Beaches you can walk to (St. Thomas, St. Maarten, Antigua, Barbados, Tortola)

[Olive]

We are counting down the days to our first family cruise with our son this winter. I think on our port days we will probably want to take him to a nearby beach, if there is one. We are fine with booking on the cruise line if the transportation is on a real bus (not one of the vans that are used for transport on some islands), or with walking to a beach if there is one in walking distance. We won't take him in a cab without a car seat. Any ideas? We are on Norwegian for the first time, by the way, in case that helps in terms of suggestions for cruiseline excursions that might still fit the bill. Also, our son will be a year and a half.

 

Thanks in advance!

[crusinmama06]

I take a travel car seat for the taxis...but...you may be able to get some cruise ship excursions that are set up with air conditioned buses. Only the cruiseline would be able to tell you if they use a bus or not.

 

On Disney Magic, our Orient Beach excursion was on a bus. But it could just be that Disney uses a bus for that tour.

 

Does the description on the NCL site say bus or no bus?

[cb at sea]

Get a guidebook, so you'll know about the beaches and how far they are. Then, if they aren't within walking distance (and most aren't), just grab a cab at port--there are plenty , and tell them where you want to go!

There's usually no need to book (and pay for) a ship's excursion to go to the beach!

[Olive]

Since the cruise leaves from NYC and we leave in the city, we can pretty easily bring our car seat with us. I actually do have a caribbean ports guide - I think I lent it to a friend, but I will definitely try to get it back to check this. Have to check on the excursions descriptions, too. I wish they still sent out the little shore excursion booklets. I hate looking them up online, but I guess I'm just old fashioned. Thanks for the suggestions!

[mcfam5]

In St. Maarten, right at the end of the pier you can take a water taxi across the bay and there is a big beach right on the other side. The water taxis have very high sides and it is not a crazy ride. :)

[sas80]

On our Southern Caribbean cruise last January, we were able to arrange for a car seat for every land tour we took.

 

Now, it was not obvious by the booking information that the tour operator offered/provided car seats for young children, but we inquired anyways and were surprised to find that the answer was "yes" on our tours.

 

I know you asked about walking to beaches - but I wanted to throw that out there just in case you were ignoring the option of land tours strictly based on the car seat situation. Sometimes all you have to do is ask.

 

To answer your post directly, I know that St. Thomas and St. Martin both have shopping area within walking distance. St. Martin has a strip of a beach front area within walking distance of the ship - but it is not a "typical" beach and it is right off the marina (if I am remembering correctly)

 

The port boards are also a really good place to get information on an actual port of call - if you want to know about car seats for particular tours OR beaches within walking distance.

 

Have a great vacation!

[eringirl79]

sounds like your family and mine are going on the same cruise!!! it will be me, dh, and ds. this is ds' first cruise as he will be 13 months at time of our cruise. we are hoping to walk to beaches as well, maybe get some snorkling in...

 

what date are you cruising? we'll be on the jan 15 cruise...

[Olive]

We are on the Jan 14th cruise; close!

 

The idea about arranging for car seats with tours is a great idea. How did you make those arrangements?

 

I haven't posted about this yet off the family board to avoid the standard set of responses which, in short, consist of "You shouldn't bring an 18-month old on a cruise" with no actual response to the question asked. Maybe I'll be brave and try it, although so far I have received such helpful responses here that I don't know if I need to post elsewhere!

 

Finally, which beach does the water taxi go to in St. Maarten (if you remember)? I remember going to one beach on St. Maarten that was very pebble-y, and another that was "regular" sand. Do you recall which kind this was?

 

Thanks again, everyone!

[NoelsCat]

I just wanted to add that I had no trouble taking my car seat, too. We took many a taxi and installed our car seat despite the many warnings that there wouldn't be seat belts. ;) (but if you can arrange seats,that's even better!!)

[sas80]

We are on the Jan 14th cruise; close!

 

The idea about arranging for car seats with tours is a great idea. How did you make those arrangements?

 

 

For any land based tour you are interested in, send them an email and simply ask if they will provide a car seat for your 13 month old. It's that simple and we were surprised at the number of "yes, we wlill" answers we got.

[sas80]

Also, I don't think the beach that you can walk/take the water taxi to in St. Martin would have any good snorkeling......?

 

IIRC it is right off the marina. I would ask if it has good snorkeling on the St. Martin port board.