The Beautiful, Exciting, and Fun Island of Sint Maarten!! Those Sunsets...

We have enjoyed 14 awesome all-inclusive trips to various Caribbean Islands and Mexico.  When people think of an all-inclusive vacation they imagine "flying and flopping" and not exploring the area at all.  Relaxing...

We do that as part of our vacation-but definitely get out and about exploring and seeing the area the rest of the trip.  On this particular visit to the 37 sq. mile island of St. Maarten/St. Martin, we left the resort 4 different days to explore.  We did not go to a bunch of the many beaches to swim, however we saw some different beaches.  Here's how we managed our time from start to finish.

We traveled late April with my college roommate and her sister.  The 4 of us have traveled together to 11 all-inclusive vacations-so we have a routine that works well for us that we have successfully replicated 11 times!

Thursday: We arrived about 2:30 at Hampton Inn & Suites Syracuse North Airport Area.  This was our second stay at this hotel, and is a great place to stay when flying out of Syracuse.  The hot tub/pool is incredibly relaxing-and we feel it is a good way to start vacay.  Dinner was at Santangelo's in Liverpool-we always enjoy the great Italian dining.

Friday: Early morning flight...alarm at 2:30AM. 😒 We took the 4AM shuttle to the airport.  With the "fastest ever" 20 minutes thru Syracuse, NY check-in and security we were at the gate for our 6AM flight to Charlotte.  We had a FOUR HOUR layover in Charlotte 😕.  We had a leisurely breakfast at 1897 Market at the airport, then wandered around.  Lots of cool breweries...but it was still pretty early for a beer!!!  Our 11:45 flight to Sint Maarten left on time-then we hung out for 30 minutes on the tarmac.  We were then finally on our way, and arrived just a few minutes late at 3:30.  

Our resort, Sonesta Ocean Point, was 5 minutes from the airport.  It is adult only.  It is located next to Maho Beach that is famous for the airplanes flying over the beach.  We spent a week being absolutely thrilled every single time a plane took off or landed!  

Plane arriving over Maho Beach. Picture taken from our resort

Check in was easy.  Unfortunately, our room did not have the view we wanted.  The resort was full-but they told us we could move on Sunday.  That happened-it was a seamless transition, and we were already impressed with the staff, and their ability to make their guests feel special and wanted.

The room was great (other than the view) and they had decorated it with balloons, cookies and a card for Al's birthday.

Birthday boy Al was honored!!!

We were starting to get tired...so went to dinner at the buffet.  The girls and I (Al was ready to rest!)  did a little wandering around the resort in the dark.  We did get down to the ocean, but it was hard to see for walking on the beach so we went back.

Saturday:  This was a fly and flop day.  We ate, drank, read out by the pool, walked the beach, ate and drank more...just did all those things that make fly and flop work so well at an all inclusive.  The real feel temperature was 104 every day that we were there-so it was quite warm!!  Sunset every single night was perfection!!

   Sunday:  Before we left, I made a connection with taxi driver Soraida based on recommendations from travel forums on Trip Advisor.  Soraida was a straight shooter, honest in the realities of her island still recovering from the 2017 Hurricane, as well as COVID.  This little island has suffered many serious setbacks, and both the Dutch side and the French side have tried to build back.  I will say the Dutch side has been a bit more successful...as it is much more touristy and had more to lose, but you can still see areas on both sides that have not made it back.  They are very happy to see tourists, as well as the millions of cruise ship travelers that spend the day (and their $$$) on Sint Maarten/ St. Martin.  To add insult to injury, the sargassum was quite bad on our side of the island.  Rarely does the west coast get sargassum, but the winds had shifted and it was everywhere.  Soraida said she had never seen it that bad. Luckily, it got better mid week.  We watched the workers try unsuccessfully to rake the  sargassum on Maho Beach.

The sargassum was so awful for 3 days!

Workers struggling to rake sargassum

Laurie, and the birds of ParotteVille

 

We toured both sides of the island. We visited Parotte Ville Bird Park in Phillipsburg (capital of the Dutch side).  We had so much fun for 45 minutes or so hanging with the birds!!  We really loved it-and it was only $10 admission.  All 5 of us went to lunch on the French side in the capital Marigot...Rosemary's Seafood and Creole Cuisine.  It has a great reputation for good food.  Food was good-service was not good.  We were over 2 hours at lunch, and our drinks came out just after our food arrived and we had been there well over an hour by that time.  We totally understand that they were struggling to get ice for the drinks-got that!  But, they kept telling us to just wait and they could get us our Margaritas.  The owner was not on property-and we believe that it would have been a totally different experience had she been physically present.  The bathroom situation (shared by all the dock stores/restaurants) was certainly unique...and not something we were super comfortable using...but you know....it had been a long day...

We learned so much about the island.  Soraida was a great driver, and had interesting stories. 

Monday:   Originally, this was going to just be another hang out, flop day.  We had heard that Caribbean Brewing Company had an amazing tour.  Since Al and I do love our wineries and breweries, we decided to have Soraida bring us here for a tour.  

We had such a great time.  From the start...where there is no outside handle on the entrance door 😐 until the very end when we said good-bye, this was a terrific tour.  Simran led our private tour, where we could drink all that we wanted-and she encouraged us to drink up.  Wish we'd been capable of drinking more-but we did really love the Dutch Blonde beer.  Easy drinking, with a great flavor!  We were even able to drink right out of the brewing vat pre bottling!

There is no door handle... IYKYK

Al and Laurie

The lovely storyteller Simran

Al pouring his beer

Sarah with her Naughty Blonde drink

Returned for a quick buffet lunch and relaxing!!

Tuesday: We left bright and early with Soraida for shopping in the cruise ship Dutch capital city Phillipsburg.  There were 2 cruise ships in port that day-about 7,000 people.  That is a good size for shopping-shops are open, but it's not super busy.  The port can handle up to 8 ships at a time.   Phillipsburg is cute...Front Street, Back Street, and the Boardwalk.  Each street has a unique vibe, and the side streets have their own little vibe too.  

Side street in Phillipsburg

After shopping we went to take the Rainforest Adventures Sky Explorer to the top of Sentry Hill.  We chose to ride a chairlift up and back, but there are also options to zipline or go tubing back down the mountain.  The Flying Dutchman is one Zipline, but they also have an option to do 4 ziplines.  We were pretty happy to leisurely go up and down the mountain on a slow chairlift.  At the top, the views are absolutely incredible.  There is a bar to just have a drink and enjoy the lovely scenery.  The Sky Explorer chairlift is not at all scary-and it is worth it for the wonderful views from the top.  There is plenty of room to see all around.  One of our favorite views was of the airport runway-that we watched from our resort as well as from the beach.  It was cool to see it from the mountain.  Sint Maarten is a very dry island-so "Rainforest" is a bit of a stretch...

Al and Laurie views from Sentry Hill

Airport runway on left side of picture

Sarah, Sue, Laurie, and Al on the Sky Explorer

For lunch we ate at Emilio's-right next to Rainforest Adventures.  It is a very upscale restaurant-but only those with reservations can eat inside.  We ate out on "The Patio".  The food was incredible-3 of us had an amazing Beet Salad!

Wednesday: This was mostly a hang out day-but at 4:00 we left for our final excursion with Soraida.  We went out on the Tango Catamaran for the Sunset Dinner Cruise.  The night was beautiful.  We cruised out a bit-then the sails were lifted and we sailed towards a stunning sunset.  After sunset we sailed a bit more over to the French side-then dropped anchor and had dinner.  All food and drinks were included in the price-and yes, there were a few on board who enjoyed the free flowing alcohol!!  It got a bit cool after dinner-so I was glad I had a sweatshirt with me. 

The Tango-day and night

Sue, Sarah, Laurie, and Al on the Tango

The lovely Soraida, with Al, Laurie, Sue, and Sarah 

We sadly said good-bye to Soraida.  She was super helpful to us all week-taking us places and telling us stories.  Obviously, many people rent a car on St. Maarten, but we like the ability of being able to look at everything and not having to deal with driving or navigating.  Different strokes for different folks.   It works well for us to be able to go out and about without thinking about where we are driving, and where to park!!

Thursday:  This was our final full day.  We enjoyed the beach and pools.  We always do a Spa treatment on our final full day.  Al and I had massages followed up by a hydrotherapy bath.  As a wonderful gift, they gave us a bottle of champagne and fruit to enjoy while we relaxed. (Yes, we know it is all-inclusive, but it was still a very nice gesture!!!)

Last morning goodbye view

This is the restaurant Azul where we ate most meals .  Super views, amazing food!

Friday: We went to the beach, pool, finished packing, and checked out by 11:00.  Our flight was not until 4:20-so we chose to go to the 5 course lunch at Azul on property.  It was amazing.  All of the food at this resort was the best we have experienced at an all-inclusive resort.  We left the resort at 2:00.  Unfortunately, the airport was experiencing a computer outage in the Immigration section of the check in process-and we were 1 1/2 hours getting thru check-in, customs, and immigration.  The small airport was quite the cluster-and even the workers were getting frazzled.  We got to the gate, and luckily our flight left about 40 minutes late.  Not to worry-as we saw the absolutely most amazing sunset from above the clouds!  We had to be on the correct side of the plane for optimal views-and we were so lucky!  Leaving late probably worked in our favor for the views also! 

Sunset over the clouds

Once in Charlotte we had about 1 1/2 hours to get thru immigration with our luggage-and again, things were somewhat of a cluster. We did get thru in time, although not much time before boarding.  Thankfully our connecting flight was leaving late.  The excitement of this flight was that we rode home with the Syracuse Women's Lacrosse team.  Sadly, they had just experienced only their 2nd loss of the season-but it was cool for us to see them, as we watch all of their games!! (Go orange 🧡🍊🥍!!!)

We arrived in Syracuse about 30 minutes late...about 12:45AM.  The hotel shuttle ends at midnight, so we were told to grab a cab.  Sadly, at Syracuse airport, cabs don't hang out at 12:45 AM on a Saturday morning.    We tried to call one, who didn't even answer the phone.  We finally booked an Uber, and got back to our hotel about 1:45 AM.  The hotel did pay the Uber costs.

Saturday: Breakfast at the hotel, and then home to do piles and piles of laundry!!

This was an awesome trip!  St. Maarten/ St. Martin is such a unique island that is successfully owned by 2 completely independent countries.  No drama...it was nice!!

Generally I don't write blogs about longer trips, but I think that so many people believe that staying at an all-inclusive is somewhat of a "lesser" experience.  Many think you can't really learn about a place by staying within the walls of the resort.   I will argue that everyone gets to vacation in the way they enjoy!!  We like to "fly and flop", but we also like to learn about an area.  Cooking, cleaning up, and driving are not things we choose to do when visiting an island-but others love the rustic (and possibly cheaper)  side of having the freedom to do as they wish without others around.  All travel experiences are worthy...and everyone should travel to their own style-and not try  to be something that they are not. 

All places mentioned here have been reviewed by me in detail on Trip Advisor!

Final dinner Sarah, Laurie, Al, Sue

Final sunset Sarah, Sue, Al, Laurie

Yes...yes it is!!!😍