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Re: When was Your First Time?
[Re: GaKaye]
#62401
07/19/2015 02:11 PM
07/19/2015 02:11 PM
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Joined: Jul 2012
Posts: 287 Edam, Saskatchewan - Canada
PrairieGirl
Traveler
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Traveler
Joined: Jul 2012
Posts: 287
Edam, Saskatchewan - Canada
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Nov 1996 for us, on a ts exchange to the Towers. As you can imagine, arriving at night and driving through the devastated grounds at Mullet Bay I truly wondered what I had gotten us into. Turns out it was paradise!
LeAnn url=https://www.tickerfactory.com] ![[Linked Image]](https://www.tickerfactory.com/ezt/d/4;10732;128/st/20211211/e/Rumset/dt/-1/k/f6ed/event.png) [/url]
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Re: When was Your First Time?
[Re: gotaluvit]
#62402
07/19/2015 02:31 PM
07/19/2015 02:31 PM
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Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 1,532 Welland, Ontario, Canada
John
Traveler
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Traveler
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 1,532
Welland, Ontario, Canada
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Our first trip to St. Martin was in November, 1991. After going to the Dominican Republic and then Mexico we decided we wanted to try a European based island. We found a deal for La Flamboyant in Nettle Bay, which was all-inclusive...a big attraction for Canadians at the time. Since our first trip we returned annually for the next 19 years staying largely on Orient Beach at L'Hoste and Club Orient. Sadly, we have not returned to St. Martin in the last four years, we have fallen in love with another Grand Lady of the Caribbean...Jamaica. St. Martin is still very dear to our hearts and another trip is on the bucket list. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Wink.gif" alt="" />
John <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Cheers.gif" alt="" />
[color:"red"]May you always have sand in your shoes...and a dollar in your pocket! [/color]
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Re: When was Your First Time?
[Re: gotaluvit]
#62408
07/19/2015 07:53 PM
07/19/2015 07:53 PM
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Joined: Jul 2001
Posts: 7,132 St Louis, MO
SXMNorm
Traveler
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Traveler
Joined: Jul 2001
Posts: 7,132
St Louis, MO
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1998, now 26 trips later, still love it in spite of changes.
Next SXM visit -November 2023. Also January 2024.
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Re: When was Your First Time?
[Re: Finally]
#62415
07/20/2015 08:47 AM
07/20/2015 08:47 AM
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Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 2,628 Southern Maryland suburbs of D...
Bill_S
Traveler
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Traveler
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 2,628
Southern Maryland suburbs of D...
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In 1998 my wife's oldest brother died and on our way home from the funeral she turned to me and said "we have been talking about taking a cruise for twenty years now...let's just do it!
My travel agent at work also handled non-business trips from her home evenings and weekends so I asked her to pick a cruise line and an itinerary for us and book it. She put us on NCL out of Puerto Rico with 5 islands in 7 days. SXM was our last island.
We did the America's Cup 12 meter adventure, had an early lunch, and then visited the Jewelry stores on Front St. She picked out a small ruby and a small emerald and asked which stone she should get set in a ring. In a RARE moment of insight I smiled and said "Gee Sweetheart, why don't you get BOTH?
She gave me the same adoring look that she had given me as she walked down the aisle 21 years earlier on our wedding day.
As we left the store she took my hand and said "I've changed my mind...let's go check out this "Club Orient" thing you read about on the ship."
We took a cab to Pedros and walked to the Perch and asked Willie if day visitors were allowed. She said "of course, just pick any two chairs with no tags on them and the beach boy will be around after a while to collect the rental fee. What can I fix you to drink?"
Ten minutes later we were skinny dipping in that crystal clear 82 degree blue water and laughing like kids again. On the tender back to the ship we were already planning the next summer's week long stay at club O...the first of many annual stays!
Bill
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Re: When was Your First Time?
[Re: BobNLiz]
#62421
07/20/2015 11:58 PM
07/20/2015 11:58 PM
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Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 2,081 Clearwater, FL
Biturbo
Traveler
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Traveler
Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 2,081
Clearwater, FL
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This is a great topic, and reading all the responses, I see that a large percentage first made a cruise stop, liked what they saw, and returned as guests. I've found this to be especially true as to the guests at Club O, and is why I don't mind the "cruisers" when we are there.
I'm going where the weather suits my clothes.
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Re: When was Your First Time?
[Re: Biturbo]
#62422
07/21/2015 06:43 AM
07/21/2015 06:43 AM
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Joined: Jan 2014
Posts: 212 Michigan
mprevo
Traveler
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Traveler
Joined: Jan 2014
Posts: 212
Michigan
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My first time was actually on a cruise in 2000. The only catch is that it was not until recently that I figured out that St. Maarten was a port of call on that cruise, so the cruise didn’t leave me with that great of a first impression. I was flipping through pictures last year and I saw the ‘Welcome to St Maarten” sign at the old cruise port. That is when I figured out I was actually there before.
What I consider my first real visit to St Martin was a few years ago when we were looking a vacation destination that we could use our hotel points at. We found the Radisson Blu in Anse Marcel. We reserved our room for a week and booked our plane tickets on Delta. We had a wonderful vacation and enjoyed it so much that we booked again for the following year (on points again).
We have been going back every year ever since. We no longer stay at the Radisson. We now rent a condo thru VRBO in Mont Vernon. We absolutely love our time on island and can’t wait for the following year to come around again. I am sure that once we can get more time off of work that we will extend our time to probably 2 or 3 trips per year. Only time will tell though.
***********************************************
Next vacation is scheduled for February 7th through February 19th in Grand Cayman.
A totally new Adventure is awaiting us!!
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Re: When was Your First Time?
[Re: gotaluvit]
#62427
07/21/2015 09:42 AM
07/21/2015 09:42 AM
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Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 247 Toronto, Ontario
Kevin_B
Traveler
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Traveler
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 247
Toronto, Ontario
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A co-worker went to SXM in 1997, and came back with stories of seeing naked people on the beach, and even having lunch sitting beside some naked people in a beach shack. Imagine that! Just had to check it out for myself. We stayed a week at Mont Vernon in March 1998. Walked down the beach, and spent most of that week at Club O. We were hooked. Next year we stayed at Club O for a week. That was not enough. In 2000 we stayed for 2 weeks. That was when we met Cathyg and Steve, who had just arrived, luggage AWOL! What you remember! Two of many we have met over the years. Since then we have been back every year, sometimes twice a year, shifting to November. Last year we added another week. As others have said, the island is wonderful, the people we have met even more so!
Kevin
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Re: When was Your First Time?
[Re: Kevin_B]
#62428
07/21/2015 10:42 AM
07/21/2015 10:42 AM
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Joined: Dec 2008
Posts: 224
PnPinNC
Traveler
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Traveler
Joined: Dec 2008
Posts: 224
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We are definitely 'newbies', but we have jumped in with both feet. We first visited the island in June of 2007 on a cruise. We had just each lost a parent, and decided that we should grab our 'someday' now, as you never know if you will have those. We sailed the route of Nassau, St Thomas and St Martin. We were honestly very excited about St Thomas, having heard about it forever growing up, and frankly hadn't given St Martin a thought. After being very disappointing by St Thomas, we were ready to see St Martin the next day. We fell in love immediately, and talked that night about needing to return. Which we have, at least twice a year since then. Our stays have grown from what is now laughable 5 days, to 18. This year there will be three trips, as we just returned from 10 days on the island with two of our boys. It was their first stay on the island after many cruise days, and they too are hooked. We've been to many other islands, but this one is home.
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Re: When was Your First Time?
[Re: DavidMartha]
#62430
07/21/2015 04:36 PM
07/21/2015 04:36 PM
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Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 3,160 Greensboro, NC
charlieh
Traveler
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Traveler
Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 3,160
Greensboro, NC
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DavidMartha said: Our first trip to SXM was in 1984 on our honeymoon. We stayed at Great Bay Hotel and Le Galion Hotel. Everything was so different then, as there was nothing on Orient Beach except for Pedro's small snack shack and Club Orient. Yes I can relate to this, although we did not see anything on Orient when we went the 1st time in 1987, except for trees and sand and water. We probably stayed in Great Bay Hotel (don't really remember the name) and our 1st night there we wanted to go see the beach. The gate to the beach was locked, which was a really odd experience for us.
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Re: When was Your First Time?
[Re: crsxm]
#62432
07/21/2015 11:17 PM
07/21/2015 11:17 PM
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Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 538 Southern Oregon on the Rogue R...
pamj
Traveler
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Traveler
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 538
Southern Oregon on the Rogue R...
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1981 on a cruise. Then 1990 on a cruise, and since 1997 every year for a long stay (and several times twice a year), except for 2000, as Lenny took out the villas at Beachside. We have been staying at Beachside Villas since 1997.
PamJ
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Re: When was Your First Time?
[Re: Ron_Hill]
#62438
07/22/2015 01:40 PM
07/22/2015 01:40 PM
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Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 3,160 Greensboro, NC
charlieh
Traveler
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Traveler
Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 3,160
Greensboro, NC
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Ron_Hill said: Our first visit was 1976, we stayed at Mullet Bay, we believe it was a Marriot; bought a condo in '84. We guess that we are past the 70 mark for visits. There is nothing new about the topic of this thread. However, I don't think I have ever seen more replies and more interesting replies. Think we should have one of those "back in the old days" threads speaking to how things have changed on the island for those who have a lot of experience.
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