TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin Realistic time frame to return

My heart aches for our paradise. When are you planning on returning to the island, Either as and owner or not, 3 months? 6 months? 1 year? or more? I understand they are dependent on our tourism income, but when , realistically, will the be ready.

It's not a difficult decision for us, as we own three fixed weeks at La Vista Beach...47, 48, and 49. No way the island will be ready for us this year, but we'll definitely return in November, 2018.

The past several years I have been visiting SXM in May and November. I haven't rescheduled November yet, but am fully expecting that I will have to. None of us know at this point when SXM will be ready for visitors again. I am currently planning that the next time I go, it will be primarily with the purpose of helping the cleanup / rebuild in some way. It's just too early to contact anyone on the island about doing so at this time. I know that I cannot abandon the island that I love, and therefore will return as soon as possible.

We go for the friendly people, the wonderful beaches, the warm sun and the great food. All of that is still there now and every day things will get better and better. I have heard from friends on the Island and they are working hard. To me 60 days and you will see a function Island. This is wait and see....don't bail out on them to soon. The hotels and restaurants that are open by high season will be busy!

Are you delusional??!!! The damage on the island and the infrastructure is catastrophic!! Years before rebuild!!!!!!

The topic said realistic, and in response to forevers post I don't believe the 2017 season is realistic at all . If the airport was functioning in 60 days that would be good progress. While it appears rebuild plans are in place, the governments primary focus on both sides is ( as it should be) aid to its citizens. Infrastructure must be repaired and rebuilt, and this will take time. Returning to the island as a visitor in 2017 just isn't going to be reality.

lol NO Sure its bad but I am not saying rebuild it ALL! I am saying enough business back on the way and open by high season. They have to eat you know. I am not part of the doomsday crowd and I have seen how they rebuilt from Hurricane Luis in 1995. Lots of died hard types out there and Yes, the few ones that get open will be busy come January.

I look for high season, resorts to be about 50% ready and maybe 10-20% of the restaurants to be operational. %50-70% of Front St businesses might be ready but the infrastructure will take a long time to put back together before this can happen. This can not happen by High season by any means. Heck before any repairs can take place you have to have materials, work force and electricity for the workers tools to operate.
Resorts might be able to get things done quicker than businesses that have the insurance and means but St Maarten will take years to be fully recovered.
We are still planning on being there this May but don't expect to much.

we are hoping for April 2019

is it realistic? God i hope so

We stay on the French side, at LaPlaya, right on Orient.

Just getting the roads cleared, the debris removed and the telephone/electrical poles back up will be a major undertaking.

A lot will depend on things like how much money France is willing to sink into the island, how much insurance, if any, the business owners have etc.

Since we particularly like smaller restaurants, there is good chance that many of our favorites simply have won't have the funds.

My guess is late 2018 or early 2019 before things are passably functional. (We have been visiting for over 20 years and have reached the age where our definition of "passably functional" is somewhat higher than it once was. )

I would be thrilled to be wrong on my time frame.

October 2019...

March 2018 <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/handshake.gif" alt="" />

We hope to be able to return in March of 2018. All we need are a room, food, sun, sea and sand ! I was there in March 1996.

The earliest i can envision any amount of hotels being able accept reservations and airlines having enough the load factor to keep flights regularly scheduled would be 1 year from now. October 2018. More likely years later to see anything like we are accustomed to. Good to be in the roof replacement business.

I fully expect our first return to the island will be on a cruise ship for the day, hopefully renting chairs from rosie on mullet or a yellow umbrella on orient and a drink from willie. Or both. Hope they are both ok.

If we enjoy that cruise visit, we will be on another boat very soon or make a reservation somewhere we have seen.

I hate to say it, but I also see alot of the current crop of american/french residents and business entrepreneurs taking the insurance check and moving back to Small town USA or France and putting SXM paradise behind them. Im sure they will visit, just wont own or work on island.

I dont think all grasp what that storm was like to endure.

I think folks will leave everytime a hurricane is heading near, no no more riding out the storm in the condo. It will take another 20 years of cream puff storms to lure folks to "riding it out"

You are assuming they had insurance. Trust me, not everyone has insurance. Why do you think some individuals/businesses are starting their own GoFundMe requests?

I've been thinking about the same general idea.

We'll see how it plays out and go from there.

quite the opposite, i guess i assumed any french/american/dutch transplant bright enough to buy a condo/home or run a business dwelling would have some insurance......and even they would be having second thoughts of continuing behind demolition or immediate sale after repair

Those french/american/dutch without insurance....thats tough luck and i cant imagine them doing thta twice

That said, many have insurance and will toil to rebuild paradise and hope that anothenrcat 5 doesnt happen again for another 22 years........ <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/toast.gif" alt="" />

Ill add, the timeshare folks might be looking at big assessments i would guess.......not sure how that works..........i can see alot of people fleeing that market


Others will replace them over time. Owners, entrepreneurs, and timeshare owners........too pretty a place not to like it........ <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/toast.gif" alt="" />

As for gofundme requests, thats a personal call,but not sure id pump,money into an undefined request fromsomeone imdont know.

Cash has a strange effect on people ans thats why accountants usually like the two person rule to ensure thentheft has an accomplice.

My neighbor self insured his villa in SXM. He took a chance and deposited his money in a bank for the villa. 22 years later at 5k per year is 110k. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/duh.gif" alt="" />

It's too soon to do anything besides guess at the answer to that question. This is unprecedented in terms of the degree of damage, and we live in a changing world, when it comes to international cooperation. There is simply no way to see into the future.

I have week 9 at Royal Palm, which is regatta weekend. Will they be ready for me? I have already stated that I will go back as soon as I am comfortable that I won't be in the way. I don't need everything back to normal, which is never going to happen, in any event.

One of two things will happen. Either it will become clear in the next month or so that March 2018 is out of the question (maybe Royal Palm will make that decision for me), or I may wind up deciding at the last minute to go or not. Short of RP being closed, I'm not even clear on how I will know what the right answer is, although this message board will play a role, in terms of providing a picture of how things are progressing.

Is that enough?

Self-insured (and depositing the $$) is one thing. Not having insurance, starting your own GoFundMe account due to you choosing NOT to buy insurance on your business and asking others to finance you is another.

We're scheduled for mid feb, and I vacillate between believing it's possible to have lodgings and believing it's impossible. I also vacillate between wishing to go and spend my tourist dollars, and not wanting to be either in the way, or be utterly disheartened by the still-evident disaster.

A more noble version of me says go and help in any way you can. I have booked travel for me, my wife, and my two strapping sons. Surely we could all be of use?

On the French side, there is the Natural Disaster Insurance. According to an article on St Martin's Week FB page, it does cover wind/storm damage for territories like St Martin.

According to that article it should take 2 to 3 months to pay out.

What do they get.......is that a free govt insurance......if i have a shack do i get a new shack, or a better building? if inhave a 10 bedroom villa do i get a new one or am i limited to basic shack payout.

Just using ref shack for extremes.

If i get a new 10'room villa, good deal.

We were scheduled to return next March. Then, I saw a photo of the Blue Bay Beach Hotel, in yesterday's edition of the New York Times. Complete devastation. I cannot imagine that they will be up and running by next March. I called AA last night, and was able to cancel. I cannot contact the hotel. We re-booked for a trip to Martinique, on Norwegian Air, out of JFK.

Everything at this point is speculation. Many of you do not remember Luis. Likely the area of the island and the degree of damage will dictate how quickly a resort or restaurant rebuilds and is ready for business. We decided to go on our vacation a little more than 3 months after Luis. There were fewer buildings on the island at that time but I recall almost all losing their roofs. Large resorts like Dawn Beach and Divi Little were virtually destroyed. And, yes some people lost everything because of the storm and others lost because some resort owners/managers took TS and or insurance $ and left the island. Same immediate problems; no electric, no water, debris everywhere. That year we sometimes did not have hot water and or air conditioning. Some restaurants were open, others were not ready yet.
We had a great vacation. Glass half empty or half full?

Hoping beyond hope....March 2018.

Likewise, Ed. I hope as the time draws nearer we may hear good news, but in absolute honesty, I am not terribly optimistic. The pictures we're seeing of the entire island are heart-breaking, for sure.

I don't think that's necessarily so unrealistic. I'm sure the gov'ts on the island want to salvage as much of the High Season as possible, so they'll be working on debris removal, general clean-up, and infrastructure around the clock. Also, well-funded property owners of hotels, resorts, condo developments, villas, and some restaurants and other shops will get moving quickly as well. The idea is to get people back working as quickly as possible. Sure, there will still be plenty of visual evidence of the remnants of the hurricane on display for all to see, but at least the island will be open for business. I can see tourist traffic starting to trickle back in March or April. Once the tourists start to return, then smaller businesses will also start to re-open.

Call me crazy, but, I haven't given up hope (yet) for our trip planned for November. The company we rent our secret little villa from has confirmed it did not sustain any structural damage to the building (porch and deck gone) so lodging wouldn't be an issue.

Availability of food and safety, who knows?

We should probably come to grips that our plans for a wedding are gone, but, if it is safe to travel we will gladly go spend tourist money as soon as we can to help get things back to normal.

The company we rent our villa from has cancelled all reservations for October and will inform us on November reservations by September 30th. And so on for each month after that.

I would love to go back in Feb. It may even be possible because some of the buildings at SBR look like they were in pretty good shape but do I want to? Will there be roads, rental cars, restaurants? Do I want to be at a resort surrounded by damage, Flamingo & La Vista looked pretty bad. Will it be safe? My heart aches for the residents whose livelihood depends on tourism but safety comes first.

We were booked for the end of March 2018 but I emailed to cancel - haven't heard back yet from the property owner...
Here are my 2 cents: I don't think the island gonna be ready for the winter 2017-2018 ceason. First of all, the majority of the supplies to the island including all the building materials are coming from Florida, and Florida right now needs them all to rebuild, so as Huston...
Second, the rebuilding will take lots of manpower to do it all at once kinda thing... I don't think that the island has enough human resources and qualified workers for that.
And the last and probably the most important thing to me is safety. I'm afraid that coming too early will put you in danger of been targeted by criminals. They may declare an "open ceason" on tourists just because we represent such an easy target.
Those are just my thought - you don't have to agree with me.

I am not worried about personal safety should we be able to go in Feb. I would think that if the governments wish to push for getting the tourist traffic returning this upcoming high season, they'll have extra security personnel in place to make sure there are no safety issues popping up to damage the reputation of the place.

To your second point I agree. And we can't forget that that many other Islands, Barbuda, St Bart's, Anguilla, and the BVIs and the USVIs are going to need manpower also. I fear a slow rebuild.

To your third point I am afraid that the amount of lawlessness may be prolonged by the slow rebuild. I may be wrong and some please feel free to correct me, but I do not recall similar stories after Luis. If the rebuild is slow and the tourism rebound is slow, I am fearful the the "looters" may prey upon the early returners. To be honest there has not been a lot of "policeing" by either side of late.

I have been listening to Laser 101 radio day after day and today they reported that electrical power has been restored in numerous areas of the island. Also encouraging to hear that many volunteers and paid staff are working to clean up Phillipsburg. Today Laser announced a cleanup at the airport is continuing and this includes paid and volunteer staff. Gasoline stations are opening with a limit of us $20 or 36 guilders cash. Laser also announces area cleanups and areas where volunteers are needed. I am more optimistic today than yesterday-areas of the island will open for high season!!!!

This is not the USA.It will take a long long time.Every single thing they need has to be imported. I would not being worrying about my vacation,these people don't even have running water.The electric company has trouble providing service in good weather and I believe they are the same people that provide water in the Dutch side.

It will depend completely on the French and Dutch governments and thier commitment to the citizens of the island. Infrastructure is critical and must be the first priority of the restoration. Macrons unrealistic move away from tourism will be an impediment to reconstruction.

He also mentioned that he would help residents who wanted to leave the island altogether..........diversify their geography

March, 2018 and with order restored, basic infrastructure functioning, local people working and progress underway - then the least affected tourist businesses will start operating again
But that is not going to happen unless the Dutch and French governments take good care of this bigtime humanitarian crisis right now.

3-4 years and not another 10 till its fully back. Much of the buildup has occurred since Louis plus more. It took 22 to get this this point it's not going to get rebuilt overnight. Lack of skilled labor, between all the damage in the Island and the US...the trades are going to be plenty busy...unless it comes from Europe. Lots of folks will give up and leave but others will see it as a opertunity and build. All this will take a long time. How many year did it take Dawn Beach to be rebuilt and Mullet to be torn down after Louis? Get my point. St Martin will never be the same, it will be different. Some will like it more and others will not.

Now look at the other side...It will be like going to St Martin 25 years ago...for awhile...cozy beach bar shacks..no mega bars on OB...Lolos once agin cooking out of drums...