Trip Report - November 30, 2008 - December 5, 2008

I was very hesitant about taking this trip, we were supposed to go early November, but my heart wasn't in it. Then moved it and even as of 11/29, I had thought about canceling because of everything I read on the boards, luggage lost, lines at immigrations, flight cancellations, euro rise and fall, grocery stores empty, crime, traffic, restaurant closings, bugs, etc. I expected to arrive and be swarmed with bugs and go to the grocery store and have to watch over my shoulder for fear of a shootout. I'm far from a newbie, this was probably my 30+ trip since 1983.

Well I'm so glad I didn't listen to any of the bantering on the boards. Because is living in fear really worth it? Stuff happens, good or bad. We had a great time basically doing nothing.

Arrived no problem on Jet blue and there was Lesley from Kenny's with our car, and off we went. As usual no problems there!

Stayed 5 nights at The Towers at Mullet Bay - (yes the dreaded war zone! Mullet Bay - hold on to your wallets and small children, abandoned buildings, graffiti, etc!). We had a 7th floor unit looking out at the beach and golf course, every morning we got up and sat on our balcony watching cruise ships and the water. Wouldn't have traded it for the world.

We ate most dinner between Maho and Atlantis - Rare, Paris Bistro, Le Moulin Fou, Bahajtzu and we actually ventured off to Simpson Bay and ate at The Wharf. Parked in the KimSha parking lot and wandered over. All great meals. At the Atlantis complex we did valet parking, and at Maho we parked in the garage. No problems at all. We were home most nights by 11:00 - 12:00, sad that we walked out of the casino at 10:45 and Cheri's was already closed! The Maho area was EMPTY! Probably due to Royal Islander Le Plage being closed.

Went to Rouge one day, wonderful day got there between 9-10 and left around 5, loved it. Maybe 15 people on the entire beach. Spent two days at Mullet same thing, we didn't tie or padlock our bags to our chairs, didn't take turns swimming, just had a great time, never felt unsafe, just had a great time. but we also don't bring anything of value to the beach either.

One day we went into Marigot for the afternoon (yes we picked up a nice Italian lady on the way - that was already discusssed!), walked around, shopped in the market and the mall, had Lunch at the Marina Royale - The Village, very nice place. Wandered the back streets in Marigot, yes it's depressing how many stores are closed up. Those old buildings must have been beautiful "back in the day".

All in all, we had a great trip, very glad I went and can't wait till our 2 weeks in April.

As far as the fears everyone reads on these boards. Yes crime is an issue, you can do things to help, there are things you can do to not make yourself a target. But if some bad guy is going to commit a crime they will unfortunately, and that is home or away. Euro issue, not really sure why it's such a big deal. Set your budget, and you can't or don't want to pay the exchange, then don't eat or stay on the French side. Pretty simple solution. Traffic, don't stay on the Dutch side if you wish to be on Orient every day? Bugs, I came down with more bug spray and lotions, just covered my legs and arms with Mosquito Milk before we left every night, and honestly, didn't have a problem, but the winds were starting so that could be part of what helped. We even went to the Towers cocktail party and had no problem.

Counting down the days till April!

Hey Kim!

Great report and admire your not buying in to all the crime hype on line these days. If you have to constantly worry about bad stuff you might as well stay home.

It seems that many don't understand a lot of the circumstances involved in some of the scary events reported. For example; the 5 ppl. held hostage in their house while it was being robbed last week in Simpson Bay. WHY was that house targeted? Well, perhaps there were things going on there that weren't included in the story.

Over Halloween we did most of the things y'all did and went to a lot of the same places. We encountered zero problems. Most of the bad stuff that happened while we were there included house break ins and the unfortunate homicide at some club. This later turned out to be an altercation gone bad rather than a robbery.

The allure of SXM is enhanced a great deal by points you so adeptly made. Prices in relation to other islands are cheap. You definitely can avoid Euro issues by shopping for meals and stuff smartly. Accomodations can be a bargain.

Crime can (in a lot of cases) be avoided by being street smart and staying with the group..it happens, but not to the majority.

I maintain constantly that only SXM offers more for many than any other Caribbean destination. You have a lot of choices on SXM that you don't have elsewhere and being a little more vigilant is not too much of an effort for the experience.

THANKS again for the report...see you some of these days on Island.

Denis



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/10/2008 09:56AM by BIGDENX.

hey Kim
love your post. why don 't you post it on ALL the BB like the crime stories get posted?
the good stories NEVER get as much publicity as the bad ones.

glad you had a good time. It would have been so much better though,if you had called me.

[barcann.livejournal.com]

Very well stated! Thanks to both of you for more insight into the ongoing, never ending problems we read every day on these forums.

Uh Barbara - a while back someone sent out emails that her numbers changed!! Of course lazy me didn't key them into the tele. But, hmm, didn't someone state she had MY NUMBER!!!! And didn't have time to call! Cause she was too busy!!! hmmmmm

haha - April will be fun, you get all 10 of us!! uggh!

BIGDENX Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Hey Kim!
>
> Great report and admire your not buying in to all
> the crime hype on line these days. If you have to
> constantly worry about bad stuff you might as well
> stay home.
>
> It seems that many don't understand a lot of the
> circumstances involved in some of the scary events
> reported. For example; the 5 ppl. held hostage in
> their house while it was being robbed last week in
> Simpson Bay. WHY was that house targeted? Well,
> perhaps there were things going on there that
> weren't included in the story.
>
> Over Halloween we did most of the things y'all did
> and went to a lot of the same places. We
> encountered zero problems. Most of the bad stuff
> that happened while we were there included house
> break ins and the unfortunate homicide at some
> club. This later turned out to be an altercation
> gone bad rather than a robbery.
>
> The allure of SXM is enhanced a great deal by
> points you so adeptly made. Prices in relation to
> other islands are cheap. You definitely can avoid
> Euro issues by shopping for meals and stuff
> smartly. Accomodations can be a bargain.
>
> Crime can (in a lot of cases) be avoided by being
> street smart and staying with the group..it
> happens, but not to the majority.
>
> I maintain constantly that only SXM offers more
> for many than any other Caribbean destination. You
> have a lot of choices on SXM that you don't have
> elsewhere and being a little more vigilant is not
> too much of an effort for the experience.
>
> THANKS again for the report...see you some of
> these days on Island.
>
> Denis






Well put......I couldn't have said it better myself.....no really, I couldn't! lol

Melissa

Yea Barbara, whatever Kim said!
i

hey irina im thinking you should be spending easter with B this April!!!

Great report. Let's hope all the bashers just accept you had a good time. But, you know some of them need their pulpit.

haha - yes they do! And thanks!

Hey Kim!

Don't let em grind you down...good positive report showing understanding of the issues. Gee..2 posts locked in a coupla days...BRILLIANT!

Denis

><haha - yeah thought that was a record for me at least!! But at least they are just locked and not deleted!

what did I miss?
Kim , you had 2 posts in one day locked?
did you deserve it?

[barcann.livejournal.com]

Very nice trip report and very good perspective! I am glad also that your post here, on the friendly island forum, wasn't hijacked !

Kind Regards,
Philippe



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Yeah.. unfortunatly her trip report post was locked because it was hijacked by usual bickering and "half empty glass" people...Very interesting reading though, I had a good laugh, no kidding!
And the second ones was her response to that person, blocked but not deleted, which means the moderator had still the intend to let people read what she had to say about the "hijacked"... And Kim did made her point!

Kind Regards,
Philippe



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