Question about safety in Philipsburg, St Maarten

J

jgcpalmer

SBH Insider
So our plan for our St Barts trip is to stay the night in Philipsburg and then take the Great Bay Ferry. I haven't done much international travel, and don't really know much about St Maartens, but the hotel we're thinking of staying in (Seaview) is on the boardwalk in Philipsburg, and is just about a 10 minute walk to the ferry (according to Google Maps, at least.)

Maybe my question is ridiculous, and I'm kind of hoping it is, but I feel like if we're walking with our luggage all long the boardwalk, it's like wearing a big target saying, "we have all our posessions, including all our money, on us". Would this be a safe thing for us to do, or are we better off taking a cab to go what I'm guessing would be a 2 minute ride to the ferry?
 
Unless you have that confident stride filled with a swagger that says "I don't normally walk alone on a boardwalk shlepping my luggage behind me, but when I do, is because I am taking the Great Bay Ferry to St. Barths, so don't mess with me!" I would ask the hotel to call a taxi for me. Else I know a big guy who would gladly escort you. Cost? XX :D
 
Thanks everyone.

I haven't booked the hotel yet, and I was thinking of it mostly because of price (only $80 a night) and the fact that it's walking distance to the ferry. If we're not walking anyway, that maybe even opens up options a bit more.
 
So now a follow-up related question. I've read that around 6pm or so once the ferries have left, the boardwalk area in Philipstown is quite quiet. Without our luggage, are we going to feel safe wandering around this area? This is what our hope was to be doing during that evening in St Maarten before we go to St Barts the next day. We had just assumed that we would feel totally comfortable in such a touristy area, but now you guys have me wondering a bit.
 
If you are staying over in St Maarten (Dutch side) then I would recommend you look for a hotel in the Simpson Bay area. A few years ago when we got stranded overnight in SXM on our way home, we stayed there (can't remember the hotel name but wouldn't recommend it anyway.) There was plenty in walking distance and we felt safe.

If you're set on the ferry, staying on that side of the island is better because the trip is shorter. We have also overnighted in Grand Case and flew from the small airport on that side. The restaurant selection is better on the French side IMHO.
 
My wife and I visited ST Martin in 2010 for 5 days and we walked around Philipsburg one evening....Did we feel safe? Perhaps, but it is an uneasy feeling that I don't feel (or at least haven't felt yet) walking around the streets of Gustavia. I would suspect that everything will be fine as you don't read a whole lot (or at least I haven't) about tourists getting robbed at gunpoint simply walking down the street. Most of the crimes I've read about on SXM involve auto breakins and that sort of thing. Again, I could be wrong, and I don't plan on going back (other than to travel thru to SBH). Use common sense and don't put yourself in a situation where you could find yourself in trouble and you should be fine.
 
Why do you want to stay over there? Get over to SBH. Difference is night and day IMHO. kr
 
Our plane arrives a little after 4pm. There's no way of catching a flight to St Barts, and it feels like we'll be cutting things close for any ferry, if the flight gets delayed, or we get stuck in immigration or waiting for our luggage, etc.

If we can figure something out to get us straight to St Barts, then that is certainly option as well. We just don't want to feel stressed that we might miss our ride.
 
Many years ago we were stranded in St. Maarten and stayed at the Seaview. We moved furniture in front of the door and slept in our clothes. I'd try to make the ferry.
 
Jgc - you're asking all the right questions in all the right threads IMO and getting the info you need to make an educated decision. By the time you hit the island, you'll already know your way around :cool: FWIW, I've never stayed at the Seaview but from the comments here, I'd skip the hotel in SXM altogether and try to make the Voyager. If you're uncomfortable with the time frame and not making it,pick a different hotel and take a cab to the docks.
 
jgcpalmer said:
Voyager ferry leaves at 6:45pm from Oyster Pond. Should that be plenty of time for us?
Click to expand...

If your flight gets in at 4, you should have time to get to Oyster Pond. I don't think there are a lot of arriving flights coming in to SXM at that time. One hint to get through immigration faster. Two weeks ago when we went down, I had to go through immigration to get our bags and recheck them through to SBH (I pack light, my wife not so much so we always check a few bags). I got in the line on the far right side for visitors. The extreme right hand lane is for residents returning. What happened is that there were very few residents in the line so that once they had cleared, they took people from the visitors line too so that the far right lane went through much quicker than the other two lines to the left. That may help you clear faster. A cab to Oyster Pond from the airport shouldn't take much more than 1/2 hour so you should be fine.
 
Thanks for the tips! I'm starting to lean much more towards that option now. I sent Voyager an email as well asking if they thought it would be ample time for us; we'll see what they say. How long does it typically take to retrieve checked baggage and get through immigration?
 
If you have to spend the night in SXM, then I offer the following advice: If you ask the question, you already answered the question. Take a cab, or take Terrance up on his offer.
 
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