TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin At the gate!

We are sitting at the gate here in SXM to go home. Well, more properly, sitting at the bar! We arrived around 1:20 and we were sitting at the bar by about 1:35!!!! BIG difference from last time! Last time the electric was out and we stood outside for an hour in the heat, and basically walked up to board the plane as one of the last ones onboard. This time, we basically just walked through check in, security, immigration, YEAH! Restaurants are Dominos, burger joint, French restaurant with baguettes, etc. The bar does not serve food other than chips HUGE bar area downstairs, with lots of seats at the bar and outside here. Also restrooms downstairs by the bar.

The bar doesn't look apparent from when you come downstairs. Come downstiars and then walk ALL the way to the left, by gates 8, 9 and 10. Free wifi for 1/2 hour, NOT through the bar anymore, just for the airport in general. Lots of BS to go through to get the free wifi, but whatever..

I assume we will be on time going home, as the plane came from Miami a couple of hours ago.

Safe travels, Carol.

Enjoyed reading your trip reports.

glad you had a great trip. Have a safe flight home.

I hope when we arrive and leave in January/February 2022 that things go as quickly and smoothly!! Being peak season, I am probably dreaming in Technicolor! Hope you had a safe and uneventful flight home (I assume you have left by now). Enjoyed your photos and commentary over the past week and made some notes for our trip.

Safe travels.

Thanks for the updates, hope you had a safe flight, assuming you are home by now!

Can’t believe your time passed so quickly and hoping the transit went well. Until next time………🙂🙂

WOW....that was a quick trip, but seems like they all go by so fast. Glad to hear that the airport seems to be running smoother. Anything is an improvement. After our last encounter with the airport in April, we swore that we would never travel on a Saturday again. This march, we are booked to go down on Thursday, and return on a Friday. CANT WAIT. BTW, The burger joint is johnnyburgers, and they are one of the BEST on the island. Have enjoyed the burgers there for a few years now.
Thanks for your reports...was fun ''vacationing'' along with you guys.

Thanks for the good wishes, everyone. We arrived home around 11 PM last night, after the 3.5 hour drive from Miami. Yesterday went remarkably well over all, except for arriving in Miami, one hour from when the plane landed until we were in the shuttle to pick up our car. But that is about par for the course for Miami. Overall, this was one of the best trips we have had in a long time. We had both been really stressed out with work and other stuff before we left and it was so great to get away and relax. I will try to post a wrap up report sometime..

We will be eagerly looking forward to the ‘final wrap’ and thanks for taking us this far with you. Until next time……..🙂🙂

when are you planning your next visit?

Was part of your delay in Miami waiting for checked bags?

Georgia--no, our bags were actually there by the time we got to baggage claim. I had requested wheelchair assist and it was kind of a clusterf*ck, and then the lines for immigration were long..

Scuba--we will be going next June, but just haven't booked it yet.

Pat---looking forward to hearing all about YOUR trip soon!!

Carol,

We had such a great time in a April that we’re looking forward to November even more than we usually do. It helps, too, that we have plans to meet two different families that I’ve long communicated with via Internet but never had the pleasure of meeting in person

The one thing I swore to after our trip home last April is that I will NEVER connect through MIAMI again. I’d rather swim home than do that again and different friends have told me that the long wheelchair wait is a frequent issue there. It was only the second time I used the service - or should I say - lack of service? - but we had almost a three hour connection window and we made it with very little time to spare. We thought we’d claim and recheck luggage, clear C& I and still have time to have dinner. That didn’t happen. Looks like I either have to adjust my dates for future trips or book through JFK for non-stops but I honestly do so love flying from our regional airport even if it means having to connect. Just NOT VIA MIAMI!

Interesting how different our experiences are. We almost always fly and return through Miami on our frequent trips to St. Maarten. We generally breeze through immigration and customs but having global entry helps. We almost always beat our luggage to baggage claim. The worst part is the long walk from our gate to immigration/customs but we make sure all of our luggage rolls so not really an issue. Sounds like the wheelchair access is the problem there.

Lucky You, CL.
We waited a half hour for the wheelchair and when we finally got to the luggage carousel we still had to wait.
We do have GE but it didn’t seem to help.
I think our second biggest problem was our first transporter who, once she got to us, seemed to know half of everybody in the airport and stopped to visit with them.
And then, going from terminal to terminal, she had to stop in the transporter office for something and we had to wait again while she took care of whatever it was.
But we were happy we had wheelie bags - if not I think we’d still be there.
I guess it’s the price we have to pay for doing something we loved so very much. And for now, we’ll continue to deal with it when necessary.

Pat--lucky for us, we DON'T connect, so however long it takes there is how long it takes..

The wheelchair deal was f*ed up. First, we waited about 5 minutes for a wheelchair, and they took me about 5 minutes in the wheelchair. Then they put us on one of the people mover golf cart deals, went another 5 minutes on that. Then WAITED 20 minutes for ANOTHER wheelchair to come, which then took us through immigration, to our bags, etc..... I wouldn't mind checking Jet Blue from Ft Lauderdale next time..

CaribLee--the wheelchair deal seems like it adds MORE time to our time in the airport, by a lot. The walking distances at Miami are ridiculous..

Happy you had a good time---sorry time passes so quickly. LOL

Until June, which will be here before you know it!

I forgot about the people mover part. We came off the plane and to the end of the jetway and that was our first half hour wait. And then it was all down hill between socializing on the part of the transporter, etc., but we made it through. The other couple waiting forever with us for a wheel chair were not connecting and thank goodness they were kind enough to ask us if we were and let us take the first chair that showed up. No clue how long they had to wait after we left but hopefully, not too very long.

But again, it was just a small part of the overall SXM experience snd everything else was all good. And at least I know not to connect again through MIA. This wheelchair stuff is all new to me and adds a whole other dimension to a trip.

looks like we will be leaving as you're arriving. We'll be there for 3 1/2 weeks in May. Already booked air. 🤞

I don't usually mind going through MIA but admit I haven't done it since the pandemic (CTL last trip). I am scheduled to go through MIA on my return in early December, and I had a three-hour layover, which I thought would be sufficient. AA, in its infinite wisdom, changed the three hours to 1.5 hours, which I felt wouldn't be enough. So I changed to do my overnight in MIA rather than DFW, the original plan. Eliminates that stress, and I don't mind the larger rooms at the MIA airport hotel.

Thank you for the reports, and I'm glad you made it home safely. Looking forward to your wrap-up report.

Linda,

You’ve got to be very excited at this point as your trip dates draw near. Are you at HT again this trip?

I think you made a very smart move spending the night in MIA. I’m thinking you would possibly have made the new connections but the stress would raise your blood pressure a few notches. An extra night isn’t a bad thing, right?! 🙂🙂

Yes, Horny Toad (see my signature). If I had my druthers, I'd much rather do an overnight at the DFW Hyatt, which is LOVELY, which was the original plan. I can't say the same for the MIA in-airport hotel, but it does eliminate the stress of making a tight connection.

Perhaps we'll run in to each other at Bar Code again?

Scuba--yes, you usually leave right before we arrive.

Pat--for sure, that was such a very SMALL part of the trip, which was overall, wonderful.

Shucks. Like to meet you and Eric personally. I thought one time I saw you playing blackjack at Hollywood but was too shy to bother you and risk nixing your luck.

Hollywood is our usual casino and I do play blackjack, so it is possible. One year, maybe 4 or 5 years ago, we were earlier than normal because Beachside was all booked out due to a wedding. Otherwise, we are never there until around the middle of June.

It was about 5 years ago so it could have been you two.

Not sure what year it was...

We have two hours to connect coming home, and are carry-on only, so we should be fine. The immigration situation in MIA is definitely unique.