# Before and after Tradewinds St Maarten?



## baby che (Apr 6, 2011)

I just booked a TW cruise in St Maarten next February. It was hard to choose between the different locations - BVI, SVG or St Maarten. SXM won out for specific week and flight time from California. I love SVG but it is a nightmare to get there from San Francisco. 
Can anyone recommend hotels for before and after the sail? We are thinking 1 night before in Philipsburg or near the marina and 2 or 3 nights after on the French side. And are there any "must do" activities on the island? Is it worth a day trip to Saba to St. Eustatius?


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## tombo (Apr 7, 2011)

I have never been on the cruise vacation since my wife gets sea sick, but from what I have read you will see very little of St Maarten other than from the water. I would spend at least 2 or 3 days on the Island exploring by land. There are many, many beaches, wonderful restaurants, shopping, and much more. Shop and dine on Front Street in Phillipsburg (when no cruise ships are in port is best). Eat ribs at a Lolo (open air dining) like Talk of the Town in Grand Case. Go to the all nude Orient Beach. Eat at Mr Busby's on Dawn beach. Visit the Guavaberry Emporium on front street in Phillipsburg for free samples and to buy Guavaberry rum which is not sold in the US (it makes a great gift). Shop at the open air market in Marigot. Visit the old fort up on top of the hill overlooking Marigot and Nettle bay. Everywhere you see a sign that says beach or baie, turn and explore. If you want to do the island in a day, there are some tours that will hit the highlights, but I would suggest renting a car and exploring on your own.

This is one of my favorite Caribbean Islands and one I would love to spend 2 consecutive weeks visiting, exploring, and relaxing on.


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## baby che (Apr 7, 2011)

Thank you Tombo! This is very helpful.

Because we are only doing a few days before and after the sail we will not use a timeshare - do you have any thoughts about hotels on the island? We are planning on 1 night on the Dutch side before the cruise and 2 or 3 night after on the French side. Will be traveling without kids and would prefer something smaller where we can walk to a beach and restaurants. 

I have looked at Pasanggrahan Guest House on Front Street, Horny Toad and Torquoise Shell Inn for the night we arrive. Thoughts? For the French side I am a little lost - Esplanade and Petite Hotel both look lovely, but quite pricey. Maybe that is just the nature of hotels in the Caribbean?? Even a suggestion as to which area to base ourselves in would help.

We will definitely rent a car and explore - thank you again for the great suggestions.


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## KathyA (Apr 7, 2011)

baby che said:


> Thank you Tombo! This is very helpful.
> 
> Because we are only doing a few days before and after the sail we will not use a timeshare - do you have any thoughts about hotels on the island? We are planning on 1 night on the Dutch side before the cruise and 2 or 3 night after on the French side. Will be traveling without kids and would prefer something smaller where we can walk to a beach and restaurants.
> 
> ...



Pasanggrahan Guest House is nice, if a little dated.  Great restaurant (whether you stay there or not).  Very convenient to all things Philipsburg, but no place to park.  You might also consider checking out some of the owner websites for extra days at timeshare resorts; some folks rent just the extra days.  A couple sites to try:

www.sxm-timesharenews.com
www.everythingstmartin.com

The French side is a little more difficult--expensive hotels and not too many of them.  Since you'll have a car, you might try Grand Case Beach Club.  It is certainly within walking distance of some of the greatest restaurans on the island.  Also Hevea (a restaurant in Grand Case) used to have a half-dozen rooms behind the restuarant to rent out.  They are relatively basic, but open onto a nice court.  It's been too many years since we've stayed there to say how the place is now.


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## stmartinfan (Apr 8, 2011)

You could check with Divi, which is at the edge of Philipsburg, but with a more attractive location than in the town itself.  It's a time share, but I think they also rent individual nights.  It's been recently renovated and in good shape.

We only stay timeshare, so I don't have personal experience with hotels. On the SXM forum on traveltalkonline, Horny Toad usually gets good reviews. The island is small enough that you can easily explore it from either side.  If I were going to try to stay on the French side, I'd try to get somewhere in the Grand Case area.  It's convenient to Orient Beach and is the center for wonderful French restaurants.  Another option you could look at is the Radisson Hotel; it's recently renovated and reopened and sits in a quiet area called Anse Marcel on the French side. 

(Oh, and a correction to a post above. Orient Beach is not entirely nude...one end of the beach does have a naturist resort with a clothing optional beach. The rest of the beach does requiring clothing, although since it's French you will see topless sunbathing.  It's a great place to spend a beach day, with some top notch restaurants (Kakao is a personal favorite.)


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## tombo (Apr 8, 2011)

stmartinfan said:


> You could check with Divi, which is at the edge of Philipsburg, but with a more attractive location than in the town itself.  It's a time share, but I think they also rent individual nights.  It's been recently renovated and in good shape.
> 
> (Oh, and a correction to a post above. Orient Beach is not entirely nude...one end of the beach does have a naturist resort with a clothing optional beach. The rest of the beach does requiring clothing, although since it's French you will see topless sunbathing.



The Divi is a very nice resort in a great location. There are only 2 timeshares on the whole little bay, so the beach is not crowded. i heard that some cruise ships drop passengers here for half a day to sun and swim, but I have never seen it personally. Here is the web site and you can punch in the dates and get rates for different types of rooms. It was renovated 2 years ago and has new everything. 
http://www.diviresorts.com/DiviLittleBay/little-bay-reservations.html

In response to my correction, Orient Beach is to me what I said, "all nude". If you ask me what "all nude" means, it means that people have got no clothes on. I can interchange naked and nekked with all nude since they are describing the same total lack of clothing. 

Most if not all of the French beaches allow topless sunbathing, so topless on Orient Beach is no different than topless on any French beach. When I went to my first beach on the French side years ago there was a wooden sign that said no nudity by the parking lot. I didn't get 10 steps past the sign before I saw topless women in thongs swimming and sunning everywhere. I figured out real quick that on the French side you ain't "all nude" if you have anything on that could be considered to be bottoms.

The unique thing about Orient beach is the naturist section where many people wear nothing but a smile. Yes only half of Orient beach is a naturist beach, but most of the people on that half are "all nude". That is why I called Orient Beach an "all nude" beach to differentiate it from most of the other French beaches where topless is fine, but where it is ilegal to be "all nude", naked, or nekked.


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## stmartinfan (Apr 9, 2011)

I understand your use of "all nude" now, Tombo.  I added my note because I didn't want some people hesitating to go to Orient thinking they would be surrounded by clothing-less people!  

Divi used to host a cruise boat excursion which involved a bus load of cruisers spending the day on the beach and for lunch.  They aren't doing that any longer, so the beach is much quieter now.  There may be a few cruisers who find their way to Divi via taxi, but it's mostly resort guests, and it's a large beach area with plenty of chairs.


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