Is St. Maarten/St. Martin ready?

[allinthesameboat]

Sailing on Koningsdam in January 2019. We will call at St. Maarten and I wonder if anyone has been there recently and whether they have recovered enough to tour the Dutch and French sides of the island. We are not beach-goers so we don't need advice about that.

[rafinmd]

https://www.cruisecritic.com/news/news.cfm?ID=8798

 

Roy

[CruiserBruce]

https://www.cruisecritic.com/news/news.cfm?ID=8798

 

Roy

 

Great info. Also a very good place to look would be the St Maarten board, here:

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=93

 

HAL doesn't have any ships in the Caribbean yet, so nobody here is likely to have current info.

[roberts2005]

On a recent Marina cruise I spoke with one of the staff, a French gentleman who used to own a restaurant in Gran Case. He stated that the French side has a long way to go but the the Dutch side is in much better shape.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Thank you Roy for the link to that information -- really great.

[Copper10-8]

Philipsburg, Sint Maarten can handle up to six large cruise ships at the Dr. A.C. Wathey Cruise & Cargo Facilities complex (see pics #1 and #2). The concrete piers and berths of the complex were never damaged by Irma last year. The Royal Netherlands Navy's joint support ship Zr Ms Karel Doorman A833 (see other pics) used the complex to bring in emergency supplies, relief goods, transportation as well as Police vehicles right after Irma's devastation (see other pics). In addition, the Dutch Navy's ocean patrol vessel Zr Ms Zeeland P841 and Dutch Caribbean territories station ship Zr Ms Pelikaan A804 used the Wathey piers for the same purpose after Irma struck

In addition, Karel Doorman's crew transferred relief supplies to the Royal Navy's landing ship dock RFA Mounts Bay L3008 (see pic #3) at the same pier for onward transportation by her, Mounts Bay, to some of the British Carib overseas territories affected by Irma.

So receiving cruise ships at Philipsburg's pier post Irma has never been an issue! The problem has been the island's infrastructure on both the Dutch and French sides. That has been worked on since last year and most of it is up and running again

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited October 5, 2018 by Copper10-8

[RGBFamily]

We docked in Philipsburg in January 2017 as the first Megaship to be received after the hurricane. While the island had a lot of damage they were working hard to get things moving and very thankful we came to visit. I am looking forward to seeing the progress this coming December.

[Copper10-8]

We docked in Philipsburg in January 2017 as the first Megaship to be received after the hurricane. While the island had a lot of damage they were working hard to get things moving and very thankful we came to visit. I am looking forward to seeing the progress this coming December.

 

Did you mean January 2018? ;)

[RGBFamily]

Did you mean January 2018? ;)

 

Sure did ... thanks for catching that. Twice to my bucket list destination in one year! :)

[Copper10-8]

Sure did ... thanks for catching that. Twice to my bucket list destination in one year! :)

 

Cool! :D Sint Maarten/Saint-Martin is one of our fav places also! Have a great trip in Dec

[lenquixote66]

Sailing on Koningsdam in January 2019. We will call at St. Maarten and I wonder if anyone has been there recently and whether they have recovered enough to tour the Dutch and French sides of the island. We are not beach-goers so we don't need advice about that.

 

 

On our last cruise to St.Martin it was about 40% on the Dutch and 0 % on the French but that was 10 months ago.

[iflyrc5]

We visited St Maarten in Jan 2018. It was the first visit of a HAL ship after the Hurricane. We walked down to the beach/shop area in town. You could see lots of damage, many missing trees, shipping containers split open, etc... The people were working hard a rebuilding and all had a smile. We stopped in one of the bars along the boardwalk for a drink and snack. Their wifi was up and working. We talked to the owner - he said he had planned on renovating the place before the storm but the hurricane made his decision for him. He seemed in good spirits. We did spend some extra on gifts, shirts, drinks, etc... to help out the community. We did not make it to the French side but from talking to the locals they said that the Orient Beach area was totally destroyed. This was all back in Jan 2018. You might try contacting Bernards Tours. We have toured with him many time on both the Dutch and French side. He has been back in operation for several months and I am sure he can tell you more first hand about the status of the island.

[Scrapnana]

If you want to get a glimpse of the port you can find the PTZtv webcam here. PTZtv has two other webcams on the island.

http://www.sxmislandcam.com/

http://www.mahobeachcam.com/

[jhsocal]

Will be on a HAL cruise that includes this island in January. HAL has tours that include the Dutch and French sides. Although, do not believe any include French beaches.As Bruce mentioned, many comments on San Maarten board. The posts seem to indicate people who booked there own tours or used a taxi. As of early September, no mention of any ship tour buses.

[sammiedawg]

We were there in March with Viking Oceans and their included tour was a trip to the French side. The damage was devastating and we didn’t see much, if any rebuilding. We saw almost no tourists, save for a few people waiting for the ferry to St Bart’s. Hotels, eateries were mostly closed. Minimal commerce was up and running. To kill time on the tour, we were taken to a building featuring a Carousel and a birthday party venue.

 

Lots of politics at play but the bottom line is lack of funding to rebuild. It will take decades.

[mcrcruiser]

We were there in March with Viking Oceans and their included tour was a trip to the French side. The damage was devastating and we didn’t see much, if any rebuilding. We saw almost no tourists, save for a few people waiting for the ferry to St Bart’s. Hotels, eateries were mostly closed. Minimal commerce was up and running. To kill time on the tour, we were taken to a building featuring a Carousel and a birthday party venue.

 

Lots of politics at play but the bottom line is lack of funding to rebuild. It will take decades.

 

That will be a shame that it would take that long to rebuild:o .Was such a very nice island stop:D . We have been there 3 times before the hurricane hit :p

[TAD2005]

If you want to get a glimpse of the port you can find the PTZtv webcam here. PTZtv has two other webcams on the island.

http://www.sxmislandcam.com/

http://www.mahobeachcam.com/

 

There's another live streaming webcam looking full time at the port and Great Bay.

http://www.thevillasongreatbay.com

This small resort is located near the west end of Great Bay beach, closer to the now destroyed Sonesta Great Bay hotel and casino, and Divi Little Bay resort.

[Cruisin Kay D]

One of the many problems slowing the reconstruction of various buildings on Dutch & French sides is that some insurance companies have still NOT paid out claims, over 13 months after the storm!! Damaged islands have faced a shortage of contractors, workers and building materials to rebuild the many resorts, restaurants, homes, stores etc. There are some political issues too.

[ellieanne]

One of the many problems slowing the reconstruction of various buildings on Dutch & French sides is that some insurance companies have still NOT paid out claims, over 13 months after the storm!! Damaged islands have faced a shortage of contractors, workers and building materials to rebuild the many resorts, restaurants, homes, stores etc. There are some political issues too.

 

Dealing with insurance companies is never as quick or as easy as you think it should be. And especially if the policy-holder is disputing the amount the insurance company wants to pay.

[sammiedawg]

Oceanfront property may have a million dollar deductible. I’m not aware of any resort properties here that might be owned by deep pocket corporations like Marriott.

There is no insurance in the world that completely assumes the risk of a hurricane. Talk to anyone impacted by storms in the US. I won’t go into detail on property owned by extended family damaged by Sandy, other than to say massive personal funds were needed to remediate and rebuild.

There will be insurance exclusions. Many insurance companies refuse to write for wind. Owners of OF property assume a lot of risk.

 

I’ve followed this story after visiting last March. There were reports some resort properties did not do much of anything to remediate for mold and other damage. Some managers allegedly told employees not to bother because they were going for full insurance coverage. Resorts will eventually be torn down.

[TAD2005]

Another casualty of non-paying insurance companies is Orient Beach Club on the French side of St. Martin. They have received their insurance payout for loss of revenue, but they only operate the resort with their employees. The Copropriété (Copro) which owns the land on which Club Orient is built and is similar to an HOA is responsible for the vast majority of structures. Copro has still not received any payments from the insurance company, but the French government has a policy that the resort ( OBC) must pay their out-of-work employees 85% of their salaries, even if the resort was totally destroyed, which is was. OBC has met that responsibility for over a year, in the anticipation that the insurance funding would allow them to rebuild. The insurance company is still refusing to pay Copro, and OBC cannot afford to continue to pay 85% salaries with zero income, so they have filed with a liquidator and will go bankrupt. No more Orient Beach Club. See Club Orient Facebook, details of closure, dated Oct 4, 2018.

Edited October 7, 2018 by TAD2005

[sail7seas]

Great info. Also a very good place to look would be the St Maarten board, here:

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=93

 

HAL doesn't have any ships in the Caribbean yet, so nobody here is likely to have current info.

 

 

 

 

UNless, of course, some sailed c ruise lines other than HAL

[81Zoomie]

We visited the island on the Celebrity Equinox in August. The immediate cruise port shops were up and running. We did not visit the town because we took a private sailing and snorkeling tour. The water is still beautiful!!! The captain of the charter said they had two of their three boats back in operation. There were many palm trees broken off at the base. The Westin hotel was was still closed. Since the entire Caribbean depends on tourist money the most supportive thing we can do is visit, shop, and support the tourism economy. PS - Be sure to have a guava berry colada.... they are awesome :-)