TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin Summary 7/22 to 8/06

The flight down was a breeze but it took us an hour and a half to get through Immigration. The line was out the door. Got our car from Leisure and were on to the Ocean Club. Almost every day was spent at Orient. Had dinner at the usuals: Pineapple Pete (2), Blue Fin (2), La Sental, Fig (2), Cherie's, tried Moomba for the first time and really liked it. Went to Mario Bistro for the first time in ages, sat inside for the A/C but they left the door open and while dinner was great we spent the entire time brushing away flies. Had a miserable flight home...arrived at Newark an hour early, circled until we got low on fuel and were redirected to Philly where we sat on the ground and refueled. Waited for a tractor to pull us back on the run way then waited for a spot to take off. Bottom line what should have been 4 hours turned into eight. Other than that, we had a great two weeks! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Clapping.gif" alt="" />

Looks like you went down on a Friday and immigration was that backed up? Were there a lot of planes on the ground, or not many immigration officers? Where did you eat on Orient, or did you take a cooler? How busy was it on Orient?

You are correct, we went down on the Friday. "Someone" said there was a work stoppage or intentional slow down. I have no idea if that was true or not. I have never had this experience before. We took a cooler with us to Orient. The last day we fully intended to get lunch from The Perch but we had so much left over beef filet we just put together beef and Brie sandwiches on baguette. We have gotten lunch before from both The Perch and Pappaguyos (SP), thought they were great.

The number of people at Orient just depended on the day. Some days were sparse others not so much.