TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin Quick report 4/18-25

Well all flights (US Airways)to SXM were great - no problems. Got our car from Triple A and I was a little disappointed. No fuel in the tank - just enough to get me to a gas station. Then later found that there was no windshield water had to stop at KFC to get some to throw unto the windshield because of the sun glaring thru the sand - couldn't see a thing. We had lunch and or dinner at Bahjazu (?) great hamburger, 3 Amigoes, Tacos, quesadilla's were also good. NY Brasserie - nice place steak filets were good. I was also disappointed with Mou Lon Foo, I ordered some escargot and some were hot and some were cool - I don't think they're oven was working properly. Oh and we had dinner at Toppers for the 1st time - what a great place. Had a special 2lb lobster and it was awesome. Also had dinner at Pineapple Petes it was ok. My only complaint was our room at Royal Islander La Plage - I think it made me sick. My wife wouldn't sleep in it. BY Friday night I was poppin Imodium so much that I didn't think I would make it through all the flights. I was in that bathroom from Friday at 4:30 till Saturday morning! I don't understand why the air conditioning was cool but there was so much moisture in the air. Our clothes magazines, and paper always felt a little moist. I don't know if the room made me sick or not but trying to sleep with or without the air was a problem.
Our flight back was a little challenging because of the time span between flights and customs in Philadelphia but we made it. Oh and 1 more item - Sharon and Joann were great helps for getting me setup with a phone because my "unlocked" iPhone would just not work properly. But all in all it was a great trip and we'll be back next year.

Could the escargot be the cause of making you sick. Sounds like it wasn't properly cooked.

no, that was days before. It just doesn't make sense. Maybe it was the water. I would make coffee every morning and my wife doesn't drink it. On Friday we ate a bagel in the morning, drank only bottled water for the rest of the day, then 4:00 I needed to get to the room! Been pretty miserable since. Doc's got me on Cipro just in case I caught something else.

There has been some on and off Legionaire's disease reported in the Maho area over the past couple of years. Perhaps that was it.

Ciguatera is a toxin, occasionally found in fish, another possibility. People who have experienced that rarely will eat fish again.

That is why they advise against eating local reef fish and barracuda.

Carol....not sure where you are getting your information...but NEVER have heard any case of Legionaire's at Royal Islander...NEVER!!!!! BTW....we got back three weeks ago from there, and drank the water at times....and never had one minute of ''discomfort''. BTW..neither of us do escargot. To come up with Legionaire's with only one person reporting stomach problem is absolutely just wrong, and it's stuff like this that can get blown way out of proportion. As for the air conditioning at LaPlage, every room has their own thermostats now to control the temperature..( before only the fan speed was controlled). It sure sounds like the op may have picked up some bug....but obviously not from the room!!!!

LaPlage has always been the cleanest of places. Twice a week the place gets a full cleaning, and in between customers, everything gets changed including all the sheets, all the bedspreads....and all of the cushion covers on the couch and chairs!!!

Carol, I think legionaires disease is a lung issue not intestinal.

Thanks for taking time to post an interesting report.

I said MAHO, not necessarily Royal Islander, but there have definitely been MANY, MANY, MANY cases of Legionaires reported in the Maho area in the past two years.. Cruise ships are some of the cleanest places on the planet and they often get the bug.

Legionaires disease sufferers have reported nausea and vomiting also, but you may well be correct that this might have been more of an intestional issue. I remember a story in the Daily Herald very recently about intestional issues around the Maho area. Will try to look it up tomorrow.

I agree Carol yet there are always intestinal problems aboard and they say it's Norvo virus brought aboard by passengers. Well, in my opinion---since the ship IS clean, it could be food poisoning. It happened on one of our cruises and we were confined to our stateroom. I had it hubby never did so I did my own investigation and found all those I spoke with that had it had eaten the mussels. Those that didn't were fine.

Later I read a report about shellfish becoming contaminated due to high water temps. These ships take on supplies at different ports. Strange in our case that the onboard illness didn't take place until after the ship was underway and had made a port stop.

Bottom line is who really knows what causes things. I got scombroid once from fresh tuna because, after we had it tested, found it had come in contact with a carcinogen. Hubby once got the other party's symptoms long after a meal on the island yet I didn't. So it could be anything---even touching a surface or swimming in a pool, or a parasite in the ocean which enters only those with broken skin.

I hope your doctor took a culture before the cipro, it might tell you something.
Both my husband and myself had the norvovirus a couple of years ago in SXM. There was a lot of it going around in the Maho area,as Carol mentioned. Funny though, he still feels it might have started from the escargot at the same restaurant and doesn't want to go back. I feel it was just a coincidence.

Actually, Carol said Legionnaires Disease was going around. Perhaps she meant to say Norovirus? I haven't heard much about Legionnaires for many years.

First let me say that when we got our room at RI it was spotless. Plus my wife buys a spray bottle of disinfectant just to be safe. She sprays everything; shower, inside drawers etc. I made coffee everyday so I really don't think it was the water. We got up late so we ate late in the morning. I had a bagel and peanut butter, she had a bagel and cream cheese. I did start weds with a sore throat and it was worse on Thursday. Friday it still hurt but was manageable. I do think that the room I slept in was either too cold or too stuffy (when the air was off). I still can't help thinking that maybe the a/c was just not right because of the dampness in the room. The night before we went to Pine/Petes and I had ribs. When we got home I had a glass of Crown and went to sleep. All was OK until 4pm Friday. I'm still having a bit of a problem but all is getting better. Only real complaint we have with RI is their new policy on only 1 towel p/p. We usually get 2 each 1 for under our head. It was pretty uncomfortable with 1. Had to use the white bath towels!

Legionaires is still around yes, but it seems this was a gastro problem, which probably means noro, so I mis-spoke when I said legionaires. I didn't really have any time to look it up today, but there was a story in the Daily Herald within the past month, talking about gastro problems on SXM.