Catamaran trip with 3 yr old- St.Marteen, St.Thomas

[kayguz]

Last year on the Mariner we went on a Golden Eagle catamaran trip in St. Marteen and took all the kids- including our 2 year old at the time. We're doing same Mariner and itinerary, however, all the RCCL catamaran trips for those 2 islands have a minimum age of 4 and above now. Any suggestions or ways around this? I've looked at booking independently, however, they seem to be for full day trips only. The only other thing that looked possible was the Capt. MOrgan's- however, I don't want the kids on the sailboat as my impression is you are hanging near the railing all the time. On the big cats they can sit on the trampoline's out front or on deck- it's not wide open railing with narrow sides.

Suggestions anyone???

 

Thanks,

Kay

[beachchick]

I wanted to mention that there will be no "way around this" with the cruise line excursion because your 3 y/o's age will be listed in the pax manifest--and the birthdate you give the cruise line for the reservation and pax information MUST match the child's birth certificate.

 

I assume that the ship excursions are 1/2 day, not full day, as you mention that you don't want to book a full day if you go on your own. Can you contact the company RCI uses? You could ask if (1) the company itself takes youngsters under 4 (when booked independently; the age restriction could be RCI's or it could be the private company's), (2) whether RCI has chartered the whole boat (in which case, booking it on your own is moot), and (3) whether you can book it on your own and get to the departure point on your own. Sometimes, the cruise lines have deals with excursion companies where the companies only take cruise pax who have booked through the ship excursion--in which case, the way around that is to lie about where you are staying and tell them you are not on a cruise. (I have no problem with these lies because these cruise line "deals" with private companies are, IMO, grossly unfair to pax who should have the freedom to book an excursion through the ship or not. That is unless the cruise line has chartered the whole boat. If they've "bought" the boat for the day, then the excursion company can't do independent bookings.)

 

Anyway, there's no way to fudge age through the cruise line, so your only option is to book something independently. (It's possible that the age limit is a legal CYA for the cruise line and is based solely on insurance issues.)

 

beachchick

[dcintheam]

There are half day sails you can book independantly, check this one out:

 

http://www.usvisailing.com/daysails.htm

 

I'm sure if Islander sees your post, you will get another response.