St Thomas/St John, St Maarten
 

I may have already asked this and lost track of my posts, so sorry if I did, but need fodorites' reliable opinions/suggestions. Our upcoming cruise has stops in St Maarten and St Thomas. We have been to both before.

St Thomas, we went to the fort, sat in on a meeting of the Caribbean legislature, saw the synagogue.
St Maarten, we took a taxi to see the planes fly in then to a small secluded beach for the afternoon.

This time we have more family with us (3 seniors, 1 adult, 1 six year old child). I have read all kinds of things, recs from cruisecritic, etc. and still haven't come up with any plans. It looks like some great snorkeling excursions, boat over to Pinel island, etc. Interesting shopping could be nice too. St John looks interesting, but which of this stuff would work for the child or older seniors?

Thanks in advance for all help.

We once took a ferry from St Thomas to St John, then a jitney tour around the island with multiple interesting stops. We opted to get off the tour near the end at a beach with an underwater marked snorkeling trail.
In St Martin, we've rented a car so we could go at our own pace. There's a butterfly farm, a fort to climb, an excellent history museum.

As for St. Maarten we were very pleased with the tour guide we had. I recently spoke with her too about a resort our son was considering for his honeymoon and she was very helpful. Maybe she can help you too.
joyceprince.com/tours.html

I highly recommend St. John--it's one of the most spectacular places I've ever seen. We've been there twice, on ship-sponsored excursions. You take a ferry from St. Thomas, which is interesting in itself because you get a view of the coastline. Then, you board a little bus that's open on both sides, and it goes up and down the very, very winding and narrow roads of the island. But oh, the views! One of the beaches (I believe it's Trunk Bay) is quite famous and is the wallpaper on part of Princess' site (as well as the photo I use on my blog). I think it's an ideal excursion for older folks (like me!), but I'm not sure about young kids. Hope this helps a bit. - Musing About Cruising

In St Martin, I usually take the $2 p.p. van one picks
up on Back street that goes to Marigot to visit the French side.