Maho Beach .... St Maarten

[bilyclub]

We take the bus. Cheap and interesting ride.

[swedish1]

Can you rent jet ski's there?

[happy trailer]

sailing there in November on the Explore,

anybody been, cant see any RC excursions there, means I will have to do it myself

 

I would try your roll call :) Based on your ticker, Im assuming the November 1 sailing. Is that correct?

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1848442

 

 

 

yep, 1st Nov, thanks

 

Hi! We have a very friendly and active roll call going for your cruise- come on by! Some of us already have our excursions booked (!), but one person recently asked if anyone is interested in getting together on a custom Bernard's Tour.

 

Looking forward to meeting you online and in person :)

 

Ruth

[Russ_MT]

Next time we go, this is a must see for us plane junkies.

 

 

 

[filledwiththefire]

We went on Oasis last October and spent our day at st. marten at Maho

Beach, we were able to get a cab/van right at port I think it was 8$pp each

way. We went there with the intentions of seeing a few planes land and then

going somewhere else but ended up spending the entire day there and loved

it. My advice is to go early, if you plan on spending the entire day, rent a

chair close to the edge of the water so people cant stand in front of you. it

does get crowded and the chairs do sell out early.

 

Also depending on when your boat leaves port, give yourself extra time to get

back to the boat, it took us like 4x longer to get back to the boat because of

afternoon traffic.

 

sorry about the huge pics.

 

 

Beautiful beach! Thanks for sharing the pics too!

[Silverman]

We did the Bernards Tour. Loved it! Saw just about the whole Island. But my next time there. Most of my time will be spent at Orient Beach. I could live there!!!! It was beautiful! My idea of the perfect beach! Soft sand, beautiful green, turquoise and blue water. A bar behind my chair. The scenery. Perfect!

[John&LaLa]

spent $20 on the private van, hate to wait, going out, shared a van going back for $6 I think. great time. took water taxi into town to pick up van going out

[UNV-IT!!!]

I love maho beach. I do it every time I go.

[beerman2]

Loved sitting at Sunset Bar watching the planes land. We actually went to Orient beach for a few hours then to maho beach.

[zjc]

We used Bernard's last year and did the St. Maarten highlights tour, and we used him again a couple weeks ago for the Maho tour. While there was no rum punch, Coke or water on the Maho tour, we did have a private driver to take us to/from Maho. It was worth the $5 extra (vs. the taxi), we thought, especially since we found our driver when we were ready to leave. Love Bernard's tours!

 

 

 

Enjoy Maho! We've seen the KLM flight take off (last year) and land (this year) and it's quite an awesome sight. If I recall, it lands around 12:15 and takes off after 1. Quick turnaround for such a huge plane!

 

 

 

Do you know how long you get at maho beach if you do Berbernds tour which is just the beach and nothing else?

 

Want to see the big planes but don't want to miss them if the tour isn't as long.

 

Thanks for the taxi prices guys I couldn't see the photo on my iPhone for some reason but ican today.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[nat9511]

Here's another vote for Bernard's Tours. I just used them the end of January. Our driver supplied rum punch, sodas, beer and water for free. We stayed at Maho about 45 minutes and I got pictures of large and small planes landing. This was on my bucket list and I can now cross it off.

[bigque]

We did the Bernards Tour. Loved it! Saw just about the whole Island. But my next time there. Most of my time will be spent at Orient Beach. I could live there!!!! It was beautiful! My idea of the perfect beach! Soft sand, beautiful green, turquoise and blue water. A bar behind my chair. The scenery. Perfect!

 

Yeah...But did you go over to this side????? :cool:

 

[bigque]

Do you know how long you get at maho beach if you do Berbernds tour which is just the beach and nothing else?

 

Want to see the big planes but don't want to miss them if the tour isn't as long.

 

Thanks for the taxi prices guys I couldn't see the photo on my iPhone for some reason but ican today.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

They know the flight schedules to get you there in plenty of time to see the big ones and a few small ones. We stayed about an hour and fifteen minutes. It was the last stop on the tour. They will tailor the tour how you want it though. If the people on the tour want to spend more time a Maho, they will take you there earlier.

 

 

[marci22]

If you go into town, two blocks behind beach is Back Street. You can hop a local bus (Toyota vans with license plates that say BUS) at bus stops which are every couple blocks. Bus is $2 each way. I just did this last month.

 

This is what we did. I wanted to go to a shop in town so we walked from the ship into town, shopped, then we got on the bus to Maho. It was a good deal for the 5 of us.

 

On the way back it was very hot and we didn't want to walk back to the bus stop so we just grabbed a cab at the bar. Cab drivers just sit around there waiting for fares.

[zjc]

They know the flight schedules to get you there in plenty of time to see the big ones and a few small ones. We stayed about an hour and fifteen minutes. It was the last stop on the tour. They will tailor the tour how you want it though. If the people on the tour want to spend more time a Maho, they will take you there earlier.

 

 

 

 

 

I just noticed on his website they offer a maho only tour now but the details are sparse

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[ShanQ]

We didn't have to worry about time or the traffic because his driver stays on top of that. We also didn't have to worry about our "stuff" because it is locked in the van and the driver stays with it.

 

Everyone in St Maarten knows Bernard.......great guy.....great business!!!

 

Bernard good person and honest but take care so no mosquitos

[LisaAtlCruiser]

Question about Bernards Tours. I went to the website based on the recommendations in this thread. It shows the Maho tour is 11-2:30pm. However, there is a note below that talks about the arrival time of the ship and that the pickup time is based on the ships arrival time. My ship gets into Port at 7am. So I am trying to understand if my tour would be 9-12:30pm or if I get picked up at 9am but have to wait for other ships to arrive and then the actual tour starts at 11am. Does anyone know? I will contact them but figured I would start here.

[Holland316]

Everyone keeps saying that you need to leave early to go back to the port due to heavy traffic. I see that the Air France plane lands around 2:50 on the day we are in St Martin. Our Cruise ship leaves at 5:00. If we leave immediately after the landing will be able to get back to the ship in time? There are 5 ships that are in the port as well.

[Anyislandwilldo]

I'm looking for the answer on how long is the taxi ride from the port to the beach.

[UNV-IT!!!]

Everyone keeps saying that you need to leave early to go back to the port due to heavy traffic. I see that the Air France plane lands around 2:50 on the day we are in St Martin. Our Cruise ship leaves at 5:00. If we leave immediately after the landing will be able to get back to the ship in time? There are 5 ships that are in the port as well.

 

We left at 3:10 after the AF airbus A340 landed and make it back by 4:30.

 

I'm looking for the answer on how long is the taxi ride from the port to the beach.

Read above.

[eandj]

Everyone keeps saying that you need to leave early to go back to the port due to heavy traffic. I see that the Air France plane lands around 2:50 on the day we are in St Martin. Our Cruise ship leaves at 5:00. If we leave immediately after the landing will be able to get back to the ship in time? There are 5 ships that are in the port as well.

 

 

If your ship leaves at 5 they will tell you to be back at 4:30. IF the plane lands on time and IF you have a cab waitinig for you, then yes you will make it. The cab drivers all drive like crazy men as the day ends.;) See if any of the other ships leave earlier. That would be helpful.

[dodger1964]

Everyone keeps saying that you need to leave early to go back to the port due to heavy traffic. I see that the Air France plane lands around 2:50 on the day we are in St Martin. Our Cruise ship leaves at 5:00. If we leave immediately after the landing will be able to get back to the ship in time? There are 5 ships that are in the port as well.

 

Don't forget that MANY times the planes arrive early. Just keep that in mind when planning the day.

[ladysail2]

I'm looking for the answer on how long is the taxi ride from the port to the beach.

 

 

I took a taxi from the port - to the beach, it took about 20 minutes and that was driving at a relaxed rate of speed.

On the way from the beach to the port, well, that was a little longer. In my case, the Queen and her husband of the Netherlands were arriving at about 4pm, so the streets were starting to be closed off for security reasons. I was heading back at 2pm...and arrived back at the port about 2:30pm. I had lots of time and wanted to keep it that way ;)

[jaxflygirl88]

Great information. We are there in October and another CC poster suggested Bernard Tours. They have some tours that incorporate Maho beach as well as other SXM sights. Any other recommendations would be appreciated!

 

Beth

 

We used Bernard for a tour back in 2009 and LOVED him, his crew and the tour. He's wonderful, very nice man. Tell him Lisa from Jacksonville, FL said HELLO! I hope to see him in a few weeks, I'll be there on cruise April 24. I LOVE orient beach and Maho Bay!

[dcikon2]

Is there a way to find out the landing schedule for flights? We will be there during the 1st week in June. I would like to go to Mullet Beach first and then head to Maho.