TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin We made it…..

Doing okay but realizing travel has been a little more taxing and tiring than we thought it would be. But doing fine. Glad we’re here for almost two and a half weeks though.
Had dinner Sunday night at Dinghy’s Beach Bar. Steak w/chimchurra sauce (Sp?) and yummy French fries. Rainy night and the road in and out of here was flooded so this was perfect . Only blemish on the evening was they charged TWENTY percent s/c.I object to them adding fifteen % so you know this didn’t make me happy but it is what it is and now I know.
Had dinner with Kim and Ken last night at Sublime and it was very good. Service was fine and the lamb was yummy. Took advantage of the happy hour specials on drinks and apps. and ended up taking most of our entrees to go. Our meals were very good - rack of lamb and ossobucco and took much home with us. Someone took full advantage of the two for one cocktails and probably shouldn’t have but wow! Were they ever good!!
Ran into Ann and Steve at breakfast at the Yacht Club this morning and going to the Palms with them tonight for dinner. Only saw one cat going in and one going out at the bridge but the season isn’t quite ready yet. Soon……….
K and K are on their way home already. Wish they could have stayed longer but that’s the joy of owning your own business. Your life just isn’t your own and you have to seize the moments when you can.
We are expecting friends and fellow BSV guests on todays JB from JFK soon and there are many friends already here. And BSV is wonderful as it always is but the surf is very rough. No sargassum that I’ve seen.
As of right now Lake Mullet is gone and the water level on Lake White Sands has lessened. Never saw the latter as bad as it was when we arrived on Sunday. And because the weather has been so very bad through yesterday I want everyone to know today is gorgeous!
And there you have it and now you know what I know. 🙂🙂

OK, thanks for the report. Glad to know the weather is better today. That is very disappointing with regard to the service charge next door. Tipping is out of control.

Enjoy the rest of your stay!

I wonder what might happen if you chose NOT to pay it. I’m thinking if the fact of an added s/c isn’t prominently shown on the menu you should have the right to refuse to pay it. Unfortunately, I wouldn’t have the nerve to try it. 🙂🙂

Interesting question. If I was unhappy with the service, I might be tempted to try it.

Glad that you made it safely if a bit tiring. Always look forward to your reports. I agree with y’all regarding 20% sc. That takes away some servers motivation actually to earn their tip. Pat could you also speak to the new arrival procedure. We will be arriving on a Monday in three weeks and are hoping to get thru arrivals quickly. Have a wonderful stay.

I would not be shy about complaining about the added 20. Unless it's noted on menu you have the right to refuse it. Sometimes restaurants have a note on their menus of adding 20 for parties of 5 or more.

I did comment about our arrival on the longer thread about this but no problem and glad to do so again if it will help anyone.

We arrived closely behind AA around 1:30 and it was a total mess. And I say that acknowledging that I had wheel chair porterage. The island concessionaires are wonderful at what they do and how they do it, btw, but the new arrangement is horrible. They deserve big fat tips for their efficiency and attitude.

The AA bags hadn’t hit the carousel and JB had to wait for that to happen first. One carousel and four huge planes later I’m sure there were a lot of angry visitors.

Tthere is not enough standing room to accommodate one plane let alone two and with sporadic rain squalls blowing through not everyone was able to wait inside., and for sure, not enough room to park the wheelchairs to allow the porters to claim your bags. Very little thought went into this, I’m sure..

If you happen to arrive on a very early flight and/or are the ONLY plane there you’ll be golden. If not, good luck!! We came in on Sunday and I thought that was good planning on my part. Not really……..but my daughter came in on a Thursday at 10:30 ish with no luggage and was through the airport and on her beach after picking up her rental car in way under an hour. It’s great if you don’t need to claim luggage and yours is an early flight.

Glad you are there and hope you and John have a great visit.

Thanks Pat

It would be interesting to know if the Dinghy Beach Bar in St. Thomas also charges a 20% s/c (tip). Or is this just a SXM thing to do?

Pat, we’ve eaten there twice and and drinks another and never noticed the 20% sc. goes to show how observant I am. NOT.

I enjoyed lunch the first time but not dinner. My bbq chicken consisting of a leg and thigh were over cooked. This was the night we saw you and John. I don’t think the owner/chef was in the kitchen that evening. The sides weren’t very good either. Hopefully 🤞🏼 it was an off night although with 4 nights left returning there isn’t on the agenda so won’t know about quality of another meal.

Hi Pat, glad your trip is going well. Looking forward to your upcoming reports. Did you get #14 at BSV

Louise,
Perhaps we were just very lucky but both our steak and the fries were very good but as I have told you many times, not much of a foodie here ans long as it’s well served and filling. And wasn’t the bartender cute?! 😊😊

Jim_Laraine,
Yes, we are in #14 and loving it. But just any unit here is lovely though it helps older and somewhat disabled guests to be closer to the pool.

He was very handsome and charming.

Glad you two made it!! (We're coming in on a Wed. Jet Blue in March- direct from JFK- hope it's not chaos on arrival.)
Now relax and enjoy every minute!!

Glad you have arrived safely; I look forward to your reporting. I'll be landing on Tuesday and will wave at you from the Toad.

Pat, I'm glad you and John made it safely to the island and that you are settled and into your routine. Hopefully you both can rest, relax and let the sun and the surf provide some healing qualities.

** I wanted to let you know about Dinghy's Beach Bar & Grill. They only mandatory service charge that they put on their bills is for parties of 6 or more and that is a 20% fee. I have confirmed that with Jake and a copy of the relevant exchange is posted below along with their menu... I would hope that your bill was an honest mistake and that if you went back there and mentioned it to Jake that he would be more than happy to make things right.

Glad you got that clarified. Lots of restaurants, even here in the states, have a posted fee on menu for parties over 6. Which is what I though Dingies did.

Hi, Brian,
Thank you for the good wishes. We arrived safely to the usual place and so very happy to be here. Are you on the island at this point?

Re the Dinghy Beach Bar, the over-charge may well have been a simple error on the part of the establishment but to be honest, IMHO, the mistake isn’t big enough to make me chase after it. I’m sure we will return there because quite honestly our dinners were very good.

They were very nice about replacing my drink which they highly recommended and I didn’t enjoy at all. The server came back and asked how I liked it which was his first mistake. Charging the two of us as if we were a group of six was the second one. We didn’t stay long enough for a third but I’m more than willing to admit that honest errors happen.

Hi Pat,

A couple more days and we will be there. Too much of life getting in the way of me being there already.

About Dinghy, knowing your kind heart, 20% would have been your standard tip anyways. Hopefully it was an honest mistake but maybe just mention it anyways in case there is an errant employee who might be taking advantage of customers.

I saw the picture, of all of you out at dinner, and you and John looked great. I hope all is well and that you can both enjoy the island. Hopefully are paths will cross and I can say hello.

As always, best wishes for you both.
Brian