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Explore Saint Martin |
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| Mercure Simson Resort |
John A.
Dunnville, Ontario
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| April 2008 |
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Arrival and Flight : West Jet a great airline!
Rooms: Superior room was great, clean and above average in value
Restaurants: Only one the breakfast buffet is okay but eggs to order including omelets would make breakfast ideal.
Ala carte dining lunch and dinner was superior great wines, and cold beer. The stereotypical rude French waiters and waitresses were common but with a little patience and charm my family won most of them over.
Bars: Only one but the drinks were plentiful if you are a power drinker it could get costly after 10:pm but we did not find it an inconvenience there is a store with in walking distance with premium beverages reasonably priced and no one minded if they came to the bar area after ten.
Beach and Pools: Pool was great cleaned daily well maintained. Beach was clean the resort is on the lagoon side so the bottom is soft.
Grounds : Well kept. Small easy to get around.
Activities and Entertainment : Virtually no activities other than water aerobics. We attempted to get involved in volley ball one afternoon. "Rudy" had his local friends in to play and definitely did not want us less accomplished ones to participate, even to the point where he and the locals only communicated in French to further make us feel unwelcome. In the evenings there was some music, dance karaoke.
Tours : Sunset cruise was great our family recommends it to everyone. The surf was unusually high so snorkeling tours were canceled due to the amount of sediment stirred up. Public transit was easy to navigate the locals are helpful and friendly. Rent a car but not from the resort even the included rental was expensive and you could not pick your days.
Departure and Check Out : No problem the staff was professional and organized.
Conclusion : Isobel the Air Transat rep was great and back in Canada by now.
I would go back to St. Martin but possible stay in a bit larger resort. If you are looking for reasonable value and getting off the resort everyday stay at the Mercure it is close to everything.
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| Mercure Simson Resort |
Mitch & Liz
Ontario, Canada
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| March 2008 |
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We were at Mercure Simson Resort in St Martin September 2007. This resort is RESTRICTED all inclusive.
Resort - The check in was not to busy and staff was friendly. Our room had enough space but we requested an ocean view and got a road view. When we inquired they advised it was an upgrade for more $. The washroom needed some work. There was a balcony that had a small fridge and a stove top, the stove didn't work. Our A/C stopped working for 2 nights and it was HOT. We couldn't open the door, no screen and I got eaten by mosquitoes. We complained to the front desk and they keep saying we sent someone. After the second night of not getting any sleep I was going to demand to be moved to another room but they finally got it fixed. If you are not French from France you were treated as a second class. Everyone including the French Canadians agreed on this.
Food - Breakfast was the they only meal you could really get enough to eat. Nothing great the same breakfast as any resort. No snacks (snack bar) during the day. Lunch was a choice of 2 items usually salad or fish/meat dish. Dinner was also a choice between 2 dishes usually fish or meat. One night I decided to try the lamb and I got 3 pieces of lamb the size of a small finger, a small bundle of green beans wrapped in 1 piece of bacon and 5 thick cut French fries the end. I had to eat bread to fill up. We ate more bread that week then we would have in a month. Almost every lunch and dinner was like that fill up on bread. You had to beg for and hide water bottles, drinks were a choice of 2 anything outside that you had to pay extra and it was not cheap.
Beach - was better on side across the street. The lagoon was ok but if you don't like grassy bottom you will not like it. It also has lots of jelly fish that have a sharp sting.
Island - easy to travel around the island and very safe. Phillipsburg had much more friendly and helpful people. The beach was beautiful, and calm. In Marigot most people would treat you bad if you didn't speak French. Taxi cost $4.00 to get to Phillipsburg round trip. Shopping is good in Phillipsburg. If you want a real good meal (the best one we had the entire week) go to Harbourview in Phillipsburg. Don't buy fresh fruit in the Marigot market the same mango's you get here in store for $1.00 was $4.50 over there.
Overall - We would go back to St Marteen (the Dutch side) but NEVER stay at Mercure Simson. We travel 3 to 4 times a year and have been to many different places and many different resorts this iwas the worst one ever.
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| Mercure Simson Resort |
Cheryl and Pedro
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| February 2008 |
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| We were at the Mercure Simson Resort, St, Martin at the end of January and we had a marvelous time. The hotel is quaint, people are friendly and food was excellent. Can not say enough about the Mercure Simson Resort, it is a small hotel and offers a relaxing atmosphere. We enjoyed sitting at the pool and sunbathing on the beach. Be prepared to have some delicious food at the open air restaurant with beautiful sunsets. If you would like to have a relaxing holiday without the hustle and bustle, then MERCURE SIMSON RESORT is the place for you! |
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| Mercure Simson Resort |
Rob and Deb
Ontario, Canada
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| April 2007 |
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| We have just returned from a wonderful week in St. Maarten, and stayed at mercure simson, (on the French side). We were a bit hesitant in booking this hotel, after reading some of the reviews. However, we had just returned from 2 weeks in France and thought, perhaps some of the negative views were from travellers that had not travelled abroad. Our experience was excellent. This is definitely a three star hotel with a five star grounds. The surrounding of this hotel is beautiful, the lagoon is a beautiful relaxing oasis. We had a bit of difficulty with some of the restaurant staff, and had a silent chuckle, the ones that refused to speak English to us were not from France (but from Montreal, which we found extremely humorous) fellow Canadians eh!! The pool is beautiful, and not like other resorts where you dash out at 7 am to reserve your chair. There are plenty to go around. The rooms are clean, but outdated, and perhaps after a few cocktails you would even claim they had charm! All in all we would return to this resort, and intend to book to return in Jan. with our children. |
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| Mercure Simson Resort |
Jeanette
Canada
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| March 2007 |
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Hello Everyone,
I have just returned from St. Martin/St. Maarten from Jan 20th, 2007 - Jan 27th, 2007 I stayed at the Mercure Simson Beach Hotel.
Flight: A Normal Transat flight. Please book club class when traveling here... the flight was 4 hours and 55 minutes from Toronto.
Arrival Into St. Martin: The transfer service was great and they have one bus for each hotel.. so just one stop.
Arrival at Mercure Simson Beach Hotel: Well... what can I say. We arrived at the hotel and left our bags out front to check in. The men asked for tips to take care of our bags. Not a problem as we were all tired and were in no mood to carry our bags. So we go into the very small and dark lobby. We check in and go out to tell the bell boys which room we were in. They looked at us like we had 10 heads and told us they wanted the tip to watch the luggage... not bring the luggage. So I dragged my suit case up to the third floor and 6 flights of stairs. No elevators at this property. Once we went into our rooms we went down to get a drink and we could not do this. Not water, pop, alcohol... nothing. We had to wait until the next morning to eat or drink. The snack machines only take Euros and the front desk do not change money into any currency or break bills.
Rooms: Humm.... not impressed. We had the best room in the whole hotel. Beautiful view of the lagoon and pool. Tiny tiny room, Two single beds.... and they must have been two European single beds because they were tiny, ceiling fan that are only in the 3rd floor rooms. Mini Bar... Transat lost the contract to stock the mini bars with anything. No water, no beer... nothing. They are simply there to put what you like in them. Satellite TV.... not quite. You get 10 channels and 6 are in French. The other channels only play movies and it's the same 5 movies repeated for the whole week.
Maid Service: One word... LAZY. The cleaning staff don't change your bed sheets. They are changed the day you arrive and the day you leave. Also, if you are lucky, you will get one shampoo, one bar of soap that is for the whole week. They do not give you more and if you ask, you are told to go to the market and buy your own. The maids are the ones who told me that they don't change the sheets, mop the floors or clean the toilets/showers while you are there. They simply make your beds and take out the garbage (sometimes).
Food: Do you like fish? If so... you will be in heaven. Fish fish and more fish. This is how the all inclusive meals work for this property.
Breakfast Every morning from 7:30am - 10am- scrambled eggs, hard boiled eggs in which you make yourself, toast, croissants (DELICIOUS), bacon, sausages, limited fruit.
Lunch Everyday from 12pm - 2:30 - Salad. The end. That's it... salad but one day you can have burgers or steak. Other than that it was Salad or Fish Pate Sandwich. No dessert. Only allowed to have either 1 beer, 1 bottle of water or 1 glass of wine. Anything over and above is changed to your room.
Dinner everyday from 7:00pm - 9:00pm - Choice of 1 of 2 appetizers (fish is guaranteed in a soup) Choice of 1 of two main courses which was guaranteed fish and something else (lamb, chicken, steak, pork) and a dessert. Presentation is outstanding but quantities are small. Only allowed to have either 1 beer, 1 bottle of water or 1 glass of wine. Anything over and above is changed to your room.
Drinks - The all inclusive plan consists of the following: These drinks are from 10:30am - 10pm
- 5 brands of beer
- House wine only
- Pop
- Bottled water (only at lunch and dinner and one bottle per table... can not get during the day)
- 1 brand of Whiskey (if you request a certain type it will be charged to your room... very expensive)
- 1 brand of Rum (if you request a certain type it will be charged to your room... very expensive)
- Rum Fruit punch
- And a "Drink of the Day"
Beach: Well it's actually on a Lagoon. Not really sand more like crunched up sea shells. The lagoon is actually where the sewer is dumped and they make a joke about it and show you were the pipes dump the sewer. Right in front of where the restaurant it. An "interesting" smell for dining. The beach across the street is breath taking. You must visit.
Transat Rep at the property: ****** was there faithfully when her times were posted. Usually later to be honest. You could always track her down if you needed her. She was bombarded with guests complaints. I would walk by in the morning and there were always a line of people waiting to see her. She proceeded to tell us that Transat has had overwhelming complaints and may not be keeping it's contract with the Mercure Simson Beach... I found that rather interesting.
Staff: Not helpful or courteous. To go over and above.... apparently not. You were lucky if you didn't have to wait around for 10 or 15 minutes until someone came along... in the AFTERNOON.
Car Rental: FANTASTIC!! You have to rent for 3 days. Not one or two days. Either from Sunday to Wednesday or Wednesday to Saturday. You have to take advantage of this. It was $102.00 USD for the insurance. The rental part was already included. Watch out for those speed bumps though.... I wouldn't recommend driving on the Dutch side in the dark.. too many speed bumps and doing 60kmh makes it interesting. Also, the roads are very small and the people drive like it's NASCAR... LOL. The speed limits change every few minutes, so it's easy to get a speeding ticket.. LOL. Trust me, personal experience.... LOL. I got out of it though :) The police there are very nice and understanding. It went from a 50 zone to a 30 zone and the police just wait for you to speed thru.
Major complaints from Other Guests: Not suited for people with special needs. Not wheelchair friendly, 2 guests were hospitalized for severe mold in the room in which the hotel charged the 30 Euro to upgrade per person per night. Quite a bit of mold in the rooms in which you can smell.
Food quality.... the hotel lost their award winning chef a few months back and food quality is lacking. This property is great for Europeans. If you don't speak French, they don't go out of their way to understand you or try to understand. It was like a game of charades when you went to the front desk.
Positives and Must Visit: The Pool at the Mercure... really nice. The beaches, Maho Strip, Cheri's Bar (on Maho Strip), the car rental, The Casino's (Royal Casino and Atlantis), Bliss (Night club)
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| Mercure Simson Resort |
J & C
Canada
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| January 2007 |
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We have been traveling for a few years to the Caribbean and have been to St. Martin before and thoroughly enjoyed our vacation. However our last vacation,
January 13-20, 2007 was not so enjoyable.
We found the Mecure Simson Resort outdated but we noticed that some of the rooms were being painted on the main floor. We didn't mined a resort being outdated a bit but not clean and a musty smell in rooms is another story. We are referring to the mold in the bathroom - ceiling and shower stall. Our air conditioner continually dripped - it was on an inside wall so it pooled on the floor and we had to put a towel down everyday to collect the water off the floor.
Upon arrival we were told that food and drinks would be served at the resort and it turned out to be a brown lunch bag with a ham and cheese on white bread, a juice box and a wafer. After waiting close to an hour to register we finally carried our luggage to the second floor (we were lucky some had to carry their luggage to the third floor). Once in our room we found two fridges when inside and one on balcony and booth empty. There was no bottled water in the room at all. We then found out that we would have to purchase water at the bar for $4.00 U.S. (1 litre) for our room. However water was provided during lunch and dinner and it felt like we had to sneak these bottles to our room. Ridiculous. The only time meals were enjoyable was during the buffett - which was only served twice during the week for the evening meal -
the other nights were a la carte with little food on the plate. We had to ask several times for more rolls and for our "free" bottled water. Even though there were
seven of us from four different rooms they kept trying to give us only two bottles of water. After the "all inclusive" finished at the bar at 10:30 p.m. on three different nights we were charged three different prices for drinks ($5.00, $7.00 and $8.00) depending on who the bar tender was. Also you were only allowed to get one drink at a time from the bar - so if your i.e. spouse was sitting at a table you had to take your drink to the table and return for the second one - unless you wanted to pay for the second one then you could have two. Which is quite baffling as we understood we were paying for "All Inclusive" and not you have to abide by the rules the resort had made up.
The only really friendly staff we found to be were the maids. The staff at the desk and the meal servers (waiters) were not so accommodating.
All in all we certainly would not recommed this resort and would definitely go back to St. Martin.
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| Mercure Simson Resort |
Chris
Canada
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| January 2007 |
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Mercure Simson Resort - Baie Nettlée - Sandy Ground in St. Martin
We travelled to St. Martin January 6 - 13 , 2007. We have travelled extensively in the Carribean, staying at 3, 4 and 5 star resorts, so we knew not to have high expectations when we picked Mercure Simson which is a 3 star hotel. We just wanted a clean and quiet room to stay in. It turned out to be a miserable stay.
We were disappointed with the following:
1. CLEANLINESS:
The room we stayed in was not renovated, but there was no way of finding out if you would be allocated a renovated room when you book your trip. Not only did the room look worn out and tired, it was actually dirty. It was very dusty, the shower was mouldy, the night table switches were grimy, the TV controls were dirty and there were brown smears on the bathroom doors ...
2. QUIETNESS:
We thought this was a quiet hotel since we wanted to relax and catch up with our sleep. It is true that there are no noisy crowds staying at the hotel, but half the rooms face the street - and that is the main road that links up all sections of the island. We were allocated a room facing the street and also the entrance.
We did not mind not having a view, but we did mind the noise of the cars, trucks and motorcycles zooming by as late as midnight. We asked the front desk if we could change to a quieter room but we were told that firstly, we had to pay 30 Euros per night for the "upgrade" and secondly even if we paid we wouldn't get a switch since the hotel was fully booked.
3. SERVICE:
We booked the Air Transat package, and the plane arrived in the evening. By the time we finished our check in, it was already after 10:30 pm. With the new airport security, we could not bring a bottle of water with us onto the plane. So when we arrived at the hotel, we didn't have any water with us. The fridge in the room was empty. There was no water kettle in the room and we didn't want to drink the tap water. You can only get drinks and water from the bar (included in our all-inclusive package) which closed at 10:30 pm. My husband was so thirsty that he went to the front desk to see if he could get any drinks or water. He was told that there were vending machines in the hotel where we could buy drinks, so he gladly went to look for the machines, but found that they only took euro coins. We only had Canadian and US coins with us, so he asked the night manager if there's any way we could use our US dollars at the hotel and get a drink. The night manager was not helpful at all. He condescendingly told my husband that we could not use US dollars and we should realize we are now in Europe. So we couldn't get any Euro change nor could we get any drinking water, and had to spend the night thirsty. It was one of the longest night we had in our lives.
There was only one key for the hotel room. We asked for a second key, but the front desk said they couldn't find it and we had to live with the only key that they gave us. That was very inconvenient.
As for the restaurant, service was slow and inefficient. It also seemed strange that the waiter served everybody around us who came later than us. We were not sure if it was because we spoke English, so we tried to use our broken French, but it did not work. So we decided to leave big tips hoping that service would improve. And it worked! So we ended up leaving a big tip for lunch everyday, and an even bigger tip for dinner every night. That bumped up our travel budget, but if that's what it takes to make the stay more bearable, so be it. My husband was already mad that I picked this hotel, that's all I can do to make it a little better.
4. FOOD:
The reviews we read on in the internet were very good for the food at the hotel. But then those were reviews from before. By the time we read the review posted Dec 31, 2006 by another traveller who stayed at the hotel, we had already booked our trip for Jan 6. That post noted that the hotel is still advertising a chef named Philippe Le Bigot who's no longer working there and has gone to St. Barts for some time. No wonder the food we had was under par. The food was mostly bland , sometimes undercooked and the ingredients were not fresh. There were usually no vegetables with the dinner, so make sure you have fruit in the morning, or salad at lunch.
I don't want my review to be all negative, so let me highlight what is good at the hotel:
1. Quiet beach area. It is not crowded and you can usually find a lawn chair and an umbrella.
2. Car rental is convenient at the hotel. The Air Transat package includes 3 days of car rental but you have to pay 25 Euros per day for insurance. We ended up renting for the whole week. For the extra days, we only paid 35 Euros per day including insurance so it was well worth it. We had to check out by noon on the day we left, so we also paid 20 Euros for half a day's rental on that last day. The car is very new and clean, and it saved our vacation. It was a pleasure driving around, shopping and beach hopping.
3. Proximity to Bay Rouge. You can drive there and it is a beautiful beach where you can also snorkel.
4. Proximity to Marigot. We drove to the Marigot local market and had lunch there. The food at the food stall was much better than that at the hotel.
Overall, we like the island, but we had one of our worst hotel experiences at Mercure Simson. We would go back to the island, but never again to the hotel.
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| Mercure Simson Resort |
G & S
Ontario, Canada
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| December 2005 |
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My husband and I have just returned from a two week vacation in St. Martin, it was our fourth trip to the Island. We travelled with Air Transat and stayed at the Mercure Simson Resort in Sandy Ground.
The flight was fine and on a bigger plane than we have been on in many years. We go to the Caribbean 1 or 2 times a year and for the last 14 flights it has always been on a 3 seater each side of a centre isle. This time we were on a 3-3-3 (going)and 3-4-3(home) seated in the centre section. I found the bigger plane more comfortable than the smaller ones and easier to get in and out of your seats. Why haven't they been used in the past!
We arrived at the hotel around 9:00pm and were told that the regular dinner for all inclusives was over but that the kitchen would stay open and we could order from the menu, I thought this was decent.
Overall our experience at the Mercure was positive. The food was excellent and the service in the restaurant, especially at dinner, was very good.
Lunch was off the menu everyday and there was a good selection of panini, beautiful salads, steak and frites etc. Dinner was equivalent to a fixed price dinner with a choice of two appetizers and two entrees and one dessert selection. Our plan had been to dine out for several dinners at past favourite restaurants. As it turned out the food at dinner, at the Mercure, was so good we only dined out for three dinners.
Those who purchase the Air Transat almost -all -inclusive package, please beware. At dinner it only includes one glass of house wine and a small carafe of water. It does not include bottled water. I found the discription in the Air Transat brochure to be misleading and mentioned this to our Travel Agent on our return. Our agent is currently investigating for us, as we were not informed of these conditions when we arrived at the hotel and did order bottled water and 1/2 bottles of wine. At the end of the two weeks we were presented with a bill with all these extra charges.
Our favourite dinner was at De Soliel in Grand Case, I had a fois gras with a raisin chutney to die for along with a seafood fricasse which was delicious.
We have stayed in Grand Case twice before so we went back on one occasion to Calmos Cafe for lunch. If you dine there you can spend the day on their lounge chairs with umbrellas and have your drinks brought to you. It was one of our best days with a fabulous lunch of Tapas.
Other memorable times were two days spent at Friar's Beach with great service at Kally's Bar & Grill, a fun place with Jazz on Sunday afternoon.
Another great beach, which was not that good the last time we were there because of the hurricane in 1999, is Mullet Beach. A great place for families with good swimming for children and non-swimmers like myself, and inexpensive but good lunches.
We always used to like Rouge Bay the best, but this time decided we prefer Friars and Mullet. We also went to Yellow Beach on Isle Pinel, nice shallow areas for kids but more pricey than other beaches.
Orient Bay is OK if you are into lots of people and action but Bikini Beach Bar is a ripeoff for lunch.
Last but not least, we did all our Christmas shopping for three daughters in Phillipsburg at my favourite jewellery stores, The Ballerina, The Venetion and Royal Caribbean.
All in all, St. Martin is our favourite destination.
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| Mercure Simson Resort |
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Hi everyone!
I went to Saint\Sint Martin\Maarten two years ago but as I am new to this website I will post my review now and I hope that the information is still up to date. Here goes:
1. Flight
I left Toronto (Pearson airport) on Air Transat - this is the Montreal-based discount carrier - yes you are crammed like sardines but this airline is hard to beat on price and since the flight is only 3h30 minutes, this is a minor inconvenience.
Conclusion: I had plenty of time to think about which wine would go best at a good
french restaurant on the island with the money I would be saving with this carrier.
2. Check-in
Everything went very smoothly - check the local art on the walls as you
walk towards customs - the paintings are mostly land\people\ everyday portraits
done on a mesh canvas - they are truly awesome in color and texture - I bought a
few at a local market before leaving and they now adorn my home and add
some nice color tones in the entrance foyer.
3. Transport to hotel
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There was a mix-up and I was sent to the wrong hotel but as far as I could see
the mini-buses were pretty efficient and you could actually get to see most of this
small island as they dropped people at the different resorts.
3. Hotel:
As I am french-canadian I stayed on the french side (Saint-Martin) but each half of
the island is owned by their respective governments (French and Dutch) and there
is a seamless transition between the two. I stayed at Beach Coralia II - this is a
condo-type resort where you stay in one of five four-storey blocks and your room is
fairly spacious with a nice balcony overlooking a lagoon. You can see airplanes
arriving at night from a distance and although this may not qualify as the most
romantic scenery, I am an aiplane nut and you could see the blue colour
of the engines firing up as they would take off and the sparks from landing -
pretty cool (ladies I will forgive you if you completely discount this last sentence).
This "aggresive" airplane behaviour was necessary as the runway is unusually
short on this island and there is a huge mountain right in front so the plane must
pick up enough speed to make a hard right turn just after takeoff - pretty risky but
really exciting to watch.
The resort as such was a gem right out of a postcard - clean as a whistle,
manicured to a tee and with really nice panoramic views; however since it faced
an interior lagoon you would get no ocean views. Note: this is a small resort so
do not expect to walk great distances on the property as such; it is an intimate
yet well-proportioned area.
The food was above par as this is a french-owned resort; even "barbecue night"
turned out to be the best "cookout" (if you can call it that) I have tried. Note: this
was not at the time an "all-inclusive" resort so you had to buy your meals and they
could be expensive, as the french take their food seriously. The advantage for you
is that you could pick a variety of restaurants on the island (at all price ranges) or
just buy your food at the market and use the kitchenette which came with most
rooms. I actually enjoyed waking up most mornings and walking to market
(approx. 1 kilometer) and getting a baguette, eggs and cheese and eating those at
one of the tables adjoining the grocery store - great for people watching and getting
a feel for the place. I found this place to be infectiously relaxing and having an
unmistakable european feel with a tropical twist - of course it did not hurt that
almost all the people there were on vacation, in a good mood, and my first
language is french (I actually became the long lost "canadian cousin" and made
a lot of friends - many marveled at my "quaint village accent" - a polite
but condescending way of saying I did not speak the true Parisian french).
One negative: the manager at the resort was a nice guy but should not have quit
his day job doing whatever he did before as requests went unanswered and I found
him to be disorganized and aloof. I hope he has been replaced since I do not want
to taint a complete resort on the failings of one individual - for example: the
cleaning ladies would barge into my room at 7h30 AM regardless and even after
complaining and writing a short letter nothing happened. I ended up putting a page
on my door explaining not to enter before 10h30, spoke to the cleaning ladies, and
then got some peace.
4. The island
The island itself comes right out of a postcard from some Walt Disney film - cute
as a button and panoramic scenes at every turn. By far the best way to see the
place is by using my favorite mode of transport on the islands - a scooter. This is
like a bike with speed and you can feel, smell, and wind your way up hidden coves
and trails. I did the island cover to cover and the best areas (for scenery) are
around Plage de l'Orient where there is less population, small mountains and
camera shots that will leave you breathless. Make your way up to the electrical
tower (the highest spot on the island) and you can spot many adjacent islands
(Saba, Anguilla, St Kitt's). By all means speak to the people as they are easy
going and friendly - as a note of respect I suggest you by a Berlitz phrase book
and maybe open with a sentence or two in french and then continue in english -
the small effort will gain you a friend. On the Dutch side everyone speaks english
and the place has an almost american feel (Kentucky Fried Chicken, McDonalds
etc.). This island is a pretty much a "do yourselfer" as you can best see the place
by going to the different areas.
5. Highlights:
(a) Go to the end of the airport runway and there is a bar there where you see
747's arriving almost on your lap - the noise and size are scary - really, really
cool.
(b) Plage de l' Orient is THE beach of the island - an absolute gem but remember
the european style is topless and there is actually a full-fledged nude beach
to the right - guys if you go there prepare to come back with a sore neck and
a speech from your wife - sorry ladies but sometimes nature just can't be
helped.
(c) Marigot: the capital is a charming tropical small town and the bistros lining
the main market (actually making two lines on each side with the ocean at
the end and the main street at the other) serve some of the best food I have
had on the island - try the curry chicken with rice: a fantastic, light, tasty meal
for less than eight bucks. There is actually quite a variety of foods to be had
at these modestly-priced terraces - from hamburgers to home-cooked
authentic. I tried one fancy french restaurant which will remain nameless
and had the conch - generally tasteless - the best part was actually the
people-watching. Unless you are a real foodie, restrict yourself to more
modestly-priced restaurants for a better quality\price ratio.
(d) Plane flight around the island: my resort had two ultra-light airplanes that would
circle the island for 50 bucks (canadian) and you could see the whole carribean
(incredible colours) as well as cruise ships, yatchs, other islands - great for
your slide show.
5. Other
There are lots of casinos on the Dutch side (I am not a gambler) as well as
hoardes of duty-free shops as this island has been known historically
as a pirates' refuge and an area of duty-free, tax-free, no-questions-asked
exchanges and purchases - and so it comes as no surprise that bargain shops
are everywhere and offer everything under the sun. Buyer beware, however: as
I am a cigar aficionado I went to a store offering Macanudos (Jamaican and
top-rated) - a box for 150 Cdn (no tax) which made it six bucks a stick - as this
was too good I asked to buy one which I would smoke at the resort and come
back to buy the box if I was interested. Back at the resort: sure enough - bad
fake. Think twice before upgrading your wedding diamond.
6. Conclusion:
Saint-Martin\ Sint Maarten is a honeymoon-type island as the beauty, relative
safety and amenities such as good food and wine make for a perfect relaxing
holiday. The French side is more european and the Dutch side american in
character. If you take the time to explore and speak to the people this will make
an ideal island getaway holiday.
Feel free to contact me at donleger@vianet.on.ca
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