Port Adventure recommendations for St. Thomas and St. Martin? - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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Port Adventure recommendations for St. Thomas and St. Martin?
We are taking our first Disney cruise to the Eastern Caribbean on the Fantasy in July! Very excited!!! This is also my first time on the PassPorter forums.
I will be traveling with my DH, DS (10 yrs old) and DD (7 yrs old). My online registration date is approaching and I REALLY need help with selecting port adventures. My kids are pretty adventurous and like to have fun! I did go to Disney's site and read about Port Adventures and also saw reviews in PassPorter’s DCL book. A lot of the PAs that seem really fun have an age requirement of 8 and DD is 7. Also, I can't see what times the PAs start and I don't think I want to do something at 7:00am! (My kids will be half asleep!) Also, since I'm in the last group to register I'm not sure what PAs will still have openings.
So, for St. Thomas here's what I am considering. I'm thinking about taking a cab to Maagen's Bay, but we have a full day at Castaway Cay, so I don't know if I want to do 2 beach days. I thought the kids might like the Skyride to Paradise Point and then we'll have time to explore the town. I think they'd love the Screamin' Eagle Jet Boat ride, although it's only 30 minutes long. The Doubloon Turtle Cove Snail and Snorkel got good reviews. But is it worth it to pay so much to snorkel here when we can snorkel at Castaway Cay for so much less? Finally there's the Tortola Dolphin Encounter. But, it's over 8 hours long and you are with the dolphins for only 30 minutes. Also, it seems you get to touch the dolphins but not really swim with them.
Here's what we're considering in St. Martin. We can walk to Great Bay Beach from the boat and hang out in town. There are also two semi-sub adventures, one called the See and Sea Island Tour and one called the Sea World Explorer Coral Reef Exploration. (They're the same thing, one just gives you time in Marigot.) They got mixed reviews and I don't want the kids to be bored. Finally there's the Golden Eagle Catamaran, which got good reviews but I'm not sure if there is snorkeling. And again, we already have a beach/snorkel day available at Castaway Cay.
I'd appreciate any feedback you have on these port adventures! If you did different PAs, I'd love to hear your opinions of those, too! Thanks!!!
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Screaming Eagle is awesome. We did that with our 10 year old daughter. Maagen's Bay is ok. Really crowded if there are a lot of ships in port. The day we were in port there was 4 ships and it was busy. Beach is nice but not great. On St. Martin you have to try the Rhino Riders. It was great and the private beach you go to is awesome. The tour group took great care of us !
Hello and ! We will be doing the same cruise shortly before you. I can't give you previous Eastern experience, but we have sailed the Bahamas before with DCL and visited Castaway Cay. It'll be myself, DH, and DD (age 14). Here's the plan...
St Maarten - We've decided to take the water taxi to Great Bay Beach (at Dave Marx's suggestion - easier when carrying packages, etc, and it has a reasonable full-day use fee), and play there until lunch. Then we're going to head back to the ship, get cleaned up, and eat lunch. After lunch we plan on taking the water taxi back down the beach, and hit the shops.
St Thomas - We are signed up for the Water Island Mountain Bike excursion. I think the age minimum might be 10 for this though, so I don't know if it would work for you. I couldn't see the time until I began to select the excursion. If there are multiple options you could probably choose then.
Castaway Cay - Play on the family beach for most of the day, intermixed with lunch at Cookies, a visit to Serenity Bay while DD hangs with the teens, and anything else we decide to do that day. We CC!!!!!
Whatever you decide, you will love your DCL cruise! It is our new favorite way to vacation!!!
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Great question! to the Passporter Boards. Have fun planning for your cruise.
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My DH and DD did the Doubloon Turtle Cove Sail and Snorkel (DS and I would have done it too, but DS woke up sick that morning). They had a blast. The ships are really cool pirate ships. And the snorkling for them was great. Lots of turtles that would surface very close (DD had one about 3 feet from her). They really liked it.
My DH and DD did the Doubloon Turtle Cove Sail and Snorkel (DS and I would have done it too, but DS woke up sick that morning). They had a blast. The ships are really cool pirate ships. And the snorkling for them was great. Lots of turtles that would surface very close (DD had one about 3 feet from her). They really liked it.
I'm really interested in this one! Do you remember what time the Doubloon excursion started? I'm wondering if we could do the Doubloon in the morning and the Screamin' Eagle in the afternoon. Again, it's my first cruise so it's all new to me. Thanks for your help!
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The doubloon was definitly first thing in the morning. Like 9. And they were back by lunch (I remember I had to kind of twist my DS's arm to get a little something in his stomach). And it isn't just a single ship. Several went out that morning. I got to watch them from our room.
The doubloon was definitly first thing in the morning. Like 9. And they were back by lunch (I remember I had to kind of twist my DS's arm to get a little something in his stomach). And it isn't just a single ship. Several went out that morning. I got to watch them from our room.
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If you really want to do a semi sub - I would recommend the Coral World excursion that includes one. Or, you can book on your own for less and have more time there also. My DD and I did this on our last cruise and really enjoyed it.
The sub was about 30-45 minutes and a diver brings things to the windows for you to see. Then we had about 90 minutes at Coral World which was really neat. She loved feeding the birds there and still talks about it.
In St Thomas we did the Trunk Bay snorkel tour. My DS is 7 and he loved it.
FYI bring some granola bars/packaged snacks from home for any longer excursion just in case. You can take unopened prepackaged food items off the ship. We met at 8:15am and were not back to the ship until 1. Luckily we had a bag of popcorn. But could find nothing else on the ship we could take with us to eat. My kids normally have had a snack and lunch by noon on a school day.
I am also going on an Eastern Carr. cruise but in Nov. Has anyone done the "Sea Trek Helmet" adventure? It looks awesome, especially since I can't seem to get my Brain and the rest of my body to work together to snorkle. For some reason I can't figure it out. But this looks like it gives you the great view of the underwater while providing the air, which is what I have the problem with....I think. Has anyone done it recently? I see they have it at both ports on this cruise but is one of the two ports better than the other? It is a little pricey so I was hoping it was worth it. Thanks.
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I live in upstate NY. My wife and I have two children (19 and 15) and one puppy. We all love Disney.
We'll be on this itinerary in Dec/Jan, so glad for this thread. Just started adding possible excursions to my "favorites" list. Happily, I have Gold status, so can book early!
We have been to Magen Bay on a previous (not DCL) cruise, and LOVED it! I'm sure it helped that ours was the only ship in port that day. I just remember how clear the water was. But not a lot of fish - at least when we were there so the clarity only helped to see your own toes!
We are going on the 7 Sept Eastern Cruise. In St Maarten we are doing the Mountain Top Downhill Rainforest Trek that takes a hike thru the rainforest. In St. Thomas we are doing the Tree Limin Extreme Zip Line Tour. At Castaway Cay we are going to take advantage of Parasailing. Since it is just DH and I on the cruise we are trying to do excursions that we would not be able to do if the kids were with us.
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! We will be doing the same cruise shortly before you. I can't give you previous Eastern experience, but we have sailed the Bahamas before with DCL and visited Castaway Cay. It'll be myself, DH, and DD (age 14). Here's the plan...
CC!!!!! 
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