need ideas for St. John/Thomas and St. Maarten for kids

[joceehadlei]

We are stopping at St. John/St. Thomas and St. Maarten. Are there any excursions that are a "must" for two girls ages 6 and 9? Thanks

[lsmommy]

We just came back from this cruise my daughters are 6 and 8. We did the Sea World Explorer semi sub ride in St Martin and the Coral World/Island Tour on St Thomas, both DCL Tours. I was surprised how much my girls loved both of these excursions.

 

The Semi Sub ride was great as it is small I would say 30 people, and every person has a window seat so great views of the fish and coral. My girls do not snorkel so it was fun for them to see under the ocean.

 

St Thomas is beautiful and the island tour takes you up to the Mountain Top with stops to get some great pictures and then you go to Coral World for about 90 minutes. We got there just in time to see the Sea Lions which we all really enjoyed and then had time to see everything else, it is small so we had time to see pretty much everything without feeling rushed.

[mom x4,grandma x4]

St. Maartin also has a butterfly farm tour which stops for a bit of shopping too. My grandkids oved the butterfly farm.

[J-Hawk]

Megan's Bay in St. Thomas is beautiful, with calm, clear water for the kids to really enjoy!

[Cruisin'Nick]

These are great ideas!! Thanks all, was about to start asking the same question on my on thread. Glad this one got started.

[Eeyore'sthebest]

We did Coral World in St. Thomas and did the Sea Lion Swim. It was so awesome!! My review is out on the St. Thomas board somewhere. Let me know if you can't find it and are interested in it.

 

For St. Maarten we booked a private island tour with Joyce Prince. It was great and DD saw parts of the island that we wouldn't have seen if we just went straight to the beach. We did end up at the beach at the end of the day so that was nice.

[Jrabbit128]

I went to Koki Beach, which is right next to Coral World, and it was absolutely BEAUTIFUL! The beach is very quiet and not many people know about it. The water is crystal clear (My hubby took a picture of me in the water and you can't see the mountains in the background, and everyone thinks I am in a pool!) and the most amazing part was that one of the shops sells dog treats for $1 or $2 each and when you take it to the water and break it up, the fish swim right up to you and eat it out of your hand. It was so much fun. If you decide to do Coral World, stop at Koki Beach!

[metrowon]

Megan's Bay in St. Thomas is beautiful, with calm, clear water for the kids to really enjoy!

I totally agree with Meagans bay! Metrowon

[Smeecanada]

I went to Koki Beach, which is right next to Coral World, and it was absolutely BEAUTIFUL! The beach is very quiet and not many people know about it. The water is crystal clear (My hubby took a picture of me in the water and you can't see the mountains in the background, and everyone thinks I am in a pool!) and the most amazing part was that one of the shops sells dog treats for $1 or $2 each and when you take it to the water and break it up, the fish swim right up to you and eat it out of your hand. It was so much fun. If you decide to do Coral World, stop at Koki Beach!

 

We're considering doing Coral World and Koki Beach. Wondering if it is really necessary to pack the snorkel gear along or is it just as much fun wading and feeding the fish. We will be snorkelling at Castaway Cay.

[RandomIam]

St. Thomas--

We were on the Magic in January and at St. Thomas we took our kids to the butterfly garden. Your daughters would probably enjoy this, especially the younger one. This was a fairly cheap excursion and it is a 3 minute walk from the pier. (unless you tender in, which we had to, in that case you are about 25-30 minute walk--Disney refunded our tickets and we paid at the farm). After that we hopped on a van for an island tour (there are eager tour operators all over the place). I think it was $30 for the four of us (he didn't charge for the kids)--we stopped at a couple spots to shop, got a good view at Mountain Top of Magens Bay and other islands, and he dropped us off back at the tender line.

 

We're going back in September and are going to take a taxi to Magens Bay and back. The ship excursion costs a lot more and doesn't offer anything extra.