I will be there for 1 day stopping on a cruise with my two kids, ages 15 and 17........I have no idea how to best use this time on St. Maarten. Any suggestions? Thanks very much.

We rented a car and drive around the East side of the Island over to the the French side, had lunch in Marigot, purchased a couple bottles of Absolut for $8 a piece, and on the way back stopped at Orient Beach for a couple of hours, wandered around Philipsburg for an hour or so at the shops, and stopped at the grocery story on the way back to the ship and picked up a 10 lb wheel of Gouda cheese for $21.00. There are several rental car places near the pier.

You also might want to post this on the Cruise Forum.

....and the Caribbean forum.

This looked like a lot of fun when we were there although we did not go on it ourselves.

http://res.atlantisadventures.com/to...te=12&tour=148

Your teens will really enjoy an excursion that we just did in November. It is the America's Cup Regatta (12metre.com). This company really purchased 3 boats from the real America's Cup yacht race. You become the crew & you "race" each other. It is alot of fun for the whole family even if you don't want to be a crew member.

Google it (America's Cup St. Maarten) as it is cheaper to purchase it online than it is from 12metre or your ship.

I doubt very much that you will be able to book the 12-meter World Cup Regatta excursion on your own. Most of the cruise ships reserve all the places, and you can even get bumped if you book it yourself (that happened to a friend of mine). It's the most popular shore excursion that any ship offers, so book it in advance if possible.

But St. Maarten is a great place to do the beach. You can rent a car very cheaply and drive to Friar's Bay, where there is a restaurant with full table service that will rent you chairs. It's not a terribly busy beach, but it's really beautiful. You can also hike over the hill to Happy Bay, which is not otherwise accessible from land.

Loterie Farm at the base of Pic du Paradis is also a great destination for kids. They have lunch and all kinds of activities.

Many people just shop, and that's possible too, but there are a lot more interesting things to do on St. Maarten.

Doug -- my family of 5 did not get bumped & we booked through a consolidator not 12metre. On our trip, all three boats were full & only half the participants were cruise people. Half were from local hotels & booked thru their Concierge. There were 4 large ships in port that day. I made that suggestion to Linda because with three people she could save at least $60 booking online.

I agree completely with you laurieb, and it's a good suggestion. This is a particularly expensive excursion, and the popularity depends entirely on how many ships are in port that day. If you can book in advance, then I'd feel safer, even with a consolidator. It's bound to be cheaper than the price on the ship.