TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin 3/24

Monday we had a Grand Case day but not on the beach (although the weather and beach were beautiful). We started at the Maison chocolate and had iced coffees and croissants on their front porch surrounded by bougainvillea. We then shopped the boutiques resulting in some new rings and earrings for me.

We had registered in advance for a perfume class at Tijon. When we arrived, the building was dark and Mimi alerted us that there was a power outage. To say it was excruciatingly hot is an understatement. There was no breeze and in retrospect I would ask to reschedule , but we shuffled through and Mimi gave us lots of water (and a champagne toast at the end). I look forward to doing this again in more comfortable conditions. But - very pleased with the finished product. Since there was no electricity Mimi couldn’t print our labels for the bottle
But she made arrangements to deliver them to our villa.

Afterwards we walked to the lolos to have lunch at Rib Shack. I love their crab backs and ti punches. Ironically I think rib shack has the least appealing ribs of the lolos but we like their sides and chicken.

The afternoon was spent listening to music in our pool back at the villa.

We decided to do “something different” for the evening and made arrangement for a taxi driver to Maho. I was able to get last minute reservations at Roma through Open Table. We have never spent time in Maho, in all our trips. We had a pre dinner drink at 3 Amigos so we could catch up on March Madness brackets. Once at Roma, we were seated in their lovely outdoor area. I found the service here to be very dead-fish cold, in a way that you can
just tell someone has had enough of everyone’s BS and no longer has the energy to be engaging, if that makes sense. With a little humor we eventually got our server to warm up and she was very nice. We had arancini, calamari, cacio pepe, and their ultimate chicken parm. All were delicious. We had a nightcap at Jax while waiting on our driver to scoop us back up. It was a great ending to a great day.

This morning is overcast and windy in Orient. Not sure where the day will take us, but there are more than enough options to pass the time.

Was the power out in all of Grand Case, or just at Tijon? I would have rescheduled. Funny, I can't take heat nearly as well now, as before I lived in Florida!

Surprised that you got indifferent service at Roma. Glad the food ended up being good though.

Carol I don’t think it was all of Grand Case because the bakery and the shoppes we visited before Tijon all had power.
Yes, I was surprised at the service at Roma too after reading so many good reviews. And I will say it “wasn’t just us”. We watched a group of girls approach the hostess stand and inquire about happy hour. The hostess said “go over there if you want happy hour. Ask the bar. I don’t care what you do unless you want to sit over here”. The girls were visibly taken aback. But like you said - at least the food was great.

That's kind of weird, regarding the power at Tijon. Very unusual service for Roma.

Shocked about your ROMA experience. Very unusual as Marco runs a tight ship. If you remember her name PM me and I'll pass it on to Marco as I know he would want that corrected pronto.

So sorry about your Tijon experience. I took a class with the prior owners when it was a longer class and thought it was great fun. I always stop by Tijon to see what's new in the gift shop and have purchased many items there over the years. Mimi has done a good job adding interesting items since she's taken it over.

I'm also surprised at your Roma experience as I've always had very pleasant and helpful service there; I think I know the server of whom you speak and have found her delightful. Must have been a bad day for her. Despite your experience, the happy hour is worth going back for but GO EARLY. The Korean BBQ wings are to die for.

Would love to do the Tijon perfume class some day! Enjoying your reports and photos, thx for sharing!😍

Linda, yes Mimi truly went above and beyond to make the best of the situation and we especially appreciated her taking the time to personally bring our printed labels to our villa. I look forward to reading the Tijon book we picked up.

"The Road Less Traveled"? I found that most interesting. I miss John.