TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin wondering what is your budget for a trip?

I'm at work and shouldn't be posting... I've been playing here for about a year...and NOW I'm considering actually planning a vacation. (actually, if I don't someone will die!) Honestly, I'm too lazy to sit down and do the legwork so I'm looking for generalities. My last 2 trips were 4day escapes where- I threw myself on the beach and had a wonddderrfull time but maybe it's time for excursions. Someone mentioned a day trip to Anguilla will cost about $200-including cabs, ferries, chairs and transfers. so I'm wondering how much you guys plan on spending, beyond air and room and general food-say $30-$40 (meals) per day plus 1-2 good/more expensive meals? Booze, I think is a separate issue.

Everyone on here eats and plays differently so it would be difficult to give you an accurate amount.If you plan on having dinner out each night, count on spending at least 100 dollars plus drinks and of course day trips and beach days would be extra.Also allow some extra money for night life and casinos. It really depends on the type of vacation you enjoy!You can find less expensive places to eat if you desire.

We usually spend more on food than what we pay for airfare. We eat out every night and not always at high end restaurants.

You definitely will pay more for food than airfare and that does not include drinks.However, you can find less expensive dining if that is what you want.

We stay at SBR so quite a few of our meals are cooked in house and enjoyed on the deck overlooking Simpson Bay. We probably eat 3 dinners/week in restaurants so our food( and beverage) bill is MUCH less than our combined airfare.

Our general rule is $175 per day, per person. There are days we stay way under that, and maybe only a few days we go over (which all evens out). This figure includes food (groceries & dining out, mostly mid-range places), booze & cocktails, beach expenses, gas, pretty much everything besides airfare, room & rental car. I'm sure everyone's budget is very different but this works for us to make a pretty good estimate of what we tend to spend.

$350/couple per day is WAY out of my safe zone. Maybe it's the condo-cook-in thing but even eating dinner out at any of the decent places in Simpson Bay won't get us to $150 couple TOTAL for the day (all day)....eating in house obviously will be MUCH less.

Just curious as to what I am missing but could you roughly break down your AVERAGE $350/couple/day...at mid-range places to eat. I am assuming zero meals cooked in house to get that $350/day average for a trip.

Serious question....

Four years ago, we booked the Calypso cruise to Marigot via Aquamania. Price then was $65 per person including dinner and free drinks on board. I went off the prix fixe menu adding soup, escargot and seviche, the latter two to be shared among the table. I forget how much the extra cost was..but I'm guessing about $25 added to tab. We were next door, so no cab fare. So the whole shebang per person was about $85 but could have remained at $65. The Red Piano after I consider to be separate. That's what credit cards are for. We also did the 12 metre regatta. I think it was about $100 per person, including post-celabratory libations. Cab I think was $30 RT, so $115ish per person. Lunch in Philipsburg and drinks at Greenhouse were separate. No chair rental was needed for either of these, nor additional cabs to get around.

For example, a day we might hit our $350 would be doing the Friday Fun Sail w/ Neil ($120ish per person + tip ) then dinner & drinks later that evening. As I said, many days we are way under- this money allows for about $200 at grocery store upon arrival and everything else along the way, sunscreen, souvenirs, beach chairs, maybe an hour or two at a casino, pretty much everything. It is absolutely doable on much less- I'll also add we do carry-on luggage for our 10 day trip so we do buy many things we could pack if checked luggage.

Ahhhhhh! Now it computes...

For us, budget and vacation are two words that don't go together. Our lodging cost is fixed, as we spend our three weeks at our timeshare. Other than that, we spend whatever it costs to do what we enjoy. How much something costs is never a consideration. Our greatest expense is always food and wine, because the fine dining on the island is very special to us. And before you ask, no we're not wealthy; we just choose to budget on things other than vacations.

It is definitely possible to do SXM on a budget.

We budget $250 per day for the two of us. We don't gamble, we typically eat out only one meal a day, but we do like to go on different trips and excursions. This also includes buying some clothing or small gifts, donations to charities, etc. We find we always come home with money but want to be able to do anything and everything we want to do without worrying about the cost. This past trip we ate nice meals more often than past trips and came home with more money than in the past, but we also relaxed more and spent the majority of our days lounging on the beach

We spend $400 per person airfare (from JFK), $100 per night lodging. 3 gourmet meals $120 ea, 4 non gourmet dinners $40 ea, 7 lunches $30 ea. $50 per day beach chairs/drinks/pastries, 2 excursions $200 ea

Approximately $3000 for a week.

Sounds familiar...I agree <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/toast.gif" alt="" />

Here is my itemized trip report from last year(picture hosting site went out of business but its still a good reference):
http://www.traveltalkonline.com/for...;amp;Number=1588381&Main=1588381

We usually spend about $5000 for a two week trip...and we fly free. We stay at club orient in a mini suite....eat out every night....rent a car...and buy groceries for breakfast and lunch. We don't gamble and we don't go bar hopping...nor do we shop.

To be very honest...we don't keep track and we don't care. We are on vacation....

Mantas, 14 bottles of Rhum?? I thought one was limited to 2 liters per person. Am I missing something, as this is our first trip to the island, errr..any island, I would love to know. Thanks for the breakdown, will prove helpful.

I don't know if this is what Mantas did, but "craft rum", such as Ma DouDou, isn't included in the 2-liter limit.

Exactly...the score:

It's my understanding (according to the documents below), the norm is usually one liter duty free but is increased to two liters if at least one liter is manufactured on one of the approved islands, five liters on the usvi. Of course, you can bring back as much as you want as long as you want to declare it and pay duty on the additional purchases. I'd be interested as well if I'm misinterpreting the restrictions.

Caribbean:

https://help.cbp.gov/app/answers/detail/...bbean-duty-free

Alcohol:

https://help.cbp.gov/app/answers/detail/...bbean-duty-free

Just be honest and claim it all.....worst that can happen is they charge you duty. As long as your are prepared for that possibility I think you will be surprised that they don't want to slow the line down and start a bunch of paper work.

Plastic bottles are much lighter for luggage also the rhum's on the wings of my picture came from the Marigot market and were much cheaper (although most likely less artistically made) than Ma DouDou. They all get their intended job done just fine.

I always have and will be honest but it's my understanding the poster asking the question wanted to know what is exempt.

If you are over and they wish to charge you, it just is not that much money of an add on. I have brought back and declared 18 bottles before and since a bunch of it was local island Vanilla Rum we were given a quick inspection and told to have a great day. Be nice, honest, and good things happen. I have brought back 6 plus bottles with no extra issues from the Carib many times, the only time I have been hassled bringing liquor into the US was from Canada and I had to pay about $2.50 per bottle. Oh well, eh.
T

I guess I should have added, our budget has varied over the years. Some lean, some living big. Since we are pretty much always there over two weeks and in recent years three weeks at a time we watch our budget a bit but we have the ability to live a bit bigger than we did when the economy colapsed. I very much understand being on a tighter budget, and SXM has many options for those that wish to live on a small budget, large budget or anywhere in between. Another great thing about SXM.
Cheers,
Todd

Our experience has been the same. You usually get a 30 second lecture to remind you that you are over the limit.
In more than 20 trips that we have been to the islands, we are usually at that 4-6 bottle mark. Have never been charged a duty.

Spectacular!! Thank you all for the info! Mantas nice pic, are those Haribo any good? Wondered what candy you brought back.

$3200 for 8 days at Club O.

I bought one bag and really like them so I bought 4 or 5 more. I have been searching for some more purple intenese....found a source but they are expensive. I really like them....kinda like a much firmer peep but with a tastier coating that is not pure sugar.

I'm going with $250.00 per person per day.for a 10 day trip..includes airfare, lodging at the villas, boat trip, chair umbrella rentals, drinks, some breakfasts, some lunches,2 dinners out, does not include messages. I bring a lot of food from the states and eat in a lot, I hate to go out when i'am on vacation, I guess I hate to go out even when i'am home... (lol)

It is easy for a couple to spend $100 for lunch on Orient but it can be done a lot cheaper.

I Stopped buying booze years ago.. but I did take home some rum jumbie... so glad I can get it here on line

Other than flight and room we spend around $800. We take our Venture card for any major purchases (no foreign transaction fees). We could go over or under and it doesn't matter since it is in paradise! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Banana.gif" alt="" />

stupid stupid. I went on line to last year's credit card to see what I charged.... 3 days after I checked out I found $42 charged at hotel.. I wonder what it was???

Possibly a weekend food or bar tab that didn't make it to accounting in time since many accounting offices at the different resorts are 9-5 Monday through Friday. We've had that happen to us on occasion...... <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/handshake.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/handshake.gif" alt="" />

I got home on thursday. and this hotel doesn't allow bar or food charges to room-the beach and pool bars are independently managed. I'm guessing some towel fee, even though I left all the towels I was given in the room. I did use their internet to check in with airport, but thought that was free.

any idea what day Capn' Neil sails where? when is 'fun sail' vs any other his website is a little vague