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Mary’s Boon Review #186466
03/06/2019 09:46 PM
03/06/2019 09:46 PM
Joined: Aug 2012
Posts: 2,288
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PelicanPirate Offline OP
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PelicanPirate  Offline OP
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So, I waited to post this as with many reviews of things the negatives some how get more words/sentences than positives and that happened each time I wrote it.

The Boon is a very positive place and we liked it as our homebase, but we didn’t stay here much for our daily destination.

1) We would stay at the Boon again.
2) It has a good location for French side commuting with quick access to the causeway without all the traffic of Simpson Bay.
3) The rooms are neat and well furnished with fine wood furniture.
4) The mattress is comfortable.
5) The pillows are good.
6) We would prefer the thin material bedspread be replaced with a thin lightweight comforter. It was uncomfortable dealing with it each night with temp swings.
7) The AC unit with a nice remote control is very effective at generating cold, quiet air conditioning, but it is in Celsius.
8) 23 degrees is freezing, 24 is OK, 25 is hot. Fahrenheit might allow setting at 23.5 or 24.5 whatever that equals.
9) You keep reaching for/then shedding the thin but coarse bedspread all night.
10)The room has a wet bar sink, mini fridge with very small freezer compartment, toaster and hot plate, pot, skillet and dishes. We didn’t cook.
11) the ice machine for guests cranks out some serious ice and was always full and ready to fill coolers
12) Front Desk is really a desk and the ladies who work there are great.
13) They have towel service and you can exchange between 9am-9pm.
14) No laundry service during high season.
15) shower and bath were all good with lots of hot water.
16) we ate two breakfasts there and they were fair food and service wise with a good view.
17) we ate one dinner there (steak and red snapper) were very good but French server felt compelled to deliver us a political rant that “France wasn’t France anymore” frown
18) we didn’t eat one lunch there, more below.
19) parking, as we were told, was never a problem for guests.
20) we loved the planes and they have two observation decks above the rooms. Saw Air France multiple times but with no 747, we didnt just watch planes.
21) we guesstimated we’d spend 33-50% of our beach days there, but we ended up spending the first hours on the island and one other day.
22) the chairs are in two sections (hotel guests section) and bar section
23) the bar chairs are in nice condition, dark blue, with umbrellas, multiple rows, and with thump, thump music
24) the hotel section is a nice roomy, quiet piece of beach which has a great view of the surf and yachts anchored.
25)75% of the guest chairs in this section are faded, worn and sunken in. There are only a handful of umbrellas and two triangle, sunsail shades.
26) on day one we put our towels down and started drinking Carib when a curmudgeon jumped out of his ocean front room and declared “you are not sitting there”
27) we said they didnt have anything on them and he said “there will be when you get up”, he threw some towels and never came back.
28) we moved to some dilapidated without umbrella and enjoyed the view until well after dark
29) we had other places we wanted to go, but this certainly didn’t help our decision to spend more days at the boon beach, we can get that on a Carnival Cruise.
30) we spend one beach day there mid trip. Didn’t get an umbrella even though we were early and ended up under the sunshades which were pretty useless IOHO.
31) The sunshades were barely good to keep one chair in light shade with chairs tip to toe.
32) Watches a bunch of folks look for chairs with wet towels that were placed early and left through a heavy rain shower.

The one thing to really fix.
33) So, if I could improve one thing, I’d provide each hotel guest a dark blue lounge chair with a tag for stay duration (ala Club O) and an umbrella for every two chairs. That would of led to us staying at the Boon and drinking some libations and buying some lunches. We asked about them moving two chairs and the “beach boy” guy said same owner, two different operations.

Sorry for the format, but it was the only way to says the good sentences in enough quantity to balance the beach chair downside.

PS, a nice kitty cat welcomed us home and got90% of some really good French side liver pate.

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Re: Mary’s Boon Review [Re: PelicanPirate] #186475
03/06/2019 10:39 PM
03/06/2019 10:39 PM
Joined: Aug 2012
Posts: 638
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foreversxm Offline
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foreversxm  Offline
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We have stayed at Mary's Boon many many times over the past 10 years and love it. We were there in late January and they had just gotten about 30 new beach chairs for Hotel guests and new umbrellas. They also were rebuilding the little cabana umbrellas that got destroyed by the hurricane. The staff is very friendly and always helpful if you just ask them. Its not five star, more fun funky Caribbean style but we have found over the years their repeat guest to be very nice most of which could afford much better but choose Mary's Boon year after year as we do. They are updating and improving everyday it seems as the staff is always busy with projects. They have a mix of new and older chairs all of which do the same job but if you don't see a newer chair one is close by. Their are a few petty things like most places that really does matter or will keep me from having a great time, I agree the beach needs to be a little better managed but its only because they are still working on getting it back into shape have the hurricane and its still a gorgeous spot. The beach awnings are just temporary and do the job fairly will if you don't ask for a umbrella. The Bar and Restaurant has become very popular with day visitors and they now have a special better beach area in front of the rooms for just hotel guests from what a friend told me that just returned last week. I also heard The hotel is working on limiting the day visitors and that music on the beach is normally just the weekend party days. Of course its high season so everyone will slow up soon. If you look at the pictures they have in the lobby of the horrible damage to the hotel after the Hurricane you will see they have done an amazing job so the few things not yet perfect we overlook. We too love the beds, I think most rooms we have stayed in are pillow tops and nice wooden furniture from Bali. We hope to return in July and it can't come soon enough.

Re: Mary’s Boon Review [Re: PelicanPirate] #186495
03/07/2019 08:16 AM
03/07/2019 08:16 AM
Joined: Sep 2003
Posts: 18,561
St Maarten
BillandElaine Offline
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BillandElaine  Offline
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Posts: 18,561
St Maarten
Hope I can provide a bit of clarification. Yes, there is one owner, but two separate operations. The hotel and the beach bar are managed as two entities, the bar, resto, beach service are run by some else. They do not provide chairs and umbrellas to resort guests, the resort does and has set aside an area that they manage with the sun shades. The Boon Beach Bar and Restaurant bought all the new chairs and umbrellas. Guests are welcome to use those chairs and umbrellas in the beach bar section if they choose.

Agree with the thump thump music, and we avoid going on the weekends when the DJ is there.

However, today THIS will happen and we will be there! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=37sYSXgPYKA


Elaine
*********************************
God Bless the broken road....
Re: Mary’s Boon Review [Re: PelicanPirate] #186569
03/07/2019 03:37 PM
03/07/2019 03:37 PM
Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 1,882
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Bahston Offline
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Bahston  Offline
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I have the same difficulty with island a/c units with a Celsius temperature display. 23C/24C is where I end up setting it.

23C = 73.4F
24C = 75.2F
25C = 77F

Re: Mary’s Boon Review [Re: PelicanPirate] #186585
03/07/2019 04:44 PM
03/07/2019 04:44 PM
Joined: Jun 2009
Posts: 4,864
Portland, OR
jazzgal Offline
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jazzgal  Offline
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Posts: 4,864
Portland, OR
How exciting for you, Elaine. Sounds like it will be a wonderful experience!


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Re: Mary’s Boon Review [Re: PelicanPirate] #186597
03/07/2019 07:27 PM
03/07/2019 07:27 PM
Joined: Aug 2018
Posts: 41
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Airlegs Offline
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Airlegs  Offline
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Posts: 41
Thank you for the update. I have been considering Mary’s Boon for a future trip. But about celsius? The entire World is metric except for the US. You have a phone, just do the calculations. Metric is far easier and logical to learn. Glad you had a great trip!

Re: Mary’s Boon Review [Re: Airlegs] #186617
03/07/2019 09:31 PM
03/07/2019 09:31 PM
Joined: Aug 2012
Posts: 2,288
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PelicanPirate Offline OP
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PelicanPirate  Offline OP
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Itts not the conversions, its that it would have been nice to have a temp in between 23-24......sounds picky but we went from freezing to hot within 23-24-25 very night for 2 weeks.

Re: Mary’s Boon Review [Re: PelicanPirate] #186619
03/07/2019 09:36 PM
03/07/2019 09:36 PM
Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 18,571
Auburn, WA
SXMScubaman Offline
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SXMScubaman  Offline
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Posts: 18,571
Auburn, WA
Get to hot, grab a carib to cool off. Lol

Re: Mary’s Boon Review [Re: PelicanPirate] #186625
03/07/2019 10:52 PM
03/07/2019 10:52 PM
Joined: Aug 2012
Posts: 638
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foreversxm Offline
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foreversxm  Offline
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Posts: 638
I like the old fashion type of A/C...just On/Off. We had a room once that the A/C temp would go up and down on its own then we found out that those remotes have a timer and program and do turn off and on automatically. it was brand new but we thought is was broken. We told the front office and said that some prior guest must have set it like that so they came and reset it. EZPZ done. The restaurant and bar.....The bar staff my say different but I can tell you for sure the beach chairs at the Bar / Restaurant according to the Hotel General Manager (Ronny) that a Hotel guests can sit on any beach chair they like, in front of the bar / restaurant regardless of if they drink or eat anything. All the beach chairs are hotel chairs and for hotel guests first and for day guests 2nd. The hotel does co-manage the bar and restaurant with a minority partner group that leases from the Hotel. The hotel does not provide beach chairs for Day Visitors but the Bar / Restaurant does on a first come first serve basis until full but only on the beach in front of the Bar. We stay on the hotel side of the beach that's just for hotel guests and plenty of room for all and peaceful. The thump , thump , boom, boom DJ music at The Boon Beach Bar is just weekends but they did say that was going to be just on very limited days in the future. Some guests don't enjoy it as much as others like us, again we told the office and off or down the music went. If your staying or day visiting the hotel and unsure about the beach policy just ask the Hotel office directly and they will clarify. We love staying at Mary's Boon and looking to go back in June or July.

Last edited by foreversxm; 03/07/2019 10:56 PM.
Re: Mary’s Boon Review [Re: PelicanPirate] #186753
03/09/2019 01:13 PM
03/09/2019 01:13 PM
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 13,141
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
islandgem Offline
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islandgem  Offline
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Posts: 13,141
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
I have A/C in celcius and it sounds like the problem you are stating is equipment related and not that the readings were in celcius. There is a difference in temperature between 20 and 25, but definitely not in the numbers you are quoting.





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