Eastern Caribbean excursions with littles

ray3127

Life goal = Quarterly vacation
Joined
Aug 2, 2018
Setting sail in 18 days on the Fantasy. Son is 4 (almost 5), and daughter turned 1 in January. The ship is truly our destination, and we are more than happy to stay on it the whole time. We are planning to get off at Castaway, but I wanted to double check on any ideas/thoughts from those that have cruised with kids similar to our ages.

Other stops are Tortola and St. Thomas; are there any excursions that would be suitable for us?

If it's between enjoying the ship while it's half empty at port versus going to a local beach, I'm pretty sure we'll choose the ship. However, we may want to get off the ship, even if just for a bit, between when we board on Saturday and when we hit Castaway on Friday. So if there are any suggestions for a family such as ours, I am all ears!
 
The last time we did this itinerary our little ones were 2&3 years old. In St. Thomas we did Magen’s Bay and it was incredible. The kids absolutely loved it. The water was like bath water - zero waves, totally clear and warm so they enjoyed going into the water. The excursion was on the shorter side. I think we were there for 2 or 3 hours which worked out perfectly. They both ended up napping on the drive back to port. The ship ended up having engine issues so we skipped Tortola entirely.
 
Thank you for this. We may try hopping off and checking out Magen's Bay. Did you do the excursion through Disney?
 
We went to Magen's Bay with our 4yo last year. We did book through Disney (Magens Bay Beach Break (ST27)). I brought our own sand toys (buckets, shovels, etc) along with a blow up swim tube for her, and then rented an umbrella while there (bring some cash). The water was so calm, the weather was amazing, and we had a great time. We would definitely go there again!
 


Here's my review for Secret Sands in St. Thomas, we booked it with Disney. We were there last month.

Secret Sands at St. Thomas

The buses were the same as those on Tortola. The roads were wider and not as winding as on Tortola, again felt very safe on the drive. As soon as we got off the bus, our host, Kareem greeted us and told us where everything was at. He had drinks, all kinds of sodas and alcoholic drinks. I think he also had different things to eat like potato chips, but there was no cooked food or merchandise tents with things for sale. We didn't get any food or drinks(brought own water bottles and had just ate) There was no set price, he just asked for a tip because that's how he got paid. He had masks and snorkels that were $10. We didn't rent any, but I did see others who did. I talked to him and he said that they were set up for no more than one ship at a time and no more than 75 people. We had less than that on our excursion. The beach area that our chairs were at was slightly smaller than at CC, but there was a lot more area of the beach with no on it that you could walk along. They had beach chairs but no umbrellas. Our chairs were next to some kind of trees that gave us some shade. We also had a lot of clouds while there, so we really didn't need to have umbrellas. They had covered picnic tables right where the buses let us off, could walk to them in 1-2 minutes. so if you need to get shade, you could. I never saw anyone going up there and we had many people with toddlers and seniors on the excursion. The sand had some small shells, but I didn't need to wear my water shoes, similar to CC. The water was clear and very calm, again like at CC. While I was relaxing in my chair a lady carrying some chairs stopped by me and we started to talk. She was waiting for her dh. They were renting house on the island. She said they had gone to 2 other beaches earlier that morning and they were really crowded. A local told her to come to Secret Sands, it's where most of the locals go. There were 6 other ships in St.Thomas while we were there and we had this area pretty much to our selves. I only notice her, and maybe a few while we were there. They all went further down the beach from us. We could see other islands in the distance. The bathrooms were nice and clean. They had an area to wash sand off your feet plus separate showers for women and men. Each shower had it's own little area with a small bench to place your stuff while you rinsed off, it was private so you could change if you wanted to. There was a lady and a man working there. I saw the lady checking the lady's restroom to make sure it had toilet paper and she was also sweeping up the sand. The restrooms very clean and well kept. Kareem came along and told us when we had 15-20 mins left. Again it was a very nice relaxing day. On the drive back to the port we stopped and got off the bus at an overlook where we had a great view of the port area below where we were able to see the Fantasy. They had some tables selling typical merchandise like jewelry and t-shirts. I didn't get any, so don't know the prices. Spent about 10 mins just looking at the lovely view.

This was my first time to go to Tortola, so I don't know what the other beaches are like. I was at St. Thomas nearly 20 yrs ago, but we didn't go to a beach then. We enjoyed both places and would go back to them if we do another EC.

Edit to add both beaches also had pool noodles that were included in the price that you could use, saw many people using them.
 
Here's my review of the Beach Express excursion on Tortola, again booked with Disney. Both of our excursions were in the morning. We were able to go back to the ship after each and have lunch then hang out at the pool/ride Aquaduck.

I decided unpacking and laundry could wait, plus I worry I will forget something if I wait too long. First up, Beach Express in Tortola:

We had about a 5 min walk from the ship to the place where we got on the bus. The buses in Tortola and St.Thomas were both open sided with roofs. There were a couple of steps to get into them. They held around 20 people. I felt very safe in them. We had families with toddlers on our buses on both islands, they seemed comfortable with holding their kids in their laps. The beach in Tortola is on the other side of the island. Because of this we had to drive on some winding roads that went up the island and then down. The roads were very narrow, and the cars coming the other direction would come very close to the bus. I only saw one stop sign and light on the entire way to the beach. I wouldn't want to drive there, but our driver did a great job. I don't think we went over 35mph, we saw lots of cars/trucks zipping by. Our tablemates did the excursion that was a driving tour of the island along with a beachbreak. They are seasoned cruisers and said they felt queasy on their excursion because they weren't expecting the winding roads. I get motion sickness. I take Bonine every morning of the cruise and had no problem on the drive, the drive wasn't scary or anything, so don't let my saying they were winding roads scare you. No one on our bus was bothered by the drive. Our tablemates were probably driving around a lot more than us though. As soon as we got off the bus, our hostess Pam was there to greet us. She gave us info about where everything that was included was located. We brought our own water bottles, so we never went over to get our free water/juice that was included. When you get off the bus there are some tents set up that had food for sale and some merchandise. We didn't buy any food since we had just had breakfast and were going to eat lunch on the ship afterwards. I don't know what kind of food they had, but it smelled really good. I also never went to see what kinds of things they were selling, but did see t-shirts as I walked by. I talked to Pam later in the day. This had been a beach that locals used. There were no bathrooms or anything. But after the hurricane, they decided to use this for ship excursions, so right now they are using temporary facilities. She said they are trying to get the govt. to build facilities there so they can continue to use this for ship excursions. Hard to describe the bathrooms. They were on a platform. 2 for men and 2 for women. Although they weren't in a permanent building, they weren't port-a-potties either. They were clean and big enough for parents to go in with kids who might need help. I'm a germaphobe and felt ok using them. The showers were next to the bathrooms, out in the open. They had great water pressure for washing the sand off. Everything was running on generators. We had about 60-70 people on our excursion. They showed us where our beach chairs were. It was just us and another separate group. Don't know what ship the other group was with, but it was much smaller than ours. There was about 20 feet separating our chairs from theirs. We rented a umbrellas for $5. They had pool noodles and kayaks that were included. There was a water trampopline that was $5 for kids and $10 for adults. My dh and dd did it. There was only 1 other family who did it. One of the employees was on it at first, but then my dh and the other dad were on it with the kids and made sure they were all safe on it. My dd was disappointed at first at the beach because it was nice, calm waters. She wanted to have strong waves, but was happy as soon as she saw the trampoline. The company that rented the umbrella also had some stuff that could be rented, I didn't look to see what they had. Pam made sure to tell us to go get the noodles and Kayaks that she had that were included and not to rent them from the other company. The water was clear and warm. The beach was lovely, slightly smaller than family beaches on CC. We could see other islands in the distance. My dd had water shoes, but didn't wear them. Sand/shells about the same as on CC. There was a slight decline going down from where we got off the buses to the beach, but not too terrible to walk. If someone is in a wheelchair or walker it might be difficult. We were there for a little over 3 hrs. The first 2 hours was just us and the other group. I did notice locals coming the last hour we were there, but it never felt crowded and everyone was really friendly and nice. The locals that came went to another part of the beach. If we do another EC I would book this again. Pam made sure to let us know when we needed to be back on the buses.
 
I am also looking for excursions appropriate at st Thomas for toddlers. I don’t want to put them in a car with no car seat. Any ideas?
 


I am also looking for excursions appropriate at st Thomas for toddlers. I don’t want to put them in a car with no car seat. Any ideas?
I too, am travelling with a little, 1 yr old and 5 yr old (less worried about her) and I've looked everywhere with no luck finding any type of transportation at either St. Thomas or Tortola where car seats are provided. I'm following to see if you find anything.
 
I too, am travelling with a little, 1 yr old and 5 yr old (less worried about her) and I've looked everywhere with no luck finding any type of transportation at either St. Thomas or Tortola where car seats are provided. I'm following to see if you find anything.

We did Jost Van Dyke at Tortola which didn't require getting in a car. You just walk to the boat.

In St. Thomas, we just walked and did the gondola thing then went back on the ship. We were on the ship way before anyone else, and had the pools basically to ourselves. It was SO fun!
 
We did the Kon Tiki excursion in St Thomas last year and everyone had lots of fun. I was in the same position, had a 9 month old with me plus my 2 older kids who were 7 and 9. It was a great fit for us. You just walk down the dock and hop on the Kon tiki which is like a covered pontoon. It takes you for a short boat ride, they point out the sites. Then you stop at a beach for a while, then there is music and limbo the boat ride back. My whole gang had so much fun. And I had the baby in the carrier the whole time and it was a hit.
 

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