TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin Orient pictures approximately 12-14-15 from Doug

I apologize to the person who sent me these pictures, as I don't have their TTOL user name. Hopefully the nice person who sent them to me will chime in here and claim them.





















[img]http://www.traveltalkonline.com/photos/1675525-image011.jpg[/img]

[img]http://www.traveltalkonline.com/photos/1675526-image012.jpg[/img]

[img]http://www.traveltalkonline.com/photos/1675527-image013.jpg[/img]

[img]http://www.traveltalkonline.com/photos/1675528-image015.jpg[/img]

[img]http://www.traveltalkonline.com/photos/1675529-image16.jpg[/img]

I'm liking what I see. Only concern I can see from these pictures is the lack of lounge chair space by the water. Thanks to who ever sent these pictures.

I think it's starting to look nice also. As far as space for chairs, recent visitors have said there is not much sand in front of Club O at the moment either, so hopefully more sand will come..

The area in front of the wall is much narrower than it was two weeks ago.

Certainly looks nice. Not the glitz and plastic look I was expecting when I first saw the plans.

If the chairs are going to be between the wall and the water, not too much space for walkers (tourists). Could get crowded during the high season, and get cramped.
Maybe the water will recede and give a little more beach area.

It's not like that area wasn't cramped before.

Thanks for posting these pics Carol.

The units sure seem to be ''shaping'' up. Has there been any more news about who will be occupying these spaces??? I am still hoping that the older businesses displaced are still able to come back....and hope they all aren't destitute by now that they have been forced out of work for so many months. When the guess pool on when they would be completed, a lot of us got a chuckle that some of the dates were so far out there...now....that every week goes by, and only a couple of more weeks left in 2015, and seeing the pictures with the empty shacks.....no kitchens....etc...surely means that Christmas will be long gone, along with 2015, before they may reopen. I personally am around 13 to 14 weeks away from our visit...and now wonder if they will be open by the time we get back. Never dreamed that this would be such a long delayed project with so many people affected for so long. Guess time will tell.

"If the chairs are going to be between the wall and the water, not too much space for walkers (tourists). Could get crowded during the high season, and get cramped."

Hope the French government don't impose the same lounger restrictions that they did in Grand Case. That could very easily happen if the beach area stays narrow.

I was actually thinking the same thing. They are imposing so many silly rules regarding the use of the beaches, who knows what they might come up with next? What ever happened to PUBLIC BEACHES? <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/smashpc.gif" alt="" />

Exactly !! We are usually there in August and September, and it is usually pretty crowded. I can't imagine the congestion with so little beach space.

What are the little white buildings in the 1st pic?

Might they be for vendors selling shirts/hats/beachwear?

One of the buildings is a shade of orange. Do we dare hope that it will be orange fever??

If you read the news articles which include the ruling about chairs in Grand Case, the terms illegal and unlicensed activities are used. It appears that the restaurant owners added chairs to the beach when they did not have a license to do so. In the case of Orient, the existing beach restaurants have the proper license, and the occupants of the new buildings will be granted them.

Heard from a reliable source that La String wants 1st dibs on the orange one. Guess we'll have to wait a little longer to see what happens.

sxmscubaman, Sorry, I don't know how to respond to a quote.
The big difference is, even though Grand Case Beach and Orient Beach are public, is that Grand Case is residential. The residents made a complaint about noise and chairs infringing on the space. The Govt was responding to the people who live there. There are no "private residents" on Orient Beach. The beach in front of the new buildings on Orient will return like it has in the past, hopefully.

good morning.
forgive if this is a repost--can't find my original.
i've been following the threads but can't figure out if anything is open at Orient. Aware that The Perch is but is anything else?
thanks!

Everything is open from Kontiki north to Palm Beach, as well as Pedros, Perch, and Papagayo.

thanks!

Seems very, very strange that they are this close to completion without any word who is going to occupy what...

I dare. I dare hard.

I thought the last story that was in the paper said that the applications for the AOT (I think they call it), for the units had to be submitted by like the end of November. You would think that they should be awarding those contracts soon!!

Remember.... ISLAND TIME!

Every day of 'island time' is costing these small businesses money that they will never recover..

Correct and with high season not being nearly as long as it used to be, it hurts even worse.

Absolutely, but it never seems to change things. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/duh.gif" alt="" />

I'm just the opposite. The interiors look very clinical, not really appealing to enjoy a meal.

The interiors aren't for enjoying a meal, but for preparing the meal. Dining will be mostly outside, in front of each restaurant. Maybe a few tables inside, but each restaurant will be decorating, so that should help. At least that is what I am told by Venders that plan to return.

For those of you concerned about the space for loungers, the tide is unusually high. Check out the space next to the Perch. I think that the tide will recede and enough space will be available for a couple of rows. I wish the "captain" was still participating. He could give us state of the tides now and if things will get better. And don't forget climate change. There have been islands that have had to be abandoned because of rising sea levels. That won't happen on SZM, but some beaches will disappear if something isn't done.

I know, it is SXM.

Does Luis still sell his custom swim suits there?

He's not on the beach right now due to the construction. He is still making them out of his home as far as I know. Maybe somebody else knows how to reach him.

Early November Luis was walking the beach & said he would be there once the buildings opened. He is going to feature some kind of cotton dress he seemed happy about as well as the bathing suits.

OK, I have to ask if anyone has talked the folks moving back in have they got a date.......It Looks like to me that it would be 2 weeks before this happens......

The Restaurant owners I have talked to say they hope to be in and serving by the end of January.

We were there from 11/29 to 12/12 and talked to one of the previous occupants. They had received verbal notification that they would get back their location and that the construction was to be completed by 12/31 and that they would get their occupancy notification by January 1st. That being said, even if it all goes as planned, receiving your notice on January 1st still means you have to move everything back in and that takes time. I assume that some may be open by mid January.

As someone else said, there is also things like getting everything plumbed, etc, getting water hooked up, not sure who is going to be responsible for that, the individual unit renters or the Collectivite'. Things look fairly far along, but I still doubt they will be finished by 12/31..