A protest is a protest and they are done to make a point. That's the whole idea. I willing to bet not one cruise ship passenger missed the ship. Under the circumstances they wait. Ships are delayed all the time for medical emergencies, mechanical breakdowns (quite often) etc. It happens. Airlines are delayed and cancelled all the time too. It's a pain in the neck but it happens. Many of the people protesting probably have businesses that lost money yesterday. They were willing to sacrifice in order to make a point and get attention for their cause. Luckily it remained peaceful. Neither is fun and easy to deal with. Of course if you do not agree with the cause you get mad by the inconvenience but it is not the end of the world. Everyone is so worried about inconvenience to tourists and it is inconvenient but who remembers when the local population was inconvenienced when 2500 cruise ship people had to be moved from the ship to the airport when the ship was stuck in SXM. The roads were blocked all day on the dutch side. Money was lost and appointments were missed. We took in stride and were happy to help the stranded tourists and we stayed off the roads. We all pitched in to make the tourists feel that St. Martin cared about them. My vacation to France was delayed and inconvenienced by a Air France strike. It made me miss the first few days and cost me 2 extra days in Paris which was expensive but it was what it was. Going on vacation does not mean that you are protected from the normal affairs that happen in life.

Yes, your money spent is important and appreciated but the local people have issues that are just as important to them as is your vacation is to you even though of the over 2 million tourists that come to St. Martin maybe a couple of hundred or less were inconvenienced yesterday. There is always an alternative and a solution.

Many of you complaining on the board are not even here and the chances of something like this happening when you are here is extremely rare. This does not happen every day.