CanHardlyWait Posted October 11, 2022 Report Share Posted October 11, 2022 Ok, Royal has like 6 St Maarten Beach Excursions listed. Only interested in Royal Caribbean excursions. Don't really care about lunch or drinks being included. More interested in clean and safe. Nice place to swim etc. Beach chairs and bathrooms included. Drink for purchase fine. Maybe one that isn't a forever ride from port, as most are only 3 1/2 hour trips to start with. Please advise. Lol. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asquared17 Posted October 11, 2022 Report Share Posted October 11, 2022 i would tell you to take up the holland house on their day pass but they are not thru RCCL and you would need to take the water taxi across the bay (about a 5 minute ride, only costing a few dollars). it is a beautiful place to swim, clean bathrooms, two lounge chairs and an umbrella. you also get 4 beers, and it was formerly only $25 pre-covid (plus water taxi fare). we have gone every time we visit st. maarten and it is our favorite stop and place to visit. i don't think there will be any RCCL excursions with that low price but perhaps there are others who know more! Swar and wforrey 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AshleyDillo Posted October 12, 2022 Report Share Posted October 12, 2022 22 minutes ago, asquared17 said: i would tell you to take up the holland house on their day pass but they are not thru RCCL and you would need to take the water taxi across the bay Absolutely an excellent idea. It's not the best beach in the world but it's really convenient and easy to get to on your own and you can see the ship from the beach so there's little worry that you won't make it back if you leave early. Plus you can walk over to Front Street that's a block over which is where a lot of the shopping is. It's not the best beach in the world, but it's cost efficient and easy to DIY. asquared17 and Swar 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asquared17 Posted October 12, 2022 Report Share Posted October 12, 2022 for anyone who might be interested, it looks like the pricing holds true, according to their website: https://www.hhbh.com/beach he staff is great and the chairs are comfortable. we had initially gone in may and it was getting HOT during the day -- we became quite grateful for the umbrella that came with our chairs. the lunch/snacks menu is not incredibly extensive but it got the job done! we really enjoyed ourselves and i am sad that our next cruises aren't taking us back there honestly. t Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BarbC Posted November 20, 2022 Report Share Posted November 20, 2022 just wondering when you say not the best beach what you mean by that? I am looking for a good beach to take a 7yr and 15yr too would this be good for them Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swar Posted November 23, 2022 Report Share Posted November 23, 2022 Take the $7 round trip water taxi (5-10 minute walk from the ship). When you get off the taxi MANY vendors will offer you a bucket of drinks, a chair, and an umbrella for @$25 /person. Swimming is fine and the two dogs are quite amusing as they run up and down the beach. Access to bathrooms and wifi is usually included. Shopping and reasaurants are right behind the beach. St. Maarten is probably the one island I will never do a paid shore excursion on due to the easy access and low price of a DIY. There are vendors who do stop by, but not too much of a bother. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AshleyDillo Posted November 23, 2022 Report Share Posted November 23, 2022 On 11/20/2022 at 2:19 PM, BarbC said: just wondering when you say not the best beach what you mean by that? I am looking for a good beach to take a 7yr and 15yr too would this be good for them It's not the prettiest beach or water, but kids would be perfectly fine if you're just looking for somewhere to hang out and swim for the day without having to take a ride anywhere (other than taking the water taxi over). I'm a big fan of at least seeing Maho Beach once if you've never seen it. It's really crowded and there's a drop to the water so it isn't really a lay out and relax beach, but it's something else to see the planes land right over the beach! You can walk off the ship to the taxi area and get a taxi there for about $12 each and it's a round-trip ride. You'll get a wristband that will get you back on the taxi when you leave. CarolfromFL 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jp1 Posted December 6, 2022 Report Share Posted December 6, 2022 We booked the Maho Beach excursion through RCCL at $47 per person. Sounds like we overpaid for what is basically a 35 minute shuttle ride. Would it make sense to cancel that and find our own way to the Beach? I'm just concerned about getting back to the ship on time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NotPayinExtra Posted December 6, 2022 Report Share Posted December 6, 2022 On 10/11/2022 at 4:22 PM, CanHardlyWait said: Ok, Royal has like 6 St Maarten Beach Excursions listed. Only interested in Royal Caribbean excursions. Don't really care about lunch or drinks being included. More interested in clean and safe. Nice place to swim etc. Beach chairs and bathrooms included. Drink for purchase fine. Maybe one that isn't a forever ride from port, as most are only 3 1/2 hour trips to start with. Please advise. Lol. Thanks! OK, I love how you said "Only interested in Royal Caribbean excursions" and have gotten everything but. Lol. I picked one of the Royal excursions myself and would love to here peoples thoughts on official Royal St Maarten Beach excursions. Who's done them? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AshleyDillo Posted December 7, 2022 Report Share Posted December 7, 2022 16 hours ago, jp1 said: We booked the Maho Beach excursion through RCCL at $47 per person. Sounds like we overpaid for what is basically a 35 minute shuttle ride. Would it make sense to cancel that and find our own way to the Beach? I'm just concerned about getting back to the ship on time. If you can manage your own time, absolutely cheaper to do it on your own, especially if you know where to go. You exit the ship and follow the signage to the taxis. You get in the line and when you get to the front you tell them you want to go Maho. You pay and they put a wristband on you and tell you which line to stand in. You will board a taxi (in our case it was an large passenger van) and they take you over to Maho. They drive past the beach into a parking lot. It's the same lot where you will return late to get a ride back. Then you walk over to the beach passing through the Sunset Bar that's right next to the beach. I would give yourself a couple of hours to get back to the ship. It won't take that long but traffic does happen. Usually on the ride back they give you the option of being let off in town for shopping if you choose. From there you can walk back to the ship (10-15 mins at a slow pace) or catch the water taxi for $ (used to be $4 one-way or $7 all day pass). Like I stated before..this beach personally for me isn't the best beach experience. The experience is watching the plane landings and I always enjoy it, but I'm not one to post up there and get an umbrella and chair and hang out all day. I would spend more time at the bar where there's shade and drinks. You can look up flight schedules ahead of time and Sunset Bar also has them posted so you can get an idea of when planes are going to land, especially when the big ones are coming in. CarolfromFL 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jp1 Posted December 7, 2022 Report Share Posted December 7, 2022 2 hours ago, AshleyDillo said: If you can manage your own time, absolutely cheaper to do it on your own, especially if you know where to go. You exit the ship and follow the signage to the taxis. You get in the line and when you get to the front you tell them you want to go Maho. You pay and they put a wristband on you and tell you which line to stand in. You will board a taxi (in our case it was an large passenger van) and they take you over to Maho. They drive past the beach into a parking lot. It's the same lot where you will return late to get a ride back. Then you walk over to the beach passing through the Sunset Bar that's right next to the beach. I would give yourself a couple of hours to get back to the ship. It won't take that long but traffic does happen. Usually on the ride back they give you the option of being let off in town for shopping if you choose. From there you can walk back to the ship (10-15 mins at a slow pace) or catch the water taxi for $ (used to be $4 one-way or $7 all day pass). Like I stated before..this beach personally for me isn't the best beach experience. The experience is watching the plane landings and I always enjoy it, but I'm not one to post up there and get an umbrella and chair and hang out all day. I would spend more time at the bar where there's shade and drinks. You can look up flight schedules ahead of time and Sunset Bar also has them posted so you can get an idea of when planes are going to land, especially when the big ones are coming in. Thanks. I'm an aviation guy so the planes are the main draw. My wife will probably relax in a beach chair and read a book. WAYNO, CarolfromFL and Seafarer 1 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WAYNO Posted December 7, 2022 Report Share Posted December 7, 2022 I absolutely get the peace of mind, booking such an excursion thru the ship, but... We've been to Maho Beach multiple times. Each time, it's been part of a larger excursion, where the tour stops at the beach area and gives us an hour or so to explore on foot. I've used ship tours, and I've hailed a tour on my own, at the Port. Tomorrow, if I wanted to go to Maho Beach, or any beach, and nothing else, I'd get on a taxi. There are so many of them, everywhere, I personally would not worry not getting back to the ship on time. jp1 and CarolfromFL 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wordell1 Posted December 8, 2022 Report Share Posted December 8, 2022 On 12/7/2022 at 10:43 AM, WAYNO said: I'd get on a taxi. There are so many of them, everywhere, I personally would not worry not getting back to the ship on time. I always set a time with my taxi driver to come back to pick us up - along with a good tip on the trip to the beach. I have never had an issue. WAYNO 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PL8SWPR Posted December 11, 2022 Report Share Posted December 11, 2022 Sitting at Sunset Bar and Grill and watching the planes is our favorite thing to do. First time it was part of a non RCLL island tour. Second time we just took a taxi and left plenty of time to get back to the port, shop a bit, then get back on the ship. Taxis are always coming and going. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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