TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin Warnings by Cruise Ship Companies Against SXM

We know some cruise ship companies are warning people not to go to SXM. We know that some cruise ship directors from ROYAL CARIBBEAN and MSC, at least, are telling passengers in SXM to avoid the French Side because it is "destroyed" and there is "nothing to do." All of that is pure B. S.

If you have witnessed this, please let me know on what ships and when this happened. Even better, if you have any printed matter from any cruise line expressing these same sentiments, please post it and / or PM me with it. I have the attention of the government and a lot of us want to put an end to this. Thanks for your help.

Jeff

Similar story - LINK

Our experience the last two years we visited Philipsburg, has been that the hawkers/ barkers were there but not that bothersome. We have to avoid the timeshare folks like an obstacle course near the marina. Yes, they have to be very careful not to loose the cruisers or drive off the vacationers in that area!

Absolutely agree. The SXM government needs to address the concerns of the cruise ships quickly before they refuse to make a port stop. Daily Herald had an article on it so the island better take this seriously. The cruise lines will not risk tarnishing their reputation by stopping at an island their clientele are complaining about. It’s a delicate situation as many of these hawkers are just trying to make some money in an economically depressed environment but frustrating the tourists will just worsen the situation for the island population.

Our Carnival Pride cruise stopped in SXM in January. I did not hear anything bad about the French side, but few excursions were going there. After our brief tour of Orient Beach, I can see why they would not offer an excursion to Orient Beach. The Club Orient area was the only area that could handle a lot of people and the cruise ship would never organize a trip to Club O. I am not sure if Pinel Island was available either. Cruise ships like excursions to beach that have services. Orient Beach is not there yet. Prior to the trip, I thought the cruise lines were doing a good job of keeping people up to date on the status of SXM.

I ARRIVED ON THE FREEDOM January 10th never heard anything negative about SXM, not from the cruise ship, staff, or passengers .. could this be "fake News" ? lol

Wow Julius, from that story:

"Primary locations for cruise and stay-over visitor harassment include Maho Beach, Mullet Bay Beach and Kim Sha Beach.
Adding to the visitor harassment mix with the barkers and cosmetic hawkers are taxi drivers screaming out to visitors, and timeshare sellers with scratch-card gimmicks."

I have to agree that it is annoying to be constantly bombarded by these things. We've gotten accustomed to it, but it does not make for a relaxing time trying to doze in your chair under an umbrella.

Those fly-by-night "cosmetic" operations are a scam. They must be short term leasing space in what otherwise would be an empty retail store. They have minimal set-up. The miracle eye tightening creme...HA!

"The miracle eye tightening creme...HA!"
Probably repackaged Preparation H. LOL

You got it Scuba! And PrepH works great....

It began bothering me about the time this article was written:
https://www.sxm-talks.com/local-news/is-frontstreet-being-flooded-with-cosmetic-scam-operations/

Of course something may FEEL as if it's temporarily tightening, heck egg white can do that. But they pressure and lie. Not a good image for Front Street.

It is not fake news. Everyone's complaining, even on the beaches. It's due to so many being out of work, for sure. The government has just announced a no soliciting policy. We'll see how that goes.

Do you have a link to this announcement? Is it for beach vendors or for on street and store front solicitors or all?

It's on the Government FB page. It says NO soliciting.

https://www.facebook.com/SXMGOV/pho...8480/981806245324034/?type=3&theater

Thanks. Looks good on paper but will they really enforce it like so many other laws they have that go ignored.

So far today, no! As I said, we'll see.

No, it isn't; we already have evidence of it from two major companies. We're trying to find out whether it's coming from specific ships or entire lines.

The question I asked has nothing to do with Hawkers. That's a different but equally serious matter. My question regarded / regards warnings by cruise lines to avoid SXM, particularly the French Side. That's what I'm looking into here.

We sailed with Royal Caribbean Serenade of the Seas stopping in SXM February 2. Never heard a warning from anyone on the ship. Ship TV actually had a segment about SXM discussing shopping and points of interest.

My experience off Grandeur of the Seas (Royal Caribbean) on Sunday February 18 was the same. I heard no "warnings" of any kind but for some references to the destruction that Irma had caused. The passengers I talked with about their experience on the island expressed no complaints about vendors or anything else. To the contrary, what I heard was generally positive about the people that they met or interacted with on the island. Of course, I only talked with a very small percentage of the total that went ashore.