I know I'll get beat about the head and shoulders for this, our 8 days in SXM were not so hot. We'd been there on four other occassions and this was the least satisfying trip yet.<br><br>Trip down was OK. Got off the plane and there was a steel band playing in the terminal to welcome us. It welcomed us to stand in line while the public servants checked us through three open checkpoints. So the lines were long and slow. And the public servants were not the smiling "Welcome to our Island" types we might have hoped for and would have appreciated after being in transit for most of the day.<br><br>Rented from AAA (Alain) and were met by Myra (?) who was smiling and was friendly and was willing to meet us in 8 days for our return at the ungodly hour of 6:00 a.m.<br><br>No traffic problems to speak of. No problem with our rooms. <br><br>Since we were on Orient Beach we decided to eat at Papgayo's since we have always like the setting and enjoyed the place. We're not big eaters so we often, in fact usually, share an appetizer and an entree. After about four or five days of this we noticed the staff were beginning to ignore us in favor of waiting first on couples who had arrived after us, but who might have shown promise of being bigger eaters, bigger tippers, etc. Probably served us right...cheap Yankees. Plus, we're not generally mixers or party type people, which may have led them to believe that we were a cheap date not worthy of being on their priority list.<br><br>Went to check out the Tiko Tiko. Young lady there wasn't too eager to answer some of my dumb questions and seemed really put out having to deal with me...probably because they knew they were filled up a couple days ahead. Frankly she displayed all the negative aspects of a typically stereotyped French lady with a bad attitude. So we blew that off.<br><br>At this point I'll put in a positive observation. The weather was GREAT!<br><br>We to the Talk of the Town which we had discovered on previous trips. Ribs were way under-done, johnnie cakes were cold and tough. Beer was good and cold.<br><br>Dinner at Mark's was a disappointment in that the entree was way too salty. Mark's has always been on of our favorites and we rather enjoy the reverse snobbery of dining close to the highway in a super market parking lot. Drinks were solid though.<br><br>A drive down Front Street caused me to wonder why I ever got trapped in that mess. If they want tourist business from folks staying on the island they need to invest in a better parking solution. Too many locals employed at the shops were taking up spaces that shoppers could have used.<br><br>Missed the Air France landing EVERY time! So did what the next best thing was...stand behind it at takeoff...Not smart but what a trip!! At least I wasn't in a Speedo like the poor guy next to me!<br><br>SSBB was packed so we did the Baywatch. Food was very good, service attentive and friendly, drinks were solid, great view right next to the ocean, and priced reasonable. Frankly I think folks were ignoring a good thing so they could say they had hung out at the SSBB. SSBB had a pretty good group going the one night we were there. <br><br>You could have dropped a bomb in the Dolphin Casino and not killed a dozen people. Same with the other casions we were in.<br><br>Orient Beach was crowded with a lot more nudity the length of the beach than we had see before. Mt. Vernon, or Blue Bay or whatever is virtually deserted since its official closing which is not a good sign for the local economy I suppose.<br><br>We shopped Marigot and had lunch there at the Rose. Again, the folks did not appear to be as friendly, we experienced fewer smiles and signs of welcome than in past years. Good service or even what might pass for adequate service was often difficult to come by, and we did not feel particularly welcome. We tried to shop at the Match in Marigot, but our clumsy American inexperience with matters French, such as how to make the shopping carts work, got what we had come to expect as the French attitude. In the parlance of our times, we felt "dissed". <br><br>Other than the wonderful, smiling lady at AAA, who met us at the appointed hour we again encountered what we considered less than friendly attitudes at the AA counter, at the exit point, where they willingly took our forty bucks, and at the airport concession. <br><br>Will we go back? Probably not. There are too many other attractive alternatives. Too bad too. <br><br>As I said, I know I'll catch all kinds of criticisms as I know there will be those who blame my wife and I for what we encountered. But, hey, I paid the money, I put in the time, and I burned the vacation leave. So, I figure I'm entitled to put my two cents worth in.<br><br><br><br><P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by Administrator on 5/31/01 03:08 PM.</EM></FONT></P>