TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin Trip report beginning

OK, I'll go. Here is a quick trip report of our attempt to get to SXM over the weekend of Jan 15.

Jan 15: Arrived PHL 9:15 for 11:30 direct flight to SXM.
Jan 15: 10am -announcement flight delayed until 2pm (readers will know this was ATC strike in SXM)
Jan 15: 11:30am - flight delayed until 7 am following day and then 10 am following day -pick your poison

Jan 16, 5am: Having returned home previous day we are excited to leave for SXM

PHL - SXM at 7 am. This was not to be. 7am flight was delayed, finally all shuffled onto an 8:30 departure.
8:30: No departure imminent. There is a problem with the plane. Due to freezing temps they had to drain all water off plain. Refilling water now and there is a valve stuck.

9:00m We have all been de-planed and they are asking us to go to the next terminal over for what is hopefully a ready to fly plane.
10:00: we start boarding the new plane
10:15: Boarding halts - apparently the flight crew has been working since 2am. They.can fly us to SXm but then can't do the turnaround. They are looking for solutions. Folks are starting to get angry.
11ish. A replacement pilot enters the scene. A round of cheers go up at our gate.
11:15 ish. We are boarding
11:30ish: New pilot comes on intercom, apologizes for many delays, says buckle in he's going to fly the plane like he stole it to get us there quickly.
11:45ish - pilot comes back on, states he can't make this up, there is another aircraft stalled out behind us keeping us from takeoff

So we eventually take off. and land beautifully on SXM. My DH and DD have their checked bags, and we got the chaos of SXM on a Saturday to get my checked bag. Which. Doesn't Arrive.

All that being said, we picked up our rental, headed up to orient village and had a cocktail at yellow sub - all will be well.

Hi. I made this it's own separate thread. Sounds like a real tribulation just to arrive! Waiting for the rest of the story and better days ahead!

WOW. Talk about a long haul.

And I thought it was bad when our flight was delayed once (for a day). Wow!

Holy Crap!

Just a tip, after having had lost and delayed luggage more than once; pack half your clothes in each other's bags. That way, no matter which bag is lost or delayed you each have something. Unless, of course, they're both delayed, which has also happened to us. We now travel carry-on only whenever we can.

"pack half your clothes in each other's bags"
Good tip. We've been doing that for years everywhere we travel. We also pack anything we'll need for 2 days in our carryon.

Yes, will now rethink cross-packing in checked bags. Just surprised as in all my years traveling, have never had an issue with a direct flight where we checked in with plenty of time before flight. Anyway. on to the better part of the trip

All it takes is one time. Cross pack.👍🤞

So as noted above, after the trials of our journey, we arrived at our rental in Orient Village, which was lovely. This was our first visit since early 2017 and we were pleased to find most things seemed to be restored since the hurricanes. We were a bit fried so our first stop on now Sunday evening was YellowSub. After some fruity drinks and multiple appetizers, we headed home to rest our weary heads.

Monday morning, I headed out to purchase a swimsuit. Couldn't find anything quite appropriate in Orient or Grand Case (if only I were 30 years younger and lighter). However, a quick google search found Kaptiva near Simpson Bay, where I was able to find something nice that didn't cost a fortune (though I don't know why I was worried about cost since American is ultimately paying for this). While I was out hunting swimsuits, the rest of our travel party headed to Hope Estate and stocked up on groceries at Super U, which they were pleased was well stocked
.
Back to Orient and we had lunch at Wai Beach club, which is on the site where Kakao was located on our last visit. Lunch was very good, beach was lovely and didn't notice much sargassum. Dinner Monday was at Le Telegraphe. Food was very good but service was a bit slow, perhaps because they were extremely busy. Highlight of the evening was the 9:30 call from the airport saying my bag had arrived and they would deliver soon. By 11:30 I was finally unpacked and totally in vacation mode.

The rest of our stay had a lather/rinse/repeat feel that was most satisfying. Breakfast at the house, supplemented with pain chocolate from Good Morning Cafe. During the day we visited several beach clubs for lunch on Orient and Grand Case, including Coco Beach, La Playa (2x), and Les Temps des Cerises. All were wonderful. We'd then relax back at the house for a bit before heading to dinner. In Orient we dined at Le Piment (2x) and Maison Mere. Both were excellent and the "a moment of freshness" salad at Maison Mere was sublime. In Grand Case, Bistrot Caraibes was just as good as we remembered. On Thursday, we had reservations for dinner at Ocean 82. However, after a superb and filling lunch at Les Temps des Cerises, we stopped at Bacchus in Hope Estate on the way back to Orient. That shop is amazing! We picked up some nice wines and some wonderful gourmet delicacies. We decided to just stay in and work our way through these gourmet nibbles rather than go back out to dinner. I do not regret this decision, as much as I love Ocean 82.

Given lost a few days early on, we scrapped some of our day trip plans (Pinel, Rainforest Adventures) in order to just have a relaxing few beach days.
After nearly five years, it was so nice to return and find the island still so amazing.

Despite our travel ordeal getting there this trip, we are now booked to return in May for a shorter visit. Maybe we'll get to do some of those day trips.....or maybe I visit Bacchus early during our visit and stock up so there is no need to leave the house/pool.

I have some photos and will try to figure out how to add them here

Way to do it. Totally enjoyed traveling along. Pictures please

After a very rocky start it sounds like a really lovely trip and another in May to look forwards to as well. Thank you for sharing.

If you like shopping at Bacchus you should try it for lunch, super amazing experience!

So glad the trip ended up beautifully, and that you have another trip to look forward to soon! Where is Maison Mere? It must be new since I was there.

If you need help with pictures, let me know. It's pretty easy to just use attachment manager.

Love your optimistic attitude. But I guess the island will do that to you.

We leave a week from tomorrow for (hopefully) 10 wonderful days of sun, sand, and food.

Hi Carol,

Maison Mere is on the square, next to the theater and L'Atelier. There was another restaurant on the site when we last visited, but I can't remember the name. Both food and service and Maison Mere were very good!

Cotes de plage?

Bacchus sounds and looks like a gem. We are spending the first half of our trip in Orient Village and will be doing a grocery run at the Super U so I'm thinking Bacchus will be a definite stop(s). It looks like they have an associated boulangerie/patisserie nearby, L'Express. Anyone been there? The pictures of all the goodies on google maps look divine.

L'express is very good, croissants are great. They have sandwiches, pastries, breads, and coffee stuff. Lots of locals seem to get lunches to-go from it.

Cote de Plage is gone?? Wow.

La Favela is between Maison Mere and Le Telegraphe.

Flying AA, right? Were you able to track your bags using the AA App or website?

Thanks for taking the time to put this report together!!!! YES, there is something very magical about life on Orient beach and the places/ people of Orient village!!! Thank you for the "Cross packing" tip!! We've packed swim wear(carry-on) in the past for other destinations, but that is a great idea!! Photo's when you get a chance!! With everything you went through, glad it all worked out!!!