excursions in Caribbean

[Momto3cuties]

We are sailing on Freedom of the Seas in May with our 6, 4, and 2 year old. Most of the cruise ship excursions seem to be for age 5 and above. So, we are looking to do something on our own. Would love thoughts and recommendations on things to do in these two ports. Not sure we are up for two beach days, but would definately consider one. Kids are pretty adventurous and are comfortable in the water. Thanks!

[6rugrats]

What two ports? There is a Ports of Call forum on this site. Try looking there for your port stops and seeing what other people are doing. For most Caribbean ports, IME, there are plenty of people waiting where the ship docks that are very eager to take your money and show you around the island :).

[cb at sea]

Beach days are easy and cheap to do on your own...a guidebook will let you see WHICH beach (most have several!) will be best for kids and their level of activity. Most beaches have watersport rentals, if that might be of interest...banana boats, parasailing, waverunners, etc... A book will also help with other "child-friendly" "do it yourself" things....Excursions are rarely needed, unless the activity is something that is too complicated to do on your own....or you just don't want to research it.

[Momto3cuties]

The two ports are St. Thomas and St. Martin. I had planned to do some research, but thought it would be nice to get ideas from others as well. Nothing beats tried and true experience :)

[williamson_ja]

In St. Thomas there are a couple of things I would recommend depending on your budget and wants. You can get a taxi to Coki beach. If you just want a beach day, this is a lovely beach. There are tons of fish, so you could snorkel right from the beach which makes a fun safe activity for younger kids. Right next door to Coki beach is Coral world. That will be a little more expensive, but fun and appropriate for that age group as well. :)

[Mack2]

The two ports are St. Thomas and St. Martin. I had planned to do some research, but thought it would be nice to get ideas from others as well. Nothing beats tried and true experience :)

 

St. Thomas is a conundrum nowadays... I don't know what to think. When my kids were younger, we hired a cab/private tour guide named Daisy. She had a card, and other family members and I have called her and used her services to lug us around the island whenever there was a stopover in St. Thomas. She's not one of the big companies... I have to dig her number up at some point, because we're going again later this year.

 

St. Thomas is a conundrum for me because there was an unfortunate accident involving a shooting at one of our favorite spots in the summer of '10. Coki Beach and Coral World. Both of which are right next to each other, and is a wonderful place to bring the kids.

 

I've been following the St. Thomas boards, and everyone is saying that the area around Coki and Coral World is improving... but the tripadvisor reviews say otherwise.

 

Coral World would be wonderful for the little ones. I'm considering having a cab drive us to Sapphire Beach... but I have memories of Coki from when I was a kid... hate to see the area suffer because of bad apples.

 

Mountaintop is cool, usually part of a tour... everyone seems to stop at this one scenic area where you can get a great picture of the cruise ships from the mountain... and there's a donkey with a sombrero you can take a picture with... always that donkey with something....

 

 

 

St. Maarten has a great butterfly farm... Butterfly farms are COOL!

There's also a little fort on the French side... it's not El Morro Castle (San Juan), but it's interesting enough...

[kassimer1]

We did the coral world at st thomas. Im not sure of the age limit but they have a half submarine that was really neat and after that you can wander around the park or go next do to Coki beach. Coral worlsd had sharks and sea turtles a touch pool where the kids can hold star fish and anomenes . and there were other tanks to look at in a huge round indoor pier where you caouls look out the windows on the bottom floor and see Underwater.

[Girlofrain]

What two ports? There is a Ports of Call forum on this site. Try looking there for your port stops and seeing what other people are doing. For most Caribbean ports, IME, there are plenty of people waiting where the ship docks that are very eager to take your money and show you around the island :).

We are going on FoS May 8th. Is it before you? I will let you know what we did with 2 years old;).

[maileenm]

We have 8 and 4 year old boys and we are probably going to do Coral world with the submarine on St. Thomas, but we are in a quandry as to what to do in St. Maarten.

The Butterfly place is NOT an option, I took the kids to a butterfly place once and one was a wreck because he didn't like the "flying bugs" all around him and the other was totally board.

Besides the beach there really isn't much to do in St. Maarten that is different from St. Thomas.

 

We were thinking of doing Blackbeards Castle in St. Thomas and doing the submarine thing in St. Maarten. But I am not sure how "cool" Blackbeards Castle is considering it a rum factory now and RCI's excursion has a lot of other sightseeing mashed in with that too.

Although we would like to do excursions as a whole family we are even considering doing the Loterie Farm Tree Top adventure with one adult and the 8 yr old while the other adult either hits the beach or stays on the boat with the 4 year old.

 

Any ideas would be great. Are the beaches nearby the boat in St. Maarten? Is there shopping nearby Coral World or the beaches in St. Maarten? I know they may not be the best deals and be more touristy trapish but I would love to squeeze in an hour of window shopping while my husband hangs with kids somewhere like a beach.

[jac1976]

We went on a cruise the last week in March that went to those two ports. I have a 5 year old son and a 3 year old daughter. In St. Thomas we did Coral World and the semi-submarine. My kids loved the submarine and it was a nice way for them to see the fish and coral since they are not good enough/old enough to go snorkeling yet. They also enjoyed Coral World itself. We didn't stay for the beach (we preferred to go back to the empty boat and sit by the pools) but it looked very pretty and there were plenty of people there. I didn't feel unsafe at all, and would do it again.

 

In St. Maarten we did a bus tour of the island and a trip to the Butterfly Farm. I wasn't that impressed with the either the butterfly farm or the island. There was a very nice informational talk about the butterflies, but I felt like we had seen everything after just a few minutes. In hindsight I would have gone to a beach and had beach day.

[Scrapchick]

We were in St Maarten last week (the Dutch side of the island) We took a water taxi from the ship to the town dock and the main shopping street was right there. I love jewelry (as my poor hubby well knows) but it was wall to wall jewelry shops and not much else.

 

However, just yards from the dock was a wonderful beach with the clearest water I've ever seen, varying shades of turquoise, and beautiful white sand with barely a wave to be seen. My DD had a wonderful time looking for shells in the water and I sat there on a lounger under an umbrella that cost me all of $6, watching this beautiful scene in front of me... It was the most gorgeous beach on our entire trip and I will go right back there if I ever get to St Maarten again. Very kid friendly, quiet and in eyesight of the ship.

[milton333]

We're thinking about heading to St. John from St. Thomas. There are two ship excursions, self-guided walking/historic tour, and self-guided shopping, that are 6 1/2 hours long - you can separate from the group when you get to St. John and grab a taxi to Trunk or Cinnamon Bay (both are beautiful, with food and bathroom facilities, and easy to pick up a cab when you want to head back).

 

Pricing for the excursion works for us, but you can DIY the crossing to St. John. Taxi to the Red Hook Ferry, ferry ride over, cab, then reverse. You'll want to plan for traffic and leave at least 2 hours before you need to be back on ship, though.

 

St. John is mostly national park, and has some lovely snorkeling and just beautiful beaches. There's a very active thread about how to get to St. John in the excursions board (something like "Thinking about St. John - if you go").

 

We're thinking about doing this stop with our almost-2 year old. We'll also do CocoCay. Otherwise, no plans to see St. Martin, though I understand that Le Galion beach and the butterfly farm are recommended for families.

 

ETA: I have no first-hand knowledge, but have read talk that the beaches near the port in St. Martin have been known to have sewage problems in the past. I don't know if that's still an issue, but if you're looking for a beach day in St. Martin, I'd read up on the current status of that problem. I understand that you can catch a cab to the Divi Little Bay resort area and use that beach, which is supposed to be nice and calm.