Orient Bay- St. Maarten-Best part of Beach

[taylorpn]

We are going on a cruise in one week from today. Yahooooo!! We want to go to Orient Bay, but just wondering if anyone had advise for the best part of the beach that isn't too crowded, great play area for sand castles and great drinks!! There will be 8 of us, 4 children and 4 adults. I know there is a nude part, that is not what were interested in knowing about.

Thanks

 

[VS85]

Can't speak from personal experience, as our cruise isn't until October, but I have been doing a TON of research about doing Orient Bay on our own. The beach has a number of different "beach clubs" that will rent out chairs/umbrellas for the day for about $20 for two chairs and an umbrella and perhaps a complimentary drink. From my research, it looks like the Kakao or Bikini Beach bar have some of the nicest facilities (restaurant with good food, bathrooms and showers), and the beach chairs are spread out enough so that your kids have room to play in the sand next to you. When you get to the beach, you want to go left (as you're facing the water) to get to these areas. The beach club on the right (club orient) is the clothing optional one. The rest of the clubs on the right may have some topless sunbathers, and nudists might walk down to that area, so just be prepared for that.

If you google "Kakao beach club St. Martin" or the same for bikini beach bar, there are a number of reviews and photos on tripadvisor. I believe you can ask your cab driver to drop you off to one of these specific clubs. As for the return trip, you can either pre-arrange a pick up time with your cab driver, or I have read that the beach club staff can call a cab for you when you are ready to leave. I have also read that cabs are plentiful and waiting to take people back to the ship, but I'm not 100% sure about which way is best.

Hopefully someone with first-hand experience will also be able to provide their two cents, but I hope this was somewhat helpful for you. I would love to hear your experience when you come back and if you can provide some tips! I want to take a cab to orient beach in the morning, head back to the ship for lunch and then, depending on our mood, either stay on the ship while the majority of people are gone for the day, or take a cab out to Marigot for a little shopping.

Have fun!!

 

[taylorpn]

Thanks for your reply. Your info is very helpful. Thats is exactly what I was looking for. I had read that they were called Beach Clubs on Trip Adviser. I just wasn't sure which one was recommended for family. I will try to post after I return about which beach club was best for family. I read on another post to walk left as well, and go further down the beach, as there was more room between chairs.

Thanks again

 

[Snurk71]

We got chairs at bikini bar/beach/whatever it's called a couple weeks ago and the chairs were comfortable and had plenty of space ($10/chair).

Couple other comments...

The earlier you get to the beach, the better. Both in terms of having your pick of the chairs as well as less of a crowd.

The other comment - prepare whoever you need to prepare that they will likely see some topless women. Even though the nude part is to the right, topless is allowed to the left and you'll likely have some topless walking the beach back and forth.

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[tripinbrums]

We went several years ago and love it!! We got a driver right off of the ship and he took us to a beach area where we paid for chairs and there was a bar and outside restaurant. We rented a jet ski and had a sat! Our kids ranged from 18mos to 9. There is a nude part to Orient Beach and a few topless women walked by and swam near us which we thought was fine but our little prudish chidren were freaking out!

 

[bigtony777]

Just back a from a cruise 2 weeks ago. Pretty much all the bars will have chairs with umbrella for $20 for 2 chairs. Buckets of beer will be about the same as well, $15 for 5 beers. We got chairs from Kontiki which included wi-fi. The chairs are much more spread out here, but you do not get any drinks with the chairs. We wanted chairs with easy access to the beach so that we could actually use the chairs instead of simply setting out stuff on them.

Agree with previous poster about topless sun bathing. We spoke with our girls about it the night before. I am not sure they even noticed many while playing at the beach.

 

[taylorpn]

Perfect!! Sounds like Kon tiki it is. Cant go wrong with a bucket of beer, free wifi, good access to beach and space!! thanks so much for your input!!

What time do you suggest we get there by?

 

[tidefan]

Perfect!! Sounds like Kon tiki it is. Cant go wrong with a bucket of beer, free wifi, good access to beach and space!! thanks so much for your input!!

What time do you suggest we get there by?

We have a timeshare on St Masrten and have been there numerous times. Personally, i'd suggest going over to Ilet Pinel (Pinel Island), which is just north of Orient, off of French Cul-de-Sac .

In the next two pictures, you can see just how close Ilet Pinel is to the mainland. You just need to take the small, open boat ferry to get over there.

 

[tidefan]

Now, you could go to Maho Beach on the Dutch side to see things like this:

 

[taylorpn]

We got chairs at bikini bar/beach/whatever it's called a couple weeks ago and the chairs were comfortable and had plenty of space ($10/chair).

Couple other comments...

The earlier you get to the beach, the better. Both in terms of having your pick of the chairs as well as less of a crowd.

The other comment - prepare whoever you need to prepare that they will likely see some topless women. Even though the nude part is to the right, topless is allowed to the left and you'll likely have some topless walking the beach back and forth.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-Note2 using DISBoards

What time is early enough time to get a good chair and less crowded?

 

[Snurk71]

What time is early enough time to get a good chair and less crowded?

I want to say we got to the beach around 10 and left about 1. It was nice and bare when we got there and was more crowded by noon. This was March and I don't know how many ships were docked. But even at 1 when we left I wouldn't have called it packed - chairs were still available at bikini (not everyone wants to pay) and the water wasn't anything even close to wall to wall people.

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[bigtony777]

We didn't get to Orient until around 10:30 and didn't have any problem getting chairs. Some of the other bars that have chairs packed together were pretty filled up.

 

[vinotinto]

Hi tidefan (or anyone else who has been to Pinel), can you give me more info on Pinel Island? Is there a bar/restaurant and chairs/umbrellas for rent? And how frequently does the ferry run?

We loved, loved, loved Orient Beach! We loved the good food and drinks that we ordered off the menu and were brought to our chairs. They had buckets of beer, and real wine! But, at least the day we were there, the water was very murky with lots of seaweed. I understand that ocean conditions vary. I'll try to post a pic later. We're returning in less than 2 months and I want to be well-prepared.

 

[jlk51496]

Just back a from a cruise 2 weeks ago. Pretty much all the bars will have chairs with umbrella for $20 for 2 chairs. Buckets of beer will be about the same as well, $15 for 5 beers. We got chairs from Kontiki which included wi-fi. The chairs are much more spread out here, but you do not get any drinks with the chairs. We wanted chairs with easy access to the beach so that we could actually use the chairs instead of simply setting out stuff on them. Agree with previous poster about topless sun bathing. We spoke with our girls about it the night before. I am not sure they even noticed many while playing at the beach.

I am interested in Kontiki - for the beer, seats, and free wifi - lol - but a lot of people said it is pretty expensive - on Trip Advisor. Did you find that to be the case!?

If yes - any other bar that is not as expensive but has the other three amenities - beers, chairs, free wifi!?!

 

[bigtony777]

We only bought beer while there at Orient as we went to Maho to watch planes and grabbed some food there. The beer is maybe $2 more for a bucket of 5 beers at Kontiki versus the cheapest that I saw. I think there are a couple of other bars that will have wifi.

I don't think that the food would be that great of a difference. The space between the chairs is significant compared to most other bars on the beach and we wanted to easily be able to get to the beach with our daughters wanting to play near the water. For us, that was worth it. If you get to the beach early in the morning, you could get chairs that are in the front at some of the other bars/restaurants.

 

[triciari]

I like the plan if walking to the left! Is there a beach club over there that offers shelter in case if a rain storm? I'm looking at the forecast for 4/23...