St Maarten to Maho

[MissSuds]

Does anyone have any advise for doing this venture on your own?

How far is it? Use a tour? Taxi?

We want to do this, but are nervous to venture out without on an excursion not sanctioned by the Cruise Line

Any and all advise welcomed! thank you

[bagney]

Several years ago when we had a port stop in St. Maarten we took a taxi to Maho beach and spent the morning and early part of afternoon there. We made sure to leave a couple hours or more before embarkation deadline by taxi just to ensure we made it back to ship in time. When we visited, major road construction was taking place and we were very cautious on leaving us plenty of time to make it back to the ship. We had a great time sitting in the bar and watching planes land/take-off. Would definitely do this again.

[Colo Cruiser]

I agree take a taxi. There is nothing to be worried about. Its a beautiful island.

[moki'smommy]

Easy to do with a cab. It is a little less costly if you fill up a van.

 

There is a schedule posted at the beach showing what time the planes will fly in that day. There are typically a few cabs waiting there to take you back; if not the people in the snack shack will happily call one for you. Another approach if you like your morning driver is to give him a nice tip and ask him to return for you at a specified time.

 

We always allow at least 2 "extra" hours to return to the ship....one hour in case I messed up the time calculations and one hour for horrible traffic.

[OceanPrince]

Does anyone have any advise for doing this venture on your own?

How far is it? Use a tour? Taxi?

We want to do this, but are nervous to venture out without on an excursion not sanctioned by the Cruise Line

Any and all advise welcomed! thank you

 

I've been to St. Maarten's 4 times and Maho beach 4 times. In fact, was just there 7 days ago. It's super easy to taxi there. When you get off of the ship just look for signs that leads you to the Taxi area (not water taxi). Then there will be signs and people screaming out various destinations. They will charge per person ($11 or so each way to Maho) and pack people into a minivans. Coming back is just as easy as there are dozens of overly eager taxi drivers offering to take you back to Cruise ship. I do agree to give yourself 2 hours to get back as one of my visits took over 1 hour to return to ship due to construction.

 

Maho will be PACKED with people during middle of the week. The beach itself isnt that great compared to other beaches. It's very small, crowded, and steep. Maho is not a relaxing beach. If you have 7+ hours and start your day early, I recommend going to the nearby Mullet Beach first to relax and then walk to Maho. It's 20 minute walk from Maho and to me, Mullet is one of the best beaches on the island (i think tripadvisor has it as top beach on island)

[MCC retired]

Keep in mind that most of the big planes land in mid afternoon .

Also traffic back to town often encounters draw bridges up .

Leave the beach with time to spare if you are making your own plans.

A ship tour here may be a better option for getting back to your ship .

[Karysa]

Keep in mind that most of the big planes land in mid afternoon .

Also traffic back to town often encounters draw bridges up .

Leave the beach with time to spare if you are making your own plans.

A ship tour here may be a better option for getting back to your ship .

 

There is a new bridge as well as the Simpson Bay drawbridge so there are two good choices for taxis to get you back to port.

[mitsugirly]

Super easy to do on your own with plenty of taxi's coming and going from Maho. I have 2 reviews of both times we went there if you are interested. There's tons of pictures. :)