Port Check-in (Sint Maarten)

[kathy16]

Thanks- we will be taking a taxi there from our one night hotel room.

[smithmtdeb]

We fly to SXM tomorrow. 

[Hellojw]

Thanks for the info on the airport...we leave SXM on the Saturday (Feb 2) that our cruise finishes. We arrive in port at 7am and our flight departs at 5:30 so we had thought we might do a short tour but now I’m wondering if we would have time.  One tour company said they would have us to the airport by 2:30...your thoughts on if that is enough time in advance?

[offtoalaska]

We board the Odyssey on Jan. 19 and disembark on Saturday Feb 2.  Seabourn offers a post cruise tour with pick up at 9:30 am and airport drop off at 12:30 pm.  Our flight departs at 3:20 pm but we'll postpone booking anything until we have a better understanding of the departure processing at SXM.   We'll continue to  monitor this board.  It appears that the tents at the airport were dismantled and passenger processing is in the restored terminal (per SXM press release in December.)

 

Return to Terminal Building

SXM Airport

SIMPSON BAY, St. Maarten (Wednesday, December 19, 2018) - Although December 3rd, 2018 was the actual date of the 75th anniversary of the Princess Juliana International Airport, the celebrations were however, deferred to two weeks later to coincide with the official migration of arrival and departure operations back inside the Terminal Building since Hurricane Irma wreaked havoc on the island on September 6th, 2017, causing extensive damage to the building.

[raphael360]

18 hours ago, Hellojw said:

Thanks for the info on the airport...we leave SXM on the Saturday (Feb 2) that our cruise finishes. We arrive in port at 7am and our flight departs at 5:30 so we had thought we might do a short tour but now I’m wondering if we would have time.  One tour company said they would have us to the airport by 2:30...your thoughts on if that is enough time in advance?

          The answer to your "what time should I arrive at the airport" is complicated and, I think, depends on what airline you're on.  If you're flying out on AA, you could get to the airport at 10am but AA won't start working a 5:30pm flight until much later.  See our experience below.

 

     Forgive me in advance for my snarky tone but our experience was this: - Our SB tour bus dropped us off at SXM at 12:30pm which should have been plenty of time to catch our 4:10pm flight at a normal airport on a normal day.  But this was SXM on a SATURDAY.  Over 20 major airline departures (maybe 50 minor commuter airlines departures) 1000's of passenger and 1 metal detector and 1 runway. (MY flight stats come from https://www.flightstats.com/v2/flight-tracker/departures/SXM)

 

      American Airlines wouldn't "start" checking in the Miami  4:10pm passengers until 1:30 as they were trying to get the 3 earlier flights out.  Miami passengers who made it to the ticket counter before 1pm were turned away and sent to the back of the check in line. We got in the AA check in line at 1pm, got to the AA counter at 2pm, got in the security line at 2:05pm and got to the gate at 5:30pm (for our 4:10pm flight).  Happily our Miami 4:10pm flight was delayed 2 hours  and didn't take off until approx. 6:30pm.  I'm 100% sure this AA - Miami flight would have taken off empty at 4:10pm.

 

    I do offer one solution that may help.  Check in on line the day before, print your boarding passes on board the ship (note SXM does not accept mobile device boarding passes) and throw your checked bags in the ocean.  Doing these 3 things will allow you to get in the airport security line as soon as you get to the airport.

 

[Kamfish642]

Our cruise departs on Saturday, February 2, but we are flying into Sint Maarten on Thursday.  Unfortunately, we fly out on Saturday, February 16, so I would appreciate any updates on how the reopening of terminal has improved the departure process.  Also, does anyone have experience flying out on United Airlines?

 

Thank you in advance for your feedback.

[raphael360]

On 1/5/2019 at 12:11 AM, offtoalaska said:

We board the Odyssey on Jan. 19 and disembark on Saturday Feb 2.  Seabourn offers a post cruise tour with pick up at 9:30 am and airport drop off at 12:30 pm.  Our flight departs at 3:20 pm but we'll postpone booking anything until we have a better understanding of the departure processing at SXM.   We'll continue to  monitor this board.  It appears that the tents at the airport were dismantled and passenger processing is in the restored terminal (per SXM press release in December.)

Keep checking reviews on this board for updates.  I've posted a lot here on our experience - not good posts. 

 

FYI, the main terminal was open for departures when we departed in November as we departed out of this main terminal and boarding gates.

[raphael360]

16 minutes ago, raphael360 said:

FYI, the main terminal was open for departures when we departed in November as we departed out of this main terminal and boarding gates.

Correction; We didn't depart from the main terminal.  We we're processed through the tent.  - My Bad, sorry

 

Edited January 6, 2019 by raphael360
SIC

[Hellojw]

17 hours ago, raphael360 said:

          The answer to your "what time should I arrive at the airport" is complicated and, I think, depends on what airline you're on.  If you're flying out on AA, you could get to the airport at 10am but AA won't start working a 5:30pm flight until much later.  See our experience below.

 

     Forgive me in advance for my snarky tone but our experience was this: - Our SB tour bus dropped us off at SXM at 12:30pm which should have been plenty of time to catch our 4:10pm flight at a normal airport on a normal day.  But this was SXM on a SATURDAY.  Over 20 major airline departures (maybe 50 minor commuter airlines departures) 1000's of passenger and 1 metal detector and 1 runway. (MY flight stats come from https://www.flightstats.com/v2/flight-tracker/departures/SXM)

 

      American Airlines wouldn't "start" checking in the Miami  4:10pm passengers until 1:30 as they were trying to get the 3 earlier flights out.  Miami passengers who made it to the ticket counter before 1pm were turned away and sent to the back of the check in line. We got in the AA check in line at 1pm, got to the AA counter at 2pm, got in the security line at 2:05pm and got to the gate at 5:30pm (for our 4:10pm flight).  Happily our Miami 4:10pm flight was delayed 2 hours  and didn't take off until approx. 6:30pm.  I'm 100% sure this AA - Miami flight would have taken off empty at 4:10pm.

 

    I do offer one solution that may help.  Check in on line the day before, print your boarding passes on board the ship (note SXM does not accept mobile device boarding passes) and throw your checked bags in the ocean.  Doing these 3 things will allow you to get in the airport security line as soon as you get to the airport.

 

We are on Air Canada and this is their only flight out of there so hopefully it won’t be so bad.  Thanks for all the info.  I’m thinking we do a 2-3 hour tour in the morning and then go to the airport.  It will be a long day!

[raphael360]

I noticed Air Canada was doing a much better job getting passengers checked in than AA . AA had to many flights to work.   I also noticed Air Canada staff were escorting some of their passengers around the miles long security line to get them to the gate. Not around security, but around the Que. I think you should be OK.