Are you sure it was the water? Never had any problems in 15+ yrs. with it, at least on the Dutch side.

there is nothing wrong with the tap water on the Dutch side
I would guess that whatever the problem was that it might have come from something else.

[barcann.livejournal.com]

With the strict bordercontrol Laws on what you can bring into a country or onto a flight I would highly doubt you can even bring frozen food/meats from anywhere now.My suggestion is this: You are on holidays. If you have to worry about the cost of groceries for a week then maybe you are not prepared to be on vacation anywhere. With all the fresh fruit and vegetables and seafood on the island you cannot go wrong. I do bring my own spices in ziplocs tooo. Why buy big quanities to throw out.Grand March has Angus grade beef and fresh chicken as well.Breads/Bagels/Croissants are "French Quality" so who can complain.Enjoy yourselves and put some extra money into that budget before you leave. Here is another asuggestion try an ALL Inclusive Hotel to avoid those grocery prices. Just relax and enjoy your time on the island Isn't that why you come to St Maarten? By the way the fries here are to die for. Good Dutch frites from Dutch grown potatoes. Can't beat that anywhere!!

As long as you check your cooler, there should not be a problem. You go through Immigration on St. Martin, not a review of your luggage. We've taken food previously on some trips, and not on others, and both have their advantages. Yes, prices are a bit higher on the island, so if it helps your budget to bring along food or meat (especially in this economy), go ahead if you like. I plan a few meals ahead of time and pack most of the ingredients that will be needed, and then buy bread products, dairy and produce on the island. Yes, it is a bit more effort than buying everything on the island, but it allows us to treat ourselves to a few more things on vacation.

Do any of thr grocery stores in St. Maarten accept credit cards or only cash?

Drew s

The Grand Marche accepts credit cards.

We are staying a week in St Maaren in a timeshare this fall. Are we allowed to bring in any frozen foods> We live in New Orleans and would love to bring some forzen shrim and crab meat to cook while we are there. Are we allowed to bring it in ?

Thanks

yes you are

[barcann.livejournal.com]

Anonymous User Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I did not know that they allowed one to bring food
> into St. Maarten. While in transit, do you check
> the cooler or carry it on? Purchasing meat is our
> concern since the last island we visited had a
> very limited selection, but if we can bring meat
> with us it would alleviate that worry.

Entering sxm you clear immigration and your next stop is the carousel to pick-up your luggage.And you can bring anything legal you'd like----dry goods--meats--etc---etc. .You see many coolers on the carousel,brought by people staying on-island and in transit to out islands.Have no fear,if you want to bring it ---do so. Enjoy!!!

I just returned and because all of the food is imported you will pay more.

We found a new store on the island which opened about six months ago and the fruit and Veggies were a whole lot better than Grand Marche and the traffic is not a problem. It is SXM version of Fresh Foods or Fresh Market. It is the cleanest market on the island.

Because tourism is down we were able to go to Grand Case and have the greatest food for about $30.00 USD per person and parking was not a problem.

Enjoy the island and get out as much as possible,

Is there a lot of fresh, local seafood? Is that super pricey? Where is the best place to buy it?

We usually buy fresh fish at the Marigot Market on Wed & Sat mornings.
Must get there early for the best selection.
Prices are very reasonable for mahi, trigger fish, snapper.

My son, 20yrs old, will be on St Maarten for a 7 day maritime training in October 2009. Can you give me an idea of his grocery bill for this period? Would US$100.00 be adequate to cover 21 meals?

That is a very difficult question to answer, not knowing your son's appetite and the foods he would like to eat. Generally food prices are a little higher in St. Maarten, as pretty much everything has to be imported. I'd add about 20% to what you would expect to spend in a larger US city, and that should be adequate.

I see a lot of questions on here about grocery prices and a lot of comments about the French side being more epensive etc. So JUST FOR FUN, I walked around Match and picked out some completely random items and compared the prices to Le Grande Marche. I was surprised by how big some of the differences were.

Some notes:
Unless a specific brand is named it was basically for the cheapest product of that description at either store.
No "promotional" items were included - just the regular priced ones
The Grande Marche rates are in US$, the Match rates are in Euro and US$ - the US$ rates are based on the official exchange rate from yesterday.

Note: Grande Marche price for Dove soap was for 2 bars and Match price was for 4 bars!! Grande Marche butter was 227g and Match was 250g

Now I just hope when I press post that all the columns will stay in line

le Grand Marche Match Match in $
1 litre long life milk $2.05 1.80 € $2.68
2 litres Coca Cola $1.75 1.60 € $2.38
50g Nescafe instant coffee $1.97 1.90 € $2.83
10 Mosquito coils $1.82 1.40 € $2.09
Granny smith applesper kilo $2.50 1.80 € $2.68
Red pepper - per kilo $8.33 4.80 € $7.15
Onions - per kilo $1.66 2.30 € $3.43
Butter - 250 grams $1.33 1.75 € $2.61
4 x 125ml plain yoghurts $3.29 1.25 € $1.86
Lavazza Crema coffee $6.43 4.45 € $6.63
6 x bottle Carib $4.99 4.50 € $6.71
2 kg white sugar $2.76 2.90 € $4.32
1 kg all purpose flour $2.25 1.70 € $2.53
15oz jar Hellman's Mayo $2.93 1.75 € $2.61
1.5 ltr mineral water $0.78 0.65 € $0.97
Cottonelle - 4 rolls 1-ply $1.99 1.40 € $2.09
4 pack of dove soap $4.89 4.65 € $6.93
Palmolive 13oz washing up $2.08 1.45 € $2.16
1 tube Pringles Originals $1.64 1.55 € $2.31

Remember this was just for fun - so please no comments about it being not a representative spread of items etc etc - anyone else want to add thoughts or prices great.