TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin What to expect at Princess Juliana?

Arriving on October 12, on Jet Blue and this is our first trip post-Irma.

How will the airport experience differ, if that much, at all?

A lot will depend on what arrivals are around your arrival time. The fewer planes at one time, the smoother it should be. If there are two or three larger planes arriving just prior to you, it may take a while to get through. It will be a much scaled-down experience than prior to Irma.

You’ll probably walk down a ramp and then walk to arrivals. No jet bridges. Our experience was pretty smooth this summer. Baggage claim is now functional with a carousel.

On departure there are plenty of food outlet and seating. It was crowded but not overbearing.

Agree with Ruralcarrier. Saturdays are busy, but if you're on an earlier flight, it should be smooth. Mid-afternoon gets busy. Our last visit was in March, when we arrived around 3:00 on a Saturday. it was really busy, and took about 40 minutes to get through customs. The good thing was our bags were waiting for us! On other occasions we've had zero wait time.

Agree with Saturday being the busiest. We arrived September 28th on Spirit and Air France and American arrived about the same time. Customs was super crowded and it did take time. Baggage was busy but as long as you can spot your bag it won’t be bad. Go out exit door and taxis and car rental people are right there.

I would say once you land expect both doors on the plane to open. Passengers exit from both the front and back of the plane and if you are half way it is a challenge to exit smoothly. The next challenge is boarding buses that put as many people on before they transport you to the terminal that is in walking distance from your plane. The immigration line moves quickly and retrieving luggage is not a problem. The rest of your experience after exiting the terminal is up to you.

whatever time it takes it is well worth it cuz this place is awesome..........practice b4 u leave on getting on ISLAND time

Try to eat somewhere else before you leave. We just came back on Sunday, 1 burger and 1 cheeseburger with 2 small bottes of water was $31 USD.

That doesn't sound to bad for SXM or any airport for that matter.

Hence my recommendation to get something before the airport

There used to be an airport lounge (pre-Irma) that you could buy a day pass and spend some time, they served drinks and heavy hors d'oeuvres. Nice place to hang out and wait for your flight. Has it re-opened or any plans on bringing it back?

I would add that those prices pretty much reflect average pricing for the same selections at a typical restaurant in St Maarten within a dollar or two.

No, the lounge is not open, will not be open until the full airport is open. It will be there once the full airport is open, but I wouldn't expect that until probably 2021.

Yeah, but elsewhere on the island those burgers could come with fries, beers, service and atmosphere.Which I think most people would prefer, all for about the same price.

We will land late morning next Saturday.. Hopefully not too busy. We shall see, I guess.
Thanks for the info, everyone. As usual, this forum is awesome !!!

my flight arrives at 12:45 Saturday David C maybe see you at the airport

Saturday is by far the busiest day. We arrived on Thursday around 3 PM and were the only plane on the ground, other than one small one.