TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin Help us choose

My wife and I, along with another couple, will be down the week after Christmas and can't decide between Simpson Bay Resort & Divi Little Bay.

Help.

We will be spending 3 days on day trips to St Barth, Anguilla & Saba and the departure point is Simpson Bay.

NYE fireworks are over nr Divi.

I understand Divi offers AI options - do you know if we can select AI for only 3 off the 7 days? Or is it all or nothing?

We are looking forward to our trip but just can't seem to decided which resort would be better. Better beaches, close to bars and restaurants, recovered quicker (hearing Divi is still reconstructing).

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers!

Tim

Have you been to SXM before? Can't tell from your note.

Regarding close to bars and restaurants, SBR has it all over Divi. Divi and Belair are side by side, but otherwise, not much that is really close to Divi. On the other hand, SBR is right in the middle of Simpson Bay, which has tons of bars and restaurants all over. As far as beach, most people who go to SXM go to different beaches and don't just stay at the resort's beach. As far as a/I, to me that's not an advantage, as there are too many great places to eat and drink. By NYE, I have to assume that Divi will be done with their reconstruction, so I don't think that is a factor, although SBR is fully open now. I personally think the location in Simpson Bay is just a lot more convenient than being at Divi, so I would go with SBR.

I much prefer the Simpson Bay area over Philipsburg so for me it would be a no brainer. More variety, better restaurants and numerous close beaches. But that's just me.

Divi is very nice but you will need to drive to get other places.

I would have to agree here, that the SBR option would be the better choice for what you say you are looking for. Have fun, no matter what you decide

Hi, Tim,

Hope you’re going to be there for at least two weeks as that’s a very aggressive travel plan but each of those islands is different and so worth seeing. My favorite of the three is Saba but only because it is so very different from the others and reminds me a lot of St. Maarten (without the beaches) when we first visited in the early 70s.

Without a doubt, and as others have suggested, Simpson Bay gives you more walking ops to bars and restaurants and more activity in general. That said, my personal taste would be for Divi but only because I like having a quiet place to come home to at the end of my busy island days and it is a very pretty area.

The Simpson Bay location would definitely be my choice. You have a busy schedule and being close to departure sites would be an asset. Also you could walk to many restaurants and bars which you could not do from Divi.

Simpson Bay Resort hands down and staying in the Villas is a must. If I was going to stay in the Simpson Bay area, that would be my first choice - no question But, the whole experience of going to st martin is to travel the island, Use its beaches and try its restaurants. I can never understand the point of going to St Martin if you are going to stay exclusively at the hotel/resort. You can do that anywhere.

For a first timer, I would go to Simpson Bay. There are more restaurants within walking distance and there is more night life within walking distance.

Tim I sent you a PM look for flashing envelope near your name.

WOW! Thank you all for your input. Lisa and I found what appears to be an amazing deal. We spoke with the folks at a Sonesta Ocean Point. Opening back up mid November. They are offering 45% off deals so we were able to get in on their deluxe suite AI deal for about $500 more than SR & DLB were quoting us for room only.

Whilst we will be taking 3 day trips & exploring the island, Lisa advises me that she'll drink $500 worth of prosecco the time we are poolside at Sonesta 🤣🥂🥂🍾

I hope we made the right choice. Please tell us we did...

Tim

No Brainer.....Simpson Bay vs Divi. View may not be as nice...but much closer to so many more restaurants.....bars....nightlife....Better beach at Simpson Bay vs. Great Bay or Little Bay.

when i mentioned view....meaning the expanse view of Great Bay...with the ships coming and going.

I wouldn't discount Little Bay's beach at Divi. It's really pretty nice and My home resort is in Simpson Bay at Flamingo which has a nice beach, or did have before Irma. It will be better once the resort reopens and is actually pretty nice now on the Simpson Bay Resort side.

Should be a good choice assuming they are back open on schedule. You are not the only person ive heard booking there in December so they should be fully incentivized to get crackin on the repairs/renovations.

Anybody know of the status/progress of this place thus far?

That is the time of year that we vacation in SXM. Since we stay at the Belair, we are biased but either choice is a good one. As stated, for proximity to many more restaurants and other activities, Simpson Bay is more convenient. For quieter and more peaceful, Little Bay area (Divi and Belair) may be a better choice. Yes, fireworks over Great Bay are usually very impressive on New Year's Eve.

Tim--as far as 'right choice', most of us here will tell you that booking a/I in SXM is a mistake, as it limits you to the resort too much. As far as proximity to bars and restaurants, Ocean Point isn't bad, PROVIDED most of Maho is back open by then, but right NOW, there is very little open at Maho. And as far as a BEACH at Ocean Point, there's not much. And that's ASSUMING that Ocean Point really is open by when you go. I have no idea what the progress is there now.

Let me say up front that I own three weeks at Divi so I am biased. That said, I think you will want some "down days" after the excursions you have planned. Despite all the opinions above favoring Simpson Bay, and while I haven't actually stayed in the area, it strikes me personally as a very busy area: lots of traffic and people. For my down days, I really love the quiet of Divi, and Little Bay beach is one of the nicest on the island. It is true you will be closer to your excursion departure points staying in Simpson Bay, but Divi is only 15 minutes away from Simpson Bay. And I agree with the others that A/I on SXM is limiting due to all the wonderful restaurants around the island. I would FOR SURE not do A/I at Divi because the food there just isn't that good.

My two cents' worth.

PS to previous: Divi anticipates being fully renovated by October.

Hey Carol and everyone here! We're heading to SXM in November for first time and can't wait!! Like Tim, we got great deal for ocean point at the end of November but now I'm abit worried if it will be open in time.....Do you or anyone here know what kind of stage its at? They've said they will deffinetly re open mid November...and also is Maho beach not there at Ocean Point? Many thanks

I have no idea whether Ocean Point will actually be open or not. I ASSUME they are telling the truth, as far as they know it. Maho Beach is there, yes, but it's not that great a beach, as often there can be big waves OR there could be almost no sand at all.

Well said, Linda.

My personal preference of the two areas would be Divi because we really enjoy the downtime at the end of every day and don’t like the very busy atmosphere of too many of the Simpson Bay Resort areas. But it would certainly be the most convenient for the boat departures to other islands on the itinerary if the OP.

And as both Linda and Carol and perhaps others have suggested, SXM is one Island I most definitely would NOT do All Inclusive on. A big part of the main attributes of this island, aside from all its gorgeous beaches and it’s other island visiting ops is the quality and variety of dining opportunities all across this lovely island. From the lowliest beach shacks serving some incredible ribs, chicken, burgers and dogs, to the very high end restaurants scattered all across the island, FOOD is one of the main attractions of SXM. And I’m not even one of the real foodies on this board but I still think that to be true.

Now if you can manage to DRINK your AI worth at your home resort and still manage to dine elsewhere it might be a good deal, but if you’re like most of us, once you buy into the AI option, you will probably become too disinclined to try the other areas for dining and if this is you, you really will miss a lot of what SXM is all about.

After the number crunching, with the 45% SOP early discount, the AI package ended up costing us $500 (for 2) more than a villa at SBR or Divi. Trust me, we will be eating off resort.... But I must confess, that cliff restaurant at SOP looks wicked good.

Whatever the choice you're sure to have a great time. Don't know the difference in price with AI but be sure to drink your share HA!

Must be from New England! Wicked gives it away. Enjoy your trip.

The Sonesta Ocean Point will be a nice place....hopefully they are on time opening!

There may not be much in the Maho area that is open. The Casino Royale has been open during the days this week for training, so they should be going soon!

Driving over to Simpson Bay will definitely have your nightlife and more restaurants to chose from.

Glad to hear Casino is ready to go.