99florida

I don't know of a holiday next week. What holiday is that?

I was referring to Christmas Day and the fact that it was mentioned earlier in the post of two ships visiting.

Merry Christmas

I'm a little concerned hearing that there are multiple ships in st maarten on the 25 and 26th of December. I would suggest booking a boat trip or something. There is always less open on these days and less taxis.I hope that the island can handle the amount of tourists that are expected on these days during the holidays.

We will be visiting next week and already reserved a boat tour. My gut tells me despite the holiday (St. Maarten is religious with much faith) they will ask for Heaven's forgiveness and open up as many stores as possible on these two days n order to strike a match to their lively hood tourism. My faith says that they WILL be forgiven. They have suffered enough and need the tourist dollars.

You could not wash your hands and not catch it if you NEVER touch your face. That's the "entry" for the germs. Folks touch their face...nose, mouth, eyes without even thinking. If you NEVER allow entry, germs on your hands won't make you ill. They can't penetrate your skin.

So...wash your hands frequently and do NOT touch your eyes, nose or mouth....and you should be good!

People should cough or sneeze in their elbow vs their hand too. Just a simple and a no brainer way to help not the spreading of germs.

I was nervous about it too...but if you go to the CDC website and see the Norovirus outbreaks on cruise ships in their directory, you will notice that almost 100% of the time the outbreaks never span more than one sailing. Let's just be thankful for that extra cleaning they will be doing throughout Saturday and that we are not experiencing what those are onboard right now.

 

My family was just discussing many of the tricks discussed in this post. We know that menus for example can be a big problem, so we are going to go ahead and print out the MDR, Chops, and Giovannis menus offline and have our own copies for when we go (y)

After I order and have touched a menu, I always go to the restroom and wash my hands and use a paper towel to open the restroom door. I've done it for years whether on a ship or on land in a restaurant. Just a clean healthy habit.

I know of at least 3 companies that lost boats. Those were all on the Dutch side. I am finding little news about the French side.

Capt. Bob's boats made it through the hurricane. He's up and running so I'll know more once we do his tour next week.

Swam/waded/floated in this water many times and have not seen anything that would stir me away from this area in Great Bay. We will be visiting St Maarten again next week and will have a better insight of the condition of the beautiful island.

We, too, have eaten at both places and was content. I believe he will be doing business on the yellow umbrella side in two weeks when we do his tour (again). Fingers crossed that it will be an awesome day.

We will be doing the tour on Christmas Day so a couple more weeks to go.

 

 

 

99Florida

 

If you can, please let us know how the tour was

And how the island/facilities looked.

 

I will be especially interested in your review of the lunch location.

 

Thanks in advance

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

f

 

 

No problem but just in case respond to this post at the end of the month (December) and I'll fill you in on our day.

Hi, I recently posted on this board a few weeks ago. We are in the process of planning our day in Antigua the end of December and definitely want to do stingray city in the morning and then a beach. Two of the best beaches people talk about are Long Bay beach and Valley Church/Jolly Beach. I realize they are on opposite ends of the island, but if possible I would really like to hear people's opinions of them, and which is recommended more for a family of four. I have narrowed it down to these two beaches. I would really appreciate any input as soon as possible. Thanks!

We've done Jolly Beach a few years back and loved it! Next month our ship has a stop in Antigus so we will return for a beach day. It's beautiful!!!!

We just booked for the end of December. Lunch will be on Pinel Island. He says that they are good to go. As much as he wants to get up and running I don't think that he would risk his overall business if it weren't ready for water tours. Now are fingers are crossed for great weather

We also have a down-payment on a private tour and are trying to contact the tour company to cancel. They can keep our deposit money but want them to know we decided to cancel. We sail on Harmony January 27, 2018 and will have our young granddaughters with us. Anyone know if phone/email is up yet on the island?

We are sailing on the IOS-RCCL in December with the word that we "will" be stopping in St Maarten.

We just booked with Capt. Bob for Christmas Day. He says that they up and running and good to go.

We just booked for the end of December. Lunch will be on Pinel Island. He says that they are good to go.

You can, lenquixote66, but it's a bit treacherous. And there's a perfectly good ferry system that leaves right from the cruise port and takes you straight into Phillipsburg...

 

Anyone else tried to walk to town?

 

 

Carolyn

Yes, we walk all the time - piece of cake of you have no ailments. A stroll will take you 20-24 min and a good walk should take 15-17 min at most. Very easy to do

Afternoon

I have seen that from others that Barefoot Beach is a very good beach for labadee

but is only for suites do you know if a Junior Spa Suite qualifies?

 

Thanks

ron

https://www.indeed.com/m/viewjob?jk=5e3ead92d594cc2d&from=ja&alid=5732116fe4b075f6b1f705dd&rgtk=1bdo0ckhm1d8s8md

Nope.....sorry not even for Diamond Plus Members whether you are one day shy of Pinnacle or not. Strictly for Pinnale members and suite guests only. BTW: The water is just as nice a few yards away so don't get hung up on status quo......

Great. They ruined Labadee, now Coco Cay

I concur with you. I'm a young Diamond Plus member (could be Pinnacle if only sailed on RCCL) and must say, I LOVE Coco Cay in which its "not" commercialized. Beach bum or not, it's the peacefulness and natural surroundings that makes it special. I used to love Labadee but with all the honky tonk stuff now, it's taken away the beauty of being what it is, a private island. Please don't ruin Coco Cay......

Wow! We stopped in Grand Cayman a few times years ago and I thought for some reason RCCL actually docked therefore assumed Celebrity would use their dock space. Must have been dreaming. I do know that when heading back on an RCCL ship (I think Freedom or Mariner) we did not have to wait and was very thankful b/c other cruise lines (Carnival - NCL - or even Celebrity) had massive lines. Maybe that's what I recalled was the gosh awful heat and and hour or two line. Getting back to our ship we had to go left while all the other ships in port all moved right. Glad that the Equinox will be the only ship in port the day we visit. The last thing I want to do is hurry up and wait. Yikes.... Thanks everyone. Happy sailing

Sailing on Celebrity Equinox next month and see that she is the only ship visiting Grand Cayman. Does the Equinox tender or docked? I sure hope docked. Thanks all....:)

http://chillcuracao.com/?lang=en

How far is this chill bar from TE cruise ship pier? Taxi cost?

Thanks so much for any info and thoughts of this place if you have actually visited... Looks great in the pics.

Pirate Bay has good shade and only gets crowded on weekends. Really close to port.

How close is close in regards to the cruise port and approx. cost for a cab over to Pirat Bay? Thanks for any info. You may have.

We have a group of seven couples renting golf carts and I know they give you an island map but was wondering what others have done when you rented a cart. We want to see the island and have a good snorkeling walk in beach. Any info appreciated.

Where can you rent golf carts and do you know the rental price? Sounds like something fun to do since this is really not much of a beach island from what I am reading.

From personal experience I can comment on Reflexions Beach. Very nice sandy beach with little slope, no surf and very few people. Nice bar, friendly people. As I recall the chairs and umbrellas were $10. Bathrooms, food, and small pool. I think it was a $5 cab ride each way or you can walk it in about 20 minutes from the cruise ship. We have done this twice and will be doing it again later this month.

Someone stated that the bottom was muddy in the water and that water shoes are recommended. Did you fin that to be true? Was the actual beach sand nice (soft/white)?

Reflections has great reviews

We just got back from our Oasis cruise and went to Mr. Sanchos (4th) time in Cozumel and loved the all inclusive side. Also have been to Maya Chan in Costa Maya (about 8 years ago) and loved them both. We are also looking for the same type of beach atmosphere where you pay one price and you are set for the day. Anyone heard of some great suggestions?