Taxi back to Philipsburg from Orient Beach?

[LeslieSJ]

I'm assuming that if you take a taxi from the ship to Orient Beach and just get dropped off, it's not necessary to make arrangements with that driver to come back and pick you up later. Since it's one of the main tourist spots there must be all kinds of taxis hanging around when you want to go back to the ship.

 

Is that true? I recently read a post on Fodor's boards that said some people got ripped off because the taxi drivers knew they had to get back to their ship by a certain time so they either had to pay a huge fare or be left stranded. I believe that was regarding a more secluded beach, however.

 

Thanks for any input.

[Sheffie]

When we were there, there were LOTS of taxis to take us back to the ship. It is the most popular beach on that island, and the taxi drivers know they can easily get a full carload.

 

When we went to Pinel Island, we pre-paid our taxi driver to be back to pick us up to bring us back to the ship. We were concerned since it was a $50 round trip cost for just the 2 of us. We took our taxi driver's card, and hoped for the best. We were VERY pleased when she showed up before the appointed time and got us back to downtown very quickly.

[SlightDraw]

We hired a taxi at the port, great guy. He offered to take care of us. Let me tell you, they want to make the round trip. We told him when we wanted to be picked up and he was at Orient ten minutes early. Nothing extra from the price we negotiated at the pier.

[cruisermpaul]

You will have no problem finding a taxi (van) for the return trip.