Shore excursions in St. Thomas and St. Maarten on R.C. Mariner

[slicklefty]

We will be sailing on the Mariner (E. Caribbean) on Sept. 3rd, 06...:D CAN'T WAIT. My fiance and I are looking at shore excursions at St. Thomas and St. Maarten...does anyone has any suggestions or experiences?

 

In St. Thomas we are thinking about the "St. John Beach Tour" or getting cert. to SCUBA.

 

At St. Maarten: "Shipwrech snorkel" or "The Best of St. Maarten"

 

Any help is appreciated.

 

Thanks-

 

lefty

[Ann25]

Slicklefty,

Congratulations on your engagement. Hope you have a great cruise. St. Thomas has alot of great excursions to do. My favorite thing to do is to go to Megans Bay. It is one of the 10 most beautiful beaches in the world. It has a little food stand and they rent chairs and umbrellas. We just get off the ship andntake a cab. It is much cheaper that way and you can stay as late as you want.

They also have great shopping. If you take one of the Island tours, it almost always stops at the shopping centers. They also have great liquor prices.

 

 

St. Maarten has great beaches as well. Once you get your booking # you can go on line and check the excursions. There are some great ones.

 

If you need anymore help, let me know.

 

Crusin 06

Ann25

[knothead]

We were on the mariner in Oct. 2005 and completely loved the excursions we took.

 

St Thomas we book Godfreys Tour see link http://www.godfreytoursvi.com/safari.html I can't explain how great this tour was, Godfrey was on time, easy to find, get narration of the island spots & He let you store your purchased locked up in the cab of his truck while you enjoy your beach time.

 

 

St. Martin we book a RCCL excursion called ( I hope this is close!) St Maarten sensation & beach break with lunch. Great tour of the island, then a BBQ lunch (yummy!!!!) & beach time. This beach is really close to orient beach. Had to be the most beautiful beach I've experienced. You get two beach lounges plus for $5.00 extra you can get cushions for the chairs and an umbrella. This was my favorite place of the entire cruise.

[Nliedel]

You have time, that's good. Now find a local place that will certify you PADI before you leave and get that cert. It's good for life and will change your life forever, unless you run into a shark or something (kidding here). It has been one of the greatest touchpoints of my existance. The day I did my first open water dive I could have died knowing I was completely happy forever.

 

You can dive in St. John which is great. Beyond wonderful (take a ferry from St. Thomas)

[jerick]

We were in St. Maarten in February. If you want some adventure, do the America's Cup regatta. I had a blast!

 

Jeff

[karen&roy]

Believe me don't do the ship tour to St John. Do it on your own...its a LOT cheaper and you can spend all the time you want there. Just take a shuttle/taxi to Red Hook Ferry, then the ferry to St John and another shuttle bus to Trunk Bay. Its about $5 a person state park fee and you can rent all your snorkel gear there for like $8 and chairs also. The tour doesn't stay there long enough. I have been sitting there watching the tour arrive...hoards of people trying to cram in the 1 1/2 hours of beach/snorkel time then its off you go. They have showers there, little snack bar with drinks and one of the most fantastic beaches in the world!! Last cruise we went there planning on spending a few hours then back to St Thomas to shop.That never happened...we loved it there so much we spent the entire day there :rolleyes: Do the snorkel trail there!!!!

[karen&roy]

some good website to visit I will TRY and spell out here since we can't post them for shore excursion reviews is port reviews dot com and shore excursions dot com. I will stress that the excursions the ship offers can always be done on your own at a much leisurely pace and lots less $$$...oh an after thought,,,,when you get off the the tender at St Martin there is a little place on the beach to your left with yellow umbrellas with some beer name on them...anyway you can get a cheap buket of beer there with some killer baby back ribs that a young girl cooks there on the beach on a grill...............ummmmmmmmm cheap and good!!!!!!!!!:p

[iowagal64]

I was also just there in Feb. I did the St Johns beach tour. I loved Trunk Bay. It was a beautiful beach. It was enough time for me to snorkel. I talked to a family that did it on their own and it ended up being more expensive. I could live on St Johns, I loved it.

 

In St Martin if you are into adventure do the Treetop adventure at Lotiere Farms. Its ziplines and all this other fun stuff up in the trees. It was a blast. It was well worth the money.