This is our trip report from our December 2, 2007 to December 7, 2007, trip. This trip was very different from our normal trips, as we booked it last minute, based on an incredible air sale from Spirit. It was a good trip though, very busy, but sweeter because it was unexpected.
PRE TRIP HOTEL On our last trip on Spirit, in June 2007, we booked the Days Inn Airport Hotel, for $90 a night, including taxes, continental breakfast and 14 days free parking. This trip, the Days Inn was going to be much more, so we looked around for other places that included parking and couldn’t find any for our time period that was cheaper, so ended up back at the Days Inn, for $140, including taxes. I don’t know whether this was a function of the time of year, or how late we booked, or both. This is a 7 story hotel, clean, very quiet, with the only noise coming from I 95, which was a block away, and no noise from the other rooms. There is free internet in the room, free airport shuttle and free continental breakfast, which included a bit more than the normal continental breakfast, including waffles, biscuits, sausage gravy, muffins, fruit, boiled eggs, and cereal, served from 6:30 to 10:00 AM. There is a Denny’s at the hotel and a Holiday Inn across the parking lot, neither of which we were desperate enough to eat at. There is a pretty big shopping area a couple of blocks away, with several restaurants, including TGIFriday’s, a Red Lobster, an Italian restaurant, and a pizza place, that we saw. We ate there last time, but this time, since it was Saturday night, every place we saw people were standing in line, so we drove a few miles and found a kind of sports bar and had a reasonable meal. Shuttle service was very prompt, every half hour from the hotel and on call from the airport. We were able to sleep in till around 7, quite a luxury these days when traveling, before getting a bite of breakfast and heading to the airport. The hotel is not deluxe at all, but perfectly fine for a one night stay.
SPIRIT AIR As I said, we had not intended to get back to SXM until March. However, when Spirit announced a $29 each way fare sale (plus taxes) for several dates in December, and we were able to actually BOOK it–as opposed to some illusory sale that you can’t ever book, which seems to be the normal case–we said, “hey, why not??” We were able to book TWO tickets to SXM, including approximately $100 per PERSON taxes, for a total of $271. Inasmuch as Spirit cancelled several flights on Friday and Sunday during the fall, we were concerned that they might cancel our flights, but everything went as planned. BTW, as of January 8, unfortunately, they will only be flying on Saturdays, so I doubt we will see any more $29 fare sales in the near future. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Sad.gif" alt="" />
BTW, for those that don’t know it, Spirit charges for everything. You pay $5 per bag to check prepaid bags, or $10 per bag for bags that you pay at the airport, and there is NO free food and NO free drinks onboard. Sodas are $2 per soda, $5 for mixed drinks, etc, and they have some (nasty) snacks for purchase onboard. There are NO movies, onboard entertainment, etc. The seats are extraordinarily close together, from front to back. They have what they call a “Big Front Seat”. Be advised that’s ALL you get for the extra money–a larger seat, at the front of the plane. For a SMALL extra fee, worth it. Otherwise not. For the price we paid, I have NO complaints whatsoever. Just know what you’re buying.
We now live about 3 hours from Ft. Lauderdale and 1 ½ hours from Tampa or Orlando. Since we would have to drive a fair distance to either Tampa or Orlando, we just decided to drive to FLL, so we didn’t have to deal with a connection, and we spent the night in a hotel there. I would probably do that again if we do Spirit. We arrived at the airport around 8:45 AM for a 10:55 flight. Although there is NOT online check in or check in via a kiosk on Spirit, Spirit does have a separate line for international flights in FLL, which was shorter than the regular one, and we were through the line in about 10 minutes. Security was also very light or non-existent at that hour and even though we messed around for a while before going through security, we arrived at our gate at about 9:20. Since it was only a 5 day trip, we did carry-on only, which is what we always used to do, before the liquids ban. We had no problems with that at all, only buying suntan lotion down island that we ended up throwing away. I was able to find a 3 oz bottle of pump Off down island, so was able to bring that back home. And for those of you following my saga before our trip, I was able to get a standard sized contact lens solution bottle through security with no problems whatever, just by declaring it. I basically had used up what was in that bottle in SXM, so just threw it away down there. I still have an unopened 2 oz bottle of contact lens solution for the next trip.
I don’t know if it is a permanent change or not, but on the date we flew, they switched the terminal that the SXM flight leaves from, so it was no longer the ‘regular’ Spirit terminal, which meant that you can actually use the ladies’ restroom without waiting in line for 30 minutes! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Smile.gif" alt="" /> As we did on our last flight on Spirit (to St. Thomas), we picked up very nice salads at an airport kiosk, for $7.25 each to eat on the flight.
CAVEAT–Be very careful if you book two of Spirit’s really super cheap flights on separate tickets!! GaryB from the board booked one flight at $1 from Orlando to FLL, another from FLL to SXM at $29, and they made him check in, in FLL after his first flight!! He almost missed the plane in FLL because of it! Check with Gary about that! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Shocked.gif" alt="" />
There were no issues with the flight, which was about 2/3 full, and we landed about 2:50 PM. It looks like Spirit basically never gets a jetway, so you might keep that in mind when booking seats. It was raining when we arrived, so we waited a few minutes for it to subside and then deplaned to the busses, front and rear. There were several other planes in, but the timing was such that we didn’t have much of a wait for immigration..
FAST FORWARD TO TRIP HOME..
I don’t know what time the check in line opens, as I forgot to look to see if they have a sign there about that. We arrived about 1:15 at the airport to check in, intending to check in and then leave and go get something to eat.. Check out the airport parking note below on that problem <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Mad.gif" alt="" />.. Our flight was only about ½ full, so we were able to check in within about 10 minutes, and change our seats so that we had three seats to the two of us, on the same side of the aisle. I would say that normally there shouldn’t be too huge a line for check in, as Spirit only has one plane per day.
Although we were scheduled to leave at 3:40, they announced a 20 minute hold at one point, also paged the flight crew at one point, and paged some other passengers, and thus ended up leaving about 30 minutes late. . For the flight home, we just walked out to the plane and boarded via the stairs. After a delay in the air, we arrived in FLL about 40 minutes late. Immigration was a PITA, and took about 40 minutes. By the time we had cleared immigration, the checked bags had arrived, which kind of ticked me off, since we hadn’t checked anything, but whatever. I think if we had been on time, there probably would not have been a wait for immigration. Regardless, for the price we paid, what can I complain about?? <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Thumbsup.gif" alt="" /> The plane landed around 6:30, and by the time we cleared immigration, got the shuttle to the hotel and drove home, it was around 10:30, still a very reasonable hour to get home.
PANORAMIC/ACE CAR RENTAL This time we decided to book through Panoramic Car Rental. The road going TOWARD the airport was seriously f’ed up when we got there on Sunday and the traffic going to the airport was not moving at all. So they put us and some other couples in various cabs for the two minute ride to their office to pick up our car, as opposed to waiting forever for the shuttle to get to the airport. There were TONS of people waiting all over the place for the various shuttles to arrive from their car rental companies. We had a fairly new Corolla or whatever with French plates for $115 for 5 days, no problem! Car worked great, a/c worked great, and we even had a CD player! What’s not to like?? <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Smile.gif" alt="" />
SHARON HARRIS PHONE Since we have to be able to have people contact us while on island, as always, we rented a phone from Sharon Harris. As always, great service, and a great price! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Clapping.gif" alt="" />
PARADISE BUNGALOWS Booking at the last minute, I was worried we wouldn’t be able to find anything we liked for a reasonable price, but we lucked out and Bruno had one of his O Paradis Bungalows (a TTOL sponsor) still available, for just the dates we needed! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Clapping.gif" alt="" /> We had stayed there before and enjoyed it, so were happy to book there again. It’s very convenient to Orient, new, clean, nice, and now with free wireless internet! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Thumbsup.gif" alt="" /> Just make sure that you ask Bruno for the password, as it is a secured network. They provide beach towels and there’s parking, and while it’s not walking distance to Orient for lazy people like me, there is a view of the ocean and Pinel, full or mini kitchen in each unit, fully air conditioned, and a nice little patio with each unit. And, at $600 a week for a one bedroom and $900 for a two bedroom, a real bargain!! Bruno and Geraldine are wonderful hosts and happy to accommodate with anything they can help with. We went to plug in our converter and it didn’t work, so they lent us one to use while we were there. I would stay there again in a heartbeat!
AIRPORT PARKING One real sour note was the parking at the airport. Some people here may remember that they just started charging for parking at the new airport at the middle of November. I personally don’t care that they are charging for parking, as every airport in the world charges for parking. But, get your act together!! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Mad.gif" alt="" />
What’s supposed to happen is you get a ticket when you drive in. Then you can pay for your parking at either a machine inside the airport or a machine outside. The machine does NOT accept credit cards, just bills and change. I know the machine accepts dollars. I presume it accepts guilders, although I didn’t pay attention. Then the machine spits back out your ticket and shows you have paid. You then re-insert that ticket into a gate which raises to allow your car out of the parking lot, once it confirms that you have paid the parking fee.
The new system involves NO people at all. Which is great, so long as it works! What ACTUALLY happened this time was as follows.. When we arrived on Sunday, the machine to pay inside the terminal was broken, so everyone had to stand in line outside to pay their parking fee. There were at least 20 people in line to pay their parking fee when we got there. That didn’t affect us, but we should have taken a little hint from that, I suppose. When we went to leave, we had INTENDED to go check in at the airport, and then leave and go to Sunset Beach Bar or somewhere to get something to eat and a drink. Check in went fine, we paid our parking fee without any problem, and then went to leave the parking lot, which is where it went downhill. There are two lanes to exit the parking lot. We inserted our ticket in the parking gate on the left hand lane. It said “drive forward” or something like that. Fine, we did that. Gate still there, down. Ok, problem. Pushed the intercom button. Hey, big surprise, it doesn’t seem to be connected to anything that anyone answers! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/cloud.gif" alt="" />
Since we’re fairly observant, by this time, we see that the OTHER gate appears to be working fine. OK, fine, we’ll just go get another ticket and pay our $1.00 again and leave. Oh, no, Mr. Bill, you can’t just walk up and get a parking stub, as it doesn’t recognize there’s a car there! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Mad.gif" alt="" /> Elapsed time by now, is about 10 minutes trying to get out of the freaking parking lot, so we pulled off to the side and Eric went inside the airport to try to raise a live body. He returned eventually, and about 10 minutes later, a fellow finally sauntered out from inside. He put his key into the gate, huhm, it doesn’t work!!!! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Shocked.gif" alt="" /> He tries it about 4 more times and finally gets it to work, and he lets us out of the parking lot. And you want to know something almost even worse?? Another (local) lady had the same experience as we did. She came up to the fellow and asked him to let her out. He told her no, she had to go inside and complain also. What a crock.. .
By this time, we are at about 25 minutes elapsed time, so we decided, scr*w it, we’ll just punt on the going somewhere else. Eric dropped me off with the bags at the airport and turned the car in. He returned probably 5 minutes later and we went inside to Quizno’s to get a sandwich. Nasty, nasty, nasty..
WEATHER This was a short trip, so any weather problems are magnified. But weather overall was good. Monday morning it was rainy and awful, so we went to P’burg to do some business. Otherwise, weather was generally pretty great, with no real rain during the day, and generally at least a light breeze, but no gale force winds, or anything that kept the umbrellas from being deployed at Club O.
PARTIES Sorry to say that we didn’t get to any parties in the short 5 day trip. The only TTOL party that was on during our stay was at Gutside and we had an appointment that evening and thus didn’t get there. Sorry we missed most of the Dutch side people this time. We saw a bunch of people on Orient but a lot of people we normally see on the Dutch side we didn’t get to see. Sorry.
TRAFFIC People have said that the traffic was really horrendous, although we personally did not sit in any traffic any period of time. We drove several times between Orient and Simpson Bay (through Orleans, NOT through Marigot) around mid morning to 2 PM and it took maybe 45 minutes or so, fairly standard. We only drove through Marigot once, on either Wednesday or Thursday, I don’t remember, and traffic was not bad at all. Supposedly, they had reopened the road there a day or so before, and we drove straight through on the main road around 9 PM.
CHEESE UPDATE AKA THAT DARN EURO!!!! In September this year, we bought a 10 kilo gouda cheese wheel from Sang’s for $23. We planned to repeat the procedure this time and were shocked to see a price at Sang’s of $40!!!!! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Shocked.gif" alt="" /> We contacted Barbara and she said that the d*mned Euro had basically doubled the price of gouda in the past two months and pretty much all the stores on the island were sold out except for Sang’s and one other store. Being cheap, we decided not to get another wheel this time, hoping that the price will have calmed down by Heineken time.
ORIENT NEWS As always, we spent most of our days on Orient. Not a lot of news there, although the beach was fairly narrow, with only two chairs beside the Perch, although there was full sand in front of Pedro’s. The beach was pretty full, because it was somewhat narrower than usual, but the usual great crowd of people were there. You know who you are! I don’t want to mention names, as I always forget some, but hey, Dave, how’s that garlic bread??????? <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Kiss.gif" alt="" /> And, RB says, “next time at the casino....” <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Smile.gif" alt="" />
A couple bits of news though, there is NO food at the Perch these days. Something about they planned on doing a permanent charcoal grill there and the smoke was blowing into the chalets???? Anyway, hopefully there will be food again there sometime. And Baywatch is going to be closed for a few days next week, as Andy and Cheryl are going back to NYC for few days for some business stuff. And the security at the main gate going into the Orient Bay complex these days actually asks you where you’re going at night now, as opposed to just raising the gate for any car that pulls up! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Thumbsup.gif" alt="" />
CLUB FANTASTICO Club Fantastico is a naturist resort, which is basically a 6 bedroom villa, roughly on the left hand side of the road right before Green Cay Villas, going down the hill in Orient Bay. They have a pool, a hot tub, and an expansive view out toward the ocean. There has been a lot of bad press regarding this place in the naturist community, as allowing swingers there. The name frankly doesn’t help, and I told them so. However, Mike and Peggy, whom many of you may know from either Eden Bay or Hidden Beach, are the managers there now, and they are requiring strict adherence to naturist principles. The place is BEAUTIFUL inside, with full access by guests to a huge commercial kitchen if you like, American TV in the main area (but no TVs in the bedrooms), and high speed internet. There is free continental breakfast and open bar included – I think probably because of the way the place is arranged, unless they did a full honor bar, it would be difficult to not do an open bar. We went on a Thursday night for a wine and cheese party, which included a nice, low key band. The cost was $25 a couple. They will be doing them on a fairly regular basis, although not necessarily every Thursday night. If you want to see the place and check it out, it’s a great way to do it. Mike and Peggy were walking the beach the week we were there, but otherwise, give them a call when you’re down island to see when they will be doing them.
BUCCANEER BEACH BAR We did get the chance to meet the new owners of BBB, who are a young couple from South Africa. They seem to be really committed to making the place the best it can be. They have really PHYSICALLY cleaned up the place and have re-done the bathrooms, which were quite disgusting by the end. They took down all the decorations that were up in the bar before and are putting up their own decorations. They’re having some problems making changes to the current website, so probably will be doing a whole new website soon. And, the best news is that they are considering doing 2 for 1 drinks for TTOL logo merchandise, so if you go by there, make sure you encourage them to do that!! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Smile.gif" alt="" />
THE PUB CRAWL We enjoyed a great trip on Celine for the Pub Crawl, along with GaryB, from the board. It’s a really nice experience, especially if you go with a couple people you know. This time of year, it’s really cool to sit out front and listen to the music, skim silently over the water, feel the nice breeze, and take in all the mega-yachts, as Neil does a little circumnavigation of several of them.
The Pub Crawl leaves from
Skipjack’s these days. We got there a bit early, and were hungry, so we got a very nice hot artichoke and crab dip at the bar there, waiting for the Crawl to start. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/dine.gif" alt="" /> While waiting, Jack and Linda from
Peg Leg Pub came by and said Hi, which was nice, as we have managed to miss Jack the past couple of times. They offered to call Sean to let him know we were coming, but we said ‘NO, don’t you dare!’. It was SUCH fun, hopping off the boat, and sneaking up behind him, and then getting engulfed in that big bear hug! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Kiss.gif" alt="" /> And, met up with some TTOL’ers again, always a fun thing!
FOOD, GLORIOUS FOOD!! Unfortunately, with such a short trip, we weren’t able to eat at a lot of our favorites, but we did enjoy some nice meals.
BRASSERIE DE ILLES Our first night on island, we wanted something fairly simple for dinner, and after a walk down the street, and meeting up by chance with several TTOL’ers at Talk of the Town, we settled on Brasserie de Illes, in Grand Case. We shared a really nice melted camembert cheese with garlic toast and a thin crispy pizza. Very good and hit the spot!
THE PIRATE (on Orient) We had heard people rave for a while about the wraps and other food at the Pirate on Orient. On Monday, we finally arrived at the beach around 2 PM. Being Monday, Baywatch was closed, of course, and I think that Pedro’s was closed also. I got a chicken wrap and Eric got a steak sandwich. Neither of us were impressed at all. We won’t be back.
BAYWATCH By Tuesday, all was right with the world, which meant Baywatch was open for lunch! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Smile.gif" alt="" /> So, Eric and I had to have our favorite meals in the world, meatball parmigiana platter for me and chicken parmigiana platter for Eric, along with LOTS of garlic bread, including one piece I snitched from Dave. Another day, I ordered the killer margarita shrimp (again, with lots of garlic bread) and Eric the Philly cheese steak.
RANCHO DEL SOL Many of you know Zuzu, formerly of Le California Restaurant, who is now also renting apartments there in Grand Case. Her daughter, Marina, operates KokoMarina, on Orient, and her son, Johann, along with his fiancee’ Chantal, operates Rancho del Sol, which is on the hill above Orient. We went there for dinner one night, enjoying a nice dinner and we’re happy to announce they are now a TTOL sponsor. They do FREE DELIVERY of their ENTIRE menu, (which includes pizza and pasta, appetizers, seafood, etc.) from 6 to 10 PM, in the Orient Bay area, French Cul de Sac, and Grand Case. I enjoyed a nice beef filet with bearnaise sauce and Eric had a very nice tuna. They were doing $1.20 to the Euro with cash, quite a good rate. Another night, we ordered pizza for delivery and it was great, on time, fresh and hot!
LE COTTAGE Our friends at
Bistrot Cariabes were taking a little vacation break in the DR the week we were there, so we weren’t able to get there this time, but we were able to get to Le Cottage, which is our other favorite restaurant in Grand Case. We shared a lovely shrimp appetizer, and I enjoyed the rack of lamb and Eric the sea bass. Eric ordered the chocolate dessert, and oh my GOODNESS, it was WONDERFUL! An absolutely fabulous chocolate souffle and a sinfully rich chocolate mousse. I am not normally a chocolate person and I thought I was full so did not order any dessert, so I just had some of Eric’s. Wow, absolutely outstanding!! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Clapping.gif" alt="" />
CASINOS We only got to Hollywood at the Pelican one night, and to PDP one other night. Neither one was successful, hardly worth writing about. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Smile.gif" alt="" />
Hey, that’s it! I’m probably the only person on the planet who can write a 7 page report about a 5 day trip! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Grin.gif" alt="" /> Looking forward to March!!
Carol & Eric
