Sonesta Maho Beach Resort Casino & Spa

I've been reading the reviews for months and was a little apprehensive, mostly about the service and the lack of tasty food. I did not need to worry. The majority of the food was good and the staff was amazing. They truly went out of their way to make sure you were happy. Room We booked a pool/ ocean view room. We ended up on the 5th floor, had a great view of the pool & grounds. King size bed was super comfy, plenty of closet space ( more hangers would have been nice tho), Safe worked well ( minor issue when I "forgot" the combo, security was up in less than 10 min to reset it for us). We loved the shower with the privacy glass. Mini Bar was well stocked and the attendant refilled the fridge daily with our preferences. They decorated our room with balloons, a card, champagne & bon bons as it was my boyfriend 's birthday, such a nice touch. Food Buffet, seemed a little small but it was always well stocked and had plenty of choices. Breakfast was my favorite with cooked to order eggs & omelets. Pizza spot, right next to the buffet, had slices of pizza available most of the day. Jings / Asian / booked thru kiosk Probably my least favorite, not bad just not great. Palms lava rock / booked thru kiosk This was amazing, you cook your own food on a hot stone. They bring you chicken, steak, fish, sausage, pork tenderloins & mini burgers. You also get starters, fries & a baked potato. Palms / lunch We liked this as a better option for lunch than the buffet. Variety of options cooked to order. Grab & go There were always plenty of sandwiches & they were pretty tasty. A nice snack especially if you have a later dinner. Pool It was pretty nice, swim up bartenders were amazing ! Beach There are 2 levels, upper with nicer chairs & a walk to the beach or lower with less nice chairs & vendors but the ocean right in front of you. There were always plenty of chairs in the upper area. I'd like to shout out to both Jonel & Lionel at the front desk, they both went out of their way to make our stay better.

St.Martin is still recovering and they need the tourism and I understand that completely. But I wouldn't come back to this hotel, not for the prices we paid and for the service we received. The hotel was recently renovated so it's very pretty and clean on the inside. Reception was LOVELY (shout out to Jenel - she's so sweet and kind). However, we checked in and our room faced towards an open sewage system. The smell was horrendous outside and inside the room. We immediately called to switch rooms and they were able to do so. But since it was booked out our view was now "garden" view instead of "superior" but there was nothing garden about the view, our balcony faced right to the roof. But that's minor, at least it didn't smell like waste anymore. PRO TIP; ask for ocean/pool side view if you do decide to book or they will stick you in the back of the hotel with the nasty sewage system. There is no food at this hotel and whatever scraps are left over are awful, to say the least. We pay for all inclusive thinking of the food and drinks, of course. Nope. From breakfast to dinner, it was just awful. There are a few restaurants inside you have to make a reservation for but it is IMPOSSIBLE to do so. They're always booked out. So, you're left eating at the buffet which has NOTHING. Breakfast is an absolute joke. By 830am everything is already gone and they don't replenish anything. If they do, it's gone just as fast and whatever is there is just bad. Prison food is probably better. The pool was small with one bar. Alcohol was normal resort cheap stuff, nothing fancy. No night life at the hotel. Didn't get to go to the casino but I heard a lot of people complain about how quickly the casino ran out of money. There was a poker tournament going on so I'm guessing the hotel wasn't really prepared for it. The only good part about this hotel was the friendly staff. There were one or two bad apples but always are. It's also right next to the airport so that was pretty cool and the beach area was really nice; clean with small waves. But you're better off spending your money somewhere else.

Here is the REAL scoop: I just don’t understand why so many people had so much negative to say about Sonesta Maho. So, you can listen to all of them, or consider this: Ride from Airport: We took a cab which should have cost $10, but they cabbie charged us $12. The hotel is literally in the Princess Juliana International Airport back yard. When we left Sonesta for the airport, we took the bus because we just had carryon luggage and were charged $1.50 per person! Please look into this! It was so easy. Check In: We were greeted with champagne and a scented cool towel. Check in with Shalinee was pleasant and she made an excellent first impression! Bergilee was also at the front desk and was always accommodating and informative. We were able to check into our rooms right away and there was a porter there available to help us if we so desired. Finding our room was incredibly easy. Some people complained about the slowness of the elevator. We never had trouble, but I must admit that during our stay, the hotel was 55% full due to it being their down season. The room: The room was clean, cool and had a king size, as we requested, with a pull out sofa bed. The tv had oodles of English speaking channels, including news from the states and sports. They had plenty of towels, hand towels and wash cloths, hair dryer, soap, shampoo and conditioner dispensers in the coolest rain shower! We always had good hot water and plenty of pressure. There was a mini fridge which was stocked daily, and if you asked Allin, he would make sure you had whatever beer, soda, water or diet soda you preferred. There was also a balcony from which we could see the ocean, but also the sewage treatment area. You may want to request a room facing the pool because we would often wake to the smell of sewage. We told the front desk, and they offered to switch us rooms, but we declined as it was not that big of an issue. The restaurants: We did not have any trouble scheduling reservations for the entire week. There is a kiosk in the lobby to sign up for available nights and times, or you can meet with the concierge. Jings (Chinese), Lava Rocks(cook your own dinner on a lava rock), and The Point (Italian) were all different and unique dining experiences that we enjoyed immensely. The Ocean Terrace had breakfast every morning consisting of eggs (MTO), bacon, potatoes, scrambled, fresh fruit, cereals, Danish and breads. Lorna was there to greet you with a huge smile and a mimosa! Attached to Ocean Terrace is Napoli Pizzeria which had yummy help yourself pizza. Palms Grill with Marilyn and Diana was our favorite consistent spot to watch the planes, have a good meal and enjoy the al fresco atmosphere. Inside the Lobby there was a café where sandwiches and a coffee machine was open most of the time. It would have been nice if there were more flavors of creamers, but it was a nice feature. The bars. There was a beach bar at Palms Grill where Terri Ann and Derrin worked their magic. The pool bar with Jason was always busy. He worked like lightening to try and accommodate everybody. Kina always had a smile and just seemed to love her job. The Latitude Bar in the lobby was where Esterli made me a fantastic White Russian! The drinks were good and there was such a variety. Again, I don’t know why people were blasting the staff and the food/drinks. My husband and I had an amazing time. The beach: Maho beach was small, but it was maybe because there was a hurricane off the coast that made huge waves that prohibited people from lounging on the beach under the umbrellas. However, there were many available chairs and umbrellas on a terrace-like balcony that overlooked the ocean. The beach vendors and waves left you alone up there, but you could still enjoy the view of the planes landing which never fails to take your breath away! The pool: was fine and there were always chairs and umbrellas, but you may have to sit in the sun or in a less desirable location until a preferred one became vacant. The swim up bar was great! There was also a slide and some attractions for kids that looked fun. There was always something to do poolside, whether it be polo, bingo, duck races, water aerobics, etc. You had cards to towels and could exchange them whenever you wanted throughout your stay. Excursions: There is a Nexus table with Vidal and Julia who helped us pick from a variety of excursions, The prices were reasonable based on my homework before I left. We went diving one day which was kind of disappointing. Irma must have really done damage under the sea as well as there really was no reef. We went to two dive sites with wrecks. Other than a lot of fish and a barracuda, there was nothing else we saw. The other excursion we took was a speedboat with Billy Bones to Anguilla. That was amazing! The boat ride was fun, Chris and Miguel had us laughing, the food was good and the views were spectacular. We did take a bus to Philipsburg for $2 per person as opposed to a cab $20. It was super easy to get around as the people were so nice and helpful. At the dock where the ships come in, we found a jet ski to rent for an hour which cost us $90. That was fun, too! What I would change: it would have been nice to not smell sewage at all, but there’s not much to be done about that. We couldn’t enjoy the view or sunset even though it was right there! Because there was a hurricane watch, my husband I scoped out the steps in case of an emergency. That was scary! I would really do something about that because they didn’t seem safe. Other than those two issues, there is not much negative I can say. In Conclusion: We paid $1100 for a direct flight from Newark for 7 nights, 8 days for the all inclusive. Our expectations were surpassed immensely by the quality of the food and drink and the friendliness of the staff. Even management was present and would stop and ask about our stay. That has never happened to me before and I have been to two Caribbean islands a year for the last 11 years! I guess people are more likely to post if they have a grievance or complaint, but for every one of those, there are 5 people who thoroughly enjoyed their experience. Also, vacationing is a state of mind: I go because I don’t have to cook or clean or worry about what is for dinner or if anyone will like it. My stay at the Maho was relaxing and fun. I would go back in a heartbeat. Thank you, Maho!!

Everything was great .the food was the same all the time. But beach was excellent