st. maarten St. Maarten Now

[trueblue83]

Delighted I read through all the posts here as think Captain Bobs tour looks like a real winner for both of us when we are there in March.

 

Regarding Maho beach being a tourist trap, I couldn't care. It's something I always wanted to see and this will probably be my only time there in my life. Some things are inherently touristy but still worth seeing.

[BrianAlt]

1 hour ago, trueblue83 said:

Regarding Maho beach being a tourist trap, I couldn't care. It's something I always wanted to see and this will probably be my only time there in my life. Some things are inherently touristy but still worth seeing.

If you've never been, it's worth it. It's fun! And the prices at the bar aren't insane.  Sure, higher than other places, but not break the bank expensive.  Have a snack and a couple of drinks.  After all, you're on vacation!   

[teddy]

3 hours ago, trueblue83 said:

Regarding Maho beach being a tourist trap, I couldn't care. It's something I always wanted to see and this will probably be my only time there in my life. Some things are inherently touristy but still worth seeing.

On our recent Captain Bob's tour, the last stop we made was offshore of Maho Beach.  We watched a couple planes land and one take off.  After seeing how close the jet blast actually is, I was happy to be on the boat.

[Floski]

On 2/8/2022 at 8:00 AM, trueblue83 said:

Delighted I read through all the posts here as think Captain Bobs tour looks like a real winner for both of us when we are there in March.

 

Regarding Maho beach being a tourist trap, I couldn't care. It's something I always wanted to see and this will probably be my only time there in my life. Some things are inherently touristy but still worth seeing.

Oh, I couldn't agree more - Maho is definitely a must-go place.  Seeing those planes land is absolutely crazy.

I guess my usage of "tourist trap" was a little harsher than I intended.  What I meant was that there is a ton of people jammed on a little

stretch of beach waiting for another landing, and that's okay.  The people at Sunset must make a fortune!

[Shay]

Update

Hubby and I had a great time with Bernard’s Tours today. Thanks so much for this recommendation .

[BrianAlt]

15 hours ago, Shay said:

Update

Hubby and I had a great time with Bernard’s Tours today. Thanks so much for this recommendation .

Definitely something to do at least once.  We did it and then did it again the next time we were there with our family.

[kittysoul]

On 1/14/2022 at 1:23 PM, KLA said:

Just to add on further - my husband and I really enjoyed the walk from the port to the downtown beach area when we were last there. It's only about a 10 minute walk with a neat little Gouda shop along the way. 

 So, if we want to just skip booking an excursion, we could easily just get off the ship and take a short walk to go to a beach, the restaurants and shops, then walk back to ship at our leisure? 

[Floski]

On 2/17/2022 at 8:23 AM, BrianAlt said:

Definitely something to do at least once.  We did it and then did it again the next time we were there with our family.

They're awesome.  We've done them three times and always had fun.

[KLA]

On 2/18/2022 at 11:16 PM, kittysoul said:

 So, if we want to just skip booking an excursion, we could easily just get off the ship and take a short walk to go to a beach, the restaurants and shops, then walk back to ship at our leisure? 

Yes! While there's lots to see and do elsewhere on the island, it's also definitely a walkable port with options.

[Floski]

On 2/18/2022 at 11:16 PM, kittysoul said:

 So, if we want to just skip booking an excursion, we could easily just get off the ship and take a short walk to go to a beach, the restaurants and shops, then walk back to ship at our leisure? 

Absolutely.   Phillipsburg is wonderful for this.  You just grab the water taxi and it takes you straight to town.  There are beaches to the left and right.  Plenty of restaurants and bars.  Beach chairs and umbrellas.  Downtown P'burg is fantastic - not huge, lots of cool shops, etc.  

No need for an RC excursion.

 

Remember - if you buy liquor - they will keep it, package it, and send to the ship for you.  You'll get it on the last night of the cruise to pack.

[samcanadian]

We just finished our crew, and paid for a cab to take us to Marigot. With four kids it was really kind of a waste of time. The shops were mediocre, and we were probably just better off shopping in Phillipsburg and saving ourselves the Cab fare. We still met a few people and I got a chance to flex my French a little but in the end we were very happy to just get back on the boat. 

[BrianAlt]

On 2/5/2023 at 8:33 AM, samcanadian said:

We just finished our crew, and paid for a cab to take us to Marigot. With four kids it was really kind of a waste of time. The shops were mediocre, and we were probably just better off shopping in Phillipsburg and saving ourselves the Cab fare. We still met a few people and I got a chance to flex my French a little but in the end we were very happy to just get back on the boat. 

Yes, Marigot is a bit of a bombed out shell of what it once was.

By the way, we did Captain Bob's and it was GREAT!  We did have two incidents, one where a young woman with our group got injured on the reef and needed a bit of a rescue, and another where a couple took a boat out from one of the hotels, the guy couldn't restart the motor and the wife was snorkeling a good 300 yards away and the boat was floating off in the opposite direction.  Made for an interesting day.

[SLT31021]

I just booked Captain bobs for out April sailing!!

[cruisellama]

On 2/6/2023 at 9:30 AM, BrianAlt said:

Yes, Marigot is a bit of a bombed out shell of what it once was.

By the way, we did Captain Bob's and it was GREAT!  We did have two incidents, one where a young woman with our group got injured on the reef and needed a bit of a rescue, and another where a couple took a boat out from one of the hotels, the guy couldn't restart the motor and the wife was snorkeling a good 300 yards away and the boat was floating off in the opposite direction.  Made for an interesting day.

Is there still a lot of hurricane damage on the French side?

[TheMick424]

Anyone have recent pricing for taxi to Maho Beach from the cruise port?  We'll have 6 of us so I'm trying to weigh options for the day.  TIA!

[smokeybandit]

Anyone been to Gulhomar's liquor store? Is it really deserving of the hype?

[wordell1]

6 hours ago, smokeybandit said:

Anyone been to Gulhomar's liquor store? Is it really deserving of the hype?

They have a lot of items that are very difficult to find in the US.  They had 4 different kinds of Blanton's bourbon as an example.

[samcanadian]

19 hours ago, cruisellama said:

Is there still a lot of hurricane damage on the French side?

I didn't necessarily see too much hurricane damage, but the Marigot side was just kind of boring and we would've been better off saving the cab fare and sticking around in Philipsburg in the ultra-touristy shops.

 

Of course, we may have GONE to the wrong place too...but we sort of just let our Cab Driver show us where the best place was.  He dropped us at the Taxi stand near the West Indies shopping mall and we walked up and down the general area as shown below.  

 

Oh well, still got some exercise and got to use my french with the locals which was a treat in itself.

 

[cruisellama]

20 minutes ago, samcanadian said:

I didn't necessarily see too much hurricane damage, but the Marigot side was just kind of boring and we would've been better off saving the cab fare and sticking around in Philipsburg in the ultra-touristy shops.

 

Of course, we may have GONE to the wrong place too...but we sort of just let our Cab Driver show us where the best place was.  He dropped us at the Taxi stand near the West Indies shopping mall and we walked up and down the general area as shown below.  

 

Oh well, still got some exercise and got to use my french with the locals which was a treat in itself.

 

Thanks - I asked because France was remiss in sending assistance after the last hurricane hit, and we planned to make a stop on our next visit (hadn't been there in a while).   We've noticed the Dutch side was in pretty good shape.

[BrianAlt]

23 hours ago, cruisellama said:

Is there still a lot of hurricane damage on the French side?

I'm going to say YES.  Not so much that it's a mess.  More that it hasn't been repaired.  

It was explained to me like this... France paid out to the people on the French side immediately and they took the money and ran.  On the Dutch side, the Netherlands basically said, "calm down, let's assess the situation and we will get everyone their money."  Sounds like a negative thing, but it encouraged those on the Dutch side to breathe and decide their next best course of action.  Most stayed and rebuilt and you can tell the difference.