What all is there to do in St. Maarten/Martin?

[Kwami]

Hello!

I have a cruise coming up that stops in St. Maarten. I've been there once before and I took one of DCL's tours that drives around the island and makes a few stops, which was OK. This time, I'd like to do something different. However, the tours offered by the cruise company seem very overpriced and inconvenient.

So, for those who have been to St. Maarten, what all is there to do? And, just as important, how are the transportation options? What about tours?

I'm mostly looking for activities that don't involve getting in the water. We'll have plenty of other beach days on the cruise.

Thanks!

 

[auntlynne]

I enjoyed standing on the beach while the jets came in for a landing at the airport. It was part of an individualized group tour that took us around the island (including a secluded beach where we had loungers and WiFi). Perhaps a French food lunch on that side of the island.

 

[RedHead0186]

I enjoyed standing on the beach while the jets came in for a landing at the airport. It was part of an individualized group tour that took us around the island (including a secluded beach where we had loungers and WiFi). Perhaps a French food lunch on that side of the island.

Oooh yes, I second the suggestion for Maho beach to watch the planes fly right over your head!

 

[tidefan]

Topper's Rhum!

 

[sjuncfan]

We were supposed to go to St. Maarten a couple years ago but ended up cancelling that cruise because COVID was still raging. We are planning to go in December. Here is what I have jotted down:
- Maho Beach (my son is obsessed with planes right now and this is one of the main reasons I picked an itinerary that goes to St. Maarten )
- The Yoda Guy museum https://www.facebook.com/ThatYodaGuy/. he worked on the Star Wars movies and now has a small museum near the port
- heard good things about Bernard's tours.

Hope this helps.

 

[Kwami]

Is there a good way to get to these places? We wouldn't mind going back to Topper's since we were rushed through last time.

I'm not so sure about Maho beach. Airplanes are very loud.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

We did a private sailing. The boat was a short walk from port, and we were able to see Tintamarre Island, Pinel Island, and Creole Rock, as well as Maho Beach where we just floated and watched a few planes come through. We were also able to stop at what amounted to an unnamed cove that was completely devoid of people to swim and sun.

We used https://www.soualigadestinations.com/. It's a 10 minute walk from the ship, they include all the food and the snorkel equipment and such, and the max on the boat is usually 15-16.

 

[Chrissy-Mickey]

There are some great hiking trails by the beautiful coast. Rent a car to explore (it's one of the islands that drives on the right)

 

[tvguy]

I HIGHLY recommend the 12 metre Americas Cup racing excursion. My kids loved it, as did my wife and I. And the best part is, you can be as active in sailing the boat as you want, or be a couch potato just along for the ride.
https://www.12metre.com/

 

[wendlle]

I did Bernards tour years ago, it was pretty good, we go to see a lot and also went to Maho Beach with the tour. We got out of the mini bus and got pictures with heaps of Iguanas and even got to sample some rum on the bus.

 

[sam_gordon]

We went to St. Martin on an RCI cruise and had no real plans for an excursion other than wanted to see Maho beach. We made it to the cab line and one of the drivers offered to be our personal tour guide for the day. We negotiated a price (MUCH cheaper than any cruise tour).

We ended up going to some kind of iguana "home base" on the side of the road somewhere and fed and held and got pictures with Iguanas,
He then took us to Orient Beach (we stayed on the clothed side, but that didn't mean all clothes were on from the other guests),
Then around to Grand Case Beach for beach time (including a concrete pier to jump off) and a nearby restaurant for lunch.
Then into Marigot for a little walking through downtown
And last but not least Maho beach for some plane spotting before heading back to the ship.

Not sure how you'd arrange this in advance, but it was one of our best excursions.

 

[TXDCLfan]

Head to orient beach

 

[RedHead0186]

We were supposed to go to St. Maarten a couple years ago but ended up cancelling that cruise because COVID was still raging. We are planning to go in December. Here is what I have jotted down:
- Maho Beach (my son is obsessed with planes right now and this is one of the main reasons I picked an itinerary that goes to St. Maarten )
- The Yoda Guy museum https://www.facebook.com/ThatYodaGuy/. he worked on the Star Wars movies and now has a small museum near the port
- heard good things about Bernard's tours.

Hope this helps.

We did Bernard's Tours in 2022. Someone in the social media group for our cruise organized it for us. It was a good tour, and you do get to see a lot of things on both sides of the island. Highlights were Marigot, the iguanas, and orient beach. They did have drinks for us in the van (rum punch, a Jamaican beer, and water, IIRC). The locations were great, but the tour during the driving part was a little 'meh.' Our driver (whose name was Sexy, lol) talked a lot about what had been turned into hotels, condos, etc. He did point out some of the nearby islands, which was fun.

 

[icc2515]

We were recently in St. Marteen (Jan 2024). We were going to go to Maho, but decided against as our ship did not port till about 1pm. Later in the day it can take 1-2 hours to get back to the cruise terminal due to traffic.

What we did instead was quite enjoyable and very easy. When you off the ship in the cruise port, there is a little hut selling water taxi tickets ($7 ea round trip as I remember it). We bought it and took the taxi to Great bay beach. The taxi drops you at Cpt Hodge Pier get off the boat and go to the left (the right is too packed). Walk down the boardwalk and there are lounge chairs with umbrellas everywhere. There will be people that approach you to rent them out. We went abut 1/2 way down the BW and there was a guy in a rainbow cap that rented up 2 lounge chairs with an umbrella for $25. He also brought us 6 full size beers and a bucket of ice for $20. The people next to us went to someone else and got 6 Santa pack size beer for $20. We stayed there for about 4-5 hours. The water was great and the trip back to the ship was easy and stress free.

 

[Calantha]

We were there in the summer of 2022 and did the following: https://www.getyourguide.com/philip...tseeing-tour-of-french-and-dutch-side-t30041/.

Turned out it was just me and DS (7 at the time) and another couple from the Fantasy. We did Maho, another beach that we swam at, a few sightseeing stops, and had lunch in Marigot at a place the driver recommended. It wasn't award-winning, but it was decent and I appreciated the small group.

 

[auntlynne]

Whatever @Calantha decides to do always seems to be a winner!

Or she just enjoys herself wherever she goes.

 

[Halfbrit]

We were there in 2018 and did the perfume making excursion at Tijon Perfumery. I booked it mostly for the kids, but my wife and I enjoyed it as much as the kids did. I'd highly recommend it if it's still available as an excursion. Great fun and you come out with your very own fragrance, as well as some of theirs.

 

[Kwami]

Thanks everyone for the ideas!

How tough is it to get taxis to and from these various places?