eSIM for Sint Maarten

No, not at the moment. We have no plan for Sint Maarten, and our regional plans don't include it. We do sell a plan for the French side, Saint-Martin, which runs on Orange. It is sold for Saint-Martin only, and we don't promise it will connect in Philipsburg or at the airport.

That matters because anyone flying into Princess Juliana International Airport lands on the Dutch side, and Philipsburg, where cruise ships dock, is Sint Maarten's capital. Maho Beach, by the airport, is on the Dutch side too.

The Treaty of Concordia of 1648 split the island and allows free movement across it, and there are rarely checks at the border. A border monument dedicated in 2008 marks the line. Your phone can move between Dutch and French networks as you drive, and the billing changes with it.

With an EU SIM, your home allowance applies in Marigot and Grand Case on the French side, but not in Philipsburg or at Princess Juliana airport. Near the border, setting network selection to manual and choosing a French network helps you stay inside EU roaming.

Each side has its own operators, so crossing the island can mean crossing between networks. On the Dutch side, Flow, the brand that replaced UTS in the Dutch Caribbean, is one of them. On the French side, a teltarif.de roaming test found a German SIM joining Orange.

Day trips to Anguilla or Saint Barthélemy count as separate destinations, so check that your plan covers each island before you board.

Maho Beach sits beside Princess Juliana airport, and landing aircraft pass low over the sand. A warning sign tells visitors not to stand too close to the airport fence. Filming arrivals and uploading clips uses far more data than maps or messages. Flight tracking apps help you time the big arrivals, and they need data too.

Cruise ships dock at Philipsburg Harbour. Unless your home plan includes Sint Maarten, switch off data roaming before you reach port, and read how phones behave at sea and in port before you sail. Port days are short, so download your excursion meeting point before you go ashore.

There are three: roam on your home plan if it includes Sint Maarten, buy a local SIM from a Dutch side operator, or rely on wifi. For EU SIMs, check your operator's Sint Maarten rate before you land, because it sits outside the allowance that covers the French side. Sint Maarten uses the Caribbean guilder, and US dollars are widely accepted, which helps when you pay for a local SIM.

One practical tip: download an offline map covering both halves of the island before you arrive. The road network is small but the turnings are unforgiving, and losing navigation on the way to a dinner reservation in Grand Case is a specific kind of annoying.

They differ by side. On the Dutch side, dial 911 for police or an ambulance, 919 for fire and 913 for the coastguard. On the French side, the French numbers apply: 17 for police, 15 for an ambulance and 18 for fire. Save both sets in your phone before you arrive.