Bombarded by sales people in port?

My husband and I have been to Nassau three times and we really dislike all the people who run up to you and try to get you to buy their stuff/excursions. That and the crazy shoulder-to-shoulder crowding just to get from the boat to the excursions, forcing you to go through a marketplace where you are constantly approached by strangers trying to sell you stuff that you don't want. Personally, I find it intimidating and scary (due to a really bad experience in Tijuana, Mexico as a teenager). To the point where I have a lot of anxiety just getting off the boat, even though I really really want to do excursions and have a nice time! I just want to get to my excursion in peace!

Can anyone tell me if similar crowding and bombardment by salespeople occurs in St. Maarten like it does in Nassau?

We've been to St. Maarten twice fairly recently (May 2013 and Sept. 2015) and we never had that problem there. In 2013, we booked a private excursion and had a meeting place. No one bothered us. In 2015, we just went to the taxi stand (well marked with a large sign) for a cab to the beach, but we had to go to them. Both times we spent some time in the cruise center for about an hour before getting back on the ship and never had an issue with pushy vendors. Your experience with Nassau sounded just like Cozumel...they were VERY push there too and we called it the "gauntlet". You will not find that in St. Maarten.

A few pictures of the cruise center area (we were the only ship in port the day we were there, so I'm sure it could be a lot more crowded at other times, but with ship passengers):

View from our ship

The taxi stand...they don't come to you, you go to them.

Hope this is helpful to you.

Nothing like Nassau. Nothing like Antigua either. A simple no thank you is all that is needed in St. Maarten.

Hadn't really put two and two together to get why I like this port. :)

The tour people are "over there" and you have to go to them. If you're going that way you obviously at least want a taxi so it's not the same.

5 min in St Kitts exhausted my introverted self I nearly just turned around. And I now know how to deal with it; you just ignore salespeople/tourguides or say "no". "No thank you" seems to make some think you might be polite enough to say "yes" if they try more. But still it was like running a gauntlet in Kitts in December.

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My husband and I have been to Nassau three times and we really dislike all the people who run up to you and try to get you to buy their stuff/excursions. That and the crazy shoulder-to-shoulder crowding just to get from the boat to the excursions, forcing you to go through a marketplace where you are constantly approached by strangers trying to sell you stuff that you don't want. Personally, I find it intimidating and scary (due to a really bad experience in Tijuana, Mexico as a teenager). To the point where I have a lot of anxiety just getting off the boat, even though I really really want to do excursions and have a nice time! I just want to get to my excursion in peace!

 

Can anyone tell me if similar crowding and bombardment by salespeople occurs in St. Maarten like it does in Nassau?

Have never experienced sales pitch in St.Maarten other than taxi drivers, who always have accepted no without further inquiry. I have been to other Dutch islands (Bonaire, Curaco) and with the same experience.