St. Martin/St. Thomas questions

[thedisneymom]

Forgive me if this has been asked before! My daughter and I want to shop on St. Martin, but the rest of the gang want to visit a casino. Are these walking distance from the ship, can we go together , is the Princess the closest and nicest casino. We rather not separate if its fairly close. Also, on St. Thomas is the shopping area walking distance. Thanks ahead!

 

[Señor Ferrari]

On St. Maarten, you can all take the water taxi to downtown Philipsburg. The water taxi leaves from the base of the cruise ship pier and costs about $5/day for unlimited use. From there, you can shop, eat, hit a casino or two. I'm not sure specifically where the Princess is, but there are casinos in the shopping district.

On St. Thomas, there is a "mall" near the dock, but the main shopping area is in downtown Charlotte Amalie, which is about a 10 minute ($3/person or so) cab ride from the ship. I would not advise walking from the cruise ship pier to downtown, as it's a very long, hot walk and passes through a questionable neighborhood. Finding a taxi is never a problem at the pier or downtown.

 

[thedisneymom]

Thank you for the quick response. You were a big help!

 

[Incharge]

I wonder what time the casinos open in St. Maarteen, because when we went, they were closed. Maybe it was too early in the morning. We went around noon.