Fishing on RCCL in St. Maarten, need advice!

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OceanFanatic

Guest
Hello! My husband and I are on the Explorer in December for an Eastern Carribean cruise. He is very interested in deep sea fishing and noticed there was an excursion in Phillipsburg, St. Maarten. However, we have read that on Carnival (we are on Royal Carribean), someone went on a fishing excursion and it ended up being 5 people taking turns fishing with one pole. We don't want to waste the money if that is how it works. Has anyone done this excursion? Or does anyone know how I can find out exactly what the excursion is? We are first time cruisers and would appreciate any tips or advice on excursions!! :)
 
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azgirl

Guest
Hi OceanFanatic: I can't offer you advice on your fishing trip in St. Maarten, but can tell you of my own personal deep sea fishing trip in Kauai. They had many poles on the boat and everyone was assigned a specific pole. But, you never touched the pole unless it had a bite on it (since they trolled). Me and one other lucky person were able to catch a Marlin, but the other 23 people did not. They never even got to hold their poles!!!!!!!! So, I no longer deep sea fish because it was too boring for me and unless you catch something a total waste of money (IMHO). Instead, I go bottom fishing so that I can hold the pole the entire 4 hours and fish on my own. To me, this is WAY more fun than trolling, which is what you do deep sea fishing. Also, I am a catch and release type of gal and after seeing how they killed my beautiful Marlin that I brought up to the boat (was so disheartening, I cried), I won't deep sea fish anymore. It was VERY gory!!!!!!!!! I'll never due that again to another fish as long as I live. If you are interested in bottom fishing, there is a boat in Aruba that does this. I have already booked our trip with them ($70 pp for 4 hours), but Aruba was the only place I could find this type of fishing. Hope this helped!



Post Edited (05-05-04 20:07)
 
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OceanFanatic

Guest
Ewww, that does sound pretty awful. Of course, my husband is big into fishing of all kinds so it probably wouldn't bother him. It would definitely bother me though!!! So, I can tell you if he does do it, I won't be going along for the ride! I will be parking my fanny on a beach somewhere drinking a nice slushy beverage!! :) Thanks for the advice, I will have my husband read it and let him decide if he really wants to spend the money. I think I will go back and post a generic message on deep sea fishing, asking for everyone's experiences. That way we have a couple stories and he can decide if he wants to take the chance and spend the money. Thanks again!
 
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Rosie

Guest
We also like to fish, but have yet to go fishing as a cruise excursion. I have seen a few fishing excursions offered, but they are usually very expensive (more than $100) for maybe 1 to 1/1/2 hours of fishing - it just doesn't seem worth it. The Aruba trip mentioned above sounds like a good one. I've been tempted to buy some collapsable fishing poles and put them in our suitcase the next time we cruise.
 
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azgirl

Guest
Hi OceanFanatic: Good idea on posting that message for everyone to reply to. I am just one story and unfortunately mine wasn't pleasant....even though I caught the "BIG ONE". I do love to fish though and if you want to go fish, seriously try bottom fishing. We do this everytime we go to Maui and look forward to booking it anywhere we vacation. I'm excited about the Aruba trip because it's $10 less per person than what we pay in Maui (but don't get the steak/chicken/fish lunch like the Maui one serves).

Anyway, have a great time on your vacation. Whether you decide to fish or not, I'm sure you'll have a great cruise! :eek:)
 
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