Sint Maarteen Update

[Coopdog08]

Here's the article.

 

POINTE BLANCHE--The first cruise ship bringing passengers, not humanitarian aid, is expected back in port on St. Maarten Day, November 11.

"Though it is possible to welcome a ship as per November 1, the Port has identified the symbolic date of November 11, St. Maarten Day, to welcome the first ship back to St. Maarten," Tourism and Economic Affairs Minister Mellissa Arrindell-Doncher said.

She said in a statement to The Daily Herald that she hopes this will be enough time to have Philipsburg, in particular, properly cleaned up, the beach replenished and for tours with chosen routes.

“The importance of our cruise product cannot be underestimated and we will lend whatever support that we must to get the Port fully operational sooner rather than later,” the Minister said.

The damage inflicted on the Port by Hurricane Irma was described as “heavy” by the Minister and are estimated “in the millions.” However, Port management is busy normalizing operations at the facility.

The damage to the older of the two cruise piers is being addressed. Pier 2 was not damaged by the hurricane.

The home porting terminal has been severely damaged.

Ninety per cent of the perimeter fence, one of the two mobile passenger screening kiosks, the security command centre and several retail units were destroyed in the hurricane.

Damaged are all light poles on the piers, both Gottwald Mobile Crane and various units at Harbour Point Village.

The roof of the Cargo Terminal Office was blown off.

The Walter Plantz Square survived Irma in fairly good shape. Besides some blown-in windows, the units sustained minor damage and all roofs remain in fairly good shape. The water fountain and other amenities are being tested to determine damage, if any.

The Simpson Bay Causeway sustained technical damages. This prohibits the bridge swing from opening. Technicians have assessed damage and repairs will be executed as soon as their advice is received. Light poles and traffic lights on the Causeway were also damaged.

The John Sainsborough Lejuez Bridge (commonly called Simpson Bay Bridge) was not damaged by Irma.

Port officials have had a general assessment meeting with private tour operators, concessionaires and non-concessionaire operations. Of the water based tours, 62 per cent are operational. Of the land based tours 80 per cent are operational.

Port Management will brief the Council of Ministers today, Wednesday, about recovery progress to date and the outlook. Management has already briefed the Minister and her Cabinet on more than one occasion.

The Minister commended the Port team for immediately swinging into action to reopen the facilities for business via the cargo pier and getting a target date to welcome back cruise guests. (Photo courtesy Dutch Royal Marines.)

Thanks as I was still getting timed out. Sounds like the ball is now in the cruise lines hands to decide if they wish to go back to the island at that point or wait until a later date. Tough decision as there are many that want to go to help get money flow revived in St Maarten but there are just as many that won't want to go and will complain the island wasn't ready and or safe.

[nancy513]

Interesting...article on SMN news today shows the airport still closed to commercial and only open to relief flights.

 

 

 

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/latestnews/Commercial_flights_to_storm-hit_St_Martin_to_resume_Saturday?profile=1228

 

 

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[Sunkissed Mommy]

I read an article that the airport started accepting commercial flights again. I can't imagine there will be as many flights as normal, but I'm sure we can still see some action from Maho Beach!

 

 

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It's still closed. If you go to the website- http://www.sxmairport.com/ a pop up comes to say they are closed indefinitely.

[Honolulu Blue]

Does it mention which ship?

 

The article does not mention a specific ship, but according to Cruise TT ( http://ports.cruisett.com/schedule/St_Martin__St_Maarten/511-Philipsburg/November_2017/ ), the two ships that were scheduled to arrive in St. Maarten on November 11 are the Carnival Fascination and HAL's Koningsdam.

 

According to Holland America's latest update at https://www.hollandamerica.com/pageByName/Resp.action?requestPage=Hurricane_Impact&showHeader=true&showFooter=true&legacy=true , the Koningsdam has already replaced St. Maarten with St. Croix (which they may have to replace later on... but never mind that now). The Fascination has canceled its San Juan cruises through October 8, but beyond that is open. Perhaps this is the lucky ship? Don't bet the house on it, but that would be my best guess.

[Sunkissed Mommy]

Maho Beach before :D and after Hurricane Irma :(

 

You may have to copy and paste link below

https://thepointsguy.com/2017/09/maho-beach-before-and-after-irma/

 

can't they just scoop that scattered sand back on the other side of the road?!? :loudcry:

 

(for those of you who don't pick up on sarcasm.... :rolleyes:)

[FLACRUISER99]

can't they just scoop that scattered sand back on the other side of the road?!? :loudcry:

 

(for those of you who don't pick up on sarcasm.... :rolleyes:)

I live on the beach and you folks have no idea how fast mother nature can bring the sand back.

[Sun Lover]

Does anyone know if Sunset Beach Bar was destroyed?

[Life is Good Cruising]

Does anyone know if Sunset Beach Bar was destroyed?

 

can't they just scoop that scattered sand back on the other side of the road?!? :loudcry:

 

(for those of you who don't pick up on sarcasm.... :rolleyes:)

 

The Sunset Bar and Grill was destroyed and I'm sure Guy's Driftwood Bar, also across from the airport is no longer there, I am sad too :(

 

Taken from the article below

https://thepointsguy.com/2017/09/maho-beach-before-and-after-irma/

 

After Irma lashed the island of Saint Martin on Tuesday, the beach has all but disappeared, and the surrounding facilities have been gutted or washed out to sea.

 

Hopefully, within time they will rebuild.

[Clarea]

The Sunset Bar and Grill was destroyed and I'm sure Guy's Driftwood Bar, also across from the airport is no longer there, I am sad too :(

 

Hopefully, within time they will rebuild.

Sorry to hear that, we spent many an excursion at the Sunset Bar.

[Life is Good Cruising]

Sorry to hear that, we spent many an excursion at the Sunset Bar.

 

We have too, I'm sure many of us would love to see them rebuild.

[RonMexico1982]

Awesome news. I am on the Nov 12th Allure of the Seas Eastern Carribean sailing and St. Marteen was one our port stops.

[Bobal]

Sorry to hear that, we spent many an excursion at the Sunset Bar.

 

So did we. We were there earlier this year and they've done a huge expansion over the last few years, including adding a nightclub and a pool. From the pic in the link above it looks as if the newer parts of the bar may still be intact but the part by the beach which cruisers love looks very damaged

[Coopdog08]

I read an article that the airport started accepting commercial flights again. I can't imagine there will be as many flights as normal, but I'm sure we can still see some action from Maho Beach!

 

 

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This article references the French airport, the Dutch airport by Maho is still closed.

[wolfganghowell]

Years back we were the first ship to return to Cozumel after Wilma. Royal's usual port was still closed - we used the downtown one. Playa Mia was the only beach resort back up - Paradise, Nachi, Mr Sanchos were all still rebuilding. The locals were absolutely thrilled to welcome back cruisers. We saw great devastation but the smiles of the people were heartwarming. It seemed so many people made a point of shopping, eating - spending money to get the economy moving again. I can only hope that St Martin will recover as well as Cozumel did. Glad they are working hard to get tourism up.

[BillOh]

Hope Maho beach is open. Love watching the planes coming in. Hope it's ready for my December sailing.

 

 

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I'm betting it will be. I haven't seen an update on Sunset Bar and Grill. They did quite a bit of improvement to the facility between my 2014 and 2017 visit. Also in 2015 the government built a bunch of building/shops on Orient Beach. I'm betting with no real logic that those are just slabs now. There was some controversy when they were built. I will be curious to see if anything is different. I still have 215 days to wait and see.

[BillOh]

I read an article that the airport started accepting commercial flights again. I can't imagine there will be as many flights as normal, but I'm sure we can still see some action from Maho Beach!

 

 

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Well, you have given me something to do this upcoming winter. There is a flight tracker app/site that lets you zoom in on particular areas. I will probably peak at that all winter into spring.

[BillOh]

Sorry to hear that, we spent many an excursion at the Sunset Bar.

 

 

I was there last May and while they had made many improvements. But all those improvements were things I would think could be easily replaced once utilities and traffic returns. I did have a first time experience with a female bathroom attendant who poured ice into the urinals while men used them. Oh, the things that are only St Martin!

[BillOh]

Awesome news. I am on the Nov 12th Allure of the Seas Eastern Carribean sailing and St. Marteen was one our port stops.

 

 

Please come back to this thread if Royal gives you any announcement of port changes.

[CRUISEFAN0001]

Well at least I finally dug up an update as to the fate of Sarafina's on the French side... UGH!!

 

 

That whole area was flooded badly in addition to the hurricane wind damage. All the shops/stores in that street are reported to be in this general condition. No estimate on the rebuild time...but 6-12 months would be a realistic guess. Right now, the biggest problems are a lack of power in many locations and that anyone who could do the construction work likely lost their own homes too, as did the staff. Building materials will be hard to come by...based on supply vs demand...and the insurance claims (for those that had insurance) will take quite some time. Devastating is the appropriate word.

[emdia43]

Before and after Irma, Maho Beach. You can zoom in on the damage to the Sunset bar and grill...

https://thepointsguy.com/2017/09/maho-beach-before-and-after-irma/

[Candleonwater]

Am I imagining things? Google Earth images appear to be CURRENT. Shows all kinds of destruction, beach washout at Maho, boats where boats don't belong, cargo containers near the cruise ship port scattered all around...?

[joepeka]

Missing the Caribbean Jerk Wings at the Greenhouse Restaurant. Hope we can make a visit on our Serenade November 24th cruise.

 

 

 

 

Agree! I hope it wasn't too severely damaged. We always stop at the Green House for their Bang Bang shrimp - delicious! :)

 

[Max Density]

Am I imagining things? Google Earth images appear to be CURRENT. Shows all kinds of destruction, beach washout at Maho, boats where boats don't belong, cargo containers near the cruise ship port scattered all around...?

You are not hallucinating. The satellite view on Google Maps appears to have been taken after Irma. Well, what you can see of it through the clouds, anyway. There are military planes on the tarmac at Princess Juliana airport, the beach at Maho is completely washed out, Majesty OTS is in port, and the grove of palm trees at the Palm Beach restaurant on the French side near Orient Beach are completely wasted.

 

Hoo, boy. :(

[DEIx15x8]

Since one of the piers is damaged it is unlikely all ships will be able to return starting November 11th. I wonder if they would accept the smaller ships and keep the larger ones away until they have more capacity to handle and accommodate the larger numbers.

[Candleonwater]

You are not hallucinating. The satellite view on Google Maps appears to have been taken after Irma. Well, what you can see of it through the clouds, anyway. There are military planes on the tarmac at Princess Juliana airport, the beach at Maho is completely washed out, Majesty OTS is in port, and the grove of palm trees at the Palm Beach restaurant on the French side near Orient Beach are completely wasted. Hoo, boy. :(

 

Not used to the images being so current! Wish it had been a cloudless day though. So much damage is visible. We're supposed to stop there just after Christmas, hope there's enough to do, that Orient Beach is operational.