Dec 1 St Maarten - why so many ships there today

[kearney]

I like to periodically look at port cams for various ports. Today I noticed 5 ships at St Maarten. I can't recall ever seeing so many ships at this port. Three of them are RCCL ships - Oassis, Anthem and Navigator. Is there a storm or construction at another port... eg did hurricane Matthew damage one of the other ports. Just curious. I haven't looked at the port cams in a few months. Thanks

[danp]

You have to remember that the southern Caribbean is now going into season now and some of the ships may be doing repos.I also go into the port cams and the other day there were six in there.

[molsonschooner]

I believe there were 6 ships in port one day last week

[kearney]

Wow I had no idea. I guess I never checked the port cams this time of year. The town seems small for so many tourists... what is it like when there are this many ships in town?

[robtulipe]

Wow I had no idea. I guess I never checked the port cams this time of year. The town seems small for so many tourists... what is it like when there are this many ships in town?

 

Very crowded! :eek:

 

We were there once when one ship had to tender their passengers into the pier where the water taxi goes to in the center of Philipsburg as there wasn't a spot for that ship at the Dr. Wathey cruise facility.

Also I've seen the same situation in St. Thomas with too many ship for the docking facilities there.

Edited December 1, 2016 by robtulipe

[BillOh]

I like to periodically look at port cams for various ports. Today I noticed 5 ships at St Maarten. I can't recall ever seeing so many ships at this port. Three of them are RCCL ships - Oassis, Anthem and Navigator. Is there a storm or construction at another port... eg did hurricane Matthew damage one of the other ports. Just curious. I haven't looked at the port cams in a few months. Thanks

 

That is a day where you would want to pay attention to your ship's departure times and taxis.

[Brocktoon623]

This seems to be more the norm recently. On my Nov 10th Anthem Cruise I believe we had 6 ships in port, with two of them being the Anthem and Harmony ... so we're talking big ships.

 

I had relatives that took one look at the packed water taxis and went back to the ship ... I had a pre-booked an excursion and had a great time!

[mattpro]

6 ships in port on my 11/12/2016 cruise on the Freedom.

 

Other ships were the Harmony, Anthem, RCL's Azamara, Brittanica out of South Hampton and a Carnival ship.

 

Extremely crowded in port area and downtown.

[dgh203]

6 ships in port on my 11/12/2016 cruise on the Freedom.

 

Other ships were the Harmony, Anthem, RCL's Azamara, Brittanica out of South Hampton and a Carnival ship.

 

Extremely crowded in port area and downtown.

 

I was on the same cruise as you. We were extremely happy that we had pre-booked a snorkel excursion leaving from Oyster Bay. Just trying to get back to the ship after the excursion was nuts.

Edited December 2, 2016 by dgh203

[Merion_Mom]

I have been in St. Thomas when there were seven ships in port.

 

It happens. Popular ports.

[luisrp]

Half of them probably were in San Juan the day before. San Juan had 7 ships in ports the last two days of November. The second day were reportedly 24,000 cruise tourists in the city. There were big ships of the likes of Anthem of the Seas, Carnival Magic and large Celebrity, Norwegian and Holland America ships.

[jeditden]

A few years back before we took our cruise with a stop in St Maarten, I used CruiseCal to see what other ships would be in port. There were 5 others, adding to upwards of 20,000 people going ashore. We booked a fantastic non cruise line sponsored excursion that explored the island by boat and avoided all the crowds. Best idea ever, and still our favorite excursion we've ever done. Research and plan accordingly.