marigot, st martin

[disney queen]

has anyone gone to the french side of the island? is it worth the effort to get there? and what about the shopping? last cruise we just shopped in phillipsburg. thanks!!

 

[Land-and-Sea]

My wife and I vastly preferred Marigot to Phillipsburg. It feels more less touristy and more "foreign". I suppose its dependent on how many cruise ships are in for the day but the crowds were much less on the Marigot side when we were there. Click the link below and head to day 4 pictures for some visuals. We found the shopping more interesting in Marigot as well. It seemed more local and less mass produced.

As always....your milage may vary

 

[disney queen]

great photos!! thanks

 

[staylor]

The think I like about Marigot is how laid back it is. We were just there a week or so ago, the Euro compared to the dollar is not good right now so you'll find better deals in Phillipsburg.
Staci

 

[slabeaume]

We did the semi-submersible excursion that also stops in Marigot for about 50 minutes. I wish we had more time there---it was a nice town. It even has a modern indoor mall! We did get a bit amused though when I asked directions to the post office. First we were told to go down the street, then right, then left. After doing that, we asked someone else---they told us to go down the street, then right, then left. After doing that, we asked another person and again were told go down the street, turn rigth, then left. We finally found it.

 

[dizneetravelagent]

If you have daughters, I would highly suggest booking some type of excursion that gets you off of the streets in St.Maarten. Without exaggerating, I would say that we had well over 100 women try to convince us to get our daughters' hair braided. When we would say "no", they would try to talk to the girls. I found them to be rather aggressive in St. Maarten. We couldn't even enjoy the beach. They were everywhere. We ended up going back to the ship before lunch and had a much more relaxing afternoon. In St. Thomas, I only had 3 or 4 approach us. We enjoyed our time there much more. The other suggestion would be to have the hair braided on the ship prior to docking.