TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin Coolers and Bringing Your Own Beer

Hey guys, two part question. Is it frowned upon to bring your own beers/wine to the beaches? I'm assuming you cant do that if you rent a chair from a restaurant but what if we're just looking to lay down some towels on the nude side of Orient and drink a few beers? Is it cool to bring a cooler with some of our own drinks? I do plan on renting chairs and buying drinks from the beach bars occasionally, but some days we are gonna wanna be cheap and just pack some drinks and sandwiches. Second part, if this is okay to do, any ideas on where to get a soft sided, medium sized cooler? Thanks for any info & advice guys! Really getting excited to go!

We've always brung our own adult beverages. Never had any problem at the Club O beach. We do rent chairs there though. The beaches are public, so no problem simply laying down a towel. Not sure about other bars since we usually plant ourselves in the same spot for the duration. We bought a nice cooler at the Ace Hardware--sorry, can't tell you how to get there. For the latest trip, we picked up an insulated water bottle at home like the one linked below for less than $20. It worked very well for a day's worth of cocktails.

https://takeyausa.com/collections/o...ated-water-bottle?variant=15399900119149

The best...
https://www.polarbearcoolers.com/

Oh okay, great!! So you are allowed to rent chairs and they won't force you to buy drinks from them? At least at the Club O?

My rule of thumb--if I pay for chairs and umbrella, I can choose to bring my own drinks or purchase from the establishment. If chairs and umbrella are free, I buy food and drink from the establishment.

You can rent chairs ($20 for 2 + umbrella) at Club O beach, and you aren't forced to buy anything.

Thanks guys, great to know. Appreciate it!

We bring a soft sided cooler from home and pack it in our suitcase full of our liquids.

My rule too.

Went to Anse Marcel today. Rented chairs but sign said coolers are not allowed. We told them we are having lunch there but did bring a few bottles of beer and water. Said no problem. 4 of us had lunch in one of the cabanas. Outstanding and 2 bottles of Rose. Met another TTOL member too. Going back next week again.

I say this all the time, but Anse Marcel is my favorite beach on the island. Can't wait to see the new place in 3.5 weeks!

Scubaman--I read the other note first. Ignore my question there.. Glad to hear you can bring water anyway.

You can definitely bring a cooler with whatever you want to eat and drink, and rent a chair at either Club O or at Mullet.

I already replyed to yours before I read this with this post:
"Delicious I had the calamari appraiser upgraded to lunch size and other three had the chicken which I'm going to have next time after having a bite of hers. Was a great day and will repeat again."

Thanks.

Do yourself a favor and purchase a soft sided back pack cooler. Great to transport to your orange chairs at the Club O beach. Got mine at Walmart.
carib cheers,
doctorj

I agree, purchase your cooler at home, if you're looking for softsided. Place in your suitcase, with stuff packed inside of it. Doesn't take up much extra space at all. I don't have one myself, but a lot of people recommend Polar Bear coolers.

Polar Bear makes a great soft cooler but they are rather bulky but that is why they hold ice so well.

Oh, ok. As I said, never had one myself.

We have one as well.and agree how bulky the sides are. They do hold ice very well but a 12 can size won't hold 12 with enough ice too. Didn't bring ours this year. Brought our fold up square one which is easier to pack with snacks and drinks.

The newer Polar Bear coolers are even more rigid than the older ones as they changed the lining. Great coolers but not for packing if space is a concern.

We always brought our own chairs, umbrella and cooler. Never parked in the area with the chair rentals. Usually Mullet by the point.
No one ever said a word. Plus we always wanted Rosie's ribs for lunch so it was a great day.
Breakfast beers started at 10 am.
Cheers
i

I have been using a soft sided cool as a second piece of luggage I bring all of our specialty food all frozen usually around 40 lbs we are there for two weeks . Then we use it for taking adult beverages to the beach , then on return we use it for our dirty laundry and if I want to bring any liquor home . There are four couple that we have been going to SXM for over thirty years , we stay at villas we all enjoy cooking in a few nights each one has a specialty night works well we usually have 12 to 14 for dinner

I've never had a problem other than Kontiki where they asked me to remove my cooler.

If I had paid for chairs and umbrella and was planning on eating lunch there and they still asked me to remove my cooler, I would not only remove my cooler, I would remove myself.

Yep. That is your option.

We needed a couple of umbrella's , I called Craig from Pack Light rentals. I was johnny on the spot with two new umbrella's at BSV!! He carries any thing you need for the beach! Great guy!! I already put in our order for this up coming trip! http://www.sxm-services.com/packlight/

Scuba...would you say the day at Anse Marcel set you back about an equal amount as a day at Pinel? Factoring in the ferry, chairs, etc?

For ME, Pinel is less expensive even factoring in the ferry. Others' mileage may vary.

A little more than Pinel but a lot more enjoyable. We ate more and drank more than at pinel too.

been bringing a soft cooler to the Divi for bout 20 years and pack beers every day without issue

I would think so. That's the beauty of a timeshare resort.

The beaches are public but the restaurants do have concession rights in front of their restaurants. If you bring your own chairs, umbrella and cooler it is a good idea to not position yourselves right in front of a restaurant with concession beach permits. Club Orient is now without any legal concession permit but it is not a reason to take advantage of a business legal or not.

Sorry, not sure what you're saying there, but when Club O was open, they ALWAYS allowed people to bring their own coolers.

Thanks for the info ya'll. Boyfriend and I are on a budget so we decided to rent two chairs, an umbrella, and a cooler for the week. Will definitely give business to the restaurants/bars when we can but this just seems the more economical choice!

Have to agree. Chair rental pricing is getting out of hand at some places.

We would go daily to Orient, Grand Case, Mullet, Friars, etc...Different places and sometimes returned to Kakao at Orient multiple times. With $30 pricing that won't be happening. There will be more pool days methinks. As well as a place in GC that shall not be named because y'all bash it every time I say it...lol

The beaches are public, so you can bring your own chairs, towels, cooler, etc. to any beach. However, out of courtesy, it's better not to plop your towels and such in front of folks who have paid for front row chairs at a beach restaurant. I've seen the beach staff ask those discourteous folks to move. Whether they can force that or not is questionable, but common courtesy should suffice. And if you're at a beach that offers free chairs if you buy food or drink there, you should surely not bring a cooler. Sadly, I have seen that at Karakter, Some people have no class.

visit before last to SXM we saw several folks try to plop down in front of chairs that we had rented at Kon-tiki - they were asked to move each time - always pleasantly - once they refused and gendarmes actually came and asked them to simply just move down the beach - there was literally open, clean sand just beside where they were trying to roost - it was just pure rudeness...

last visit were at Bikini (cruise ship day - post Irma - only bar open at the time) - some woman got pissed that the chairs were 15 bucks each and refused to pay - put her towel right in front of her friend who paid for one chair (15 bucks) and in the shade of the umbrella - throughout the day she routinely sat on the chair she refused to pay for but would move if she saw anyone who looked like an employee get anywhere near her. She was loud and obnoxious - the very definition of ugly American. it was a spectacular day - and her loss not to enjoy it over being pissed off about 10 or 15 bucks.

I'm sorry - I travel on a budget sometimes too - i get that - but if you can afford to go on a cruise ship, take a taxi to Orient Beach and back, buy lunch and drinks and what-not, you can afford the dough for a chair. Lives were lost - businesses were closed - these people are truly just trying to earn a living the best way they know how. I was five bucks a day on my morning coffee.

This is aimed at no one in particular and is just a general comment. Having said that, I think we need to be careful about too quickly judging other's situation and/or behavior. Yes there are rude people and most of the time they are easy to spot. But unless we know a persons circumstances, it's hard to sometimes judge why people do what they do. For example, I have been to St. Maarten three times since Irma and am returning again the end of June. I have stayed anywhere from 12 days to a month. I return because I love the island but also because I want to help the locals--many of whom were devastated by Irma. I spend a lot of money when I am there (if you don't believe me, ask my accountant ). As I stated eailer in this thread, if chairs and umbrella are free, the cooler stays at home. However, if I'm paying $15 to $30 for chairs/umbrella and in the case of beach restaurants, also eating at the establishment (which includes buying and paying for a drink at lunch), I have no problem bringing my cooler with drinks since I'm there most of the day. With the number of trips we make and the number of establishments we frequent during extended stays, it is not monetarily feasible to purchase drinks all day at inflated prices. If that is not acceptable to the establishment, that's too bad because they are missing out on a lot of business they would otherwise receive. Point being--if we see someone with a cooler at one of those places, unless we know how much money they have spent supporting said establishment, we can't fairly judge their actions that we might otherwise assume is inappropriate. Just a thought.....