Let me preface this report with what motivated me to prepare it. I have made posts in the past about travel issues, SXM government travel related issues and my experience and opinions on trying to get to SXM under the current conditions. It has been speculated by some that people might be afraid to travel, were unwilling to make sacrifices or changes to travel plans to get there. It has even been mentioned that there might be some paranoia out there and all this was keeping people from traveling to SXM and supporting the local economy.

I am happy for those who have been able to travel to the island and enjoy their time there. It is not easy for all of us to get there and the Covid situation has made it even more difficult for some. I will share my personal experience with two planned trips that never happened.

A little background. Our first trip to SXM was on a Carnival cruise in Sept. 1991. Our first time staying on the island was either 1993 or 1994. Since then, we have returned on multiple cruises and 60+ stayover trips. We met our long-time taxi driver friend, Junior Bruney in 1991 and have been friends since. We have a close connection to his family in many ways. We have attended funerals on the island, been to the hospital for the birth of a godchild, attended a christening, attended local beach parties and house parties over the years. We have enjoyed and cherished a very close and local connection to the island.

A little more background. I was on the island in March 2020 when Covid hit and had to scramble to get home. I had a cancelled flight, problems rebooking (due to everyone else wanting to do the same at the same time) and spent the better part of 2 days online trying to get home and then also looking into what my options were for a long term stay if I did not get off the island. My wife also made multiple trips to the local airport, hoping to get some accurate information or book a flight. She was continually directed to online booking. This was not fun but thanks to some offers from TTOL members and my local friend, I was covered if I did not make it out quickly.

REPORT #1. The first non-trip trip report will be about a 9-day trip my wife and I had scheduled for Nov. 2020, staying at The Horny Toad. My wife had not been to the island in 8 years prior to 2019 as we started a lot of dog related travel that took most of her vacation and she still works full time. We did manage an 11-day trip in Nov. 2019 and we were looking forward to returning in Nov. 2020. We have 2 dogs and a cat so any overnight travel requires either boarding of the animals or in-home care arranged.
All arrangements were made, rental car, air at a very good price and Horny Toad was booked. The booking was done in May and we felt comfortable we would be able to make the trip. Delta dropped the fare; we got a nice credit and were looking at air for around $400 each. Sometime in the early fall of 2020 Delta suspended all service to SXM so that trip was cancelled. I looked into AA as an option to still make the trip but their schedule would have required us shortening the trip to 7 days and overnighting on one end of the trip and at a cost of around $200 more per person. It also would have required changing our preferred dates and that created a conflict with my wife’s job.

I did all I could to try and get us to SXM and help the local economy but it was not going to be.

REPORT #2. The second non-trip trip report was to have been a 12-day trip from March 7 to 19, 2021 with a group of 6 friends staying at Atrium. I booked air for this trip back in April 2020 so there was no hesitation or paranoia on my part about returning to SXM, even with what I experienced last year I was more than willing to return.
After a couple of schedule changes with air and the eventual cancellation of my return flight (Delta) I then had to consider other options as I had booked AA going to SXM and Delta coming home. In the meantime, the SXM government was continually flip-flopping and changing at will their entry requirements, particularly when it came to the required Covid testing time frame for entry to SXM. Our group tolerated a couple of changes and we were still willing to make the trip, enjoy ourselves and support the local SXM economy. One thing I constantly found troubling was the way the SXM government would make any announcement of their travel requirements. Instead of posting them on an official government website, they would announce the changes on a Facebook page or via a radio show. I found this very unprofessional and there was often conflicting information, even ON the official government travel site when it eventually made it there.

Now we have the mandatory travel insurance, mandatory covid test both ways and an added cost of between $230-$300 to make the trip. Covid testing for travel purposes is NOT easy to find in my area and when I did find it, the cost was about $130. I was still willing to make the trip. No paranoia and much willingness to continue to make sacrifices to make this trip happen and help the local SXM economy.

The last straw was a few weeks ago when there was mass confusion regarding the testing window for entry to SXM. Was it 72 hours? Was it 120 hours? Both were announced, conflicting information was found on the SXM sites, was it changed? Was it not changed? It seemed to be very unclear at that point and my personal confidence in the inept way the SXM government was handling this had dwindled to about zero.

I spoke with the couple who had the Atrium rental. They were concerned and confused as well as hesitant with making the trip we had been planning since having to cut last year’s trip short. It was collectively decided to postpone the trip for this year and hope for a better situation in 2022.

I have since endured what would have been another schedule change to my air and required either a very tight connection coming home or changing my flight to another day, all at a higher cost. At this point, I stand to lose around $300 in cancelled air unless I am able to use it before the end of this year.

It is not for any lack of willingness to make sacrifices, spend more $$, being flexible or fear of travel. I think I have been up to the task with all of that. It is easy for some to armchair quarterback decisions others make but unless they have all the facts, they are not in a position to make a judgement call for someone else.

I said it before and I will say it again, the way the SXM government has handled some aspects of the return process has been very unfriendly and caused many people to rethink their travel plans or flat out cancel as I have chosen to do twice. There are only so many changes one can deal with and so many hoops they are willing to jump through before they throw in the towel. Depending upon your location, the airlines have not been a real help to some either

Thank you for hearing me out on this somewhat sensitive subject.