Folks,
I was wondering if someone can give me an idea about the relative
quality of the following beaches in St. Maarten for a family vacation?

Great Bay
Little Bay
Simpson
Kimsha
Mullet

Also, any experience with the following hotels is appreciated

Divi Little Bay Beach Resort
Great Bay Beach Hotel
Flamingo Beach Resort
Royal Palm Beach Resort
Oyster Bay Beach Resort

Thanks and Regards
Marsi

This newsgroup has not been very active lately. You may want to check
tripadvisor.com to get reviews on the hotels.

I have not stayed at any of the hotels you mentioned.. Usually we try to
stay on Orient Beach, but that is the clothing optional beach, so I don't
know if you would consider that appropriate for your family. It is a
beautiful beach and you will see many families there.
Be aware that you will most likely see some women, of all ages, sunbathing
topless at all the beaches there.

We did stay on Simpson beach at Flamboyant years ago, but it is a manmade
beach and I wouldn't reccommend it. We did drive by the Divi Little Bay
Hotel and the hotel looked nice as well as the beach. St Maarten/St Martin
is known for it's beautiful beaches.

On Thu, 12 Jun 2008 11:23:15 -0500, "Nick and Judy" sbcglobal.net>
wrote:

IMO, Orient Beach and the beach at Grand Case are the nicest beaches on St.
Martin. The question would be whether those areas offer all the activities that
your family desires.

??? If you mean le Flamboyant, it's on Nettle Bay, not Simpson. We stayed at its
sister hotel, the Beach Plaza, on the lower end of Marigot, and found it perfect
for our needs. We'll be back there for the holidays this year.

True. But in our experience, the beaches on Anguilla are far, far nicer.

Enjoy wherever you go.

-- Larry

Marsi wrote:

On Thu, 19 Jun 2008 04:30:36 -0700 (PDT), -hh huntzinger.com> wrote:

On 6/19/2008 4:31 PM Roger Clough plucked Senior Frog's Magic Twanger
and said:

Brian K earthlink.net> wrote:

When you look at the Timeshare business from the supplier's side, what
you find is a business model that's next to impossible to lose money
at (and even harder to screw up):

you build a property and a bunch of folks pay you a bag of cash to pay
off your construction costs...

...and if that's not good enough, they sign a contract which locks
them into paying you a 'Maintenance Fee' each year for 20-25-30-40
years...

...and if that's not good enough, they allow you to determine what
that fee is that they're going to pay!

Marsi,

Stay in Great Bay. My Mom & I had a wonderful time. Shopping was the best
part of the trip. Bring cash & credit cards the jewellty is a steal.
Something for everyone!!

"Charlotte227" hotmail.com> wrote:

I had spent two days walking the strip in Phillipsburg while we were
there, and part of another day over in the French town on the west
side, particularly looking for a swiss watch for my wife. Bottom line
is a lot of glitzy stuff whose prices can be beaten in New York City
and/or Amazon.com ... not any really profound bargain.

About the only exception were a few locally produced unique products,
such as Guavaberry liquor and an store containing some works of local
artists, but that's a pattern common enough throughout both the
Caribbean as well as elsewhere within the world: the stuff that you
can't find back at home "at any price".

-hh