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sxm vs. Barbados #62012
07/15/2015 04:21 PM
07/15/2015 04:21 PM
Joined: May 2004
Posts: 109
Z
zoe Offline OP
Traveler
zoe  Offline OP
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Z
Joined: May 2004
Posts: 109
Recently returned from west coast of Barbados after about 20 trips to Orient as we were trying to explore other options. We returned only to make reservations for Orient next April. We've been to Aruba, St. Thomas, Cancun, Playa del Carmen, Isla Mujeres, St. John, Anguilla, Puerto Rico, Grand Caymans and Maui. We can find no place we love so much. It would take me too long to try to explain why this is. Largely it's the people, the food, the beaches and just so many wonderful memories. I cannot wait to get back next year! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Joy.gif" alt="" />

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Re: sxm vs. Barbados [Re: zoe] #62013
07/15/2015 05:03 PM
07/15/2015 05:03 PM
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 13,141
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
islandgem Offline
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islandgem  Offline
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Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 13,141
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
After visiting several different islands including Barbados, we feel exactly the same. St. Martin/ Sint Maarten feels very much like home to us and there is no better feeling than that! We are counting the days till our next visit! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/circle.gif" alt="" />




Re: sxm vs. Barbados [Re: islandgem] #62014
07/16/2015 02:32 AM
07/16/2015 02:32 AM
Joined: Jan 2012
Posts: 139
UK
U
ukdude Offline
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ukdude  Offline
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U
Joined: Jan 2012
Posts: 139
UK
Ive also travelled to most of the other Caribbean Islands and there is something very different about St Maarten. We now have a Condo on the Island and it is our 2nd Home, but form our very first stop on a Cruise. Both my husband and I fell in love with St Maarten.

Re: sxm vs. Barbados [Re: ukdude] #62015
07/16/2015 07:20 AM
07/16/2015 07:20 AM
Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 4,348
Rhode Island
RonDon Offline
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RonDon  Offline
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Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 4,348
Rhode Island
Our 1st visit to SXM was because friends who had travelled the world and every island in-between recommended it. We have seen many other islands and still prefer SXM. Sure we'd like to take some great points from other places and add to SXM (the bus line in Aruba for example) but then it really wouldn't be the SXM we can't seem to explain why we love so much.

Some changes we didn't like and some we still don't like but the basic essence of the island is in tact. The changes we don't like have made more people like SXM because it has added something they prefer. We haven't met anyone who has said because of changes they won't return.

Re: sxm vs. Barbados [Re: RonDon] #62016
07/16/2015 10:39 AM
07/16/2015 10:39 AM
Joined: May 2003
Posts: 1,303
NJ
R
RoryS Offline
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RoryS  Offline
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Joined: May 2003
Posts: 1,303
NJ
We started going to SXM in 1986 and have gone to other places along the way, but always end up coming back to SXM. For next year we were going to try something different for our 40th anniversary - Curacao or Aruba (which I've been to before) and I looked at the hotels and airfares and just ended up booking SXM again. We have had a couple timeshares over the years and decided to let our last one go at PDP as it's been simply awful the past 4 years or so. We gave our niece and fiancé (at the time) a week at timeshare at PDP a couple years ago (I was apologizing the status of it and let them know prior to going not to expect a lot). They absolutely loved SXM and were happy with the TS. Maybe we have a different view because we remember what it was like when we bought in early 90's. So they went to T&C for their honeymoon and they told me they liked SXM much more!

Re: sxm vs. Barbados [Re: zoe] #62017
07/16/2015 11:32 AM
07/16/2015 11:32 AM
Joined: Apr 2001
Posts: 14,635
Brookfield, CT.
pat Offline
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pat  Offline
Traveler
Joined: Apr 2001
Posts: 14,635
Brookfield, CT.
Zoe,

I couldn't begin to count the number of trips we've made over the 40+ years we've been visiting SXM - probably somewhere in the 65 to 70 trip range and we've made a point to visit most of the other islands that intrigued us along the way, Barbados included, yet we still come back to SXM. And we truly did love and enjoy our time in Barbados - the scenery, the beautiful beaches, the people and so many different things to see and do that St. Maarten - St. Martin doesn't have to offer.

But to us, while all the other islands are nice places to see and visit, and it really is nice to have that basis of comparison, to us, SXM is home and as such, has all the things we need to make us happy: incredible beaches with more just a short hop on a fast ferry away; incredible dining ops from the lolos to the pizza joints, to the comfort restaurants to some of the highest of high end dining ops in the Caribbean and everything in between, even including Mickey D's and KFC, if that's your pleasure; it boasts every kind of accommodation you could ask for from the simplest of hotel rooms to some very nice timeshares to some gorgeous condos and right up to and including incredible private beachside villas. If you want to be on busy beaches you have your choice and if you want to sneak off and enjoy a gorgeous and almost uninhabited beachside venue, there's that, too. Add to all the above, if you happen to be situated in some areas of the country, you have all this at your disposal with just a relatively short nonstop flight and often at a reasonable price as well and we're fortunate to live in one of those places. Once we board that plane it's 3.5 hours to nirvana.

In all our travels, try as we may, we've NEVER found another location that totally fits that description for us so we're more than willing to overlook the minor little grievances......and for us, they really are minor.

Someday we may return to Barbados, or Grenada, or St. John or any of the other destinations we've been blessed to have vacationed, but if so, never for more than a week at any of them and even then, only if I can still enjoy my two to four weeks each year on SXM. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/handshake.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/handshake.gif" alt="" />


Respectfully,

pat



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