TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin May in SXM

Please give me your thoughts on any or all of the following.
1. We are thinking of coming at the end of May. We have usually come in Sept. or October. How busy will it be and is this a good time to come (not that there can be a bad time).
2. We were at the Radisson in past years. I don't want an all inclusive so I am thinking of Grand Case Beach Club. Any thoughts or comments.
3. Are most of the restaurants open at the end of May.
4. How about traffic.
5. We are use to having many of the beaches almost to ourselves, what difference will I expect to see.

In exchange, I will take lots of pictures that I will enjoy sharing. My last time on Island we had Julio and it gave rise to quite a few photo opportunities. They are still posted at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/rmg49/

Thank you!!!!

May is fine and still less crowded with traffic and at the beaches. April 15th starts the low season. Grand Case Beach Club I highly recommend one with a ocean view. Great grounds to navigate there. Nice restaurant on premise...... <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/dine.gif" alt="" /> Restaurants are mostly open more close in Sept......

Rmg,

I would also suggest that Grand Case Beach Club is a great place to call home. We have timeshare on the island and often try to add a few days at different places during our Spring trips, and finally stayed at GCBC a year and a half ago.

Things we found:

You could easily stay there without benefit of a rental car if you wanted to.
The food at their restaurant, Sunset Cafe (?) was excellent and reasonable.
We had a studio with loft and would definitely choose that again.
If the 'golf cart guy' is still there, use him at least one night for dinner.
The staff there is wonderful and it has everything you could want.

Another option if you can be more independent and vacation without a resort atmosphere, you might take a look at the Beachside Viillas. We stayed there this past April and there's definitely something to be said about accommodations right on the beach.

The traffic will probably be a little more so than September and I'd bet at least ninety percent of the restaurants will be open at that time.

Good luck with your choices and I can't wait for the pictures! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/jester.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/jester.gif" alt="" />

Thank you both for the suggestions. We are going to try Grand Case Beach Club. I always get a car since we like to go to several different beaches but I have never been to the beach at the hotel there, and am looking forward to it.

Depending on how much travel you like to do and how well you know the island, it may make sense to cab it to GCBC and rent a car there as needed.

Actually, that's not a bad idea at all and GCBC may even have some sort of airport to resort transport arrangement - it would certainly pay to ask. And they do have a car rental facility available for their guests.

We had been on the island for two weeks when we stayed there, but from the time we arrived to our departure four days later, we never used our car at all. We picked up a few things for the room on the way and when we went to dinner outside the resort we used the little transportation cart which was great - very inexpensive and no need to worry about parking or how much wine we had with dinner.

The rest of the time we were content to use the resort facilities and beaches and enjoyed every minute of our time with no desire to go elsewhere which was a very pleasant change of pace for us

I received an email last night saying the new pool and reception area are finished and are up and running. Wish we were going to try it all out anytime soon but I'm hoping someone will be posting photos.

Hope you enjoy your time there as much as we did. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/handshake.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/handshake.gif" alt="" />

We usually split our time between GCBC & Divi. Last stay GCBC did not have transport (I know Raddisson---now RUI had boat transport from airport to their hotel) Cab was around $30 as I recall. GCBC does have a sort of shuttle down to the restaurants in town in case you don't wish to walk, although it's a short stroll.

As to renting Oceanfront (which we have always done in the past) friends joined us and got a Garden View. Unit was larger and while it did't have ocean view, it also didn't have hot sun on lanai (balcony) all day making it impossible to lounge out there.

Place is compact not spread out too much so all units are a few steps from the water. Even Oceanfront requires you walk either down some steps or across grass to get to the sand.

I just sent you a PM look for the flashing envelope near your name.