St. Maarten - Cruise Port to Orient to Maho

[racepoint]

I posted this on the St. Maarten thread and have been waiting for a response. I'm posting here now because I know this thread is well-read and I'm certain I'll get the answers I'm looking for. When we dock in St. Maarten, our party of 4 adults and 2 teens are planning to head to Orient Beach; scope out a nice beachfront restaurant; rent some chairs and hang out for the afternoon. I am seriously considering moving our party to Maho, mid-day, to experience the planes on the beach from the Sunset Bar. My question is: 1) Is it reasonable to do these two beaches in one day and make it back to port in plenty of time for our 6:00 p.m. sailing? (I don't want to even cut it close and have to worry about missing the ship); what time should we leave Maho?; and, what can we expect to pay for taxi fare and what are the travel times for Orient to Maho and Maho to the port?????

[seagarsmoker]

Yes it can be done and would be fun time. Go to Orient first thing in the morning and have lunch there (several places around Kon Tiki area). Then cab it over to Maho around 12:30 - 1:00 and make sure you leave Maho before 4:00 so you can get back to port in time. We do the same thing, except we go to Marigot instead of Maho and still get back to the ship in plenty of time.

[SeaYa52]

I'm interested in this also. We're renting a car and trying to plan the itinerary. I'd like to shop a little, visit 0rient and end up at Maho for a drink and watch a few planes before heading back......is this possible .....or am I being unrealistic?

[Canuck Cruzer]

We did this on Thursday. We rented a Jeep, drove up to Orient Beach. I think we were up there just after 9 am. It was pretty cloudy and raining off and on, so we didn't stay too long. We walked the entire beach...and the nicest looking place was Kon Tiki (or however you spell it).

 

We had lunch in Grand Casse and then went down to Maho. We were at Maho Beach until 3 pm approx...and the traffic was VERY slow from the airport back to the ship...and we were the only ship in port! I can't imagine what traffic is like when there are several ships in port. It might have taken us about an hour to get back...but still had of plenty of time.