|
| |
St. Maarten Information Center
Table of Contents | |
Subscribe to our free weekly St. Maarten
newsletter
here.
Search Our Weekly St. Maarten Newsletter
archives
here.
|
Use our
Message Board to ask questions and get
answers. |
| |
| | | |
| | | |
| | | |
Updated 6/12/2007 |
|
|
Home > Before You Fly Down
Get The Most Out of Your Vacation With All The Benefits of JMB Website Supporters Membership
Posted February 15, 2010
 E-mail this page
 Printer-friendly page
CURRENT MEMBERS:
go here to renew your membership.
FORMER MEMBERS, go
here to reinstate.
BECOME A NEW MEMBER, go here
to join using PayPal
51 SXM-Focused Travel Benefits
Deliver
a Better St. Maarten / St. Martin
Vacation
for Much Less Money.
Just $49
for a Full Year OR
$69 for
three full years
five years is now just $85
Scroll down the page to see membership benefits and to join
Renewals,
only $13/ year
when you
select our lowest-cost multiyear renewal option
NOW 49 Benefits -- Why Join?
Major St.
Maarten / St. Martin Travel Benefits from
JMB Website
Supporters Membership Subscriptions:
This is only a
partial list. There are now 51 benefits in all (and more are
coming).
-
SUPER LOW-COST
AIRFARES: Our exclusive St. Maarten-only "Low Airfare
Bulletins" tell you when great fares are available up to 330 days in
advance, so you can quickly get the fares you want. We monitor fares from
more than 100 cities in the U. S., Canada, and a few in Europe. Whenever we
find great fares --scheduled, sale, wholesale, or charter-- we post them on
our Low Airfare Grid
and email you news of outstanding fares. As a member, you'll have a much
better chance of paying lower fares for the travel dates and seats
you want. Sometimes, they're exceptionally low fares -- like recent
$259 Winter round-trips to SXM from several U. S. cities. Many of our fares
for winter 2009-2010 travel have been under $400 round trip including all
taxes and fees. Low airfares alone are worth the price of subscribing.
-
FREE ADS TO SELL
OR RENT OUT YOUR TIMESHARE, VILLA, OR CONDO ON OUR OWN "CONDORENTALS"
WEBSITE: Sell or rent out up to 10 weeks you own in SXM
or anywhere worldwide (new) per 12-month
period. Many owners sell or rent their units in just a few weeks. Ads are
free for members and there are NO COMMISSIONS.
If you like, you can even order highlighting to make your ad stand out in
the crowd.
See ads here. You can also advertise weeks you've already banked
with II or RCI (new), also for no charge.
-
FREE SUNDAY SUNSET
LAGOON CRUISES aboard a Catamaran with an experienced captain:
includes free beer and free rum punch; members only.
-
CAR RENTAL
DISCOUNTS: Members-only discounts give you $15 off the regular
non-discounted rack rate of one of the island's top car rental companies.
Available year-round.
-
BUY ONE, GET ONE FREE
DINING DISCOUNTS: Discounted access to the Caribbean Card,
which brings you many buy-one, get-one-free dinners at top restaurants
across the island. Your favorite restaurants are probably on the list!
-
DIRECT DINING
DISCOUNTS at places like The Stone Restaurant and Bonita's
Cantina, two fine award-winning restaurants.
-
THE SXM PRIVILEGE
CARD for about half off, with dozens of discounts at
French-Side restaurants and on Dutch Side Jewelry -- and a big Casino
benefit!
-
DEEP-SEA FISHING
DISCOUNTS through an experienced Dutch Side Captain.
New 11/09.
-
FREE PHONE CALLS
TO BOTH THE DUTCH AND FRENCH SIDES from the US for your family
and associates, plus 9 to 13.5 cents a minute once you use your free calls.
Lets you keep in touch with your kids, the office, or elderly relatives at
home for pennies.
-
ULTRA LOW-COST
CALLS HOME: We tell you how to make calls from SXM for pennies
using your hotel phone or your cell phone. Hotels charge about $5/minute for
calls home. How does about 32 cents a minute grab you? By contrast, Verizon
Wireless from SXM is $1.99 per minute for all incoming and
outgoing calls.
-
TOP-CLASS HOTEL
ROOMS OR TIMESHARE CONDOS FOR $449 PER ROOM, PER WEEK:
Our exclusive discounts off Cheap Caribbean's regular low rates mean you may
just pay less than the maintenance fees timeshare owners pay on the exact
same units. You can take additional vacations for short money! (Members
only; details on Members' Website. This rate available with "SXM Surprise"
Packages only. Members-only code required.)
-
SHARP DISCOUNTS ON
PUB CRAWLS AND TINTAMARRE CRUISES on the Celine catamaran (new).
-
DISCOUNT ON THE
RIDE OF YOUR LIFE ABOARD THE ST. MAARTEN PARTY BUS (new)
-
DISCOUNT ABOARD
RAPID EXPLORER, the luxury fast ferry service to St. Barths
(new).
-
SHARP DISCOUNTS
AND FREEBIES ACROSS THE ISLAND: Through your discounted
membership in the Value Guide of St. Maarten (new).
-
HEAVILY DISCOUNTED
EMERGENCY MEDICAL EVACUATION PROTECTION: Should you become
critically ill or injured and require an emergency air ambulance home, the
cost is usually over $40,000. Our members get $60 off annual plans
good for emergency travel home from anywhere in the USA, Canada, Mexico, the
Caribbean, the Bahamas, Bermuda, Belize, or Costa Rica: short money for
great peace-of-mind.
-
MEMBERSHIP
REFERRAL BONUS gives you a free one-year extension of your
membership once you refer just one individual to us who joins and mentions
you (one free year of membership for you with every new paid membership you
refer).
-
LOW-COST SXM (St.
Maarten) AIR/HOTEL PACKAGES: You will not find lower package
prices anywhere. We beat Travelocity, Expedia, and others every
day.
-
FREE ST. MAARTEN
SCREENSAVERS: Just-for-JMB Website Supporters, we offer totally
FREE St. Maarten PC screensavers with a number of our best pictures.
Passworded web access lets members download these special, members-only
screensavers for free. And now there's a downloadable St. Maarten movie, too
-- with more coming.
-
MEMBERS-ONLY SXM
PHOTO GALLERY: Post your favorite SXM photos online, free.
-
MEMBERS-ONLY MESSAGE
BOARD: Ask questions and get answers from other members and from
Jeff, Susan, and other JMB Communications' knowledgeable, experienced staff.
-
MEMBERS-ONLY TRAVEL
CALENDAR: Meet other members from around the country or around the
world and make new friends on St. Maarten.
-
MANY MORE
MEMBERS-ONLY BENEFITS: At this writing there are 31 in all,
with more coming. You'll receive complete details when you join.
How To Join:
Initial Membership Subscriptions are for one,
two, three, or five years (your choice); the longer, the lower the cost per year
and the more St. Maarten bonus gifts you get.
Renewals thereafter are just $13/year when you choose our lowest cost multiyear
renewal option.
Please note that if you join by PayPal, PayPal will acknowledge
your payment immediately, but it takes us up to three business days to enroll
you and email you your sign-in and benefits information. If you're in a
rush, the telephone sign-up option is ideal for you.
There are three ways to join, see specific payment links
below:
- Online via PayPal, an eBay unit with over 100 million
members; it's the world standard for online payments. If you need
faster service, see the next sign-up option. Most new members join through
PayPal.
- Phone (if you're in a hurry); these are generally
completed within 24 hours (weekdays), sometimes the same day. The price is
$15 higher regardless of duration because the service is faster.
- Mail (by check) is for those who aren't in any hurry at
all. Mail takes a week or two to process, sometimes longer, since we process
these last. Scroll down for details.
- Regardless of how you join, you MUST give us your
name, street address, daytime phone number, and email for us to launch your
membership. Most member communications are by email/web, but we may (rarely)
need to phone you to verify sign-up information. Please check your sign-up
info for accuracy. If we don't have accurate info, we can't get your
membership started properly.
- Join Below By Any of The Above Methods:
SIGN UP
WITH PAYPAL HERE:
NEW FIVE-YEAR MEMBERSHIP,
$85 TOTAL -- OUR BEST OFFER:
JOIN FOR FIVE YEARS BY PAYPAL for just $85
and get
lots of free St. Maarten souvenirs. Get a colorful St. Maarten keychain
plus TWO "SXM" Sint Maarten Euro-Oval stickers
free PLUS an all-new, rugged, oversized fluorescent green luggage tag
when you join for
five years for $85, our newest and best
sign-up offer. Limited time offer for souvenirs while limited supplies last;
available through PayPal or by check. Photos of some of what you get are below
(photos reduced to fit on your screen):
JOIN FOR THREE YEARS FOR JUST
$69 TOTAL:
JOIN FOR THREE YEARS BY
PAYPAL ($69 TOTAL) Click the button to sign up.
New members clicking this button also get a free "SXM" St. Maarten Euro Oval
sticker, the exact same sticker you see on cars all over the island. Offer
available only through PayPal or by check; instructions for check payment are
below. A sample of our SXM Euro Oval sticker is displayed below as well.
Other signup offers:
JOIN FOR ONE YEAR BY PAYPAL ($49)
Click the button to sign up.
JOIN FOR TWO YEARS BY PAYPAL
for just $59
Click the button to sign up.
You may also sign up by check, phone, or fax...
please scroll down for details.
See
more St. Maarten souvenirs here.
SIGN UP BY CHECK (MAIL):
SLOWEST WAY TO JOIN:
Send a check for $49 or more if you want to join for more than one year
-- (same prices as PayPal, above) to JMB Communications, P. O. Box 1812,
Plymouth, Massachusetts 02362-1812 USA. (Sorry, NO Canadian checks; Canadians
please see above and use PayPal.) Include your name, address, email address, and
phone. PLEASE PRINT. We'll email an acknowledgment. Checks usually take one to
two weeks to process.
FASTEST WAY TO JOIN: PHONE OR FAX:
IMPORTANT:
If you want high-priority membership processing, use this option.
Fax or phone us your name as it appears on your card, and SPELL YOUR NAME PLEASE
& PRINT CLEARLY IF FAXING, credit card billing address, email address, credit
card number, day and evening phone numbers, and credit card expiration date.
Also include your "card code" -- on Amex cards, that's the four-digit code
printed on the top front of your card. On MC, Visa, and Discover, it's the
three- or four-digit code on the back of your card, following the card number's
appearance there. Fax or phone 10am to 8pm Eastern only, please.
Phone calls are usually answered by an automated system, so please give us all
the information noted as soon as you hear the "beep." We
usually process these within about 24 hours of receipt (weekdays), sometimes
faster.
Specify which deal you want (PayPal pricing, above), but not, we will charge you
an additional $15 for rush service.
We accept AX, MC, Visa, Discover, Diner's, Carte Blanche, and JCB. Rest
assured that our phone / fax is secure with access by authorized Membership
Services personnel only.
Fax & phone: 978-453-4760 (10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Eastern time only
please)
The benefits described above are EXCLUSIVELY for JMB Website Supporters
members and their spouses/partners and are not to be shared with others.
All memberships are good for one year unless
otherwise specified. At the end of one year, you can take advantage of low
single-year or multi-year renewal rates -- now as low as $13/year when you
select our lowest-cost multiyear renewal option.
You will find our Privacy Policy and Credit
Card Return / Refund Policy at the bottom of our gray Navigation Bar, to the
left.
GET THE MOST OUT OF YOUR SXM VACATION -- JOIN "JMB WEBSITE SUPPORTERS" TODAY!
Attention Users of Hotmail or of Mailwiper,
or Other Spam Prevention Programs: Hotmail and various spam prevention
programs including Mailwiper reply to JMB mailings and ask us to take certain
actions for our mail to be accepted by your mail program. With more than 165,000
readers of our various newsletters (free and paid), we are inundated with these
requests and we do not have the time or the staff to answer them. Therefore, to
ensure that you receive all our mailings, please enter the following email
addresses into your programs as "acceptable" addresses. Please note that the
address you enter should contain no spaces within it. We added spaces here
to prevent email address harvesting programs from gathering and using the
following addresses: Jeff1620 @jmbcommunications.com; tracy
@jmbcommunications.com; susan @jmbcommunications.com; accounts
@jmbcommunications.com; and jeff @jmbcommunications.com.
LEGAL:
Entire contents copyright (c) 2010, JMB Communications. World rights reserved.
"JMB Communications" and the stylized JMB logo are trademarks of JMB
Communications. The SXM Euro-style oval with the palm trees background is
copyrighted by JMB Communications. All other trademarks are the property of
their respective owners. All logos other than the JMB Communications logo are
the property of their respective owners. No contents of this site may be
reproduced in any form whatsoever without express written permission in advance
from the copyright owner. Permission is granted to individual vacationers to
make single copy printouts of St. Maarten/St. Martin pages SOLELY for their
personal use during vacations in St. Maarten/St. Martin. All other use requires
permission in writing. Click
here to request permission. (Requests do not presuppose authorization.) All
trademarks or logos used here are the property of their respective owners.
All photography (c) Jeff Berger and JMB Communications, 2010;
reproduction in any form whatsoever is prohibited worldwide. JMB
vigorously defends its copyrights.
JMB Communications is a member of the Plymouth County Development Council
and the Plymouth Area Chamber of Commerce (Massachusetts).
Latest articles in Before You Fly Down
St. Maarten and St. Martin Timeshare Condominium & Vacation Rentals -- For Rent or Sale by OwnersHOW THIS PAGE WORKS: Members of JMB Website Supporters can post free timeshare rental / sale ads here. Members who own timeshare weeks must provide the exact dates of the week being rented since many renters do not know what week numbers mean. When submitting an ad, you must EXACTLY follow the format we use below. Ads should be submitted to the email address supplied to JMB Website Supporters; submit ads as far in advance of the "use" date as possible (a year ahead isn't too soon).
Low-cost airfare to St. Maarten/St. Martin/SXM!We are frequently asked how you can find the lowest airfares. We have one red-flag warning to everyone who is searching for the lowest fares: if possible, never search at the last minute. Hunting for low airfares when you have a tight short-term deadline is the worst way to buy tickets...
Summit Resort: Our Favorite Hotel/Timeshare in SXMWe visit St. Maarten often enough to have selected accommodations which feel a bit like home -- friendly, comfortable, and convenient. Usually, you'll find us at Summit Resort, on a hilltop in the Cupecoy area overlooking Simpson Bay Lagoon. We first went there 24 years ago on a charter. It's a great place, totally rebuilt after 1995 Hurricane Luis. Summit offers both hotel accommodations and timesharing with all the amenities.
Jeff Berger's St. Maarten / St. Martin Hotels & Resorts Information and Discount Reservations CenterGreat rates & immediate confirmations from 35 "SXM" hotels. What could be simpler?
This page enables you to make online reservations at hotels on the French Side and the Dutch Side. All hotels are listed in alphabetical order according to which side of the island they're on. We've even listed Orient Beach hotels separately under French Side Hotels and we're providing an Orient Beach map so you can see exactly where they are.
Vacation Packing ListDepending on where you're going, who is going with you (spouse / significant other / parents / grandparents / friends / kids) you'll want to change this list. However, if you've ever forgotten anything important and then been faced with the cost of replacing it while away, that can be a pain. We hope this list helps!
How To Obtain a PassportPassport rules have changed! If you have no prior passport or one issued over 15 years ago, adult or child, you need...
About Your Safety in St. Maarten / St. MartinIs there crime in St. Maarten? Unfortunately the only place where we think there ISN'T crime these days is Antarctica. The crime rate is lower than many other islands. We have always felt quite safe there, but the island is not crime-free and savvy tourists always take precautions. (It's paradise, not utopia.)
Jeff Berger's Discount St. Martin Hotel Reservations CenterThis page and the one you can link to above enable you to make online reservations at hotels on the French Side and the Dutch Side. All hotels are listed in alphabetical order according to which side of the island they're on. We've even listed Orient Beach hotels separately under French Side Hotels and we're providing an Orient Beach map so you can see exactly where they are.
Online Air, Car, and Hotel Reservations CenterThe same company that owns both Expedia and Travelocity runs our simple, easy to use reservations system. Our system is much simpler and easier to use. A couple of clicks, and you're there. It's Reservations Made Simple*.
An Overview of St. Maarten/St. Martin History & CultureThe history of the Caribbean is filled with stories of colonial imperialism where islands changed hands from country to country. St. Maarten was no ace in the imperial holdings, but had its share of skirmishes and smoky gun battles, which caused the island to change hands many times between the Spanish, Dutch, English and French powers.
Airlines Flying to St. Maarten / St. Martin, and How To Get Low-Cost AirfaresWe are frequently asked how you can find the lowest airfares. We have one red-flag warning to everyone who is searching for the lowest fares: if possible, never search at the last minute. Hunting for low airfares when you have a tight short-term deadline is the worst way to buy tickets. Some people join JMB Website Supporters expecting to find low airfares overnight. If sales are underway [wholesale, retail, or unadvertised], they'll succeed. On the other hand, if sales are not underway when you are looking for fares, you will have to be patient to find the fares you want.
St. Maarten Gifts/Souvenirs 2006 Early-Bird "Pre-Holidays" SalePictures & Order Form for: T-Shirts - Sweatshirts - Tank Tops - Oversized Fluorescent Green Sxm Euro Oval Luggage Tags - "Fly Me To St. Maarten!" License Plate Frames - White/"Tropical Raspberry" Sxm Canvas Beach Totes - New Edition Sxm Euro-Oval Stickers - Genuine Coleman® Drink Coozies - Tropical Hair (Or Wrist) "Twisties" - St. Maarten Keychains, and more.
Medical Preparations for Travel To St. Maarten / St. MartinPerhaps two years ago, we first mentioned "emergency medical evacuation." This story tells you what "medical evacuation" has to do with you, and why taking care of this before your next trip is so important.
First a brief personal note. In 1996, I contracted "Ciguatera" (which I had never heard of) in the tropics. I won't tell you all the symptoms (you may be having your morning coffee and a bagel), but I lost about 40 lbs in a month. Andy at Baywatch on Orient Beach later told me he saw a guy fall off a stool at a restaurant, overcome by Ciguatera. (Google it). Bottom line, I got better and am fine, but it could have been much worse....
E-mail this page
Printer-friendly page |
|
Welcome to
Jeff Berger's
