Is St. Marten a handicap friendly port?

[Susie51]

My mom booked a cruise on Westerdam for April 12. One of the ports is ST. Marten. Mom uses a walker, when she walks long distances. Will this port be handicap friendly? What shore ex do you recommend? Thanks for your help.

[RuthC]

I've found it to be a painfully long walk just from the ship to the end of the pier. The area to catch tour busses is a little bit further on.

IIRC, there was a golf cart going up and down the pier that could take her at least to the end of the pier. I don't know what, if anything, someone has to do to get to use the cart, but if I were you, I'd look for it and ask.
As a matter of fact, that's exactly what I'm going to do when I'm there on the Noordam 1/23 cruise.

[mamaofami]

I've found it to be a painfully long walk just from the ship to the end of the pier. The area to catch tour busses is a little bit further on.

IIRC, there was a golf cart going up and down the pier that could take her at least to the end of the pier. I don't know what, if anything, someone has to do to get to use the cart, but if I were you, I'd look for it and ask.
As a matter of fact, that's exactly what I'm going to do when I'm there on the Noordam 1/23 cruise.

Last year, at one of the Caribbean ports, I simply could not make the walk from the end of the pier back to the ship. My DH went ahead and they sent a wheelchair to get me. Was I ever grateful. I've seen people riding in those carts back to the ship too.

[rfbdorf]

Ask on the disabled cruiser travel forum and you'll likely get more responses
- Richard

[innlady1]

I've found it to be a painfully long walk just from the ship to the end of the pier. The area to catch tour busses is a little bit further on.


IIRC, there was a golf cart going up and down the pier that could take her at least to the end of the pier. I don't know what, if anything, someone has to do to get to use the cart, but if I were you, I'd look for it and ask.

As a matter of fact, that's exactly what I'm going to do when I'm there on the Noordam 1/23 cruise.


I took that golf cart back to the ship the last two years...and will do so again this year....save me a seat, Ruth!

That is a very long walk, as far as I'm concerned...especially at the end of a busy day.

[innlady1]

Last year, at one of the Caribbean ports, I simply could not make the walk from the end of the pier back to the ship. My DH went ahead and they sent a wheelchair to get me. Was I ever grateful. I've seen people riding in those carts back to the ship too.

That was in Tortola, Carol. I'd wished they had the golf carts there as they do in St. Maarten.

[innlady1]

Ask on the disabled cruiser travel forum and you'll likely get more responses
- Richard

All one needs to do is hail the golf cart and hop on. It's not a huge deal. Anyone can hitch a ride to the ship. :D

[Capital Cruiser]

Thanks for the tip about the golf cart. I'll be in St Maarten with my 87-year-old mother and, while not disabled, she walks slowly. On our first cruise, the shore ex people were great about saying exactly how much walking was involved in each excursion (e.g., you'll have to walk about two ship lenghts to get to the tour bus, etc.) Unfortunately, since then they have been less explicit and I have found that even excursions marked as low levels of exertion require more walking or standing than one would expect. I'm still trying to look into renting a wheelchair for the ports to cover exactly this situation, but have not had a response to my messages left at Cruiseshipassist.

[RuthC]

Unfortunately, since then they have been less explicit and I have found that even excursions marked as low levels of exertion require more walking or standing than one would expect.
This has been a chronic problem on HAL for as long as I have been paying attention.

When asked "how far" it is to (wherever), the answer has typically been "not far". Please, don't tell me whether or not something is "far"; let me be the judge of that. Tell me it's 1/10th of a mile, or in terms of how many lengths of the ship, fine. Use a unit of measure that's consistent in everyone's mind. Then each individual can determine if it's within their ability.

Whenever I get that vague "not far"-type answer, I insist on a more precise response.

[DAMIFIKNOW]

There are no friendly HANDICAP ports inte CARIBBEAN,They are all from years ago, being from the states and there handicap rules spoil you.

[bishop84]

Thanks for the tip about the golf cart. I'll be in St Maarten with my 87-year-old mother and, while not disabled, she walks slowly. On our first cruise, the shore ex people were great about saying exactly how much walking was involved in each excursion (e.g., you'll have to walk about two ship lenghts to get to the tour bus, etc.) Unfortunately, since then they have been less explicit and I have found that even excursions marked as low levels of exertion require more walking or standing than one would expect. I'm still trying to look into renting a wheelchair for the ports to cover exactly this situation, but have not had a response to my messages left at Cruiseshipassist.

Hi Capital Cruiser,

You may not be getting an answer from Cruise Ship Assist / Care Vacations as they no longer provide the on board or terminal wheelchair rental scheme for Holland America. It is now provided by a company called Special Needs At Sea. Maybe you can try their website is www.specialneedsgroup.com (http://www.specialneedsgroup.com)?

[Capital Cruiser]

Hi Capital Cruiser,

You may not be getting an answer from Cruise Ship Assist / Care Vacations as they no longer provide the on board or terminal wheelchair rental scheme for Holland America. It is now provided by a company called Special Needs At Sea. Maybe you can try their website is www.specialneedsgroup.com? (http://www.specialneedsgroup.com?)

Many thanks for your help. I will give them a try. (These boards are fantastic :))

[Sunshine91]

My mom booked a cruise on Westerdam for April 12. One of the ports is ST. Marten. Mom uses a walker, when she walks long distances. Will this port be handicap friendly? What shore ex do you recommend? Thanks for your help.

Once you get to the dock you can buy a water taxi wristband. The water taxi will take you to the dock in downtown Phillipsburg.

If Mom can walk using a walker & you just want a bit of shopping & easily accessible beach, this is a great place. Instead of the boardwalk being contructed of boards, its actually paved. Shops, hotels & restaurants are on one side, the beach is on the other. Its really quite charming & picturesque.

One block back is Front St. The real shopping district of St. Maarten. Check out the St. Maarten/St. Martin board here on cruisecritic for more specifics. Folks over there will be able to give you tons of info & have pix posted.

Have a great time. :)

[English_in_Spain]

This has been a chronic problem on HAL for as long as I have been paying attention.

When asked "how far" it is to (wherever), the answer has typically been "not far". Please, don't tell me whether or not something is "far"; let me be the judge of that. Tell me it's 1/10th of a mile, or in terms of how many lengths of the ship, fine. Use a unit of measure that's consistent in everyone's mind. Then each individual can determine if it's within their ability.

Whenever I get that vague "not far"-type answer, I insist on a more precise response.

The other 2 answers I find unhelpful is '2 blocks' or '5 minute walk'.

We Europeans do not think in 'blocks' and I have no idea how far 2 blocks is. As far as the number of minutes walk - by whom? at what speed?.

Also, I find nowadays that often the shorex staff have never been on these shore excursions. I remember when we first cruised at least one of them had been on every excursion and could answer questions on it.

[Susie51]

Thank you for your input. I wish the people working the shore excursion desk had experienced the shore ex also. Last week my daughter took the Nigril Beach Shoe ex. in Jamica. She spoke with the dept. manager and he told her it would be a 20 min. bus ride. Actually it was an hour each way to the beach.