Esmeralda Resort

Well, let's start with the positives. Great location next to Orient beach and assorted restaurants in the Orient Bay complex, nice expansive property, on site restaurant makes great lobster special dinner. Moving on to not so good, accommodations are in cottages each composed of 3-4 units most if not all have connecting doors. Fine if you are with a family otherwise you may exposed to listening to full blast sports network program through the door in early hours of the morning. Our room was rather dated with what looked like 80's vintage furniture. Arrived at the reception around 2.00 pm travelling from a neighbouring island, upon which an officious (if not arrogant) young man took a highlighter to our paper reservation underlining a sentence stating check in is 3:00 pm without even bothering to check if any units were free. Thankfully a female colleague rectified that. Have been coming to St. Martin for years but not sure if this is a return to property.

Happy to share this review. Sad I didn’t get to complete my trip here. When deciding on whether or not to book a property, I do read reviews. And then take them with a grain of salt. When I booked here, WestJet vacations had what I thought was a great package price for travelling on my March break from Canada. I read the reviews and when we arrived we were so happy with our choice. Upon arrival at the airport we located our prearranged transfer with WJV. It was just my husband and I in the van. The driver was very talkative and wondered why we had booked a property “way out here in orient bay? It’s too far”. I sensed then there may be a slight discord between the two countries that share the same island. When we arrived the reception was very welcoming. The property services employee was waiting with a golf cart to take us the short drive to our villa. We were from 513 which I would guess was in the middle of the property. He showed us around the room and how to work the tv and Clarke box. He also provided us with two adaptors as this was an oversight on my part. We quickly changed and made our way to the beach and village area. I absolutely fell in love with the quaintness and beauty of orient bay.

We cruised to the island of St. Martin 18 years ago. Then decided to go back for an extended vaca. 3/2020 was the time for us. We chose Esmeralda Resort for its proximity to Orient Beach and for the layout of there property. Small separated buildings with private pools intrigued us. When we arrived it was dark in part because we drove right past the entrance to the gated community Esmeralda was in. It was not clearly seen coming down from the north heading south. Which is another story. Once we got turned around headed back north from the outskirts of Philipsburg. The resort sign was seen. This is my biggest complaint for the resort, better signage. The next has nothing to do with the resort. Since the hurricane Irma. All the street signs have vanished. Driving around is problematic with out GPS phones. In our case another cost to driving around the island. All that being said. Esmeralda resort is an emerald in the Caribbean albeit a little more pricey compared to what we found after the fact. The resort still met our expectation. Quaint semi-private accommodations, separate pool to each unit only sharing with those connected to the building. Our room was in the middle of, what I call a plantations workers home, with a decidedly modern sophisticated feel. It was larger than we needed but much more airy than the two room to either side. The two opposite rooms connect to the middle making it possible for a larger group to share the facilities. The kitchen in the unit could accommodate several cooks. Our building overlooked the roofs of the complex and most of the village Is where the lion share of restaurants reside. There one would find just about anything to eat. Most of them met or exceeded our hopes of having a good meal each day. The resort also has a restaurant L’Astrolabe. Each morning we would have a complementary breakfast of bread, fruit, coffee or tea and juice. Most days one or both of us would order something extra, eggs, pancakes, etc, etc. Being an American I am use to “breakfast”. What I mean is continental breakfast are fine and adding to that is ok too. Unlike our eatery’s back home L’Astrolabe is Spartan, nothing fancy, don’t expect your eggs and hash browns to come garnished or over flowing with mixed up string potatoes. Prefab potato slab and two eggs your way. What you get for your 6€ is a nice light meal to start the day with. We didn’t venture to the village for anything but dinner. Our days on the beach we’re taking advantage of the agreement Esmeralda has with a hand full of bars/restaurants along the shore. They provide free second row lounges (first row cost 10 to 15 $ per chair) and partook of their menus. The Kon Tiki was our favorite, Bryce and Tony took good care of us. Esmeralda being at the far North end of Orient Beach and our room towards the back of the complex. We had a long walk to the beach, which of course is good for us and we didn’t mind. We didn’t figure it out until later all though the walk did us good taking our snorkel equipment and a bag for each of us and down to the Kon Tiki was a long walk. So we drove the mile or so to hold our toys for the day and made available to rush back to the room if need be. Parking here or in the village is not overly organized by American standards. Neither is the driving anywhere on the island. Yes, there are the appropriate signage, stop, turn here and stuff. But beware it is not America and good manners and caution gets you safely from point to point. We found the locals to be gracious and accommodating. Though some come across as being slightly rude or short with conversation. It’s really just their way to get to the point. Once you get to talking with them they open up just like anybody else. For instance the staff at the resort always greeted us with smiles and jovial conversation. A nice touch and always welcomed. This is a long winded way to say. Despite the small short comings once at the Esmerelda Resort you will feel relaxed. It felt so comfortable and easy for us. Also allowing us to discover the island as a whole and meeting people from all walks of life and destinations. Our one regret of our own doing is we didn’t get out and party or get to know other people. We where so relaxed at the end of the day. We just liked to sit on the porch, watch the sun set, have a cocktail/wine with cheese. Then get dressed for dinner and down to the village where people watching is it’s own entertainment. We highly recommend the Esmerelda. Not everything has recovered from Irma but the resort and the island are slowly returning to normalcy. We look forward to one day returning. Hopefully we can convince some friends to join us.

We just returned from a 6 night stay. The resort is lovely. Our room was huge, clean and well maintained. We did not find the furnishings (deck furniture, chairs, beds) to be comfortable but that is a matter of personal preference. The staff were great. Every person we encountered was helpful and responsive. Thank you! We did not rent a car this trip. Beach access is easy. Orient Village was an easy walk, just be careful of traffic. They drive fast and don’t seem interested in watching out for pedestrians. Overall a nice stay. We had no water issues. We did have to cut our trip short by 4 days due to Corona Virus related travel restrictions. Luckily we sere able to get a flight home.

Water for showers including toilets are limited to a few hours per day, sometimes less. Toilets cannot be flushed except when the water is turned back on It’s very unsanitary. Staff are lovely however can offer no help with this issue as it is a problem extending to Orient Bay in general. No date given as to when the water pipe repairs will be completed.