RCL's Oyster Bay beach excursion

[Cpsjis]

We're thinking about doing RCL's Oyster Bay Beach excursion on our upcoming trip to St. Martin. Has anyone here done this excursion? If so, how was it?

 

Thanks,

 

Jason

[BPWJR]

See thread below; Have not seen anyone else has who has posted yet

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=757658

[Yuridog]

This excursion has potential, but right now it is really quite disorganized. We took this excursion on Monday 4/21. We did not have a guide with us, as many other excursions benefit from. A good number of people never had been to St. Martin and a tour guide riding along with us on the bus would have been a great asset.

 

A woman met us on the pier with a sign--there were 52 of us in all. We were about 15-20 minutes late getting started as she was insisting on waiting for 2 other passengers who never showed up. She then escorted us to the bus and left without giving out any lunch tickets or drink tickets. Once we arrived a woman met us outside the entrance and seemed a bit overwhelmed that there were 52 of us, as she didn't expect so many guests. She then took us to the wooden deck and explained that we were supposed to have drink tickets and lunch tickets for the bbq lunch. She had to write down everyone's drinks, along with their cabin number so that they received only the amount entitled. She served lunch which consisted of pasta salad, a salad of mixed greens, bbq ribs and bbq chicken. It did not look good, but it was actually quite tasty. You basically stood in line, she handed you a plate and you told you what you would like to try, she then put the portions on your plate. We thought she was generous in her portion sizes.

 

The umbrellas and chairs reserved for this excursion are at the far end of the small beach area. The chairs are the typically plastic kind, with a cushion. The umbrella was big enough to accomodate 2 adults without any problem. The water was clear and beautiful, but not too good for snorkeling. The actual beach name is Dawn Beach.

 

There is not a pool that you can use as it is for resort guests/owners only of and if you express too much interest in the place, they will try to set you up for a timeshare appointment.

 

They had a crab race that you could bet on for $5, but no other activities.

 

All in all we had a good time, but it was quite disorganized. This excursion has a good deal of potential to be a relaxing day, but the disorganization caused a bit of stress for some passengers. It was supposed to be around 4.5 hours but took almost 6, so there was no time for shopping for those who looked forward to shopping after the excursion. The actual travel time to the beach was around 20 minutes each way.

 

There were a few vendors who were selling their goods, but not many and they were not as aggressive as we have experienced at Orient Beach on the French side.

[39august]

Why do you say, or how do you know, that this beach was Dawn beach, please? I think there is an Oyster beach on St. Martin. We've been to Dawn beach before the hotel was built and it was a very long beach, yet you say it was small. Please elaborate.

[gtaylor]

Why do you say, or how do you know, that this beach was Dawn beach, please? I think there is an Oyster beach on St. Martin. We've been to Dawn beach before the hotel was built and it was a very long beach, yet you say it was small. Please elaborate.

I'll give this a shot.

 

I'm not aware of an Oyster Beach.

 

Oyster Bay Beach Resort is located at Oyster Pond, it's at one end of Dawn Beach, which is nearly a half mile long.

 

From the resort website:

 

Image from Google Earth:

(click)

 

I believe the 'small beach' reference is probably about the stretch of beach between Mr. Busby's and the OBBR, visible here:

 

(click) The entire album is available in my PhotoBucket.

 

But remember that Mr. Busby's has $.75 Carib beers from 11 - 4.

 

 

 

gary

[stones902]

Why do you say, or how do you know, that this beach was Dawn beach, please? I think there is an Oyster beach on St. Martin. We've been to Dawn beach before the hotel was built and it was a very long beach, yet you say it was small. Please elaborate.

 

We stayed at Oyster Bay Beach resort in February and spent quite a bit of time on Dawn Beach. IMHO, St. Maarten is not the greatest in terms of snorkeling in general but the best is probably at Dawn Beach. Dawn beach tends to get quite a few waves as it is not as "sheltered" as some other beaches in St. Maarten.

 

There are a couple of nice bars / restaurants on Dawn, Mr. Busby's serves .75 Caribes from 11 - 4 on the beach. King Beau Beau's also serves food and drink.

 

Dawn is not a huge beach. The Westin Hotel recently built on Dawn and took over a large chunk of the beach. There are also several timeshares. Since it is very close to the French / Dutch border (but technically on the Dutch side) you generally don't see nudity on the beach.

 

If you are just looking for a great beach, and don't mind nudity, take a cab to Orient. It's much larger with more to do.

[39august]

Gary, thanks for the explanation. So how is Dawn beach since the Hilton was built? And do you know what the current taxi fare is? How do you like Gallion Beach and isn't it close to Orient? Perhaps the taxi fare would be less to Galliion.

[39august]

Gary, thanks for the explanation. So how is Dawn beach since the Hilton was built? And do you know what the current taxi fare is? How do you like Gallion Beach and isn't it close to Orient? Perhaps the taxi fare would be less to Galliion.