe is it to leave our bags on the beach if we all want to swim together? Has anyone ever had any problems with something being stolen? What happens if your bag is stolen and your passes were in it? Are you able to get back on the boat? I am sure someone had this happen to them?

Depending on what is in your bags, they are 100% safe or completely unsafe.

 

If all you leave on the beach are your towels, shirts, cover ups, and sun screen then you can pretty much be assured that your stuff will be there when you return. If on the other hand you are thinking of leaving anything of value, such as cash, a credit card, a camera, a radio, etc. You can pretty much count on it being gone when you get back.

 

This is true nit just on St. Maarten, or other Caribbean islands but on any beach including those within the continental US. (In Hawaii you are warned not to leave anything of value on the beach or in view in the car when at the beach.)

 

Some people swear that they always take there passports and birth certificates off the ship with them. On over have of my cruises I have never had the option becasue the purser holds everyones's documents. On the other half of my cruises i leave all of that stuff on board in the cabin and don't worry about it in the least.

 

IMHO take your DL and Sea Pass with you off the ship along with a credit card and some cash. Leave the rest behind. (the ID is only to get by security at teh gate. Small children will have no need for ID if they are with you. The security people know that kids are with the parents.

[zqvol]

Why do people seem to think that it is important to keep cash, credit cards and sea pass dry?

 

The water will not harm the sea pass or credit card, and I have never been in a store or to a vendor on any island who has turned down wet cash. In fact they laugh about it becasue so much of the cash they get is wet.

 

I am I missing something or are a lot of people just way over cautious?

[superjerryw]

There is a magnetic stripe on the back of your seapass. I think that stripe could easily be affected by water, particularly sea water.

[Inshape]

Do no think for ONE second that ST thomas is safe. I know from experience. We got robbed on Coki beach 4 years ago. It even said in one of the travel guides I read when I stupidly picked Coki to watch out for pick pocketers there. I picked it thinking it was the better snorkel spot and being a former NYer I am not trusting so nothing is going to happen to us. Well the day was nice until 30 min before we were going to leave. I never let my eyes off our stuff the entire day. We took turns watching the stuff between the 5 of us, 3 kids , Myself and DH. I needed to move the kids out of the sun and moved them from one side of a tree to another where it was shady and our bags were taken. With ours they also snatched another couples bags from another ship. He lost his passport, and was crying. We lost camera, clothes, DH glasses, wallet with money...and you all say do not take a lot of money...but to get to coki beach cost 7 $ each (70 for our family round trip), we needed to be able to feed them, and if they wanted to do para sailing...we had over 300$ stupidly with us. Needless to say, we could not pay the cab driver who came to get us his fare...the police were called and they took us to the ship. All of our passes were gone...it ruined the entire vacation for us. We have thus learned. In a tote we carry our towels and sunscreen. We take a bathing suit( Dh has this ) that has the plastic pouch and we put the money and the sea pass cards in there. We rarely take a camera...but when we do...we then have one of us at the towel area at all times. What can I tell you.. this past Jan we again did the eastern and we left the ship, looked around and none of us wanted to go any further. We went back to the ship and really had a great ship day.

[lyndamarie6]

I never take my digital camera with me when going to a beach. I bring along 1-2 disposable cameras so if they are stolen no big deal can get another disposable camera and still have the pictures from our disposable camera on the ship. :)

[LoLa_in_GA]

Why do people seem to think that it is important to keep cash, credit cards and sea pass dry?

 

The water will not harm the sea pass or credit card, and I have never been in a store or to a vendor on any island who has turned down wet cash. In fact they laugh about it becasue so much of the cash they get is wet.

 

I am I missing something or are a lot of people just way over cautious?

 

I can't speak for the others, but I have a feeling that it's not just the water we're worried about...

 

I am not worried about getting the laminated items wet..but money does rip pretty easily....and, it's more about keeping it WITH us, rather than protecting it from the elements.

 

I grew up near beaches-..you learned quickly not to leave anything you wanted where anyone could get at it when you were in the water.

[CaptData]

I use a water proof camera case or disposible cameras for the beach stops. They do take decent photos unless you are a really good photographer. I also have a fanny belt that is water proof for birth cert, DL, seapass, CC and money.

[Micknmin]

I use a water proof camera case or disposible cameras for the beach stops. They do take decent photos unless you are a really good photographer.

Can you recommend one brand of waterproof camera over another? Is Kodak better than Fuji? I need to pick up a couple of them for our upcoming cruise.

[dfgf]

I work part-time as a security officer in an amusement park. Here's some advice. Not just for a Caribbean cruise, but for anywhere:

 

Pack everything for the beach, then decide what you are carrying and what you are leaving unattended. Then ask yourself "will I care if I never see this stuff again?" If the answer is 'yes', then keep removing items until you get to 'not really'. Then you're all set!

 

As for watching other people's things, JUST SAY NO! Any time someone asks you to watch their belongings you should always say "I'm sorry, but I don't feel comfortable being responsible for anyone else's possessions". If you agree to watch them and then hand the person back their items when they return there are three possibilities:

 

1) The person receives everything back that they thought they handed you.

2) The person claims that not everything that they handed you was handed back to them. They claim this because they've made a mistake.

3) The person claims that not everything that they handed you was handed back to them. They claim this because they're scam artists.

 

Are #2 and #3 really worth taking the risk? I don't know about you but I'd rather not be detained at a local police station in a he-said-she-said. Or, if the person is on the same ship, it could be a security matter and yet another he-said-she-said. If valuables are missing and an insurance company gets involved for the other side, it's possible that you'll receive a letter from an attorney demanding reimbursement.

 

Sad that that's the kind of world we live in, but I always say that it's better safe than sorry.

 

Just my 2 cents worth......

[lisas414]

where do you get the waterproof fanny packs? And do a lot of people on the cruise wear the fanny packs or am I going to look like the only one with one on?