what to do beside lying on the beaches-Eastern cruise

[4blinkies]

We'll be first time cruisers on 10/18 Eastern. With our children, ages 5 & 3, we've decided to go low key on shore excursions. eg. to Magen's bay in St. Thomas and either Great Bay or downtown Phillisburg in St Maarten. We don't snorkle or do other water sports. So, the plan was to set up umbrellas on these two beaches and veg. Question: anything else near by to explore? shops? sightseeing, etc? Thank you all.

 

[ThreeCircles]

In St. Thomas, not too far from the Havensight Shopping Mall, there is a cable car that takes you to the top of one of the close-by "mountains." I don't really know what's at the top of this but it looked kind of cool.

I think it was $15 per person.

 

[AnnMorin]

St. Marten has GREAT deals! It is really neat over on the french side as you really feel like you are in another county (yes I know the dutch side is another country too but on the french side it was so much more obvious) the better deals are on the dutch side though.

 

[mac_tlc]

In St. Thomas, there are two main places to shop. The Havensight Mall is right next to the ship. Downtown Charlotte Amalie is about a 10 minute cab ride away , at $3 pp each way. Better yet, combine the beach and shopping into one...

Head downtown in the morning, about 9 - 9:30 or so. You can arrange with the cabbies for a 30-45 minute tour of the island, then they wil drop you off at either Megans Bay, Coki Beach or Sapphire beach for a couple of jours, then pick you up and return you to the ship. Usually about 12:30 they will meet you in front of the post office (yellow building). We have used Bernard and Timothy on our trips. They are partners.. Timothy's "cab" (actually a 15-20 passengers open-air safari-type vehicle) is bright, bright red with flowers on the sides. The cost is about $15-20 pp for the whole day. Allows you to see the island, the shops and the beaches....

mac_tlc

 

[4blinkies]

thank you guys and gals. We can't wait. any more deals? Please let us know.