Re: almost there
Posted by:
Andy
(---.hsd1.va.comcast.net)
Date: July 29, 2007 03:31PM
We spent 4th of July week at Hotel Beach Plaza in Marigot. I'll make this a combination "Trip Report" and response to your question:
This was my third visit to St. Martin, and the first time I stayed on the French half of the island. The only reason I chose to stay at this hotel on the French side was because it was part of a very inexpensive package deal offered online.
As an American, I prefer the Dutch side; things are cheaper (restaurants, souvenirs, groceries) and everyone speaks English. On the French side you have to contend at many establishments with the Euro to Dollar conversion.
We stopped at one small grocery store in Grand Case and paid over $18 for two six packs of soda and a small jar of jam! When I tried asking the lady at the checkout why it cost so much, she claimed to not speak English. Since there were others behind me in line, I just left with my overpriced items. The next day I shopped at a small Dutch grocery store and filled three bags for the same amount of money.
I realize there are some reasonably-priced places on the French side -- several that offer 1 to 1, euro to dollar -- but you have to hunt those places down, or ask if they will cut you a deal on the conversion... which can be awkward at times. I don't like to feel like I'm negotiating at restaurants or for groceries. On the Dutch side your dollars go further at more places, and no asking about the conversion.
All that said, the Hotel Beach Plaza is not a bad place. The staff was friendly and helpful throughout our visit and check-in & check-out was a breeze. Our family (two teens and one adult) needed two rooms and they honored our request for adjoining rooms. Since we had two rooms for five nights, we opted not to pay the additional money for ocean view. It would have been nice, but would have cost us an additional $300+ for the week. Having stayed on the island two previous times, I knew we would be spending minimal time in the rooms anyway.
Having read other reviews, I knew to request 3rd floor rooms to cut down a little on the road noise and for a better view of the boats in the bay. The road noise is definitely noticeable, but not horrible. The ceiling-mounted A/C (w/ remote control) worked well and provided a helpful white noise at night. I also brought a set of earplugs, which also helped. My two teens sleep harder and didn't notice the road noise as much (they had a noisier A/C unit, which probably helped too).
Aside from the hotel’s small parking lot and two-lane street next to it, our view was of what appeared to be a ship repair dock, and beyond that, other boats parked in the bay. At a glance it appears to be a nice view of ships in the water, but actually the ships closest to the hotel are on dry land, in various states of repair. Occasionally we heard loud equipment being used.
Bathrooms were very nice and clean, but for some reason this hotel doesn't have wash clothes. A bit odd, but they did replace our towels and toiletries (shampoo, bath gel, soap), daily. There is a hair dryer built into the wall which resembles a hose from a vacuum.
Each room has a full-length mirror, which was handy. There are only a few drawers in the small dresser/desk , but plenty of additional shelves in the armoire.
If you need to iron anything, you have to borrow one from the front desk. There is no ironing board so I just ironed my few things on the cushioned stool in the room.
The bed was quite firm which, as a belly sleeper, I prefer. In fact, it was almost too firm, but better that than the alternative.
Parking is a bit sparse, but we always managed to find someplace near the door,
sometimes right up against bushes, so everyone had to climb out the other door. At least one security guard was always visible near the lobby and parking area, which was comforting.
My main complaint about the Hotel Beach Plaza is their electrical outlets. They are 220v as opposed to the 110v we have in the USA. Only in the bathroom is there an outlet where you can plug in an American appliance (razor or whatever). The other outlets will require a power adapter or power converter. Adapters will work for recharging batteries ONLY; things like camera batteries, iPods and cell phones. If you plan to plug anything else in, you’ll need a power converter or else you will burn it up. I brought two clock radios with me (there are no clocks in the rooms) and burned both of them up within a matter of a few minutes by plugging them into adapters instead of converters.
The female wall outlet has a MALE ground prong, which prevented my (male) power converter from seating (the ground prong sticks out). Since returning I saw a ($25) power converter at Brookstones that has the vital hole for the wall outlet male ground prong. They also sell the style without this hole, so be careful not to buy the wrong one.
The refrigerators in the rooms are quite small -- only enough space for a couple sixpacks -- but we made the most of the space by removing the wire shelving. Likewise the safe in the room is small, but was adequate for everything we needed to put in there, including a video camera. Setting the combination on the safe took a little practice for me, and I accidentally locked my stuff in at first and had to call the front desk to open it. The hotel mgr (owner?) showed up within minutes and used his “admin code” to open the safe and zero the combination. He was very nice about it.
The rooms supposedly have WiFi, but I didn’t have a laptop to test it. There are 17 satellite TV channels, some in French and some in English. The TVs in the rooms are very small, as other reviewers have noted.
There is a small workout room w/ a TV off the lobby area, which the Hotel calls a “spa”. It consists of a treadmill, elliptical, two seated cyclers, and a universal weight machine. My teens and I were disappointed they didn’t have free weights. The universal weight machine was limited in its functionality, but better than nothing. Sign says no one under 16 is allowed in the Spa area, but my 14 yr old was in there periodically. Like most areas at the hotel, we almost never saw another person in the workout room. If you want a more thorough workout, there are a few gyms scattered around the island… most will require you to drive a mile or so. Cost is typically $8-$10/day or $35-$50/week.
If you decide you want to rent a car after you arrive or want to plan other excursions, there are vendor desks set up for this in the hotel lobby.
The open-air atrium off the hotel lobby has a nice pool table, which is usually not being used. It cost four quarters to play. The hotel's concrete pier area has some beautiful sunsets. I went out on the pier a couple evenings with a book and a cocktail, and loved watching the sun go down, as did the people on board the many parked boats in the bay.
Even though the pier has comfortable lounge chairs & small tables, it’s usually only used by a couple guests for sunning in the mornings. The rest of the day, including sunsets, it’s surprisingly unoccupied. Same is true for the small pool area. My teens swam in the pool every night and no other guests were ever there. Very few guests even use the bar area centrally located between the pool, pier and pool table. The only place I usually saw other guests was in the small ground-level restaurant that overlooks the pool and beyond that, the bay.
An all-you-can-eat buffet breakfast was included in our package and was served every morning until 10 a.m. There was adequate variety, but definitely nothing fancy and nothing that tasted great. Choices included:
-very runny scrambled eggs (perhaps too much cream?)
-undercooked bacon
-sausage links
-fresh & canned fruit
-one or two cold cereals
-French bread
-bagels
-overcooked/dry small pancakes
-overcooked/dry hash browns
-toast
-crescents
-English muffins
-ham & Swiss cheese (cold cuts… it’s a European breakfast thing)
-orange, apple and guava juice
-milk
-coffee, espresso, decaf, hot chocolate, and lots of different teas
We usually ate breakfast between 9:30 and 10:00 a.m. and it was never crowded. Just wish the food tasted better… pretty bland fair. At least it was “free”.
The maid usually came by our 3rd floor rooms between 10:30 – 11:00 a.m. each day, and was always willing to come back a little later.
The hotel offers a laundry service, but it’s pretty pricey. Alternatively, there’s is a Laundromat one block from the hotel. It’s pretty nondescript and I didn’t notice it until the day we were leaving. To get there, walk out of the hotel parking lot and make a RIGHT. The Laundromat is on your right. Don’t know what it cost, but noticed some locals going in there so it must be reasonable.
I posted some pictures of the hotel and our room on TripAdvisor.
Restaurants we ate at this trip included:
Talk of the Town – amazing slow/non-existent service and not great food. $35? for three of us. Had to pay $5 to park in the lot across the street because Grand Case has almost no parking.
Lee’s – Slightly overcooked fish, but it was fresh and good. Nice ambiance. $40 + tip for two of us.
Sunset Beach Bar – Food (burgers and such) was pretty bad and the service was pretty poor. We saw two rats on the beach just under our table. How nice. Expensive beers ($4) if you go during sunset (before 8 p.m.). Parents beware – they do not give free refills on soda. My teens downed two cokes-on-ice each, then we found out each one was $3 !
Bamboo Bernie’s – Great Polynesian ambiance and food …sushi and other goodies. A bit pricey though; $109 for three of us (vodka & tonic was $7).
Le String – on Orient Beach. Pretty good lunch and service. $34 for the three of us.
Turtle Pier – Very good food and excellent service! Go past monkey cage, turtles, etc., on your way into the open-air restaurant. Sit at a picnic table on the pier and watch the huge (3-4’) fish swim by while you drink & eat. Reasonably priced. Specials are usually $10, or pick out a lobster from the pier cage ($19/lb). Delicious! They have wonderful breakfasts too! Very nice open-air ambiance.
On the recommendation of others here on the Forum, we tried going to Johnny B's Under the Tree on a few occasions. He seemed open for business when we first arrived, but we had already eaten. He was closed the rest of our visit.
Sorry to see Bananas was gone. I still have their paper menu in my camera bag. Glad I bought a T-shirt before it folded. I understand the new place is pretty good, but we didn't try it this trip.
I know I've ruffled a few feathers with my blunt review and preferences, but that's how I saw it during our visit. Maybe some of the restaurants treat you differently when you have kids along. At Talk of the Town and SSBB our waitress took our order, then never came back to our table the rest of the night. I had to track down other staff to get our food, drink refills, and things like napkins.
Oh, speaking of slow or non-existent service, after we picked up the rental car from Unity, my teens insisted on going through the nearby McDonald's. Big mistake. Even though there was no one in front of us, took about 10 mins to get our food (in the drive thru). As an adult, I prefer to not go to McDonald's when traveling; there's so many better local places to go. So I only mention this as a head's up to other parents.
