Family Friendly Beaches?

[AmMom]

Just wondering if any of you have personal experience with the beaches in St. Thomas and St. Maarten. We will be traveling with our 8 mo DD and my two brothers ages 14 and 16 years. With the 8 mo we want to find a beach where we can just chill. Here are my main requests:

 

1. a beach with no nudity (I hear it is common in St. Maarten)

2. clear calm water and soft sand

3. with facilities

 

If possible, I'd rather it be close to the port; we are undecided about the carseat for the 8 mo. Any tips about lugging it around everywhere? Worth it or not?

 

RCCL has excursions available that go to the beaches but there is usually a tour involved. I don't think the 8 mo would be into the tour much - we just want to get her to the beach and let her play. That said, would you recommend the Cruise Line's excursions or just getting a taxi and heading to the beach?

 

Thanks for your help!

[greenpony]

We did the Divi Little Bay excursion with RCL in St Maarten. Lots of families were with us that day. Nice beach.

 

jean

[6rugrats]

Why pay ship excursion prices if you just want to go to the beach? There will be plenty of taxis where the ship docks. All the drivers are more than happy to take you to the beach!

 

Go to the ports of call section of this webpage and look up the ports you are interested. You can find all the information you want there.

[abitaturbodog]

I agree with the above poster...you're throwing money out the window if you book a beach excursion with the ship. Plus, you're on their time schedule and herded around like cattle. Take a taxi!

 

St. Thomas - Coki Beach, great snorkeling!

 

St. Maartin - Little Divi Bay

[Ellanora]

We visited Magen's Bay in St. Thomas. It was very quiet and calm, beautiful, with facilities including a small walk-up window restaurant and a shop. My son was 10 - he loved it.

[AmMom]

Thanks for all of your input!

 

I just found the St. Martin, St. Thomas forums on this site - before I was looking at "Other Caribbean" under Ports of Call and there was nothing about the above mentioned places. I didn't realize that there were specific forums for St. Martin/St.Thomas. It doesn't help that I am awful with geography.

 

Anyway, thanks for the advice. We'll definitely take a taxi. That also give us more freedom if the baby gets fussy and needs to return. I wasn't really sure how easy this option was; never cruised before nor have I ever been anywhere where taxis are utilized so I was a bit nervous about "going it on our own"

 

Thanks again!

[jimswims]

Magen's Bay in St. Thomas is considered one of the 10 most beautiful beaches in the world. It is a large beach but is not known for waves or good snorkeling. It is a beautiful beach. If you get over to St. John, Trunk Bay is great for snorkeling and also a wonderful beach in my opinion. They used to have a snorkeling trail through a coral reef to swim through.

 

St. Maarten/St. Martin is an island controlled by 2 nations. St. Maarten is the Dutch side and I do not believe that any of the beaches allow nudity. St. Martin, the French side and further away from the post, has many beaches where topless or nude swimming/sunning is allowed and possibly the "norm". Orient Bay on the French side is a large and beautiful beach but is clothing optional and also has a clothing optional resort at the far end of the beach.

[sabbie]

We are in the same boat as you, our son will be 8 months on our cruise and we couldn't decide if we wanted to drag our carseat or just do the ship excursions. We have opted to take the carseat and enjoy the freedom that comes with a taxi vs. scheduled tour. We are planning on going to Sapphire Beach in St. Thomas and Le Gallion or Orient Beach in St. Maarten. I will post how things go when we get back but what we are figuring is we will just stick the car seat in the shower when we aren't showering and then when we are on the beach we will just put it in our beach tent (Aerodome, great size and we use it all the time on the beach as we live in FL).

[lastingtouch]

We are in the same boat as you, our son will be 8 months on our cruise and we couldn't decide if we wanted to drag our carseat or just do the ship excursions. We have opted to take the carseat and enjoy the freedom that comes with a taxi vs. scheduled tour. We are planning on going to Sapphire Beach in St. Thomas and Le Gallion or Orient Beach in St. Maarten. I will post how things go when we get back but what we are figuring is we will just stick the car seat in the shower when we aren't showering and then when we are on the beach we will just put it in our beach tent (Aerodome, great size and we use it all the time on the beach as we live in FL).

Please let us know how you make out bringing the carseat. We're taking our granddaughter in Dec. She will be 23 months. I really didn't want to bring the carseat but we might have to. Unless, Grandma stays behing a baby-sits! LOL :D

[sabbie]

Please let us know how you make out bringing the carseat. We're taking our granddaughter in Dec. She will be 23 months. I really didn't want to bring the carseat but we might have to. Unless, Grandma stays behing a baby-sits! LOL :D

 

 

Just got back today and taking the carseat was no big deal. I didn't look at what ship you are going on but we were on Freedom of the Seas and the carseat actually fit on the floor of the closet without a problem. We have a carseat bag that we put it in and checked it with the rest of the luggage when we got to the port but it was a pain to carry to the cabs and on the beach just because it was heavy but I was very happy we had it. Personally I think I would have been very uncomfortable not having him strapped in, the roads are pretty crazy. In St. Thomas we did Sapphire Beach and enjoyed it a lot and we actually liked Le Gallion in St. Martin even better. Wonderful beaches for kids, very calm and not very crowded and at Le Gallion it was so shallow! The taxi driver initially talked us out of going to Le Gallion on St. Martin telling us that we would never be able to get a cab and that no one ever goes there so we ended up getting dropped off at Orient with the other in our cab but after walking about 15 feet I was so claustrophobic from all the chairs packed in we decided to chance it and get a cab over to Le Gallion. So glad we did. There is a great restaurant/bar that was tasty to eat at and they called us a cab when we were ready so no worries. Lots of shady trees at both beaches and we went early to both, I think we were at the beach by 9:30am each day so we got the pick of shady spots. Good luck and enjoy.

[crusinmama06]

Personally I think I would have been very uncomfortable not having him strapped in, the roads are pretty crazy.

 

Oh I totally agree! In St. Martin and St. Thomas I swear the taxis make playing chicken with the buses a national sport. :eek:

[AmMom]

Sabbie:

 

Thanks for the info!! We are also sailing on the Freedom! I am glad the carseat was no big deal; we are definitely taking the carseat. After putting it all into perspective, we thought to ourselves, which is more important: our daughters safety or our convenience...? Plus, the airline told us that if there is an available seat on our flights we can use the carseat on the flight for her and if not, they will gate check it for no additional cost! No brainer there.

 

The beach issue is still up in the air - my dad and two teenage brothers will be with us so we'll have to pick the beach that's best all around...

 

Thanks again for the info! Hope you all had fun!

[beachchick]

Magen's Bay in St. Thomas is considered one of the 10 most beautiful beaches in the world. It is a large beach but is not known for waves or good snorkeling. It is a beautiful beach. If you get over to St. John, Trunk Bay is great for snorkeling and also a wonderful beach in my opinion. They used to have a snorkeling trail through a coral reef to swim through.

 

St. Maarten/St. Martin is an island controlled by 2 nations. St. Maarten is the Dutch side and I do not believe that any of the beaches allow nudity. St. Martin, the French side and further away from the post, has many beaches where topless or nude swimming/sunning is allowed and possibly the "norm". Orient Bay on the French side is a large and beautiful beach but is clothing optional and also has a clothing optional resort at the far end of the beach.

 

Just a clarification. On the Dutch side, there is far less toplessness (especially at Divi Little Bay), but it's not none. Specifically, Cupecoy on the Dutch side is typically fully clothing optional. As well, Sunset Beach Bar on Maho beach (Dutch side) has and follows the motto that "topless women drink for free." The French side is a bit different. All sections of all beaches on the French side follow the custom of (optional) topless sunbathing for women. Some areas and some beaches are fully clothing optional. Specifically, Le Gallion has a sign warning that the beach is clothing optional and, as has been mentioned, Club Orient is the fully clothing-optional resort at the right end of Orient beach (facing the water). That is where most, but not all, fully nudity will be seen on Orient. Topless sunbathing is simply part of the French culture, which is why it is allowed and is the "norm" on all beaches on the French side of the island.

 

If you absolutely want not the slightest chance of even one topless woman on the beach, then St. Martin will be problematic. Almost all the time, people report that Divi Little Bay has no toplessness or nudity, but on a rare occasion, a member will report that there might have been one or two topless women there. I don't believe it's illegal; it's simply not the usual custom.

 

As an aside, I understand what you mean by "family friendly," but throughout a significant part of the world (including France), topless sunbathing for women is not considered family unfriendly. Families with young children go to the beach all the time. It could even be considered insulting if you ask a local where to find a "family friendly" beach if what you mean is one where there will not be toplessness or nudity. I fully understand that many people (particularly from the US) don't want to be exposed (no pun) to topless or nude sunbathing. Not a thing wrong with having that preference, but other cultures have different customs. As long as we respect and understand those differences, no problem. That's one reason it's such a great idea to come here (and to other forums) for advice and suggestions in advance.

 

beachchick

[jimswims]

Beachchick, Thank you for the clarification about the dutch side of St. Maarten. We have always gone over to Orient Bay Beach.

 

I also agree with the comment about "family friendly" and culture. If one wanted to know if the beach was topless or allowed for nude sunbathing/swimming, it is better to ask this directly.

[beachchick]

jimswims: Happy to clarify; it can be confusing. I am sorry though that I didn't clarify the "you"s in my last paragraph. That was intended for the OP (not as a flame; just a comment) and others who have interpreted "family friendly" and "non topless/nude" as synonyms. As you state nicely, it's really best to state simple parameters and preferences, IMO.

 

beachchick