Just got back from a short 4 day trip to St Maarten. Our first trip, and yes, I know, 4 days is too short to appreciate everything the island has to offer, but with 3 small kids back home (being watched by the wife's sister) it's hard to be gone longer than that...

So for the great..

Bayside Riding ... great horseback ride, excellent guide, and well run. Would recommend it to everyone. Bayside is located at Le Gallion beach and is only 5 minutes from Orient Beach.

Philipsburg shopping, great fantastic, and we found some bargains. Jewellery stores line front street (I think I heard over 100 stores).

Orient and Maho beaches.

The water, so blue and so crystal clear... and warm.

The weather... perfect everyday. A quick rainshower that lasted all but 5 minutes while we were on Orient Beach

Our rental car experience... we rented thru Lucky's and rented a Jeep Wrangler. All of their vehicles are French plated which is a bonus (Dutch plated rentals all start with an "R" and are easy targets for thiefs). We'd rent from them again and they have a website.

Our hotel room... we got upgraded (after complaining to manager as I'll explain in the ugly part) to a 1BR apartment efficiency.

Security... a lot of people on the forums had concerns about crime and their safety... causing some paranoia for me... however, we never felt unsafe, but never put ourselves in a position to feel unsafe.


The OK...

The hotel itself... the Sonesta shows its age, and although they completed renovations recently, it is hard to tell what was renovated.

The hotel buffet... again mediocre food at best, but convenient, especially for breakfast. We went AI (if we went AI again, it would only be for the drinks), so we were compelled to eat there.

The beach at Great Bay... .if you haven't read yet, the beach at Great Bay is very coarse sand and is not like the sand at Orient.


Now for the attrociously ugly...

Our first room... I booked an "ocean view deluxe" room.. Our room.. must smelling, second floor (the lobby is located on 3rd floor where you enter the hotel), and a view of the wave runners and cinderblock brick wall of the outdoor pool... not much of a view. We asked if there was anything more available and were told "no", after the front desk "looked" to see if anything was available... Personally I think he went thru the motions, but he probably needed more "incentive".

Our first dining experience.... this was our anniversary (16 years) and decided that our first dining experience was not going to be the buffet, but the ala carte restaraunt, La Cucina (Italian). We made 7pm resv's and went, dressed in casual resort wear... me cargo shorts (nice) and a button down "hawaiian" shirt. I was not allowed in, why... I needed long pants. We complained to the manager.. I didn't see a dress code on their website (not to say it isn't there), and why would we bring long pants to a tropical island in the middle of summer? Anyway after arguing, we went on with dinner at the buffet.. remember we were AI so we already had paid for our meals. During our dinner, the hostess came to me and said the front desk wanted to see me, that is when we were advised that they upgraded us to a much nicer room.

Our last dining experience... believe it or not , we purchased some "track" pants (sort of like sweats but nylon material) for me to wear so we could go to dinner at the Molasses restraraunt (there are two ala cartes restraraunt, but only one is open at any given time).. we were told these would be acceptable, but not nice shorts??? We ordered dinner, appetizers, salads, and main entrees. Our appetizers came out the "guests", six-legged ones at that. Crawling on our plates..... if I wasn't AI and already paying for a meal I hadn't eaten yet, we'd had gotten up and left right then and there. As it was, we sucked it up. Our waitress took back our appetizers, and returned with what we were told were "fresh" ones. Only she really knows. The next morning my wife found another "friend" at the buffet.

Would we return to the Sonesta Great Bay, not sure. It's location to P'burg and the shopping makes it a very attractive spot. But I'm sure there are better places, and P'burg is not that far a drive from Maho or even Orient Bay.

We had concerns due to other reviews. Not to worry. Quiet, clean and food was excellent with several choices for dinner (buffet or sit down restaurant). Staff was friendly and attentive. Not the newest on the island but in good shape. Easy to the beach, close to town and "boardwalk" with an inhouse casino. Liked the pool side barbecue night and the Italian Restaurant. Hot dogs in afternoon with a cold beer were great. Service for Americans might seem slow but as you find out nothing on the island is fast paced. McDonald's is not fast food it is medium food. Go, relax, and enjoy your stay.If you want it ,remember to ask for it, whatever it is,

Almost everything at this hotel was great. The view is amazing. The sand on the beach is bit flaky but the beach is still great. The hotel is just a short walk to Philipsburg. The shopping and bars are great there. I recommend the Get Wet Beach Bar on the boardwalk.
The service at the restaurants was good, especially the ala carte ones,(if you make reservations you don't have to wait as some other reviewers indicated). The food is decent at the buffet. The food is exceptional at the other restaurants.
The bars at the resort were great. The bartenders are friendly for the most part, some more than others. Michael and Maritza at the Lobby Bar were the best. They are relaxed and fun to be around.
The room was a little small, but it was meticulously cleaned everyday and the housekeeping staff was very attentive and professional.
My wife and I thoroughly enjoyed our stay. We wanted to relax and not do too much, and that's exactly what we did. It made for a wonderful honeymoon. We are planning on returning to St. Maarten, and would gladly stay at this resort again.

I stayed for a week. The resort itself is not bad. The view is to die for. The beach sand is a bit rough and I would recommed hanging out at the pool instead. I short walk into town. The resort is far away from Maho where all the action is. Very quiet resort - if that's what you're looking for.

Pluses: The water in St. Maarten is filtered, so you can drink the tap water (unlike mexico, cuba or Dominican). This is great, so you don't have to worry about getting sick. The food was not bad, at times really good, and at other times average. Overall, above average food. The resort was fairly clean.

Minuses: Service. (or actually, lack of service). The service at the buffett and restaurants was non existant. 2 people trying to serve a restaurant of 50 people doesn't cut it. People waiting for 1 hr just to get a table. Leave yourself 2 to 3 hours for dinner. For this reason alone, i would strongly recommend to go somewhere else. Its frustrating, and actually made a number of interesting convesations with the lovely people in the pool and hot tub as we shared our horrible experiences with the staff.