Really liked Martinique!

[mlbcruiser]

I probably heard more negative comments about Martinique than any caribbean location outside of Jamaica (which I also love!) First, even from the ship, the island was very striking. We were there 2 wks. ago and I can't say anything bad about the place! Since we didn't have a shore excursion planned (and since we slept in a bit after a long St. Thomas day) we didn't get off the ship until nearly noon. There were 7 in our group, plus a man and his son that my daughter had befriended making 9. Upon leaving the port, we immediately saw a schoolbus-sized bus w/an English speaking driver. He was offering tours for $20 pp. and holding up a sign. Before taking the deal, we walked around to a large parking lot to the right, behind a fence, where there were many taxis and buses and minivans. W/my VERY LIMITED "In Flight French" - you know, right, left, thank you, please, how much?, I would like, etc. etc. - we didn't find anything better. The drivers and others nearby tried to communicate w/us and we generally understood the prices - higher than the bus guy - and the drivers didn't speak English. One lady did help us communicate just a little bit, and we did find one driver, but he was too pricey. Therefore we went back to the original bus driver, and were told to come back in 90 min. for a 1:30 tour. We came back at 1:15 (after a nice walk around Fort de France, a couple of Cokes, and me buying some shoes in a nice European bargain shoe store -Bata). The bus was FULL, except for 3 scattered seats up front and 6 seats on 3 benches in the rear (unairconditioned, but whatever). Those of us in the last row had a wheelchair shoved between our school bus type seats, too. But hey, we were on the tour at least! My daughter and her friends decided to skip the tour as they couldn't sit together, were a bit squished, and decided go to a beach. So they got off, but the driver had rounded up the driver we ALMOST booked with (the pricier one!) and he had a nice, a/c, small bus, so they rode w/him and a few others behind our bus. The tour was nice. Around and above the town. The city has some freeways and it nearly looked like a beautiful little L.A. from some vantage points! But we drove to lookouts, variously priced neighborhoods, a church, and to the driver's own home as well. He lives in a lovely botannical garden up high, w/a large home that his grandma left to him. Showed us which plants did what and explained much about them. A really nice touch! A very well bred young son came out and helped when we were at his home, which had a nice, very large, covered patio area w/restrooms, and it appeared to be a party venue as well. I can't recall this driver's name, and our tour didn't have time to go to the volcano, etc., but for a 2 1/2 hour tour, it was very informative. Unfortunately sometimes we had to ask the passengers up front to relay the intermittant narration to us (no mike). The bus was NOT hot at all once we left the main part of downtown and started up into the mts. and hills. Sometimes we stopped so the driver could run back to the other bus and narrate when we were at an imporant site.

 

I am anxious to return and see some beaches and St. Pierre. We didn't run into ANYONE who treated us rudely. Maybe because we tried hard to always be pleasant w/out being suckers or pushovers. I think as someone told me, the language barrier is the main reason people misunderstand or don't want to communicate w/each other. So they just feign disinterest or appear rude. So - just don't take "rude" for an answer and enjoy this lovely island if you get a chance to go there!

[mared1]

I'm with you - we loved Martinique - wish we had been there longer. It was one of my favorite places. The people were friendly, the island is beautiful. A great place to go. I have heard who rude the people are there - well we didn't find that at all. Maybe it is because we were friendly and polite and expected the same thing in return.

[delia2006]

Hello guys!!!!thank you for all these nice messages about my island.a lot of bad stuffs had been said in some newspapers about martinique,but it s like everywhere else you need to go and make up your mind.it s a beautiful island ,full of nice people ready to help.and good news ,i heard on tv ,that royal caribbean is planning next year to go back.any question you have ,feel free to ask me at dany911dany@yahoo.fr to avoid spam put the title :Martinique .thank you.:)

[Diane F]

A group of us will be in Martinique in April. Would like to take a van tour of the Island. We will be 8 or 10 people. Can we find a private van to hold us?How much should we expect to pay for a tour of the main sights? What sights are a must see.We are not too much into museums or buildings, more into nature and beauty.Need to have air-conditioned transportation.

[katyj]

Delia2006

 

We will be in Martinique in January and we were wondering if there were any beaches within walking distance of the docking area, so that we could look around the shops and still get to visit the beach.

 

Would really appreciate your advice

[mlbcruiser]

Katyj, your best bet for an answer would be to email Dany911 (in the post below she put her email address) or go to tripadvisor.com, do a search for Martinique, and then go to "forums" (look on the lower part of the screen for a list that gives you options to click onto). Sometimes it can be a bit tricky to navigate on that site, but once you get the hang of it it's an invaluable site for travel info.! Ask your question on there and someone will no doubt reply. I'm sorry I can't answer your question, but we didn't go to any beaches. I'm certain I must have read about some in the ports of call section of Cruise Critic, but it's been a while. . . Hope you enjoy your trip!

[covkid]

Can anyone please tell me which cruise lines did this itinery Thanks for your help

[mlbcruiser]

In our case, we sailed the Sun Princess - 10 day cruise, but it was 2 Marches ago in 2004.