Self Guided Excursion in St Maarten to Orient Bay and Great Bay Beach | Wonder of the Seas 2024

Hi Guys, this is the final Wonder of the Seas video that I am sharing with you on our 7N Eastern Caribbean cruise. This time, we are in the beautiful island of St. Maarten, also known as Sint Maarten which is the Dutch southern part shared with French Saint-Martin. This island is renowned for its vibrant culture and beautiful beaches. Wonder of the Seas is docked at Philipsburg which is on the Dutch side of the island. For this cruise stop, we decided to explore on our own and visited Orient Bay Beach (on the French side) as well as Great Bay Beach (Dutch side) which was a short walking distance from the port. Upon disembarkation, we took a taxi (along with other cruisers) and shared the fare to Orient Bay beach. The shore is a bit dirty with so much seaweeds (not sure if it is always like this) and the waves are bigger so if you are not a strong swimmer I would suggest that you do not venture too far away from the shore. There are many restaurants along the beach and various water sports activities are being offered. There is also a section of the beach that is clothing optional for those who'd like to bare it all. We did not stayed long in Orient Bay and decided to board another taxi back to Philipsburg for some shopping and to check Great Bay beach which was only a short walk from the cruise port. This part of the island is our favorite with many shops, cafes and restaurants. The structures are much taken cared as compared to the French side. The Great Bay beach is also much better (in my opinion) as the waves are so calm. On our visit, there are more visitors to this beach than Orient Bay. TIP: If you like alcohol and perfumes, there are numerous duty-free shops in this area and they do have the best price for any liquor in the Caribbean. Thank you for watching our Wonder of the Seas videos that was shared over the last few weeks. I hope they are helpful for you in any way. Please do not hesitate to drop a comment if you'd like to ask anything about our Royal Caribbean cruise. I also want to hear from you if you have done this sailing and how your experience was. Have a good day and see you on our next video!