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Maho Beach

Terre

By Terre,
in St. Martin/St. Maarten

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Grovero

Grovero

Posted
Posted

Just 2. We were on the Reflection and the mein shiff 3 was also in port. It was more crowded by the Sunset Bar. We went there as part of Bernard's tour. Spent about an hour in the afternoon when some of the larger planes were arriving.

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Karysa

Karysa

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Posted
Just 2. We were on the Reflection and the mein shiff 3 was also in port. It was more crowded by the Sunset Bar. We went there as part of Bernard's tour. Spent about an hour in the afternoon when some of the larger planes were arriving.

 

I was going to guess 3 ships. I was there briefly with 4 ships in earlier this month and it was packed. Can't imagine going there with more than 5 ships in. Seems Maho grows in popularity every year.

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Jetlagged787

Jetlagged787

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I think 6 are scheduled for the day we are there next April.

 

Six? Oh joy! We're are there the same day as you PamJack but on board Celebrity Summit. I picked this specific itinerary to include Maho so, six or not, I'll definitely be there. See you on the beach...Maybe!

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DanJ

DanJ

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Looks like we are the only ship there when we stop in January. I'd like to get over to Maho, but it will depend on the flight schedules and tour schedules. I'd like to see it once, but if we can't make it work when a widebody comes in, I'm not sure I'm that interested in seeing an island jumper or a 737.

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Laurino

Laurino

Posted
Posted

Hi everyone,

 

Don't want to hijack the thread, but would like som advice about Maho.

 

We'll dock in Philipsburg on New Year's Eve onboard Eurodam, time in port 8am - 3pm, but HAL usually requires all-aboard 30min before departure.

 

Have never been to Sint Maarten and would really like to see the planes from Maho, BUT:

1. Short time in port and little/no time in the afternoon.

2. There will be 7 (!) ships in total in port that day. Traffic might be crazy, since I hear that can be a problem on this island. We'd have to take at taxi back from Maho at maybe latest 1pm? Maho might also be crowded with all the cruisers.

3. KLM doesn't fly this day of the week, Air France arrives about 3pm and departs about 5pm. So no big planes to watch, maybe some medium-sized planes from the US landing between noon and 1pm?

 

Is there any point at all for us to go to Maho? Would I regret skipping Maho?

 

If not, any suggestions for something else for us to do? I'm thinking some kind of nature-experience (hikes, farms etc) might be nice, since our other ports (Grand Turk, San Juan, Half Moon Cay) will be either beaches or cities. I prefer not to take a ship excursion, but HAL has a nature-hike downhill from the top of Pic Paradis combined with Loterie Farm, that I'm considering. At least on a tour we won't miss the ship, since traffic might be crazy with so many ships.

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PamJack

PamJack

Posted
Posted

Look for a site called cruise timetables or something like that. I can't remember the actual title. I think there are more than one, but I found one in particular that is very good

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divemedic

divemedic

Posted
Posted

Anyone have any experience on the cost and ease of getting a taxi to/from from the ships to Maho Beach? Getting there is probably less problematic but with 6 ships in port I wonder how easy it'll be to get a cab back to port when everyone else is more than likely doing the same. Hope someone has experience with this. Thanks

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Canuk Cruisers

Canuk Cruisers

Posted
Posted

We did an Island tour with Bernards last year and can't recall the number of ships but the road between the port and Maho was solid traffic. The driver was anxious to get us back and the quickest way he chose was to go all the way around the island and it took about 1 hr.

 

That also passes Orient beach on the way back which can also be crowded. I'd say no later than 3 hours prior to your sail away time so you don't miss your all aboard time.

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newxmascruiser

newxmascruiser

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Anyone have any experience on the cost and ease of getting a taxi to/from from the ships to Maho Beach? Getting there is probably less problematic but with 6 ships in port I wonder how easy it'll be to get a cab back to port when everyone else is more than likely doing the same. Hope someone has experience with this. Thanks

 

We were there in November there were 2 other ships also docked. It was busy.

Cab there took around 35-40 mins. We left right after the KLM landed along with more than half of the crowd there and jumped in a minivan. We waited around 5 mins for the driver to get some more passengers (we were only a 2). Then queued in traffic for around 10 mins to get away from the airport road which runs right along the beach then once away from that area traffic was fine, I'd say a total of 1 hour max to get back including wait time.

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Karysa

Karysa

Posted
Posted
Anyone have any experience on the cost and ease of getting a taxi to/from from the ships to Maho Beach? Getting there is probably less problematic but with 6 ships in port I wonder how easy it'll be to get a cab back to port when everyone else is more than likely doing the same. Hope someone has experience with this. Thanks

 

 

Whatever you do when it comes to deciding when to leave Maho please DO NOT follow advice from people who have done this drive once. This could be a very costly mistake.

 

I can't tell you what the drive would be with 6 ships in because I would not go to Maho on a cruise when 6 ships are in port.

 

It was packed in November with 4 ships in. We weren't on a cruise but the back up in traffic getting to the beach around 11:30 was nuts. We abandoned the route on the round about and parked a ways away and walked to the beach.

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  • 2 weeks later...
DanJ

DanJ

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Just looking at flight schedules. We are there on a Wednesday which appears to have Air France with an A340 coming in at 1455 local (which is 1355 ship time). Unfortunately the KLM that comes in at 1230 local doesn't operate Wednesdays. We sail at 5 (6 local), so I imagine we have time but not sure how that time plays into what we hope to do that day. The St Maarten website lists the Royal Princess in port with us, but that's a mistake according to the itinerary on Princess.com so it looks like maybe one other small ship with us there that day.

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jkelly8646

jkelly8646

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I took Bernard's tour from the dock - highly recommend the Mailman - he was fantastic. At Maho Beach , there were numerous taxis seeking fares back to the dock. There is a relatively new bridge, that enabled our tour bus to return to the dock much quicker than 40 minutes.

 

There is a surf board at the adjacent bar that lists the major incoming flight schedule.

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  • 2 weeks later...
DanJ

DanJ

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Is there a link to the flight schedules? Sorry if it has been posted before.

 

I actually searched the Air France and KLM for flights arriving in SXM the day we are there. You can also get an idea of what flights are arriving by looking at the arrival information at sxmairport.com, although those schedules are current day and obviously not going to be exact for when you might be there.

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