TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin Trip Report 12/31/16 - 1/21/17

Trip Report 12/31/16 to 1/21/17
Tried to do this on a daily format but it began to look like a novel so here’s a summary.


Travel: Delta, Comfort+, Harrisburg, PA to Atlanta to SXM
Trip down was all we expected and more. On time, early boarding. Carry on directly above us, Unlimited snacks and drinks.

Trip back, hour delay on tarmac, very disappointing, seats in main exit row (18D, 18E should NOT be Comfort+) No overhead storage for this row, Flight attendants more interested in conversation with Delta personnel traveling as passengers than any other passengers. Able to use video system about ½ the time because area had to be kept open first hour and last. No view except restroom in front of us.

Rental Car
Used Unity as usual. Rented a Hyundai Getz. Never saw one before but good little car. This one was pretty beaten up but good on gas and served us well.
Also Michael gave us a very fair deal that included liability insurance and 10% tax.

Restaurants:
Mark’s Place, 3 times, Good steaks/good ribs/good lamb
Prices very good as was service

Chesterfield’s, 3 times, Very good lobster, Best fillet I have ever had on island. Old standby, Hurricane Shrimp, Excellent Duck (one of their signatures)Chicken au poivre

Bavaria, Truly authenic German food, don’t know how we missed this one but will make it a repeat from here on. Sauerbraten and Schweinsnitsel entrees, apfelstrudel for dessert, all terrific.

Greenhouse, Philipsburg, Just happy hour drinks and appetizers, Lisa loved lobster sliders.

Antoine’s, Lobster Thermador, Veal Scaloppini, Duck, Sea Bass, New owners, same chef and menu as in the past. I thought it was as good as ever. Son and daughter felt it was very good but not the same as before.

Avantika, My son and daughter went there and raved about the level of service and some of the best Thai food they ever had.

Bistrot Caraibes Select your choice of live, large or even larger lobster, Lisa had lamb shank, I had pretty good fillet. Service and food was superb, my daughter submitted a trip advisor report when we got back home. Really impressive.

Weather
Only had 1 day of mostly overcast. A few with spotty showers mixed with sun. Rest of the time the weather was terrific.

Traffic
Crazy as expected but the only times to avoid if at all possible are 8-9AM and 4-5PM.

Cruise Ships
Least in port was 1 a couple days. Most, 6 in one day, 4 of which were the jumbo variety. Only went into Pburg a couple times and never when there was lots of ships in.

Beaches
Little Bay, both Belair and Divi had more beach than in some past years. No construction yet on China Pearl up from Belair. No sea weed, little sea grass one day

Orient, really losing beach as has been reported by others. Still a beautiful beach but pretty crowded the days I went there. Little sea weed and grass.

Misc.
Airport problems with kiosks and Delta system glitches on our departure were an annoyance but all in all we had a great 3 weeks.

Belair has been described as “dated “ by others and we felt that more this time than in the past. Still a good home away from home but we did make a few suggestions to management.

Any additional questions? PM me and I will be happy to answer.

And a good time was had by all!? Thank you, Tom, for sharing. We just got in and I'm still wondering, "Where'd my Beach go?...... " and why is that white stuff on the lawn so cold and icy looking? <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/handshake.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/handshake.gif" alt="" />

Thank you for the report!

Thanks for your report. The adventures when flying never cease to amaze me. I am with you on both Mark's Place and Bavaria.

I enjoyed your report---easy to read and all the information you need.

We are flying Delta in a couple of months. I hope they get the bugs out. Why did you feel the seats were not comfort?

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

Excellent report...

Nice report......... 3 weeks!!! I'm jealous. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Thumbsup.gif" alt="" />

Enjoyed your report. Thanks for taking time to post. Never tried filet at Chesterfield's, maybe this next trip.

Most of my friends say they couldn't do 3 weeks anywhere.
Lisa is trying to find enough $ to do 4 weeks.
Should I be concerned that she is studying my life insurance policies?

Hi Tom. I added a few returns so that the report would be easier to read.

Thanks for the report. Don't think I could do three weeks. I get antsy about 10 days in.

<img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/jester.gif" alt="" />
Thanks for the nice report.

The seats in the main exit area should never have been given Comfort+ status.
1. Yes, additional leg room.
2. Biggest NO is video/audio system is situated in your seat. You are not permitted to use it until you are at cruising level. Since we were delayed an hour on the tarmac we watched the rest of the passengers passing the time with movies and other videos while we could only stare at the bulkhead in front of us. Same deal 45 minutes before we landed. Again got to watch others enjoy video entertainment)
3. no windows=no view
4. no overhead or under seat storage for even a purse let alone carry on that had to go elsewhere,
5. We had to accommodate the people waiting to use the restroom (on other side of bulkhead)and, of course were expected to respond to "Is it occupied?" to the folks that chose not to read the sign on door. (One guy did not lock door and gave the next woman in line a surprise).

We have suggested that Delta remove these seats from Comfort+ status.

Thanks for sharing your trip - all sounds good.

Thanks for the report. Also agree with you on Mark's Place, great food and very reasonable. We discovered Bavaria a few years back and it's on our list every trip. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Thumbsup.gif" alt="" />

Also agree on Mark's Place, good food, reasonable and usually very good service. As far as Bavaria, I honestly tried to like it, but did not succeed. I did not particularly care for German food when we visited Germany a few years ago, and I'm not sure why I thought it would be different in SXM!! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/duh.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Laugh.gif" alt="" />

Thanks for your report. I always check seatguru.com against my seat assignments to make sure there aren't any negatives about my seat.

Thanks for sharing your trip. I'm sure if Lisa is a determined woman, she will find the $$$$ for 4 weeks. Life is short and you never see a U-Haul following behind a hearse! Enjoy your travels while you can!

You never see a brinks truck behind a hearse enjoy it while you can.

Nice report,

Bistros caraibes takes the cake each time for us in grand case as does talk of the town---- what a contrast between the two. Chesterfields was good for us as well, want to try Bavaria next trip.

Bavaria is an island staple and if you are a fan of that type food it's a NOT to be missed experience. The warm apple strudel with a scoop of vanilla ice cream is out of this world and I'm not even much of a dessert person. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/handshake.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/handshake.gif" alt="" />

We often wondered what it would be like to stay 3 weeks. Now that we have done that a few times, we are wondering what it would be like to stay 4 weeks. May have to call and see if our rental unit is open an extra week at the end of the scheduled vacation in April/May

Carol,
Thanks for the editing. It does read much better. Don't know why the spacing/underlining/bolding did not appear in cut and paste.

No problem. Basically, tabs do not work when you copy and paste here. Underlining and bolding have to be done with the board codes, not from the original document with word coding. Not sure why. So when I compose things offline, I normally put in a bunch of extra returns to compensate, and if I want bolding, etc., I put in the board codes in the document when composing. It's more work, but that's the only way to make bolding, etc, show up.

Tom,

I find it a lot easier to do trip reports in either word on my computer or notes on my iPad and then I proof and do the changes once I post it. It works for me....... <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/handshake.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/handshake.gif" alt="" />

Careful, SXM grows on you. We started off at LaVista in the early nineties with one week in shoulder season every other year. We quickly realized we wanted every year in high season. When LaVista built new penthouses we bought a week. Then in late nineties when LaVista started to build LaVista Beach, we traded in and bought 3 weeks at LVB. Over the years opportunities arose to buy more weeks in our unit. We now have 5 consecutive weeks in the same unit. This year I was able to rent a consecutive unit, traded that with the owners of our unit, and will have 6 consecutive weeks in the same unit. I leave next Saturday. You never know what your future may hold.