St. Maarten Open For Business

[DISFANS3]

Hope for the best, Like that St Martin...

[Karysa]

I read that Kim Sha beach (area between The Atrium and The Royal Pam resorts in the Simpson Bay Area before the bridge) will be the designated area for tour operators. This was explained to me as being something that the cruiselines wanted. Does anyone (Gary lol) have any further information on this?

[gtaylor]

I've been traveling and cruising and dealing with real life.

 

Haven't had a chance to check on St. Maarten recently.

 

Will report back.

 

gary

[TOCruisers]

I've been traveling and cruising and dealing with real life.

 

Haven't had a chance to check on St. Maarten recently.

 

Will report back.

 

gary

 

 

This will be really appreciated. I go to French side for pastry and "French cosmetic shopping," which I needed to do in this Dec but could not book. Now we are going in Feb and RCCL says the itinerary is on, but only news I hear/see on French side is rather sad. So any information on the recovery of shops and transportation to/from Dutch side is appreciated (we used to do "public mini ban"), but taxi information to/from Dutch is appreciated as well.

[Karysa]

I've been traveling and cruising and dealing with real life.

 

Haven't had a chance to check on St. Maarten recently.

 

Will report back.

 

gary

Thanks. Perhaps we will get more info coming in as the ships return and folks get home and have time to post here.

[taylortime05]

Hi, just back from a cruise that was based in St. Martin (Crystal Esprit, a very small ship) and spent two days and a night on the island just before. Toured it thoroughly and wrote this story for Cruise Critic: https://www.cruisecritic.com/news/news.cfm?ID=8225

 

Happy to answer any questions. IMHO the Dutch side (and I say in the story) is in much better shape than the French side. Plus, an entirely new attraction -- the Rockland Eco-Park, which offers ziplines, chairlift to a mountain top with great views, restaurant/bar, museum and shop -- literally just opened last week. We got a sneak preview and it's marvelous.

 

Cruise Critic's community has also opened a forum dedicated to questions about islands affected by the hurricanes in the Caribbean; feel free to wander over and check out other reports from St. Maarten. That link is here: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=1113

 

Happy to answer any questions --

 

Carolyn

 

Carolyn Spencer Brown

Chief Content Strategist

Cruise Critic

 

We are cruising on Freedom Jan 6th and were interested in Captain Bob's excursion. Is this on the Dutch or French side? He has gotten great reviews on Trip Advisor and Cruise Critic over the years. I'd appreciate your insight. Thanks

[luckyinpa]

glad i found this thread. we are in port jan 11 on princess. i had no idea the progress made on the island but as i just booked yesterday, i hadnt even done any research at all. it sounds like there will be a lot of interest in a trip report.

[OceansOfTravels]

I am hoping for more videos in the series, I like they way they portray the island and have a focus on recovery. Such a resilient island and people.

 

 

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