Sint Maarten / Saint Martin (Netherlands Antilles)

Neither do we have assiocation with Cuba but we still send flights there.
The place looks like it would be a fantastic holiday destination.

And we don’t have any links with just about every other country on the planet, yet we still send flights there. Being so tiny (just 37 square miles) and in no way associated with the UK, it is likely that the majority of the British population would have no need to go there. But for those who do need to visit, I expect they fly to Amsterdam and Paris and then onwards to St Maarten.

Probably because the island is so small and in no way associated with the UK, unlike France and the Netherlands. If you want to get there, you can just go via Amsterdam or Paris, or even the United States.

Neither do we have assiocation with Cuba but we still send flights there.
The place looks like it would be a fantastic holiday destination.

Wohoo…I mean thank you! Well if you cant catch no planes please take some pics of scenery lol(meaning the airport mainly)!!!

Will do…although I am heading over around 9am…so there will not be much going on at the airport

yeah, that has got to be per night
I am going over to Maho tomorrow, if I remember I’ll stop by and get the prices from the horses mouth

LOL!!Try and get them for between 1/9/06 and 14/9/06 please thanks.

Oh yes and seeing as your going…..please may you take your camera with you and take some pics then post them on here. Im sure most people would be greatful!!!lol!!!

yeah, that has got to be per night
I am going over to Maho tomorrow, if I remember I’ll stop by and get the prices from the horses mouth

Soneta one on Maho beach im still doubting it to be that cheap to. Maybe its £138.98 per night!!!

What hotel is it?

Got some price’s now:
LGW-ANU-SXM-ANU-LGW=£463.00 lowest prices with VS to ANU the carribean star to SXM and vise-versa (Preaty cheap for a long haul flight)flight dates i did it to were the 1/9/06 and the 14/9/06. To stay in it is £138.98 between them same dates in a pool-ocean veiw roomso that means for one adult and 2 weeks in paridise comes to a grand total of £601.98 plus money for food etc.! WOW booking holidays is so fun and quite cheap. Anyone else find it to be a different price as i dont think i did it write because that is actually very cheap!!!

Just did some research and BWIA fly there from Kingston and Port Of Spain!
Although i wouldn’t recomend the flight out to POS on BWEE as we flew with them in October and we were all sick for about a week when we got back from barbados. So maybe do VS to POS/ANU/BGI then get connection on BWEE or Carribean Star!!!
Thanks mate

I used to go down to Maho quite a when I came down, but it got less and less as time went on. Work gave me a much better view than Maho can ever give anyways.
So now its maybe once a month that I go down there.

You can fly from pretty much every island and to SXM. Coming from britain you can fly to Antigua or Barbados for example, and then fly Caribbean Sun/Star up to here in Dash-8s, or you can fly to Puerto Rico and then connect in here.
BWIA also flies in here with 737s, but honestly not sure where they fly in from.

Ken

You lucky man!!! How often do you go down to Maho. And how much around are your prices there and back as i am hoping to visit the island in the next couple of years. ( also is there anyway you can get a conction flight from another carribean island)

St. Martin

I have been lucky enough to have lived and worked here on St. Maarten since March 2004, and I have come to get a view of the island that is decidedly split in half. Much like the island itself.

First..flying to the island.

I have flown here from JFK, Miami and Paris. By FAR the best was Air France. Great service, good food and lots of games and movies to watch.
JFK was second, American Airlines 757. Only problem here is that on all my flights the fasten seatbelt signs were never turned off…and after 3hrsI got up to use the restrooms..and got yelled at by the stewardesses standing in a group at the back of the plane. And no…there was no turbulence…it was smooth as glass.
Last must be Miami…the waiting and lines in that airport is beyond description…stear clear if possible!!

There is a big difference between the French and the Dutch side of the island. The Dutch side is pouring all the money they can get (from Curacao, all the money goes from the Netherlands to Curacao for further distribution to the other parts of the antilles…strangely enough most of the money seems to stay in Curacao) into tourism. There is a constant building of new hotels and resorts…and there is hardly a green place left on this side of the island. The tourist areas are of course nice, but not very…I have seen much better other places. Go outside the tourist areas and there is filth everywhere. Old cars, trash etc lying about all over the place. And a local population that is increasingly, and understandably, getting fed up with getting little or no support from the government. The roads are falling apart, literally, and sitting in a traffic jam for about an hour to drive 1km is the norm at certain times of the day.
Crime is increasing rapidly, only the two years I have been here I have seen a leap in crime. I worked for the police, and had a good insight into stuff that didn’t reach the newspapers. That St. Maarten is “the Friendly Island” might have been true in the past, but is not correct today.

St. Maarten is a beautiful island, if you only look at the surface. Stay in the hotel and on the beach, and look out to sea, and its beautiful. Take a walk in Dutch Quarter, or Mullet Bay at night and a different story becomes evident. The best description I have heard of St. Maarten as it is today is “it is just a big bad neighbourhood”, and this from soneone born and raised in Queens, NY.

Sunset Beach (or Maho beach as it is actually named) seems to be the focal point of interest for the people on this website, quite understandably. It is a pretty little beach, actually one of the smallest on the island…when there is sand. As it is now about 75% of the beach is gone, and in some parts replaced by rocks.
The view of planes landing and taking off is in my opinion unparallelled in the world. Nothing like sitting at Sunset Beach Bar with a drink and watch a 744 or A340 pass over the beach, or watch the idiots get blown into the ocean by the same taking off. (Note that I said drink…although SSBB claims to have the best food on the island, which is FAR from true, there is a high level of nausea and loose bowel movements after eating there…be warned) If you like 757s this is the right place to be….or be blown into the ocean by one.
The road by the beach has been made narrower and into two seperate lanes so that cars can not park behind the aircraft. That is about it when it comes to controlling what goes on there.

If any questions come up, feel free to ask.
I will be flying off the island in two days, might be back in a month or so for a different job…but thats only if nothing else comes up.

Ken

Is there any need for that?

Your absoulotly right these not!!!
thats why im going to deleate it!!!

Is there any need for that?

If you want to get there, you can just go via Amsterdam or Paris, or even the United States.

I would go via miami both ways!!!
😀 😀 😀

Why no UK flights there.

Probably because the island is so small and in no way associated with the UK, unlike France and the Netherlands. If you want to get there, you can just go via Amsterdam or Paris, or even the United States.

I haven’t been there but on august 14th my mate is going there and im sure he will give me some pics and a trip report to add!(as he cant seem to sign up for this place)

I do belive that manston airport has been mate.

Why no UK flights there.