Has Anyone Been to St Maarten/St Martin?

[larryziegler]

I have American Airlines frequent flier miles to use and we are looking at using them to go to St Maarten in the Caribbean in the springtime. Has anyone ever been there? Any location on the island that is better than another....etc. etc. For those who have never been there, photos were posted on an earlier thread where the large jets that land there, fly about 20 ft above the beach to land, as the runway is just off the beach.

[Mazzzja]

All I know is that St Maarten is a better island than the other Dutch Antilles and that it's part Dutch and part French.
Maybe that helps a little

[SilverShadow]

Been there once...don't plan on going back.

Save your $ and go to Aruba.

_____

SS

[KittenPoker]

Joe said they ran out of beer...well, when an aircraft carrier with 5,000 sailors come in, it's bound to happen!

[Pelican18TQA4]

I've been there and I would recommend another island in that part of the Caribbean, such as St. Thomas.

[Pulgamovil]

I have been there Its a nice Island that is divided in 2 the dutch part and th efrench part.... The islands on the caribbean are very diferent depending on what you looking 4....

I loved Saint Barts...

BTW saint Marteen has the lowest aproaches look at this wicked one....

[Mazzzja]

Originally Posted by SilverShadow

Been there once...don't plan on going back.

Save your $ and go to Aruba.

_____

SS

No offence, but eventhough Aruba is one of the Dutch Antilles, it's very Americanised.
I've spoken to people who actually lived there years ago and went back just recently. The guy was disappointed as he thought he was in the USA and not on a caribbean island.

[Mazzzja]

Originally Posted by Pulgamovil

I have been there Its a nice Island that is divided in 2 the dutch part and th efrench part.... The islands on the caribbean are very diferent depending on what you looking 4....

I loved Saint Barts...

BTW saint Marteen has the lowest aproaches look at this wicked one....

Thanks for showing 'my' airline

[larryziegler]

I will also look at Aruba. One of the issues about which island to travel to is the ability to get seats with my frequent flier miles from the west coast. My top choice, the Cayman Islands is virtually impossible to get seats to, as is St Thomas/Virgin Islands. St Maarten and now Aruba have available seat inventories. Aruba looks inviting as it is also out of the path of hurricanes, so I could look at going next fall.

[eurekablyth]

I've been to St. Martin and thought it was really nice, until I went to Grand Cayman. I'd love to relocate to Grand Cayman permanently, I'm so in love with the island, it's absolutely gorgeous and it's one of the safest islands in the Caribbean.

I haven't been to Aruba so I can't say how that is, but I have been to St. Thomas and thought that St. Martin was far nicer and cleaner than St. Thomas. Have FUN picking out a vacation spot!!

--

update: I just read that it'd be hard to get tickets to the Cayman islands - too bad! :-( And if you're worried about hurricanes interfering with your vacation, I'd recommending traveling early May - it's always warm enough to swim and enjoy the water and not too hot and it's not hurricane season yet. :-)

[Lmhansen]

I have to agree with Mazzja. Aruba is way to Americanized, you might as well go to Florida. Any Caribbean island with Dunkin Donuts should be shunned.