St. Maarten Condition

[abby1257]

Has anyone been to St. Maarten lately.  I'm just curious what state the island is in now after the hurricane...I see mixed reviews...It's either good or still bad, which is it.....Not sure if we should book tour excursions or not...some reviews say the excursion was great...other reviews say...don't waste your money...still in ruins??????

[tallnthensome]

Have you tried the port forums for this island specific question? Googling it may yield some info as well. 

[CruzCrazy]

10 minutes ago, abby1257 said:

Has anyone been to St. Maarten lately.  I'm just curious what state the island is in now after the hurricane...I see mixed reviews...It's either good or still bad, which is it.....Not sure if we should book tour excursions or not...some reviews say the excursion was great...other reviews say...don't waste your money...still in ruins??????

We were there in December.  I wouldn't say the island is in ruins, but there was damage where we went (Bikini Beach/Orient Beach).  Since we hadn't been there is a few years and had been to Maho to watch the planes land the last time we were there, we wanted to mix it up and go back to Orient Bay.

 

We got to the beach around 10 a.m., and all chairs on the beach were taken.  There seemed to be only one establishment open, and the other bars/grills were just gone or in shambles.  The one that was open (can't recall the name) was running at full force, with plenty of food and drinks, and the chairs and umbrellas were in good shape (maybe new).  However, if you decide to go to Orient, you should definitely get off the ship early if you want a chair.  The beach itself was still beautiful as always, and there were some jet skis for rent. 

 

I noticed some homes still without roofs on our way to the beach.  The Dutch side and Phillipsburg seemed like they had rebuilt at a faster clip. 

[GTO-Girl]

1 hour ago, abby1257 said:

Has anyone been to St. Maarten lately.  I'm just curious what state the island is in now after the hurricane...I see mixed reviews...It's either good or still bad, which is it.....Not sure if we should book tour excursions or not...some reviews say the excursion was great...other reviews say...don't waste your money...still in ruins??????

 

We were there in October.  You can tell they had substantial damage but are trying very hard to get things back to normal.  On the Dutch side there seems to be more repairs but walking down the boardwalk you may see a business back up and running next door to one that hasn’t been touched.

 

That being said....the people of St Martin are happy to have the cruisers back because the only way for them to earn money to being back their economy is through tourism....so please consider spending some there.

[BoDidly]

We love St Maarten  . Sad but I agree with the other posters , its not up to par yet .  With the exception of Maho beach.  That area seems to be conducting business as usual .

https://www.mahobeachcam.com/

[mlshum]

I was there two weeks ago.  There is some hurricane damage but it wasn’t too bad overall.  There are some pictures of St Maarten that I took on Feb 2nd....both hurricane damage and otherwise, in my Carnival Fascination review if you’re interested.

[tandemcruzr]

The French side was damaged much more than the Dutch side.

[Hotdog 52]

When we went last march, the guide told us that all the hotel rooms were closed.  Only 2 or 3 flights scheduled for the day.

 

Hope things are a lot better.

 

[SnorkelAway]

5 hours ago, abby1257 said:

Has anyone been to St. Maarten lately.  I'm just curious what state the island is in now after the hurricane...I see mixed reviews...It's either good or still bad, which is it.....Not sure if we should book tour excursions or not...some reviews say the excursion was great...other reviews say...don't waste your money...still in ruins??????

 

The island is not in ruins.  What is it you want to do on the island?  There are multiple beach bar/restaurants up and running on Orient now - will continue to increase over time.  Plenty of chairs and umbrellas normally. 

[Karysa]

Make it a boat day if you want to see less damage from Irma. Look for something leaving from Dock Maarten or Bobby’s Marina which are walking distance from the port. I was in Phillipsburg last month and Front street and the boardwalk were in great shape. 

 

With a plan and a good attitude many cruisers report having a great day in St Maarten these days.

[WisCruiser2]

We were there a week ago, the area near the port is fine. They are still rebuilding in various places but things are up and running. We went to Divi Little Bay so didn't get to the French side.

[teabags2]

We were there in November, 2018 and it looked like the huricane happened a couple of days ealier instead of 14 months prior.  Very little rebuilding.  We won't be going back there for a couple of years,  So sad because we always loved stopping there.

[annie99]

We were there a couple of weeks ago and Phillipsburg was great.We caught the water taxi into town ,walked along the boardwalk, stopped for some refreshments at a nice cafe on the front and watched the world go by.Lots of umbrellas and chairs on Great Bay beach. Our daughter went to Simpson Bay for the day and had a great beach day.

[Irule7]

We were there in December.  We booked a driver and kayaks through Caribbean Paddling and went over to Pinel Island.  On the drive over to the Cul de Sac area you could see there were still lots of houses that hadn't been repaired.  Both restaurants on Pinel are back up and running, we had a great time and the food was delicious.  

[OceansOfTravels]

On 3/28/2019 at 1:55 PM, teabags2 said:

We were there in November, 2018 and it looked like the huricane happened a couple of days ealier instead of 14 months prior.  Very little rebuilding.  We won't be going back there for a couple of years,  So sad because we always loved stopping there.

 

This right here is the problem though ... Like I get you have the freedom to spend your money the way you wish, and I don't think you should have to go to an island that is struggling while others are thriving, but the more people that say 'I'm not going back until the damage is fixed" will significantly delay the rebuilding!

 

I mean, think about it. Many of these Caribbean islands have houses and buildings with missing roofs or damaged sidings from storms that occurred decades ago. Many of the people haven;t fixed them because there was simply no reason to. It's likely that some of the homes currently damaged in SXM will never be rebuilt because people vacated after the storm and started a new life elsewhere, not seeing the need to return. This storm is going to haunt the island for decades and decades and decades. Hell, remains and effects of Katrina and Sandy can still be seen ...

 

But SXM relies on tourism to stimulate its economy.  I just visited in December and while the damage is visible, it was still gorgeous and is still considered my favorite island. What SXM truly needs are people to go there on cruises, spend some money in the stores, ride the public buses, take the tours, buy some beach chair rentals and drinks, and enjoy it like you enjoy every other island to help rebuild itself. I can assure you you will still enjoy a trip to SXM like you used to. Beaches like Orient are getting back to their usual number of vendors, and hotels like the Grand Case Beach Club and both Sonestas are reopening. Now, more than ever, SXM needs some tourists. I can assure anyone that is going soon though that a good day can still be had!

[jimmy2x]

11 hours ago, OceansOfTravels said:

 

This right here is the problem though ... Like I get you have the freedom to spend your money the way you wish, and I don't think you should have to go to an island that is struggling while others are thriving, but the more people that say 'I'm not going back until the damage is fixed" will significantly delay the rebuilding!

 

I mean, think about it. Many of these Caribbean islands have houses and buildings with missing roofs or damaged sidings from storms that occurred decades ago. Many of the people haven;t fixed them because there was simply no reason to. It's likely that some of the homes currently damaged in SXM will never be rebuilt because people vacated after the storm and started a new life elsewhere, not seeing the need to return. This storm is going to haunt the island for decades and decades and decades. Hell, remains and effects of Katrina and Sandy can still be seen ...

 

But SXM relies on tourism to stimulate its economy.  I just visited in December and while the damage is visible, it was still gorgeous and is still considered my favorite island. What SXM truly needs are people to go there on cruises, spend some money in the stores, ride the public buses, take the tours, buy some beach chair rentals and drinks, and enjoy it like you enjoy every other island to help rebuild itself. I can assure you you will still enjoy a trip to SXM like you used to. Beaches like Orient are getting back to their usual number of vendors, and hotels like the Grand Case Beach Club and both Sonestas are reopening. Now, more than ever, SXM needs some tourists. I can assure anyone that is going soon though that a good day can still be had!

Well said. 

[mets123]

I fully agree. We were there in January. Is it perfect? Or course not. But it gets better each time we visit. We will be there again in June and expect to see more improvement. and again next January. Keep in mind what happened to the island. Rebuilding takes time. If you don't want to return until it's fully recovered, that is your choice.