Port days in two parts?

[charlies_mom]

We have two long port days on our upcoming FOS trip (St. Thomas and St. Marteen). I was wondering if anyone did something in the morning then went back to the ship for lunch/nap and then went off again in the afternoon?

 

We are traveling with our son who naps MUCH better in a bed than in his stroller.

 

I was thinking, for instance, that we could hop of the ship in the morning and take the water taxi to downtown Phil'burg for a couple hours of shopping and then go back to the ship for lunch and Charlie's nap. Then around 1pm go back off with our beach bag and take a taxi over to Divi for a couple hours of beach time. Would that work?

[Sue L]

If you have enough time it will work. What time are you in port to? We do two part days in just about every port. We usually try to do any tours/etc in the morning. Then we come back, shower, eat lunch and go into town or whatever. Make sure you check what time all aboard is, is it usually 1/2 hour earlier then when the ship is scheduled to leave. If it says that you are in port from 8-5 then all aboard is 4:30. We then make it 4:00 to be on the safe side, because they will leave without you. Keep in mind how long it takes you to get where ever you are going and allow an extra cushion for traffic.

[ChristieNJ]

We have two long port days on our upcoming FOS trip (St. Thomas and St. Marteen). I was wondering if anyone did something in the morning then went back to the ship for lunch/nap and then went off again in the afternoon?

 

We are traveling with our son who naps MUCH better in a bed than in his stroller.

 

I was thinking, for instance, that we could hop of the ship in the morning and take the water taxi to downtown Phil'burg for a couple hours of shopping and then go back to the ship for lunch and Charlie's nap. Then around 1pm go back off with our beach bag and take a taxi over to Divi for a couple hours of beach time. Would that work?

 

We've done this before. Went to the beach in the early morning, came back for lunch and changed real quick, then went to see the town or do a little shopping in the afternoon. Just make sure of your time....if it's a long port day then it's definitely doable! :)

[Silvery Seas Cruiser]

I can't see any reason why you couldn't do that as long as you are back in plenty of time before the ship closes its doors to set sail.

 

We have done that ourselves. We have even done it, for example, in Grand Cayman when we had to tender in to shore on a boat. We have also done it in Nassau on Majesty of the Seas because that ship spends a lot of time in Nassau. Key West is another port where we run back and forth to the ship.

 

As far as I know, neither St Maartin nor St Thomas set a limit on passenger trips to and from the ship.

 

The main thing is to be absolutely certain as to when your ship closes its doors and be back before then.

 

Have a great time in those two ports. We especially like St Thomas.

[JLC@SD]

We have two long port days on our upcoming FOS trip (St. Thomas and St. Marteen). I was wondering if anyone did something in the morning then went back to the ship for lunch/nap and then went off again in the afternoon?

 

We are traveling with our son who naps MUCH better in a bed than in his stroller.

 

I was thinking, for instance, that we could hop of the ship in the morning and take the water taxi to downtown Phil'burg for a couple hours of shopping and then go back to the ship for lunch and Charlie's nap. Then around 1pm go back off with our beach bag and take a taxi over to Divi for a couple hours of beach time. Would that work?

 

.....it is doable......we do it all the time if the ship is close to town:)

[robtulipe]

I usually go SCUBA diving in the AM in these two ports and some others, return to the ship for lunch and do something else onshore in PM.

In St. Maarteen the water taxi fare is a daily rate good for multiple trips so you could easily return to the ship for lunch. The beach in Philipsburg is fairly good especially for children. You could also take the taxi from the Philipsburg over to Little Bay which is just west of Great Bay and Philipsburg where Divi beach is located. This would be less costly and probably faster than taking a taxi all the way from the cruise pier on the east side of Great Bay as the road between the pier and/through the downtown is usually quite congested. The snorkelling at Divi is better (to the left or east along the peninsula separating the two bays). There is also a nice beach to the west of downtown in front of the Great Bay hotel which is the large high rise resort about a 15 minutes walk west along Front St. It is very visable from the downtown and even the cruise ship pier.

In St. Thomas the shopping is very good at Havensight where RC docks so it would be easy to do an excursion in the AM and shop there is the PM. Also there is Pueblo supermarket and a Kmart nearby (other side of Veterans Drive from top or north end of cruise teminal area) where the alcohol prices are very good. Since the whole island is a duty free port, you can take ypur purchases with you and there is no need to find a duty free type store .

[karena1]

Since most of the stores don't open until 9 am, we usually hit the beach in the morning, come back to the ship aroun 1 pm, change, drop all the beach gear off, and head back out to do a little shopping. So it is very doable to do both if you have a long port day.

[charlies_mom]

In St. Maarteen the water taxi fare is a daily rate good for multiple trips so you could easily return to the ship for lunch. The beach in Philipsburg is fairly good especially for children. You could also take the taxi from the Philipsburg over to Little Bay which is just west of Great Bay and Philipsburg where Divi beach is located. This would be less costly and probably faster than taking a taxi all the way from the cruise pier on the east side of Great Bay as the road between the pier and/through the downtown is usually quite congested. The snorkelling at Divi is better (to the left or east along the peninsula separating the two bays). There is also a nice beach to the west of downtown in front of the Great Bay hotel which is the large high rise resort about a 15 minutes walk west along Front St. It is very visable from the downtown and even the cruise ship pier.

 

Hmmmm... there is a beach right in town? It would be so nice not to have to use land taxis at all, thus avoiding the whole car seat situation. Something to think about...

 

Has anyone else gone to the beach at the Great Bay Hotel?

[um5xno1]

.....it is doable......we do it all the time if the ship is close to town:)

 

Agreed, we usually do morning excursions, which are usually arrive back between noon and 2pm, we change out of any wet clothes, grab lunch on the ship, and then head back out shopping.

[Sally Forth]

I've done that, too, in places where the ship docks downtown. It's nice to get a meal in a familiar spot, use the bathroom, have a bit of a rest, and head out again. My husband and I often come back to the ship and then go back out for just a drink and to talk about our day.

 

Viv

[jerin]

We did in St. Thomas. We should have in St. Maarten, too. In St. Thomas, we spent the morning shooping in Charlotte Amalie, went back to the ship for lunch and downtime, and then had a ship's excursion (snorkeling) in the afternoon. I was about as pregnant and the break helped tremendously. Neither dock is that far from the town. If there are a lot of ships in port, I could see it being a nuisance, but when we were there, it was just Empress and Galaxy, both smaller ships, so getting transportation was easy.

[cb at sea]

You can do whatever you want! You don't even have to be off the ship the entire time, if you don't want to! There are several ports that we don't care for, so staying on the ship and utilizing it make sense there! (You'll find the ship almost empty of other passengers--makes using the pool great!)