questions for Bob & Karen

[gypsygirl]

Read your post about Orient and Maho Beaches. Would like to know how much time to allow if spending a couple of hours at each and what was the total taxi fare?

gypsygirl

Emerald Seas 1985
Caribe 1986
Carnivale 1991
Westward 1993
Fantasy 1994
Fantasy 1995
Fascination 1997
Destiny 2001
Enchantment 2002
Sovereign 2004
Serenade 2004

[bob&karen]

Hi GypsyGirl -

Our plan (which worked out fairly well) was to get to Orient as early in the morning as we could get everyone moving, and leave around 2 for Maho. This gave us plenty of time at Orient, and enough time to sit at the Sunset Beach Bar, grab lunch, and watch some of the big planes land. On Orient, we rented chairs at the Paradisio (almost next door to Pedro's, at the south end of the beach and convenient to the taxi stand), 7 bux pp included an umbrella and a good stiff rum punch drink.

About one-ish, I asked one of the employees there about getting a taxi for a 2p.m. trip to Maho and he called one of his friends (pretty much everyone that works at the island's bars and restaurants has a friend that drives taxi and they all look out for each other). This worked out nicely. When we were dropped off, we asked our driver if he could return to take us back to the ship, and he obliged. We told him what time we needed to be at the pier and let him tell us what time we should be picked up to safely make it back - this is DEFINITELY the way to do it as there is a draw bridge that, at certain times, can cause a delay. We weren't stopped by it and I'd guess each of the 3 legs of the trip were only between 15 - 20 minutes.

I don't recall the exact fares for Orient to Maho and Maho to Phillipsburg, but I believe they were in the same ball park with the Phillipsburg to Orient run. (I'm usually compulsive about tracking such things, but this vacation was so great I just put my mind in neutral and didn't give this - or much else - a second thought for the whole week). You probably already know that you can check some of the rates at

[url="http://www.sxmtaxi.com/rate.htm"]SXM Taxi Association[/url]

You could probably do it cheaper by renting a car (especially if you have more than 2 people, as we did) but I liked being able to just sit back and watch the scenery and let someone else deal with the driving and navigating.

When were were at Maho in April, the airline schedule for the day was:

12:49 pm AA, 757, San Juan
12:55 pm Continental, 757, Newark
01:25 pm Air France, 747 Paris
01:36 pm AA, AB6, San Juan
01:37 pm AA, 757, Miami
02:35 pm USAir, 757, Charlotte
02:55 pm LIAT, DH8, San Juan
03:20 pm KLM, 747, Netherlands
03:51 pm AA, AT7, San Juan
04:01 pm AA, AB6, San Juan

Of course, the schedule may be different by now - to get this info I just started doing web searches and took it from there.

Have a great time (like you needed us to remind you!). We have lots of SXM pix in the link under our signature, below - feel free to post or e-mail if you have any more questions.

B. & K.

[img]http://www.animationlibrary.com/Animation11/Geography_and_History/Islands/Ship_at_island.gif[/img]
"Good God, he's talking with parrots - Painting his dreams in the sand
Piling up beaucoup demerits, Doing it just 'cause he can
But Peter Pan would understand His schemes and dreams and ploys
Best keep an eye on his slight hand, He's such an altered boy"
-- James W. Buffett

Carnival Triumph, April '02
Carnival Sensation, January '04
Golden Princess, April '04

Carnival Sensation, Golden Princess / Caribbean Princess pix at: [url="http://community.webshots.com/user/mageesworld"]Cool Cruisin' Pix[/url]

e-mail: [email]bobandkarenny@yahoo.com[/email]

[gypsygirl]

Thanks so much for the information about the two beaches. Sounds like so much fun, guess I'll have to give up my shopping. (Of course, that won't make DH feel bad at all) We really loved all your pictures.

gypsygirl

Emerald Seas 1985
Caribe 1986
Carnivale 1991
Westward 1993
Fantasy 1994
Fantasy 1995
Fascination 1997
Destiny 2001
Enchantment 2002
Sovereign 2004
Serenade 2004

[glentally]

Thanks for the info. I've rented a car and am amazed at how little time it takes to get to one place ! 10 to 15 minutes from orient to Maho, is the island that small?

Ok my main qusetion is the flight schedules. You said you searched around. Any tips?

Glen

[gtaylor]

[quote name='glentally']Thanks for the info. I've rented a car and am amazed at how little time it takes to get to one place ! 10 to 15 minutes from orient to Maho, is the island that small?

Ok my main qusetion is the flight schedules. You said you searched around. Any tips?

Glen[/QUOTE]

[b]DO NOT PLAN TO GET FROM ORIENT TO MAHO IN 10 TO 15 MINUTES[/b] unless travelling by helicopter. I would allow an absolute minimum of 30 minutes under the [b]best[/b] conditions, and more likely 45 minutes or more. Under poor conditions it could turn out to be 90 minutes or more.

For the flight schedules, as I've posted here previously, use the excellent service provided by [url="http://www.flytecomm.com/cgi-bin/trackflight"]FlyteComm[/url]. Use the 'Advanced Users' option, and specify 'TNCM' as the arrival airport.

[img]http://home.pacbell.net/rccooks/flytecomm.jpg[/img]

[glentally]

awesome info ,thanks

[Flintstone]

To go from Orient to Maho...did you go back thru Phillipsburg?

Deb