St. Maarten

[marsi.jane]

Folks,
I was wondering if someone can give me an idea about the relative
quality of the following beaches in St. Maarten for a family vacation?

Great Bay
Little Bay
Simpson
Kimsha
Mullet

Also, any experience with the following hotels is appreciated

Divi Little Bay Beach Resort
Great Bay Beach Hotel
Flamingo Beach Resort
Royal Palm Beach Resort
Oyster Bay Beach Resort

Thanks and Regards
Marsi

[Nick and Judy]

I have not stayed at any of the hotels you mentioned.. Usually we try to
stay on Orient Beach, but that is the clothing optional beach, so I don't
know if you would consider that appropriate for your family. It is a
beautiful beach and you will see many families there.
Be aware that you will most likely see some women, of all ages, sunbathing
topless at all the beaches there.

We did stay on Simpson beach at Flamboyant years ago, but it is a manmade
beach and I wouldn't reccommend it. We did drive by the Divi Little Bay
Hotel and the hotel looked nice as well as the beach. St Maarten/St Martin
is known for it's beautiful beaches.

[pltrgyst]

I have not stayed at any of the hotels you mentioned.. Usually we try to stay on Orient Beach, but that is the clothing optional beach, so I don't
know if you would consider that appropriate for your family....

IMO, Orient Beach and the beach at Grand Case are the nicest beaches on St.
Martin. The question would be whether those areas offer all the activities that
your family desires.

We did stay on Simpson beach at Flamboyant years ago....

If you mean le Flamboyant, it's on Nettle Bay, not Simpson. We stayed at its
sister hotel, the Beach Plaza, on the lower end of Marigot, and found it perfect
for our needs. We'll be back there for the holidays this year.

St Maarten/St Martin is known for it's beautiful beaches.

True. But in our experience, the beaches on Anguilla are far, far nicer.

Enjoy wherever you go.

-- Larry

[-hh]

I'm a Divi Timeshare owner and I've traded into their St Maarten
operations in Little Bay once, a few years ago.

I found their TS complex to be quite large, which meant long (and
hilly) walks down to the Dining area and beach. Also, at the time,
their scuba diving affiliation was literally on the other side of the
island (up north) and they didn't provide the transportation to get
there. In the TS unit we had, the kitchen was so tiny that one
couldn't open up the refrigerator door ... or stove's oven ... without
hitting the wall. However, Divi also screwed up our reservation - -
not the first (or second, or third) time that's happened to us with
them.

And the final clincher is that Divi is doing everything that they
legally can to get us to surrender (without compensation) our
timeshare contract at our home resort (Cayman Brac) because they're
trying to shut down the resort and get rid of all of the timeshare
contract owners there ... we have to have gotten our lawyer engaged in
order to get Divi to honor their contract.

As such, I personally consider Divi Resorts to be an unethical
corporation that I cannot recommend that anyone give any business to
any of their corporate divisions.

For St Maarten, we generally enjoyed the food up in Grand Case, and
would find a place to stay up near there to minimize driving. The "Lo
Lo" operations for lunch were cheap, filling and fun, and the town's
'restaurant row' for dinner was quite nice.

-hh

[Charlotte227]

Marsi,

Stay in Great Bay. My Mom & I had a wonderful time. Shopping was the best
part of the trip. Bring cash & credit cards the jewelry is a steal.

Something for everyone!

[-hh]

Bring cash & credit cards the jewelry is a steal.

I had spent two days walking the strip in Phillipsburg while we were
there, and part of another day over in the French town on the west
side, particularly looking for a swiss watch for my wife. Bottom line
is a lot of glitzy stuff whose prices can be beaten in New York City
and/or Amazon.com ... not any really profound bargain.

About the only exception were a few locally produced unique products,
such as Guavaberry liquor and an store containing some works of local
artists, but that's a pattern common enough throughout both the
Caribbean as well as elsewhere within the world: the stuff that you
can't find back at home "at any price".

-hh

[dale ross]

hi my wife and I have been going there since 1992 and we love it. we spend 2 weeks there every year. last week of june +1st week of july little bay is a wonderfull place to stay they have been remodeling the last few years very nice people at the divi love the beach quiet at night water on 3 sides of resort makes for nice breezes at night. own a week there also own at royal islander by airport very busy at night. all beaches are nice besides littlebay I also like orient bay lots of beach bars and chair rentals etc. mullet bay is also beautiful. just use common sense if you go to any isolated places