Disney cruise --- excursions or go it alone?

[leeba25]

We're stopping at Tortola and St. Maarten on our way to San Juan. In St. Maarten, we really just want to go to the beach and hang out for the day, have lunch, etc. There's an excursion for that, with a bus ride and a ticket for lunch ... but I'm going to guess that there are taxis available at the port, and then at the beach later that would do the same thing for a lot cheaper. Have you done this? Is there a reason I'd want to pay extra for the excursion through DCL? 

One I'm looking at that includes a bus ride and lunch is $65 per adult and $45 per child. There are 4 of us, and $220 for a ride to the beach plus lunch sounds cuckoo. Any thoughts? 

thanks! 

ETA: In Tortola, we definitely want to go see the Baths ... there's this excursion: A Day at the Baths (TT04). Again, is it better just to do this on our own to maximize our time on the beaches? This seems to involve a ferry and a bus, so maybe not. The cost of this one is pretty steep at $456 for the four of us. 

[dcrunnergirl52]

When we went to Jamaica last year on our DCL, we booked a day at the beach through Resort for a Day, which also has an option in St. Maarten. It worked out great.  I reviewed using Resort for a Day here:

pipeandfletch.blogspot.com/2015/05/disney-cruise-part-3.html

I liked the idea of having a resort at our disposal and not just the beach with the crush of cruisers coming through. And, it was cheaper.

We were scheduled to go on the same itinerary as your cruise this November (but recently cancelled and changed to going to Aulani). I was going to book a day pass in St. Maarten through Resort for a Day for the Westin Dawn. It's a short ride away from the cruise port, so I wasn't too worried about getting back on time via a cab. However, I called the hotel, and they actually sell day passes for cheaper if you just buy right from them. That was our plan, and the Trip Advisor reviews make it look perfect for a day pass. I didn't do too much research on how hard it was to get a cab back, so you'll just want to research that so you don't miss your boat.

[leeba25]

dcrunnergirl52 - thank you, great idea! I actually googled to see whether cruise ships really leave passengers who don't show up, and apparently it happens. I can't even imagine.

[dcrunnergirl52]

I forgot to mention that on Tortola, we had decided against doing an excursion as a family (b/c there wasn't much my 3-year old could do), and DH was just going to go diving (via the Disney excusion) while the kids went to the kids club and I slept/relax/drank on the adult deck.

IIRC, the day in Tortola is relatively short, with the boat leaving at like 2pm. If that's right, I would only do a Disney excursion, especially to something like the baths, because it doesn't leave you a lot of leeway to get back to the boat. With the Disney excursions, I believe the boat will wait if the transportation isn't back to the boat on time. So you may want to check the schedule for that day and see how long you're in Tortola.

[leeba25]

It says on the itinerary online that the onboard time is 4:45pm for both of the port days, so I think that's fine.

the baths definitely seems like a more complicated trip (or maybe they're just making it seem that way, lol), so I may do the "resort for a day" for St Maarten but do the baths through an excursion.

IDK, too many decisions.

Your plan seems divine though

[badgerwrangler]

Definitely do it on your own! I make sure to get off the ship ASAP in the morning and head back with plenty of time left.

In St. Maarten, we took a little ferry boat over to the main land I believe, and there was a beach pretty much right there that we could rent chairs at. There were a few ladies selling things but no one was pushy at all. My H and DD stayed there for quite awhile and my toddler DS and I went back to the ship after a couple of hours.

In Tortola, we did the baths on our own. DD was 7 and DS was 5.5. We disembarked the ship and walked to the left towards the ferry dock, you could see where to go from the ship if you know what I mean. We used Speedy's ferry and booked the ferry and "taxi" all in one. So I think it was a 30-40 min ferry ride and a 10 min open aired taxi ride. The gave us the return times and we could go back whenever. I think we took the 9 am ferry over and the 11:30 back so we were back in plenty of time. And it was significantly cheaper than going through Disney (like under $100).

We have been on 4 Disney cruises and we have never done a DCL excursion. I read the disboards for ideas and check on trip advisor for reviews.

Have so much fun on your cruise!