I see the issue of Verizon phone coverage on many posts. Hopefully, this helps: There are two basic technologies in mobile phones, GSM (AT&T, T-Mobile) and CDMA (Sprint, Verizon, and T-Mobile) and they are not compatible. The St. Maarten/Martin towers use GSM. This is why older Verizon phones which were CDMA only did not work. Newer Verizon phones are compatible with both technologies. Check to see if your Verizon phone is compatible with GSM. Turning airplane mode on and off may not be enough. You may need to change device settings to allow GSM. For example, with an Iphone6 you may need to turn Intl CDMA Off and with a Droid Turbo set Network Mode to Global. Assuming your Verizon phone is GSM compatible and correctly setup, if service is not available then service is not available for anything whether it be a local phone or a phone with a local sim card. I recently returned from St. Martin with a Verizon Travel Pass installed on an Iphone6 and it worked perfectly.