St. Maarten

Has anyone ever been to St. Maarten?? FH and I are looking into it for HM but have not seen many reviews of hotels on LIW. If you have been to St. Maarten where did you stay? Was it a romantic place for HM? FH and I are looking for something ultra romantic with daytime activities, good food, and a decent nightlife. Please Advise! TIA

my fiance & i just got back from a week long vacation in st martin in april & absolutely fell in love. to me it was better than most of the other carribean islands ive been to, including aruba (we stood @ the radisson in aruba).

st martin is also lovely because you can take day trips to other islands such as anguilla (loved it), st barths (we didnt make it there not enough time), saba (no time) and prickly pear.

fyi: i heard online before we went there was crime in st martin, but when we went i found that it was totally exaggerated online, the island was very safe.

here's my very long & detailed trip review from trip advisor that i posted upon returning.

feel free to ask me any questions or if youd like pix

******************
My trip report!

Well I booked this trip long ago back in September without any idea of the 'rampant crime (I LOL @ that now)' that was taking place in St Martin. I spent the last 6 months plus agonizing over my decision and actually looked into canceling..but I could not resist the opportunity to stay @ Le Petit (or lose any $$ ha!). I am SO glad that my fiancee told me to come to my senses and take this trip without fear. That being said, when I arrived on the island, the first two days all I could see was negative, which was so silly! It was almost like I was waiting for something bad to happen!! But lo and behold, the punch au rhum took over and the gentle breeze washed over me and I looked out onto some of the most pristine blue water; and oh it was scrumptious!!!!! My fiancee are definitely coming back and talked about buying property there one day.

Day 1: Arrival @ SXM, got the car from Triple A & cell from Packlight which was definitely worth it for the whole week, we used it a lot -- quick as can be and we were on our way. Stopped off at Le Petit -- PERFECT!!! This hotel is such an oasis of calm. I highly reccomend it. The main staff members Caroline & Stephanie are very helpful and you can't help but to love their french accented english!

They had a cool chill cd playing gently upon entrance to our room, a nice welcome basket, a welcome letter, and complimentary water in the room as well as some great info. This hotel is impeccable and I would recommend it to even the most discerning guest. The maid staff also keeps the room very clean as well. RAVE!!

We then ran & got some booze from the cash & carry down the road which was taking $1 to 1 Euro. After that we took a walk down the beach to Le California & had the pizza & french onion soup. The soup was very yummy but the pizza was a little too cheesey & soggy for my taste. Also were taking 1 for 1.

Went back to the room to get ready for dinner @ Temptation. Now here is where my scared/negativity vibe kicked in. We ended up getting dreadfully lost & had to take the Lowlands/Terres Basses route. Honestly I would not reccomend taking this road. It is very dark with NO lights whatsoever and jungle on both sides. To me, to go on this road in the nighttime is just taking a risk that you don't need to when you can go on the main road. Just my opinion and we did not take it again in the nighttime. Temptation started off very strong but finished only so so for the $$. I had crab cake -- BEST one I've ever had. Fiancee had the Tempura Mussel Shooters -- FAB. Entree -- he had the Sea Bass -- perfection! Me -- Duck quack quack -- I was not too much of a fan. This reminded both of us of general tso's chicken, I'm not kidding you. The skin on the duck was too crispy for my taste and the flavor as a whole was quite generic. For dessert we ordered the chocolate peanut butter lava thing -- it was basically chocolate soup. Not good at all. All in all a great meal but very pricey. Wonderful atmosphere with a piano player & great ambiance. Also the service was a bit on the unattentive side; but we often do compare to NYC 4 star rest. which we know are different. Went & gambled a little @ Atlantis Casino. Fun times & headed back to hotel.

Day 2: Complimentary breakfast on our terrace @ Le Petit. Very tasty fresh oj & coffee with addictive chocolate crossiants! We did this every day except Thursday when we ate @ Hilma's.

Headed to Orient -- great beach, great fun. Ate @ La Playa -- chairs & umbrella = $10. Food there was $47 for a fish burger & a cburger with 2 mixed drinks! Euro lesson learned!

Dinner @ Talk of the Town -- YUM! Had a nice chat with the host who happened to go to the same college as me. Cheap & tasty. Definitely get the creole shrimp. The ribs of course and the mahi mahi were all simple & well cooked.

Headed to Princess Casino, this was the nicest casino I thought. Fun times again!

Day 3: Pinel Island -- a total must do! So much fun taking the little boat over there and exploring the Island. Chairs were pricey here, $20 with umbrella. We sat @ the yellow ones that said Pinel Island on them. We at @ the beach bar in the middle because it had 1 to 1. Karabuni looked super cute though with great view. Stood here all day, this was great as well! Bring bread to feed the fish, we snagged some from our neighbors who were quite nice & also from NY.

Dinner again @ Talk of the Town -- this day, Tuesday, there was Fete, which was part of Carnival. It was quite busy in Grand Case and people were all over the street. Also we were walking all the way to the end and we got close to the end of the street and we noticed a large crowd moreso of teenage locals and not tourists, so we simply turned around and headed back towards the crowd. Nothing threatening happened, but our common sense kicked in and we let the locals do their thing in peace. There was a small parade with some cute kids and music playing down blvd de grand case during fete as well. Awesome!

Gambled for a while @ Casino Royale. Maho seems to be the busiest area of the island. This casino is very smoky but we liked it since it was busy.

ay 4:

Woke up a little bit late, and had our yummy chocolate crossiants on our deck @ Le Petit, did I mention these things are addictive??! The fresh squeezed OJ is also to die for. I would gulp down about 2 glasses in a row...mmm!

Headed over to Baie Rouge. This is also a LOVELY beach. So nice and quiet with beautiful cliffs framing the strip of beach. Totally picturesque. Chairs & umbrella - $12 with a little bargaining. This was my favorite beach on St Martin (I think, it's so hard to choose!).

Headed over to Chez Raymond for lunch. The service here, although nice was VERY VERY slow. We waited about 20 minutes for the Raymond Special which I ordered, but the waiter made up for it by giving us one free. We each had a fish sandwich which I highly recommend. It was very simple: fish grilled with a lemony flavor on some very crispy french bread with some lettuce & tomato. I had a side of potato salad and my fiancee had the rice & beans which he said were okay. This cost us around $33. Get the Raymond Special!! It is strong and will give you a little buzz but it's yummy!

Headed back to hotel: that night went on the Aqua Mania Tango Sunset cruise. This was a nice departure from our normal nighttime thus far and ended up to be a booze cruise basically ha! I would suggest this for people who are a little older than us (we are 27 & 28). We made friends with some fellow NY'ers and ended up having a great time anyway! They serve you dinner which was good, unlimited drinks & you dock by La Samanna for a while. This was $65pp. Good if you drink a lot. Be warned Aqua Mania tacks on a 5% service charge if you use CC. I suggest paying cash.

After this...headed to.. you guessed it, the casino! Also Casino Royale but I couldn't stay too long since it was like a wall of smoke in there!! Wow, they need ventilation big time in that place!!

Day 5: This my favorite 'activity' that we did. I highly 150% recommend taking a tour on the Bluebeard 3 from Simpson Bay area to Anguilla (they also do a tour to Prickly Pear). They leave from the Lady C & the phone # for the tour co is in the Aruba Nights magazine. We got to the Lady C about 830am gave our info & took a dingy over to the Bluebeard. There were only about 10 people on the sailboat so it was like having your own private sailboat with a GREAT crew. This cost us $85pp + $12 docking fee - 10% discount from owner Bruce, who is very nice & helpful.

You sail over to Anguilla, have a snack on the way, unlimited drinks as well. You are then picked up by a local driver named Dennis who is super friendly & gives you a mini tour of Anguilla. You are then taken to Shoal Bay which I found to be probably the nicest beach I've ever seen in my life, including Hawaii. The sand is a fine powder and sooooo very white and the sky is a different shade of blue here. It is truly amazing. One must take a deep breath just to absorb the natural beauty & peacefulness of this beach. I LOVED IT!!! Personally I thought Anugilla was nice to visit, but too quiet for my Fiancee & I if we were to take a week long trip there. Also on Shoal Bay you get a welcome drink, and a nice lunch included. Chairs & umbrella here were $10. We stood here for a few hours & then headed back to the sailboat. We then got another snack & more drinks on the way back to St Martin. Arrived back @ marina around 530ish. I thought this was a great value for the money. The crew was exceptionally friendly & informative. We saw the Aqua Mania tour & the ship was soooooooo full -- Bluebeard deserves the business lol. They do Wed -- Prickly Pear, Thurs -- Anguilla, Fri -- Prickly. We were tempted to do Prickly on Friday we liked it so much!

Headed over to Sunset Beach Bar -- this was also loads of fun. That bar seems to have found one of the best spots ever to watch the sunset. Truly a perfect location; it's amazing. We each had the swordfish burger/sandwhich here w the spicy seafood sauce which was good. I had a Pina colada which was also strong & very tasty. We got some great pix & the meal was definitely good for the $$!.

Headed back to Le Petit & went to bed early since we were out all day. This was the first time all week we turned on the tv!

Day 6:

Headed to Hilma's. OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD! LOL! Words cannot express how tasty this sandwhich is! It is such a flavor combo that I have never had that is soooo very good! I was not sure how I would feel about saltfish & johnny cakes but let me tell you, she is the master! You must try this! We had a nice little chat with her as well. When talking to her, she mentioned that some American tourists had come around 8am which is her busy time & were getting very angry that she was not chatting with them (as she known for this) and ended up banging the hot sauce & what not. Note to anyone who does this: you're making us tourists look bad!! It seems there may be some small undercurrent among the locals who may or may not feel that someeee tourists (not all) feel a little entitled possibly in the people of St Martin's HOME. For goodness sake, be polite & don't be angry if a woman who works alone in a trailer can't sit and chat! (This is just an aside -- not saying anyone would do this) She also mentioned that all the cars & building has hurt her business a bit. My advice: go to Hilma's & support a FABULOUS local establishment. Oh man, I could go for one right now! She is located in the brown trailer next to RBBT bank across from the Mailbox store. GO here! :)

Headed to Phillipsburg. It started to rain a little which was perfect timing. Tons of jewelry stores here & from my comparison shopping to NYC not that great of prices. I have a Movado which my fiancce bought me in NYC for 500 (retail 1k) and they wanted 650 @ one of the shops there. Also another Movado we saw in NYC for 1200 (2500 retail) was 1500 in Pburg. I suggest shopping around & negotiating a great deal here. Otherwise just generic souvenirs. Got 2 bottles of gauvaberry rum & I had a guavaberry colada. Now that was goodddd stuff as well!

Went to L'esplanade (Le Petit gives you 2 free drink tix for the bar here). Very nice hotel but I preferred Le Petit for our taste since we liked to be on the beach.

Went to Marigot. Not too many good stores here, seems like more restaurants. The West Indies Mall is very chi chi but not that great stores if you ask me, ha! Stopped @ Mannex & got a quick souvenir.

Back to Le Petit & got ready for dinner @ Bamboo Bernies. We loved Bamboo B's! The sushi was yummy, not the best I've ever had but great atmosphere & nice location & decent value for the $$. Service was also very good here. My fiancee is very into tikis (he even has a big tatt of them!) and we both loved the atmosphere @ Bamboo Bernies. 2 tiki punches, gyoza, 2 special rolls & 1 spicy yellow tail was around $75 + tip. It was pretty quiet here, maybe 10 tables full around 8pm. Did not bother us at all. We saw some kind of scary sea creature out in the water with giant antenna! haha!

We were supposed to go to L'escapade this night but decided it was too pricy. We felt like we were hemorrhaging $$ on this trip! I am glad we went with Bamboo Bernies, especially if they are going to move into a hotel. The thatched roof vibe is super cute & we don't see a lot of places like that back East.

Head back to Casino Royale (do you see a theme here) lol. I won a few $$ on the slots and that was that. We then went home & enjoyed our last night on our terrace @ Le Petit. We were so sad & wanted to stay longer!

Day 7: Sad day!!

Woke up & had to leave!!!!!!! We wanted to stop @ Hilma's but traffic was so bad AND our flight ended up getting pushed up w.o. our knowing it. :(

Almost missed our flight; the counterperson didn't give us the right info about checking the alcohol w our luggage, so we brought it thru security & my fiancee had to go alllll the way back down to check it. Not fun, especially when you're running late. Got back to NYC in one piece though!

And the conclusion is this: we love St Martin! Every single thing was greatttt! There is so much to do & it has a great location. I think the must do's are Pinel, Anguilla on the Bluebeard (you must see Shoal Bay no matter how you get there), Orient, Baie Rouge, Hilma's & the lolo's!

I also think a must do is to be open minded even when people may be quite poor & look differently than you. It's pretty simple. Be respectful that this island is home to many people. Talking to Hilma really opened my eyes to how some tourists are being perceived due to their bad behavior. Be friendly & for goodness sake, don't be suspicious! There are bad people everywhere & from my viewpoint it was very easy to avoid them in St Martin.

Okay thanks for reading my very very very long trip report! I can't wait to return!!

DH and i went to st maarten 3 years ago, we got a deal from cheapcarribean.com and stayed in a timeshare at the Pelican resort which was awesome, on the Dutch side. They had their own casino, mini mart, beach, 3 pools, tennis court, and reservation desk to help with planning trips. All the restaurants on the island were great. I didnt find the island that romantic honestly, but it was a great vacation.

good luck in your search!

I'm planning to go for my HM also. Since its not 'romantic' we might take the ferry to St. Barths
and stay there for a few days as well. You should read the reviews on tripadvisor.com

i went on my honeymoon there last summer. we loved it. we stayed in a timeshare at cupecoy beach. You can drive around the entire island in 1 day. we loved sitting on the different beaches, ordering drinks right on the beach and they had many good restaurants. I cant wait to go back!!!

the sunset beach bar was great...you can watch the planes land right over you!!!!

We also went to St. Marteen for our HM. We rented a 'villa' from 'Jennifer's vacation rentals based in New Jersey. Some pictures are in my album. It was pretty reasonably priced considering we had our own pool and decks/terraces overlooking the water on three sides of the apartment. I shopped around and all of the comparable hotel rooms/suites were more than twice as much. Run by very lovely locals that meet you at the airport and take you to the villa and give you the heads up on the island and what to do.

We stayed near Maho and that was a fun night spot but not the best beach. Sunset Beach Bar is there and I agree with the pp above who mentioned that it was a great place. Fun times.

Grand Case is a must!! It's where the pp stayed at L'Petite and it's such a nice town. Great restaurants - I recommend Taste Vin.

I felt very safe on St. Marteen. Basically, we rented a small car and drove around the entire island visiting beaches and eating. Oh, and we drank - a LOT. The price of alcohol on the island is ridiculously cheap!! Even in bars and clubs!!

We also met many Dutch, French, and British people who vacation there. A lot of Americans as well and the locals are really fantastic. Everyone speaks English so it's very easy to get around and talk to the locals.

I thought the two best beaches were Baie Rouge (French side) and Friar's Bay (also on the French side).

Have fun and say 'Hello' to St. Marten for me!!