Grand Parade

[CruiseTricia]

We will be in St Martin on the Liberty of the Seas the day of the Grand Parade. Has anyone been there during the parade? How was it? And how did it affect your travel to Orient Beach? Was it way more crowded than usual??

[kal]

We go to the Grand Parade every year. Traffic in Philipsburg is an absolute nightmare! Extremely heavy crowds and all the shops are closed.

 

You should go to Orient in the morning and avoid any traffic. Return about 2:00pm and you should be able to get thru. People line the streets from about noon. The parade is generally thru Philipsburg by 6:00pm. In 2007 it took about 4 hours for the entire parade to pass by.

[FloridaLaura]

Can you avoid the parade route and return to the ship in a timely manner or will the parade block access to the port?

[eaglecmd]

When is the Grand Parade and what is it?? We are going to St. Maarten in April 2008.

[kal]

Can you avoid the parade route and return to the ship in a timely manner or will the parade block access to the port?

 

The route to the cruiseship terminal will be blocked for about 4 hours from about 2:00-6:00pm.

 

The route is east on Front Street then turning north toward the Salt Pond then west along the Philipsburg side of the Pond. The blockage will occur at the east end of Philipsburg during the full duration of the parade.

[FloridaLaura]

Wow well I hope Carnival tells there passengers we need to be back before 2pm because we are set to sail at 6pm, but if we can not get to the dock between 2pm and 6pm we need to be back by 2pm. That really stinks for those who want to spend the day at a beach or touring the island for the day. I am really sad now!

[FloridaLaura]

I emailed Bernard about this last week and just checked my replies and this is what he said, so now what do we do, Bernard says no problem, Kal says big problem HELP!!!

 

Hi Bernard...I am confirmed with you on April 30th (Wednesday) I heard there is a parade that day, how will that affect our time at Maho Beach, we were hoping to get there in the afternoon to watch a few planes land, will traffic be bad to get back to the ship in time? Please advise. thanks in advance

 

Laura

 

 

From:info@bernardstours.comSent:Thu 2/21/08 1:29 AMTo: @msn.com[/email]

HELLO LAURA.

The parade will not get into your way there are other ways where i can pass to get back to the shipThank you so very much,looking foward to see you soon.

Bernard.

[FloridaLaura]

http://www.stmaartencarnival.com/grandparade.asp

 

sorry one more thing actually the grand parade is at 10:00 am the day before we get to st. maarten...the 2nd parade is Wed April 30th (the day we will be there) and that does start at 2pm.

 

Is the 2nd parade the 4 hour one or is that grand parade the day before or both? tia

[kal]

The second day parade is "shorter" as it starts much closer to Philipsburg. It generally doesn't have as many floats, bands and marching groups because they're tired out from the previous day's long parade. However, it can easily last 2-3 hours and still have the identical street blockage issues as the route thru Philipsburg is the same.

[CruiseTricia]

Thanks for the info Kal. I just booked an excursion through royal caribbean that will take us to Orient beach at 10:00 and last for 4 hours or so. Hopefully we will be able to make it there and more importantly BACK!

[emmy]

We will be in St Martin on the Liberty of the Seas the day of the Grand Parade. Has anyone been there during the parade? How was it? And how did it affect your travel to Orient Beach? Was it way more crowded than usual??

 

Thanks for posting this. We will be in St Maarten on April 29 on Explorer of the Seas the day of the Grand Parade and will have to take this into consideration in planning.

 

I know traffic can be hectic at the best of times....

 

i am thinking that the Carnival is only on t he Dutch side is that true?

 

Is Liberty of the Seas in Port on April 29 as well?

[kal]

The Grand Parade is only on the Dutch side, but because of all the road blockages, the traffic on the French side will be heavily impacted.

 

If you just have a plan that does not in any way involve vehicle transportation from Philipsburg to the cruise terminal, you'll be fine. You will just have to walk thru very, very heavy crowds. If you get back into the general Philipsburg area at about 3-4:00pm plan on walking. The roads will be blocked and the sidewalks will almost be 5 deep in people along the curbs.

[emmy]

The Grand Parade is only on the Dutch side, but because of all the road blockages, the traffic on the French side will be heavily impacted.

 

If you just have a plan that does not in any way involve vehicle transportation from Philipsburg to the cruise terminal, you'll be fine. You will just have to walk thru very, very heavy crowds. If you get back into the general Philipsburg area at about 3-4:00pm plan on walking. The roads will be blocked and the sidewalks will almost be 5 deep in people along the curbs.

 

Thank you Kal

 

So what you are saying is if we grab a taxi right at the pier (we arrive at 10am) and head straight for Orient Beach we should be okay?

 

We would plan on heading back from Orient to Philipsburg about 1:30 - 2pm but should get off in the downtown area and walk to the pier? how about the water taxi will it be extremely busy as well from Philipsburg to the cruise ship pier?

 

One other thing... since our ship does not leave until 11pm we wanted to have dinner in Grand Case..at least this was our plan until we heard about the parade that day... if we took a taxi say about 6pm from the pier to Grand Case would we still have much traffic at that time?

 

How about getting back from dinner say leaving Grand Case about 9;30 or so to the pier... is that enough time on the Grand Parade day

[kal]

If you head back from Orient at 2:00p, it should be okay, but at worst case you'll have to walk thru town to the water taxi then take the water taxi to the ship.

 

Going anywhere from the cruiseship terminal (pier) at 6:00pm would be risky. I really doubt you'll get past Philipsburg until 6:30 or 7:00p, but it really depends on how the parade progresses. The return trip back into PBurg late in the evening will be fine.

[FloridaLaura]

Thanks for the update Kal...how far of a walk if we were to get dropped off in Philipsburg at 3:30 and walk to pier. Distance wise is the terminal 1-2 miles away for where we can get dropped off? We don't mind walking, just don't know if we can handle much more than a couple miles :) Is there a map of downtown that I can print to take with us in case we have to walk. we will know which way to go! Thanks in advance!

[kal]

It all depends on how close to Philipsburg you can get by vehicle. I would guess it will not be more than 0.5 miles if you walk from the drop-off point to Philipsburg, then another 1 mile from Philipsburg to the cruise terminal.

[FloridaLaura]

Thanks Kal...you are the best!