Daily Herald story This will be a huge project, including a hotel, zip line and shark and ray pools.

Post deleted by pat and moved to the other on-going thread.

Yes, I do wonder how it will affect merchants on Front Street and downtown otherwise. If it results in more ships being home ported in SXM, that will be a good thing overall for the island though.

Here is more information about the project from a couple of sources.

Seatrade and the designers.

Also, the Daily Herald covered it about a month ago here .

gary

Gary--I guess I'm not doing something right, as when I click on your 'designers' link, all I get is one screen that has almost no info on it.

Here's the raw URL.

http://www.505design.com/work/project-types/waterfront-port-development/sint-maarten-quarter.html

gary

Looking at the design drawing I can't figure out where the street is. It looks like the complex is over the water.

Is it to be near Chesterfields or will that be gone too?

Thank you...I couldn't figure it out either...is that the street WAAAY in the back which WOULD put it over the water

the project will be from the harbour terminal down to Chesterfield's.. there is an empty lot with sand hills there now. chesterfield's is not owned by the harbour..
So in the meantime, dredging is going on at chesterfield's for the building of a new mega yacht marina .
it doesn't stop

Here:

=1341013&filters[recent]=1&....com/user/gtaylor/...;sort=1&o=0

gary

You remember one Nov. when they dredge all the sand for the cruise ship pier? They only used half of the area for the dredge sand. Now the second phase.

SXM??? Wendell

Barbara, As a long time resident of St. Maarten how do you feel about this project???

I do not like it ...feels like Disneyland and Miami Beach combined...and I am very concerned about what will happen to Front Street stores.

<img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Thumbsup.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Thumbsup.gif" alt="" /> my thoughts exactly!

Not only will this hurt town but many other places on the island will suffer since why pay for tours or taxis when you can spend the day right near the ship & go back on board for lunch, snacks etc. I think this will effect Orient, Loterie farm & all the taxi drivers that make their living by giving island tours.

This combined with The Rainforest Adventure, which has also gone
through, will basically suck all of the revenue from the cruise ships so there will be very little left for the independent business owner. Once again the
government has made sure they took care of themselves & left the people
to just have to stand & watch a chosen few make all of the money.

This really reminds me of Atlantic City when they were trying to get the gambling there. They made so many promises to the people of AC about
how this was going to help the whole city & they would rejuvenate the
whole area & make it all wonderful. If you have gone to AC you know that
this never happened & you would never venture off the boardwalk into the
surrounding areas because they look like war zones. Now casinos are
closing so the situation will get even worse. What will happen here after
they have destroyed all the small businesses & then Cuba becomes the
darling of the cruise lines???

I am so disappointed in the place I have adopted as my home because I feel as if my happiness here is being greatly compromised. This doesn't
even touch on the cruise pier, etc. they plan on putting on the other side of
the channel from Royal Palm. The people of Simpson Bay are screaming
out for justice but no one in government really gives a damn!!!!

As so often happens, Sharon, you and Barbara are expressing my very worse fears - it's not about the island and all its' people but the same few who ultimately benefit. And much as I hate to admit this, I hope I'm old enough to never experience up front and personal the 'betterment' that is proposed for Simpson Bay. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/handshake.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/handshake.gif" alt="" />

Sharon--I think you are probably correct, on all counts. That d*mn cruise pier in Simpson Bay will be a HUGE disaster for both residents of the island and visitors who stay in Simpson Bay.

After 31 years of visiting our beloved island I never thought I'd see the day when it would turn into Disneyland. I can't see anyone making $$$ out of this except Royal Caribbean. Sure a few retailers but the bulk of profits will be to the investors, not the locals. It's a sad day when a project of this nature is built. While I don't expect SXM to not grow, I just didn't expect it to grow in this ugly manner. Not just for the businesses downtown but for the Eco-system as well. Lots more going on than meets the eye. Certainly, not the SXM I've loved for so many years.....


<img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/handshake.gif" alt="" /> Contessa

Sadly dreadging Simpson Bay for a new cruise pier will change the way tides and hurricanes come together. Creating new disasters from unthought of issues.
As for the Royal Caribbean Disneyland, they are creating a private island for passengers on St Maarten. The point of cruising was to see new places, this will be lost. They have more crap than a Christmas turkey to do on the ship, the don't need a theme park pier.

<img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Clapping.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Clapping.gif" alt="" />

I looked at the plans and I don't get the Disneyland comparison. There are no big rides, no amphitheaters, no water slides, no massive parking lots, no giant mice ...

The entire site is only 6.5 acres, and most of that looks like it will be taken up by a hotel and lagoon. Its hard to believe there's enough space left over to have enough shopping and dining to affect the rest of St Maarten's economy. I guess I just don't buy the dire predictions.

I totally understand being against development for ecological or aesthetic reasons (Dawn Beach and Cupecoy come to mind), but they're not talking about cutting down a rainforest to build this place. Right now its a giant sand pit.

One thing that's not clear to me - if this is Royal Caribbean's private development, is it going to be open only to their passengers?

it's really really depressing... money talks and bull $$it walks, as they say

I wonder if Loterie Farm with their zip lines would agree with you since this new development will have zip lines. Most of their business had come from cruise ship passengers who will now stay close to the ship.

And other vendors who depend on boat trips to dive snorkel etc. And if you arrived on a cruise ship and found all this close to ship would you venture off to explore the island and spend elsewhere?

Brings to mind a cruise we took with a stop at Casa Maya only to find it was a town completely owned by the cruise lines---fixed prices, cabs not allowed. We had to craw under a fence to hail a cab and explore the nearest town where we found food and merchandize at 1/16th the prices in Casa Maya. True this area will be fenced (or will it?) and if a passenger has no desire to utilize anything offered there, they may venture out and spend with local businesses but this just makes it easier that they don't.

And I can hardly wait to see if it brings sustained noise to the area. That will spoil my visits to SXM. Traffic is bad enough without looking at an amusement park like atmosphere from my condo.

So the Dutch side should reject a development that will strengthen ties with a major cruise line and create hundreds of jobs to protect a small business on the French side? This is obviously a very emotional issue for a lot of people, but ... we will just have to see how this plays out.

In the meantime, I guess I have learned my lesson about expressing opinions on this board. Won't make that mistake again!


<img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/handshake.gif" alt="" />

I agree with the general spirit of your remarks, but just to let people know - you do not actually have to crawl under a fence to get out of the port area in Costa Maya, in order to get a taxi to Mahahual or one of the beach resorts. We were there this past January on a New Year's cruise and went to Almaplena - had a great time - great couple running the place. It is true that a lot of people - especially with kids - stayed in the port area in Costa Maya - there is a pool and all kinds of shops and things.

Not to jump to conclusions but perhaps the audience they are trying to capture are those people that think Front Street is just to far way and would otherwise just stay on the ship. For the others...I can see it now...the prefabricated village next door or Orient Beach....OB wins hands down. Like another poster said, its only 5 acres. You can't put 5,000 people off a cruse ship in 5 acres without being a total zoo. Will it have an effect, some good and some negative for sure. I'd be more worried about Cuba as all the other islands. I for one will be trading a Cuba vacation for one in SXM every now and then.

I woukd think the same store owners that are on Front Street and also on the cruise ship pier will have first shot at opening stores in the new complex. They were happy to open branches of their shops in the new space created in the expansion of the cruise ship pier. Remember that 35, 000 people come in on certain days from ships and there is plenty of business for everyone including the new complex. I am doubtful that anyone is going to suffer.

Lets see how this all plays out before we all make the same conclusions that were voiced before the new bridge across Simpson Bay Lagoon was built. Many were adamantly against it but once it was finished they quickly changed their minds. Always there are people against change but once it happens they see the light.