Mosquitos in st. Martin

[Karysa]

Karysa - you seem to know folks on the island(s). Has it dawned on any of the street sales people that they could make a bunch of cash by selling mosquito spray to disembarking cruise passengers?

 

Cheers!

 

I don't communicate with anyone from St. Maarten when I am home. I think people will pack their own bugspray just like they pack sunscreen. Why pay island prices for these things. Booze is cheap on the island but sunscreen and bugspray not so much.

[SherriZ366]

I don't communicate with anyone from St. Maarten when I am home. I think people will pack their own bugspray just like they pack sunscreen. Why pay island prices for these things. Booze is cheap on the island but sunscreen and bugspray not so much.

That's why I ordered it from Amazon. Whatever we don't use will come in very handy in the spring.

[Karysa]

As I posted, we have been in St. Maarten many times and really might enjoy just poking around the shops at the port. Some of the stores are beautiful but we are usually so tired when we get back that we only breeze through them. Ballerina-Jewelers have a gorgeous store but we usually buy from the owner of the chain, James, in St. Thomas. DH is not a shopper and does not like long excursions etc. Sometimes there are luxurious yachts to see during the high season.

 

Try a restaurant with a beautiful ocean view. Much cheaper than jewelery shopping.

[SherriZ366]

Try a restaurant with a beautiful ocean view. Much cheaper than jewelery shopping.

 

Love doing that too but jewelry lasts (I have an allowance as does DH for gambling but I get some of his winnings and I always have something to show for it even when he looses!)

[debcruise]

I too intend to follow the CDC guidelines -- there is no harm done in being careful. Avon makes a wonderful product Skin-So-Soft Bug Guard which is a strong repellant against mosquitoes and in addition to a spray you can also get it in the form of towelettes in individual packages which are very convenient and light weight to carry on the island. Please continue to update this forum -- I'll be on the inaugural sailing of the GETAWAY and our first stop is St. Maarten. :)

[wshaw859]

I too intend to follow the CDC guidelines -- there is no harm done in being careful. Avon makes a wonderful product Skin-So-Soft Bug Guard which is a strong repellant against mosquitoes and in addition to a spray you can also get it in the form of towelettes in individual packages which are very convenient and light weight to carry on the island. Please continue to update this forum -- I'll be on the inaugural sailing of the GETAWAY and our first stop is St. Maarten. :)

 

You can see what other ships are in port at St Maartin - as well as their location in port here:

 

http://201.220.14.27/sxmonline/VesselScheduleCruise.aspx

 

January 29 looks like the busiest day this month: there will 8 ships in port at the same time, including the Oasis of the Seas.

 

The Getaway (Norwegian) gets into port in St. Martin on Feb 11. There are only 2 other ships in port that day - Disney Fantasy and Costa Mediterranea. You are lucky - now too crowded.

 

I'm still trying to find out what the health people are discovering on St Martin (by internet and otherwise). I'll keep you posted but the information is sparse. I hope cc doesn't close this thread too soon - lots of activity is in motion on St. Martin over the mosquito Chikungunya issue - but not much news.

 

Meantime the sequestration cuts have taken $450 million from the CDC budget. From what I have seen and heard from people at the CDC, I wouldn't expect much more advisories from them other than to use mosquito repellants. The CDC is "broke". The CDC surveillance system is broken.

 

This would be a good time for all you folks to contact your representatives in Congress to get off their lazy obstructionist butts and get the CDC funded and back to work protecting YOU.

 

As a Kentucky Republican I'm "fired up … ready to go"!

[Karysa]

I too intend to follow the CDC guidelines -- there is no harm done in being careful. Avon makes a wonderful product Skin-So-Soft Bug Guard which is a strong repellant against mosquitoes and in addition to a spray you can also get it in the form of towelettes in individual packages which are very convenient and light weight to carry on the island. Please continue to update this forum -- I'll be on the inaugural sailing of the GETAWAY and our first stop is St. Maarten. :)

 

We stayed in a villa in Antigua for a couple of weeks in 2007 and the owner left skin-so-soft oil for us to use for sand fleas etc at that time. It worked like a charm and my skin never felt better lol. Thanks for the information on the Avon Skin-so-soft bug guard formula. That should work even better, so I will order some today for my trip back to Antigua next month. No bug is going to stop my vacation if I can help it!:)

[Karysa]

Traveller's can also check the Canadian equivalent to the CDC. The last update on the subject on January 3rd the site says that Dengue and Chikunguya virus infections are up in some islands in the Caribbean and recommends protection from mosquito bites.

Edited January 8, 2014 by Karysa

[SherriZ366]

I too intend to follow the CDC guidelines -- there is no harm done in being careful. Avon makes a wonderful product Skin-So-Soft Bug Guard which is a strong repellant against mosquitoes and in addition to a spray you can also get it in the form of towelettes in individual packages which are very convenient and light weight to carry on the island. Please continue to update this forum -- I'll be on the inaugural sailing of the GETAWAY and our first stop is St. Maarten. :)

I've got some of that too -- both forms as we use lots of here in SC for mosquitoes and no-see-ums.

[wshaw859]

Booze is cheap on the island but sunscreen and bugspray not so much.

 

If bugspray is expensive how does the St. Martin government protect its own people? Anyway - you are right about the booze - prices are great. I would recommend the Caribe and Presidente beers at Orient Beach etc.

 

One other issue that cruise passengers might encounter is the one-hour-ahead local time zone. Some people missed their excursion lunch because of that.

[Karysa]

If bugspray is expensive how does the St. Martin government protect its own people? Anyway - you are right about the booze - prices are great. I would recommend the Caribe and Presidente beers at Orient Beach etc.

 

One other issue that cruise passengers might encounter is the one-hour-ahead local time zone. Some people missed their excursion lunch because of that.

 

Maybe the Government will break into the fuel money for bugspray for island residents. Honestly the shots are getting old.

 

Be careful talking about ships time and local time because this mixes up cruisers all of the time. You need to follow your ships instructions. Some ships stay on ship time and some move to be in the time zone that they are sailing in.

[gtaylor]

Maybe the Government will break into the fuel money for bugspray for island residents. Honestly the shots are getting old.

 

Be careful talking about ships time and local time because this mixes up cruisers all of the time. You need to follow your ships instructions. Some ships stay on ship time and some move to be in the time zone that they are sailing in.

 

I'm pretty sure that a private company operates fuel bunkering at the Port. I'm sure that Government gets fees/taxes/something.

 

As to the ship's/island time, it can be a little involved, but not too complicated in many cases.

 

If your ship sails from San Juan or Barbados (many cruises offer embarkation here) then you are already on Atlantic Standard Time, same as St. Maarten.

 

If you sail during Daylight Saving Time, then any cruises departing from the East Coast (mainly Florida) are already in synch with St. Maarten time, which doesn't observe Daylight Saving.

 

If you sail from elsewhere or during the rest of the year, your Cruise Line, or your Captain may decide to adjust the ship's time to coincide with island local time, or not.

 

gary

[Karysa]

I'm pretty sure that a private company operates fuel bunkering at the Port. I'm sure that Government gets fees/taxes/something.

 

As to the ship's/island time, it can be a little involved, but not too complicated in many cases.

 

If your ship sails from San Juan or Barbados (many cruises offer embarkation here) then you are already on Atlantic Standard Time, same as St. Maarten.

 

If you sail during Daylight Saving Time, then any cruises departing from the East Coast (mainly Florida) are already in synch with St. Maarten time, which doesn't observe Daylight Saving.

 

If you sail from elsewhere or during the rest of the year, your Cruise Line, or your Captain may decide to adjust the ship's time to coincide with island local time, or not.

 

gary

 

 

 

Actually on the cruiseline boards of cc, questions regarding ships time and island time come up a lot especially with folks trying to arrange private tours. The fact that the practice is not fleet wide and Captains sometimes choose on their own which time zone they will operate on certainly adds to the confusion on this subject. Always check your daily paper and again before you leave the ship in any port if you have any confusion as to which time your ship is on seems to be the usual and smart advice given on this subject. And as the poster pointed out checking again with your tour guide if you are splitting up and have some free time is another wise thing to do if there is any confusion regarding meeting times.

Edited January 10, 2014 by Karysa

[BeachBugs]

Thank you. Excellent info.