Hotel in St Maarten Pre-Cruise

We are sailing on the Windsurf in January 2016 and have booked the Mercure for the night before sailing out of St. Marrten. I'm second guessing our selection and wondering if it might be too far away and we will spend more to get to the port. Has anyone stayed at this hotel? Is it walking distance to anything? What are your thoughts? Thanks so much!

The island isn't that big so a cab won't cost a fortune in any case. The hotels near the cruise piers are ok but a bit noisy but fun. Your hotel appears to be on French side. We've never stayed there but have been at Westin Dawn Beach. Yours looks like nice resort style so enjoy the beach. We've done this same sailing on the Surf twice and it's great.

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Thanks so much for your feedback!

Check out the Holland House - really nice hotel, with a very good location. We have stayed there the last two cruises and been very satisfied. Many times they run a sale so pricing is okay. The onsite restaurant is pretty good as well.

We used HH for day rate when ship comes back to have a place to hang out for a 5 pm flight. Restaurant and beach nice. Good bar. Don't know that I'd want to stay there as I prefer more resort style but it's definitely worth their prices. They were really nice and day rate included drinks, beach towels and chairs. Better than the Windstar tour all day for late departures.

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Also stayed at Holland House (pre-cruise) so I can get a view of the ship (It was not leaving without me LOL). Great stay.

Just a bit down the boardwalk and on the beach is the Royal Pasanggrahan, which I highly recommend. It is everything a tropical hotel should be, with open-air dining and a really super open-air bar area that has grass-topped pulapas and is surrounded by lots of flora and fauna, with the beach just across the boardwalk. Great people-watching. The hotel has its older section plus a new section that blend together nicely. Both are very nice, but the newer section is all-suites, and huge, with large windows. You will want a room on the beach side, not the very, very busy street side (same with HH).

The boardwalk area is a busy place: lots of shops, lots of funky eateries and bars, lots of beach toys to rent.

From either the Pasanggrahan or the HH, it is not an easy walk to the ships. Narrow, curvy road with no sidewalks. You will want to take a cab.

A great place to eat not far from both these hotels is the Greenhouse, which is near the ferry landing. From the hotels, beachside, turn left and walk towards the boardwalk's end. There is a big casino to your left and The Greenhouse and ferry landing to your right. Greenhouse is covered, open-air dining, casual, with a good food and varied menu, also great place for drinks and meet-and-greet as well.

Addendum to my just-posted reply: Since you are on a big cruise ship, your dock area is probably NOT where mine was. We sail the tall ships, and my info re getting to the ships may not be the same, if the big ones dock elsewhere.

 

From either the Pasanggrahan or the HH, it is not an easy walk to the ships. Narrow, curvy road with no sidewalks. You will want to take a cab.

 

There is also a water taxi that will take you from the hotels to the ship. It is convenient and quite inexpensive.

Great information. Thanks for sharing.

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We enjoy the Holland House for one night stays lovely dining, breakfast and bar, and,more resort types for more that one night. We have stayed at Oyster Bay Resort twice and really like it, great pool and beach and since it is on a semi island with a small bridge it has three very nice restaurants for dinner. Oyster Bay has great breakfasts, nice lunches but I do not like their buffets ( not a lover of buffets ), very good bar.We are at the HH this time for the 12/5 reposition to Colon Panama, can't wait to try the Starr Breeze I am sure we will like it. Cabs are not all that expensive and the island us small. We have taken the water taxi and loved it but last year we were there in January and they were not running the boats as taxis. iNhope they do in December otherwise you have to take a taxi from the HH. Happy Sailing

My reply referred to The Greenhouse restaurant and said it is near a ferry.

Correction, I meant the water taxi, which the previous commenter mentions.