I am looking to book a family vacation over Christmas/New Years (stupid I know), and was looking for something tropical and reasonably priced. I came across the Wyndham Sapphire Beach...but the cost seems too good to be true. A two bedroom two bath suite is only $315 per night...and they have space available! What's wrong with this place?

I've not been to this property but these would be my main concerns:
* it's a timeshare (operated by Wyndham) which means rooms can be of varying quality.
* the beach is often absent. The water at the beach there is the roughest on the island and the beach literally washes away and can reappear at different times.
* the property is not too close to other attractions, so a car would be necessary.
* it always makes me nervous when no one is booking someplace during a high demand time period.
* just my bias, but I don't care for St.Martin/Maarten because it's very run down looking/shabby and the crime rate (moreso on St. Martin) is pretty high.

Whatever,

I can't comment at to the Wyndham because I don't remember it specifically, but I will say that Cupecoy beach where it is located is quite interesting. There are huge sandstone cliffs along part of it that are really beautiful, but I don't know about the beach washing away. It's not too terribly far away from the Maho Beach Resort where we stayed that has all kinds of duty free shops and numerous very good restaurants to choose from (at least it did in 1996 when we visited.) And we visited at Christmastime also and found it to be nice, lots of things lit up at night, very pretty.

Unfortunately I think the island has become very rundown even since then. There was a bad hurricane in 1995 that left some damage, then before they could recover from that there was another bad one a few years later. I don't think they've ever been able to recover from them which is a shame. But, it doesn't mean you wouldn't have a nice trip there anyway.

Your room rate may be low not only because it's a timeshare, but because they need business.

Good luck with your decision.

It sounds too risky for vacation. I have a lot of pressure on me to make this Christmas vacation wonderful (since I kind of blew it last year). I'll keep digging for something else. Thanks for your responses.

I would like to add some positive comments about the St. Martin topic. If you were to go, I would suggest staying on the French side (St. Martin as opposed to St. Maarten). Out of the last nine years, I have gone to St. Martin six times. It is lush, has pretty vegetation, is mountainous, has very nice beaches, and great food. My last trip there was in 2001, and friends just got back from their semiannual visit in May. Most of the visible damage from the hurricanes is on the Dutch side, but even then, I really don't think it is that bad. The Dutch side is more built-up and commercial; not as pretty. The French side is prettier and less developed. In all my time of being there, I have not witnessed or been the victim of a crime. Taking in some of the local color is always part of our itinerary, and I have never been afraid to do so in St. Martin. I would not unilaterally rule it out based on the previous comments. I would, however, steer clear of the timeshares. We did not have a good experience. (That's a long story that had a good outcome.) The island is small enough where you can stay on the French side, but still go to the Dutch side if there are things you want to do, like go to the casino. Check out Le Meridian, Esmeralda Resort, Grand Case Beach Club. Also you can go to tripadvisor.com and check out any comments on the hotels, etc.

I think it's also unfair to make your decision only on information that is going on 6 years old (Stephie last visited in 1996!)

Why do you assume that anything is wrong with the place, because they are willing to cut prices to get any business? This has been a hard time for much of the leisure travel business.

Recent reviews on other websites are also mixed.

I have looked into this place...the Wyndham Sapphire because at the time they were priced at $150/night end of April timeframe (just this past April). Decided to book at Club Orient instead because the beach at Cupecoy seems unpredictable. We did end up seeing Cupecoy and it is beautiful. However, the other side of it is nude, which is the part we went to and the only thing we didn't like were the waves?! They were a little too dangerous. I think the wyndham sapphire's pricing is not great because that part of the ocean is also temperamental. If you do end up getting a clear day and a beautiful beach, Cupecoy is a beautiful quiet beach.

As for the rest of both St. Maarten and St. Martin, I'd rate it 3/5. Beautiful beaches, but the people, that's another story. Overall though, we still had a great time.