TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin El Zafiro

We are arriving on Friday and were wondering about this place for lunch and some beach time. Any thoughts and hopefully it will be seaweed free?

We love ElZafiro.

With all the seaweed issues on much of the island and since I'm not there I won't comment about that beyond saying it's the far end of the beach and I would think the seaweed might well collect there if it's a problem on that end of the island.

It's a great place for lunch IMHO but I generally have either the Greek or Caesar salads. Back in April we went once with my daughter and another day with with an island friend for a beach day and lunch. She ordered a bacon cheese burger. She said it was good but very expensive and it didn't come close to the burgers served at Dreams for about the same amount. I couldn't help but notice it came with six (6) fries. Uh, really? Just six ffs?

DH had a sandwich of some sort and said it was excellent as we're our lunch salads so I'll stick to my Greek salad in the future.

Saw them cleaning the seaweed off the beach a couple off days ago. Looked pretty clear but that doesn't mean it didn't come back. I'd check it out. If you get fries I'd recommend the sweet potato fries over regular.

The status of the seaweed on any and every beach on the island can change from day to day, depending on the currents.

El Zafiro is a beautiful, peaceful location, with a very wide beach. The chairs are placed far apart so that you don't feel like you're there with a thousand of your closest friends, as Karakter has sadly become in recent years.

As Pat suggested, the salads seem to be the best bet for lunch.

We enjoyed El Zafiro very much until... Last February we went there three times in two weeks. Each time I paid with a credit card. The first two times, there was no problem. The third time when I went to pay with a cc I was told that there would be an extra charge for using a cc. When I asked about that, I was told that was their policy. When I explained that I had not paid the extra charge the first two times there was a somewhat unpleasant exchange before they backed down. Left us with a bad feeling about the place.

Sorry you had that experience. We've always used our credit card for our daily tab and never had a problem doing so. We were there probably 5-6 times in late April and it was never mentioned. Wonder if it was a new employee and a misunderstanding on his/her part. <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 were there 4 times between May 20 and June 3, had very good breakfast and lunch there, there were no issues with credit card or extra charges for using one. Love this beach! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/toast.gif" alt="" />

We discovered El Zafiro last trip. Loved the location, loved the beach and loved breakfast and lunch. We went back 3 times in the week. Last day the waves were up a bit and there was some seaweed. Not enough to make it unpleasant. We will be back again this trip.

We enjoy the food as well as the accommodations!!! We have been fortunate enough to stay there 2 times previously and on Monday will be our third time!!! Can't wait to see Ed, Nicole and Bella!!! They have designed a beautiful piece of PARADISE!!