Jed

We are considering a week at Princess Port de Plaisance Hotel, St. Maarten. Some of the reviews at Tripadvisor are mixed.

Can you give any info? Thanks.

Barbara1

Port de Plaisance is a very nice hotel. I have never stayed in any of the rooms since I live on the island, but I know many people who have stayed there and have been quite happy.
The grounds of the hotel are beautiful.
The only draw back to the hotel that I know of is that it is not on a beach. You have to drive to get to a beach. Most people who visit the island rent cars and travel all over to different beaches, so this usually does not present a problem for them.

Kool_Aid_Salesman

Have not stayed there, but took a sail boat charter from Simpson Bay Lagoon and we accessed it from the "beach" at Port de Plasisance. Beach was 50' wide! Hotel looked okay?! from the outside. Hard for me to imagine going to a resort in the Caribbean and it is not on the beach. It is a Casino but I think you could do better than that.

Jed

Thanks to both for the info.

Statia

I stayed there this past April with family and found everything to my satisfaction. Did you have any specific questions?

Jed

There were some comments on TA about the cleanliness, service, and restaurants. Your experience?

Actually, friends are getting a 2 BR suite, and want us to stay with them. Which rooms did you have?

Statia

Our room was clean, however we never ate at any of the restaurants on the property. We found the service to be fine, including golf carts that take you around the property. We even had our card key demagnetized and a staff member was at our room in a jiffy with a new one.

I assumed all of the rooms were 2 bedroom, 2 bath, with kitchen and living area since that is what we had with 2 couples. I usually stay at Royal Palm which has almost the same room layout (typical 2 bedroom time share unit), but I did like the size of the patio better at Port de Plaisance.

To me the only pitfalls would be that there isn't really a beach (aside from the very small one where the boats are moored), and the fact that the property is quite spread out (which is why there are golf carts to take you everywhere). Otherwise, we were fine with it. My boss and her husband stay there often and really like it.

If you don't care for the restaurants, there are certainly plenty of others to choose from on the island.

Joelle

Which restaurants would you recommend on the island????

Kool_Aid_Salesman

Uncle Harry's by the Airport! Don't let the looks or location warp your mind. Great food. Great Service. Good prices.

Kool_Aid_Salesman

This link will tell all about restaurants on St Martin.
http://www.gobeach.com/restrant.htm#favorites

Statia

I can make a lot of restaurant recommendations, but it would help to know your dining preferences and price range, Jed. There are just so many restaurants with so many types of cuisine and price ranges on the island.

Also, do a text search here for St. Maarten / St. Martin restaurants and I'm sure you will come up with further info.

Joelle

Thanks for the link!

Let's say that we are looking for something simple for lunch time, and maybe more elaborated cuisine in the evenings.

Jed

So we <i>did</i> stay there!.

We and friends rented a 2BR, 2 BA apt for a week.

The location was good, if any location can be good there. Driving anywhere was very difficult, and we would not go to SM again.

But, as to the place, the rooms were good, medium sized bedrooms, with good living room and kitchen, and balcony overlooking the marina.

The place itself was deteriorating. The upkeep was lacking, with numerous small problems, such as a faucet leak, towel rack falling off, drawers stuck tight, parts rusting, sofa tearing, TV in guest room not working, etc. Also, the outside was fading, with the top spa closed, water fountain near the lobby empty, etc. But they said the place was full.

It was near a supermarket, which was helpful.

So it was OK, if you can overlook its faults.