Best Excursions for kids 4 & 8 on RCI: St. Thomas & St. Maarten

[maileenm]

We are first time cruisers with 4 year old and 8 year old boys. While we would like to do some beach time here and there we are not hang around on the beach all day kind of people.

I would like to know what kind of excursions would be good (not too hard or boring) for younger kids in Charlotte Amalie and Philipsburg.

[kassimer1]

corol world in st thomas would be nice at thier ages and there is coki beach right next door. We did the submarine excursion and it was really cool, you see fish, sharks sunken boat and a sunken plane. after the submarine we were able to walk around the park and look at the sea animals and they had a small touch pool you could hold some of them. we watched the sea turtles being feed lettuce. I havent been to st marteen so i cant help you with that one.

[cb at sea]

You do know that you don't HAVE to stay off the ship the entire time you're in port! Actually, if you've done what interests you, heading back to the ship is a great way to use that which you've paid for (the ship) without the crowds! You can come and go when you want!

[maileenm]

I know we don't have to stay off the ship but we would like to get off at the ports and do/see something and we would like that something to be available and potentially fun/interesting for 4 and 8 yr olds. For example the St. Maartin Art Tour has no restrictions and is technically ok for children but I know there is no way on God's green earth that my kids would find a 3 hour art tour interesting in the least bit.

I am able to weed those kind of excursions along with the ones that aren't available to children under 5 out right away, what I would like to know are the other ones like Turtle Cove sail snorkel, the Sea and See tour, Coral World, Blackbeard's Castle, etc. are worth it and whether younger kids would like it.

[cantw8togo]

We went to Coral World when our kids were 4 & 1.5. We hired a taxi when we got to the pier so that we could come and go as we liked. We didn't go to the beach next door, but it did look inviting. After we got back from our vacation, our eldest said that the best thing about the whole trip was the bumpy, hilly taxi ride to the aquarium!

 

We often do our own thing when we go ashore to save $$$. Just make sure that you leave plenty of time to get back to the ship in case of traffic jams.

 

Check out the ports of call forum to see if there are other recommended excursions for these ports.

[mrspjotter]

We did both of these ports on Explorer in Feb 09 - our ds was 8 and twin dd's were 7. In St Thomas we spent the morning at Megan's Bay, went back to the ship for lunch and then spent the afternoon up the cable car - the views were amazing and the kids loved the parrot show.

 

In St Maarten we hired a car and drove to Grand Case and did the Seaworld Explorer and spent some time on the beaches round there.

 

We will be in St Maarten again in a few weeks and plan to go to Le Galion beach as it is supposed to be great for the kids and is close to the butterfly farm and the stables.

[imjoyful2]

We did both these ports 2 yrs ago when our kids were ages 5,7,9,9. We did a private tour of both islands that I booked and my kids loved both tours! (air force one for St Thomas & Bernards for St Maarten). Educational & fun with some beach time included in both.

 

Just last month we did both islands again. We made a beach day out of both since we had already toured these islands and again, the kids had a blast! (Emerald Beach St Thomas and Le Galion in St Maarten).

[trixietx]

We booked the submarine and Coral World for our family cruise with our 3 and 6 year old grandsons in December, but unfortunately it was cancelled because it was so windy.

 

So, we rode the tram to the top of St. Thomas, the boys loved that and then we walked to the butterfly farm. I enjoyed that also.

 

DH and myself did the submarine in Grand Cayman and thought the boys would really like it, maybe next time~!

[Mom2B&Z]

Although my boys are 5 and 3 :)

We did Coral World, the kids both loved it. We had about 3 hours there and spent most of it at Coral World. We touched starfish, watched a sealion feeding session, fed the lorakeets, watched the sea turtles have their salad (!), and really enjoyed the observation tank where you walk about 10m below sea level. We did wander over to Coki beach for about 45 mins, but really the boys were happy running around Coral World. Coki was very crowded and we were the last tour of the day, so people had started to leave by the time we got there. Apparently the snorkelling is phenomenal, just walking near shore with my 3yo I saw some neat fish swimming around.

In Phillipsburg SXM we took the water taxi (now $6 each for unlimited rides) to town from the dock. The boys loved the trip. We walked around downtown, and spent quite a bit of time in the Star Wars museum (That Yoda Guy is what the place is called...he`s one of the people who made Yoda for the movie.) We had not shopped at all the rest of the trip so the kids didn`t mind spending the day browsing the shops. They also liked the Belgian chocolate store :) I wouldn`t swim at the beach there (there`s a thread on why over in the shore excursions section of CC) but we almost took a taxi to Dawn beach. There were lots of cabs at the dock, if we go back we will do something on own own through a cab.

[fisherhum]

We were in St.Thomas with the kids (8 and 6) and we took a taxi to Magens bay. I would highly recommend hitting the beach early if there are other ships in port. We were on HAL and it docked early in the morning, we hit the beach right away and were ready to go home by the time the crowds from the Disney ship arrived. :) The one thing I wasn't prepared for is that there is an entry 'fee' at many of the beaches on the islands. We needed Cash to pay the taxi as well as to get into the park. There were no bank machines nearby and they didn't take credit cards. We managed but it was a bit tight.

We then just spent the rest of the day checking out the market and the shops in town.

I love St. Thomas.

[cantw8togo]

We were in St.Thomas with the kids (8 and 6) and we took a taxi to Magens bay. I would highly recommend hitting the beach early if there are other ships in port. We were on HAL and it docked early in the morning, we hit the beach right away and were ready to go home by the time the crowds from the Disney ship arrived. :) The one thing I wasn't prepared for is that there is an entry 'fee' at many of the beaches on the islands. We needed Cash to pay the taxi as well as to get into the park. There were no bank machines nearby and they didn't take credit cards. We managed but it was a bit tight.

We then just spent the rest of the day checking out the market and the shops in town.

I love St. Thomas.

 

How much was the taxi and the "entry fees" at Magens Bay for a family of four? We are going in a couple of weeks and are just trying to plan ahead.

[cantw8togo]

We were in St.Thomas with the kids (8 and 6) and we took a taxi to Magens bay. I would highly recommend hitting the beach early if there are other ships in port. We were on HAL and it docked early in the morning, we hit the beach right away and were ready to go home by the time the crowds from the Disney ship arrived. :) The one thing I wasn't prepared for is that there is an entry 'fee' at many of the beaches on the islands. We needed Cash to pay the taxi as well as to get into the park. There were no bank machines nearby and they didn't take credit cards. We managed but it was a bit tight.

We then just spent the rest of the day checking out the market and the shops in town.

I love St. Thomas.

 

How much was the taxi and the entry fees to Magen's Bay for a family of four? We are going in a few weeks and I'm just trying to plan ahead.

[fisherhum]

How much was the taxi and the entry fees to Magen's Bay for a family of four? We are going in a few weeks and I'm just trying to plan ahead.

 

I can't remember exactly. I want to say about $25 for the 4 of us each way to/from the beach. Here's link I found with prices. We had caught the shuttle from the cruise port to Charolette Amalie (so rates are from there). check out the website vinow (I can't put in the .com as it keeps *** it out - guess you can't put them in on cc site.) - it has lots of info on the US Virgin Islands.

 

I seem to recall the entrance being about $5 (can't recall if that was a fixed rate or $1 or so per person (sorry).

 

I was searching the web tonight looking for rates and found lots of reviews from people that didn't like the beach as it was very crowded when they visited. We loved it but as I mentioned there was NO ONE there for the whole morning. We were ready to leave as the crowds were arriving. we may have had a different opinion if it had been the opposite. Hope that helps.