I have been going to St Maarten for 8 years. I bought a week, then a second and then a third at Oyster Bay and bring guests. Five Star property where you dont have to leave the resort with all the restauarants on the property and just off the property a few hundred feet away. I like it cause it is away from all the traffic, always a chair on the beach or pool is available and all the rooms have a view of the ocean or marina. Little grocery store just off property at the marina. Booze, ice cream or fresh baked french bread is available. Clean resort with a great pool and hot tub. A must stay at

I stayed at OBBR from 9/1/12-9/8/12. I wasn’t sure what to expect, as I’d never been to st. martin before. Well, I ended up having a blast. I went with a group of 6 people, 2 couples and 2 single girls, all ages 27-30. We bought the timeshare week from a colleague, it was through a timeshare exchange program. We had a beautiful oceanview room and could see St. Barts in the distance. The room was perfect size, the 2 couples stayed in the bedrooms and us 2 single girls shared the pull-out sofa which was plenty of space for us. The staff was very helpful with any questions we had about how to get around the island and helpful in planning excursions. We didn’t rent a car until our last 2 days because we were kinda nervous driving around the island. But, that was fine, as there was plenty here to keep us busy and we did a Captain Alan’s excursion one day and his boat docks just steps away from the resort. Every day from about 4-7 is happy hour, buy one-get one free drinks, so we definitely took advantage of that. We had fun hanging by the pool and hot tub. On one night, they had a “manager’s party,” with a free open bar and a dj and dancing. We met some nice people that night and had a ton of fun. They also had a “bus tour of the island” on our second day there which was fun. In fact, there were activities going on most nights at the resort. I felt safe the whole time I was there and had no issues at all.

My husband and another couple and I recently spent two weeks on St Maarten. We have been to the island several times in the past ...but not since 2007. This was the first time we would spend two weeks on the island, vs 7-9 days. Our I I exchange confirmations came through for week 1 at Royal Palm in Simpson Bay area and week 2 at Oyster Bay Beach resort. In both cases we had a 2 bedroom / 2 bath unit. We had stayed at each of the resorts once before so we had an idea what to expect.

A brief mention of our Royal Palm experience ..... BIG unit with open floor plan and nice size kitchen. Elevator or lots of steps to 4th floor. Balcony was a bit small for 4 and we had am shade and afternoon sun. Comfortable beach area with easy access from the building, and also easy access to the pool. Some of the pool folks (bar by pool) could be pretty noisy at any hour. Bedrooms and baths were large but furniture is a little dated. We had a rental car but only used it for day trips to Orient (1x) and to Mullet (1x). We walked every place else which is the best thing about Royal Palm ...walk to many restaurants and beach bars.

In contrast, our stay at OBBR was a much more intimate feel. Hudson checked us in early (not into the unit itself but processing everything and storing our luggage). He spent quite some time in trying to arrange to move us out of the Bldg 31 non-renovated unit listed on our form, into a renovated unit and succeeded in placing us on top floor of bldg 27 - coincidentally we had been in bldg 28 last time - both considered OCEAN VIEW. At first blush our unit appeared small to us in comparison to Royal Palm. That is primarily because the kitchen is half the size of RP's and is tucked into a L shaped corner area vs the straight through floor plan of RP. The furniture was certainly more upgraded and everything did look fresh. Again each bedroom at OBBR and its bathroom are good sizes ...and both bedrooms have doors onto the balcony vs RP where 1 bedroom looks onto the corridor entry way / lagoon side vs master br opeing to balcony. WE really enjoyed the privacy of the balcony and OBBR where its curvature (and larger size) gave you privacy and the only thing straight ahead of you , and below, is ocean. You do have direct morning bright sun with the east facing Ocean View unit. The bldg 27 location was pretty good being almost midway between beach entry and lobby/wifi/pool. One thing that is not as convenient at OBBR is the distance between beach and pool ....it is a pretty significant walk through most of the resort so you do not just hop back and forth between the 2 as you could do at RP. Still this was not a problem. We had no problem getting chais/umbrellas on the beach. The attendant would bring out more umbrellas etc as demand rose. We did do a little searching for some pool chairs / umbrellas some time but it usually worked out.
The little grocery store near the resort entry was handy to have and a fresh long baguette was only $2 each day. We dined a few times at the Infiniti restaurant and I was impressed with their specials and their pricing. The meals were generally pretty good. A bit less so at Beau Beaus but you went there more for fun than food. We did breakfast twice at Mr Busby's - highly recommend - and the pizza at Mama Pizza was outstanding (a few minutes drive direction Oyster Pond) Dinghy Dock was fun one night -- I think all of us had fish and chips for about $14.

We were blessed with two weeks of fine weather!!!!! From OBBR we returned to Orient one day, and did a full day on Pinel another. Going into Phillipsburg from OBBR is easier than from Simpson Bay area (due to ripped up roads and traffic in SB area).

Oh - forgot to mention we had cleaning EVERY day at OBBR (vs one time midweek at RP) ....however we were nickled/dimed a bit more here and I was very surprised to learn they charge a $12 a day utility fee for the 2/2 units ($84 week) for timeshare users when RP had charged nothing. They also charge for wifi if you want it in your room vs free at RP ...however we just went to the courtyard once or twice a day and used the free wifi there.

Loved St. Maarten and will definitely return. Stayed at Oyster Bay in an Ocean View Studio Suite. It was reasonably priced but then we were just before prime time (Nov 3-Nov 10). Nicely appointed room, good room service (put your door tag out early or room may not be cleaned until late pm). Lacked for nothing (even a blender for own smoothies) + a superb view! Staff were all friendly. Nice infinity pool. Hot tub could have been renamed a "luke warm" tub.

Dining was terrific with both good food and prompt, pleasant service. Nice blend of fine dining to more authentic local cuisine. All restaurants were an easy walk from the lobby area. Small grocery store a 5 min walk away.

The WiFi in the lobby area was fine for our purposes and it was nice you could print your boarding passes from the lobby PCs.

Be prepared for what we felt were excessive additional fees. This added an additional whopping 20% to the room cost (service charge @ 15% and Govt tax @ 5%). This must have been in the very fine print. At least no "BS" government extortion "exit" taxes as in many other countries! Want to get home? Pay us first!


We're not looking for a time share and wanted to stay off their radar (still got stuck in the Westin offering though). We decided to avoid the morning "get acquainted" meeting and just did our own thing. Rented a car and got to see much of the island.

The only things we really longed for (listening OBBR?), was some nice entertainment. The pool side "local" music was repetitive and for the most part not appropriate for the guest demographics. Also, a piano bar and some night time fun would have been nice. A pool table would also be a bonus but they would probably have to put this in the time share "closing" room.