I will attempt to summarize the thoughts of our 8 “kids/in-laws” ( ages 25-32) on their impressions of St Martin. This was the first trip for all of them (Villa Bel Mer, Orient Beach Mar 15-22). The only thing I asked of them was to please be honest. At the end, I will take the liberty to do a little mom and pop editorializing.

The Island: “ I was surprised by the contrast between Dutch/French side, also the difference between the coast and the interior areas. The French side is way more laid back, Dutch side more night life”
“ I was surprised how under-developed some parts of the Island were, I expected the Island to be totally developed since it is such a popular vacation spot”.
“ I was a little surprised at the amount of poverty, if you can call it that, not a problem, just surprised”
“Interior seems pretty primitive”
“ Lots of construction in some places”

The Beaches: “Some of the most beautiful beaches I have ever seen, bluer than blue water”
“ Ocean and beaches are much more beautiful than Mexico”
“Orient Beach was the best beach experience I ever had anywhere”
“ Beautiful blue water like you see in magazines”
“ Beach bar atmosphere on Orient was quite the sight and experience. It was fun to see people from so many countries”

The Weather: “Almost perfect both night and day( except for the 19 ft swells)”
“ The breeze is perfect, the sun seems to burn hotter even though it is a more comfortable temp than Mexico”

The Food. “Ribs, Chicken and shrimp at the lolo’s were my favorite. Marigot Marina was a cool setting for dining. The food was more expensive than I thought even though I was warned. Of course everything is more expensive when you compare to Mexico”
“I liked the variety of food, you don’t get such high quality cuisine in other destinations.”
“ Bar/ restaurant staff wanted us to have an “experience”, the service was slower, but better. I came to appreciate their way of doing things. Maybe we could learn a thing or two from them”.
“ The food was good, but seemed like the same stuff over and over on the French menus. It is very expensive and I maybe just learned that I am not a huge fan of French cooking”
“ Food was good but pretty expensive, especially the drinks”

The People: “ Loved the local people, they seemed so genuine”
“ I liked the French wait staff, I can’t put my finger on it, but they seemed more personable and sincere than most of what you see in the states”
“Enjoyed the local people and culture and how the Islanders lived”

Traffic: “ Getting around the Island is a pain, any time you want to go somewhere it is a lot of monkey business”
“The roads are rough and narrow, driving is adventurous. “
“ I was surprised they didn’t have more infrastructure-traffic control, road maintenance, sidewalks etc.”
“ The part we didn’t like was the traffic, it was hard to relax when looking for parking and driving all over the place. Didn’t like the roads much either”

Activities: “The villa life was great, drinks and food around the pool”
“12 meter yacht race was the best” ( unanimous)
“Shopping in Phillipsburg, ho-hum”
“ Wish more places had live music”
( Our private catamaran trip got canceled, along with a few other things)

Would you go back?
“All in all, we will go back but not every year or very soon.”
“ I’m sure we will be back, but not till I’m older with money and less of an agenda”
“ I intend to go back as soon as I can”
“ I would definitely go back some day”
“ An SXM vacation is at least double what a vacation to Mexico costs, and I am not sure I enjoyed it twice as much. I think to get the true appreciation of this Island, you need to go to a bunch of other destinations, kind of get sick of them, accumulate more money, and then come back.”


Editorial by parents:
The responses are about what we would have expected. A common thread that ran through and affected their comments was the fact that everything was so expensive. Most young adults getting started just don’t have the resources to spend and even though this vacation was subsidized, it still got a little costly for them. We chose the French side because that is what we were familiar with, but the night life would have been better on the Dutch side even though they didn’t really like all the construction and development over there. The high swells didn’t help us any either, kind of changed up our plans for several things. Are we glad we went? Absolutely. Would we do it again? In a heartbeat!

A lot has been written on this forum regarding bringing dependent children down to Sxm, anywhere from infant to teen, but not much about young adults. Age is not exactly a popular topic, but I would be interested to hear what you thought the average age of the typical American/Canadian repeat visitor (or TTOLer for that matter) is. Thanks for reading the “newbies” ramblings.