This year Don and I were once again solo for our March trip after having family join us for the last 5 years. I must admit we kinda liked it being just the 2 of us again and I will try to give you the highlights and just one or two lowlights of our trip… And let me warn you – this will be longish so I will do a restaurant review in a separate posting…

Travel – we squeaked in our travel between storms both going and coming and had no travel issues. We have made about 15 trips to SXM and have never paid for a ticket, using either AA or Delta (primarily) FF miles. Again this year flew Delta out of Providence, connecting in Atlanta. We do have to overnight in ATL on the way back as there is no late flight out to PVD. And again this year it was a wise decision as there were major thunderstorms in ATL and it took us forever to get thru customs and immigration – over 2 hours. I know some folks have no trouble in ATL but I am always cautious to leave some extra time. Cost us 60,000 miles per ticket, but the way I look at is that I have the miles, there is no such thing as a 30,000 mile Caribbean FF ticket, and I like the Delta product. Stayed at the Renaissance in ATL – really nice airport hotel with excellent shuttle service. Immigration was easy upon arrival in SXM and our bag was #5 on the belt.

Car Rental – Once out the airport door Unity was right there waiting for us – we’ve rented from them for the past 7 trips and have absolutely no complaints. We were upgraded to a new (vs. old) Corolla that worked great and we were driving out of their lot 40 minutes after wheels down. And for the 1st time we had some idiot back into the car when it was parked at the Flamingo – the parking there is tight and I hadn’t wanted to park in the garage but as we got some extra nights at the beginning of the trip we were in the main Flamingo building and options are limited. Michael estimated it was $175 to repair the damage. I was surprised that we had to upfront the repair cost – he doesn’t deal directly with the AMEX rental insurance unless it is over $500. We’ll see how that all works out – I do have a formal repair estimate as I stopped by Unity before the end of the trip to talk to him about the damage. Will rent from Unity again – a real class act.

Traffic – what can I say, compared to recent years traffic was really negligible – even during the Regatta week. I was shocked at how the new roundabouts really expedited the flow. Now that’s not to say there weren’t bridge backups or routinely slow areas or times, but I wasn’t driven to drink over the traffic jams as I have been in previous years. We usually made it from the Flamingo to Pedros in 20-25 minutes. The “suicycles” are still the main threat to peace and prosperity as far as I am concerned – we saw at least 4 accidents involving them.

Flamingo Beach Resort – we own 2 weeks in the Ocean Villas and our unit has remained in pretty good shape. I have some minor complaints about the Flamingo which I won’t go into and which are really driven by my considerably higher expectations of service and product since Diamond Resorts has raised the maintenance fees so much higher. I would truly love it if they would do something about the front desk and the check-in process. They can never find our name and so I have just taken to traveling with the reservation numbers that I get from Gary in advance and also with my timeshare contract. Grounds were in great shape, housekeeping remained good, security was less visible than in recent years and parking as mention above can be challenging. I won’t bore anyone with any details of the Flamingo but if you have questions just ask. We did stay in 324 which is a 1 bedroom in the main building for 2 nights. It was a really nice, big unit that just skimmed the roof of Toppers. I choose to stay our extra nights at the Flamingo even tho I could have found a less expensive rate elsewhere, but it is just so convenient as they move all our stuff to our timeshare unit on Saturday. We don’t have to be there, we don’t lose a day on the beach, and the luggage is in the unit when we get back in the afternoon. I do always try to find the guy who will be moving the luggage so I can tip in advance and have never lost anything.

Weather – worst we’ve seen in March. Never have had 3 solid days of rainy, cloudy, or cool weather before. Got some great pictures of the Regatta in the rain. 1st week was very humid. Naturally the day we left it was really nice. Yes, I know a rainy SXM is better than winter in New England but… when you are on vacation you really want decent weather.

Beaches – Orient Beach and the beach at the Flamingo were the only 2 we used this year. Fortunately CO got in new chairs the 1st weekend there so as long as we were there by 10 there were chairs to be had. Beach was wide and sandy. Last few days were really windy – 1st week you broiled cuz there was little wind – go figure – it was that weird weather thing.

Regatta Activity – went out on the Tango on Saturday. For some reason the trip just seemed really long this year – guess I wasn’t into the race as much as in previous years. But they did a great job on the Tango and he gets you in close to the action without getting in the way of the racing boats. From our villa you can see the boats racing also – just a beautiful sight

Shopping – Wasn’t planning on doing much shopping but all good intentions were thrown to the wind when I walked into DK Gems and saw the black & white diamond collection. Kamal is great to work with and I am lucky I have such an understanding husband! I also bought some glass jewelry at Laguna Blue, the Murano glass store in the marina right next to Tropicana. I just love some of the pieces in this store and Paolo designed a necklace and earrings for me after I described what I wanted. I had read on TTOL about a French linen store in Baie Nettle and it was just fabulous. Tissue de Soleil had exactly the linens I was after and for less than what I could find on the Internet. Don thought he would never get me out of there.

Grocery Stores – We shopped at the new store by the Atrium, Market Garden, Grand March both stores, and the Peli Deli. Couldn’t beat the handiness of having the Market Garden at the bottom of the hill by the Flamingo. I didn’t think their pricing was all that bad – I kept all the receipts from the 3 store so I could compare and in all honesty the difference was so slight it wasn’t worth my time to worry about it. Market Garden was way less expensive than the Grand Marche for Coke products, but was $.50 more per half gallon for Etna ice cream. And I really didn’t care if I spent $9.25 or $9.75 for the ½ gallon – but I did care that it was the coconut ice cream – we went thru gallons of the stuff. Peli Deli lost most of our business to the Market Garden.

MISC Island Stuff –

Saw more police in new patrol cars than in any other trip – most of the time they were running lights & sirens.

Parking is a total pain no matter where you are.

Never made it to the Marigot Market as the traffic thru Marigot coming in from Baie Nettle was gridlocked.

There are some gorgeous villas on the island, some friends stayed at La Di Da which is above BBB and the view was magnificent – too bad we were there on a rainy day.

Gambled at Hollywood & Atlantis casino – both of us play Blackjack and for once I carried the two of us – I couldn’t lose no matter where I played. But I am not an aggressive bettor so if Don had held my cards we would be way more ahead. The Dolphin casino closed right after we arrived – had something to do with non payment of taxes I read in the DH.

Phone from Sharon was great as usual.

TTOL party at the Greenhouse was great fun – plenty of room to move around or just sit and chat.

Don ran out of his prescription eye ointment and all we did was bring in the tube to the pharmacy in Maho and they replaced it after making sure he knew how to use it.

Porto Coupcoy is awesome! Blooming Baskets by Lisa was one of the few stores opened already. We were lucky enough to run into a gentleman who invited us in to see his unit. He told us he had bought about 4 years ago and was the 2nd person to move in. He had a 1 bedroom on the marina level and he will be renting it. He was top of the line throughout the entire unit – really stunning.

In summary a totally fabulous trip – as you can see the lowlights of the trip are really minimal. We loved seeing everyone once again. I don’t think we will be making it back in Nov. as we have a pretty busy fall with weddings and several business trips. Hard to believe our next trip is a year away! But something to look forward to…