Philipsburg port guide
nclrollcall Researched by NCL Roll Call · verified by Paolo Melendez, CLIA Master Cruise Counselor · Oct 2, 2026 · how we check things
Philipsburg has the third-highest return-guarantee coverage of any port in this collection. It is also an island with a border through the middle of it, and several tours cross that border without making much of it.
Who this guide fits
- Your first NCL sailing. Freestyle Cruising is how NCL runs the ship — no fixed dinner seating, no formal night, eat and dress when you like. It is not how the gangway runs. All-aboard is a hard time, the ship sails without stragglers, and every timing figure below is written for that.
- Sailed NCL before. Skip to the excursions and the timing: what is bookable here, which operators commit to getting you back, and how long the day really leaves you.
- Booking independently. 30 of the 36 tours here show a return-to-ship guarantee — each one read on its own page, not taken from a filter.
- Planning around access. Every guide here carries an accessibility section, and says plainly where something could not be verified rather than guessing.
Thirty of 36, and rank 3
We opened all 36 independent listings sold for this port on 30 September 2026 and read each page individually. Thirty carry a Back to Ship Guarantee.
At 83.3% that is rank 3 of the 61 ports whose catalogues we read end to end, 6,054 listings in all. Only Cabo Rojo, which has a single tour, and Livorno rank higher.
At this port the absence of a badge is the unusual case, so treat it as a question rather than a shrug.
Two figures from the same read run the other way. Only 11 of the 36 have a review inside the last 12 months. And not one of the 36 is marked fully wheelchair accessible.
One island, two countries
The island is divided between Dutch Sint Maarten and French Saint-Martin, and tours cross between them routinely. Anything going to Marigot, Grand Case or Orient Beach is on the French side. Anything focused on Philipsburg or Maho Beach stays Dutch.
The Beach Hopping Tour that pairs Orient Beach with Maho Beach is, by design, a tour of both countries.
That is not a warning so much as a thing worth knowing before someone mentions it at a roadside. Read which side your tour is on, and read it before you pay rather than from the back of a bus.
Sixty dollars buys the whole island
The value here is unusually good and it clusters tightly. From-prices read on 30 September 2026:
St Maarten Beach Hopping Tour, Orient and Maho — 5 hours, from $60.00, 5.0 stars from 9 reviews, 5 inside 12 months
St. Maarten Best Island Tour — 6 hours, from $61.54, 5.0 stars from 9 reviews, 4 inside 12 months
St. Maarten 6-Pack Island Tour — 5 hours, from $61.54
Private VIP Sightseeing, Shopping And Beach Tour — 6 hours, from $500.00
Do It Your Way, private customized — 6 hours, from $581.25
Sixty dollars and $61.54 buy five and six hours respectively, from the two listings carrying the most recent feedback at this port. The private equivalents cost eight to nine times that.
Norwegian's own catalogue sits in between: Historic Philipsburg by Trolley Train at 2 hours from $59.99, Open Top Double Decker at 3.5 hours from $69.99, Maho Beach Transfer at 4.5 hours from $69.99, and a luxury snorkel cruise at 3.5 hours from $169.99.
The trolley is the only genuinely short thing on this page, and short is underrated here.
Maho Beach costs more than the fare
Maho is the beach at the end of the Princess Juliana runway, and it is the reason a lot of people choose this port. Norwegian's transfer listing runs 4.5 hours and states about 35 minutes each way by bus.
Treat that as the wording on the listing rather than a guaranteed road time, because it is.
Seventy minutes of bus for a beach is a real trade, and it is the trade that decides whether you also see Philipsburg. The trolley tour and Front Street are two hours; Maho is most of the day.
Pick one. Doing both is how a beach day turns into a bus day.
Rain, and the months it lands in
The Meteorological Department St. Maarten describes a relatively dry season from December through May and a rainy season from June through November, with temperatures usually around 27C and August the warmest month.
The same source describes moderate east to north-easterly winds, late-afternoon showers and sea temperatures around 27.2C.
The Atlantic hurricane season runs 1 June through 30 November, and the department identifies August through October as the climatological peak. Late-afternoon showers are the detail most likely to touch your actual day, and they arrive at roughly the hour a long beach tour is driving back.
Accessibility, honestly
No port-authority source was retrievable on 30 September 2026. So this page states nothing about berth layout, gangway configuration, terminal facilities, pavement, restrooms, taxis, water taxis or beach access, because we did not verify any of it.
Not one of the 36 independent listings is marked fully wheelchair accessible.
Norwegian's excursion pages display activity levels, and an activity level is a statement about exertion rather than an accessibility certification. The two get confused constantly.
If step-free routing, an accessible vehicle, a beach wheelchair or equipment compatibility is a deciding factor, confirm it on the specific listing and then confirm it again with the operator before you pay. Twice is not excessive here.
Devil's advocate: does rank 3 settle it?
Thirty of 36 is close to the best coverage we measured anywhere, and on a $60 island tour that leaves from the pier, the honest answer is that independent booking at this port is about as low-risk as it gets.
That holds. Philipsburg is a good port to book independently and the numbers say so.
Where it stops holding is the meeting point. Philipsburg and Simpson Bay are different places, and a guarantee attached to a tour you could not find is worth nothing at all. The badge covers the return; it does not cover you being in the wrong bay at nine in the morning.
Good odds on the tour. The pickup is still yours to get right.
The bottom line
Best value, and the best reviewed. St Maarten Beach Hopping Tour, 5 hours from $60.00, or the Best Island Tour, 6 hours from $61.54.
Shortest commitment. Historic Philipsburg by Trolley Train, 2 hours from $59.99, which leaves most of the day open.
Maho Beach. About 35 minutes each way by bus on Norwegian's own wording, 4.5 hours in total. A port-day decision, not an addition.
Nothing booked. Front Street, Back Street and Great Bay are the walk-off option and cost nothing.
The protection here is as good as this collection gets. Spend the attention you save on the meeting point.
The full research record for this port — itinerary counts, port codes, and the original long-form notes this guide was written from
Quick Info
Philipsburg, St. Maarten is an NCL port of call on the Dutch side of the island. NCL lists the port as a docking port, not a tender port. The town of Philipsburg and the cruise port are in Sint Maarten.
Saint-Martin refers to the French side.
The single main planning decision is how the day will be spent relative to the berth: a town-based visit, a Dutch-side beach outing, or an excursion that crosses into the French side.
NCL Roll Call records PHI as a port of call on 40 itineraries involving nine ships. It is not recorded as an embarkation or disembarkation port in this dataset. PHI remains distinct from all other ports in the CSV.
The time zone is Atlantic Standard Time, UTC-4. Sint Maarten does not observe daylight saving time.
Use ship time for every return-to-ship decision.
Common questions about Philipsburg, St. Maarten
- How many Norwegian Cruise Line ships call at Philipsburg, St. Maarten?
- 9 Norwegian Cruise Line ships call at Philipsburg, St. Maarten across 67 sailings we track: Norwegian Bliss, Norwegian Dawn, Norwegian Epic, Norwegian Escape, Norwegian Gem, Norwegian Getaway, Norwegian Jewel, Norwegian Pearl, Norwegian Prima.
- Do shore excursions at Philipsburg, St. Maarten include a return-to-ship guarantee?
- Yes — 30 of the 36 independent tours at Philipsburg, St. Maarten showed a Back to Ship Guarantee when each listing was opened individually on 2026-09-30. A guarantee belongs to one listing on one date, so confirm it on the tour you book.
- What is the Norwegian Cruise Line port code for Philipsburg, St. Maarten?
- Norwegian Cruise Line uses port code PHI for Philipsburg, St. Maarten, in its Caribbean and Extraordinary Journeys itineraries.
- What does one guest pay to sail to Philipsburg, St. Maarten?
- The lowest fare we track for a single guest on a sailing that reaches Philipsburg, St. Maarten is $1,269 — 7-day Caribbean Round-trip San Juan: St. Thomas & Tortola. Fares move daily; always confirm on ncl.com.
- When is the next Norwegian Cruise Line sailing to Philipsburg, St. Maarten?
- The next sailing we track departs Nov 9, 2026. We list every one of the 67 sailings on this page.
Verify before you pay
- The meeting point, by name. Philipsburg and Simpson Bay are different places.
- Which side of the island your tour is on. Marigot, Grand Case and Orient Beach are French; Philipsburg and Maho are Dutch.
- The Back to Ship Guarantee on your listing. Thirty of 36 carry one, so the six that do not deserve a direct question.
- The date of the most recent review. Twenty-five of the 36 listings have none inside 12 months.
- For any access requirement, go through Norwegian. Zero of 36 independent listings is marked fully wheelchair accessible.
- The all-aboard time printed for your own voyage, against a 4.5-hour Maho transfer.
What the judgments on this page rest on
- 30 of 36, rank 3 of 61, zero wheelchair-accessible and 11 recently reviewed: computed in guide-verdict-facts.json from every listing opened individually on 2026-09-30.
- Independent tour names, durations, from-prices and review recency: read off each tour's own page on the same date.
- Norwegian durations and adult from-prices: the NCL PHI excursion search, 37 listings on the same date.
- Climate description and the August-to-October peak: the Meteorological Department St. Maarten.
- No berth, terminal, pavement or beach-access claims are made: no port-authority page was retrievable on the check date.
Sources — 10 checked for this guide
- ncl.com — Port name, docking status, Dutchside context, languages, currency, time zone
- ncl.com — 37 listings, published prices, durations, activity levels, excursion descriptions
- projectexpedition.com — 41 Philipsburg experiences
- meteosxm.com — Dry and rainy seasons, temperatures, August warmth, climate conditions
- iana.org — America/Lower_Princes, UTC-4, no daylight saving time
- gov.uk — 2026; claim not relied upon
- viator.com — Viator
- getyourguide.com — GetYourGuide
- projectexpedition.com — Project Expedition
- offthegridgetaways.com — cruisers and is not affiliated with or endorsed by Norwegian Cruise Line; booking-agent services are conducted by Off The Grid Getaways LLC, linked to
Commission disclosure: NCL Roll Call may earn a commission when a reader books through certain links on this page. Prices below are for reference only - click on the individual link and double check live prices on Viator, Get Your Guide or Project Expedition on the links provided below.
Corrected 2026-09-30. One statement in this guide was changed after checking against the source. True of the Random Wind listing, but the page shows five Philipsburg tours that do carry the guarantee and the port is 30 of 36 overall. Left as written, the sentence would read as a finding about the port.
Guide last verified 2026-10-01. Facts that move — shuttle fares, opening hours, tender arrangements — are checked on the morning of publication and re-checked when the guide is updated.
