SXM July 17-27, 2007
Pelican B264 (studio sleep 4, eat 2)
Mother and two grown daughters

BDL-CLT-SXM

Plane not full so we got to spread out. Met daughter in Charlotte; used the USAirways Club while we waited for the flight to SXM.

Arrived on time; flight attendants forgot to give out immigrations forms until I asked about them, so spent the last few minutes filling them out and missed the SSBB landing.

Met by Unity Car rental; picked up car (upgraded) and drove to Royal Palm to get cell phone from Sharon and onto Pelican.

Rented 10 days….checked in (didn’t have a lock for the safe—said they were out of them) and proceeded to B264 where we found a tiny studio sleep 4, eat 2 room with mold on the ceiling. Unpacked a few things and headed to Mark’s Place for ribs. Returned to Pelican to shower and sleep. Upon entering unit, found it full of mosquitoes because there was at least a 1” opening under the door. Tried to pull the sofa bed out so my daughter could sleep, but rod was jammed in and couldn’t get it open. Went to the front desk and was met by Ativida whom I’ll refer to from this point on as Miss Sunshine. Asked if there were any other rooms available (because of the bed, mold on the ceiling, hairdryer being broken, the gap under the door and there was only a table for 2 people to eat at a time—their solution was just to eat outside by the way). She said the resort was full and she couldn’t move us. Now come on, it’s July, low season, who are they trying to kid. Did she really expect me to believe her lies? There were no lights on in any of the units in our row. Honestly, they really need to get Ativida out from the front desk—she is just so rude and what a sourpuss—she obviously needs a course in customer service. This was not my first encounter with her—same personality as last year. Anyway, she said she would call maintenance and have them open the bed. Maintenance was quick to show up and open the bed; their solution for our 10-day visit was to just leave it open all the time—so no couch for us for 10 days. A few minutes later a knock on the door—maid with a can of bug spray. Thanks, but we already purchased a can. We taped the bottom of the door with duct tape and stuffed a towel under it and sprayed it with bug spray. And there it stayed for 10 days. Off to bed, we’ve been up since 3 a.m.

Wednesday—Off to the bakery for chocolate croissants. As we’re finishing breakfast, a knock on the door—it’s the whole maintenance department. I was excited because I thought they were going to fix the gap under the door and bring me a hair dryer. Nope. They’re here to replace the microwave, paint the ceilings and replace the ceiling fans. Are you joking? They couldn’t have done this some other time? Or put us in another unit like I asked while they did a unit remodel? At this point, all I really wanted them to do was fix the gap under the door and bring me a working hair dryer. Maintenance said they didn’t have anything to fix the gap, so he would come back and put a piece of wood on the bottom of the door….still waiting for that…..and the hairdryer. Went to the front desk and asked if they had a lock for the safe, and finally got one. Off to the pool, ate lunch in, and headed to Rima’s. Had dinner in and headed to Buccaneer Beach Bar for my BBC. Curtis still makes the best BBC on the island. He also played “bar” games with me and my girls.

Thursday—Thunderstorms and rain all day. Took a ride around the island, stopping to show the girls SSBB, Maho, Baie Rouge, thru Sandy Ground into Grand Case, Marigot, Orient and LeGalion. Managed to find MaDouDou and left there with a few bottles to take home. Stopped at the bakery on the way home for salad and a baguette. Had an appointment with the sales dept. at Pelican—I was actually looking for an owners update that we usually get each year, but was told they don’t do them anymore. What do they do for you now? Pretty much nothing. You don’t get any discount snorkeling tickets, bottle of wine, etc. You don’t get a concierge for the week. All the emphasis seems to be on getting people to buy the new building, which we got a tour of. Nice, too rich for my blood and I can’t see how Phase I is possibly going to be ready Dec. 2007. Off to SSBB to watch Air France come in and over to Maho to price liquor. Took us 45 min. to get back to Pelican from SSBB.

Friday—Rain is over and off to Baie Rouge—I must say, this is my favorite beach. Had lunch on the beach, bobbed in the water, picked sea glass. Fantastic day. Headed back to Pelican to make dinner and when we got there found our door was open. This made me a little nervous. Thank goodness we got a lock for our safe yesterday. Went in and looked around to see if anything was missing—didn’t seem like it—safe was still intact. Went to the front desk to report it, and they sent us over to security. They asked if anything was missing—said didn’t think so, but who can really know for sure? All my things were still tucked safely in the safe and that’s all I was concerned about. I’m thinking the maid just didn’t shut the door tight enough. Put a sign on the door that said please close door tightly behind you. (Asked the front desk if they had a hair dryer for me and they said they put in a request—uh huh). Went to the casino and won $7.75 on the penny machine.

Saturday—thought we’d have to move—but never received any papers stating so. Went to the front desk to ask Miss Sunshine and she said we didn’t have to move, which at this point was fine with me—who knows what kind of place we would have gotten next, and hey, we had new paint, microwave and ceiling fans, but no hair dryer or door rubber. Off to the bakery for, you guessed right, chocolate croissants and quiche. Headed to Marigot to check out the market. Had lunch at LaBelle Epoque—best salads and pizza ever! Went back to Pelican and guess what? Locked out. Keys expire on Saturday you know. Went back to the front desk and Miss Sunshine redid our keys. Doesn’t that girl have any days off? She’s always there! Met some fantastic people at the C Pool and told them about the bakery and Rima’s and MaDouDou. Went back to Rima’s and the grocery store—stocked up on Etna’s ice cream. Had dinner in.

Sunday—Thunder and rain in the morning, but clearing. Did some laundry. How hard is it really to sell you the right color tokens for the washing machines? Get everything loaded in, and find out you can’t use purple tokens in the machine, just black and orange. Back down to see Miss Sunshine to exchange the tokens. When I get back, I see that there are 2 free washers in the B building laundry room…oh well…why don’t they tell you this? And come to find out, one of the dryers never shuts off, so that’s “free” as well. Went to visit Alan at the pool bar—it’s so nice to see him back where he belongs! Had lunch in; swam at the C pool; headed to Maho to buy some liquor. Took the Tango sunset cruise—always fun. Dinner in followed by Etna’s ice cream!

Monday—Uh, huh, chocolate croissants and quiche. Hung out at the pool all day since my daughter was pretty sunburned. Went to the Manager’s Party and won the crab race. One of the guys in the band actually got my youngest up to dance. Went to Mark’s Place because those ribs are just so darn good. The waitress at Mark’s Place used to be at Turtle Pier—always nice to see her smiling face—maybe she could give Miss Sunshine some pointers.

Tuesday—the day we’ve been waiting for! Lambada to Prickly Pear—beautiful day, beautiful beach. It’s always the highlight of the trip for me. Came back exhausted; early to bed.

Wednesday—another day at Pelican—daughter still a little burned so we parked her under the umbrella and enjoyed the pool. Went to SSBB to watch the planes, off to Maho to buy more liquor and then to Marigot to Le St. Germaines for crepes. Awesome! They were as good as I remember! Got some gas at Cadisco by Marigot—offered $1/1 Euro. Back home for dinner in and played some cards.

Thursday—last day in SXM. Off to LeGalion. Crowded. Guy who runs the food concession warned me about watching my bags and not leaving anything in the car. I bring tie wraps with me and tie my bags to the umbrella pole—if they want those bags, they’re going to have to work for them. Had dinner reservations at LaGondola…can I just say that this is the best Italian food ever!! Tiramisu for dessert. Yum! We try and make it there every trip. Stopped at BBB for a last BBC and say goodbye to Curtis. He’s just so darn cute, isn’t he? Stopped at the Pelican front desk and asked what time check out is—on our bill it says 10 a.m., on my reservation form it says 11 a.m., the front desk says noon. Which is it? OK—I’m all for noon.

Friday—Final chocolate croissant and quiche fix. Packed the car, lounged around the unit—ate the leftovers from LaGondola and maids came knocking at 1245 so we headed out. Went to the airport and dropped the luggage, to Sharon’s to bring the phone back and to Unity to return the car. They drove us to the airport and we waited until our flight left. Nice airport—great not to be herded into that small waiting room anymore. Took off from SXM a few minutes early—got to Charlotte where there were bad storms. We circled for a while, and finally landed, but couldn’t get to the gate as the airport was shut down because of the lightning. Finally about an hour later, pulled up to the gate. Rushed through customs where the agent gave us major grief about bringing 5 bottles of liquor back when we were only allowed 2. I was more than willing to pay my duty, but he said it was my lucky day, and let me go through. Why do these guys have to be such jerks anyway? Rushed to our gate to find more delays—originally scheduled to leave 10ish, but now scheduled 1215 a.m. Finally boarded and more delays having to wait to take off. Got into Hartford at 2 a.m. (2 hours late) and guess what? Can’t access the gate because another plane is there—at 2 a.m. aren’t there any other empty gates? So we sat on the runway another 15 minutes. Finally off, waited forever for the luggage. Got the car and at 3 a.m. were on our way home. Major road construction a good part of the drive home—totally exhausted and pretty hard to keep my eyes open. Got home at 4 a.m. All in all a good trip, but my observations: Pelican really doesn’t seem to give two sh*ts about their current owners and I didn’t feel as safe as I did when we first started visiting the island years ago. My car was broken into for the first time. I felt like I had to be on my guard all the time, and that’s not what vacation is about. I do love St. Martin, but I think it may be time to take a break from going there. It saddens me. There are so many good things about the island, the food, the beaches, the people. But it seems these days the bad things outnumber the good.