Noordam and Martinique

[tip]

First, let me say that I am somewhat of a Cruise Critic veteran and follow these boards closely. Yes, I know that the "Ports of Calls" threads would be the best place for this posting, but for some reason the Martinique thread has less activity than a funeral home. There are only a handful of posts, the last being over a week old and many that go back a year or so.

 

That being said, I beg the moderators not to move this post (please)!

 

We shall be visiting Martinique on Sunday, January 29 of next year on the Noordam. I have gleaned that very few cruise ships visit Martinique, and that the island is very, very quiet on a Sunday with many shops and other venues closed.

 

As much as we abhore ship sponsored excursions, there is a dearth of private operators on the island. We were looking at a HAL excursion to St. Pierre and the Balata Gardens. In viewing the Balata Gardens web site, we see that it is normally closed on Sundays. Has anyone experienced this? We certainly don't want to be sitting on a bus as it slowly drives by a locked gate with the tour guide expressing his apologies.

 

If anyone has some recommendations for Martinique, we would appreciate it.

[JJPacer]

However, we haven't visited St. Pierre and the Balata Gardens. Call HAL and ask the excursions desk if the excurion will go to the Gardens on Sunday. You have a legitimate concern about the Gardens being closed. In Martinique many things are closed on Sunday and the locals will not make an "exception" for a tour from a HAL ship! You should believe the website when it says the Gardens are closed on Sun.

 

We have taken the ferry across from Fort de France to Pointe Du Bout. Rented a car from a hotel in Pointe Du Bout. You can do this on the internet, so you have a confirmed reservation, and know your pick up and drop off time. Find out if there is a period of time when the car rental office is closed. Sometimes the agent is not in from noon to 2 pm, for example. Then I would suggest driving to Grande Anse du Diamant. It is a pretty beach by Diamant Rock. If you are not interested in a beach, then I can only think of 3 options. A ship excursion, a self guided walking tour of Fort de France, or hire a taxi driver to give you a tour. Take Euros with you, and make sure the driver can have a conversation in english.

 

Enjoy your cruise!

[cruz chic]

I would think that HAL would have asked and arranged for the place to be open on Sunday. I hope they have that much on the ball but it would be a good idea to call.

[JJPacer]

on various days of the week. When Hal arrives on a day of the week the Gardens are open, the ship excursion will stop at the Gardens. If HAL arrives on a day the Gardens are closed, then that one day will be an exception. Assuming the Gardens are open 6 days a week, then the description of the excursion is accurate 6 out of 7 times. Please let us know what HAL says about your question. Now, I'm interested!

[FrankNJ]

2 years ago we were there on Sunday and took a walking tour Hal excursion for about an hour and a half . Very informative and we went to see the church in action , cathedral St Louis , it was very nice ,

also there was some kind of street festival with a band and dancing and we participated .

All other businesses and government offfices were closed (including the McDonalds ).

Guided tours can be fascinating and informative.

[Valley Girl of VA]

I did visit the gardens however, it was not on a Sunday. I will say that my experience in Martinique was that they do not speak English (French is their language) and they do not accept American dollars. I tried to buy a bottle of water at the little shop at the gardens and could not since all I had were American dollars.

[kellyclayt]

I know this is really old, but is there a reason you took the ferry to pointe du boit to rent the car instead of just renting in fort du France? Thanks

 

However, we haven't visited St. Pierre and the Balata Gardens. Call HAL and ask the excursions desk if the excurion will go to the Gardens on Sunday. You have a legitimate concern about the Gardens being closed. In Martinique many things are closed on Sunday and the locals will not make an "exception" for a tour from a HAL ship! You should believe the website when it says the Gardens are closed on Sun.

 

We have taken the ferry across from Fort de France to Pointe Du Bout. Rented a car from a hotel in Pointe Du Bout. You can do this on the internet, so you have a confirmed reservation, and know your pick up and drop off time. Find out if there is a period of time when the car rental office is closed. Sometimes the agent is not in from noon to 2 pm, for example. Then I would suggest driving to Grande Anse du Diamant. It is a pretty beach by Diamant Rock. If you are not interested in a beach, then I can only think of 3 options. A ship excursion, a self guided walking tour of Fort de France, or hire a taxi driver to give you a tour. Take Euros with you, and make sure the driver can have a conversation in english.

 

Enjoy your cruise!

[Cindy]

We were in Martinique on a Sunday on the Noordam in November. We never could find a local guide or tour company, so we took one of the very few HAL options...Panoramic Martinique. We had originally booked a HAL tour called Martinique by Land and Sea, but it was cancelled about a month before our cruise.

We enjoyed our excursion, but you are right in that very little was open and there were limited options for tours.

[Krazy Kruizers]

No matter what ship we have been on the last few years on HAL, we have always ended up in Martinique on a Sunday.

And everything is closed!!

Only a couple of taxis to take anyone to anywhere.

Where the ship docks, sometimes we have a few vendors there -- sometimes only a couple of vendors.

Most people stayed on the ship.

[holacanada]

Is Martinique an expansive port stop ?

Holacanada

[mountainmare]

We have been to Martinique not on a Sunday and enjoy the island. That being said we also love France so went knowing that we should try to speak in our very limited French and that USD would be of no use so we made sure we had Euros handy (you could get some from an ATM if you don't have any). I think it is silly for HAL to go to either Martinique or ST Martin (the French side is also closed up on a Sunday) on a Sunday. Martinique is not an island that depends on the American cruise ship passenger for the local economy. HAL is doing their passengers a disservice by ignoring local customs when scheduling port stops. Since everyone here is computer savy it makes sense to do your homework before you book a trip. If you are interested in a certain attraction, check the hours, it is a bit arrogant to assume that HAL will make special arrangements for their tours.

[dr.dawg]

yes, mountainmare, i agree that martinique is kind of a 'disservice' to hal folks. and you are, of course, right in that the island does not depend on cruise traffic for their economy, and those that speak english will openly tell you so. natives there are not particularly accommodating, imho, though others might disagree. fort de france is an ok town, and the fortress itself is kind of interesting, but otherwise, not much to write home about. and forget american money -- euros only. and even if the salespeople in stores can speak english, most times they 'conveniently do not.' i've sailed there three times, once on cunard and twice on hal. the last two times i just stayed aboard and enjoyed the ship. and, yes, sundays are 'dead.' from my experience only. sit in a hot tub or pool and look out and enjoy the view. the cathedral looks lovely, but i've not been able to get in. after all, i'm only a priest, but i don't speak french. lol

[tip]

I was the OP of this thread from almost two years ago and since someone has resurrected it, I thought that I would report back on our experience in Martinique when we visited on a Sunday in January of 2012.

 

Just about every other island has a plethora of excursion vendors when you get off of the ship. As we expected, there were none when we arrived in Martinique. You can rent a private taxi tour and this is where my memory is somewhat fuzzy. I do remember that they were all Mercedes Benz and I think that the going rate was $40 U.S. per hour, but don't hold me to that.

 

We did end signing up for and taking a HAL excursion after ascertaining that the gardens would be open for a Sunday excursion. And yes it was very expensive, but of course there were not many other alternatives, thus HAL sort of has you by the seat of the pants.

 

We did enjoy our visit to St. Pierre and the Balata Gardens although as often is the case with ship sponsored excursions, you just do not have enough time to properly enjoy them. As I recall they only gave us one hour at the gardens and we and most others were back at the bus at the assigned time. A few folks evidently felt that they were entitled to more time and kept us waiting on the bus for another 15-20 minutes, thank you very much.

 

The bus ride to and from these venues was very long, but the scenery was fantastic. When we arrived back at the port, we spent some time at a street fair or carnival which was set up adjacent to it and enjoyed the music and some refreshments.

[OVgirl]

Thanks for coming back and giving us feedback of your day in Martinique.

We will also be there in February 2014 and have the same concerns that you had before your cruise.

Ship excursions, although expensive, seem to be a good option at this port.

[sudsca]

We were there on a Sunday, this past Feb on the Noordam. As others have said, most things are closed near where the ship docks. When we got off the ship we stopped at a nearby kiosk that had maps of town. We had already thought about taking the ferry across to Point de Bout so we asked the lady in the kiosk where the ferry docked and saw that it was nearby.

 

There was a cultural/dance show going on about 10 min walk from the dock and it was pretty entertaining. After it was done we walked around a bit and then caught the ferry. The tourism department had a bunch of people stationed all around town in red shirts and we asked a couple of questions and they were friendly. I do speak a bit of French so I try to use it if I can.

 

Although we had Euros, the ferry took dollars too. The ferry ride was brief and brought us into a Marina on the opposite side of the bay from where the Noordam was docked. There were shops, cafes and restaurants in that area and they were open. We wandered about a bit, bought a local print, had some cold drinks overlooking the marina and then took the ferry back. A good day.

 

Our friends didn't take the ferry. Instead they went on a horse drawn carriage tour in Fort de France. They said that they enjoyed it very much.

 

We are booked on the same itinerary in Jan 2014, but this time we will be in Martinique on a weekday. Looking forward to it.

[OVgirl]

sudsca, do you remember how much it was for the ferry? And was the schedule convenient for your return to the ship?