St. Maarten vs. St. Thomas

[Owlette78]

This is a question for those of you who have visited both (and I'd especially love to hear from anyone who has cruised in the past few months): if you were going to visit only one, which would you go to? Would you say that one has nicer/easier to access beaches for families? We are traveling with young children and plan to visit a beach at one port and to have a less-crowded day on the ship the other. Thanks for any advice you can give.

 

[MUN]

It's been awhile since I've been to both, but imho, St. Thomas is an easier port with kids. Magen's Bay (my recommendation) is easily reached by taxi (think open-air bus) and is a beautiful large beach with nice calm water. I enjoyed my visit to St. Maarten, but the island is dirtier and not as child friendly.

MUN

 

[CinderellaDream]

I can't give you a recent review but we visited both several years ago. I agree with PP about St. Maarten appearing dirtier and maybe more "industrial" looking. St. Thomas was the perfect Caribbean island to me and I can't wait to go back one day. If I were going to visit only one, it would definitely be St. Thomas.

 

[starvenger]

I think if all you want to do is hit the beach then St. Maarten would be a better choice. You can take the water taxi over to Great Bay, rent an umbrella and chairs, order some beverages and be done with it. Granted, it can get crowded with multiple ships in port and there will be people walking around trying to sell you stuff, but it is right there.

Now, if you want something a little more secluded I would agree with St. Thomas and Magen's Bay. St. Thomas is honestly more scenic and the town less dodgy-looking than Phillipsburg. As a bonus, if you have a US phone/sim card, your phone and data will work without being charged roaming.

 

[Sergel02]

St Thomas was very interesting to me to visit with really nice views. It's a bit easier to travel around from the port too.

 

[DietCokeMommy]

I haven’t been to St. Maarten, but we were in St. Thomas last month and loved it. We did a private excursion with St. Thomas Scuba and Snorkel Adventures and it was amazing. The beaches we went to were beautiful and the reefs were nicely recovered after the hurricane.

Here’s a pic of our 2nd beach stop.

 

[lizzyb]

Haven't been there recently but we much prefer St. Thomas, it is one of our favourite stops.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

St. Thomas has a lot of FEMA roofs yet, but is in better shape right now. There are several Beaches that are easy to taxi to,although resorts with day passes are an issue yet, as most of the resorts doing them are still closed.

The French side of SXM has been slow to get recovery funding. Getting to beaches other than Great Bay is harder.

 

[TXAKDisneyFan]

We were just in both this past week, although we spent our time on St John. Honestly, St Maarten/St Martin (we drove around the entire island) was a mess. So many destroyed/mangled buildings, missing roofs, missing entire upper floors,... And really, it didn’t look like it was prob very “pristine” before the hurricane.
St John was beautiful. Our guide said some of the resorts are still closed on both St Thomas and St John, and our boat captain said he went something like ~150 days without power at his house, but the only apparent damage from the perspective of someone who’s never been there for the first time was some downed trees (in wooded areas).

 

[hanscarlet]

We were just in both this past week, although we spent our time on St John. Honestly, St Maarten/St Martin (we drove around the entire island) was a mess. So many destroyed/mangled buildings, missing roofs, missing entire upper floors,... And really, it didn’t look like it was prob very “pristine” before the hurricane.
St John was beautiful. Our guide said some of the resorts are still closed on both St Thomas and St John, and our boat captain said he went something like ~150 days without power at his house, but the only apparent damage from the perspective of someone who’s never been there for the first time was some downed trees (in wooded areas).

How easy or difficult was it to get to St. John?

I'm struggling in general to find an activity on St. Thomas, it seems like a lot of resorts are still closed

 

[PrincessTess]

St. Maarten for us. Though, we are biased having used to visit there quite often for 1-2 weeks at a time. Since we know the area, we love cruising there because we have the opportunity to rent a Jeep wrangler and drive to local restaurants and beaches we love, and its a break from the hectic, children infested beaches and excursions we do at other ports.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

St. John is a 40 minute ferry ride from the cruise pier if you use Disney excursions. Otherwise, you have to get to Red Hookand back via taxi to get a ferry.

People chundered on our ferry but I did not think it that bad.

 

[Dug720]

St. John is a 40 minute ferry ride from the cruise pier if you use Disney excursions. Otherwise, you have to get to Red Hookand back via taxi to get a ferry.

People chundered on our ferry but I did not think it that bad.

What does "chundered" mean?

 

[Frozen2014]

Loved Coki beach in St Thomas. Pure crystal blue water, white soft sand and waves were perfect for our kuds (not rough but something they had fun in).

It might have just been our beach choice in St Martin but we went to. Think it was Great Bay...the one near the port. The sand was rougher and dark and waves strong. Our kids mostly played in the sand.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

What does "chundered" mean?

Seasick. Hurl.

The ferry is large and fairly stable, but the water between St. Thomas and St. John can be choppy.

 

[Dug720]

Seasick. Hurl.

The ferry is large and fairly stable, but the water between St. Thomas and St. John can be choppy.

Gotcha. I've never seen or heard the term before. Thanks for explaining.

 

[BuzzLightyearInTampa]

I vote for St. Thomas. I'm kinda over St. Martin. St. John, on the other hand, is one of my "happy places". The beauty and serenity there cannot be overstated.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

Cruz Bay is still in rough shape.

 

[LadyMac428]

It's been awhile since I've been to both, but imho, St. Thomas is an easier port with kids. Magen's Bay (my recommendation) is easily reached by taxi (think open-air bus) and is a beautiful large beach with nice calm water. I enjoyed my visit to St. Maarten, but the island is dirtier and not as child friendly.

MUN

I agree completely. We’ve done both twice and much prefer St. Thomas. Magen’s Bay is great!

 

[TXAKDisneyFan]

How easy or difficult was it to get to St. John?

I'm struggling in general to find an activity on St. Thomas, it seems like a lot of resorts are still closed

Like someone else already said, it was a ~45 boat ride from the cruise dock to St John. The water was pretty rough. I was in my own little world, thinking the ride was kind of fun (grew up going on fishing boats), and didn’t notice until toward the end of the ride that prob a dozen people on board were getting sick.