Christina and I try our best to get to our port city the day before our scheduled cruise embarkation. The extra time allows us to explore the city as well as have a less stressful embarkation day. Flights to Martinique were fairly limited. They were only available a few days per week. We ended up having to arrive two days before embarkation. However, it did give us a full day to check out the island.
This was our first trip to Martinique. We relied solely on research to make the most out of our time on the island. The main thing to remember is that the island is French. That means Euros for currency, French and Creole food, and of course the main language on the island is French.
What’s the Airport Like?
When going to Martinique you will fly into Martinique Aimé Césaire International Airport. For an island airport I was pleasantly surprised that the airport was genuinely nice, clean, and well organized. Going through customs was quite easy and took no time at all. Food at the airport is scarce. There are not any chain restaurants, but, we did find a small cafe that had particularly good sub sandwiches.
How to Get Around Town?
Taxi is the best way to get from the airport to the city. There is no Uber on the island, and not all taxi drivers understand/speak English. Come prepared with the name, address, and picture of your hotel, and you will not have any trouble. Also be sure to bring Euros with you. As an example, we took around 500 Euros with us, which was a little more than we ultimately needed. That being said, running out of cash is never a good thing. The taxis were nice and the drivers we had were all pleasant. Taxi service is expensive. It was around 50 Euro with tip to get from the airport to our hotel in Fort-de-France.
Where did we stay?
The island has multiple resort areas as does the capital city of Fort-de-France. The cruise port is out of Fort-de-France, so we decided to stay in the city. There is not an abundance of hotels in the city. We stayed at the nicest one we could find near the port, which was called the Simon Hotel.
The hotel was…. Let’s say interesting.
Let me start with the positives:
- The decor was very modern and well done.
- The staff were very friendly. They always had a smile and were willing to help with questions, getting a taxi organized, etc.
- The room was spacious and clean.
- The hotel is located next to the beautiful bay. It offers very splendid views of the bay, mountains, and the city.
- There is a McDonald’s within a short walk. Comfortable familiar food while traveling can be a big positive.
- The cruise port is remarkably close. Still, if you have luggage, you will likely want to take a taxi. That is what we did.
Some of the things we thought could have been improved upon were:
- There is air conditioning, but they use a different definition of “comfortable.” I guess the best way to say it is, it was inadequate. The lobby and rooms were quite warm during the day.
- The staff did bring us a fan that made the temperature tolerable.
- The pillows were also inadequate to put it nicely. I have a bad neck so I am particularly sensitive to cheap pillows so while I could be a bit of a baby here, I feel like having reasonable pillows is not too much to ask.
- The bedding was quite hot. To be fair, so was everything! Even taking that into consideration, the bedding seemed needlessly thick. I particularly like the temperature of the room to be on the cool side.
As far as the area around the hotel goes, it was fine. There are two cruise ports in Fort-de-France. One port is used as an embarkation/disembarkation port. The other port, which was right outside the hotel, is just a basic gangway. Being in close proximity to the cruise ports was beneficial. There were many shops, local artists, and tours available right outside the hotel. The ferry departs from that same area. If you want to cross the bay to other areas of the island, you are in luck.
At times, the area can be hectic and crowded. Our last night on the island was particularly noisy as we were treated to what sounded like every marching band on the island playing in the streets. These “marching bands” were talented, but after 2 hours of the same song, I was over it.
What did we do on the island?
We took full advantage of our full day on the island and booked a tour with Martinique Best Secrets Tours (https://martiniquebestsecret.com/). We chose to do the north tour of the island and our tour guide, Daniel, was very good.
The tour was not 100% private, but it wasn’t crowded. He takes up to 8 people max. We were lucky enough to be paired with just one other couple. They only spoke French, so our interaction with them was limited. I was fine with that. Daniel did an excellent job of communicating the tour information in both French and English.
We visited some very pretty waterfalls. We also saw a cathedral and a beautiful botanical garden. Additionally, we toured a rum distillery. I should mention that the waterfall was a bit of a descent to get down to. If you have any mobility issues, you may want to hang out in the van for this stop.
The Domaine d’Emeraude Botanical Garden was a highlight for me personally. Daniel has a great relationship with the caretakers of the garden. He has a wealth of knowledge, and you can tell he is very devoted to learning all he can about the plants.
The tour wrapped up with a late lunch at a beach side restaurant. The restaurant had decent food. It also had a pleasant beach to take a stroll on. As a side note, the lunch was not included as part of the tour. We had an interesting experience on the way back to the hotel. The wife from the couple with us accidentally took the waitress’s phone. This caused about a 25-minute delay in getting back to the tour departure site!
I would recommend the tour to anyone who visits Martinique. Daniel is a no-nonsense guy and fast paced. We really enjoy that attitude as many times on these excursions you are stuck with a dull tour guide who gives you a book report style tour that can bore you to tears. Not Daniel. He kept us all moving, kept the conversations informative and funny, and was very enthusiastic about his island.
Give me the “So What”?
We walked away from Martinique, impressed in some ways and disappointed in others. It definitely does not make the top of our list of best Caribbean destinations. However, it isn’t on the bottom either! To be fair, we did not visit any of the major resorts on the island so please take this review with a grain of salt. We might have needed more time on the island. That could have allowed us to really enjoy the beauty and the culture it had to offer. However, we ended up leaving Martinique with a keen sense of indifference.
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