St. Martin dock?

[WeAteThere]

Where does Wind Spirit dock in St. Martin? Are there any car rentals within walking distance?

[nancyrg]

You are supposed to dock on the french side of St Maarten, but when we were on the Wind spirit 2 weeks ago, the swells were too high on the French side, so we docked on the Dutch side (with 2 massive cruise ships)

there are lots of car rentals on the Dutch side

[WeAteThere]

What were the highlights and (especially) lowlights of the trip?

[nancyrg]

We had a fantastic trip....many highlights....no lowlights. We were a group of 9 ranging in age from 12-70 and we all loved this trip. We had great service on the ship and we enjoyed the ports (although my husband and I had taken this trip before so no new ports for us)

My husband loved the America's regatta excursion in St Maarten. My whole family enjoyed the excursion to the Baths on virgin Gorda. My brother in law and nephew rented jet skis in St Maarten and loved that.

I honestly cannot think of a single complaint on this trip-I hope you enjoy this trip too.

If you have any other questions let me know

 

nancy

[schmidlapp]

Another idea since all Windstar ships use the French side is to take the

ferry to Anguilla and rent a car there for the day. There are some very nice upscale resorts to lunch at and if you are really ready for adventure,

go to BANKE BANKS bar. We were there a few years ago and had quite a time. The ferry pier if I remember is quite close to where the tenders arrive.

On our upcoming sailing ( Windsurf) we arrive at 8 am and don't sail til midnight. This should give us plenty of time in Anguilla.

[WeAteThere]

Thanks for the Anguilla suggestion. It looks like a great way to get away from the tourists on St. Martin. A question about passports. According to the ferry information, you must present a passport to make the transit to Anguilla. As I recall, Wind Spirit collects passports at the beginning of the trip and holds them in the purser's office. What to do?

[mille]

I think that the Wind Surf docks in Marigot Bay... a very chic little French town with a mix of Caribbean kitsch and some pretty high end Parisian type shopping...a very cool little place..within striking distance of Orient Beach (yes..that Orient beach....bring your bathing suit and take it off if you feel out of place)...a very beautiful beach. The sightseeing on that beach is not always pleasant or tasteful.....but the beach is quite spectacular and the little shops and cafes along the beach are worth seeing... a nice hangout!

[schmidlapp]

Last time there we were on SEADREAM and if I remember we just showed

photocopies of our passports to go by ferry to Anguilla.

[whatnot]

We are on Sea Dream in January and were thinking about taking the ferry to Anguilla, because we had been to St Martin so many times and done just about everything. That passport issue had bothered me, but if you can take a photocopy then that would be great. I had wondered if they would give you your passport back for the day.

[cruister71]

You should be able to get your passport back once the French Immigration is finished with it, just tell them at the Reception desk the night before what your intensions are and it shouldn't be a problem.

 

The one major down-side of going to Anguilla is the swells, they can get quite rough in the straight between St. Martin and Anguilla and there is the odd time that they have to stop ferry traffic from returning. This is why you sould actually take your passport. If you get stuck in Anguilla for the night you will need it to fly to St. Barths the next day.

[MGC]

If you dock in Marigot (we actually tendered in), once you go through the welcome station at the end of the dock, turn to your left. There are many many kiosks for car rentals, and they tend to be quite reasonable.

 

We rented a car for the day and arranged for a late evening drop-off so that we could eat dinner in Grand Case. During the day, we simply went to Orient Beach.

[akmbenz]

Hi Nancy; Thanks for your informative post. My wife and I are sailing on the 03/07 sailing out of St. Thomas. It is our first Windstar cruise and we are quite excited having previuosly sailed only on mega ships... ie: Holland America and princess lines.

 

I myself love the concept of casual attire and NO formal nights. The winter here in Boston has gone on FOREVER and we are pleased to get away to the Caribbean.

 

Andy

[nancyrg]

Andy:

 

I hope you love Windstar as much as we do-we sailed the mega ships for years and now we are hooked on windstar

 

please do me a favor....when you are onboard, please tell Rommel (the bar manager) that Nancy & David from Chicago and our whole family say hi! we have cruised with him 3 times and he is fantastic! Go introduce yourselves to him....he is great!

 

have a great trip!

 

Nancy