st martin excursions

[gettingmarried]

Looking for tour suggestions for St Martin. First time cruising and visiting Islands. Have already booked with Godfrey tours for St. Thomas. Would welcome any excellent ideas. We are not particularly interested in the 'small boat' excursions due to sensitivity to motion!

Thanks!!

[Stevesan]

We took a bus tour that circumnavigated the island. There was the mandatory shopping stop and a short ride on a glass bottom boat.

 

You'll find a number of other ideas here:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=93

[Momeof3]

you will love Godfreys, we toured with him personally in Jan 07 and plan on making reservations with him again in March 08. Please just dont stop at Coki Beach which we did and it was not very pleasent. The public restrooms were beyond filthy and the restrooms that were halfway decent you had to pay to use.

 

Since we are a large group that loves to shop and relax on the beaches in St, Marteen we walked from the pier to the shops 10 min walk tops and after shopping we decided to stay on the beach at the Holland House Hotel. Beach chairs with umbrellas were $5 each. There were people walking around working for the bars that would get you buckets of beer and bring it back to you. Cheapest we got was I think $5 for a bucket of 6. The beach has jet skis which if I recall were $45 for 1/2hr and for the kids a water trampoleen (sp) $5 for the day. It was pretty funny watching the adults that had drank a few on that. The only downfall was the women walking around selling things. We met others on the ship that did a segway tour and had a very good time touring the area. We met another group that did a zipline tour and they had a blast. Good luck in finding something you enjoy doing and have a great cruise!!!

[Andee]

We rented a motorbike (a short walk from the pier) and circumnavigated the island: went to Phillipsburg and Marigot, strolling the streets and visiting some museums, spent some beach time at Orient. The roads were relatively flat, smooth and well marked. Great day.

[GloriaF]

Since St Martin/Maarten is Dutch and French, it is fun to see the island and hear the guides give their speeches. It's impossible to do everything in one day, so you just have to pick something and go with it.

 

We have gone to Orient Beach on the French side a few times - it is a clothing optional beach with nudes at one end. The beach is nice and the water lovely, but it is becoming increasingly crowded.

 

The last time we were in St Martin, we took a Butterfly Farm tour and shopped in the town of Marigot.

 

The island roads are horrendous - narrow, blind curves, and lots of traffic with bad drivers. I would not encourage you to go off on your own, but to let someone else do the driving whatever you decide to do. Accidents on these roads are commonplace, so if you do go off on your own be sure to allow extra time to get back to the ship in case of some unforeseen calamity.

 

From your log-on name, I assume this will be your honeymoon and if that is the case you'll be happy with whatever you decide. Best wishes!

[gettingmarried]

Lot of ideas coming in and thanks to you all who replied so quickly. Yes, we are nervous about heading off anywhere on our own!! My fiance has never been outside Canada before, in fact I believe his own province of Ontario!!! Me, I am minister's daughter and spent my life moving all over the place. Any and all comments are most welcome. By the way, we are ages 51 and 49, so we are not real young (well at heart we are!)

Thanks everybody!