Just an observation but do I sense that more people from the French side (or close to the French side where it is more desolate) are stating that they will not return? I am not trying to be a wiseguy either Bob... I am curious as to why it is so lopsided. Is it because of the Euro combined with the safety reason or is it just a safety thing. If it's just a safety thing, then it is a shame that the one thing that is preferred (peaceful and quiet) is the thing that is turning them away (too peaceful and too quiet).

We will be going back until it comes to a point that we cannot go outside of the resort during the day. Nighttime is never a problem since Maho has everything we could ever want and Simpson and Cole Bay are just so close and easy. During the day we like traveling to the French side and at night we stay close to home. The streets are well lit in many areas (except Mullet) and even though it may seem like hustle and bustle to some, to me it's a safety thing that I appreciate. Crime does happen on the Dutch side but because of the number of people in this area, it is also a "better odds" feeling as well.

[www.vrbo.com]

Life is not a child's game of follow the Leader. Instead, life is more about finding one's own purpose in life....your life's plan, and then making a positive difference on earth.

also, like John said (or suggested...) a lot of other factor may stop people to come down here, but the crime issue will be the pretext of their decision... We all know how much the US economy is hurt, and I don't want to beleive (cannot..) that all of the people who decide not to come back made this decision on the only crime issue factor even though they say so... Some of them may just cannot afford to come to sxm next year because they are victim of the low economy factors in the States and are being hit pretty bad, because of the infaltion all over including in flight tickets, but prefered to silence this reason and use the "easier" one to justify their decision to not to come... I do not say it may be the case in all, but in "some" it may be the case.
So this kind of topic has to be taken with all consideration and precaution for understanding...

Kind Regards,
Philippe



[www.facebook.com]

contessa Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I fear that things will get worse before they get
> better......sad to say!
> A friend who's been renting a particular villa in
> April for 5 yrs. asked me if I'd be interested in
> sharing the villa because the other 2 couples
> they've rented with for the past several years
> aren't returning. I told her I wasn't interested
> because I don't think we'll be doing 'ladies
> vacation' in SXM, next year. This morning she
> wrote me and said everyone else she offered this
> villa to weren't returning to SXM until things
> looked better. That's sad. It will be a very
> difficult time for tourism in the future. For
> every person who's returning, there are several
> that aren't.......not good!
>
>
> Contessa

Contessa,

You've had my brain cells pulsing since I read your post, as I try to decide what my future St. Maarten plans will be. No secret here that we're island old timers in that we've done 35 years every year of at least one trip to SXM per and many years more but I have truly wrestled with myself for the past few months as to what next year will bring and the latest problems of Bruce and Kim and Barbara have only served to exacerbate my personal qualms.

Preface my thoughts by saying I personally have never been a SXM crime victim - no car break-ins that we know of and certainly nothing worse - so then the question to me becomes have I been lucky and could a future trip be pressing it? I recall returning from our annual two week trip a few years ago and writing here about a problem that befell a fellow Towers guest - a mugging that caused him severe physical injuries and his personal resolve never to return to the island. And I also recall many personal messages and a few public comments as well stating that I was over-stating my concerns and worrying about things that could happen anywhere and the victims really should have been a lot smarter as to what they had done to bring the problem about. It bothered me at the time that so many took the island situation so lightly but then I started to really think about it and I thought about the changes in my personal level of vacation enjoyments.

I realized that I no longer felt comfortable being the last person on the beach at the end of the day awaiting the joy of that last ray of setting sun nor would I walk from my timeshare to Maho in the evening as we always used to do for our evening icecream cone and airplane watching, and for sure, we are no longer all that comfortable driving around the island at night either. But you know what, after a while I realized I've made similar changes in my life here at home, too. When I leave my home to go to the post office after dark, all of .75 miles of country roads from my home, I lock my doors and keep my car windows up.

Right here, in the staid and relatively 'safe' State of Ct., not 30 miles from my humble little country home, we're just getting over commemmorating the death of a mother and her two beautiful daughters who were brutally murdered in their own home but a year ago because our justice system granted an early release from prison to a couple of convicted felons. As I dress for work each morning I turn on the TV and I hear how many drive-by shootings have taken place in Bridgeport the night before and how many murders have been committed so far this year in our capitol city of Hartford and how the drug crack-downs in New Haven have to be taken more seriously and how the people of all these cities have to step up to the plate and be more pro-active in helping the police solve these problems.

The difference between St. Maarten/St. Martin and Connecticut, of course, is that we have better trained police and a lot more of them - both local and State and if a situation is really dire, we do have federal policing agencies for some situations - and they pretty much have unlimited budgets at their disposal to bring these dire problems under control. But you know what, as hard as they try, there are still drugs on our streets and criminals out there, too, just like on our beloved island.

Forgive me, please, if you've hung in this long and read this far, but having taken all these things into consideration, I've decided I'm going to go ahead with my current plans for my annual St. Maarten long weekend this Fall, and if it passes without issue, I'm going to proceed with my April plans as well.

This is not a decision I make lightly and I certainly hope time doesn't prove me to have erred in my decision. And it's not the position I would advocate for anyone else who wasn't comfortable with it. I think each and every one of us needs to act and react within the confines of our own personal comfort level. And yes, we need to be smart, we need to be aware and we need to take advantage of our room safes, door locks and our storm shutters, but we also have to live and enjoy our lives to the best of our ability.

--------------------
Respectfully,

pat

as always, pat, the voice of reason.
beautifully put.

[barcann.livejournal.com]

Hey John, I think you are seeing more people who normally stay on the French side not returning because they DON'T have to.As you may know time share is very popular on the Dutch side. I feel most regular Forum members first discovered SXM and continue vacationing there only because of time sharing. Many of us who prefer the French side aren't interested in time share ownership and are free to change their plans every trip. Don't forget many who you see prefer the French side not returning have a Dutch side time share too.So they split their time between both sides of the island.Its not lopsided when people cancel that own Dutch side time share but prefer the French side.

Bob,

I'm trying to understand you here - are you saying that because people own timeshare on the Dutch side you're forced to return there? Not so, my friend. We go back every year because we love the island - all of it. French/Dutch isn't the issue here at all. One can almost always trade to almost anywhere in the world on the face value of a St. Maarten timeshare. Have you ever attempted to trade your timeshare? You shouldn't have a problem, or at least that was my experience the only time we chose to.

Any many of us who will return even in the face of the current crime situation purchased our timeshares after many years of visiting the island. In our case in particular, we had been visiting annually for fifteen years before we finally got around to buying our timeshare and certainly, the fact that we have our SXM weeks has never stopped us from making trips to other destinations as well, but not at the cost of giving up St. Maarten.

I guess I'm just missing your point.

Respectfully,

pat

And I agree with Pat. Just because we own on the Dutch side doesn't mean we have to go. We could rent them and go elsewhere very easily. Our timeshares actually are in great demand during the time we own so that would be easily remedied if we feared the island so much. We also own a condo but that doesn't mean we have to go there as well.

As a way of describing our love of the island, despite it's flaws, we had the chance to go to Aruba the year that our timeshare was destroyed during the last major hurricane. That's where are friends went. Instead we prayed that the flights would be running at that time, booked a room at the Sapphire, weathered 2 days of torrential rains, and STILL had one of the best vacations ever. To me, we did not turn our backs on the island we have loved for years because of obstacles, we felt that we had helped (as minor as it may seem) with their economy by bringing some money to those that survived the hurricane and were open for business, and at the same time our friends went to Aruba and had their passports stolen the first day.

Like Pat said, everyone should do what they are comfortable with but to me, turning my back on someone or something that I love is not my style. I do not love the criminal nor do I love the hurricane. That is not my reason for returning year after year. They are not under my control but at the same time, I will not allow them to control my life if I can help it. As Buffet sang, I would rather die while I'm living than live while I'm dead.

[www.vrbo.com]

Life is not a child's game of follow the Leader. Instead, life is more about finding one's own purpose in life....your life's plan, and then making a positive difference on earth.

AA #667 was FULL on Monday. And we are talking summer season on a week day. Just looked on AA.com, and #667 is full today, tomorrow, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday....

Orient Beach right now is similar to every August. I think it is the other way around. For every person that is deciding not to return, quite a few more are going.

Not every visitor of the island frequents these message boards.....

Not every visitor of the island frequents these message boards.....

And this is not to disrespect either message board but...

Thank goodness. I'm beginning to believe that going around with blinders on can lead to a happier and more stress-free life, being that not having blinders on doesn't seem to work anyway and it only creates undue stress in the meantime.

My motto of the day...In the short time we have on earth, live life to it's fullest. If not, then resolve yourself now to a very stressfull yet dull life of constantly looking over your shoulder.

Have a good time MarcG!!!!

[www.vrbo.com]

Life is not a child's game of follow the Leader. Instead, life is more about finding one's own purpose in life....your life's plan, and then making a positive difference on earth.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/07/2008 10:55AM by John.

John Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Not every visitor of the island frequents these
> message boards.....
>
> And this is not to disrespect either message board
> but...
>
> Thank goodness. I'm beginning to believe that
> going around with blinders on can lead to a
> happier and more stress-free life, being that not
> having blinders on doesn't seem to work anyway and
> it only creates undue stress in the meantime.
>
> My motto of the day...In the short time we have on
> earth, live life to it's fullest. If not, then
> resolve yourself now to a very stressfull yet dull
> life of constantly looking over your shoulder.
>
> Have a good time MarcG!!!!


I'm with ya John. When I first was reading about the things going on, I got really nervous about our up coming trip in "23" days. But we're not changing our plans, we're gonna go and have a good time, and try to the best of our ability to be safe. Sure, we'll be more aware of our surroundings, but I need to go back.

Melissa

John Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Not every visitor of the island frequents these
> message boards.....
> > >
> I'm beginning to believe that
> going around with blinders on can lead to a
> happier and more stress-free life, being that not
> having blinders on doesn't seem to work anyway and
> it only creates undue stress in the meantime.
>
> My motto of the day...In the short time we have on
> earth, live life to it's fullest. If not, then
> resolve yourself now to a very stressfull yet dull
> life of constantly looking over your shoulder.
>

Awesome good words. Right on John. RIGHT ON!

Oh Yea, John.
don't let the bad guys win again by becoming afraid to live your life!

[barcann.livejournal.com]

Nope...won't let that happen.

[www.vrbo.com]

Life is not a child's game of follow the Leader. Instead, life is more about finding one's own purpose in life....your life's plan, and then making a positive difference on earth.

We are coming to SXM Oct 4 for our usual Timeshare week. That being said, to answer someone above. I am not locked in. I can trade my weeks to many other locations.

I can honestly say that we have never experienced crime nor felt threatened while on SXM. I spoke with Grace and if we feel uncomfortable in any way during this trip we would re-think 2009. I do hope that nothing happens because I love SXM and if we don't return it would be a shame. I hope that they get their acts together because to turn SXM into Jamaica or the DR where you can't leave your Resort would be terrible. What we fell in love with 15 years ago was the fact that you could drive anywhere at any time and feel safe. And also the beauty of the Island the beaches and the restaurants.

Between the tourists and the business owners on SXM, who would go out of business if SXM went the way of Jamaica, we should be able to speak loud enough for the Powers That Be to hear.

as always JMHO

Rick

Joh, Maybe I'm missing your point. You stated it appears people who prefer the French side are not returning.Over people who prefer the Dutch side. My point was many who spend most of their time on the French side actually are owners of Dutch side time shares so I can't see how its lopsided.