Port preparing to home port more ships

Daily Herald link

We've never taken a cruise which started out of SXM before. Would love to do that someday.

Would be great to start your cruise and end it with a week before and a week after on island.

I would love to see this happen. Scubaman is spot on. You arrive a few days early and get a hotel near the cruise port (i.e., Holland House), take a seven day cruise or longer, and spend a few more days on SXM when you get back. Cruises that would originate from SXM can reach the leeward and windward islands easier than those from Florida or even Puerto Rico. This brings places like Martinique, Barbados, St. Lucia, Guadeloupe, and so many other awesome islands into play. Another cruise could head southwest and visit the 'ABC' islands. And, wouldn't a cross atlantic cruise to the Canary Islands se something to consider!

There are already some ships that are home ported in SXM. But they are trying to expand those to include larger ships. Not the mega ones, but up to 1,500 pax.. The ones that are there now are pretty small.

Airfare to SXM might be a factor on home porting in St Maarten. Much cheaper to fly to Miami, Fort Lauderdale etc to start your cruise.

Believe it or not, it is much cheaper for me to fly to SXM than any place in Florida. It is crazy.... no rhyme or reason!

1,500 capacity is still a pretty decently sized cruise ship. Azamara, Regent Seven Seas, Seabourn, and several other luxury cruisers use ships up to this size. However, those cruise lines are not cost effective for a wide variety of people. If St. Martin is going to be successful with this it will be imperative that they offer affordable cruises along with luxury cruises. I hope that will become a goal for them, because I see a lot of potential for expanding this cruise port.

As for the cost of flying to SXM, I suppose that will factor in somewhat. But, when someone takes a Mediterranean cruise (for example) it definitely costs more to fly to Rome, Barcelona, Athens, etc. than it does St. Martin. If the cruises are attractive, unique, and priced well people will get there. And, they'll especially get to St. Martin to do this. I know I will!

About 10 years ago I took the Star Clipper on a 7-day cruise out of St Martin. That is a 150 passenger sailing ship, but they offered free air fare and the trip was not that expensive. We went to some of the smaller islands. We started it off with a week at Orient Beach which made the trip even better. Checking in was on board the ship, so they did not needs a large port facility to manage the passengers getting off and on.

In 2015 we took an Island Windjammer ( http://www.islandwindjammers.com/ ) 7 day cruise out of St. Maarten, and it was great. Stayed at Holland House a few nights before, and then at our timeshare at Divi the week following. This was a small, 24 passenger cruise, so not a large cruise ship, but it did allow me into the cruise ship terminal, for the first time.

Those must have had some great memories, Rob and Wayne. Do you recall what islands these cruises made port? There would be two specific cruises I would jump at if SXM was the departure point. The first would be a trans-atlantic cruise across to the Canary Islands with stops in Tenerife, Fuerteventura, Gran Canaria and Lanzarote. It would have to be a 14-day cruise, and keeping the costs down would be a challenge, but this would be a one-in-a-lifetime thing. The other dream cruise would be one of the French Caribbean. St. Barth's (would have to be a smaller ship), Guadeloupe, Martinique, and maybe one other island. The best part is knowing you were coming back to SXM for a few days afterwards!

Us Floridians seem to forget that so many others have to fly here first from wherever they are coming from. If we want to go ona a cruise we just drive an hour to Tampa or 3 to 3.5 hours to Miami, Ft. Lauderdale or Port Canaveral.

Some of the stops for the Star Clipper then were St Barts, Antiqua, Nevis, and stops in the Isles de Saintes. We sailed all night from St Martin to St Barts. That is a rough ride and I was so glad to be on dry land. I think the Star Clipper goes out of another port now.