Traveler Reviews

• Trip08688858293 20-Feb-2023

  St. Maartin was the last port on our Regent cruise of the Caribbean. We were on a special tour of the entire island by bus arranged by Distinctive Voyages. After participating in several shore excursions involving buses, we were prepared for another foray in a cramped, uncomfortable vehicle that turned 4 hours into a lifetime. We’re we shocked and awed! “Mailman” (his nickname due to the difficult pronunciation of his name) our guide and driver, took immense pride in sharing his island with us. He was very articulate and knowledgeable and in spite of visiting the island several times, I learned a lot of history about the people and culture. St. Maartin relies exclusively on tourism to drive it’s economy and as a result is heavily commercialized, especially on the Dutch side. However, Mailman got us past the obvious and helped everyone on the tour understand the people who live on both the French and Dutch sides of the island. Oddly enough, one of the highlights was the airport, ranked one of the most dangerous in the world due to its very short runway. We were shown the “stupid zone” (my term) where tourists line-up at the edge of the runway to almost touch the overhead jets as they land, or to stand immediately behind the jets as they prepare to take-off, occasionally killing or injuring those with a death wish. We were also told about the distinct differences between the French & Dutch sides that are sovereign and independent but are also collaborative in making things work. I came away viewing islanders as very independent, courageous and bold people. Reliant on the import of all goods and subject to global warming and more frequent and severe hurricanes, islanders must be ready for anything and they accept the challenges graciously. About the bus-it was the best we’d ridden, with functional AC, available soft drinks, a very well maintained/clean interior, and overall comfort. We highly recommend this company…the restaurant Villa Royals, where we stopped for lunch on the French side was excellent and should be visited if you’re in Grand-Case.

• Var712 04-Aug-2022

  We did private 6 hour tour of St. Maarten. David was our tour guide. I cannot say enough about what a wonderful and informative guide he was. He took us all over the island--Dutch and French side. We saw so many interesting things and we learned so much about the history of the island. Great job David!

• Suzanneh35 22-Jan-2020

  We booked a private tour last minute for Christmas day so I was a little worried about how that would turn out. We ended up having the most amazing tour guide, Augustine. She showed us so much of the island and told us so much about history as well as local life. We've done private tours around the world and I felt like Augustine really let us into her life and personality more than other tour guides have. She took us to the perfect spot on Orient Bay Beach. It was not at all busy and was by a brand new restaurant with clean restrooms and changing facilities. We wanted to also see Maho beach, so she took us there at the perfect time to see several big airplanes land. I highly recommend Bernard's Tours and Augustine specifically. I plan to be back and do another tour with her someday.

• Staceyh9899 12-Jan-2020

  We arrived on Freedom of the Seas. My husband and I had been to St. Martin on our honeymoon and we were excited to show our kids the places we went. Judensy (sp?) took us to all of the places we wanted to go, and showed us some other places we didn't know about. The cruise line warned us not to go to the French side, but we went with absolutely no problems. He had a lot of information about the island. Highlights were Orient Beach and the zipline.

• Felixps 29-Dec-2019

  Wir haben die Tour „St. Maarten SXM Island Tour“ im Rahmen einer Kreuzfahrt mit der AIDA Luna vorab auf eigene Faust gebucht und waren sehr zufrieden. Es war eine überschaubare Gruppe von ca. 15 Personen, alles Kreuzfahrtgäste, in einem klimatisierten Minibus. Folgende Punkte wurden u.a. angefahren: niederländischer und französischer Teil, Stopp mit Leguan Fütterung, Strandaufenthalt im französischen Teil, französische Hauptstadt Marigot, Maho Beach. DJ Dave, unser Fahrer und Guide hat uns während der Fahrt mit Getränken versorgt und uns auf Englisch alles perfekt erklärt. Am Maho Beach haben wir die Landung des größten Flugzeugs an diesem Tag miterlebt – ein perfektes Timing. Die Abholung und natürlich auch die Rückkehr zum Schiff verliefen problemlos und vor allem pünktlich. Ich kann diese Tour ohne Einschränkung weiterempfehlen.

• Loric124 15-Dec-2019

  I’ve been on many of Bernard’s tours over the years and every single one has been fantastic. This time, on Dec 12, 2019, we did a private island tour with 43 of us in 2 buses. Our guides were The Mailman & DJ Dave; both are fabulous! If you want a terrific tour of the island- Grand Cas Beach, Maho Beach, French Market; all kinds of sights to see, I highly recommend taking a Bernard Tour. They provide beverages, including their famous rum punch and also keep you smiling the whole time. Thank you again, Bernard, The Mailman and DJ Dave. See you on my next trip! xo

• Mckinna1 02-Jun-2019

  We’ve used Bernard’s tours before when visiting St Martin. This time since there was 7 of us we booked the private island tour, and our driver was Diane. She was so wonderful- she helped plan our day based around seeing the island- both French and Dutch sides, a beach break for swimming, shopping and Maho Beach for the airplanes. She gave us an overview of the hurricane impact and slow recovery since, and how difficult that has been since the Dutch side really depends on tourism for jobs and their economy. We made several stops on both sides of the islands, and we had a good stop at Orient Beach for some swimming time. I don’t think it’s been open that long for visitors since the hurricane. There’s a restaurant and bathrooms there, plus you can rent loungers and beach umbrellas. We went to the French side for a quick food break at a bakery there for some tasty sandwiches and pastries then finished the day at Maho Beach to watch the planes land. Despite a long traffic jam caused by some road construction repairs (it took up about 50 minutes of our 6 hour tour), she made sure we saw and did everything we wanted to us for us back to the ship in plenty of time. She was such a wonderful tour guide for us- we’ve been on lots of island tours during our numerous cruises and I think Diane is our very favorite one. She also had a good supply of water, Caribe beer and some yummy rum punch as well. I would highly recommend the private custom tours because you can set your own schedule of things to do. The one recommendation for improvement I would make is to be more specific in the emails about where to meet the tour once we have disembarked from the ship- we kind of knew where to meet since we’ve toured with them before, but I know it can be confusing for first time folks. St Martin is so beautiful and I hope it continues it’s recovery from the hurricane.

• 30alatrans 18-May-2019

  Nous étions en escale de croisiere a Saint Martin pour une journée. Nous avons choisi ce tour car il permettait de decouvrir les incontournables de l'ile, du coté Neerlandais et Francais. Nous n'avons pas ete decu. L'acceuil par notre chauffeur (David il nous semble) et ses informations tout au long de la balade de 6 heures sont excellents. Le véhicule est tres propre et climatisé.Nous avons fait un stop de 1h30 sur la plage de Grand Case, dans le restaurant conseillé , "Plage Rainbow": MAGIQUE. Les employés y sont si sympa . J' ai particulierement apprecié Maho Beach et ses avions , tous simplement impressionnant. Seul bemol, l'arret a Marigot....rien a y voir de spécial, ne perdez pas de temps la! Nous vous recommandons cet operateur, le prix est incroyable ( 115 euros pour 2 adultes et un enfant, boissons fraiches à volonté incluses), le meilleur rapport qualité prix de toutes nos excursions dans les caraibes. Merci Bernard's Tour, nous vous reverrons avec joie si nous revenons a St marteen

• Karen C 10-May-2019

  We booked this tour directly through Bernard’s Tours although it was offered through the cruise line at a higher price. Our driver was David and he was extremely knowledgeable and pleasant. We visited every spot we asked to go to plus more. We asked a lot of questions and he answered them all and seemed like he enjoyed the banter. Many people have complained on here about not being able to find them or the long walk. St Maarten has a long pier and at the end of it you just look to the right and see a white tent. I would totally recommend this tour.

• Mial0504 09-May-2019

  Very cool trip. Sweet Dani(Daniel) was amazing and took great care of us. He also had a lot of information about the island. When my parents tried to walk in the rain to the Dutch cheese market after our tour he insisted on driving them and waited for them to be done. Great way to see the island and you can tailor it to your own trip