TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin SXM - arrival question (carryon only?)

A group of 6 are traveling this Thurs to St. Martin and then connecting to St. Barths via ferry. Villa Concierge strongly advising to bring carry on luggage only due to SXM arrival delays with luggage issues. Is this really an issue? Can some comment on the amount of time it took to get luggage at SXM? We are flying United, Arrival eta 2:39pm, ferry departure is 4pm, and check in closes 20 min before departure, so not a lot of time to make it to ferry terminal. Thank u!

nmf--frankly, I HOPE you make it, but I wouldn't bet any money on it. Regardless of luggage, you still have to go through immigration. Where does the ferry leave from? IF it leaves from Oyster Pond, I would say you have zero chance of making it. If by the airport, maybe. Luggage on the WEEKEND is often two hours and more to come. SOME people during the week are reporting only 30 minutes to out the door with luggage. My recommendation, carryon or not, is for you to have a backup plan in place, as I think you will need it.

I don't think that's enough time to get to the ferry dock in P'burg. It may work but everything would have to work in your favour and that's a lot to hope for. From wheels down you basically have 1 hour to get to the ferry dock and you are landing mid afternoon which could be busy. Even with carry on only you still have to go through immigration which could be a long line and you would have hope for the traffic to be moving with no traffic jams ( that's a big wish). Better have a Plan "B".

Check out the Voyager Ferry from Marigot to SBH
https://voy12.com/en/
They have a later voyage that leaves on Thursday at 6:55pm arriving an hour later

Nice ferry.

I could be wrong, but if all the Gods are lined up perfectly in your favor you MIGHT make that crossing but personally speaking, I wouldn’t set my heart on it or take the chance. They have to have a landing gate for you, deplane the passengers, get everyone in and through immigration and reorganized and into a taxi or two for the ferry. If it were me I’d opt for the later crossing from Marigot as suggested previously. I would definitely do carry-on only - no way you’d make it having to collect luggage. Good luck and enjoy St. Barths.

If you take that later ferry out of Marigot you could check bags and have time.

erb--that sounds like a MUCH better option, from Marigot, regardless of checking bags or not.

There hasn’t been a ferry out of Oyster Pond since Irma. The choices are Great Bay Express out of P’burg or Voyager out of Marigot.

Bahston--OK

Go to SXM a day or two early, then take your time catching the ferry to St. Barths.

In my humble opinion, there is zero chance to make that Ferry time. Traffic going east at that time of day from the airport will be congested. Chances of going through arrivals quick enough to make it is unlikely.
I would schedule the later ferry from Marigot.
I don’t think you gave the date, but if there are lots of cruise ships in on that date, it will take much longer than you need to get to Philipsburg.
I don’t wish to be negative but that’s the way it is here.

Good luck
Drphilsxm

Phil.--he said it was this Thursday. There are two ships in But i agree with your assessment.

Carol, the two cruise ships that are in this Thursday are the Wonder of the Seas and Carnival Celebration. Very large ships with approximately 11,000 passengers trying to get back to the cruise terminal for their 5 o’clock, and 6 o’clock departures. Traffic will be very slow at the time he wishes to make it to the ferry. To make it to the ferry on time that day, the best outcome would be an early arrival for the flight, an unusually short time at arrival and a miracle with the traffic situation.

Drphilsxm

Our ferry departure is out of Marigot, not Phillipsburg. The travel company has a VIP service that expedites the immigration process. And if luggage doesn’t come out in time, they will have somebody come pick it up and put it on the next ferry to St Barths on our behalf.

It's still the Caribbean. Have plans but don't make plans. Good luck.

nmf-so, you can just take the later ferry, if you miss the earlier one?

I hate to say it but even with carry on bags you would be fortunate indeed to get through to immigration past the other hundreds of people lined outside the airport. Just my experience from early January. No separate line & unhappy hot people. It's a mess!

Thank you all for your comments, and advice. We chose the VIP package and which will expedite us through immigration. They work with the majority of renters and know the current situation and advised us we should be ok. We are hearing there’s high winds today & tomorrow so I’m just hoping the boat ride won’t be so rough.

Good luck. Hope it all works out for you.

Good luck on that boat ride. I’m usually a pretty good sailor but I often find it to be a rough crossing on the best of days so if you’re making the crossing in rough weather, you’re my hero. . 🙂🙂

nmf--I hope no one in your group is prone to seasickness. I hear the ferry to Anguilla has been cancelled for today. Not sure if the one to St. Barts is cancelled for today or not. I believe the small craft advisory is still in place, so I would imagine tomorrow may well be just as rough. If it were me, I'd be looking to fly to St. Barts, as there are lots of flights there. Please do let us know how this all works out.

Most flights to/from St Barth were cancelled for Tuesday and Wednesday. I don’t know about Thursday,

Voyager is operating, and say that they expect to complete all 3 of their rotations on both Wednesday and Thursday. 6.5’ seas are forecast for Wednesday, and 5’ seas are forecast for at least part of the day on Thursday.

Bahston--OK, didn't think about the flights being cancelled. That is a very tricky runway to land on, so that makes sense, I guess. Sounds like those folks need to stock up on Dramamine!

As it pretains to carry on I usually tell some of our arriving customers for a week , to only do so because of the luggage hassle .

Hi everyone, so yes they cancelled all flights & ferries to and from St. Barth’s on Tuesday & Wednesday according to my concierge contact on the ground due to high winds. Many passengers were sleeping at the airport and it sounded like a mess! They will be up & running tomorrow though. Agree the seas will be rough, so I plan on packing dramamine. I decided to only pack carry on luggage only as I just don’t want any issues holding us up.

I’ll post back once we get to our destination. Thanks for your feedback & advice!

Yesterday was scary just flying in to SXM, AA cancelling all their flights, and a missed landing and a go-round by Jet Blue. Hopefully things go better for you today and you will arrive at your destination. Best wishes and do let us know how everything goes.

Voyager 3 has made its morning run to St Barth, which hopefully bodes well for the OP’s trip later today.