Sharing St. Maarten with 18,000 other guests?

[Board_Shorts]

Wow, I just noticed that we will be one of six large ships sharing St. Maarten on one day of our Transatlantic next April.

 

Adventure of the Seas

Royal Princess

Freedom of the Seas

Carnival Sunshine

Celebrity Summit

Norwegian Sun

 

... a total of over 18,000 passengers. Should I start making and reserving plans early to avoid disappointment or is this quite normal for St. Maarten and the island should easily handle it?

[Karysa]

Wow, I just noticed that we will be one of six large ships sharing St. Maarten on one day of our Transatlantic next April.

 

Adventure of the Seas

Royal Princess

Freedom of the Seas

Carnival Sunshine

Celebrity Summit

Norwegian Sun

 

... a total of over 18,000 passengers. Should I start making and reserving plans early to avoid disappointment or is this quite normal for St. Maarten and the island should easily handle it?

 

It's not unusual to see 6 ships in port but planning early and avoiding the most touristy of places is a good idea on a day such as yours. The popular excursions will fill up quickly. The island has Carnival in April as well which draws many tourists to the island so if your visit is during that time it would be good to know now so you can best plan your day.

 

PS sometimes 6 ships can bring 23,000 people or more now a days so you are lucky that you are not in port with the behemoths!

[Board_Shorts]

Thanks! Panic over :)

[Fblack]

We were there with 5 ships as I recall. Including the NCL Epic which I believe had over 4,000 passengers. Luckily everyone tends to spread out over the island. It never seemed crowded to me, except when they tried to jam as many people as they can into a van for a quick fixed price taxi ride to town.

[Piper934]

Can someone post the link to look at this port information again. I saw it somewhere on this board but searched and can't find. Thanks in advance.

[dread_pirate]

Can someone post the link to look at this port information again. I saw it somewhere on this board but searched and can't find. Thanks in advance.

http://www.cruisetimetables.com/

[Tatka]

We were sharing St Maarten with Epic, Liberty of the Seas sailing on NCL Gem. Island was overcrowded. Huge traffic everywhere.

[gtaylor]

For St. Maarten, I use the official Cruise Facility website.

 

It even shows which location at the pier is assigned.

 

gary