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Celebrity says St. Maarten not ready...

JustAGirl79

By JustAGirl79,
in St. Martin/St. Maarten

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Karysa

Karysa

Posted
Posted
princess is still scheduled jan 11 on st maarten. as this was a last minute booking for me, i've done no research on the island. if anyone goes in the next 3 weeks id love to hear about some free/cheap/close to port/easy things to do. ive heard maho beach is gone so cannot really sit there and watch the planes plus if the cruise port site i look at is right, there are 19K people in town that day and would be full anyway.

 

 

"Free/cheap" easy things to do.

I have lots of suggestions for your non hurricane damaged ports. What other ports are you visiting? I think that a hurricane damaged port such as St. Maarten is the kind of place to book a boat trip on or a ships tour. Even I would do that if on a cruise stop there in the upcoming months and I know the island well and have been keeping up with the goings on.

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let's go cruising

let's go cruising

Posted
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Port of st maarten has 2 ships on the 25th and 3 on the 26th and 2 of the 3 are RCCL ships and the other is Azamara Quest. I personally think that's setting the island up for failure as these are public holidays but I hope that I am wrong.

 

I'm on the Jewel on the 26th. I heard the NCL Gem will be there too.

 

Is there any list of what beaches are OPEN? St. Thomas has that.

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luckyinpa

luckyinpa

Posted
Posted
"Free/cheap" easy things to do.

I have lots of suggestions for your non hurricane damaged ports. What other ports are you visiting? I think that a hurricane damaged port such as St. Maarten is the kind of place to book a boat trip on or a ships tour. Even I would do that if on a cruise stop there in the upcoming months and I know the island well and have been keeping up with the goings on.

 

st thomas

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SeaTrailer

SeaTrailer

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Not sure why Celebrity is so far behind the curve. Several cruise ships have already stopped in St. Maarten. Restaurants and shops are reopening daily Several beaches including Karakter, Mullet and Kim Sha are ready for visitors.

 

It is certainly not 100% but neither is St Thomas and everyone seems to have returned there.

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RMH

RMH

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Schedule is changed for us on Grandeur of the Seas and I believe for NCL Gem. We are going to St Maarten on 26th rather than on 29th.

 

Port of st maarten has 2 ships on the 25th and 3 on the 26th and 2 of the 3 are RCCL ships and the other is Azamara Quest. I personally think that's setting the island up for failure as these are public holidays but I hope that I am wrong.

 

Thanks for the updates. My 'go to' site for which ships are in port on which days has not been updated yet, so this is good to know.

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BillOh Holiday Sharing Rare

BillOh

Posted
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Tours were limited. More coming back in January.

 

 

I'm curious if anyone went in and around the island. Club Orient has indicated that while their resort facility is still closed, they have chairs and umbrellas out. I'm guessing this is their only source of income right now, but are taxis available and roads passable? Those of you with cruises soon, forgive my jumping in, I've got 130+ days before we actually go, but I'm trying to follow along.

 

For the rest of you. Many of the places you like have Facebook pages and that seems to be the fastest way to update people in the rest of the world from there right now.

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cltnccruisers

cltnccruisers

Posted
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I'm curious if anyone went in and around the island. Club Orient has indicated that while their resort facility is still closed, they have chairs and umbrellas out. I'm guessing this is their only source of income right now, but are taxis available and roads passable? Those of you with cruises soon, forgive my jumping in, I've got 130+ days before we actually go, but I'm trying to follow along.

 

For the rest of you. Many of the places you like have Facebook pages and that seems to be the fastest way to update people in the rest of the world from there right now.

 

Grandeur was in St Maarten yesterday. Check the RCL board or go to Research -> News for a CC article. That one has a discussion on taxis.

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Loucat

Loucat

Posted
Posted (edited)
Only two ships on the 25th (Independence of the Seas and Marella Celebration - 6200 passengers total) and only one ship on the 26th (Jewel of the Seas - 3360 passengers total), so it should not be too bad.

 

Those will be the first stops since 19 Dec - a 5 day hiatus - so the folks in St Maarten should be glad to see those ships, even if it is on Christmas Day and Boxing Day.

 

We are sailing on Azamara Quest and this port was a recent port change for us. The ship is not listed on the cruise ship calendars. The Quest holds 700 so it is not a big deal in terms of volume of pax. I do wonder if there are other ships flipping to to this port and also not on the cruise port calendar. It is Boxing Day-thanks for the reminder.

Edited by Loucat
wrong information posted
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Karysa

Karysa

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st thomas

 

St. Maarten and St. Thomas are your only 2 ports? Personally I would plan some sort of booked tour there as well then for a cruise within the next couple of months. With only 2 ports I would want to maximize my fun and minimize any chance of issues.

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kendon

kendon

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Ive done mission trips before and I love it. The gratitude from the people you help is worth more than the cost of the trip. And Id be more than happy to do some a cruise/mission trip. Two fun things rolled into one.

Love this post! I agree completely.

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luckyinpa

luckyinpa

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St. Maarten and St. Thomas are your only 2 ports? Personally I would plan some sort of booked tour there as well then for a cruise within the next couple of months. With only 2 ports I would want to maximize my fun and minimize any chance of issues.

 

i already know ill be on a clamshell on princess cays so that doesnt need any research at all. except where the best place to setup is :) i didnt start that research yet.

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navybankerteacher

navybankerteacher

Posted
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Not sure why Celebrity is so far behind the curve. Several cruise ships have already stopped in St. Maarten. Restaurants and shops are reopening daily Several beaches including Karakter, Mullet and Kim Sha are ready for visitors.

 

It is certainly not 100% but neither is St Thomas and everyone seems to have returned there.

 

It might just be that Celebrity is "ahead of the curve". Virtually all ports have limits on the number of ships which can call on any day. Celebrity may have simply been the first to line up alternative ports - and gotten "first call". Celebrity seems to have been the most aggressive in changing itineraries ---- not saying that it is a good thing, but it certainly indicates that management is proactive.

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