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St Maarten- do I have enough time?

CrazyTownVA

By CrazyTownVA,
in St. Martin/St. Maarten

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CrazyTownVA

CrazyTownVA

Posted
Posted

First...thanks to everyone for all the feedback- I've had a lot of questions and I appreciate everyone taking the time to respond with feedback.

 

As part of our cruise in December we will be spending one day in St Maarten. According to our itinerary we get there at 8:00 am and leave at 5:00 pm. While there, there are 2 things I want to do...

 

1- Jet Ski

2- Spend some time on Maho Beach and watch the airplanes come in.

 

I'm sure there are plenty of other fun things to do there but those are on my bucket list while we are there.

 

I believe Jet Skis are within walking distance of where the Allure docks correct? But I think a cab is required to get over to Maho beach correct?

 

Now my main question- neither of these are excursions through RC- so I want to make sure I leave myself more than enough time. Just these 2 things doesn't sound like much in 9 hours but I just want to be sure. I'd like to do the Jet Skis for an hour and then maybe have 2 hours at the beach. Do I have enough time and maybe even some time left over to do some other things while we are there?

 

Thank you!!!!!!!!

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GTO-Girl

GTO-Girl

Posted
Posted
Just make sure your WATCH, not your cell phone, is set to the same time as the ship's clocks....that way, you'll keep an eye on the time, and leave with plenty of time to get back to the ship!

 

Ditto on this advice!!!

 

St Martin is one of the ports we saw a couple miss the Oasis because they used their cell phone as a clock and they were an hour off of ship time...:eek:

 

It was sad because it was truly a "rookie mistake" and not a case of being foolish. The young lady got so upset she fainted.

 

It was sad......

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Life is Good Cruising

Life is Good Cruising

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You'll save a little time by taking a taxi to Maho after your finished with jet skiing. Plenty of taxis to take you back from Maho to the pier. The big ones do come in anywhere from 1-3 as the previous poster indicated. There will be a surfboard at the Sunset Bar and Grill that will list all the arrival times for each plane.

 

The flight schedule below is only for a 24 hour period. When it get closer to your sail date, a week before, check the schedule below on the *day* you will arrive. So if you arrive on a Wednesday, check the Wednesday prior to arrival and you'll see all the arrivals and departures times for each airline.

 

http://sunsetsxm.com/index.php/about-us/flight-schedules

 

Enjoy :)

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mattpro

mattpro

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You will have plenty of time to jet ski - GO THE BEACH - and watch the planes come in over Maho Beach.

 

After doing your jet skiing you can go to Back Street and catch a cab to Mullet Bay ($6-8), arguably one of the nicest swimming beaches with a picture card look, have some delicious local pulled pork BBQ (the beautiful beach is mostly used by the locals since a 1989 hurricane wiped out the property and was never re-built and most tourists do not know it exists), then walk leisurely 10 minutes to Maho Beach.

 

When leaving just walk to the street, make a right go thru the arches, walk past the Sonesta Hotel and you'll be at Maho Beach.

 

You can than catch a cab back to Phillipsburg and even have time to do a little shopping.

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Fastback89

Fastback89

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Airport Beach was too far away for us to do anything else. We ended up not going there because of that. We heard it was over 30 min taxi ride to get there, that would mean finding another taxi to get back in time! Someone was also saying the beach was very rocky. Hope this helps

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Life is Good Cruising

Life is Good Cruising

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To catch a bus (minivan) you need to walk to Back St. which runs parallel to Front St. in Philipsburg, very easy to find. Their license plate will indicate *BUS* and they will have a sign in the window stating Maho. If you see a sign indicating Mullet, you can ask the driver if he'll take you to Maho. It's about a 15-20 min walk from your ship to Back St.

 

If taking the bus, when you get off at Maho, ask the driver exactly where you should and wait for the return bus back to Philipsburg.

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Life is Good Cruising

Life is Good Cruising

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Airport Beach was too far away for us to do anything else. We ended up not going there because of that. We heard it was over 30 min taxi ride to get there, that would mean finding another taxi to get back in time! Someone was also saying the beach was very rocky. Hope this helps

 

Here are some pictures that someone recently posted of Maho beach. The beach does come and go with the tide and it will be back to normal soon, just don't know exactly when.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2094941

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killtheump

killtheump

Posted
Posted
First...thanks to everyone for all the feedback- I've had a lot of questions and I appreciate everyone taking the time to respond with feedback.

 

As part of our cruise in December we will be spending one day in St Maarten. According to our itinerary we get there at 8:00 am and leave at 5:00 pm. While there, there are 2 things I want to do...

 

1- Jet Ski

2- Spend some time on Maho Beach and watch the airplanes come in.

 

I'm sure there are plenty of other fun things to do there but those are on my bucket list while we are there.

 

I believe Jet Skis are within walking distance of where the Allure docks correct? But I think a cab is required to get over to Maho beach correct?

 

Now my main question- neither of these are excursions through RC- so I want to make sure I leave myself more than enough time. Just these 2 things doesn't sound like much in 9 hours but I just want to be sure. I'd like to do the Jet Skis for an hour and then maybe have 2 hours at the beach. Do I have enough time and maybe even some time left over to do some other things while we are there?

 

Thank you!!!!!!!!

 

I am not 100% positive but when we went to Maho Beach there were Jet Ski Rentals there. This was a few years ago but I am pretty sure I saw some there. Maybe you could do both there.

I am sure someone on CC can answer for sure.

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3dog

3dog

Posted
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Just make sure your WATCH, not your cell phone, is set to the same time as the ship's clocks....that way, you'll keep an eye on the time, and leave with plenty of time to get back to the ship!

 

Also note that there is a drawbridge between the docks in Philipsburg and Maho Beach that in December opens at 4:30pm local time (not to mention that traffic starts getting congested at 4pm local time), so make sure that your plans don't intersect with these events.

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Life is Good Cruising

Life is Good Cruising

Posted
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Also note that there is a drawbridge between the docks in Philipsburg and Maho Beach that in December opens at 4:30pm local time (not to mention that traffic starts getting congested at 4pm local time), so make sure that your plans don't intersect with these events.

 

They recently built the Simpson Bay bridge which opened Dec. 2013 that alleviates the traffic going back to Philipsburg from Maho Beach by taxi. Don't know which route the buses take going back to Philipsburg from Maho.

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palofmine

palofmine

Posted
Posted
Maho is a must .. for $2 each way you can take public bus behind front street .. they are mostly Toyota vans and the license plate in front says BUS

 

[ATTACH]324634[/ATTACH]

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

 

 

 

Maho beach is a must.. Planes come in at 1pm their time. . You ding wanna miss it.. Air France is the best and last. Make sure you record it

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