On Thursday, the sky was overcast, so we decided to stay in Grand Case at our apartment. The wind was out of the west - very unusual for us to see, unfortunately, it brought in some sargassum- not a ton, but it does diminish the swimming experience a bit. We made reservations for dinner at Spiga and dinner was fine. I got the chocolate concoction for dessert - extremely good if you are a chocolate fan. Today is departure day, so will be heading off to the airport, then to start planning where to stay for our trip next year.

Thanks for all your reports and pics. Enjoyed them all. Safe travels.

Thanks for the pictures and reports. Safe travels home!

Thanks for taking us along with you.

Thanks , it does take a little bit of time to sort through photos of the day, then post, but I have learned so much from others here, and have enjoyed their photos, so it is worth the effort.

BTW, got to the airport early for departure and glad i had read about the limited food selection. We picked up sandwiches as Zee Best so we were fine, but there was a long line upstairs at the one place that looked like it had a good selection, there was one woman with a cart with prewrapped sandwiches and a Dominos - which only had chicken wings and chicken afredo when we were there - much to the dismay of many people who kept asking how could they not have pizza. While the upper floor looks nice, has tons of space,nice tables and the ac was cranking, not a water fountain in sight.

We were on American and departed from the lower level which is still pretty rough looking - not much seating.

Wish I had downloaded and completed the Mobile Passport Control app before we went home. At Charlotte airport, they had 3 sections Global Passport - which had no line, Mobile Passport Control which had a very short line , and the main line - which was hundreds of people and took over an hour. Did make our connecting flight, but that was only because it was scheduled 1:45 connection time, and we hustled the entire way from immigration to the departing gate and they had just started boarding when we got there.

We did mobile passport before heading home and were extremely glad we had done so. Same situation in Miami - very few people in the MP line and hundreds in the main line.

We were also leaving SXM from the lower level which was incredibly cramped and sweaty. We then crammed into a bus to get to the plane. It was not great for a departure experience, but I figure it can only get better before our next trip! ( I am knocking on all the wood as I type this).
When we stopped in the Dominos, it appeared they aren't actually cooking anything there and everything is being driven over and kept in warming bags, hence the sellouts. I think they'd be wise to skip all of the weird sandwiches and pastas and just stock more pizzas but what do I know about running a ghost McDonald's in work-in-progress airport.

taraavo--Don't tell me this--you were on AA to Miami and you did not have a jetway??

barry--So, you were on AA to Charlotte and did not have a jetway??? This is not a good theme.

Yes, it appears that folks should not plan on getting anything to eat at the airport. Bring something with you to eat.

And BTW, there was NOT a water fountain at the SXM airport before Irma. To me, they want people to have to buy water. Bullsh*t.

Correct Carol. No jetway for us on AA to Miami. We, per usual, went to identify our gate so we'd know where it was (we were quite early) and I was disappointed to find it downstairs and so crowded and hot. We went back upstairs to wait it out, and luckily checked BACK downstairs earlier than we thought necessary, as they were moving everyone out to the bus to begin boarding earlier than I would've assumed.
I recall some questions a while back about options for getting downstairs as mobility was a concern for someone - there's a stairwell as well as a rather large elevator.

Barry I enjoyed your reports. I may have missed it but where did you stay in Grand Case?

taraavo--well, that sucks. Did they at least have a ramp to the plane? I have an extremely hard time with stairs.

Carol, they did at least have a ramp. One thing that I heard a lot of people complain about (but personally I couldn't care less) was that your "priority" for boarding was worthless since it's just a matter of who gets off the bus first. Like I said, I didn't really mind because we do check our bags and I wasn't concerned with finding overhead space, but there were some people very unhappy with that aspect of it and the inability to board first. I do understand the frustration if it's something you've paid for.