dvesc,
I can feel your pain because these itinerary changes create a lot of stress no matter what you decide to do with regard to where to stay.
Personally speaking, and admitting up front I’m not a huge fan of most of the French side to begin with, I don’t think there are many areas in the Dutch side of SXM with quite the same vibe as the Orient Beach village area but that said, and if it was me, I couldn’t deal with the added stress of worrying about what might happen or could go wrong.
I’m a real ‘what iffer’ type person and the possibilities of things that might go wrong would make too much stress for the enjoyment of my trip given the current events and the frequency of issues of late on the French side. Riots, demonstrations and most of all, Molotov cocktails are not things I even remotely want to worry about ever but particularly NOT on vacation.
Nice Dutchside areas are almost any given stretch of Simpson Bay Beach, our personal favorite being Beachside Villas, but so many other smaller properties in that area that might fit your bill. El Zafiro is a pleasant place to stay as is Mary’s Boon.
We also really like the Jordan Village/Cupecoy area which, while mostly not beachside rentals, is very convenient for dining ops without fighting a lot of traffic and certainly an easy drive to the serviced end of Mullet Beach. There are many rentals in that general area such as The Cliffs, Porto Cupecoy, Arbor Estates as you already mentioned, Cupecoy Beach Club and the Rainbow just for starters.
Good luck with your choices, whichever way you decide to go.
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