We have friends that are coming in on a cruise and we would like to show them the island. One problem he has difficulty walking and uses a cane. Is there anyway we can meet them at the cruise terminal rather than he take a water taxi into Phillipsburg. Thanks for any suggestions.
We had friends meet us at the entrance to the cruise terminal and it was great. There is still a fairly good distance to walk from the ship to the entrance, but if your friend has difficulty walking, he could get there via golf cart. There are a few carts that run back and forth so he could ask one of the drivers for a ride. We saw a few people doing this. Our friends stopped just past the entrance to avoid problems with traffic entering or leaving the terminal. They dropped us off in the same place when we returned.
We picked up friends on a cruiseship 2 years ago at the Philipsburg terminal. There's a roundabout just past the gate and you can park along the curb there for a few minutes without a problem. You will have to tell the attendant that you're picking up passengers and he will let you in. Stay in your car in case you need to move it and you'll be fine.
I am not sure what the exact procedure is, but I know that you can get a pass to actually go inside the gate and pick up passengers, as people here have reported doing so before. Due to your friend's use of a cane, you should be able to get permission to do that. Hopefully someone else who has gotten permission to go in will chime in with the procedure.
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