St Martin's Carnival 2008

[GTO-Girl]

We will be in St Martin the end of April during which their Carnival celebration will still be in full swing. We will miss the Grand Parade but will be there for the 2nd Parade.

 

Have any of you been in St Martin during this event? I have read where it is really crowded so I don't think we are going to risk going to the beach for fear we couldn't get back because of the traffic jams.

 

Any advise or shared experiences would be appreciated......

 

Dianne

[kal]

Read this thread then see if it answers your questions:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=726392

[GTO-Girl]

Thanks Kal.....I see that the 2nd Parade on Wednesday will not be nearly as big as the Grand Parade but with it starting at 2pm, which time will the crowds begin to form?

 

And will any of the shops be open in the morning before the parade?

 

Thanks again for your help!!!

 

Dianne

[kal]

The crowds will begin to form at about 1:00p or so, but the parade won't get to the eastern side of Philipsburg until about 4-5:00pm. That's when the roads will be blocked off.

 

All of the shops are closed for the Grand Parade and some might be open for the Second Day Parade. Don't count on them being open tho.

[stones902]

We will be in St Martin the end of April during which their Carnival celebration will still be in full swing. We will miss the Grand Parade but will be there for the 2nd Parade.

 

Have any of you been in St Martin during this event? I have read where it is really crowded so I don't think we are going to risk going to the beach for fear we couldn't get back because of the traffic jams.

 

Any advise or shared experiences would be appreciated......

 

Dianne

 

Attended Carnival on the French side (Grand Case) about a month ago. It is quite crowded and there are parking problems.

 

The whole island has parking issues (esp in Phillipsburg). I am sure during the celebration is is even worse. Taxi's are probably worth the extra $$.

[SunshineToGo]

Attended Carnival on the French side (Grand Case) about a month ago. It is quite crowded and there are parking problems.

 

The whole island has parking issues (esp in Phillipsburg). I am sure during the celebration is is even worse. Taxi's are probably worth the extra $$.

 

Good luck getting a taxi out of P'burg on a Carnival Parade day. We tried to leave early enough to avoid the traffic back to Maho and well after an hour on Pondfill Road, a local family actually got us back. Probably not the brightest thing to do but since they had a couple kids in their van, we thought it pretty safe. Wouldn't take a dime from us by the way for gas.

[Eddiesmom]

I will be in St Maartin in April 29th for the Grand Parade..............can anyone tell me if the Stores will be open on the French side (Marigot) and will there be traffic there as well even though the Parade is in Phillipsburg.

[kal]

I believe the shops in Marigot will be open. The traffic will be heavy as many vehicles are diverted to the French side due to crowds and blockages on the Dutch side.

 

The last I looked there will be 5 cruise ships in port. That adds more than 12,000 visitors into an extremely crowded situation in Philipsburg.

[Eddiesmom]

Kal, Thanks for the info.

[Freezin' in Minny]

Kal

 

Will we have a hard time getting taxi service the day of the 2nd parade? We arrive at the island at 8 am. and are planning to hit Orient Beach for a few hours and head back around 1 pm. I just want to make sure we don't end up stranded with taxis being scarce that day.

[kal]

That schedule should work fine. Paradewise, it will be quiet in the morning but you're allowing plenty of time in the afternoon.

[FloridaLaura]

Not to rehash everything again but I spoke w/ Bernard from Bernards tours and he said no problem getting us back to the ship at 4pm. He says there is ways around the parade route so he can get us back in time without cutting our day so short. Any thoughts from anyone?

 

When I heard about the parade and was told we should get back around 1pm or 2pm to assure we get back to the ship I was kinda bummed, that is taking away 4 hours of island time :( But bernard assures me we can stay out until 4pm and he will get us back to pier by 4!

[kal]

There is only one road from Philipsburg to the pier. That road is BLOCKED when the parade is passing thru Philipsburg. Blocked means no vehicle traffic is allow thru.

 

The road is only blocked as soon as the head of the parade appears and this continues for the full duration of the parade until the last unit passes by. Even then, the streets are jammed with people and it is extremely difficult for automotive traffic to move. For the Grand Parade this is 3-4 hours. For the Day 2 Parade, it's somewhat shorter, maybe 2-3 hours.

 

In April 2007, the Grand Parade ended at 6:30p at which time the road was re-opened.

 

From personal experience, we go to a friend's villa late in the afternoon of the Grand Parade. The route to the villa is via the road from Philipsburg to the pier. We face this blockage issue every year and just have to wait until the parade is finished. If I recall, this year the blockage started at about 3:00p, but it could easily have been earlier. It's hard to pin down the exact time as it's a function of the speed of the parade. It starts at 10:00am north of the Salt Pond and moves into, thru and out of Philipsburg. It's all a matter of vehicle break downs which stall the parade.

 

Bernard better be right or you're walking from the Salt Pond to the Pier. If it were me, I would have a back-up plan.

[FloridaLaura]

How far is it from Salt Pond to the pier if you don't mind me asking?

 

And by the way we will be there for the 2nd parade not the Grand Parade. Can you suggest a back up plan?

 

TIA

[SeattleBarbershop]

Great advice, Kal.

 

Sorry to re-iterate, but I can't think of anything more important. We're booked on the Transatlantic heading east after St. Maarten, so if we miss the boat out of St. Maarten, our vacation is virtually ruined. Not worth a couple of hours extra at Orient Beach.

 

We were at St. Maarten in August and drove all over the island, staying at Orient Beach for the longest time, so I have a fairly good feel for where everything is. Especially the only road from Phillipsburg to the pier.

 

Current plans - rent car from the pier (already reserved through Budget) about 8:30 AM. Head up to Orient Beach. Take small ferry over to Pinel Island. Snorkel and have an early lunch. Leave Pinel Island around noon and head back to ship. Probably hit Northeast side of Phillipsburg around 1:00-1:30 and then through the town and out the Southeast road to the pier.

 

Should we make changes to our plans? - again, we have to get the car through since we're renting from the pier. And we are headed across the Atlantic, so no chance to catch up to the ship for a week, and then at enormous cost.

[kal]

Here's a map of the east end of Philipsburg showing the parade route:

 

[SeattleBarbershop]

Perfect - cancelling our plans for Orient Beach. We'll stick around town, maybe catch an hour of the parade and then head back to the ship.

 

Thanks so much.

[kal]

As a back-up plan I would do this on days of parades:

 

* Avoid use of rental cars obtained at the pier

 

* Use available transportation to get to/from your tour destinations

 

* Upon returning to Philipsburg from elsewhere on the island, have the driver take you as close as possible to the pier. If you can only get to the east side of the Salt Pond that's fine. That will likely be 0.3-0.5 miles to the east side of Philipsburg.

 

* If you encounter critical road blockage, walk thru Philipsburg

 

* Either walk to the cruise terminal (~1 mile) OR take the water taxi to the cruise terminal starting at either Bobby's Marina or the Captain Hodge Pier (see map). Make sure you have paid for the water taxi service before leaving the terminal area in the AM.

 

This way you have a full day on the island and won't be stranded. There will be 5 ships in port during the Grand Parade so you'll encounter lots of issues.

[FloridaLaura]

Kal thank you so much, I have printed out map and back up instructions, they are going in my purse right now. I actually could not sleep last night picturing us stranded in st. martin watching my ship sail away with a parade in front of us blocking our way to the pier! This has helped a great deal thank you for all of your help! We are looking forward to a full day in st. martin, we will allow 2 hours to get thru phillipsburg to the ship just in case.

[Freezin' in Minny]

Kal

 

Thank you so much for all the information you have provided. The map with the parade route was excellent! Your website is also wonderful. It is members like yourself that make these boards great. :)

[FloridaLaura]

Kal

 

Thank you so much for all the information you have provided. The map with the parade route was excellent! Your website is also wonderful. It is members like yourself that make these boards great. :)

 

 

Ditto!! Where did you see his website if you don't mind me asking? I see we are on the same cruise! Hope we have calm seas and blue skies!

[emmy]

As a back-up plan I would do this on days of parades:

 

* Avoid use of rental cars obtained at the pier

 

* Use available transportation to get to/from your tour destinations

 

* Upon returning to Philipsburg from elsewhere on the island, have the driver take you as close as possible to the pier. If you can only get to the east side of the Salt Pond that's fine. That will likely be 0.3-0.5 miles to the east side of Philipsburg.

 

* If you encounter critical road blockage, walk thru Philipsburg

 

* Either walk to the cruise terminal (~1 mile) OR take the water taxi to the cruise terminal starting at either Bobby's Marina or the Captain Hodge Pier (see map). Make sure you have paid for the water taxi service before leaving the terminal area in the AM.

 

This way you have a full day on the island and won't be stranded. There will be 5 ships in port during the Grand Parade so you'll encounter lots of issues.

 

 

Great info Kal..thank you.. So do you think that critical blockage will be in place right at the start time 10am? Our ship Explorer of the Seas arrives at 10 am...if we hurry and get to the taxi stand at the pier will we be able to make it out before the blockage to get to Orient.

 

We plan on heading back to the ship about 1:30 - 2pm and I will use your advice about asking the taxi driver to let us off as close into Philipsburg as we can get and take the water taxi back to the pier area.

 

This is where I am concerned... we plan on having dinner in Grand Case for 6:30pm (our ship does not leave until 11pm) It sounds like it might be very difficult to get out about 5:30pm to grab a taxi to the French side..we are there the day of the Grand Parade April 29

 

I was hoping with the length of the parade being 10 - 2pm the blockages on the day of the Grand Parade would be removed by 5:30pm...

 

Thanks in advance Kal:)

[kal]

Ditto!! Where did you see his website if you don't mind me asking? I see we are on the same cruise! Hope we have calm seas and blue skies!

 

 

Go HERE for my St. Maarten website. There's lots of photos and other travel ideas to think about.

[emmy]

Go HERE for my St. Maarten website. There's lots of photos and other travel ideas to think about.

 

Kal ~ do you mind me posting your link on my roll call thread?

 

I so love St Maarten/St martin... after our first visit there on a cruise ship we did do a land vacation there. You are making me want to do that again so I can enjoy so much more of the island.

[kal]

Great info Kal..thank you.. So do you think that critical blockage will be in place right at the start time 10am? Our ship Explorer of the Seas arrives at 10 am...if we hurry and get to the taxi stand at the pier will we be able to make it out before the blockage to get to Orient.

 

We plan on heading back to the ship about 1:30 - 2pm and I will use your advice about asking the taxi driver to let us off as close into Philipsburg as we can get and take the water taxi back to the pier area.

 

This is where I am concerned... we plan on having dinner in Grand Case for 6:30pm (our ship does not leave until 11pm) It sounds like it might be very difficult to get out about 5:30pm to grab a taxi to the French side..we are there the day of the Grand Parade April 29

 

I was hoping with the length of the parade being 10 - 2pm the blockages on the day of the Grand Parade would be removed by 5:30pm...

 

Thanks in advance Kal:)

 

With regard to the blockage, that starts later in the day as the Parade emerges from the east end of Philipsburg and Front Street. It start at 10:00am but the starting point is considerably north of the Salt Pond. It takes almost 4 hours just to reach Philipsburg. Therefore you should not have any problem in the morning as you travel to Orient Beach.

 

Without doubt you will not be able to travel by taxi from the terminal thru Philipsburg at 5:30pm. Think of it this way - at the EAST end of Philipsburg the parade will block travel from about 2:00 to 6:30pm on April 29th. You can get thru by walking but not by car.