Hi, just got back and I feel I should share my experience. In general I had an amazing time. I stayed in 3 hotels since I was looking for good deals and I like to try different things. SeaView was my first hotel, it is inexpensive, clean, next to a great beach and a Frontstreet in Philipsburg, is a good deal, only problems is that I did not feel safe in Philipsburg at night walking around with my girlfriend, one time three guys came up and one grab my girlfriend hand obviously looking for trouble. Besides that I did not have any problems in that area. 2nd night I stayed at Passangraham. This is a unique hotel. One of the finest rooms I have ever seen in hotel decoration. This Hotel I highly recommend it, also the area of hilipsburg where it is located is more relax than Sea View. 3rd Hotel was Summit Resort. This hotel was very different from the other, is far from town but close to the beaches. This resort was very good and have nice deals in summer time. The view from the room was breathtaking.
Restaurants- L'Inedit(marigot), good, friedly ambiance. Cheris(Mullet bay) as advertised. Portofino(Grand Case) Really good food for the price, nice deal, not as expensive as other in the area and the quality was excellent. Wanjang Doll(Phillipsburg) I loved the 19 course Indonesian meal, although is too much food, Highly recommended a must(very spicy). Greenhouse(philipsburg), It was OK, Cherys(philipsburg) really nice place, nice people and good'ol american-tex-mex style food, nice prices too. Food in SXM in general is really good altough a little expensive(for obvious reasons is an island), Althogh I must mention beers are cheap, the most expensive beer I had cost me 2.25. the cheapest 1.
Beaches - I like them all, my favorite was Baie Rouge
My trip was fabulouse, I will go back soon. I did not see the trash some people talk about, I did see some(nothing more than you see elsewhere) rudeness. My biggest complaint is that everyone warns you about the theft of the cars in the beaches. That is such an easy problem to solve that I do not understand how gov't have not assigned guards to those beaches. It would not be that costly to have a guard in each of the 10 most famous beaches. My problem with that is that I could not go snorkeling with my girlfriend because I could not leave any valuables in the car so someone had to stay at all times in the beach with the car keys, money, etc.. Another bad experience were some kids in bicicle harassing my girlfriend in Marigot but I understand that kids are kids. I mention my bad experiences because I think the little problems they have can be solved easlily.
I have been in Anguila, Curacao, Tortola, Virgin Gorda, St. Thomas, St. Croix, St. John, St. Kitts, etc... and If I have to go back tomorrow I will go back to SXM, I loved it and I will live there any day it is a highly recommeded vacation.
PS- don't miss the sunset at sunset beach bar on fridays and sunday, specially sunday that a band called colors plays reggae classics.

I loved your trip report. It was honest as I can vouch for your experiences. Your reaction to any annoyances were mature comments and to the point. Bravo.

Second time I mentioned Cheris I meant to say Rics Sport Bar at Philipsburg, it is a really nice place to have lunch at affordable prices and the staff is super. I forgot to mention Sports 2000 bar and rest., by Simpson Bay or Airport Rd, I had a very good time there, good appetizers and cool happy hours like the pour your own drink happy hour.

We want to go to Sint Maarten sometime next year and get a timeshare through RCI. What does SXM stand for? Can you snorkel right off of the beach in St. Maarten or do you have to take a boat out to the reefs? You prefer the Dutch side to the French? Thanks for info

SXM mean Saint Martin. It is the airport code for the airport in Phillipsburg.

Joy:

I understand your asking about which side is prefered more by someone; Dutch or French, but to be more helpful you should supply some information about what you are your priorities (beaches, nightlife, food, seclusion etc). The two sides are much different and each has different things to offer.

That said, I'm not sure whether there are timeshares on the French side. I think at one point Green Cay was going to go that route, but then changed there mind.

As for us, we prefer the French side for what we are looking for since we do not partake in the nightlife as a rule and that is where we stay in the fall. We do however have a timeshare at Divi on the Dutch side where we stay in the spring and we thoroughly enjoy that as well.

As Chas mentioned, to each his/her own depending on what you are looking for in your vacation. I prefer the Royal Islander on the Dutch side for it's self contained atmosphere and beauty but I find that there are many timeshares that are just as lovely. When you go to sxm, take a ride around the island and tour the various facilities. It is up to you to make the decision and by talking to some of the people who own at the various places, you'll get the information first-hand. I can tell you everything that I enjoy about the Royal Islander but there will always be someone else who will tell you they didn't enjoy it. Good luck and hope you find the place of your dreams.

To Chas:

My husband and I are taking our first trip to SXM this winter and are staying at the Divi Little Bay(our time share is in Aruba and we are exchanging this year). Looking for any info on this resort, even the smallest details. I don't even know its location on the island. I wrote to Divi for a brochure but have not received it yet. Any info you would be willing to supply would be more appriciated.

Like do that have parking available for a rental car? Nice Beach? Close to what city? Rooms nice? Casinos? How far to neighboring resturaunts? Stuff like this will help me. I like having a little bit of info before I arrive. Thanks in advance.

I have been getting alot of helpful information from this message board about the island, but nothing specific about Divi.

Again, Thanks
Denise

Denise,

The Divi is a nice resort located on the end of Great Bay, within walking distance to Phillipsburg, which has a few casinos, some good restaurants and alot of jewelery shopping. We stayed there for the first time last march, the resort is very clean, the beach was recently rebuilt with sand dredged up from someplace, not sure where. The one thing that I hated about this resort is the location of the parking lot, if your unlucky enough to get one of the units at the top of the hill, it can be a long walk, not so bad if your not carrying your beach chairs, umbrella, beach bag and cooler, god forbid if you forget something and have to go back up and down. Just my opinion.
Hope this helps,
Steve

Denise,

Steve is right, it is a haul up the hill, alhough, they do have shuttles that will take you to your building. We typically don't use them, we consider it the exercise to work off all the great food we are having during the week.

Denise;

Steve and Jane have already beaten me to the punch on most of your questions, but in addition I'd like to add some information.

By the time you go, Divi should most likely have it's own casino. By most likely, I mean everything runs on island time (indefinite). As far as their beach is concerned, it is small but it is nice for mornings and evenings since it is very tranquil.

While as Steve mentioned, it is walkable to Phillipsburg it can be a very long walk back after a day of shopping; especially in the sun and I would not reccomend walking back at night. Phillipsburg has a number of very good resturaunts (Da Livio, L'Escargot, Parasaghiens, Antoines) to name a few; but Divi's location makes to quite accessible to get to Cul-de-Sac and Grand Case on the French side; only a 15-20 minute drive.

If by any chance you do get select a room, I would reccomend a unit on the Little Bay side rather than the Great Bay side. These units tend to be newer, plus you get to watch the sunsets.

Denise,
I did not stay at Divi but spent a whole afternoon there. That Resort is probably one of the finest I saw on the island. It is located in a peninsula with Little Bay to the west and Great Bay to the east. The beach is on Little Bay. They have good security, shopping, and the staff was nice, the hotel also have a couple of pools. In my opinion Philipsburg is not walking distance(maybe at daytime), you can get there but it isn't that close. So for that same reason you will need to drive to the restaurants at night.
On Little Bay you can do some snorkeling on the left side of the beach, I though it was good snorkeling. Do not worry about buying or bringing any equipment since they have everything at a booth by the beach with all the watersports accesories, I think they even rent jetskis. This resort shares Little Bay with other time share/hotel called Belair. I did not go into a room but I can tell you they look nice, pretty architectural designs and nice balconies. Enjoy!

IPJ

Thanks to all who replied to my message. The information helps alot! We are looking forward to our vist to SXM and with the help you supply, I'm sure it will be a great time. Also sure I will have more questions as time goes on. Been to a few islands in the Caribbean and anxoius to see how this one stacks up. This message board is great!!!

Thanks again,
Denise

Chas, your answer is right on the money.....all depends on what your priorities are. We stayed on SXM for some years and finally bought at the Ocean Club on Cupecoy. Small, quiet resort (which we prefer) but like mid way between phillipsburg and Marigot, so we can get everywhere in short order! And even to the dining mecca of Grand Case.....no more than 15 to 20 minutes. Our advise to "newbies" is to visit, tour the entire island, and on the second trip you'll be able to get your own personal IDEAL vacation spot! We now go in March and October every year and consider SXM our second home. Regards, BobD

To HGC_
I would like to know what you liked and did not like about the Royal Islander? Our favorite passtime is snorkeling so like to be able to snorkel right off of beach of hotel. Are there safes in the rooms? The RCI book says that it has live entertainment - is this nightly and what is it like? At all places in St. Maartin do you have to pay for the chairs and the umbrellas or are they on the beach for you to use? Did you do any cooking in the room or did you eat out every meal? Could you tell me any of the lesser expensive places that you enjoyed? When you drove to other beaches, were you concerned about people breaking into your rented vehicle? Would you rent a vehicle at the hotel or at the airport? It will just be my husband and myself unless we find another couple to go with us. Thank you for anything that you can tell me. We are planning to go the last of May - will we be in the rainy season? JLM