• The TUGBBS forums are completely free and open to the public and exist as the absolute best place for owners to get help and advice about their timeshares for more than 30 years!

    Join Tens of Thousands of other Owners just like you here to get any and all Timeshare questions answered 24 hours a day!
  • TUG started 31 years ago in October 1993 as a group of regular Timeshare owners just like you!

    Read about our 30th anniversary: Happy 31st Birthday TUG!
  • TUG has a YouTube Channel to produce weekly short informative videos on popular Timeshare topics!

    Free memberships for every 50 subscribers!

    Visit TUG on Youtube!
  • TUG has now saved timeshare owners more than $23,000,000 dollars just by finding us in time to rescind a new Timeshare purchase! A truly incredible milestone!

    Read more here: TUG saves owners more than $23 Million dollars
  • Sign up to get the TUG Newsletter for free!

    Tens of thousands of subscribing owners! A weekly recap of the best Timeshare resort reviews and the most popular topics discussed by owners!
  • Our official "end my sales presentation early" T-shirts are available again! Also come with the option for a free membership extension with purchase to offset the cost!

    All T-shirt options here!
  • A few of the most common links here on the forums for newbies and guests!

St Maarten vs Aruba?

LynnW

TUG Review Crew: Rookie
TUG Member
Joined
Jun 6, 2005
Messages
1,029
Reaction score
3
Location
Calgary AB Canada
I posted a question on the long thread about the best resorts in St Maarten but did not get an answer and since I have a couple of other questions I thought it was better to start a new thread. First of all what is the difference between the Royal Islander Club la Plage and the Royal Islander Club la Terresse? Most people seemed to chose the Club la Terrasse over the Club la Plaige on the other thread. Since we'd probably be looking at using points I was wondering how these 2 resorts compare to The Pelican or any of the other points resorts? We have also been looking at Aruba but have heard that it is very expensive. Are the restaurant and drink prices really that much more expensive in Aruba than St Maarten? We are also considering Hawaii but would like to find out more about St Maarten and Aruba before making a decision. I just hope whever ever we chose for next Jan will have better weather than we had for our 2 weeks in Cancun this month! :)

Lynn
 

Blondie

TUG Member
Joined
Jun 6, 2005
Messages
1,540
Reaction score
18
Location
New England
Resorts Owned
Raintree Blue, Raintree Resorts; Sudwala Lodge, SA; Hollywood Sands, Hollywood , Fla
Personally I find St. Maarten much more pricey than Aruba, expecially on the French side with the euro. Love both places, though. I think Terasse is the newer building but it is across the street from the water. La Plage is on the beach side if memory serves. We live an hour outside of Boston and I find the Aruba prices not too much dfferent than here at home. We love Pelican but many poster bash it. They have really great rooms and some not so good so be sure of location if you book there. Both places are wonderful, but I find St. Marten more upscale, more fine dining and more to see and do...
 

LynnW

TUG Review Crew: Rookie
TUG Member
Joined
Jun 6, 2005
Messages
1,029
Reaction score
3
Location
Calgary AB Canada
Thanks Blondie!

I guess I'm leaning more towards St Maarten because I understand it's more scenic than Aruba. We plan on going for 2 weeks so we'd like to be able to eat a few dinners in. How are the supermarkets in St Maarten and Aruba? I understand the Royal Islander Resorts are located close to shopping. It's so easy at home or when traveling to timeshares in North America to just pick up things at the deli or frozen food to eat in when you don't feel like cooking. Are these available in supermarkets there? I wouldn't worry about it for a week because we'd probably eat out every night.

Lynn
 
Joined
Jan 31, 2006
Messages
127
Reaction score
0
Location
Bogota
St Maartens

Is for me more interesting. And the French cuisine on the french side (obviously) is great - plus you feel that you are closer to europe whereas the Dutch side is more americanised. I tried several beaches there and all were fine. Worth your while to hire a car at least for a day or two and driving around the island and trying the different beaches.
 

caribbeansun

TUG Member
Joined
Jun 6, 2005
Messages
1,784
Reaction score
0
Location
Ontario, Canada
It depends on where and what you eat. I certainly didn't find SXM any more expensive than Aruba for comparable dining. You can have a decent meal with wine on the Dutch side for a little under $100, on the French side in Grand Case you'll be double that amount.

We found Aruba boring and lacking in things to do. SXM has a ton of variety as far as beaches and restaurants go and is more diverse as far as landscape. You can do day trips from SXM to St. Barts, Anguilla or Saba as well.
 

Blondie

TUG Member
Joined
Jun 6, 2005
Messages
1,540
Reaction score
18
Location
New England
Resorts Owned
Raintree Blue, Raintree Resorts; Sudwala Lodge, SA; Hollywood Sands, Hollywood , Fla
Lynn- big supermarkets on both islands with all you will need. Great French pastries and breads, too, in SXM, ooh la la...! Great pizza on the floating Heineken bar across from Royal Palm and great fish at Lee's next to the bar. Good, resaonable prices for SXM
 

Kal

TUG Member
Joined
Jun 6, 2005
Messages
4,445
Reaction score
568
Location
Redmond, WA
If you want to eat cheap, St. Maarten is the place. Talk of the Town (a lolo) serves up a "plate of food" for $8. That includes an entre (ribs or chicken with a choice of 3 side dishes). Better yet, Johnny B Under the Tree sells grilled ribs, chicken and lobster. A large rack of baby-back ribs goes for $5. Half a grilled chicken is $4.
 

LynnW

TUG Review Crew: Rookie
TUG Member
Joined
Jun 6, 2005
Messages
1,029
Reaction score
3
Location
Calgary AB Canada
I understand there is no public transportation for tourists in St Maarten but what about Aruba? If we stayed at the Royal Islander Club la Plaige for 2 weeks would we need to rent car for the whole time or would a week be okay? We rented a car for 2 weeks in the Mayan Riviera because the MP is so remote but found we did most of our sightseeing the first week and only used it to go into Playa del Carmen for dinner 3 times and to WalMart the second week.

Lynn
 

Kal

TUG Member
Joined
Jun 6, 2005
Messages
4,445
Reaction score
568
Location
Redmond, WA
LynnW said:
I understand there is no public transportation for tourists in St Maarten ....

Not true, there are small buses available for many popular destinations. Cost is about $1.00 each way.
 

doubledigit

newbie
Joined
Feb 22, 2006
Messages
8
Reaction score
0
Location
western michigan
sxm definately

We have really enjoyed sxm. We stayed 2 weeks. One week at the Pelican and the second week at Sapphire Beach. I liked each of them for different reasons. The beaches on the island are beautiful. I can't imagine going without renting a car. It is extremely easy to drive as there is one main road around the island. There is so much to see and the freedom of going to different beaches every day is so worth it. We loved mullet bay and dawn beach on the east side of the island (great food at scavengers). The grocery store at the curve on the way to phillipsburg (grande) is super. The topography of this island with the mountains makes it more interesting than aruba. Sitting at sunset beach bar watching the planes land makes for a lazy afternoon.
 

Aldo

newbie
Joined
Aug 21, 2005
Messages
504
Reaction score
0
Location
Little Falls, NY
St Maarten/Martin has one of the best public transportation systems I have even seen.

There are medium sized busses which run a regular route between P-burg and Marigot, then are are dozens, if not hundreds of little jitney vans which run intermediate routes here and there, and will stop anywhere that you care to wave them down and will stop anywhere you ask them to as long is it along their route.

There are a few places that aren't covered by these jitney routes but I'd bet they cover 75% of the roads on the island.


Getting, say, from Simpson Bay over to Orient Beach or Grand Case is a little trickly, and requires 3 jitney changes, but it can be done..
 

silverfox82

Tug Review Crew: Rookie
TUG Member
Joined
Jun 7, 2005
Messages
541
Reaction score
1
Location
sebastian, fl
almost a toss up

My wife brought 2 cats and 2 aruba timeshares to our life together 14 years ago. She took me to aruba, I took her to SXM, she loves aruba and really loves SXM. I don't think you can go wrong with either. Aruba is below the hurricane belt, St. Maarten is right in the path so the time of year could make a difference. Both have large supermarkets with reasonable prices, more variety in sxm due to the dual nationality. Restaurants are great on both islands and prices range from cheap to NY City or more. I think SXM has a better variety of restaurants and the neighboring island of Anguilla supplies them with the freshest lobster in the world. The people are great on both islands so thats not an issue but I would avoid the philipsburg area in sxm after dark due to some reports of petty crime. Nudity is prevelent on some beaches in sxm, topless at most, Aruba is more prudish so that might be an issue if you are bringing children. All things considered, I give SXM the edge. PS, rent a car, they are cheap and the roads are good. You can go to a different beach every day and join the never ending debate about which is the best.
 
Top