KIM SHA BEACH

[NRichard10]

Does anyone have information on KIM SHA BEACH that you can share? I have not heard of this beach before, but I did see a tour for it on RCCL website.

 

Is it a family friendly beach?

 

Do you know the price by Taxi? We will be 4 adults, 1 child, and 1 toddler.

 

Are there chairs, umbrellas, food, restroom?

 

We are looking for a beach that we can visit just for a couple of hours and then maybe just some shopping near the port. The two youngest kids in our party will probably not be able to handle much more then 3-4 hours of beach and shopping.

 

We normally use Bernard's Tours, but I don't see and excursion to this beach.We wanted to do the sightseeing and Maho Beach with them, but because we are travelling with an 18 month old, we are afraid the noise at Maho may be too much for the baby even with earplugs? We also like Orient, but not sure we want the other child to be overwhelmed or embarrassed by the nudity.

 

If anyone can HELP, it would be greatly appreciated. I love St. Maarten and I would hate to have to just stay within just the Port area for this stop. 

 

Thanks for your help.

Edited July 8, 2019 by NRichard10
SPELLING

[ransrider]

7 hours ago, NRichard10 said:

Does anyone have information on KIM SHA BEACH that you can share? I have not heard of this beach before, but I did see a tour for it on RCCL website.

 

Is it a family friendly beach?

 

Do you know the price by Taxi? We will be 4 adults, 1 child, and 1 toddler.

 

Are there chairs, umbrellas, food, restroom?

 

We are looking for a beach that we can visit just for a couple of hours and then maybe just some shopping near the port. The two youngest kids in our party will probably not be able to handle much more then 3-4 hours of beach and shopping.

 

We normally use Bernard's Tours, but I don't see and excursion to this beach.We wanted to do the sightseeing and Maho Beach with them, but because we are travelling with an 18 month old, we are afraid the noise at Maho may be too much for the baby even with earplugs? We also like Orient, but not sure we want the other child to be overwhelmed or embarrassed by the nudity.

 

If anyone can HELP, it would be greatly appreciated. I love St. Maarten and I would hate to have to just stay within just the Port area for this stop. 

 

Thanks for your help.

Hello NRichard10. My hubby and I did the Beach Rendezvous to Kim Sha Beach when on Celebrity Edge in January 2019. I would not recommend this tour to anyone. If you are not one of the first off the bus, you will be seated behind rows of crammed in umbrellas and chairs with no view of the beach. Since this is now the beach the Cruise Lines are using since the hurricanes, it is now very crowded. It you don't care about relaxing under the umbrella, it is a nice sandy beach and the tour guide was very friendly. There is food and restrooms very near the beach area. Hope this helps – have a great cruise.

Edited July 9, 2019 by ransrider

[NRichard10]

23 hours ago, ransrider said:

Hello NRichard10. My hubby and I did the Beach Rendezvous to Kim Sha Beach when on Celebrity Edge in January 2019. I would not recommend this tour to anyone. If you are not one of the first off the bus, you will be seated behind rows of crammed in umbrellas and chairs with no view of the beach. Since this is now the beach the Cruise Lines are using since the hurricanes, it is now very crowded. It you don't care about relaxing under the umbrella, it is a nice sandy beach and the tour guide was very friendly. There is food and restrooms very near the beach area. Hope this helps – have a great cruise.

Thank you very much for your input. Very helpful.

 

[PORT ROYAL]

On 7/9/2019 at 3:58 AM, ransrider said:

Hello NRichard10. My hubby and I did the Beach Rendezvous to Kim Sha Beach when on Celebrity Edge in January 2019. I would not recommend this tour to anyone. If you are not one of the first off the bus, you will be seated behind rows of crammed in umbrellas and chairs with no view of the beach. Since this is now the beach the Cruise Lines are using since the hurricanes, it is now very crowded. It you don't care about relaxing under the umbrella, it is a nice sandy beach and the tour guide was very friendly. There is food and restrooms very near the beach area. Hope this helps – have a great cruise.

 

Nòte:  The nearby Condo renters/owners grab the front ranks of beds, before the T'erds arrive.  Then the tour coach arrive, one after the other (pre arranged to stagger the offloads) with a first come basis.  

Shared mini-bus is about $7.50 e/w for adult, think children are free.

 

If cost concious, just walk to Great Bay, take Beds at the far end of the beach (pink umbrellas), away from the mayhem, then it's a short walk behind you to Front Street for a little retail therapy.  Shared tax (minibus) back to the ship from Front Street is about $4.00 per adult, again think children are free.  Plent of min busses tout up/down front street.

 

[satbeachbill]

The nearby Condo renters/owners grab the front ranks of beds, before the T'erds arrive.

 

Not so sure that's accurate. We stay at the Atrium and watch them set up the lounge chairs in the morning when the cruise ships are in town. The are set up for the tour guests. Yes, first come first serve.  About 4 rows deep. 

There are separate lounges for Atrium patrons, and there are lounges by the Buccaneer Bar.  

Edited July 15, 2019 by satbeachbill

[PORT ROYAL]

36 minutes ago, satbeachbill said:

The nearby Condo renters/owners grab the front ranks of beds, before the T'erds arrive.

 

Not so sure that's accurate. We stay at the Atrium and watch them set up the lounge chairs in the morning when the cruise ships are in town. The are set up for the tour guests. Yes, first come first serve.  About 4 rows deep. 

There are separate lounges for Atrium patrons, and there are lounges by the Buccaneer Bar.  

 

And if another condo stayer arrives before the T'erds, for $20.00 are they then directed to the rear of the 4 ranks for tour guests?  Think for an early $20.00 a front rank could be arranged, and is.

Edited July 15, 2019 by PORT ROYAL
Typo

[cpl100]

On 7/8/2019 at 3:15 PM, NRichard10 said:

Does anyone have information on KIM SHA BEACH that you can share? I have not heard of this beach before, but I did see a tour for it on RCCL website.

 

Is it a family friendly beach?

 

Do you know the price by Taxi? We will be 4 adults, 1 child, and 1 toddler.

 

Are there chairs, umbrellas, food, restroom?

 

We are looking for a beach that we can visit just for a couple of hours and then maybe just some shopping near the port. The two youngest kids in our party will probably not be able to handle much more then 3-4 hours of beach and shopping.

 

We normally use Bernard's Tours, but I don't see and excursion to this beach.We wanted to do the sightseeing and Maho Beach with them, but because we are travelling with an 18 month old, we are afraid the noise at Maho may be too much for the baby even with earplugs? We also like Orient, but not sure we want the other child to be overwhelmed or embarrassed by the nudity.

 

If anyone can HELP, it would be greatly appreciated. I love St. Maarten and I would hate to have to just stay within just the Port area for this stop. 

 

Thanks for your help.

I would not take small children to Maho for fear of damaging their hearing.

[PORT ROYAL]

6 minutes ago, cpl100 said:

I would not take small children to Maho for fear of damaging their hearing.

 

Or breathing in jet engine exhaust fumes

[satbeachbill]

On 7/15/2019 at 9:55 AM, PORT ROYAL said:

 

And if another condo stayer arrives before the T'erds, for $20.00 are they then directed to the rear of the 4 ranks for tour guests?  Think for an early $20.00 a front rank could be arranged, and is.

After watching them set up multiple days, this was not our observation. Heck anything is possible I guess.

[gtaylor]

What the heck are 'T'erds'?

 

gary

[PORT ROYAL]

5 hours ago, gtaylor said:

What the heck are 'T'erds'?

 

gary

 

T'erds is a word constructed by my Bajan friends, being a combination of two wordsTowels and Herds.  The T from Towels and 'erds from Herds to describe some tourists. 

 

TOWELS:

Arrive by the cheapest means; deliberately take the most annoying spot on the beach to spoil a view of paying clients; spread the ship's Towles; constantly repeat the mantra "beaches are free" like a demented parrot; do not spend anything at the resort; bring food and drink browsed from the ship's buffet, all wrapped in a ship's napkin; bury their picnic debris in the sand; use the sea, beach and all the venue's facilities for free; if there is charge for toilets, decline and use the sea; return to the ship by the cheapest means. 

Then when back in the Ship boast they spent the day at Carambola (Kim Sha et al) taking lunch and drinks there.

 

 

HERDS:

Arrive loudly en masse; stay loudly; have shouting conversations on their mobiles, or with other herd members, albeit 2 feet or 20 yards way; bring coolers full of Supermarket bought beer and food, then demand ice for free; bring boom boxes and play on highest volume; sometimes pay for beds but insist a colony of friends is created; complain about the price of venue's food as the reason for buying a single slice of pizza.  

Seek to use Hotel or Beach facilities for free, failing that, turn the sea into a Urinal (aka going for a swim)

Abuse or ridicule other guests, and members of the venue's staff, solely for the group's amusement.

Basically, it's a group who knowingly do everything possible to spoil the genteel ambience of the venue, and to annoy as many people as it is physically possible. 

Then leave loudly en masse.

 

Other items of annoyance can be added to each of the above definitions as required.

 

 

 

Edited July 19, 2019 by PORT ROYAL
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[SeaTrailer]

I would avoid Kim Sha.  Lot's of debate on the water quality there.  Might I suggest Karakter?  Very nice beach and great food.

[Arzeena]

On 7/31/2019 at 4:34 PM, SeaTrailer said:

I would avoid Kim Sha.  Lot's of debate on the water quality there.  Might I suggest Karakter?  Very nice beach and great food.

My thoughts are the same as yours. Especially on water quality.

[marciew]

Sea Trailer, can you tell me a little bit more about Karakter such as how much a taxi ride might cost from the cruise port?  Are the lounge chairs crammed together or can you move them away from the rest?  And if you order lunch and drinks, are there decent restrooms to use?  And last but not least, I noticed in a picture of the beach that there were large rocks.  Are there rocks in the water or just on the sides? I was going to go back to Divi Little Bay Beach Resort but Karakter sounds intriguing.  Thanks!