St. Maarten - 4 Ships In Port !!

[poffles]

Just looking at what ships will be in port on my December cruise and to my dismay there are four ships in port (counting the Ruby) the day we are there. I was so looking forward to this port but now thinking it will be a zoo. Why oh why do they time it so badly. One of them is the RCL Oasis !!!!!! :eek:

 

For others that may have experienced this happening, did you find the port really crowded?

[paul929207]

Just one reason I don't go Caribbean cruises.

[bhopal21]

We were at Grand Turk on the Emerald in February along with The Oasis and a HAL ship and let's just say that almost 12000 pax on one pier was not a pretty sight.

 

Never again.

 

Mike:)

[caribbeanboy]

We were at Grand Turk on the Emerald in February along with The Oasis and a HAL ship and let's just say that almost 12000 pax on one pier was not a pretty sight.

 

Never again.

 

Mike:)

 

Oasis does not go to Grand Turk!

[bhopal21]

Oasis does not go to Grand Turk!

 

You might want to research before you type.

 

Would you like some pictures? She was most definitely there in February.:p

 

The Oasis was docked alongside The Emerald Princess and the HAL ship was in front of us.

 

Mike:)

[poffles]

Just one reason I don't go Caribbean cruises.

 

This experience might have me avoiding the area too.

 

We have only cruised once on a 4 day and only hit Nassau so this will be all new to us but once might be enough. Hard to beleive they couldn't work it out better than this. St. Thomas the following day we are the only ship. Guess with the ships getting bigger and being limited to where they can go, one has to pick itinerary that stays away from them. Learn for next time.

 

The one good thing (at least I'm believing it to be a good thing) is that the others all arrive at 7am and 8am and we don't dock until 10am so the crowd should be somewhat dispersed when we go ashore. We'll just catch up to crowd elsewhere I guess.

[Ethel5]

I once asked the Captain of the Brilliance just how big they will build the ships and his answer was that the ports will determine how big they get. Evidently, the ports aren't putting any restrictions on how many ships can be on the island at one time. It truly makes for a terrible mess.

[batas]

We were on CB last summer and there were 3 ships total in St Martin: CB, Adventure of the Seas and a Celebrity ship. We have never been in St Martin so we took a tour to visit both french and dutch sides. It was a mess with traffic bumper to bumper like home in Boston. Everybody was angry , hot and frustrated. The narrow island roads cannot sustain all the traffic.

 

So my advice for the port: take any water taxi and go to a nice quiet beach :)

[DanJ]

You might want to research before you type.

 

Would you like some pictures? She was most definitely there in February.:p

 

The Oasis was docked alongside The Emerald Princess and the HAL ship was in front of us.

 

Mike:)

 

I'd like to see the pics of that. I was in Grand Turk last year, and there is only room for 2 ships at the pier, side by side, with no room for 2 end to end. As well, I was following the Oasis board pretty closely back around that timeframe, as we were booked on a future cruise on her, and I saw nothing about the ship having to deviate from it's regular itinerary.

[bhopal21]

Yikes, my bad. I apologize to all.:o

 

After retrieving the pics it was St. Maarten (instead of Grand Turk) on Wednesday February 10th where we docked while on The Emerald Princess directly behind The Noordam and across the pier from The Oasis of The Seas.

 

It was not a pleasant experience with that many persons at one pier.

 

Mike:o

[poffles]

Yikes, my bad. I apologize to all.:o

 

After retrieving the pics it was St. Maarten (instead of Grand Turk) on Wednesday February 10th where we docked while on The Emerald Princess directly behind The Noordam and across the pier from The Oasis of The Seas.

 

It was not a pleasant experience with that many persons at one pier.

 

Mike:o

 

Well that just makes me even happier about our St. Maarten day :eek: Confirms what I'm imagining with Carnival Dream, RCL Oasis, NCL Sun and us on the Princess Ruby all merging in that place at once. Yikes!

[Karysa]

This experience might have me avoiding the area too.

 

We have only cruised once on a 4 day and only hit Nassau so this will be all new to us but once might be enough. Hard to beleive they couldn't work it out better than this. St. Thomas the following day we are the only ship. Guess with the ships getting bigger and being limited to where they can go, one has to pick itinerary that stays away from them. Learn for next time.

 

The one good thing (at least I'm believing it to be a good thing) is that the others all arrive at 7am and 8am and we don't dock until 10am so the crowd should be somewhat dispersed when we go ashore. We'll just catch up to crowd elsewhere I guess.

 

More surprising to me then 4 ships in St. Maarten is one ship in St. Thomas. Could it be that there is only one ship at the dock that you will be at?

In St. Maarten they are used to 3 and 4 ships so in Philipsburg they will more than likely close the shopping area of Front Street to vehicles and make it pedestrian only. This is what they did in March when the Oasis, Solstice and Liberty were in port. We were on a land vacation and we went to Philipsburg that day and we really enjoyed seeing the shops busy and the boardwalk bustling with people.

[bzbob]

While aboard the Carnival Miracle in March of 2008, we faced the same dilemma - a severly over crowded St Martin. On our first full day out, the Captain posted a notice that our itinerary was being "flip-flopped" (from St Martin - St Lucia - St Kitts to St Kitts - St Lucia - St Martin) soley because of the pending "log jam" of ships in St Martin. It worked out wonderfully, as we only had to share the island with one Royal Caribbean ship, and the weather on our port day was better than the originally scheduled day.

[poffles]

More surprising to me then 4 ships in St. Maarten is one ship in St. Thomas. Could it be that there is only one ship at the dock that you will be at?

In St. Maarten they are used to 3 and 4 ships so in Philipsburg they will more than likely close the shopping area of Front Street to vehicles and make it pedestrian only. This is what they did in March when the Oasis, Solstice and Liberty were in port. We were on a land vacation and we went to Philipsburg that day and we really enjoyed seeing the shops busy and the boardwalk bustling with people.

 

Could be, the site I seen it on didn't seem to indicate different docks but that is entirely possible if another part of the island has a ship docked. Didn't notice two listings for St. Thomas, though the day before shows SIX ships there ... OMG!!! Can that be right?

 

Looking here http://cruisett.com/ports.php?PortID=620&date=28

[Kikkycat]

Yes, unfortunately it could be right. There are two sets of docks in St. Thomas, across the harbor from one another. You can't see the other dock while you are on yours but if you go onto the water (such as a speed boat ride) or up into the hills you can see both. St. Thomas is one of the single busiest destinations in the Caribbean.

[Karysa]

For the 28th of December the site I checked had only 2 ships in St. Thomas and one was in Crown Bay and one was in Havensight.

[Corinne Marie]

Be really careful during spring break. I was once in St. Thomas during the month of March and there were 11 ships docked and tenders. It was a nightmare. Could not even walk in town...turned around in the cab and went back to the ship....Quiet onboard that day, but nice..

[STARFISH*4]

Be really careful during spring break. I was once in St. Thomas during the month of March and there were 11 ships docked and tenders. It was a nightmare. Could not even walk in town...turned around in the cab and went back to the ship....Quiet onboard that day, but nice..

 

that would be INSANE...we will be in St Thomas with 5 ships including the OASIS:eek:and the Dream on what is being referred to as GRIDLOCK TUESDAY:( we are the last ship to arrive that day too:(oh well we will just go with the FLOW~~~taking a ship excursion so we feel better about that!

[gtaylor]

Well that just makes me even happier about our St. Maarten day :eek: Confirms what I'm imagining with Carnival Dream, RCL Oasis, NCL Sun and us on the Princess Ruby all merging in that place at once. Yikes!

 

It appears that you're there on November 8th.

 

The four ships work out to about 14,000 passengers, which the island should be able to handle nicely, with no trouble at all. Especially for you, arriving a little behind the crowds.

 

Back in January '05, there were NINE ships in port, and only one pier at the time. Many had to tender in.

 

(click)

 

The local paper estimated the ships delivered 27,000 passengers to the island that day.

 

My recollection of the news of the day was the shop keepers along Front Street complained of too few customers.

 

I expect that you'll be fine, but don't count on a front row lounger on Orient.

 

gary

[Karysa]

For the 28th of December the site I checked had only 2 ships in St. Thomas and one was in Crown Bay and one was in Havensight.

 

I am sorry I got everything wrong including your ship. But the good news is that every time the Ruby is in St. Thomas in December there is no more than 2 other ships in port and St. Thomas can easily handle 3 ships.

Regarding 4 ships in St. Martin you could consider an excursion that leaves from where the ship docks. There are at least two snorkel trips that leave from Great Bay Marina.

[poffles]

I am sorry I got everything wrong including your ship. But the good news is that every time the Ruby is in St. Thomas in December there is no more than 2 other ships in port and St. Thomas can easily handle 3 ships.

Regarding 4 ships in St. Martin you could consider an excursion that leaves from where the ship docks. There are at least two snorkel trips that leave from Great Bay Marina.

 

We definitely have to strategize how we'll plan that day. I really want to see the beach where the planes come in Maha bay or something ... and shop.

[youbid]

Sorry to hear so many ships will be in port. We take cruises that ususlly have no other ships in port the day we stop... St.Martin for one is where we tendered into Marrigot Bay on the French side, nice no crowds. The cruise we took 6 weeks ago stopped at 9 islands in 13 days and only 2 islands had another ship in port, very nice....Anyway you will have fun just a few more people....:):):)

[gtaylor]

We definitely have to strategize how we'll plan that day. I really want to see the beach where the planes come in Maha bay or something ... and shop.

 

I really don't see any problem.

 

Just grab a taxi to Maho or to Mullet if you'd be looking for a little private time before the landings.

 

gary

[zqvol]

With Oasis being there it should be counted as seven ships and yes, it will be very crowded in town. Once you get out of town and the shopping it will be nice. Go to the beach and have a good time.

[JeanneF]

We are sailing on the Oasis in September, and I checked out the ships in port for St Martin. Between June thru September, it is considered "low season", so there will only be 2 ships. the carnival Dream will be there also. In october thru the winter season "high season", the amount of ships is unbelieveable. I remember reading there can be as many as 6 ships on one day in high season.

Jeanne