Best beach to spend the day at?

[Cruising Divers]

Hello, we are cruising to St. Maarten on April 1, 2019 with Celebrity. This will be our only "beach day" opportunity as we will be scuba diving the rest of our itinerary and we are looking for a "sugar sand" beach/day full of fun (we love the sand in Gulf Shores, AL for example). White sand, not overcrowded, good drinks, beautiful water and some fun tourist/souvenir junk shopping would be perfect for us. From what I've read Orient beach was the best but was destroyed during hurricane Maria... 

 

Anyone here recent SM visitors with insights? Are there any "Celebrity-sponsored excursions" that include something else "not to be missed" and also some wonderful beach-time? We'd love to hear all of your experiences and suggestions - Thank you very much in advance! 

[SnorkelAway]

Orient Beach was not destroyed by Irma, or Maria.  Still very nice beach.

[Cruising Divers]

2 hours ago, SnorkelAway said:

Orient Beach was not destroyed by Irma, or Maria.  Still very nice beach.

 

Thank you! Would you consider it the “best beach” to spend our one and only day in SM at? Thanks again!

[SnorkelAway]

 

12 hours ago, Cruising Divers said:

Would you consider it the “best beach” to spend our one and only day in SM at?

 

Tough question.  Very subjective and dependent on weather/sea conditions on particular day. Also might dependent in part on what you think about access to a C/O beach.  (Although we consider Orient a great beach without regard to the C/O beach on the southern part of Orient.)   Assuming great weather all over island, if off a cruise ship, I normally would head over to Orient for the day.   Among other things, I think that the traffic situation usually is better getting back from Orient than the western beaches, such as Mullet.  If you know the weather is bad on one side of island versus other, then you can of course adjust the plans and go to the other side.

[cathi007]

22 hours ago, Cruising Divers said:

 

Thank you! Would you consider it the “best beach” to spend our one and only day in SM at? Thanks again!

I will be at Orient Beach next week I will be posting back after I get back from my 14 night cruise

[Cruising Divers]

18 hours ago, cathi007 said:

I will be at Orient Beach next week I will be posting back after I get back from my 14 night cruise

 

Awesome, thank you!

[beshears]

On 1/17/2019 at 8:12 PM, cathi007 said:

I will be at Orient Beach next week I will be posting back after I get back from my 14 night cruise

 

We are to be in St. Maarten, starting our cruise the 31st of March.

 

I would like to read what you post about Orient Beach, once you get back. 🙂

[idahospud]

I was at Orient Beach in August. Here's part of my blog post (with pictures) from one of those days:

 

Hello from St. Maarten!

I thought yesterday was perfect. I was wrong. It was today that was perfect. But also a bit sad.
 

We hadn't been to St. Maarten since last year's hurricane. After today I can say the damage is pretty significant. 

We took a taxi over to Orient Beach and went to the Bikini Bar. Bikini Bar used to be a super busy place. Now it's the only place open on the beach. And pretty darn empty.

 

Here's a picture from a couple years back. It's hard to see, but in the picture are all kinds of bars and restaurants and huts and lounge chairs along Orient Beach.

 

Now here's a picture I took today from almost the same spot. The place is decimated. There is not one lounge chair, not one bar, not one restaurant left intact and operating from Bikini Bar on down.

But it's like the beach has been given a fresh start. The crowds are minimal, the sand (and sargassum) are in their natural states. Bikini Bar has brand new buildings and umbrellas and lounges. Comfy lounges. And food and drinks. The menu for the Bikini Bar can be found here.

And vendors bugging you on the beach. They even have a sign to warn you. Just say no and they move on.

 

It was such a perfect day. A bit of a breeze, nice warm ocean water, and plenty of space to spread out. The beach was not busy at all. Just the way we like it. It's a shame that more people aren't heading to the beach though. They need our tourist dollars. 

Not our drinks but it made for a good picture.

We'll be back to St. Maarten in a couple weeks and plan on spending more of our tourist dollars to help support the island. 

[New Hampshire]

From research on a St Martin site that is current, there are another two beach bars that have opened.  Two chairs plus an umbrella is $30.  Lots of sargassum cuttently on the beach.

[BLAMBKY]

On 1/20/2019 at 2:51 AM, idahospud said:

I was at Orient Beach in August. Here's part of my blog post (with pictures) from one of those days:

 

Hello from St. Maarten!

I thought yesterday was perfect. I was wrong. It was today that was perfect. But also a bit sad.
 

We hadn't been to St. Maarten since last year's hurricane. After today I can say the damage is pretty significant. 

We took a taxi over to Orient Beach and went to the Bikini Bar. Bikini Bar used to be a super busy place. Now it's the only place open on the beach. And pretty darn empty.

 

Here's a picture from a couple years back. It's hard to see, but in the picture are all kinds of bars and restaurants and huts and lounge chairs along Orient Beach.

 

Now here's a picture I took today from almost the same spot. The place is decimated. There is not one lounge chair, not one bar, not one restaurant left intact and operating from Bikini Bar on down.

But it's like the beach has been given a fresh start. The crowds are minimal, the sand (and sargassum) are in their natural states. Bikini Bar has brand new buildings and umbrellas and lounges. Comfy lounges. And food and drinks. The menu for the Bikini Bar can be found here.

And vendors bugging you on the beach. They even have a sign to warn you. Just say no and they move on.

 

It was such a perfect day. A bit of a breeze, nice warm ocean water, and plenty of space to spread out. The beach was not busy at all. Just the way we like it. It's a shame that more people aren't heading to the beach though. They need our tourist dollars. 

Not our drinks but it made for a good picture.

We'll be back to St. Maarten in a couple weeks and plan on spending more of our tourist dollars to help support the island. 

Did you order food, taste & speed of service? I am trying to decide to eat lunch here or Sunset (Maho) Are credit cards accepted and what are the restrooms like? Friar’s Bay restroom condition last May was really surprising and they were not accepting cc at all. 

[idahospud]

On 1/28/2019 at 7:38 AM, BLAMBKY said:

Did you order food, taste & speed of service? I am trying to decide to eat lunch here or Sunset (Maho) Are credit cards accepted and what are the restrooms like? Friar’s Bay restroom condition last May was really surprising and they were not accepting cc at all. 

We did order food. It was good and speedy.

Flavio is the one who waits on you.

He's always checking on you and easy to wave down when needed. We paid cash in US dollars so I don't know about credit cards. 

 

Bathrooms are brand new and clean. I don't have a picture of those. I do have the menu if you're interested.

[BLAMBKY]

2 hours ago, idahospud said:

We did order food. It was good and speedy.

Flavio is the one who waits on you.

He's always checking on you and easy to wave down when needed. We paid cash in US dollars so I don't know about credit cards. 

 

Bathrooms are brand new and clean. I don't have a picture of those. I do have the menu if you're interested.

That looks yummy! And yes, if you have the menus that would help!

[idahospud]

17 hours ago, BLAMBKY said:

That looks yummy! And yes, if you have the menus that would help!

 

Here ya go!

[cementhands]

On 1/16/2019 at 8:15 PM, Cruising Divers said:

Hello, we are cruising to St. Maarten on April 1, 2019 with Celebrity. This will be our only "beach day" opportunity as we will be scuba diving the rest of our itinerary and we are looking for a "sugar sand" beach/day full of fun (we love the sand in Gulf Shores, AL for example). White sand, not overcrowded, good drinks, beautiful water and some fun tourist/souvenir junk shopping would be perfect for us. From what I've read Orient beach was the best but was destroyed during hurricane Maria... 

 

Anyone here recent SM visitors with insights? Are there any "Celebrity-sponsored excursions" that include something else "not to be missed" and also some wonderful beach-time? We'd love to hear all of your experiences and suggestions - Thank you very much in advance! 

Maho Beach is the airport beach. Recently refurbished following the last big storm. Sunset bar with yellow awning at end chairs and umbrellas buckets of beer. It’s a cool experience. The water is quite nice. We just grab a cab to and from. Board near bar states plane arrivals.

We have done the water taxi to beach across bay from ships. Lots of shopping of beach. Buckets of beer for me while the wife shops.

We have been over to the French side. Nude sunbathing. 

Tripadvisor is great with current information.

If you are looking for a great deal for his/her purchase many jewelry stores offering 2 movado watches. Starting at $300 for a pair. The Museum Watch.

 

[brookeq]

We went to Little Divi beach last time we were here.  Its a time share place but beach access is free. Chairs are $5.  So were umbrellas.  There is a place to rent snorkel equipment, jet skis etc.  You can order food at any of the places.  You can not use the pool or anything like that.   Its easy to get to.  We found the sign at the cab stand and got in line.  You can see a review of our day here in my signature under Carnival Breeze.

[Russ Lomas]

Orient is a great beach but was very busy our two visits.  We loved Mullet the one time we went.  A lot less busy, a lot smaller.  I hope to go back there in the future.  You can also walk or cab over to Maho since it is relatively close to experience Maho to see the planes land and take-off.  Maho is a must-see if you have not been to St. Maarten before.

 

[Karysa]

5 hours ago, Russ Lomas said:

Orient is a great beach but was very busy our two visits.  We loved Mullet the one time we went.  A lot less busy, a lot smaller.  I hope to go back there in the future.  You can also walk or cab over to Maho since it is relatively close to experience Maho to see the planes land and take-off.  Maho is a must-see if you have not been to St. Maarten before.

 

I never found Mullet to be a lot smaller than Orient Beach. It’s smaller but it’s a pretty big beach. It doesn’t have a fraction of the services that Orient has, that’s for sure. Cruisers tend to hang out at the one end that has the fascilities so that may make it seem smaller than it really is.

 

I agree 100% that Maho is a must see!

[Russ Lomas]

2 hours ago, Karysa said:

I never found Mullet to be a lot smaller than Orient Beach. It’s smaller but it’s a pretty big beach. It doesn’t have a fraction of the services that Orient has, that’s for sure. Cruisers tend to hang out at the one end that has the fascilities so that may make it seem smaller than it really is.

 

I agree 100% that Maho is a must see!

Seems to me that I could see from one end of the beach to the other at Mullet, but not at Orient.  I thought Orient was much longer.  That said, Mullet is by no means a small beach.  Not sure about the area you refer to about the facilities, but we just sat under a tree on one end of the beach by a little beach bar and you could walk across the rocks to that grotto with a rope attached to help you climb back out on the left end of the beach looking out at the water.

[Karysa]

3 hours ago, Russ Lomas said:

Seems to me that I could see from one end of the beach to the other at Mullet, but not at Orient.  I thought Orient was much longer.  That said, Mullet is by no means a small beach.  Not sure about the area you refer to about the facilities, but we just sat under a tree on one end of the beach by a little beach bar and you could walk across the rocks to that grotto with a rope attached to help you climb back out on the left end of the beach looking out at the water.

There’s a port o potty and food shack/bar and chair rentals at Mullet but they are all on the left side of the beach when facing the water and that is only about 1/4 of the beach. We usually walk the beach and it’s a good 10 minutes from one end to the other but it’s probably 1/2 of Orient if you include the club O section.

[kdawg954]

Did Grand Case last time at the Rainbow cafe.

 

Have never done Orient . . . .but it would have to be pretty damn spectacular to out do the time we spent at Grand Case.  We used Bernards and the guide let us stay for 2 hours . . . .and everything was top notch.  The food and drink, service, reasonably priced . . . .and my god that beach was perfect, from the water and sand . . .to the view.  Could of stayed all day.

 

We also had a great time for the 45 minutes we were at Maho beach . . .  But it absolutely is a rougher beach for swimming, which aided in the fun.

 

 

[Karysa]

9 minutes ago, kdawg954 said:

Did Grand Case last time at the Rainbow cafe.

 

Have never done Orient . . . .but it would have to be pretty damn spectacular to out do the time we spent at Grand Case.  We used Bernards and the guide let us stay for 2 hours . . . .and everything was top notch.  The food and drink, service, reasonably priced . . . .and my god that beach was perfect, from the water and sand . . .to the view.  Could of stayed all day.

 

We also had a great time for the 45 minutes we were at Maho beach . . .  But it absolutely is a rougher beach for swimming, which aided in the fun.

 

 

So funny you say that. I loved this beach for years but man it has had its haters on this board over the years. I could never figure out why.

[Cruisin4aTan]

lol so what is the final verdict. We will be here next Thursday. How far is Orient Beach from the port via a cab ride?

[ubish00]

We've been to both Orient Beach and Mullet Bay Beach.  Loved them both but would go to back to Mullet Bay Beach first.  Not to mention it's a much shorter cab ride away.

[wingnut2005]

3 hours ago, ubish00 said:

We've been to both Orient Beach and Mullet Bay Beach.  Loved them both but would go to back to Mullet Bay Beach first.  Not to mention it's a much shorter cab ride away.

What would the cost of taxi for 4 people be from cruise port

thank you

[cathi007]

On 1/18/2019 at 3:50 PM, Cruising Divers said:

 

Awesome, thank you!

OK I went to Orient Bay (Bikini Beach) during our cruise. The beach was just as beautiful as ever. The lounge chairs were awesome. 2 chairs, umbrella, and a nice table that has 4 built in cup holders for 30.00. I didn't think that was bad, considering the chairs had very thick cushions, very comfortable. I will post pics this weekend. The hurricane damage is evident all over the island. The bar/restaurant at Bikini beach was awesome