Excursion Recommendations Needed!! San Juan & St Maarten

[jdazzler15]

Hello everyone!! I am finally heading on my first proper cruise since 2019 and I couldn’t be more excited!! I am traveling with a really good friend of mine, who has never been on Carnival or any cruise longer than three days. We are currently booked on the Carnival Celebration out of Miami leaving this September!!

I have been so out of the cruise community within the past 1-2 years. I had planned on doing some research for excursions, but figured it would also be amazing to hear personal recommendations. We waited too long to book through the ship— the ones that are interesting to us are sold out. We are going to San Juan and St Maarten. I have been to both of these places a handful of times, but it’s been so long!!

Any personal excursion recommendations for these two ports that you have done recently would be amazing and highly appreciated!! Looking for possibly snorkeling/city tour in Saint Maarten, and a food/city tour in San Juan.

Thanks so much!

[Drazil65]

San Juan is an amazing city (one of our favs) and it is very easy to do your own thing there.  If you like history you can start with the forts (self guided) and then just head into old town and take it all in. If not into the history of the forts etc., then just head straight into old town.  

 

There are so many good restaurants to stop at so the choice is yours (we typically stop for lunch at one that has outdoor seating so we can people watch).  If you like different foods you should have no problem finding a couple good ones online, we have tried many over the years and never had a bad one.  Look up several that all serve maybe a specialty and do your own foodie tour.  We also go and wonder through the Santurce neighborhood and enjoy the art and culture (get great pix of the murals).  It's nice being on your own time schedule in a place like San Juan and truthfully so much easier to do it on your own.  Just make sure you are back to the ship on time.  

 

St. Maarten has always been a beach place for us and really do our own thing there as well.  Pick a beach and grab a taxi, maybe shop a little on way back.  Have fun! 

Edited August 31, 2023 by Drazil65

[1025cruise]

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/80-san-juan-pr/

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/57-st-martinst-maarten/

[Host Carolyn]

The above links should be very helpful in addition to what folks post here

[MeganGC1983]

San Juan is easily doable walking and stopping at Barrachina for a pina colada and Racies for food. Also the street market has great food trucks. 
In St. Maarten, I would go with Bernard’s tours or head by taxi to Grand Case on the French side. Snorkeling is not great in SXM, but that beach or Mullet Bay… both are beautiful and have great lolos for food and beverage options. At Mullet you can see the planes coming in at Maho nearby. 

[BroadwayGirl]

Check out the Flavors of San Juan food tour. 

[audcc77]

We do Bernard’s Tours in St Martin. 
 

https://bernardstours.com

 

 

[gopackgo21]

We used Jackie with Coral Transportation in May in St. Maarten. She gave us a full customized island tour! We had lunch on the French side, got to hang out on a gorgeous beach and then she got us to Maho just in time for the big jets. She was absolutely lovely and I highly recommend!! 

[Sarcastic Mama]

We did San Juan on our own.  At the time my boss at work was from San Juan and had family there.  He had lots of pointers.  After walking the forts and a few churches his brother picked up for a family dinner.  It was really nice.  

[stobe1]

In St Maarten, if you are comfortable with getting away from the port on your own, I would highly recommend going to Pinel Island. It is an awesome, secluded beach getaway day. You take a cab to an area called "Cul de sac" then you hop on a 2 minute ferry over to the island, which will cost you about $5 or $10 round trip. Or you can rent a  kayak for 2 and paddle across the channel for the day , which will take about 20 minutes. Then on the island there are 2 small restaurants that serve food, fresh lobster and local beer and drinks. We do it every time we go to St Maarten. Just give yourself plenty of time to get back to the ship. The ferry leaves every 30 mins (I believe) and it is about a 20 to 30 minute cab ride back to the port.

 

In my opinion, it is well worth getting away from the cruise crowds at the port and major tourist beaches.

 

Just do a Google search for Pinel Island.

[carol louise]

Old San Juan is picturesque and walkable on your own. Consider downloading a walking tour.

[pcvtmom]

One of our favorite Carnival excursions is the Golden Eagle Catamaran in St. Maarten.  We've done this excursion twice, we liked it so much!

 

In San Juan, we tend to do a combination of walking around town and using the local bus to go to the Forts. We always make a point to get a pina colada at Barrachina's while wandering!

[carol louise]

36 minutes ago, pcvtmom said:

One of our favorite Carnival excursions is the Golden Eagle Catamaran in St. Maarten.  We've done this excursion twice, we liked it so much!

 

In San Juan, we tend to do a combination of walking around town and using the local bus to go to the Forts. We always make a point to get a pina colada at Barrachina's while wandering!

Ooh, I second the recommendation for Golden Eagle! We did it over 20 years ago, so I wasn’t sure it was still there.

[Bluewake]

We've been in St Maarten quite a few times so when we once had a particularly long day in St Maarten, we decided to do something different by taking a ferry to St. Barths.  It's about 45 minutes each way.  We were there long enough to hire a taxi to give us a 90 minute tour of St. Barths and a bit of souvenir shopping before returning.  We'd not been there before and quite enjoyed it.  Of course, it all depends on how long your ship is docked and your tolerance of the risk about not getting back to the ship on time but as long as your ship is there long enough, it's something to consider.  Also, I agree with others that Bernard's does a good job. We've taken 2-3 tours with them and were very pleased.

 

 

[ninjacat123]

DH and I did the America's Cup Regatta in St Maarten.  Fantastic!!  Through Carnival.  On San Juan we did the Learn to Salsa and drinks tour through Carnival.  Very nice!  Went to Juanes for a pina colada (icy, so-so) and wished we had been taken to Barrachina's.  My favorite pina colada is at John Watling's Distillery on Nassau so the bar is pretty high (see what I did there😉) for pina coladas.

Definitely do research on restaurants in SJ.  The first time we were in SJ we picked a restaurant that was close to port, pretty, on the cobblestone streets, advertising mofongo.  Wasn't that great. Next time I will do more research.

Have a great cruise!! 

[hard_eight]

On 8/31/2023 at 9:18 PM, MeganGC1983 said:

San Juan is easily doable walking and stopping at Barrachina for a pina colada and Racies for food. Also the street market has great food trucks. 

2nd Raices in San Juan for food and drinks, love that place!

19 hours ago, ninjacat123 said:

DH and I did the America's Cup Regatta in St Maarten.  Fantastic!!  Through Carnival.  On San Juan we did the Learn to Salsa and drinks tour through Carnival.  Very nice!

This was by far our favorite excursion we've ever done, so much fun and the guys coordinating it were amazing. Nothing like hauling butt in a sailboat that feels like it's listing 60 degrees!

[Hogladyrider]

St. Maarten I would HIGHLY recommend a day trip with Random Wind.....all inclusive food, beverages, swimming, with a tarzan swing, an absolutely FANTASTIC day.  We have done this excursion several times.  The water is just amazing. 

 

Whatever you do please remember to share back with the CC community!

[Butterbean1000]

We usually walk around old San Juan.  We hit all the popular spots. I do recommend taking the walk around the sea wall up to the fort.  The views are breath taking. You will also meet lots of cats along the way.  Some are very friendly and some are weary of strangers. It's like a sanctuary for strays.  They are sheltered, fed and neutered. 

 

Once we took the ferry across the bay and visited the Bacardi Rum factory.  I don't recommend this. It was expensive and very disappointing. 

[noshoobie]

Nice to hear that Bernard's Tours in St. Maarten is still around. We took a tour with them many years ago and loved it. I highly recommend!

[Buffettfan 225]

We had a great time seeing San Juan by Segway. Both of us had never been in a Segway, and found it great way to see the city and all the way up to the fort- no uphill climb. we parked our Segways at Fort gate, toured the fort (price included). Would absolutely book again. We reserved ahead Segway tours Puerto Rico and location right at pier 2 down below sidewalk level. They do a training before tour making sure you are comfortable with operation. It only took a few hours of our time, then we walked around- there is an awesome authentic Panama Hat maker called Ole that is very famous. 
SIDE NOTE- If anyone joys kite flying the hill by fort is amazing. We bought a cheap kite befor cruise and gave  to a local child when we were done. 

[DeckDad]

Our Celebrity cruise leaves at 10pm.  Is it safe to walk around after dark?  Any suggestions to do at night not far from cruise port?

[DeckDad]

3 hours ago, DeckDad said:

Our Celebrity cruise leaves at 10pm.  Is it safe to walk around after dark?  Any suggestions to do at night not far from cruise port?

Question is for San Juan, not St. Thomas.