so much to do... so little time!!

[cruisejourno]

Aagh - The more research I do on St. Maarten the more my head is frying! I'm an English journalist travelling to the island in April on the Caribbean Princess with my husband and three children (aged nine, seven, five) and - like everybody else - want my only day on the island to be perfect! It seems that when you've only got 12 hours to get it right the harder the decisions become. So just wondered if I could run my schedule - that is very much in pencil at the moment - past everybody and see what they think! We'd like to hire a taxi for the day rather than doing a tour and, if possible, would like to drive right around the island stopping at Marigot for the Wednesday market, a few select beaches and, if possible, a nice seafood lunch with a view. Here's my dilemna - Plan A is to get off the ship and work my way around the island clockwise driving first to Pelican Bay so the kids can play on the playstation thingy in the water for an hour or so, then to Marigot to look at the flea market, then drive up to Friar's Bay for lunch. What's the food like at the bars on the beach there? Any decent seafood? Then drive to Orient Beach to have a look and a go on the water trampolines - how far out are these? And is Orient too rough for children to play in the water? Bear in mind that we are used to Atlantic conditions!! Or, would Dawn Beach be a better place for lunch, at Busby's which I've heard is v. good food. But, again, I'm a bit worried about the wave situation at Dawn. Or is this not really a consideration? Then after lunch and some time at the beach at either of the two places above, we can do a quick stop at Phillisburg for some shopping before heading back to ship. The only problem with this plan is that we miss the planes landing at Maho. But.. bearing in mind this might be scary for the kids and I'm not prepared to go topless at the Sunset Bar to get a drink is this really worth it? The toss up is having to re-think the entire plan to have lunch at Maho because the planes don't land until the afternoon - and then you've got the traffic back to the boat. Opinions welcome. Had no idea that planning a caribbean holiday could be such hard work!

[kal]

First off, I would scrap the Pelican Playstation. It's a real waste of time and nothing special.

 

The real issue is Maho and the big jet landings. It's very difficult to work that into a full schedule. So setting that aside, I would go clockwise around the island with the first stop being Marigot open-air market. That's best in the morning. Check out Marigot while in town. Fort St. Louis provides a wonderful high view of Marigot. Then go to Friar's but don't have lunch as you'll have a much better and huge selection at Orient. Proceed to Orient and have lunch there. Afterwards, go to Philipsburg for some shopping.

 

If you want to see the big jets, go counter-clockwise and Orient in the AM, check out Friars, then Marigot open-air market, followed by Maho. You can have lunch at any of these stops but the best selection is at Orient. Given the schedule for major aircraft landings, you'll likely not have time for shopping in Philipsburg.