Hello All. Finally geting around to posting a trip report. It's a long one, and probaly best to post in parts so as not to blow any fuses anywhere. Part one will cover arrival, car rental, cell phone and groceries. Additioanl parts will immediately follow . . . .
We returned a week ago from a blissful 8 days on the Friendly Island and would like to share our experiences here on this board. TTOL was a tremendous find a few months back, providing a wealth of information and insight I wasn’t finding anywhere else. Time to pay it forward! I’ve written trip reports before, mostly about cruises, and usually in a day by day, blow by blow format. Thought I’d try something a little different this go-round, and put this together by major subject/category. By regularly frequenting TTOL, I’ve come to realize that certain topics are near and dear to both veterans and newbies, so I thought this format might be more beneficial. This will probably be long, and I hope I’m not violating any post size rules. Maybe posting in parts is the best bet. Guess we’ll find out. Here goes . . . .
Background
Just a few quick words about us, which may give some perspective on our experiences and opinions. And this post is full of just that - opinions. And only opinions, which are all different among us travelers. We’re pretty well traveled and have been to all the US Virgins, some BVI, St. Lucia, Barbados, Antigua, lots of US beaches both east and west, and a little bit of Europe. We’ve just crossed the half century mark, and this was our first trip without the kids since our 2nd and last was born 20 years ago.
Flights
We have lived in Salt Lake City for the past two years as a result of a job opportunity, but we are both east coasters by birth and upbringing. And before you ask, no – I don’t have more than one wife, and yes – we can get alcoholic drinks quite easily. SLC is a hub for Delta, so pretty much by default my frequent flyer loyalty (and the resulting free tix) has gone to them. The one problem with living out west is that it’s pretty difficult on any airline to get from here to SXM on the same day. That said, our trip began with the red eye to Atlanta at 11:45 PM on Thursday, Feb 1. We connected to Delta’s #779 which departed promptly at 9:50 AM on Friday after chilling for about 4 hours in the Crown Room Club. Arrived SXM about a half hour ahead of schedule, and got an actual gate/jet bridge rather than walking down the stairs and busing in. I know some of you prefer the old way so you get that first rush of warm air, but considering we had a fair amount of carry-on baggage I was happy for the gate. Thankfully, a totally uneventful travel experience.
Customs/Baggage
Having been here only once before on a cruise stop, I have no comparisons to make between the old airport and the new. I can tell you that it does put to shame the airports at St. Thomas and St. Lucia. Looks like a pretty slick operation to me. Our flight arrived pretty much by itself meaning that lines at customs and immigration were pretty short. Bit of a walk to get there as our gate was at the extreme opposite end of the exit. So after about a 5-10 minute walk, it was just another 5 minutes to get through customs. The wait for baggage wasn’t too bad. Ten to fifteen minutes maybe. As we try to budget wherever we can, the checked baggage consisted of 2 bottles of rum, a 12 pack of beer, a 12 pack of soda, a can of pineapple juice and assorted non-perishable dry goods for munching. Everything made it through intact. Was this worth the trouble? Maybe not, but it did ensure that if we couldn’t stop at a grocery store on the way to the hotel we would still be able to have our fist happy hour on the balcony as soon as we got there (and it did save a few bucks).
Car Rental
Arrangements were made well in advance with TTOL sponsor Mohamed at Panoramic/Ace. Had a little confusion/concern when we first entered the arrival hall and did not see anyone holding up a sign with our name on it as promised. And in a new place and new rental car agency, I was leery of asking anyone for help as I was paranoid enough to assume that whoever I asked would conveniently turn out to be Mohamed or someone else with Panoramic. So I roamed around a while and finally found a guy wearing a yellow golf shirt with the Panoramic/Ace signage on his back. I peeked over his shoulder and saw our name among three others on his clipboard. Lesson here I guess is to not just stand around and wait. You might have to roam around a bit to find your rental car connection, although my wife hung around the arrival area in the event anyone showed up there. So this guy escorts us out to the parking area where Mohamed was dutifully waiting for us. There was one group ahead of us that he needed to square away, but Mohamed was kind enough to show me the car and give me the keys so we could load our stuff while he was finishing with the other family. Only about a 5 minute wait, and then another 10 minutes to complete our own paperwork. Rate was $30/day for a Hyundai Getz, and I took the $5/day liability insurance to cover any break-in damage that might occur. Car was pretty new – under 5000 miles I think – and was in great shape with about a half tank of gas. So from touch-down at 2:30 to driving out of the airport, it was a little over an hour altogether. Not bad I thought.
Cell Phone
Another subject discussed a lot around here, and like many others had arranged a cell phone rental with Sharon at the Royal Palm. For us it was more of a security blanket than having a real need for the phone, but of course we did use it to check in with various family members during the week. Cost was $30 for the week as I recall (I may be off on that), and had her pre-load it with $20 worth of time. By comparison, we did make one tactical error which clearly showed having this phone was a great deal. For whatever reason, we couldn’t get a signal with the cell on the day of my daughter’s birthday. This was an absolutely must call, so we broke down and used the phone in the hotel room and used a credit card to do it. We knew this was not very practical, but had no choice. That 15 minute call cost us $75! A very stupid move I considered NOT sharing, but the idea of this board is to share lessons learned, right?!?! Anyway, as everyone has already said, go with Sharon and you can’t go wrong.
Groceries/Super Markets
Since everything else had gone so smoothly thus far, we decided to go ahead and take a shot at picking up a few groceries on the way to the hotel. We took the Cole Bay/Union Road route to Orient, and based on advice from this board kept an eye out for the new Grand Marche along Union Road just before the French boundary and the Plaissance Marina. It's on the left. Contessa's report makes mention of this store which was followed about lots of questions regarding its whereabouts. The above is about the best I can offer. Looked small from the outside, but this is a well-stocked, very American-type grocery store. Laid out almost exactly as every grocery store at home. I wouldn’t say there were bargains to be had, but we knew we were better off here than shopping on the French side what with exchange rates and all. I can’t recall exact prices, which were posted in Dutch Florins (do I have that term right?) on the shelves, but of course they’re higher than at home. I think the exchange rate on Florins is just
under 2 to 1. Something around 60 US cents to the Dutch Florin. So as I was shopping, I priced everything in my head at half of what was marked to give me a rough idea of $US cost. Everything is rung up in Florins, but with the touch of a button the cashier converts it for you on the register and you can pay in US dollars with no problem. I want to say our final tally was like 130 Fl which came out to $77. Among the items were bread, milk, fruit, a bottle of wine (nothing fancy), a bottle of local rum, a cooked rotisserie chicken, eggs, bacon, butter, bagged salad, salad dressing, mustard, mayo, sliced ham and turkey from their deli, 6 pack of Amstel Light, 12 pack of soda and a few other things I can’t recall. Seemed like a reasonably fair deal considering where we were. We never went to any other market except for the occasional item at Tap Five at Orient. But we did see plenty of other super markets on both the French and Dutch sides, so you won’t go hungry or thirsty. Part two to follow. . . . .
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