Madeline, I hope I'm not writing to you too late! I've been catching up on business affairs since my return. All I can suggest is to make a polite but firm fuss. Thats how we ended up in the Bai Longue Suite. Enjoy the wonderful woman who tend to the guests at the pool and go to bar de la mere for a fun and casual dinner. This eatery was inexpensive, fun,and lively and made us forget about the fact we were stuck at LaSammanna. We had paid up front as well, and had few options. Good luck to you! I'll be interested to see what your thoughts were. PS I'm not sure why some of these places stay on the top of the list; but I know this one does NOT deserve it's place there. Happy travels!

Larry, No need to go to any other beach. Standing on the La Samanna beach and turning right you can walk on a beautiful beach. Just past the last villas at La Samanna it usually is empty. There are no chairs down there but you can bring the towels from La Samanna. Have a great time. I'm sorry, Kimm, that you did not enjoy your trip. Can't imagine it being that bad. We expect top notch and do feel it is, but you must know before going that it is very expensive as I said before, we plan for it so we are not shocked.

$1250 per NIGHT??? Or did i read that wrong? Holy moly! Sounds awful. I paid not much more than that for a whole week in a beautiful, private villa on St. John this summer. I just can't imagine (not to mention justify) over $1000 a night for anything. Call me simple... (but happy).

The place chooses to live off its reputation and not put a dime into it.The once beautiful resort is some what run down probably due to bad management and some bad hurricane seasons which washed away alot of the beach making it quite rocky in places.Dollar for dollar you can do much better elsewhere.

Madeline, Are you back from La Samanna and can you comment?

No wonder I've seen this once infamous locale referred to lately as La Slummana. Pity.

Kimm,<BR>We had a similar experience 2 years ago. It was our second time staying at La Samanna. The service was terrible and the room was barely adequate. We stayed in the main building all the way at the top. Last year we decided to go elsewhere and went to Le Privlege. Now that's a dump. We stayed one day and left. We wound up at La Plantation in Orient Bay. The price was right (about $200 a night) but the place had to be boarded up at night so you wouldn't be robbed. The bottom line is the island is on the decline. La Samanna is probably the only place to stay on the island. I know that's not very reassuring. I'll try Anguilla this year.

Since you guys seem to know St. Martin well, may I ask if any of you are familiar with Pelican Resort? Any feedback appreciated- thanks!