October 18th, 1999<br><br>This trip report describes our first stay at Club Orient from October 9th through 16th. We're writing it from a "first timers'" perspective, since our only other visit to SXM was on a cruise in October 1998 for a few hours. That few hours was enough to cause us to start planning this year's full week stay .<br><br>The restaurants on SXM have been well covered in detail so we'll concentrate on things others might like to know for their first visit. We handled all our reservations through Patty at "Home & Away Travel" (301-854-5879 - homeandawaytvl@mciworld.com). We make all our travel arrangements through her even though she's over an hour away because she consistently finds us great deals. We talk on the phone and she faxes/e-mails us our details and snail mails us our tickets. <br><br>Patty found that the least expensive advance reservation airfare available from the mid-Atlantic region was US Air nonstop from Philadelphia directly into Sint Maarten. We saved over $100 AND avoided San Juan. We drove from southern Maryland to PHL Friday evening leaving home at 6 p.m. and arriving at the Sheraton Airport hotel at 9 p.m. This was Patty's great deal #2! It cost us just $79 for the room and we got to leave our car parked at the hotel for free while we were gone! We also had a great meal in the hotel restaurant - a chicken linguini pepperadelle with proscuito in a mustard seed sauce, which was excellent! The restaurant closes at 10 p.m. so plan your arrival accordingly.<br><br>The Sheraton drove us over to the US Air terminal at 6 AM and we went to terminal C (not the "transatlantic terminal A") to check in for our flight when the position opened at 7 for our 8:20 flight. We had two rollaboard underseat suitcases and a canvas carry-on to avoid checking baggage. Even with so little luggage we still packed too many clothes!<br><br>The flight left on time. US Air treats the Caribbean flights as "domestic" so the movie headsets cost $5.00 and standard drink charges apply. We landed on time just after noon and waited in line for about ten minutes to get through immigration. There is no incoming customs at SXM (or outgoing for that matter). The "greeter" for Budget was waiting at the baggage claim exit and showed us to a minivan for the 3-minute trip to the lot. The line at the office moved at a moderate pace even though only one agent was filling out paperwork. Within 20 to 30 minutes we had a relatively new Toyota Corolla which cost us $138 for the week, unlimited mileage. We also chose to accept the optional insurance for $9 per day since coverage on our US policy was "iffy". Everything worked on the car although the paint was scuffed and scratched a bit - and the air conditioner would freeze you out if you left it running full blast.<br><br>We headed east out of the airport and then north to Marigot. Stopping at the Match Supermarche we stocked up on essentials: French cheese, crackers, wines, fruit, breakfast cereal, milk, OJ, tonic water and an $8.00 bottle of Bombay Sapphire Gin. Match is located on the right side of the main road to Grand Case, just before you completely drive out of Marigot. (We stopped at a Texaco station for directions just one block before getting to Match.)<br><br>Back on the road we circled through Grand Case to check out restaurant locations (the road is partially one-way east to west) and then on to Orient Beach. We turned too early and bounced along the beach road for a loooong way before we reached the Club Orient entrance. Stay on the main road until the signs for the butterfly farm and Bayside Stables - you'll save a lot of bouncing through the moonscape some call "roads"!<br><br>Check-in at the registration desk went very smooth and we were given the keys to mini-suite #137 and a car pass for the week. A quick visit to L'Orientique to get a long loaf of bread, a pareo for Linda and a waterproof plastic money holder with a neckstrap for me and we then went past security and drove right up to our unit, parking on the grass right by the kitchen door. Two keys are provided on an elastic wrist strap, one for the kitchen door and the other for the wall safe. The strap also has a big plastic tag with your unit number on it.<br><br>The mini-suite was great! We chose it over the studio because it was bigger and had a full tub and shower in the bathroom instead of the studio's shower stall. A full size refrigerator freezer with FIVE ice cube trays quickly received the perishables. The kitchen was well equipped with dishes, eating & cooking utensils and glasses for 4 as well with a full set of pots and pans. A 4-burner gas stove with oven, a toaster, and a drip coffee maker rounded out the kitchen.<br><br>We found we did not need the voltage converter we brought. The kitchen, bedroom, and living/dining room all had BOTH round-prong French 220 volt and standard US flat prong w/ground 110-volt outlets side-by-side. The bathroom had one dual voltage outlet for electric shaver use ONLY, but the built-in vanity table with mirror in the bedroom had dual outlets for hair dryers, etc. In fact, both the toaster and coffee maker were 110 volt. A wall mounted Toshiba air conditioner was in the living/dining area and cooled the entire unit.<br><br>We brought a small Radio Shack multi-band radio with us for music. It had a dual voltage AC adapter and provided great music for us. 96.3 FM turned out to be our favorite station for background music. We also brought our cell phone and kept the AC holder/charger on the vanity and plugged into a 110-volt outlet.<br><br>The cell phone worked great all over the island. We downloaded ECC's roamer application form from www.eastcaribbeancellular.com about 3 weeks before departure and faxed it back. Within hours we had an e-mail from Marinka giving us our SXM phone number. We found we couldn't make off-island calls at first so we called ECC's 24/7 tech support number (22100) and she had the problem fixed within seconds. It turns out you have to give them your phone's electronic ID code on the fax form for it to work upon arrival. If you don't they just grab it over the air when you call to report a problem. From then on we could call the US just by dialing 1-area code-number. Local calls on the French side just required dialing the 6 digit number. Our daughter called us from college a couple times just by dialing 011-590-and our 6 digit SXM number. The only thing to remember is you MUST have a real CELLULAR phone, not a PCS phone, and must set it up for "B-only". Our phone is on the Bell Atlantic Mobile system and worked fine.<br><br>We picked the mini-suite because it was the least expensive unit which offered a full bath tub and an indoor dinette table, which the studio lacks. The circle of mini suites turned out to be in a great location for us, close to L'Orientique for the early morning croissant and baguette purchase and beach towel exchange at the registration desk. The beach path was a quick (30 seconds) way to get to the beach, a little east of the "Perch" beach bar. Papagayo's was a 2 minute walk and we were far enough away that the sounds of fun couldn't be heard on nights we chose to retire early.<br><br>Two yellow beach towels were waiting in the bedroom area of our unit as was a chilled bottle of white table wine with a "Club Orient" private label. The yellow towels are used to identify people staying at Club Orient to the beach attendants who provide umbrellas and collect chair/umbrella fees from day visitors. (If you are not staying there the charge is $15 per day for two chairs and one umbrella.) Every morning one of us would drop the used yellow towels in the bin at the reception desk and get two new towels in return. <br><br>We chose to make coffee in our unit each morning and buy fresh bread and croissants at L'Orientique every morning for breakfast. Cereal, milk, French cheese, fruit, and marmalade rounded out the meal. We washed our dishes and headed to the beach while the maid cleaned the unit, made the bed, and exchanged the white bath towels. We always had 4 towels and 4 washcloths in the bathroom.<br><br>Papagayo's had a DJ for dancing on Saturday night after happy hour and a live band on Tuesday evening. Both evenings were great! Happy hour was 5:30 to 6:30 nightly except Wednesday when the free wine & cheese party was held on the covered patio from 5:30 to 6:30. You can run a tab at the bar with your room number and settle at the end of the evening with cash, credit card, or charge it to your room. Meal charges can be similarly handled with your waiter.<br><br>The food at Papagayo's varied from quite good to woefully under seasoned and bland. Since it was early October perhaps the normal cook was on vacation? Service was pleasant and we had no trouble at all in returning two plates of seafood linguini that had no flavor whatsoever. The French onion soup, on the other hand, was excellent! You could always tell which couples were newly arrived because they would show up for dinner with clothes on! The next night she would be either topless or nude and he'd invariably be wearing nothing but a smile.<br><br>Pedro's is the beach bar located closest to Club Orient, almost sitting on the property line. It is basically picnic tables under a roof with only a back wall. Pedro's is THE place to go for lunch. The charcoal grilled ribs and chicken are dry-seasoned to perfection, moist and delicious just as they come off the grill! Bottles of Kraft hickory BBQ sauce and a local hot (HOT!) pepper sauce are on each table for those who want to add more spice and/or fire. The fish sandwich and chicken sandwich are both good but the real stars are chicken and ribs with French fries and slaw. Add a couple of Carib beers and you have a wonderful lunch.<br><br>We chose to spend a lot of time just sitting on the beach and swimming in the warm, clear water. I finished a new Tom Clancy book while letting sand gravity work it's magic. We did make several trips out to the rest of the island. We spent a day shopping in Marigot for perfume and champagne, exploring the town, and had a quite nice lunch at Le Frigate. We visited the Butterfly Farm twice and loved it! Go around 9 AM before the cruise ship tours arrive and go early in your stay since your $10 entrance fee is good for free re-visits for the duration of your vacation. Lunch at Le Tastevin in Grand Case was absolutely superb with a table right on the water. Dinner at La Marine was also wonderful, and the complementary after dinner drink of homemade spiced rum capped off a perfect evening. We circled the island and went shopping in Phillipsburg for watches and jewelry. Lunch at the Seafood Galley at Bobbie's Marina was excellent. The Greenhouse was still under re-construction in mid-October. <br><br>Last year we sailed "Stars & Stripes" (12 US 55) in a race against "Canada II" offshore Phillipsburg. For $80 per person you get to crew a retired America's Cup 12 meter yacht in a 1-on-1 race against another boat. The St. Martin's Regatta folks put a professional skipper and two deckhands onboard but the paying customers handle the other jobs. With twice as many customers as a normal crew, the jobs are divided up and assigned so that your capabilities match your task. The beefy guys in their 20's become mainsail grinders while we older folks become backstay grinders or time keepers, or navigators, or the most important job on the boat: the "quench wench" whose job is to keep the others well wetted down with their choice of beverage. It's two and a half-hours of fun sailing several legs of a shortened America's Cup course. You can sign up at the Club Orient office for one of the two sailings each week that are not booked by the cruise ships.<br><br>Speaking of cruise ships: The much discussed parade of "Gawkers" walking fully clothed up and down the Club Orient beach was not as bad as expected in either numbers or effect. Each day several strolling couples would decide to take off their own suits and enjoy the freedom of swimming in the warm ocean without a wet swim suit, stopping to rent a beach chair for a couple hours themselves. Club security is ever present and strictly enforces the "no photos" rule to the point of opening cameras and exposing film. (On the other hand those enjoying the beach can take photos of their own group without a problem, as long as you are not taking anyone else's photo without permission). After a while it's fun to pretend to be reading behind your sunglasses and watch the clothed strollers try to sneak glances at you as they pass by. If you're feeling really mischievous you can walk up and down the beach hand in hand au naturelle yourselves and watch the reactions . <br><br>We met a lot of interesting and friendly couples during our stay. One big regret was Tiko Tiko being in drydock during our week. Seven days in Paradise went by way too fast and we were soon on our way back to the airport. Drop one of you with your bags at the terminal to begin waiting in the check-in line while the other drives to Budget to settle the bill. Budget then drives you back to the terminal in the same car. Returns are called to the head of the line to speed the process. It took about 45 minutes to reach the head of the line and check in at the US Air desk and you MUST check in at the counter and get your boarding passes. After getting our boarding passes we went to pay the $20 per person departure tax (no line) and do a little last minute shopping before going through security to the gate area. Our flight left on time and arrived at Philly 25 minutes early…but had to wait for a gate to open up. We left SXM at 4 p.m., landed at 7:50, got into the terminal at 8:15 and were through immigration and customs before 9. The Sheraton bus picked us up within 10 minutes and our car was waiting for us at the hotel right where we had left it a week earlier. We were back home in Southern Maryland around 11:15.<br><br>This is already too long so I'll end it here and answer any questions posted in reply. This was the most relaxing vacation we have ever enjoyed and we are already planning our return. And yes, we will stay at Club Orient again when we return!<br><br>Oct 26, 1999 <br><br>Re-reading our trip report I see I forgot to include a couple of items which would be of interest to first-timers: <br><br>There is no need to change your money into Francs or Guilders. The US dollar was the currency of choice everywhere we went. The cash register at Match, for example gives the total in Francs, but you need only ask the cashier to "show that in dollars, please" and with the push of one button the register converts the total to dollars. Menus showed prices in both Francs and dollars everywhere we ate. The prices on most items in the Phillipsburg stores and restaurants were in dollars only. Watch the exchange rates though - the stores and restaurants usually convert at 6 FF = $1. If the exchange rate is near or above 7FF = $1 it is definitely worthwhile to ask for your bill in Francs and pay with Francs.<br><br>Sanitation standards at Club Orient meet or exceed US standards. We drank the tap water in our mini-suite with no ill effects at all. Restaurants in Grand Case and Marigot provided bottled water with our meals (and charged us for them) as did Pedro's. The Seafood Galley in Phillipsburg provided ice water from the tap and again we had no problem. Unlike some parts of the world, we ate salads and raw vegetables without fear of any ill effects whatsoever. <br><br>As we accumulated liter water bottles from our restaurant visits we would refill them with tap water from our mini-suite and then freeze them. The next morning as we headed to the beach we'd take two of the frozen bottles which would melt slowly, leaving us with ice water to sip for 2-3 hours. After lunch we'd refill the bottles and exchange them for fresh ones from the freezer.<br><br><br><br><br>Bill <br><br><br><br>