Trip Report: Dates: Sat. 11/4 – Sat 11/11

After our first stay on the island last year, and a 309 day countdown, we were more than anxious to get back to SXM and just simply relax and have fun.

Once again we want to thank the many members of this board for the wealth of information. Although this was only our second stay on the island, with the information from all the members, we feel like the island is home away from home. Thank you all!

The highlight of the trip was renewing so many friendships from our first trip last year. During our Tiko Tiko trip in 2005, we met another couple and struck up a great friendship. We communicated with them all year and jointly planned a ‘reunion trip’ to meet again on the island last week. We also met so many people on the beach from our last trip and it was like we never left. Friends from home joined us for 3 days last year, and this year they decided to join us for a week and they are now official converts and suffering from ‘SXM withdrawls’ today!

One of the many learned lessons was to pack lighter this year and we did pack a lot lighter. As one of the members has consistently said, ‘take half the clothes and twice the money.’ Our trip started on a direct Continental flight from Newark into the new terminal. Within 25 minutes we had our passports stamped and our bags in hand. There were 6 agents working the counters and the passport control process was very fast. We rented a car last year from Michael at Unity and had a great experience, so we continued with Michael again this year. I find Michael very responsive and he gave us a great rate and a clean, new vehicle.

Now the fun part. Our friends decided to fly US Air from Philadelphia and their scheduled landing was 40 minutes after our touchdown. Since we were out the door with our luggage so fast, we rushed back to pick them, fully believing they would be standing outside waiting for us. Their US Air flight was on the ground in clear view, so we pulled up to the terminal and waited. And waited and waited. After 2 hours they emerged with no bags! They said the baggage area was in complete chaos, as bags from each flight were mixed on different baggage carousels and everyone was scrambling inside the baggage claim area. They were told in error that their bags were definitely on their flight, then only to be told an hour later the bags were still in Philadelphia. We later found out USAir had overbooked the flight and luggage for about 30 people did not make the flight from Philly. All this time, I’m outside, lapping the terminal and receiving reports via text message on their progress. Nothing we could do, so after a little over 2 hours, we headed for the hotel and a well needed Carib! They did receive their bags on Monday afternoon, but since we still pack a little too much we loaned them clothes. We laughed and said that camping in front of the Perch was the perfect ‘bagless’ beach!

We selected the Alamanda this year based on it’s proximity to Orient Beach, and based on so many great reports on the board. As everyone said, the location is great, the rooms are spacious, the hotel is clean and the staff is as fabulous as everyone says. I can’t compliment the friendliness of the staff enough. They were great to us! We booked with Sandy Molloy and we thank her for her great service.

We were pleasantly surprised to find so many restaurants and stores in Orient Village. I had walked through the village last August in the daytime and everything was closed, but at night it is full of people and dining/drinking options.

We had great thin crust pizza at Tap Five. In addition, Tap Five has outstanding desserts! Dinners at La Chapelle and Taichi. The steak at LaChapelle was outstanding and we also watched Sunday night football on their big screens. We also ate in Grand Case at L’California, since L’California was a favorite of ours from last year. And we drove to Marigot for a visit to Tropicana in the Marina area.

A note on the restaurants; only L’California honored $1 US for $1 Euro. All the others presented checks in both currencies.

We enjoyed the variety in Orient Village and it was nice to just walk to dinner and then camp at one of the outside tables for after dinner drinks.

The goal of our trip is simple; we love to just relax on the beach and enjoy the company, sand and warm water. We enjoy arriving early and leaving late. And that is what we did. We were camped with our friends in front of the Perch by 7:30am each day, and returned to the hotel after 5:00pm. We were pleasantly surprised to find so many people we had met the year before and the friendships made the trip extra enjoyable for us.

The beach at Club O was narrow with a clear erosion line and this only allowed a limited number of chairs, but it seemed everyone who wanted a chair, did get one. Willie was her usual master of ‘happy hour’ and this year we enjoyed her rum punch! By 12:20, the line was getting formed, and in no time she had served everyone. A few days she was ringing the bell for customers to return for more happy hour drinking. We gladly helped her out! The weather was perfect every day with only a short 30 minute fast moving squall one morning.

Being from NJ, one of the places that feel like home to us is Baywatch. We stopped everyday except Monday for breakfast and lunch with Andy and Cheryl. They would set up a long table for our ‘crew’ in the back and we would eat, laugh and joke with Andy and Cheryl until it was time to go back to the beach. On one of the days during lunch, a film crew arrived to interview Andy and take some video. Andy introduced us all as his ‘cousins’ from NJ and we all chimed in with an ‘Andy-Andy’ cheer for him. The grouper salads, mussels and ribs were outstanding as always.

The only small disappointment we had was a cancelled Tiko Tiko trip. A replacement boat the ‘Pelos’ is making the runs to Tintamarre, and the maximum number of passengers is now 8. The Pelos was sailing on Monday, Thursday and Saturday to Tintamarre, but due to mechanical problems our trip was cancelled. I will compliment the crew, as they did leave a message at our hotel informing us of the cancellation the afternoon before our scheduled trip.

Saturday, the 11th was St. Martin’s Day and the staff at Alamanda told us to leave by 10am for our flight at 3pm. We were told to anticipate extra heavy traffic and several relays which would slow us down. We left at 10:05 and arrived at the airport at 11:00am. Traffic was none existent and we had to laugh at our good fortune.

Check in at the new terminal was very easy and all the restaurants and shops were open (except one salon) on the ground floor. The restaurant on the upper floor is also open and serving a ‘pre-opening menu’ as they call it. The security lines and stations all moved quickly, with plenty of personnel. Once on the upper level you have another variety of liquor, perfume, magazine and food shops. There is plenty of space to sit and very open, as compared to the old terminal. I did notice many people with boxes filled with liquor and the boxes were allowed to be carried on the planes. Both of our flights exited onto the tarmac and buses took us to the terminal and we also took buses back to the plane. I only saw the AA and United planes using the jetways. The Continental and USAir flights were exiting and receiving passengers via buses.

This was another great trip and we want to thank all of you for all the information provided because it helped us have a great trip.

Of course, we will be back. But I don’t know if we can wait until next November!