Activity Suggestions On A Cruise

January 23, 2010 10:56 AM

After two years of savings, my wife and I are going on a a cruise to the Western Caribbean. Islands we are stopping at are St. Maartens, St Thomas, and San Juan. I would like to know if there are UNIQUE places, restaurants, shopping or fun things we can do on each island. I am not necessarily looking for the "canned" trips organized by the cruise lines. Both my wife and I are in our 60's so mountain climbing, ect would be a bit too much for us.
posted by Mckoan1 to Travel & Transportation (12 answers total)

One thing to keep in mind is that the cruise line tours do have some advantages -- if you end up delayed on a cruise line tour, the ship will wait for you, or the cruise line will get you to the boat at its next port of call. If you're on your own, they have every right to leave without you, and you're required to get to the next port of call by yourself.
posted by Geckwoistmeinauto at 11:11 AM on January 23, 2010

The cruise ships typically stop on the Dutch side of St. Maarten, and a lot of people stick to that side of the island. What I always enjoy much more is taking a cab to the French side where there are many fun little French restaurants near the water. It's often pretty easy to forget you're in the Caribbean and think you're on the French Riviera instead. I don't know if that's unique and different enough for you, but the island isn't really so big that you'll find that many unknown, hidden spots.
posted by awegz at 11:32 AM on January 23, 2010 [2 favorites]

Yes, if you are only on St Martin for a day go directly to the French side, do not pass go. St Martin/Maarten in general has been extremely overdeveloped for years now.

Also, I don't know how long you are in St. Martin, but if it's a few days then take the ferry to Anguilla. It's a 20 minute boat ride and Anguilla is a beautiful small island, very placid with beautiful beaches. There are also excellent restaurants to be found.
posted by jeremias at 12:15 PM on January 23, 2010

You might want to take a look at the "ports of call" forums on cruisecritic.com. Those folks are practically professional cruisers, and have plenty of suggestions for things to do other than the cruise excursions. Enjoy your cruise!
posted by amarynth at 12:17 PM on January 23, 2010

I'd honestly go to St. Maartens just for Maho beach, where you can watch giant planes fly tens of feet over your head.
posted by nitsuj at 12:34 PM on January 23, 2010

Buy some dried dog food, go snorkeling at Coki Beach (next to Coral World), and feed the fish.
posted by djb at 12:39 PM on January 23, 2010

It has been many years, but my family and I had fun at each island on a Caribbean cruise by finding a cab driver at the pier who we liked and who spoke enough English that we could communicate, then taking a tour with the driver. We ended up seeing a lot of things that were off the beaten track, and eating a lot of delicious local fruit and fish. And the drivers were very interesting people to meet.

Another idea, a little trickier, is to arrange car rentals in advance and do some online research for each island.
posted by bearwife at 2:11 PM on January 23, 2010

Be careful about that trip to Maho Beach -- it's not a busy airport, and it's surrounded by nothing but crappy tourist hotels and crappy tourist restaurants. If you don't know you'll be there when a flight is scheduled to arrive, it's not worth going. So in other words, I agree with the above posters. Skip the Dutch side of St. Martin. And be sure to hit the town of Grand Case for lunch or dinner at least once. Tons of wonderful, local, restaurants; all fantastic. (Or at least they were three years ago.)
posted by liet at 3:14 PM on January 23, 2010

I've never heard of San Juan Island, but if it's San Juan, Puerto Rico, I can give a couple of ideas...

I'll get back to you as soon as I confer with the family as well.
posted by lizarrd at 4:18 PM on January 23, 2010

The best thing I have done in the Virgin Islands is to get OFF St. Thomas and take the ferry to St. John. If there's any way you can swing it, staying in the rustic (wonderfully so) cabins at Cinnamon Bay is delightful, and visiting any of the beaches (especially any of the beaches in the 70% of the island that has been designated a national park) will top nearly anything that St. Thomas has to offer.
posted by mr. remy at 5:00 PM on January 23, 2010

I agree with mr. remy: the Virgin Islands National Park is a treasure. It's a bit of a haul from Charlotte Amalie, though; I would only do it if you have, say, 8+ hours in which to make the round trip. Be mindful of the ferry schedule, arrange to have a taxi take you to the beach and pick you up later, and leave lots of margin for error. In my experience, the island taxis are reliable, but you should still have a contingency plan in case you get left in the lurch somewhere far away from the cruise ship docks.

Tillett Gardens is on St. Thomas; you'd need a taxi, but it would be a little different from the luxury-goods shopping in Charlotte Amalie.
posted by Orinda at 10:31 PM on January 23, 2010

I second the suggestion of the Cruise Critic boards; I'm a regular there under the same name as here.

For San Juan, depending on what hours you'll be there, try to fit in a bioluminescent bay trip. It may not work out, because it needs to be dark when you do it, but if you're in port until 11pm it might work out. (As I recall, SJ is commonly a late port.) Or just walk around in OSJ, it's a really beautiful old city and you'll stay near the ship. (Unless you're on Celebrity, they dock across the bay from OSJ.)

I enjoyed Coral World on St. Thomas and the butterfly farm in St. Maarten; I'd love to tell you more about Marigot in St. Martin but it rained when we were there!
posted by etoile at 6:14 PM on January 24, 2010