Anyone been to San Juan, St. Maartin lately?

[BonnieSte]

I am wondering how the islands are faring?

 

 

 

Thanks

[Clarea]

No problems we saw in San Juan. Apparently outside the city there are still issues.

[BonnieSte]

No problems we saw in San Juan. Apparently outside the city there are still issues.

 

Thank you! We really love both islands and cant wait to get back to them.

[orville99]

We were in St Maartan on Oasis in May, and the shops, bars and hotels along the strand were pretty much decimated. We ventured up to the back streets and most of the shops were open for business. Did not get over to the French side. Old San Juan didn't show a lot of structural damage, but there were a lot of closed up store fronts on the side streets by the port.

 

We will be back to both ports next week on Oasis, and it will be interesting to see how much progress has been made in the last two months.

[BonnieSte]

We were in St Maartan on Oasis in May, and the shops, bars and hotels along the strand were pretty much decimated. We ventured up to the back streets and most of the shops were open for business. Did not get over to the French side. Old San Juan didn't show a lot of structural damage, but there were a lot of closed up store fronts on the side streets by the port.

 

We will be back to both ports next week on Oasis, and it will be interesting to see how much progress has been made in the last two months.

 

Please keep us posted.

[koxler]

We were there just last month (June 2018).

 

St. Maartin isn't doing very well. Things are getting better but there was a lot of damage and you could see it in many buildings and in the hillside vegetation. We were still able to have a great time at the island you could tell the difference before/after.

 

For San Juan we only spent time in the city. We did not leave old town San Juan and we thought it was doing much better. Things seemed more back to normal there with much of the cleanup and repairs completed. There were areas you could see damage to buildings but overall I thought it looked very similar to what we've seen in the past. That said, speaking with others on the cruise the rest of the island is not in the same shape and many areas still having issues or even without power from what others were saying.

 

Hope this helps...

[LBumb]

great info

[phoenix_dream]

We visited both earlier this year. Agree that Old San Juan is fairly close to what it was before, so walking around town is close to the same experience it was before. Cannot speak to the rest of the island, but it continues to be in the news with issues so I can only imagine.

 

St. Maarten was very disappointing. We are not beach people, but heard that Orient beach was absolutely decimated - no shops, restaurants, etc.. But I guess the beach itself is nice. In downtown Phillipsburg, we were very uncomfortable shopping there, and it used to be one of our favorite places to visit. Yes, a lot of stores are open, but an increasing number of the stores are just jewelry, whereas before there used to be quite a variety. The biggest issue was the hawking. I feel for the people, I really do, but I cannot stand being pestered by hawkers at virtually every store. They even followed me down the street. I ended up almost having a confrontation with one guy who kept following me and just wouldn't leave me alone. No violence or anything, but it made me very uncomfortable. I couldn't wait to get back to the ship. You could sense the desperation, which is very sad, but treating potential customers that way is not how to drum up business IMHO.

[mugtech]

Also noticed in June at both places that the jewelry stores were up to full blast, but otherwise not so much, gonna take a while.

[acegolfer25]

We were there 2 weeks ago.

 

1. St. Maarten - We took Bernard Tour II (5 hours). The guide explained the damage from the hurricane. It is still bad. According to him, the ppl are working hard to get the island in a better shape before this winter (high season). As for beach, he took us to Grand Case, which is in a better shape than Orient Bay.

 

2. San Juan. The ship left at 2 pm so we only had a few hours to explore old San Juan. That part of town was okay.

[maggiecharlie]

In St. Maarten the shops that sell skin care products were awful in April followed me around wanting me to let them put eye cream on me. It wouldn’t be that bad if it was just one but it was several of them and they don’t like the answer no. Mostly those kind of stores open and jewelry stores open. I couldn’t wait to get back to where the ship was docked. No issues on that side. One other note the water taxis guys were awesome

 

Didn’t have any issues in San Juan

 

 

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[PhoenixCruiser]

Has anyone beem to Maho Beach recently?

 

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[goodgriefer]

I thought things were decent in Phillipsburg. Yes you can tell there was a hurricane and one of the hotels is being torn down. New stands selling the claptrap that used to be carried around and sold. I heard they might be removed.

 

Mano beach lost some sand but is coming back. The restaurant/bar is open.

 

Likely the worst area we saw was Cupecoy.

 

The people who live on the island are trying to encourage themselves as the island gets back on its feet.

 

I must say the Dutch have been outstanding in their support for the island. Too bad Puerto Rico doesn’t have that kind of friend.

[choirladie]

M

 

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[Ashland]

So sad about St Maarten....We'll be there this September.

[jordanaire]

So sad about St Maarten....We'll be there this September.

Yes it is. This is our favorite stop and really hate seeing it like this. We were there in April and the devastation is awful. We had booked a tour to Orient Beach but tour driver told us that the government told them not to take us there due to the hurricane damage and debris scattered about. This coming April, we are sailing aboard Allure back to St. Maarten and are hoping to be able to go to the French side. But from what we were told by several different residents of the island, the French government is dragging its feet when it comes to rebuilding there and getting to our favorite beach remains unlikely. Let's hope that this changes and we can all get to see one the best places on earth once again!

 

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[Getting out there]

I was in St. Maartin in Feb. and many stores were open plus the open marketplace. I don't understand recent posts that only high priced jewlery and make-up stores are open. Did the other stores go out of buisness? One lady told me they have had a hard time even before the hurricane. Not too many cruisers were going shopping. They had the impression that cruisers were told not to go shopping because it was too dangerous which it isn't.

[LBumb]

I love this place. visiting in september

[2Long2NxtCrz]

We visited both places in early June. Because the stop was short, we only saw Old San Juan and it was much the same as before the hurricane.

 

We'd never been to St. Maarten before and we're glad we visited. We did a private tour with Bernard's and visited both the French and Dutch sides. We made a stop at Orient beach and it is little more than a drink hut and a port-a-potty. The devastation is everywhere, but the people are resilient and positive in the face of such hardship. We didn't shop, so I can't attest to the state of the stores, but I'd definitely go again. If for no other reason than to inject as much money into the economy as I can.

[davekathy]

We were in St. Maarten in March and noticed a lot more cops patrolling the streets with their dogs than years past.

[Candleonwater]

We were in St Maarten in December, and will be back again this December. Can't wait to see how noticeable the changes are to us. I was surprised as it was the first time I didn't feel 100% comfortable walking through town. It's always been one of my favorite stops, but this time the shop workers were just too pushy (somewhat understandable), it felt dirty and there was a much larger police presence than I've ever felt before. I didn't feel they were ready for visitors this past December, but I was more than happy to go spend my money to try to help them.

[BillOh]

We were in St Maarten in December, and will be back again this December. Can't wait to see how noticeable the changes are to us. I was surprised as it was the first time I didn't feel 100% comfortable walking through town. It's always been one of my favorite stops, but this time the shop workers were just too pushy (somewhat understandable), it felt dirty and there was a much larger police presence than I've ever felt before. I didn't feel they were ready for visitors this past December, but I was more than happy to go spend my money to try to help them.

 

 

I was there in May, but read and followed a lot of reports from December. As I was there in May, Orient was just starting repairs, and you could still see a lof of damage on the coast. The roads were in good shape, even around the orient area, but buildings are just getting started. I was happy we went and at least partially helped the recovery. There is a youtube video I posted of the drive up there, i think if you search on youtube - can am spyder port to orient it may come up.

[LeeW]

There last week. Just walked around Old San Juan and very little visible damage in town.

 

Took snorkeling trip through Simpsons Bay in St Maarten and plenty of work still being done on buildings on Dutch side. There is a $55 million dollar boat sunk in lagoon that only had $10 million insurance on it. Then we went under bridge to French side and most buildings looked like tornado had just hit them. While some boats were being worked on there was little being done to the houses and businesses.

[printingchick]

Not St. Maarten, but we were in San Juan in February. The tourist areas were in great shape, particularly Old San Juan. Toward the Condado area we saw lots of power lines down, trees uprooted, boarded windows, but truly nowhere near as bad as we expected. As Bob said, the areas outside the city would be the worst. It appears they focused on the tourist areas first, as they bring much needed income.

[frank808]

Was in old san Juan yesterday and it is back to business as usual. Now the town of ponce and people in the mountains are still not fully restored.

 

Was in st marteen the day before and the Dutch side is almost back to normal. The French side is still suffering from the after effects of hurricane. Orient beach has not gotten back to what it was before storm.

 

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