TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin DAY 12 THURSDAY/Departure Experience

Thursday started off with some balcony time at the Atrium. I took the others to SMYC at about 9:15 for breakfast while I showered and finished packing. My plan was to go back about 10:45 to pick them up and possibly have lunch there. Nothing doing as SMYC was packed, customers were being told 1 hour or more for food (it took my group right at an hour after ordering) and when I asked about lunch, I was told not until 11:00 and because they were so far behind from breakfast to expect at least an hour. I will give SMYC credit for at least telling people what the wait time was versus seating them and then having some get angry over the wait.

We headed back to the Atrium and I walked down to BBB for lunch. I ordered a burger with cheese and bacon. Glad I ordered the toppings as the burger was pretty tasteless but it was lunch. I had a beer and then ordered a mojito, only to be told they did not have the ingredients to make it. This was at least the third time one of us ordered a mojito, only to be told it could not be made. I am guessing the mint shipment to the island was delayed as I had a couple of mojitos early in the trip.

I was tracking the inbound flight so I knew it would be early and based upon Cody's experience leaving on Wed., I figured 2.5 to 3 hours would be sufficient.

I headed out to drop the car off about 12:20 and as I was rounding the curve at the end of the runway (where the road starts to parallel the runway), I noticed several vehicles pulled off the road and basically a pack of dogs that were in the brush in that area. There were multiple adult dogs and probably 10 or so puppies of various sizes. The dogs looked excited to see people as I saw a lot of tails wagging but I also saw a girl who had stopped who was very upset and crying over the scene. I have no idea if a rescue was possibly in progress but it was not a scene that was easy to see, especially if the dogs were feral and trying to survive. There were a couple of black dogs but most were a dark red color. It is not a scene I will forget and hated to see as I was leaving the island.

I dropped the rental and was taken to the airport. I had checked-in online and paid for my bag. Upon getting to the Delta area, my passport was checked and I was directed to a kiosk for getting a bag tag, boarding passes and eventually putting my bag on the conveyor. There was an attendant there who was very helpful and the process only took a few minutes. My goddaughter, Aiesha, works for Signature Air and was stationed at check-in right beside the bag drop conveyor so I got to say goodbye to her. The continuation of the process was smooth, security moved pretty quickly but some of the passport readers required people to go through a couple of times while a couple were also out of service.

There were a couple of food places open upstairs and most had a line of some sorts. There were a lot of still under construction fronts so they are by no means totally finished. My departure gate was A1 (jetway) so I headed straight there. From entering the airport to arriving at the gate was just at 20 minutes, which was a very pleasant surprise, actually more of a shock. Once at the gate, seating was pretty tight as it seems to be pretty lacking in the number of seats and when inconsiderate people use a seat for their bag versus putting it on the floor, it makes for even less seating. I would say at least 10% or more of the seats had luggage on them and not people. In the 2 rows near me, I counted 6 bags on seats at one time. The small bar near the gate only had about 10 or so seats and was constantly busy with people standing 2-3 deep. I didn't even try to get a drink. One other note, even with the "new" PJIA, the acoustics and the PA system are lousy. The only place you could really hear anything was in the restroom.

I was in Delta Comfort, boarded when they were called, only to find the entire overhead bins near me were full. There was 1 roller carry-on that was expanded to the max and had some funky wheels on it that then created another problem as the overhead door would not close. A flight attendant tried multiple other bins but no success. He then emptied one entire bin for this bag. To do this, all the smaller and soft-sided carry-ons were put together. At one point I suggested the bag should be checked as it was causing a lot of disruption for other passengers. Part of this is created by the airlines as they do NOT enforce their own rules when it comes to carry-on luggage. When you allow "Joe or Mrs. Joe Traveler" to bring on the max-sized (or larger) carry-on a backpack, a shopping bag and their "vacation sombrero" and allow them to put them all in the overhead, you have a problem.

We departed via a jetway and then sat on the tarmac for about 20 minutes past scheduled departure. This was a 757 and while the last one built was 22 years ago, this seemed much more dated than the 757 we flew in on. Very small monitor in the seat back, several of which did not work in Comfort and the Wi-Fi was spotty at best. On the way down it was fine but this was a different plane. One of the flight attendants was offering every passenger who had monitor issues 4000 SkyMiles and also suggesting they contact Delta as this has been an ongoing problem with this particular aircraft. Some strong headwinds kept the speed down as we headed west-northwest but once the heading changed to north, things picked up.

Pretty much an uneventful flight into ALT and on-time arrival. This was my first time with Global Entry and I will say, it was a breeze. I was through in 2-3 minutes. I talked to a couple who used the CPB MPC (free) app and they breezed through as quick as I did. Security was another story as I was not directed to the TSA Precheck line, nor did I see a way to get to it but I did see a much shorter security line but I was stuck at that point. About 30 minutes there and then off to my gate to head onto DAY.

The DAY leg was uneventful as well. This was a 717 aircraft and actually seemed to have more overhead bin storage than the 757 I had just gotten off of. Pretty much every flight was full or with just a very small number of empty seats.

I would say my two best meals were at Jax (beef short rib) and Roma (filet mignon). All the other meals were good to very good and with the exception of the (lack of) service at Bikini Beach, service was pretty good overall. The others ate at Skipjacks last night and I had good reports on all the meals.

I do not gamble but Charlie does and there have been some house rule changes at Hollywood Casino when it comes to blackjack. He explained it to me but it gives the house even more of an advantage than before. I know he discussed it with others who gamble there and they were not happy either.

All in all, a good trip. A couple of hiccups but nothing too major.

It was great to meet up a few times with Whale Tail and Mrs. Whale Tail (Gary and Bernie), we had some discussion about the postal service as I am retired from the USPS and he is retired from Canada Post. It was good to see Jack and Barbara again also. And, Connie and Gary from MI, thanks for joining us on the sunset cruise. It was a good time! All are TTOL friends.

I am not sure what happened with the Delta flight today. It was late leaving JFK and is almost 5 hours late arriving SXM. This flight turns around and goes back to ATL while the ATL arrival goes back to JFK. It has not even landed in SXM yet and is showing a 4-hour late arrival back to ATL. I doubt anybody on the flight today would make their connections. The rest of my group fly out tomorrow, I am hoping they have a jetway and on-time flights, unlike what is happening today. Based upon what I read elsewhere, the delay was due to mechanical problems.

Thanks to all for reading my daily reports. I hope you enjoyed them and I was able to provide some insight or answer some questions.

It was a pleasure reading your informative posts.

Good reads, all. Glad you made it home easily and safe and sound. Bet the ‘girls’ went crazy when they saw you.

Thanks for all your informative reports, that's how us semi "newbies" learn things. It was our pleasure to meet you this visit and certainly hope it happens again.

JD, informative trip reports are always appreciated. Thanks much.

Great that you made it home. Wonder what the blackjack house rules changes are since they already took pushes.

Thanks for the reports. Hopefully Jill and Charlie's flight tomorrow will be like yours and not the one today.

I enjoyed all your reports and appreciate the time it took for you to write them. Glad you made it home safely. Until next time . . . .

I very much enjoyed your daily reports. Thanks for taking time from your vacation! As far as the seating at the downstairs departure that is extremely rude & inconsiderate to think their bags are more important than a person needing to sit. I know I would've asked one of them to move their bag to the floor! Standing long periods of time isn't easy for anyone. Glad you got home safely!

Thanks everyone. Since I am an early riser, it became part of my morning to make coffee and do the daily updates while the others slept.

The seating I encountered was upstairs, but I am sure it is inadequate and the same situation with bags on seats downstairs.

Scuba, I will try to get clarification as to the blackjack. I think it was something to do with the dealer not checking to see if they have a blackjack as the hand begins. I know when they played in Maho, the rule was not used there.

As of now, the Delta flight to ATL today is showing going out of gate A4, so that should be a jetway.

And yes, the "girls" were very glad to see me and get back to their morning walks. They had me up at 5:15 yesterday to get back to their walks. We are little behind this morning as we had rain overnight and it is very windy and about 32 degrees. The boy cat now has his lap to nap on in the mornings after he eats. He is asleep on my lap as I type this. He woke up as I moved to take his picture.

Thanks again for sharing your trip with us. Glad you are getting back into the routine at home.

Always good to get home and back to a normal routine. And then plan the next return trip.

Frontier would never have let that big bag in the cabin. People knock them, but their template gestapo would have made them pay to check it in the belly.