Prayers and thoughts going out to all of St. Martin. Edie and I were scheduled to fly down Oct. 17th. Has anyone heard any info about Royal Islander - LaTerrasse? I would be glad to help with cleanup but wonder how much damage was done to where we planned on staying.

There is a statement from the Maho Group
http://mahogroup.com/

Looks like all reservations for 2017 have been cancelled

I don't know that applies to Royal Islander.

I'm already worried about special assessment fees if LaPlage is badly flooded, etc. The building appears intact, at least. ........

Regardless, making a "Plan B" ---- booking tonight for Curacao for the same week, Oct 14 to 21.

Carol....they mentioned all properties will be closed to until the end of this year. That would of course include Royal Islanders. I am sure their pool is trashed once again, and after seeing the damage to the Sonesta and the Maho area, I am pretty sure that there has to be some damage at both LaPlage and LaTerrace. Praying that these buildings are at a minimal damage.

David.....I have owned at RI for almost thirty years. There have been other hurricanes over the years..and a few closures. This is the worst storm in the history of the island. With that said, as owners, we have NEVER been charged an additional assessment at any time. Not saying that this may hold true today....but the Spaddarro family have been more than fair with all of us. Last time around, they even credited the paid up maintenance fees to the following year. VERY VERY FINE thing to do for us. If you bought timeshare and expecting it to go up in value, you made the wrong ''investment'', and believe me that the current owners will remain loyal to the property. As Gloria Gaynor used to sing..."i will survive"....and that will be the Royal Islander!!!! If you don't belong to RCI, you are out of luck this year. There is no ''banking'' among RI itself. Praying for all the people of SXM. To us, it's just a vacation place...a second home. To them, it is their LIFE AND LIVELIHOOD. An inconvenience for all of us tourists..yes. Small potatoes to what they are going through.

Carol, Eric, and all the rest of ny fellow Florida folks here...STAY SAFE.

Great Post Ed... We are not timeshare owners but do have a substantial (for us) down payment on a private villa in October. We have tried to contact the owners (here in the U.S.) with the message being to contribute the deposit to a charity helping the folks. I know the owners and they are honest folks and will do so....

Liz

Amen & well said. Debbie & I have been going for many years & consider this our second home. We have made many friends over the years & will continue to support not only La Plage (where we are owners) but the rest of the island in any way we can. We have always been welcomed & respected by everyone & just pray all our island friends & family are safe. We can rebuild material things but can never replace a life. I also belong to RCI & was due to be on island the first 2 weeks in November, but banked my week yesterday after the storm so I will not lose that week & have 2 years to use it. Therefore, God willing, when SXM is up and running we can enjoy an extra week there! Prayers go out to our sxm family & friends..stay safe!!

Stay safe Ed, agree with the post. The bit I heard is that La Plage actually did better than La Terrasse. The storm surge will likely be the key factor and how the lower floors and structure handled it. I did not get the sense that the Maho report was related to anything Royal Islander. Will wait the week or so and see what happens.
T

Agreed, I think the Maho group report is technically limited to the Sonesta Maho, Sonesta Great Bay and Shore Point.

A friend was at Royal Islander La Plage during the hurricane. He said guests are fine. I think (not positive) that they had guests group together to have people in fewer rooms throughout the resort. My Dad talked to our friend last night - he said something about being with another male guest and they used the bathroom as a safe room. Awkward for sure, but it was smart planning on RI's part to get people to hunker down together. No idea on structural damages yet, I'm sure they aren't allowed to walk the grounds. He has no idea when he'll get out. He flew down from Boston via JB, and they'll let them know when planes are allowed in. I don't see it being any time soon with the extensive damage at PJIA.

I watched the helicopter tour that showed up on social media last night. They flew over RI - the pool is full of sand but the deck looked to be in decent shape structurally. The palms and foliage are no more, but that's to be expected. It looked like there was a slider or two missing on the Maho side - upper floor, maybe 3rd or 4th.

I'll post if I hear anything about our friend getting out, and any damage info. The whole thing is so sad. I'm heartbroken for all of our island resident friends and what they're going through. I don't care about the strong potential for my annual March vacation being a no go - I just want everyone to be ok <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/cry.gif" alt="" />

I saw this on the good morning America site. Looks like they are going over RI and the Sonota

https://www.yahoo.com/gma/drone-flies-over-st-martin-154921476.html