Eastern Carribean cruise line shore excursions - why or why not

We'll be cruising on Disney Magic, but my question is more generic.
- I guess almost any Eastern Caribbean cruise stops at St. Maarten, St.
Thomas and /or St. John.
- What's the advantage of the cruise line's organized excursions in these
places versus just touring on our own ?
- What do you recommend we do or not do if we prefer to do 'our own thing' ?
Any practical advice would be welcome.
- Lastly, Disney stops at Castaway Cay: if you've been there, I'd appreciate
feedback on what you did (or didn't), what you enjoyed (or didn't).
- We will be there over New Year's. Does this time of the year make any
difference to the subjects above ?

Thanks.

--

Regards,

Gershon Shamay

In article B0Wxb.16030$o9.2672@fed1read07, Gershon Shamay
wrote:

- I guess almost any Eastern Caribbean cruise stops at St. Maarten, St.
Thomas and /or St. John.
- What's the advantage of the cruise line's organized excursions in these
places versus just touring on our own ?

There is almost no advantage to you at those ports. You can do most of
the same things the cruise line organizes on your own. If you do it on
your own the cost will be lower and the tour will be better.

- What do you recommend we do or not do if we prefer to do 'our own
thing' ?
Any practical advice would be welcome.

St. Maarten you can take a cab to beach, Orient Beach is the one that I
prefer but there is some nudity that might be seen. I see you will be
on Disney which might mean you are going with children. There are other
beaches without nudity. Also you can take a taxi to Marigot on the
French side. Or you can hire a taxi to give you a tour of the island.
Be sure to agree on rates in advance. At St. Thomas you can take taxis
to a beach like Sapphire Bay or a taxi to Red Hook where there is a
ferry to St. John, a beautiful island with a lot of beaches like Trunk
Bay.

--
Charles

We did our own thing in St Thomas...We picked up a taxi at the pier, took it
to Red Hook Ferry which took us over to St John. We rented a Jeep and drove
around the island for that day.....picked up the Ferry back to St Thomas and
a taxi to the pier.
It was the best day of our 7 day cruise. We were able to explore the island
on our own pace, swam in Trunk Bay and visited the Annaberg sugar mill ruins
and also ate lunch at Skinny Legs and had the best hamburger! The only
strange thing was driving on the left side of the road and that St John is
one big HILL...up and down is very scary....but it was FUN! I suggest
getting over to St John if you can. It is bueatiful and less populated then
St Thomas.

Helen
"Gershon Shamay" wrote in message
news:B0Wxb.16030$o9.2672@fed1read07...
We'll be cruising on Disney Magic, but my question is more generic.
- I guess almost any Eastern Caribbean cruise stops at St. Maarten, St.
Thomas and /or St. John.
- What's the advantage of the cruise line's organized excursions in these
places versus just touring on our own ?
- What do you recommend we do or not do if we prefer to do 'our own thing'
?
Any practical advice would be welcome.
- Lastly, Disney stops at Castaway Cay: if you've been there, I'd
appreciate
feedback on what you did (or didn't), what you enjoyed (or didn't).
- We will be there over New Year's. Does this time of the year make any
difference to the subjects above ?

Thanks.

--

Regards,

Gershon Shamay

On Fri, 28 Nov 2003 21:21:53 -0800, "Gershon Shamay"
wrote:

What do you recommend we do or not do if we prefer to do 'our own thing' ?

America's Regatta - ST. Maarten.

A blast.

On Sat, 29 Nov 2003 17:58:52 GMT,
(CupCaked) wrote:

America's Regatta - ST. Maarten.

A blast.

Hmm. We'll be there in late January. How physical is it?
I'd love to do this, but I wonder if my back will hold up.

You have your choice of doing nothing or being very physical. Nothing
means cheerleader or beer-hander-outer. Stay away from being a
"grinder" (those silver wheel thingies wore me out), go for the drink
passer outer.

See the guy in the red. That's where you want to be.

http://cruises.about.com/library/pic...lregatta11.htm

The only other thing you would need to be careful of is the somewhat
quick "rolls". Hey, the guy who was responsible for handling the rope
to the sails was 85 and a stroke victim.

We lost because of him. He had a great time though.

Gershon Shamay wrote:

- Lastly, Disney stops at Castaway Cay: if you've been there, I'd appreciate
feedback on what you did (or didn't), what you enjoyed (or didn't).

We were there at the end of Jan last year. When you get to Castaway Cay
you "dock", which is much nicer then tendering. You can get on or off
the ship when you want, without having to wait. Castaway Cay has a
family beach and an adult only beach for those who want to get away from
the kids. The food on Castaway Cay was very good and again they had a
separate adult only area.

Here is my webshots site, you will find a couple of albums of DCL Magic
pictures, including some from Castaway Cay.
http://community.webshots.com/user/kjmullen_1

Here is a map of Castaway Cay, it will show you what is available there.
http://www.castawayclub.com/

I think I already gave you a link to our cruise review and to the
disboards.

sue