TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin Tranquility Base: The Westjet has landed. Trip report.

Good evening all from Atrium,

trip report may 20 - may 27.
Day 1. Arrived from Toronto, direct flight with Westjet. Flight was uneventful, arrived on time. we went very fast through customs in the temporary airport (read tent).
got a taxi and arrived at Atrium in no time.had lunch at greenhouse and dinner at buccanner bar. the girl at buccanner mixed my order. for a burger and ribs plus 3 beers we pay ~$70. i found that a little expensive.

Day 2.breakfast at Zee best. amazing as usual. then we went to Philipsburg to asses the situation. a lot of stores are in recovery mode. there are too few turists on the island. we saw some activity becsuse there wasone ship in. dinner at sale and pepe. food was excellent, service was fine. one custoner complained he had to wait too long for the order. the place was packed.

Day 3. Tuesday. Breakfast at zee best again. lunch we decided to try pizza del sol, which is across sale and pepe. thin crust, excelent taste but the ingredients were from the can. then we treat ourself with a delicious ice cream at gio's ice cream. the were in maho before irma. in the afternoon we went to maho. it is a ghost town. 3-4 stores open and couple of restaurants. la rosa too will be open in june of this year. we felt very sad becsuse maho was our home away from home. since we enjoyed sale and pepe so much we went again. this time we had to wait over an hour to take our ordrer. nobody from the staff made eye contact with us. it was so bad that the customers around us told the staff that we are still waiting to place our order. food was delicious again, but we are taking the business somewhere else in the future.

Day 4. Wednesday. breakfast at top carrot, one of our favorite place. we dont recommend to try the ginger shots. it should be illegal. it taste aweful but it makes you super healthy. quiet day at the beach. dinner at beirut restaurant. the place is nice and clean. i ordered rack of lamb and Nora had whole red snapper. the fish was delicious. i ordered the lamb medium rare but it came medim. the taste was very good. the baclava desert is a must.

Day 5. Thursday. breakfast at Zee Best, then we went to Philipsburg to buy a ring for my teenage daughter. this proved to be more difficult than i thought because she is tipical teenager. we bought the ring from touch of gold. very helpful and acomodating people. this time the city was empty sine there were no ships in port. we had lunch back in simpson bay at little jerusalem. shawarma was delicious and huge. we will come again. dinner was at bavaria restaurant. food was tipical german and was tasteful.

Tomorrow is another day. to be continued.

Thank you for your report. We just recently found Bavaria even though we have been going to SXM for over 30 years. It will be on our list for dining when we return in December of this year.
Enjoy your vacation.

Thanks for your report. Sounds like Sale and Pepe is getting a little TOO popular. Enjoy the rest of your trip!

Thanks for taking time to give a report.

Wonder if Sale y Pepe takes reservations? They are on our list to hit....

Sunday will be Moulin Fou for da b-day dinner.

Thanks for your report Alecu....we may have dined at Zee Best at the same time. Didn't see anyone with a teenage daughter.

beachkitten: we are not with our daughter here. thats the problem. we communicate with her back home. thatis why i had to go to philipsburg to get her the ring she might like. lol. to orrow morning we will go to le succrerie for breakfast. and tonight we are going to la pasha .

thanks,
alec

Yes. Sale & Pepe takes reservations. Six of us ate there night before last. Wife and another had the Lobster Ravioli. When it came it had a very strong fish order and tasted of old fish. Asked the waiter and he said it is fish stuffed with a Lobster sauce on it. Not what is described on menu. Other was sent back too and waiter, who was rude to begin with, came back 45 minutes later after the rest of us were done eating and asked if he could bring something else for them. 45 min later is not acceptable. My dinner was OK but that is the second and last time we'll be there. First time last year wasn't much better.

I am not a huge fish fan in general and the one and only time I ate there, I wasn't impressed. Most people here do like it though. Different strokes..

Yep. That is why there is chocolate and vanilla.

Day 6: friday. breakfast at la sucriere. excellent variety and taste. the aroma inside this place was amazing. then we went to philipsburg to finish shopping. again the was deserted since there was no ship. today was very hot. we then went back to the room and onto the beach. we had lunch at greenhouse restaurant. dinner was at al pasha, lebanese restaurant. food was very good and the price was reasonable. the owners sat with us and we had a traditional turkish coffee. very pleasant couple.

to be continued.

Heard westjet pilots aren't going to strike! Yeah!

that's great news. this time we came on the island just the two of us. no kids. but now we miss them so much that we want to return home yesterday.

alecu

Thanks for the report! We love Zee Best and eat many breakfasts there when on island. Also enjoy the shawarma at Little Jerusalem. Big enough to share! We also don't care for Sale and Pepe. You're more patient than we are -- no one should have to wait over an hour to have their order taken, regardless of how busy a place is.

Where is Gio's ice cream located now?

Buying anything for a teenager is difficult. Glad you were able to find a ring for your daughter.

Sounds yummy!