Our 10th trip to St. Maarten. We have always stayed at Sapphire Beach Club, but this time we were bringing our 3 children, plus another couple and their 2 children, so we needed 2 large units. The Divi had 2 sleep 6 units (according to RCI) that we confirmed, as Sapphire only had one and we wanted to be at the same resort as our friends. More about this later.

We left our PA home to drive to Cleveland on 1/13 for our early morning (7 a.m.) flight on American Airlines. We got up at 4 a. m. and took the shuttle to the airport. We were at our gate by 5:30 a.m. We were due to arrive in Miami at 10:10 and to depart Miami to SXM at 11:10. Unfortunately, American miscalculated the turnaround time on our plane and we did not leave Cleveland until almost 7:45. We arrived in Miami at 10:45 a.m. The flight attendant assured us she had notified our flight to SXM that we would be arriving. Rather than pulling up to a gate, we were put onto a shuttle bus to take us to our gate, losing valuable minutes. When we got to our gate we had to run about 10 minutes across the other side of the airport to our departure gate for SXM. As I am 8 months pregnant and had 3 children with me (ages 7, 4 and 4) this was no easy task. We arrived at our departure gate at 11:12, and we were told that our plane for SXM had left without us. The bad news was they had NO other flights at all to SXM until the next day. The good news was…well, there was no good news. So they put us up at a hotel in Miami until the following day. There went one day of vacation. It was raining in Miami, and there was nothing at all at the hotel for the kids to do, so we basically spent the entire day either eating or sitting in our rooms, watching TV. We did call the Divi to let them know that we would not be in until the following day, and they completely assured us that this was NOT a problem and that the rooms that we reserved WOULD be there for us whenever we got there. To our dismay, we found out later that this was not to be the case.

On Saturday we flew into SXM, got our Space Van and car from Mickey at Tropicana/Tropical Rental cars and we were on our way to the Divi.
http://www.tropical-tropicana.com/

Got to Divi around 4:00 and waited in line to check-in. I have told our story of woe previously on this board, so won’t go into it now. Suffice it to say that 3 hours at registration later we did not have our rooms, but rather were put into 2 sleep 4 units (instead of 2 sleep 6 units) despite confirmed RCI point transactions reserving 2 sleep 6 units. The first night the Divi actually put all 9 of us into ONE sleep 4 unit, as they did not even have another sleep 4 unit available the first night, but they assured us that our friends could move into another unit first thing the next morning. Yeah, right….more about THAT later. Not a great start to the vacation. After 3 hours, and discussions with at least 4 different people, Divi did finally comp us for all meals/drinks (more restricted than it sounds, though) for the week, but as we tend to be “out and about” most of the time we really did not take advantage of this…the Divi food was ok, but not nearly the quality that we are used to on St. Martin. We did feed the kids there a lot, though, so that helped us out.

When we got into our room on Sat. night we watched the Steelers squeak out a victory, then Craig from Packlight Vacations http://www.sxm-services.com/packlight/ came to deliver our chairs/umbrellas/cooler. Since we move from beach to beach we always rent from him. It saves us a lot of money over the week.

Sunday: I drove over to Sapphire to say some hellos to my friends over there, and to visit with Neil from Celine (as he comes to talk at the Sapphire orientation). When I got back to Divi we spent the day at Divi beach recovering from our 2 previous horrible days! We would have liked to go elsewhere but Divi told our friends they could move into their new room at about noon so we stuck around. Then at noon Divi changed it to 1:30. Then at 1:30 Divi changed their move-in time to 3:00. You guessed it…at 4:00 our friends were in line with everyone else finally getting their keys. Thanks, Divi! I felt bad for our friends who had to pack up and move to their sleep 4 room nearby. Wow…3 days into our trip and none of us were settled yet and we were beginning to feel like prisoners of the resort. After we decompressed, I decided it was time to escape and show our friends some things we love about the island. Due to our bad experience with the Divi our friends were very unimpressed with the island, and the Divi, at that point and I really felt I needed to change that! So after we fed the kids dinner we drove everyone over to the Ocean Club to the Oasis Grill to see Bert and to have one of his delicious meals. http://www.theoceanclub.net/bargrill.htm

We showed our friends the Sapphire Beach Club (our usual home on St. Martin) and then went over to Ocean Club where Bert greeted us with his usual wonderful welcome. After a delicious dinner and many rum punches (except for pregnant ME of course!) my friends started to visibly settle into the island mood.

Monday: After breakfast the hubbies and wives parted ways. The wives took the kids, while the hubbies went off by themselves. We girls (and the 5 kids) went to the butterfly farm (the kids loved it!) and then to Galion beach. The children loved the calm waters, and the moms loved that we did not have to be panicking about the youngsters getting knocked over by waves! My children are 7, 4 and 4, and my friend’s are 7 and 5, so we have to be vigilant! After a lovely day at the beach we drove back to Divi, to find out that the “boys” had spent the day at Club O and then at Cupecoy. Cupecoy had very little sand, but enough for a row of chairs up near the top. As I realized that our friends were just starting to really get the picture about SXM, I had volunteered the night before to watch the 5 kids so the other 3 adults could go on the Celine pub crawl. http://www.sailstmaarten.com/

So off they went. My friends absolutely loved Neil (Paul and I have known Neil almost as long as he has been on the island) and came home from the Pub Crawl raving about what a wonderful time they had. They especially loved the food at Peg Leg Pub! While on the crawl, my husband saw Jeff Berger on one of the stops so had a chance to chat with him. We have run into Jeff on many of our trips. It is always a pleasure. Unfortunately, I did not get to see him this year.

Tuesday: My 3 girls and my friend’s daughter got their hair braided in the morning. They all looked adorable and the braids lasted through the trip until I took them out several days after returning to Pennsylvania. We decided to show our friends another beach, so we decided on going to Dawn Beach. Unfortunately, my hubby and I had a miscommunication and he thought I said Friar’s beach. We were in two different cars, and my friend and I left first, went to Dawn Beach, and waited for the guys and kids to arrive. After about 45 minutes we began to wonder what happened to them. Then my friend said…is the “F” beach, because I think your husband said he would see us a beach that began with an F. Oops. Friars beach here we come! So we packed up and drove to Friars, where the guys and kids were starting to wonder where the heck we were! We spent several hours there…the kids did not like it as much because the shore is rocky, but they still had fun. We ate lunch at Kalis, which was delicious. Then my friend and I drove back to the Divi for massages at the spa. Due to our unfortunate experience at check-in we had also negotiated free massages for my friend and I at Indulgence by the Sea. http://www.spastmaarten.com/spa_et.html
Although none of us were happy with the Divi itself as a resort, we did think that the spa was excellent and would visit it again. The pampering helped the swelling in my pregnant feet (which were about twice their normal size.

That evening we went to Lee’s for dinner. http://www.stmaarten.org/Restaurants/LeesRoadsideGrill.html
Chi Chi and Lee both greeted us with their usual warmth. They have known me since before I got married and had kids, and this is the first time I have been there with my entire brood, plus one on the way! My friend’s husband and I shared the lobster, which was awesome. My friend had a Mahi Mahi sandwich, which she loved, and my husband had Mahi Mahi. Always a great meal, and reasonable! Lee’s is always one of our “must do” places. The guys went out gambling after dinner and the girls and kids went home.

Wednesday: We had chartered the Celine for the day, so we got to Turtle Pier at 8:30 to set sail with Neil and his son. He took us around the island, docking at Baie Longue. The kids had a blast swimming into the beach with their “noodles” and some of our party remained on the boat to fish. Three of the kids hooked fish, so that made for some adorable photographs!! Neil’s son (a trained chef) cooked us a gourmet lunch that was out of this world, consisting of ribs, chicken, shrimp, salmon, potato salad, coleslaw and I can’t remember what else! (Neil helped too! Gotta give him some credit!). After a wonderful day we set sail back through Marigot. While waiting for the bridge Neil served our children ice cream. What a sweet and thoughtful touch! We got back into Turtle Pier at about 2:45. Neil’s oldest son was flying in that afternoon so we said our quick goodbyes so he could head to the airport.

My friend and I went to Maho to GOLD CREATIONS to visit my friend Neil. If anyone would like to have an e-mail address to contact him about jewelry or cigars, just PM me and I can get it to you. I had a diamond bracelet that I wanted to upgrade and Neil found me a beautiful new one…5 ¼ carats! He also helped my friend find several lovely pieces of jewelry. She was very happy! We had a wonderful time visiting and shopping with him. He also fixed a pair of earrings for my friends, replacing a stone for her. We have been going to Neil at Gold Creations for several years now and I have found him to be wonderful to deal with, honest, and very reasonable. Plus my friend’s husband enjoyed visiting the cigar shop next door, where Neil hooked him up with fresh cubanos from his store next door, SUNRISE GIFT SHOP.

That night we went to Ocean Club for their all you can eat barbecue party. Despite some rain, which chased us onto a patio, we managed to have a wonderful time. The ribs had a sauce that was out of this world (several of us commented that we just wanted to take a straw to the sauce!) and the pasta was delicious! We also loved the fresh fruit. The cost was very reasonable ($20 per adult). We got to spend time with Bert, Jill and their daughter (who had played with my oldest daughter on a previous trip). What a great evening! Again, the guys went out gambling and the women and kids went home.

Thursday: My friend and I went back to the Spa to get facials. Wonderful! Then we decided to visit Orient beach. The whole group of us drove there only to find that it was very windy and cloudy. The kids were miserable, since the waves were rough and the seaweed was plentiful. We were down by Kon Tiki. After about 15 minutes we decided to leave and go over to Galion. The water was calm (as usual) so the children were much happier. Afterwards the guys went back to Cupecoy and we took the kids back to the Divi to swim in the pool.

As my husband was turning the big 4-0 that weekend we decided to have a birthday dinner at La Gondola. We love the Gnocchi in Gorgonzola sauce there! Yum!!!! Melts in your mouth. Everyone was very happy with his or her meals. The kids had eaten at Divi, so we just got them Shirley Temples while we ate, with the promise of ice cream in Maho after the meal. After dinner the waiter brought my husband a piece of Tiramisu with a candle on it and we sang happy birthday to him. This is the second year in a row my husband has had a birthday celebration at Gondola. I kind of like that tradition! After dinner we stopped back to see Neil at Gold Creations and to look at a few more items. We then took the kids for ice cream across the street. My friend and my husband went gambling then, while her husband and I took the kids home.

Friday: Our last day. We packed and then took the kids to the pool to swim for a while. We dropped off our friends at Sunset Beach Bar so they could have lunch and watch the planes and we headed to the airport. We ate lunch at the airport restaurant and flew back to Miami on AA. We spent the night in Miami (planned this time!) and flew into Cleveland in the middle of a snowstorm on Saturday. Our friends did not leave SXM until Saturday. When they returned we found out that they loved the island so much they had bought a timeshare at Caravanserai (in the soon to be built portion!) from our friend Bob. He sold us our timeshare at Sapphire and he has always been a pleasure to deal with…keeps us informed, he is honest, and he looks out for us. We were thrilled that our friends bought from him! Yay! More converts!…despite the first few difficult days courtesy of the Divi!

There were things we really wanted to do but had lost too many days: Loterie farm for a meal at Hidden Forest Cafe, Marigot market, Phillipsburg to walk the boardwalk and visit the shops, ferry to Anguilla, afternoon at Pinel. We normally do these things and recommend them to all! Just ran out of time!

This trip, though mostly wonderful, was just too short! We really ended up having only 5 1/2 days to relax, instead of our anticipated 7. Paul and I are the type that jump off the plane and head straight to the beach so as to start our vacation immediately...and the AA situation and Divi situation prevented it this time. I keep telling my husband that this means that he should take me again in August after the baby is born and old enough to travel, so that I can do some of the things that I was moving too slow to do this visit. We are attempting to get our almost 20,000 points back from RCI (the difference in value of the units we got versus those we reserved) which would go a long way toward getting a studio at Sapphire.

Summary:

Weather mostly beautiful. Some rain, and clouds/wind on a few days, but nothing that really affected our vacation. Most beaches had plenty of sand. Island green and lush.

Beaches visited: Divi, Cupecoy, Orient, Friars, Long, Dawn, Galion, Maho
Restaurants: Divi, Lees, Kali’s, Oasis Grill (at Ocean Club), La Gondola,
Must do: Celine Pub Crawl, Visit Neil at Gold Creations in Maho, Get Chairs/umbrellas from Packlight, Visit the Oasis Grill at least for a mixed drink with Bert and Jill! Tell all of them Mary and Paul say "hi"!!
And we are always happy with the service we get from Mickey at Tropical/Tropicana for our rental cars!
To be avoided: Staying at Divi. At least, that is the opinion of everyone in our party and we understand that there are others who have had better experiences. We were in Room 607 and the room was not nearly what we are used to. The rooms were not what we were confirmed for and paid for, bad experience at 3 hour check in, ants in kitchen, brown water for first 3 days, leaky tub, crowded beach due to cruise ship visitors, average food (often cold or lukewarm), water never got hot enough to wash dishes unless we boiled it, promises made and broken, deceived about general manager being on premises during check in (told he was not there that day….we spotted him…nametag and all.. a few minutes later). Worn out and funky looking room décor, worn out locks on patio doors (safety issue), no light in kitchen, etc, etc, Ummm…the view from the unit was nice. Suffice it to say….we REALLY missed the Sapphire Beach Club on this trip