TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin Trip Report 1/2/16-1/16/16

I'll be brief so here goes:
Weather: More rain and overcast than we have seen in the past. Islanders are happy because of the early dry year for them. Rain, brief most days but a couple that we saw rain several times with little sunshine.
Restaurants:
Mark's Place has become our fall back because we stay at Belair and it is close and the food and service is to our likeing. No ambiance but we can get that elsewhere when we want.
Chesterfield's has great food and their lobster and Hurricane Shrimp can't be beat. Filet Mignon with Au Poivre sauce is my favorite.
Antoine's lobster thermadore and veal dishes are pricey but worth it.
Greenhouse:
Happy hour prices and very good food never disappoint.
Traffic:
Intense as expected in high season.
Airport better with more shops on departure and some improvement with customs and Immigration on the way in. We do carry on only but I understand improved scanning has improved luggage check.
Beaches?:
Little Bay, both Belair and Divi lost most of their beaches a couple days because of offshore storms but they came back a couple days later.
Zee Best:
Still a winner for breakfast pastries but get there early (open at 7:30 am) for best selection.
So much for being brief.
Tom G.

Thanks for the report. Your first 3 listed restaurants are all ones we enjoy. I hope to try something other than breakfast at Chesterfield's this year.

Thank you for the report. We stay in Simpson Bay so we still haven't gotten to Mark's or Chesterfield's, maybe this year since we are both retired and going for four weeks. We hope the weather improves in February. I don't mind showers but I don't like clouds.

"Zee Best:
Still a winner for breakfast pastries but get there early (open at 7:30 am) for best selection."
That also means less fingers have touched the pastries through the coarse of the day.

Tom, you didn't mention the restaurant at Belair. Is it good?

We've also had many a breakfast at Zee Best over the years in the past, but in honesty, that was before I realized they recycled the pastries from patron to patron.

We used to love the original sidewalk cafe service in Marigot and it never dawned on me the pastries would be recycled - perhaps because they used to put just enough in the basket for breakfast consumption but without leftovers?

The idea of them being recycled grosses me out, so now we go to the Zee Best Retail Bakery along with Sarafinas and bring them home to enjoy on our balcony with our morning coffee. They freeze beautifully and reheat almost as well as fresh off the pastry racks from either place and you don't have to think about them being 'handled' before you get them. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/handshake.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/handshake.gif" alt="" />

This is Lisa, tom's wife. Belair restaurant food is good and when we wanted lunch I enjoyed their fruit salad, veggie sandwich, cheeseburger and chicken satay and really wanted to have the morning pancakes with blueberries but I never did. The one thing Tom didn't mention was that it took 1 1/2 hours to get to our gate when we were leaving. Remember, we only have carry on so we can just scan our passports and start the trip upstairs. Saturday departure only had two agents working so long lines weaving forever. Great fun for people watching. Always love our time on the Island and hate to be back home...why didn't we hit the power ball?

Other items I forgot to mention:
For the first time we flew Delta, and it was terrific. Free movies (I watched The Martian), free snacks, very attentive personnel (We usually have flown USAir/American and have not had this experience for many years).
Flew through Atlanta which was great on the way down but a nightmare on the way home.

What happened on the way back?

I much prefer Delta to USAir/American myself. I have not flown American since the merger but this trip Delta made it an easy choice. Since I basically only have two choices, it usually comes down to price and schedule.

Tom thinks if you go thru a ton of security checks in St Maarten then when you hit the states you should just go thru customs and off you go to your connecting gates. Multiple check points in Atlanta: long line to scan passport and have photo taken, long line to show photo, long line to go thru customs, long line to scan luggage then train to gate. took an hour and a half. everyone just wants to get home. I also really enjoyed Delta..they really do treat you with respect and the choices for free movies, HBO, SHOWTIME and TV shoes was amazing. Made the flight seem very short.
Lisa

When I came through ATL last March it was crowded but staffed well and we moved though very quickly, unlike what I had been used to in CLT.

Needless delays. Sure it was crowded, as all airports seem to be on Saturday nights when many are understaffed. But some technology such as kiosks that allow customers to print from passports into the system and produce a printed photo and summary actually increase time for customs and immigration. Final security check was insane with massive mazes and when we were a few feet from scanners we were directed to another line that added 20 more minutes before we hit scanners. We had 3 hours to make connection but anyone with less than 2 missed their connecting flight.

Thanks for taking time to post a quick-look report.