If you cruised the Eastern Caribbean...

San Juan, St Maarten, St Thomas, Tortola...

how far is the cruise docked from the beach? Is it necessary to book an excursion through the cruiseline at each location?

Any info will be much appreciated!
TIA

Re: If you cruised the Eastern Caribbean...

For Tortola, I'd say yes, because the island is so rural that you will want a reliable mode of getting to a nice beach. We did a jeep safari tour that ended at a beach, but if I could go back I'd also want to try to visit Virgin Gorda, it looked amazing but we didn't have time to do both. The beach we went to in Tortola was absolutely amazing but the water was very rough. We loved it though.

St. Thomas, you can get a cab or something... we did an excursion to Coral World which has a really nice beach right next to it. We took a cab from there to Magen's Bay beach which was a lot of hype IMO because I liked the other beach better. Cab ride back to the ship wasn't bad at all, if you don't book an excursion you can def get a cab there easily.

Can't comment on the other two because I've never been, HTH!

Re: If you cruised the Eastern Caribbean...

We didn't do a tour through the ship for St. Thomas, Tortola or San Juan:)

It is so easy to get a cab and have them take you to the beach.

In San Juan they have taxi's everywhere or you can just take the bus system which is very easy to use to where you have to go.

I felt so bad! My Dad rented a van to take us all on a tour but DS got sooo car sick and got sick all over this guys van We turned around and went back to the ship.

In Tortola, we took an open air jeep. There are tons of them waiting right at the peir.

They took us on a tour of the island and then we stopped at the beach for awhile (he came and picked us back up) and Pussers Landing.

And in St. Thomas, we did the same. We grabbed the same type of open aired jeep, and had him take us to Coral World and then there is a BEAUTIFUL beach (Coki Beach) right next door that you can walk to.

We had his number and he came and picked us up when we were ready but again, there are plenty of cabs, jeeps outside waiting.

Here are my pictures from 2008:)
WebShots

Message edited 2/25/2011 10:44:59 AM.

Re: If you cruised the Eastern Caribbean...

St. Maarten docks are right by the beach and it is such a nice beach! In St. Thomas I highly reccommend you either take a boat over to St. John if you have the time, or Magen's Bay is sooooo nice too. San Juan, I really can't say because whenever we cruise there we visit DH's grandfather for the day...he lives a little bit out of the way and we always go to this amazing beach called Loquillo Beach. But I think it might be a little too far.

Re: If you cruised the Eastern Caribbean...

I did do excursions, but you don't have to.

St. Thomas--if you just want to go to the beach all day then you are probably better off with a cab. The excursions usually involve other things. I've been twice-once we went to Coral World, which was ok & then Magen's bay, and once to St. John's, which is beautiful.

I have to warn you, though, one of the cabs I took was really just a pick up truck with benches in the back. And this was from an actual cab stand.

And they drive a little crazy there. They drive on the left side of the road, but they have cars with the steering wheels on left side, like here. It feels weird as a passenger when the driver is turning & you are in the flatbed of a truck.

St. Maarten- the cruise I was on docked at Philipsburg. You can take a water taxi right across to the Great Bay Beach. We took a tour to Marigot, b/c I wanted to see both sides of the island, but they left us at Front Street in Philipsburg at the end so we could go shopping, have lunch & go to the beach & we took the water taxi back.
You could easily do it both ways if you just wanted to see that area.

Message edited 2/25/2011 12:17:09 PM.

Re: If you cruised the Eastern Caribbean...

Haven't been to St. Maarten..

St. Thomas they usually dock in the shopping areas so like PPs have said, take a taxi. We went to Magen's Bay which was awesome! I've also heard great things about St. John. I also heard that Coki Beach is beautiful but there had been some violence there recently so some cruises have advised people to avoid it. Definitely hit up Paradise Point before going back on the ship if you have time. The view and sunset from here is gorgeous!

Tortola we went to Virgin Gorda which was a bit of a trip to get there (30 min. water taxi ride and then a 10 min. regular taxi up to the top of the Baths. Not gonna lie, it's a very exhausting day. 350 yards downhill to the beach, then if you go through the caves to Devils Bay, you have to climb boulders and wedge yourself in tight spots (to this day, I have no idea how I made it!) but the end result is amazing! Then it's another 350+ yards back up which is a hike!

DH walking through some of the boulders -



Devils Bay


San Juan - haven't been since I was a kid so not sure.

Our trips to Magen's Bay and Virgin Gorda were booked through the cruise ship but not necessary if you do research. Check out cruisecritic.com!

Re: If you cruised the Eastern Caribbean...

St. Maarten is my most favorite island. No, you don't need to book a tour through the ship. St. Maarten is great for shopping. You'll be docked in Phillipsburg which is where all the good shopping is located. If you don't want to shop, you can go to Pinel island which is on the French side. Have a taxi take you to the ferry and then you take the ferry over. If you plan to order food there, they accept credit cards but for food and drinks over 40 euros, so make sure you have cash. I don't remember if they take American dollars or not, but it's a really great island.

Message edited 2/26/2011 5:06:09 PM.

Re: If you cruised the Eastern Caribbean...

Re: If you cruised the Eastern Caribbean...

We are doing that same itinerary in may through NCL! We've been to st thomas before and rented mopeds to go to diff beaches. This time were going to take the ferry overt st johns. For San Juan were doing a bio bay kyack excursion. St maarten def visiting maho beach where the planes fly directly over. Tortola taking the ships excursion to the baths on virgin gorda

Re: If you cruised the Eastern Caribbean...

I always take excursions b.c I like to snorkel and enjoy the catamaran trips. But you can always just hop in a taxi at the pier and go to a beach - they can tell you on the ship where some of the nicer beaches or even some of the more quieter ones are if you care about that.

As far as St Thomas - there are several different docking places (3 I believe - I have docked at 2 of them - but I have seen Holland America and sometimes other Celebrity or other ships at a 3rd pier).

San Juan isn't really near anything great. But with any of the ports you can always hop a cab.

I have never done the beach at st martin - always done shore excursions that left from the pier so I'm not sure.

I haven't been to tortolla in many years.

The advantage of shore excursions - is that you just show up on the dock and they do everything - so it is much more relaxing and less stressful - also IF they are late the ship will WAIT for the excursion to return. If you go on your own and there is an accident on the island that holds up traffic and you are not back in time you will miss the boat. In all 14 cruises I see on every port at least one couple or more running down the pier trying to catch the ship. On one we had drinks with a couple who had to fly to another port to catch the boat - b.c their taxi broke down and they missed the boat. They had quite a story.

Now having said that - it is very rare - but on vacation since I prefer to snorkel for ME the shore excursions are right for us. But if I just wanted to lay on the beach - I would definitely consider taking a taxi.

Might I suggest going over to cruisecritic.com - there is a posting area - and the people over there are great about recommending beaches on the various islands - or they can tell you which are the best excursions for each island.