Warning/Advice in Martinique

[thebets]

Just returned from the Carnival Legend with a stop in Martinique. What to do in this port was definitely the biggest challenge for us, as is was Sunday AND New Year's Day. With the advice from this board, we took the ferry to Point du Boit, as this seemed like the safest bet, since most things were closed. I would just like to share our experience, as this stop was the most disappointing for us (the others were St. Martin, and Barbados).

 

We took a taxi to the ferry ($3pp) which seemed like a good idea, as it is a bit of a walk, and not particularly picturesque. We also were short on time, and so this was a good decision for us, but under different circumstances, it is definitely walkable. When we arrived at the ferry stop, we were hustled by the ferry operators. As far as I could tell, there are two operators, and the boats dock on side-by-side piers. Both were fighting for our business, and we followed one on board. I think it was Madinina Tours, but it definitely was the blue and white boat (the other is bright orange, and I believe is called Somatour). They took $6pp from us, which is a round-trip ticket. The ride over took about 15 minutes, and was great - very beautiful. The water was a bit rough, and the ride may bother those sensitive to motion. The problem was getting back. Each operator has a boat scheduled every half hour, alternating every 15 minutes. We got to the dock to return to our ship 1 1/2 hours ahead of departure time. We then proceeded to wait over an hour for one of our boats to show up - in the mean time, two other boats from the other company (the orange one) came and went. They will not honor each others tickets, so they would not let us onboard without paying them as well. Finally, we were so nervous about missing our cruise ship, we paid the additional $3pp to get back on the orange boat. There was a huge crowd still waiting for the blue/white boat when we made this decision. Some people said they saw black smoke coming out of the blue/white boat earlier. The operators of the orange boat would not comment on whether the other company was having trouble, or if they knew what the hold-up was. I felt very vulnerable in this situation, and would not like to repeat it. Also, we walked to the Sofitel Bakoua Resort once there (very close), but all cruise passengers were limited to a small portion of their beach that did not include an option to rent chairs. It was nice, but so crowded that we were packed in like sardines on our towels. All in all, for our party of four, we spent $24 on round-trip cabs to/from the ferry, and $36 for the ferry - $24 plus $12 since our return ticket wasn't honored by the company we ended up using. The experience definitely was NOT worth it! I would suggest hiring a cab instead, and seeing the island. This was our other option, and I really really regret not doing it. In our case, we had our two teenagers with us, and we had already spent the day in St. Martin on a cab tour, so they wanted a "day at the beach". In the end, they were unhappy as well!!

[thebets]

Just returned from the Carnival Legend with a stop in Martinique. What to do in this port was definitely the biggest challenge for us, as is was Sunday AND New Year's Day. With the advice from this board, we took the ferry to Point du Boit, as this seemed like the safest bet, since most things were closed. I would just like to share our experience, as this stop was the most disappointing for us (the others were St. Martin, and Barbados).

 

We took a taxi to the ferry ($3pp) which seemed like a good idea, as it is a bit of a walk, and not particularly picturesque. We also were short on time, and so this was a good decision for us, but under different circumstances, it is definitely walkable. When we arrived at the ferry stop, we were hustled by the ferry operators. As far as I could tell, there are two operators, and the boats dock on side-by-side piers. Both were fighting for our business, and we followed one on board. I think it was Madinina Tours, but it definitely was the blue and white boat (the other is bright orange, and I believe is called Somatour). They took $6pp from us, which is a round-trip ticket. The ride over took about 15 minutes, and was great - very beautiful. The water was a bit rough, and the ride may bother those sensitive to motion. The problem was getting back. Each operator has a boat scheduled every half hour, alternating every 15 minutes. We got to the dock to return to our ship 1 1/2 hours ahead of departure time. We then proceeded to wait over an hour for one of our boats to show up - in the mean time, two other boats from the other company (the orange one) came and went. They will not honor each others tickets, so they would not let us onboard without paying them as well. Finally, we were so nervous about missing our cruise ship, we paid the additional $3pp to get back on the orange boat. There was a huge crowd still waiting for the blue/white boat when we made this decision. Some people said they saw black smoke coming out of the blue/white boat earlier. The operators of the orange boat would not comment on whether the other company was having trouble, or if they knew what the hold-up was. I felt very vulnerable in this situation, and would not like to repeat it. Also, we walked to the Sofitel Bakoua Resort once there (very close), but all cruise passengers were limited to a small portion of their beach that did not include an option to rent chairs. It was nice, but so crowded that we were packed in like sardines on our towels. All in all, for our party of four, we spent $24 on round-trip cabs to/from the ferry, and $36 for the ferry - $24 plus $12 since our return ticket wasn't honored by the company we ended up using. The experience definitely was NOT worth it! I would suggest hiring a cab instead, and seeing the island. This was our other option, and I really really regret not doing it. In our case, we had our two teenagers with us, and we had already spent the day in St. Martin on a cab tour, so they wanted a "day at the beach". In the end, they were unhappy as well!!

[thebets]

Just returned from the Carnival Legend with a stop in Martinique. What to do in this port was definitely the biggest challenge for us, as is was Sunday AND New Year's Day. With the advice from this board, we took the ferry to Point du Boit, as this seemed like the safest bet, since most things were closed. I would just like to share our experience, as this stop was the most disappointing for us (the others were St. Martin, and Barbados).

 

We took a taxi to the ferry ($3pp) which seemed like a good idea, as it is a bit of a walk, and not particularly picturesque. We also were short on time, and so this was a good decision for us, but under different circumstances, it is definitely walkable. When we arrived at the ferry stop, we were hustled by the ferry operators. As far as I could tell, there are two operators, and the boats dock on side-by-side piers. Both were fighting for our business, and we followed one on board. I think it was Madinina Tours, but it definitely was the blue and white boat (the other is bright orange, and I believe is called Somatour). They took $6pp from us, which is a round-trip ticket. The ride over took about 15 minutes, and was great - very beautiful. The water was a bit rough, and the ride may bother those sensitive to motion. The problem was getting back. Each operator has a boat scheduled every half hour, alternating every 15 minutes. We got to the dock to return to our ship 1 1/2 hours ahead of departure time. We then proceeded to wait over an hour for one of our boats to show up - in the mean time, two other boats from the other company (the orange one) came and went. They will not honor each others tickets, so they would not let us onboard without paying them as well. Finally, we were so nervous about missing our cruise ship, we paid the additional $3pp to get back on the orange boat. There was a huge crowd still waiting for the blue/white boat when we made this decision. Some people said they saw black smoke coming out of the blue/white boat earlier. The operators of the orange boat would not comment on whether the other company was having trouble, or if they knew what the hold-up was. I felt very vulnerable in this situation, and would not like to repeat it. Also, we walked to the Sofitel Bakoua Resort once there (very close), but all cruise passengers were limited to a small portion of their beach that did not include an option to rent chairs. It was nice, but so crowded that we were packed in like sardines on our towels. All in all, for our party of four, we spent $24 on round-trip cabs to/from the ferry, and $36 for the ferry - $24 plus $12 since our return ticket wasn't honored by the company we ended up using. The experience definitely was NOT worth it! I would suggest hiring a cab instead, and seeing the island. This was our other option, and I really really regret not doing it. In our case, we had our two teenagers with us, and we had already spent the day in St. Martin on a cab tour, so they wanted a "day at the beach". In the end, they were unhappy as well!!

[thebets]

Sorry this post was listed three times!! I'm not sure what happened!

[jwitt2]

Sorry you had a bad experience. We took the ferry once and had no troubles, but the weather was not very nice that day. Another cruise, we went into town and rented a car and drove on our own. They drive like maniacs down there, I think some woman almost clipped our side mirror as she drove by us, she got so close. But we got to see what we wanted. It took some time to get the car. I don't recall if we had reserved it in advance or not, has been a few years ago. We are going back in a few weeks and are going on the tour of the island since it has been about 20 years since we have done that.

[pomliane]

yes, sorry you had a bad experience with the ferry companies. Problems of that type are rare.:(

I hope next time you'll come, you'll visit the island renting a car or a taxi.

Have a nice day.

[thebets]

Most importantly, I would suggest to anyone who decides to go to Point du Boit, to only buy a one-way ticket on the ferry over. The price is the same, and that way you will not be restricted in trying to get back. You can be assured that the people taking your money will not offer this option, and we learned the hard way.

[PINEVIEW01]

yes, sorry you had a bad experience with the ferry companies. Problems of that type are rare.:(

I hope next time you'll come, you'll visit the island renting a car or a taxi.

Have a nice day.

pomliane, I thought you said the beachs are open to all, except club med? How did they make the people stay in a small area like sardines?

[pomliane]

pineview, I don't know exactly what happened to the bets but what I know is that the bakoua beach is quite small. When I go to the hotel beach of 3 Ilets, I go to the kalenda resort beaches which are a little bigger. As I don't rent a chair, I can put my towel where I want.

At Pointe du Bout you also have the public beach of Anse Mitan. I don't think you can be packed like sardines there:D .

To answer your question, in france (and in Martinique) all beaches are public. all hotels have to allow free access to the beach, but they can make you pay for services (shower, towel, chairs etc...).

[TerriDHair]

Pomliane, do you know whether there are jet skis for rent near any of the beaches you mentioned? I will be there on Feb. 18 for the first time!

[pomliane]

yes, at kalenda resort.;)

[mwebb]

Please help. Mom & 2 teens visiting in April for first time on Carnival Legend. Only there from 7-2. Ship tours look boring. Open to your suggestions as to how to maximize our time-

[thebets]

mwebb - You've probably read my first post on this link, and know we didn't have a great experience going to Point du Boit. We had our two teenagers with us - ages 13 and 19. I wish we had just hired a taxi and seen the island, as it is supposed to be beautiful. Check out this new article by Cruisemates - there are some interesting ideas for Martinique as well as other southern stops: http://cruisemates.com/articles/family/scarib.cfm

[mwebb]

Thanks. We're on the Legend and th etime in port is so limited.

[Shelley9962]

Wow, Bets... I didn't realize you had such a nightmare! We were on the same ship with Bets (and had the opportunity to meet her and her family)... We did the taxi tour and loved it. I'm a photographer and it was nice to be able to customize what we did to include a nice chunk of time at the Botanical Garden (where I could easily spend several days with my camera). We paid $35 per person for a 3 hour tour -- our guide's English was good, he had a nice car and we saw a great deal of the island.

 

Had we not been there on a Sunday and New Year's Day to boot, I would have spent a bit of time shopping too!

[captainron]

...but did you really need to place it on this board three times.

 

1. It's unfortunate that you had the ferry problem, however it's not the ferry operator's fault. Any mechanized device can break down.

 

2. You chose to take a cruise on an itinerary including Martinique where you happened to show up on New Year's Day (when things are closed every where around the world also) and a Sunday to boot. Well if people would just study/research a little about the ports of call they were visiting they would know that Martinique is French and a devoutly Catholic nation. That being the case, in many other countries in the Caribbean that are Catholic, as in other Catholic nations around the world, usually most stores close on Sundays.

Now if you were Catholic I would have recommended that you attend mass at the Petite Eglise de Sacre Ccoeur up on the edge of the rainforest. This miniature version of the Basilique Sacre Coeur in Paris is not as ornate but was built in tribute to the architect's homeland. The parish priest lives on site which is co-located with a young girls' elementary school. There you could have said a prayer that the ferries were working well all day and you would have had a great time afterward.

 

The bottom line is that life goes on around the world in different cultures and people are not there just to please the whims of cruiseship passengers. I do empathise with you totally. Carnival has a bad habit of doing this, as when we were on the Paradise, we pulled into St Lucia on a Sunday also. Whoever does their scheduling of ports of call needs a crack on the back of the head to knock some sense into them. A day at sea would have been better for you.

 

3. As to the issue of the other ferry operator not taking your operator's ticket...well duh!!! that's what free enterprise is all about. Do you think if you were visiting San Francisco and went to Alcatraz where your boat broke down that Blue & Gold Line or another operator would honour the ticket. It boils down to how badly did you want to get back to your cruiseship. It would have been more of a hassle for the orange boat operator to try and recoup money from his competitor (which would probably never happen anyway).

 

You might want to research your dates of ports of call prior to booking a cruise if you're that way or be safe and book a ship's excursion.

 

BUT PLEASE...don't take out your frustrations on the people of Martinique, who are very hospitable and friendly and operate one of the busiest shipping ports in the Caribbean.

 

Ciao for now!!!

 

[ming]

Thank you, thebets for the heads-up on the ferry situation.

 

We've been there six times on cruises and every other year on business. Out of the six cruise times, the locals blocked the roads five times to protest high taxes, or whatever was popular that day.

 

Got as far north as St. Pierre and couldn't get back to within a mile or two of the port. It was a long walk, indeed.

 

I think Martinique is one of the most beautiful islands in the Caribbean. However, now we just fly and taxi......allowing an extra day before and after business...in case of the strike.

 

Many of the islands, especially the French ones, require time to get aquainted with.

 

Consider it a learning experience.....

 

....You'll be wiser next time, yes?

[pomliane]

You can have a taxi tour on the island or maybe you can do something less scheduled. What do you want to do? visit? go to the beach? see the rainforest?

If you don't want to go to Pointe du Bout, you can still go to Trois Ilets renting a car and visit : the pottery village, the Chateau gaillard gallery (an handicraft center), the sugar cane house or the Pagerie museum (former house of empress josephine), go to mangofil with your teenagers and have fun in the adventure trail.

If you want more informations feel free to ask me.;)

[mwebb]

Thank you Pomilane, We booked with Kleber per your recommendations. I am certain we will have a lovely time.