New Cruiser - St. Martin/Marrten

[martinclm]

We are completely new to cruising. Taking our first cruise this coming February. We'd kind of like to do our own thing on each of the ports.

 

Any recommendations for St. Martin would be greatly appreciated!

 

Thanks in advance!

[DiTomCruisers]

Are you beach people? There are a number of nice beaches in St. Martin. There are nice shops and also some good excersions in St Martin.

 

Personally, we like going to the beach, there are plenty of taxis there, the prices are fixed, so no one gets ripped off. At the beach, they usually have a 1 euro to 1 dollar exchange rate for ease of payment and you can rent a couple of loungers for about $10, which come with an umbrella and a drink (usually). Good luck

[KirkNC]

Welcome to Cruise Critic!

[flowers44]

Depending on when your ship arrives, Maho Beach is fun. That is the beach that is at the end of the airport runway where the planes land over your head. Lots of info on this site about it. Not really a swimming beach up near where the planes fly over but there is a nice beach down the road a bit that you can see from the bar that hosts the airplane groups.

[martinclm]

Thanks for the info!

[Hstergo]

You might want to take a look at booking a tour St Maartan is pretty spread out

and lots of things to see I have used Bernards tours and they are very friendly and would use them again if I go back.

[JWinKC]

We are completely new to cruising. Taking our first cruise this coming February. We'd kind of like to do our own thing on each of the ports.

 

Any recommendations for St. Martin would be greatly appreciated!

 

Thanks in advance!

 

I'll second the recommendation for Bernard's. We did it on our first cruise last year, and had a blast. You get time at Orient and Maho beaches, as well as a nice van tour (with beverages!) The only downside of the standard tour was too little time in Marigot.

 

Plenty of info and opinions regarding Bernard's throughout this thread. Have a great time!

[papaflamingo]

Unless you plan to drink, we have often rented cars. You can pre book or simply try and get one. There is a pickup and drop off at the port. The island is not that big. You can find private beaches, stop and see the planes land, spend time in Marigot, stop at Orient beach. It does free you up to your own schedule. You can research car rentals on line.