TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin Mont vernon Airbnb questions

My wife and I are planning a trip to the island in late April 2016 for 1 week and would like to stay at the quieter end of Orient Bay at the Mont Vernon condos. We have seen some good rates through AirBnb but had a few follow up questions.

What buildings have the best ocean view?
Is there anything specific we should ask about before booking? (first time AirBnb users)
Is topless the norm at the pool and or this end of the beach? My wife has expressed interest but doesn't want to be the only one to take the plunge.

Thanks for the help, we are looking forward to a new adventure!

Here is a map of Mont Vernon.
http://www.st-maarten-vacation.com/media/560775/mont-vernon-residence-st-martin-map.jpg

I think we stayed in the St John building and the view was decent. It would have been better if we were on a higher floor. I have heard people say the hike up to some of the buildings is steep. Ask the owner if any of the photos on their site is your actual view.
We didn't hang out at the pool so don't know about the topless situation. There were very few, if any people on the beach so your wife should feel comfortable going topless on the beach and it is perfectly acceptable to do so.

Thanks for the map! That will be a big help in picking a unit. No problems with a steep hike, we like the exercise where we can get it <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Grin.gif" alt="" />

We have stayed on the top floor of the Tortola building on a few occasions and had a great view. Topless is definitely not an issue at the pool nor at this end of the beach.

We prefer the Aruba building. It is a front building so you don't see any other buildings but rather an unobstructed view of the water. Our experience in the higher buildings is that you see more people when you are on your balcony and your view includes the roof tops of the other buildings.
Mt Vernon is a great place to stay and you can find excellent units from sponsors of this site, SXM Studios.

We have stayed many times at Mont Vernon. We have always rented thru VRBO and have never had a bad experience there. If you have any questions please feel free to send me a message and I can give you more details.

If the sargassum sea weed has not been removed or dealt with and you are planning to spend time at the beach you might consider a different location.

I've heard mixed reports about the seaweed still being around so it's hard to tell what's true. We are planning to rent a car so worst case we can drive to another beach each day to experience it all.

We will be staying at Mont Vernon for the third time in January, and really enjoy it there. It is quiet and the rooms are very comfortable. Topless at the pool is not a problem. Seaweed on the beach is common, so our beach days were spent elsewhere. One thing to check on - the main parking lot is near the tennis courts and unpaved. Ask where your parking will be.

Do they have assigned parking now for the units at Mt. Vernon? I thought that they were unassigned.

Parking has always been a problem there. That is the main reason we do not even consider staying there any more. If you do not venture out at night, you might find a parking spot before 6:00 P.M. Otherwise the local people that live there come home from work and many have two cars so it is hard to find a spot. One night we had to park on the road close to Sol e Luna and walk back to the condo.

There is some reserved parking but I thought it was for the full time residents. The spots have a metal bar that gets lifted up and locked into place so no one else can park there in the owners absence.

SeaStar, that is correct. The main parking lot is around the side of the property next to the tennis courts. We have never had trouble finding a spot, but it is a hike from most of the units, and after a hard rain the lot is a muddy mess. We rent from a private owner. He says that there has been talk of paving the lot, but it hasn't happened yet.

Parking is NOT a problem. In many years there, have yet to find a parking spot unavailable. Possibly at the top of the complex you found the lot full but down by the tennis courts there has always been ample parking.

So, the parking thing got me thinking if any owners included a reserved parking spot and found one that included it.
That being said the parking wouldn't deter me from staying there again. We walked to the beach every day and dined in Grand Case/Cul de Sac every night.

We've never stayed there ourselves, but I suspect, like anything else, ease of parking would depend on the season. Off season, no problem parking, during high season, possibly a problem.

Our stay was during high season and always found a spot in the lot by the tennis courts after returning from dinner.

OK.

We just got back from a 2 week stay at Mount Vernon. Our studio was in the Antigua building, 3rd floor, great view. Here is a photo taken from our balcony.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Ah01d...2/IMAG00446.jpg

The seaweed you see in the photo was typical for the entire time we were there. They raked the beach with a tractor or by hand occasionally so there was always some clean sand between the pool and waters edge. However, very few people used the beach. There was no odor from the seaweed.
Some condo owners have access to reserved parking spots but most parking is first come, first served in lots with undesignated spots. We were offered a reserved spot for an additional fee but chose to take our chances. We managed to find parking in the upper lot nearest to our unit most of the time but we did have to use the lower lot a few times. This may not be the case during high season.