Review 2/25/12 thru 3/7/12 Part 1: Hey guys, we are home from our first visit to sxm. What can I say, we are already planning our next visit! When the shoes are cute, priced right, and feel sooo great; why look for another pair! I now understand your love for this little piece of heaven. My hubby and I like to relax while on vacation and sxm was perfect. It is a little island where you can have the clubbing scene, the glamorous dinner scene, the shopping scene, the beach scene, or all the above on one little island! First, I want to thank all of you for all the advice, answers, and info in helping me plan our trip. You have been an invaluable resource, so I hope this will help others. I hope you experienced sxm’ers will forgive me, but I am going to do my review in sections so I can go into greater detail. That is what helped this newcomer so much.


Day 1: up at 3 am to catch a 6:30 flight out of Louisville on US Airways. Was offered an upgrade to first class for $50, so we took it( hey, nobody has to know it was only to charlotte and no champagne or caviar was offered- we flew first class for the first time! LOL!) it did pay for a little on our checked luggage and we were first off. Flight out of charlotte on time and arrived on sxm at 2:20 pm with no problems.

Lesley Bruce with Kenny’s car rental met us at the airport with our late-model corolla and paperwork completed in 10 minutes. He was very friendly and professional and gave us his cell # “just in case” which we did not. Will definitely use him next time. The cell phone with instructions, chargers, and return directions was in glove box as arranged with sharon- the queen of sxm. did not ever use the phone, but will get one next time too. The very reasonable price is worth the peace-of-mind. The sxm priviledge card I purchased thru jeff berg’s sxm site for $16.99 was also in the glove box as prearranged with sharon. The card paid for itself and then some for our use. I won’t mention every place that we used it( that is stated on their website), but will say it gave a 15% discount off every total purchase from the sapphire beach resort’s cafe and bar where we would be staying, so that in itself was well worth it! For you first-timers: Lesley will be waiting in the little pay lot across the road and sidewalk in Front of airport- we spent wasted time figuring this out.

Lesley gave us directions to the sapphire and we were on our way. Must say that as we carefully made our way, we thought we had made a wrong turn when coming up through the area around the golf course. The rutty little road didn’t look like we were going anywhere, but just keep going and you DO get there. We did a RCI points exchange and at the time I booked, the sapphire beach resort was the only availability for the time frame I wanted. Was a little apprehensive after reading some reviews about the place, but more recent reports were more favorable, so I went with an open mind. The exterior and lobby area was modern, fresh, and nicely landscaped and decorated. The front desk personnel were friendly and helpful and checkin a breeze. So far, so good.

We had reserved a 1 bedroom unit and thru rci your unit number is not revealed until checkin. Were assigned rm 346 and a gentleman( not sure of his title) loaded luggage onto cart and escorted us to our room. The room was newly renovated with fresh paint, new counters and 2 nice bathrooms. It had a king bed in 1 bedrm and 2 twin beds in the other. The sofa also made a bed. So 6 people could easily stay in a 1 bedrm unit. There is also a wall-sized pocket door that separates kitchen/living room area, other bedroom, and other bath from from second bedrm and bath. So you could also have privacy. The kitchen has a 2-door fullsize fridge/freezer, electric stovetop with grill/broiler and 2 burners (no oven), microwave, toaster, and dishwasher. There is no dinette set, but has nice-sized bar with 6 cushioned stools. Had enough varied dishes, pan, and varied utensils to suit me. Tv in master bed and living room. All neat and clean. Good-sized balcony facing lagoon with table and 4 chairs and nice view - can see Caribbean sea to side. Life will be great!

Had preordered with jeannie from shop and drop and all basics were there. Great service- will use again. It is so great when going somewhere new to have all you need for first day and night already waiting for you.. She even had us nice pastries from a Piece of Cake for breakfast the next morn. Thank you jeannie!

Pretty tired, so walked down to Sapphire café for drinks and dinner. Happy hour is 5-7 when drinks are strong and 2 for 1 with good prices rest of time. Is nice poolside area with several tables. We had escargot and salad for dinner. Escargot was wonderful with tasty sauce and baguette. Can’t remember the price, but inexpensive. Slight evening shower, but temp great. Long day, so off to bed.