TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin We are booked!!!!

So happy to have a trip to SXM booked!!!!

We pretty much always go to SXM in June and usually book close to a year in advance. This year we had several things going on, which fortunately seem to have resolved themselves, for the time being anyway. So--we are booked for 11 days in June on AA.

Frequent flyer tickets in main cabin for 16,000 miles ROUNDTRIP per person from Miami to SXM

Confirmed at Beachside Villas in NUMBER 14!!

Trip insurance through Insure My Trip--purchased!!

Car through Alain Arnell--just waiting to hear back on a quote!!!

Life is good!!

What dates you on island? We are there from May 10 to June 6.

Ahhh!!! A date to look forward to is all you need to put a smile on your face.
Congrats on pulling it all together

Scuba--sending you a PM..

Whale Tail--thanks much! I have really been sad, not having anything booked.

Got it and responded.

Good deal all the way around.

Great Carol! Hadn’t heard anything so now glad to hear you’re booked in paradise.

Thanks! Hope things are going well for you there!

Sweet! Nothing like the anticipation!!😎

Nothing like having paradise booked!! Enjoy the anticipation.

Thanks, everyone!

Hi Carol. Please tell me more about Alain. I have been emailing back and forth with them and their quote was very reasonable. However, the website does not work and they go by email for reservations. I'm afraid my group won't be comfortable with that informal of a set-up. What kind of car do you usually rent? The quote we received was for Picanto's and Versa's (4 rentals in total. 2 Versa's and 2 Picanto's).

We usually rent a Corolla type vehicle. A lot of the local guys just do quotes by email.

We have used Allain for years. Always a Versa.

Thanks EdB and Carol. I'm afraid the Versa won't hold our luggage. We will have 4 large suitcases. My husband has a Jetta and I can get 3 large in the trunk and one in between the 2 passengers in the back seat. La Plage isn't far from the airport, so we can be uncomfortable for a few minutes. Do you think the Versa would hold the same? We reserved a Jetta with Hardy's, but the price is higher. Thanks all!

You might want to look into a Kicks. It holds our 3 large hard cases, large duffel, 2 carry-on rollers and our 2 smaller personnel bags. We get ours from Hertz.

Tried to book BSV again 3 weeks ago and have not gotten a response yet.

Rosemary--was that while she was on island? If so, I might send another email.

And 4 passengers? If so, that would work!

We always have another couple with us but they usually take a taxi with their luggage to the resort. If it wasn't for their luggage they would have room too.

Sounds like the Kicks will work. I'll have to look into that one. Thank you!

It's a hatch back and has a privacy cover in back that can be used or removed.

Great! Thanks again!

We had a well loved (broken driver's seat) Kicks from Hertz that had no privacy cover in the trunk area even though we asked for it this last trip. Yes, even when we got to the agency in SXM we asked again for the cover. They looked at us like we had grown another head. Just a warning. We used our daughters blanket to cover our luggage while we parked in Marigot our last day before boarding our flight while we ate at Tropicana. Thankfully (as we assumed) it was all okay but considering we had asked for some sort of luggage cover and did not get it.. yeah... we felt thankful we had no issues. Take nothing for granted.

Unless your car was within your sight, you are very lucky.

JD--agreed.

That was risky leaving luggage in a rental in Marigot. Should have bought a lottery ticket that day.

We are not novice travelers nor are we new to St Maarten so we knew the risk and didn't stress over it. We took everything valuable with us in a couple of backpacks. Clothing, my curling iron, and make up was all they would have made off with had they chosen to steal our stuff. And while that would be inconvenient it wouldn't be life changing. My point is don't assume any car you reserve will have a trunk or a luggage cover regardless of what anyone says either on this board or at the rental agency when booking. And obviously this is not a risk we would have taken earlier in our trip as even at Orient you need some clothes some of the time lol.

Even if there was nothing in it of value, I would be upset at the violation of my 'stuff', not to mention the cost of new suitcases.

Or the damage cost to the vehicle if it was broken into.

Yay Carol! We're booked also and looking forward to another stay on our favorite vacation spot. Hope you both are doing well.