I have been to SXM twice, Aruba, and Grand Caymans the last few years. IMO Grand Caymans is much more expensive than SXM, especially the Dutch side in terms of restaurant prices. I stayed on Eagle Beach in Aruba, which is very nice, but got pretty crowded, and the food was more expensive than SXM, though not by much. I have heard good things about St. Lucia, and we are heading to Turks and Caicos next spring. To me, what SXM has that is unique is a very wide variety of beaches, if you go from Orient Beach, to Baie Rouge, Anse Marcel, to Dawn Beach, it feels like 4 entirely different places, even though the distance is pretty short.