Just returned from our one week stay in St Maarten (Nov 21 to Nov 28) and stayed at the Horizon because after checking into the Divi I went on a mission to stay somewhere else. I was walking the boardwalk looking for a new hotel because the
Divi was damaged by the hurricane and the family did not want to stay that far from the boardwalk.area (Plus about 10 other things that where not acceptable upon our arrivial to the Divi)
So I walk into the Horizon and the most friendly staff helped me with showing me a couple of rooms. They gave me the cost and helped me to contact the Divi to cancel our reservation there. We had also rented a car and decided to return since we could walk and again their is no parking on this part of the island and the manager told us he would help us with parking the car at night and for us to keep it if we felt like exploring the island. So glad we did! We dined at the Boathouse one night (about 20 min drive), traveled to beaches and used the car to go to grocery store and of course back to airport.(cost about 190 for week, small toyota corolla)
We stayed in one of the penhouses (#503) and it was very large, could use some upgrading but all in all it had all you needed. The living room air conditioner was noisy. All the rooms had large queen size beds and tvs. The kitchen had all we needed to made breakfast and sometimes a quick sandwich to take to beach. The view was wonderful and walked straight out to the beach. All you need is on the boardwalk. When the ships are not in it is pretty desolite. Was a nice change-alot busier if 4 or 5 cruise ships were docked but we like watching the people and they leave the beach by 4:00pm. Most of the shopping closed by 5:30 but we had no problems finding a few resturants still open for dinner on the boardwalk. (I recommend the GreenHouse and Chesterfields) Casinos also were open --only real night life but after being in the sun all day we we shot anyway.Felt safe with sercurity guard that watched for us at night and made sure we can back from casino or dinner-nice guy.
Again cannot say enough about the staff and Gracie our cleaning lady was very friendly, which was done everyday.
Lastly, we were not hassled about the chairs/umbellas by the locals because they got used to seeing us and knew we were staying at the Horizon and the days the ships were not in we were given umbellas and bottled water by the hotel staff.
I read some of the reviews and I did not feel threatened by the locals as a matter of fact we made a few friends(they live a different life then most of us) "Hi Butterfly" and most of the night is patroled by security guards.
Got to say the first day I thought I had wrecked the vacation with the Divi decision but the Horizon came through and we had a great week doing exactly what we had planned. Thanks Ramesh