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St Marteen Update


trafficgirl124
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We are on the Regal now - will be in St Martin tomorrow. Were told we will be the first ship there this year.

 

Perhaps the first Princess ship, but far from the first ship. B-I-L was there just last week. Not much back to normal. Basically, people were going to the beach in front of downtown. Some downtown open. Go back a couple of blocks and you see behind the curtain. I need to get more details, but we are not planning on going past downtown area this trip.

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I am wondering if anyone has been on a cruise in January where the ship has stopped in St Marteen. I am wondering how the island is after the hurricanes hit.

 

I know we aren't supposed to go overboard on spelling, but place names ought to be correct IMO. You mean St Maarten I presume.

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St. Maarten, St. Martin are both correct. Dutch side and French side are different spellings.

 

Yes, and even the "Saints" are spelled differently. "Sint" for Dutch and "Saint" for French.

But there is no St Marteen.

 

When speaking of cruises, they all, or 99%, call at Philipsburg on Dutch side, so it is St Maarten as the cruise stop.

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I have several family members on the Regal this trip. I would be interested in knowing how St. Martin is Doing. I have spent time on the Island mostly at Orient Beach. I heard it was hit pretty hard.

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We were there on Dec. 14 th and while there was a lot of visible damage we went to Sapphire beach and downtown and it was fine.

 

 

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I believe Sapphire Beach is on St. Thomas.

 

Debr

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Yes, but also a Sapphire resort and beach on STM and the poster was likely referring to it by the resort. It wouldn't surprise me if there are many "Sapphire" beaches around the world.

 

Thanks for the clarification.

 

Debr

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Hi, was at St Martin, Philipsburg on Xmas day on an Independence OT Seas cruise. We walked from the dock to the Great Bay beach - the one right at Philipsburg - and on the way noticed some shipping containers by the side ripped open. At Phillipsburg itself the front row facing the beach looked mostly fine but step back into the town and you noticed some badly damaged buildings. However if you didn't know a major hurricane had recently hit you might just put it down as something else and possibly not be too aware of it - maybe that some demolition and rebuilding was taking place here and there. Palm trees were still standing with leaves attached but some looked a bit dishrevelled. All the beach front bars seemed to be fully open and we got a great deal of 5 loungers, 2 umbrellas and a bucket of 5 drinks/beers for $40 plus $5 tip. Locals all were engaging and we had a great Xmas day on the beach. One other small ship (TUI/Thomson Celebration) was also in that day, despite a reduced excursion list (Orient beach was not available) the beach was busy but far from crowded so other more adventurous folks must have either found other areas to explore (I know the area around Maho is up and running) or stayed onboard. All in all absolutely nothing to put anyone off going to the island and putting much needed revenue into the local economy, unless you were looking forward to getting your kit off at Orient beach! I did hear the French side of the island is recovering much slower and damage is more apparent compared to the Dutch side.

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I believe Sapphire Beach is on St. Thomas.

 

Debr

 

I think that they got mixed up to.

 

No one calls the beach at the Sapphire resort (when there is a beach there), Sapphire Beach. It's the beach at the Sapphire Resort or one of the beaches of Cupecoy. Cupecoy is the area where the Sapphire Resort is in St. Maarten and there are several small beaches of Cupecoy with several of them actually private unless you are reaching them from a condo unit or resort. All beaches are public but reaching them can be difficult and that is what happens in the Cupecoy area. This is the area past Maho, then past Mullet for those interested.

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We were there on Dec 25 on the Indy as well, and I agree with adam7392. There are a lot of signs of hurricane damage outside the main areas in Philipsburg, but nothing to cause you to change your plans. In fact, in might enhance them to see what Mother Nature is capable of - especially in the bay by the airport.

 

Nothing wrong with hangin' out downtown, but nothing wrong with getting out of town either. The roads were good, transportation was super easy, and everyone was tickled pink to see cruise ship passengers back in St Maarten.

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Do you remember what the taxi fare to Sapphire was? Both ways?

 

 

 

Previous comment was right, confused St Thomas with St Marteen, our cruise got changed so ma y times lost track of where we were. We took the ship excursion so can’t tell you the cab fair, but a lot of people were using them.

 

 

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Previous comment was right, confused St Thomas with St Marteen, our cruise got changed so ma y times lost track of where we were. We took the ship excursion so can’t tell you the cab fair, but a lot of people were using them.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

 

Thanks, I knew you meant St Thomas :)

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  • 2 weeks later...

Please get off the ship and spend some money!! The stores are dying for business from the cruise lines. Front street is fine and most stores are open as was the boardwalk. I do know some people on my ship took a tour to the French side and said it was destroyed, much worse than the Dutch side.

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Please get off the ship and spend some money!! The stores are dying for business from the cruise lines. Front street is fine and most stores are open as was the boardwalk. I do know some people on my ship took a tour to the French side and said it was destroyed, much worse than the Dutch side.

 

There are some very large buildings like hotels, resorts and condominiums and casinos as well on the Dutch side that were pretty much destroyed by Irma. These buildings held hundreds (thousands in some cases) of people each. Some are not opening until December 31, 2019 which is 2020 really. The PJ airport is using tents and hangers and not the modern airport building due to the damage there. Lot's of clean up has been done on the Dutch side but make no mistake, Irma didn't target the French side, the Dutch side was hit terribly hard as well.

 

It's great that the cruise ships are coming back but they need the timeshare goers, condo owners and land vacationers to return. They are the folks that go grocery shopping, dine at night, donate to the casinos, rent cars etc.

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Celebrity is returning in February, for the shorex beach day they switched Orient Beach for Simpson Bay

 

Kim Sha beach is the beach now being used by the cruise lines. It is in the Simpson Bay Area but it's not Simpson Bay beach. Confusing I know.:)

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