Need help planning our day

[Familfof4]

Hi everyone, we'll be in St. Maarteen on a Sunday from 8 - 5 (Adventure of the Seas) and looking for ideas on how to spend the day. We are two adults and two teens (16 and 15). The teens are interested in visiting Maho for about 1 hour just to experience it and then we'd like to visit a beach and do some shopping in Philipsburg. Should I book a formal tour or is this doable on our own? Thank you

[S.A.M.J.R.]

We just returned. I knew we wanted to experience Maho, and other than that, couldn't think of anything.

 

The local taxi company offers their own tours (ranging in length from 1-4 hours), but you don't get a lot of time at each stop. We ended up getting a cab to Orient beach and on the way there, our driver (Harley) offered to be our tour guide for the day for a reduced rate of what the cab company was offering.

 

There were 6 of us. Here's what we did...

* Stopped by the road and fed iguanas (I tipped the operator a couple $$)

* Stopped by Orient Beach for just 10 - 15 minutes (water was very choppy)

* Went to Grand Case beach (concrete pier about 12' above the water that you could jump in). Swam and had lunch at Scooby's. (YUM!)

* Stopped at a bakery in Margiot

* Stopped at Maho Beach and watched planes come in.

* Stopped at a small souvenir market (a couple shirts, purse, and two dresses for ~$60)

* Returned to ship.

 

For six of us, he charged $150. He was so good, we tipped him another $30. Even with the tip, for 6 of us, that was only $30pp. The entire tour was ~4 1/2 hours.

 

It was our least planned port, but it was probably the best day.

[Familfof4]

Thank you S.A.M.J.R.

[navybankerteacher]

For four of you making three stops, renting a car for the day ($65+/-) might be your best bet. Because large planes usually come in around noon (and considering the very heavy afternoon traffic between Maho and the port), you might want to do your shopping in Phillipsburg first, then go to Maho to watch planes until about noon, then drive north to Orient Beach for a couple of hours, finally returning to the cruise terminal down the east side of the island - avoiding the traffic near Maho and coming through Phillipsburg from the west.

[S.A.M.J.R.]

For four of you making three stops, renting a car for the day ($65+/-) might be your best bet. Because large planes usually come in around noon (and considering the very heavy afternoon traffic between Maho and the port), you might want to do your shopping in Phillipsburg first, then go to Maho to watch planes until about noon, then drive north to Orient Beach for a couple of hours, finally returning to the cruise terminal down the east side of the island - avoiding the traffic near Maho and coming through Phillipsburg from the west.

 

I was under the impression the larger planes came in between 1p-3p. We stayed at Maho until 2:45p, went through downtown Phillipsburg trying to find an ATM that would accept my card (that wasted a good 30 minutes if not more), stopped by the little souvenir stands (about 15 minutes), and were back at the pier at 3:55.