Help!! I'm making myself crazy

[Josh'sMom628]

I'm so excited about our upcoming cruise. Our first cruise was my hubby's attempt at making up (things were a bit rocky back then) and so everything was geared towards me and things he thought I would enjoy. I've become a board junkie trying to plan the perfect activities for this cruise!

 

This trip is about doing things together, and just having some time for us, cause it's been a year with lots of changes.

 

We have a short port day in Nassau so we're planning to do a walking tour to see some of the more photographic/historical/cultural sights.

 

In St Thomas we booked a tour with Sunny Liston, which got rave reviews over on the st thomas boards.

 

Now onto our last stop which is St Martin! I orginially planned to do something more adventurous- The America's Cup, but it ends at 11 and so I started looking for things to fill the afternoon with. After reading all the reviews of the Victor/SMX and Bernard/Bernard's Tours, I'm wondering if we'd be better served to just book one of these! Anyone have an opinion?? I'd love to hear it!

[preacher]

I'm so excited about our upcoming cruise. Our first cruise was my hubby's attempt at making up (things were a bit rocky back then) and so everything was geared towards me and things he thought I would enjoy. I've become a board junkie trying to plan the perfect activities for this cruise!

 

This trip is about doing things together' date=' and just having some time for us, cause it's been a year with lots of changes.

 

We have a short port day in Nassau so we're planning to do a walking tour to see some of the more photographic/historical/cultural sights.

 

In St Thomas we booked a tour with Sunny Liston, which got rave reviews over on the st thomas boards.

 

Now onto our last stop which is St Martin! I orginially planned to do something more adventurous- The America's Cup, but it ends at 11 and so I started looking for things to fill the afternoon with. After reading all the reviews of the Victor/SMX and Bernard/Bernard's Tours, I'm wondering if we'd be better served to just book one of these! Anyone have an opinion?? I'd love to hear it![/quote']

 

We went with SMX a couple of weeks ago. Loved it. However, it's a 7.5 hr tour with shopping time and beach time. Not sure if you could fit other excursion in as well. We got back with about 45 minutes to spare. From what I have heard about traffic on these islands when ships are in, you don't want to take ANY chances with time.

 

Jim

[Josh'sMom628]

I know we couldn't do both... that's why I'm so torn! But it seems like everyone who took the island tour loved it and felt it was the best activity they did on their trip!

 

I'm going to wait for a few more opinions, but I'm leaning towards the tour...

[sanibel]

I'd book with Victor and just explain the time factor. He'll be able to tell you what's possible time wise and will definitely plan around your schedule.

It's true you don't want to take any chances on running too close in time on getting back to the ship. We've seen people running on the dock as the boat left. They had to hire a boat quickly to take them to the ship. But then again, how dumb can some people be??

We NEVER cut it close on returning to the boat!

[Bake]

We just returned two weeks ago from St. Martin, on Carnival Glory E. Carr. cruise. At the dock we met "Pearl", She has her own van, she's VERY personable and knowledgable, lived there all her life. She prefers to do family groups, not just taxi rides, we got to know her well because we arrainged for her to pick us up each time and go to the next place. We had to stop at one overlook above Orient beach and have someone take our picture with her.

i don't know how many of you there are, just the two of you? I have an e-mail address for her at home, I'm at work now. If you're interested to contact her and see what her rates are email me and I'll send you her email address. wbaker54@hotmail.com

 

BTW, I found the people on St. Martin the nicest of the three places we stopped. At Orient beach she dropped us at Pedro's which is right at the line where the clothing optional starts. Ate lunch at Pedro's and had some kind of lunch that was a sampler, the fish that was on that sampler was great, as was the rice dish with it. Don't get a burger, try the local food, I mentioned this to Pearl afterward. I wish I had asked her where to get a taste of local food before hand, I'm sure she would have taken us to a local place to eat.

[rubegoddess]

When my husband and I were there last winter, we did the ATV adventure. This was great fun, and he loved it. So much so that he wants to do it again this year. We rode ATV's through the island, with some stops for beautiful views. We rode through some residential areas, really saw the island. We then had a 90 minute stop at orient beach. It was great, I highly recommend it.

[jerick]

Get a taxi at the end of the dock to Orient Beach (about $6 per person one-way, plus tip). Our driver took us to a part of Orient Beach called Bikini Beach, which is about in the middle. Find an empty pair of chairs with an umbrella and someone will eventually come along that you can pay ($17 total in our case) for the privilege of using them. There are snack bars and shops nearby, and strolling vendors selling everything from beach bags and necklaces to massages and henna tattoos. They are very low key and a simple "no thank you" is all they need to move on.

 

Orient Beach is clothing optional, but that is most prevalent at the South end near Pedro's.

 

Jeff

[kruznkanuk]

Sounds like you folks have some great things planned, but my advice would be, like one of the other posters said, to just hang at the beach for a while. If you book too much stuff in the ports, you feel like you are still on the rat race you thought you left back home...

And the beaches are GREAT in St Martin!:)