St. Maarten/St. Martin must dos (and how to do them!)

[melissarose]

We will be travelling on the Disney Fantasy January 31! What are your suggestions for must see/do on the island of St. Maarten? We already know that our main priority is Maho Beach for an hour or two to see the planes. I've heard there are certain times when more planes come in, does anyone know when the best time to go is?

Aside from Maho, what would you recommend seeing/doing on the island, and what is the best way to get around. Can you see both the Dutch and French side in one 9-hour day?

 

[skylynx]

Hi, there. We've done Maho three times and have rented a car each time though it is not difficult to get there via taxi. We just enjoy cruising around the island on our own. We've found the best time to get to Sunset Beach Bar (which is the best place, in our opinion, to watch the planes) is around 11 so you can get a seat with a good view. We usually order a very reasonably priced lunch (10-12$ US burger, chicken sandwich, fish) and drink whatever local beer is on the happy hour special for an hour or so. There is a surfboard/chalkboard outside of the bar that lists the arrival times of the bigger jets. Smaller planes come in all the time. Someone who has been there more recently than us (about a year ago) might know the exact times the bigger planes land. There's often an American Airlines jet plus the KLM jumbo that's the star of the show (around 1 or 1:30?) You can also look at the Juliana airport's website for more precise arrival times.

We normally pick up the rental car right at the port as soon as passengers are allowed to disembark, then drive to Orient Beach for an hour or so for all the appropriate photo ops and a swim, then over to Maho. Despite some serious snarls around Marigot, we've always had plenty of time to get where we need to be without panicking, with enough time after returning the car to walk around the port area. There used to be a draw bridge between Maho and the port that could mess you up with huge traffic jams if you got caught on the wrong side of it, but I believe a new bridge that was built has alleviated that element of surprise. It's one of our favorite ports.

 

[tgeorge]

Definitely check the SXM airport website. This time of year it looks like the bigger planes are landing a little bit later in the day (2-3) and those are the ones you want to see. It is really cool. We will be going in April

 

[melissarose]

Thank you both!

As for this

We've done Maho three times and have rented a car each time though it is not difficult to get there via taxi. We just enjoy cruising around the island on our own.

, can you give me an approximate cost for the car rental? We would consider it because we'd prefer to cruise around on our own as well, but not sure what price we should be looking for/what is too much?!

 

[skylynx]

Hi...we usually pay under $100 a day including the extra insurance. We never take the coverage on US car rentals, but abroad we just prefer not to mess with it. We make our reservations in advance because depending on how many other ships are in port, the walk up prices can be much higher.

 

[melissarose]

Is it possible to do Maho Beach, Mullet Bay, Orient Beach, Marigot, and back to Phillipsburg all in one day? Can you do this with a cab and pay a flat rate?! Or, are cabs abundant? We'd like to see all these sites, and at our own leisure mostly, but we don't want to stress about finding a cab, we don't have phones while there obviously, so we couldn't call one. What are the prices like between these destinations?!

 

[bats]

Is it possible to do Maho Beach, Mullet Bay, Orient Beach, Marigot, and back to Phillipsburg all in one day? Can you do this with a cab and pay a flat rate?! Or, are cabs abundant? We'd like to see all these sites, and at our own leisure mostly, but we don't want to stress about finding a cab, we don't have phones while there obviously, so we couldn't call one. What are the prices like between these destinations?!

I wouldn't try to do that many places in one day unless you don't mind a whistle stop tour. The only reason to go to Maho beach is to watch the planes land over your head and you need to ensure you're there at the right time to do this for the big planes. Traffic gets really bad on the single road out to Maho and back so you need to leave plenty of time for that bit of the journey alone. We were there in Sept 2014 and it was really busy.
You will find plenty of cabs right off the ship and the drivers will happily give you guidance on what is doable and for what cost. We grabbed a cab in Phillipsburg and the driver was great .. Took us to Maho then arranged to pick us up 5 hours later, we didn't have to pay in advance and he showed up exactly on time. Great service.

 

[7LuckyRues]

We will be travelling on the Disney Fantasy January 31! What are your suggestions for must see/do on the island of St. Maarten? We already know that our main priority is Maho Beach for an hour or two to see the planes. I've heard there are certain times when more planes come in, does anyone know when the best time to go is?

Aside from Maho, what would you recommend seeing/doing on the island, and what is the best way to get around. Can you see both the Dutch and French side in one 9-hour day?

Melissa,

We will be on this same cruise and I am researching this as well!

Rachyl D.

 

[ImDMous]

We used Bernard's Tours and went to Maho Beach, Orient Beach, Marigot, the iguana farm (which could possibly still be closed from the last hurricane), the ocean life guy (Oyster Bay, I think), a few quick picture stops and a cheap souvenir store. It was about $40 a person and included a delicious punch on the bus. Everyone on the bus was from our cruise even though it isn't a Disney excursion. It was a great day.

 

[melissarose]

Melissa,

We will be on this same cruise and I am researching this as well!

Rachyl D.

Let me know if you find anything else good!!

 

[melissarose]

We used Bernard's Tours and went to Maho Beach, Orient Beach, Marigot, the iguana farm (which could possibly still be closed from the last hurricane), the ocean life guy (Oyster Bay, I think), a few quick picture stops and a cheap souvenir store. It was about $40 a person and included a delicious punch on the bus. Everyone on the bus was from our cruise even though it isn't a Disney excursion. It was a great day.

Sounds great - I have just started looking into tour companies and I found Bernard's too. Pricing is really reasonable too!

 

[roliepolieoliefan]

We used Bernard's Tours and went to Maho Beach, Orient Beach, Marigot, the iguana farm (which could possibly still be closed from the last hurricane), the ocean life guy (Oyster Bay, I think), a few quick picture stops and a cheap souvenir store. It was about $40 a person and included a delicious punch on the bus. Everyone on the bus was from our cruise even though it isn't a Disney excursion. It was a great day.

This is what we did too. Highly recommended.

 

[7LuckyRues]

I am really torn. I've read where the bus can be cheapest $2-$3 per person to get there. It's not recommended bringing the bus back to the port but rather cab back. From what I understand, cab drivers can be seen wearing orange shirts around the Sunset Bar?

I've read reviews that say they missed flights while doing the Bernards travel and some that say while the tour was good they would have liked to stay longer. For these reason, I think we might venture on our own over there. We have no other plans and if we spend the better part of the day over here, I think we'll be happy.

Any thoughts or feedback from anyone would be appreciated.

 

[roliepolieoliefan]

I am really torn. I've read where the bus can be cheapest $2-$3 per person to get there. It's not recommended bringing the bus back to the port but rather cab back. From what I understand, cab drivers can be seen wearing orange shirts around the Sunset Bar?

I've read reviews that say they missed flights while doing the Bernards travel and some that say while the tour was good they would have liked to stay longer. For these reason, I think we might venture on our own over there. We have no other plans and if we spend the better part of the day over here, I think we'll be happy.

Any thoughts or feedback from anyone would be appreciated.

When we took Bernards , our guide asked us what we wanted to do the most. Maho was most important to the majority of who was on our bus.
We were at Maho for about 90 min. Plenty of time to get a drink, see some of the bigger planes and the kids even swam for a while. ( the water is pretty rough)
Theres not much there to do. I couldnt imagine spending all day there.
There are so many things to see and do in St Martaan , IMHO. Maho is just part of the experience.

 

[7LuckyRues]

That's good to know!! Thanks for the feedback. I also saw a $20 Maho Beach tour through St Marten Island Tours. Any feedback on this one?

 

[Beth D]

I second for Bernards! We did a private tour with them, with another family and couple we met on the DIS. We did another beach instead of Orient, several young kids with us. It wasn't much more for a private tour than the bus.

Stop somewhere on the French side at a pastry shop! We ran in and got some absolutely delicious eclairs and other goodies! Tres Bon!

 

[melissarose]

I am really torn. I've read where the bus can be cheapest $2-$3 per person to get there. It's not recommended bringing the bus back to the port but rather cab back. From what I understand, cab drivers can be seen wearing orange shirts around the Sunset Bar?

I've read reviews that say they missed flights while doing the Bernards travel and some that say while the tour was good they would have liked to stay longer. For these reason, I think we might venture on our own over there. We have no other plans and if we spend the better part of the day over here, I think we'll be happy.

Any thoughts or feedback from anyone would be appreciated.

I am also concerned about this, so I think we are going to cut out Orient and just try to do Marigot, Mullet Bay, and Maho, and do them on our own via cab. Hoping we can maybe find some fellow cruisers to share a cab with on one leg of the journey!

 

[1princess1prince]

This is what we did too. Highly recommended.

For those who used Bernards - sounds like a silly question but did you just wear swimsuits and get in and out of bus "wet" or did you bring change of clothes for beach stop/s? I saw someone was concerned about getting back on time - has anyone had issues with that? I assumed these companies that serve cruise ships are used to getting people back on time? Thanks for any input - trying to make our final decision for our August 15th cruise!!

 

[DISNEY FANTASY]

For those who used Bernards - sounds like a silly question but did you just wear swimsuits and get in and out of bus "wet" or did you bring change of clothes for beach stop/s? I saw someone was concerned about getting back on time - has anyone had issues with that? I assumed these companies that serve cruise ships are used to getting people back on time? Thanks for any input - trying to make our final decision for our August 15th cruise!!

We used Bernard's tours we had swimwear on and dried off a bit on the sunbeds before getting back in the van. There was a restroom next to the bar/grill where we had a drink and I think 1-2 of us may have changed a bit in there.

They always get you back on time,if they didn't it would be all over this and other social media and they would be finished.

 

[Alohagirl73]

Another vote for Bernard's. We even stayed later at Maho Beach waiting for the big planes to come in since they were so delayed. If we were to go back to St. Maarten, I would use them again.