TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin Sunset bar and grill

We are going to st Martin in January, we are meeting another couple there. When we leave for home our flight leaves a few hours earlier. If we leave them at sunset bar to enjoy some time there, is it possible to walk to the airport? Has anyone done it? How about a cab?
Ellen

They could walk but even with carryons would not be fun! Taxis are readily available. $8/person? We have done it many times before heading to the airport! (We always check our bags and get our boarding passes first before heading to the beach bar ) Our last trip AA was messed up with checking in bags so we didn't have time to venture out one last time. We ended up hanging out at the bar upstairs until our flight.

I personally would not walk to the airport from there, especially with any amount of carry on luggage. You have to walk across the section of the road under where the planes come in, and there is no sidewalk and nowhere to walk other than on the concrete divider or in the road. But there are lots of taxis that hang out there at Sunset. There is now parking for around 6 to 8 taxis inside the parking lot at Alegria, as well as seating for them to wait there in case there isn't a taxi right there. Shouldn't be any problem to catch a cab from there to the airport and it should be just a few bucks. If they are determined that they want to walk to the airport from there, leave them at Gus' Boat Bar instead. It's a shorter, much less dangerous walk, view is the same, and the drinks are cheaper! As of May 2016, mixed drinks at Sunset are $8, beers $4. Sunset has a lot more choices of food however, if they want something to eat.

Thank you for the awesome info. Maybe a cab is the way to go if they want to stay there for a while.
~Ellen

That's what I would do.

They have talked about putting in sidewalks in that area to the airport, but like everything involving the government, it all moves slower than a snail.

EllenL, For me, I would think it is a safety issue. Think about this, few cocktails, walking in the hot sun. It is no short walk either, along the side of the road. Picture this, a van with a cargo door opens up, grab and go. leaves you with NOTHING in hand. And just like that POOF! Your lovely vacation gone in seconds. Save your last $20bucks for a cab. Have fun at one of the airport bars for that last goodbye... for now!!! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/toast.gif" alt="" />

I've checked my main bag and walked over,,, and I've walked back, but I find it easier, after a few tipples, to cab back...

On the trip back to the airport our final stop is almost always the Zee best on the left on the way back. Great sandwiches and a cookie to go for the trip home. Your food will be the best on the plane.
The shop is really a bakery with a counter only, but typically quick and present service that lets you extend your St. Martin experience.
<img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Groovin.gif" alt="" />

Do you smuggle the food in your carryon, or have the rules changed and the airport is now allowing food on planes that was NOT purchased inside the airport?

Anytime we fly home on JB, which of late, and sadly from my point of view, has been most of our recent trips, we have always brought either sandwiches from Zee Best or made at our timeshare and it's never been a problem. We have a small thermal lunchbag that we carry on and we have never been questioned about it and since it always goes through the x-ray machines I didn't even consider that it 'might' be problematic. Was I being a shifty-eyed criminal all these trips? <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/jester.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/handshake.gif" alt="" />

Well, the reason I question it is because we have to throw away our water bottles at checkin, and I always assumed that food was not allowed either. Hopefully I am mistaken on this! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/duh.gif" alt="" />

The ban is on liquids over 3.4 ounces. Doesn't pertain to food. Some items have to be consumed before you enter the USA from a foreign country. No restrictions leaving the US to SXM.

You can't bring any fluid above 3 ounces through security. Sandwiches are fine.

Great news ... thanks!

In Canada once you are through the security we can buy water & food to take on the plane in the secure area waiting to board.

We always bring our food for flights...healthier, tastier, AND less expensive. Usually a breakfast and a lunch.

You can have hard boiled eggs, cheese, veggie sticks, sandwhiches, wraps, etc.

Coming back we get Zee Best sandwhiches, and a pizza from our favorite on-island place. If the pizza has meat, it must be consumed prior to US. Learned the hard way about prosciutto and artichoke pizza....lol.

Also found out chicken and turkey won't get confiscated, but roast beef or ham will!!! Many years ago we had amazing sandwiches made up at the Cupecoy market. Had to change planes in PR and had no idea they would swipe our dinner!! Well half!! The whole hoof disease was the issue and why the chicken and turkey were fine

Other than the gouda that we buy to bring home, and anything packed in a checked bag, we always plan on throwing away any food that we don't actually consume on the plane before we land on US soil. On our last trip coming home, we were on the early morning AA flight. We washed out a to-go box that we had gotten with some leftovers, and packed boiled eggs, cheese, grapes, nuts, baguette, etc. in it and had it on the plane. What we didn't eat, we threw away on the plane. It worked beautifully!

If you change plans in PR they'll confiscate your food there. Direct flights, no as long as eaten before landing.

PR is the US, that's why they confiscate food.

Well they didn't take all the food. Just the food that hand meat from animals with hoofs. That's how they explained it to us. No difference If we landed in JFK or PR. We were just hoping to eat it during the PR to JFK leg of the trip!

regarding bringing cooked foods on the plane...we recently came back from Nassau, Bahamas, where you actually go through US Customs there in Nassau...on the way to to the airport we had picked up some cooked food "to go" to eat on the plane, as we have done in a bunch of other places...we have Global Entry, and when entering our info into the GE kiosk, we didn't declare any foods, because obviouly our intention was to eat the food before arriving on US soil...well, we were then approached by an agent and were told that my wife was "randomly" chosen for a search (probably because of the awesome smelling food <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Wink.gif" alt="" />), so we had to follow the agent into a back room...they ran my wife's stuff through a machine, and obviously found the cooked food...the customs agent was really nice, but gave us a stern lecture about how we should have declared the food and how they could have fined us $500 and revoked our GE privileges...we explained the food was going to be eaten before getting back to the US, but didn't make a big issue of it...oh well, c'est la vie

p.s. we did get to keep the food, and it was great <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/chef.gif" alt="" />

I would have just taken the meat out of the sandwich and kept the rest. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/jester.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Grin.gif" alt="" />
No sense giving them their free lunch for the day. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/jester.gif" alt="" />

I think some of the issue lies with the agent and luck. We only had a problem one time going out of US. We had an early flight and attempted to carry on bagels and cream cheese. They confiscated the cream cheese and upon my asking was told that "cream cheese could be a liquid if heated at high enough temperature". I told them that steel also becomes liquid at a high enough temperature. They saw no humor in my response. We ate plain bagels on that flight.

That's perfect...."cream cheese could be a liquid" ...ummm...yup, liquid cheese.

I think the point of the ban on liquids has been stretched out a bit here...

...and I doubt there was more than 3 ounces/person of potentially dangerous, soon to be heated and transformed to liquid, cheese involved.

Ahh yes, but if you combine YOUR liquid cheese with the liquid cheese of the 8 co-conspirators on the same flight.....a veritable fondue party could explode. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Wink.gif" alt="" />

<img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/jester.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/jester.gif" alt="" />

<img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Thumbsup.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Thumbsup.gif" alt="" />

I think the thing is that you have to be ready when going through customs even though not technically on US soil. You are still going through US customs. I have been caught with 2 apples and a sandwich on 2 different occasions. Both were taken away although they really didn't know what to do with them. LOL I always bring food back with us on our flight because hubby is a diabetic and MOST times we don't have time to grab food in our connection. We always dump the food on the plane before the connection now. Not worth getting stopped and questioned.

I never had a problem taking food (snacks and/or sandwiches)through security.