Simpson Bay Resort, Marina & Spa

On this page ↓

Quick Verdict

Simpson Bay Resort, Marina & Spa is the largest resort on Sint Maarten and the one most Americans end up at when they search “all-inclusive St. Maarten” — which is slightly awkward, because it is not an all-inclusive resort. The hotel’s own rates are room-only, and its published deals are things like “Room + 2 Daily Breakfasts” and “Room + $150 Food & Drinks Credit.” All-inclusive here only exists as an optional package layered on by tour operators such as Sunwing, WestJet Vacations and Vacation Express. If you book direct, you are paying for your meals.

Once you accept that, this is a genuinely good-value property: 272 suites and 83 two-bedroom villas spread across two connected sections, every one with a kitchen or kitchenette, five restaurants, a marina, tennis courts, a spa, big pool decks and a sheltered beach — fifteen minutes and roughly $15-20 by taxi from Princess Juliana airport. It’s a base camp, not a bubble. For families who want space and a fridge, that’s often the better deal on an island this expensive.

Pros and Cons

Pros	Cons
Kitchen or kitchenette in every unit	Not all-inclusive — AI is a tour-operator add-on only
Five on-site restaurants, no need to drive to eat	Rolling renovations: 2025-26 noise and paint-fume complaints
272 suites + 83 two-bedroom villas — real space for groups	Timeshare/vacation-ownership presentations offered to guests
15 minutes from SXM airport, ~$15-20 taxi	Room condition varies wildly between refurbished and not
Sheltered beach plus extensive pool areas	Simpson Bay bridge openings clog the road three times a day
Three floodlit tennis courts + Aqua Mania watersports	Simpson Bay beach is a working bay, not a postcard beach
Low-season rates from around $124-160 a night	Wi-Fi and staff are good; housekeeping consistency is not

The Resort at a Glance

Detail	Info
Rooms	272 suites plus 83 two-bedroom villas (studios up to three-bedroom suites)
Restaurants	5 — La Patrona Mexican Cuisine, Juliette’s Bistro, Bovin Steak House, Replay Restaurant (sports pub), Café Britt
Bars	Multiple, including the Replay sports bar and the Red Piano Bar area near the casino
Pools	Multiple freshwater pools across The Resort and The Villas; third-party listings cite six plus a children’s pool — the resort’s own site says only “multiple pools”
Beach	Direct access to Simpson Bay’s sheltered beach, loungers and umbrellas
Airport	Princess Juliana International (SXM) — about 15 minutes, roughly $15-20 by taxi for two
Managed by	Royal Resorts Caribbean (vacation ownership + hotel rooms)
Adults-only?	No — family resort
Board	Room-only by default; breakfast and food-credit packages sold direct; all-inclusive via tour operators only

The resort sits on the Dutch side, wedged between Simpson Bay lagoon and the Caribbean, in the middle of Sint Maarten’s densest restaurant-and-bar strip. Walk out the gate and you’re minutes from Pineapple Pete, Gigi’s, Izi Ristorante and a couple of dozen more — which is the whole argument against buying an all-inclusive plan here in the first place. For the wider picture on how the island’s AI market actually works, read our St. Martin all-inclusive guide.

The property is really two properties. The Resort is the older, larger section on the beach and lagoon, with the studios and one- to three-bedroom suites, the tennis courts and most of the pool deck. The Villas at Simpson Bay Resort is the newer oceanfront block with junior suites, one-bedroom suites and 83 two-bedroom villas, its own pool and terraces, and better views. Guests use both.

Rooms and Suites

Studios and Suites at The Resort

The Resort side runs from Deluxe Studio (sleeps two) and Deluxe Studio Plus (sleeps four) through One Bedroom, Two Bedroom and Deluxe Three Bedroom Suites (sleeps eight, with three king beds and two twin Murphy beds). Even the studios have a kitchenette; the multi-bedroom suites have full kitchens with a refrigerator, a stove with an oven and a microwave. There are BBQ grills in each building and laundry facilities on the third floor at The Villas. Free Wi-Fi throughout, satellite TV, and — a giveaway to the property’s age — 32-inch LCD TVs and DVD players still listed in the room descriptions.

That age is the honest headline. Simpson Bay Resort has been renovating building by building (the Caladium block among them), and guests staying in an untouched unit next to an active one have posted consistent 2025-2026 complaints about drilling, sawing and paint or epoxy smells drifting into rooms. Management has publicly acknowledged the scheduling problem. Practical advice: when you book, email the resort and ask which buildings are currently under renovation and which have been completed — then ask, in writing, for a refurbished unit away from the works.

The Villas

The Villas is where you want to be if the budget stretches. Junior Suite Ocean Front sleeps two, with two double beds, a kitchenette (microwave, coffeemaker, mini-fridge) and a small balcony. The One Bedroom Suite Ocean Front sleeps four with a king in the master and two single Murphy beds in the living area, and the Terrace version of the same category swaps the balcony for a large private terrace. At the top, the Two Bedroom Villa sleeps six.

The difference is not just square footage — it’s the orientation. The Villas face the open Caribbean with unobstructed sunset views, and the finishes are meaningfully newer than the older Resort blocks. It is the single upgrade here that changes how the week feels.

Our Pick

For a couple: a Junior Suite Ocean Front at The Villas. For a family of four: the One Bedroom Suite Terrace Ocean Front, because the terrace doubles your living space and lets one adult sit outside with a drink after the kids are down. For groups of six-plus, the two-bedroom villas are better value per head than two separate suites, and the full kitchen genuinely reduces your food bill.

Food and Dining

The Restaurants

Five venues, and unusually for a Caribbean resort of this size, they’re actual concepts rather than one buffet with different tablecloths.

La Patrona Mexican Cuisine is the standout for most guests — proper Mexican rather than Tex-Mex, with tableside preparation and a serious tequila list. Bovin Steak House is the special-occasion room: steaks, a wine list, and prices that reflect both. Juliette’s Bistro covers the French-leaning international menu, which on this island is a fair fight given what’s over the border in Grand Case. Replay Restaurant is the sports pub — burgers, wings, screens, the place you eat on the night nobody wants to change out of swimwear. Café Britt handles coffee, pastries and quick breakfast.

There is no buffet-restaurant-as-default here, and no all-inclusive wristband that makes any of this free. You order, you sign, you pay. That is the fundamental difference between this resort and the Sonestas up the road at Maho.

Bars and Drinks

Drinks are pay-as-you-go throughout, including at the pool bars. There’s a casino on the property grounds (the FAQ locates an ATM “across the entrance of the Casino”) and the Red Piano Bar area nearby, which is one of Sint Maarten’s better-known live-music rooms. Because the resort sits in the middle of the Simpson Bay strip, the honest move is to treat the resort bars as convenience and do your real drinking outside — happy hours along Airport Road are cheaper and better.

If you do end up on a tour-operator AI plan, read the fine print carefully: those plans typically cover a set list of house-brand drinks at named outlets and specific hours, not the full run of five restaurants. Our guide to what all-inclusive alcohol actually covers explains how these bolt-on plans usually get written.

Food Quality Verdict

Solid, not spectacular, and priced at island rates — expect $18-30 for mains at the casual venues and $40-60 at Bovin. The advantage is optionality: with kitchens in every unit, a supermarket run on day one and a couple of restaurant nights is a completely viable strategy, and it is exactly what most repeat guests do. Judge this resort as a self-catering base with good restaurants attached, and it scores well. Judge it as an AI dining product and it doesn’t apply.

Beach and Pools

The Beach

The resort has direct access to Simpson Bay’s sheltered beach — a long, gently curving stretch of pale sand with generally calm water, loungers and umbrellas supplied. “Sheltered” is the operative word: this is a bay, protected, with light surf, which makes it good for kids and mediocre for anyone who wants dramatic Caribbean water. Boats come and go, the airport approach is close enough that you’ll see planes, and the sand is decent rather than exceptional.

The compensation is the island. Mullet Bay — the best beach on the Dutch side — is a short drive. Maho’s famous airplane beach is a few minutes further. Orient Bay on the French side is 30-40 minutes. If you rent a car (and at this resort you probably should), you can beach-hop for a week and never repeat.

Pools

Pool capacity is the resort’s real strength. There are large freshwater pool areas across both sections; third-party listings consistently cite six pools plus a dedicated children’s pool, though the resort’s own website says only “multiple pools” and “extensive pool areas,” so we won’t state a firm number. What matters practically is that there are enough decks that you can always find a lounger, and The Villas pool is the quieter of the two zones.

Activities and Entertainment

Daytime

There is an Activities Center and a concierge desk (extension 777) running a weekly program — the kind of thing that varies with the season and the occupancy, so ask on arrival rather than trusting a schedule you found online. Three floodlit tennis courts are on-site and you can book a lesson. Aqua Mania Adventures, one of Sint Maarten’s established watersports and excursion operators, has its base here, which means day sails, snorkel trips, the Rhino rider tours and America’s Cup 12-metre yacht racing are all bookable at a desk on the property rather than by taxi across the island.

The marina is part of the appeal and part of the atmosphere: this is a genuine working boat community, not a decorative dock. Charter boats, sportfishing and catamaran dinner cruises leave from nearby.

Evening

Evening entertainment is light-touch — some live music, some poolside programming — and that’s fine, because the Simpson Bay strip outside the gate is one of the busiest nightlife zones in the eastern Caribbean. Casinos, bars, live bands, and everything within a short walk or a $10 taxi. Families with early bedtimes should request rooms away from the road side.

Kids

The resort provides cribs and high chairs, there’s a children’s pool, the beach is calm, and the kitchens mean you can feed picky eaters on your own schedule. There is no full supervised kids’ club in the Sonesta or Beaches mold. If a staffed kids’ club is a requirement, look at our best all-inclusive resorts for families roundup instead.

Spa and Wellness

Sunset Spa is on-site and fully operating, offering facials and full-body massage. It is a resort spa rather than a destination spa — competent, convenient, priced in line with the island. There is also a fitness room, computers at the concierge office at no charge, and complimentary Wi-Fi across the property.

What’s Included vs Extra

Included in the room rate	Costs extra
Accommodation with kitchen or kitchenette	All meals and all drinks — this is not an all-inclusive resort
Free Wi-Fi throughout the resort	Any all-inclusive plan (sold only as a tour-operator package, not by the hotel)
Free parking	Restaurant meals at all five venues
Beach loungers and umbrellas	Spa treatments at Sunset Spa
Pool access at both sections	Watersports and excursions via Aqua Mania
BBQ grills, laundry facilities (tokens)	Tennis lessons
Cribs and high chairs on request	Airport transfers (taxi ~$15-20 for two)
Computers at the concierge desk	Government room tax and service charges — confirm these at booking

The all-inclusive point, stated plainly: Simpson Bay Resort does not sell all-inclusive on its own website. Its published packages are room-only, breakfast-included, or room-plus-food-credit. Canadian and US tour operators bundle an AI meal plan onto this hotel in their vacation packages, and if you buy one of those, you will get a defined plan with named restaurants, set hours and house-brand drinks. Get that list in writing before you pay.

Pricing and How to Book

Price Ranges by Season

Season	Typical nightly rate (room-only, two people)
Low (late Aug-mid Nov)	$124-180
Shoulder (May-Aug, late Nov)	$150-230
High (mid Dec-mid Apr)	$220-350
Christmas / New Year / Presidents’ week	$380-550+

Those are room-only figures. Villas and multi-bedroom suites sit above these ranges; Caribbean Journal tracked rooms here at $124 a night for May 2026 dates, which is about as low as beachfront Sint Maarten gets. Budget an extra $80-140 per person per day if you plan to eat and drink entirely on-property, or roughly half that if you cook breakfast and lunch in the unit.

Rates change with season and availability — confirm the current rate and exactly what’s included before you book.

Best Time to Book

Book high season (Christmas through mid-April) six to nine months out; this resort’s large inventory means it rarely sells out, but the good refurbished units and the Villas go first. Low season, late August through mid-November, is the value window and also hurricane season — buy the insurance. The resort publishes its own seasonal and advance-purchase discounts, plus breakfast-included and food-credit promotions, which are usually better than the aggregator rate.

Where to Book

Book direct for the food-credit and breakfast bundles, which the OTAs don’t carry. Book through Booking.com or Expedia if you want free cancellation and a single itinerary. Book through a Canadian or US tour operator only if you specifically want the bolt-on all-inclusive plan — and then compare the total against room-only plus a realistic food budget, because on this island, with a kitchen in the room and Pineapple Pete down the street, the AI plan often loses.

Compared to Nearby Resorts

If what you actually want is a true all-inclusive, Sonesta Maho Beach Resort is ten minutes up the road at Maho, genuinely all-inclusive, family-focused, with a casino and the famous airplane beach at its doorstep — more expensive per night, but with nothing left to pay. Couples should look at its adults-only sibling, Sonesta Ocean Point, an all-suite property with a cliffside infinity pool and gratuities included.

Closer in character, Divi Little Bay Beach Resort near Philipsburg is the direct competitor: similar scale, a better beach, and — crucially — two selectable all-inclusive tiers you can buy from the hotel itself rather than from a tour operator. Oyster Bay Beach Resort is the quieter, prettier alternative on the far side of the island with a spectacular infinity pool but no walkable nightlife, while The Morgan Resort is the newest and most stylish of the mid-priced options — smaller, no beach of its own, and also not all-inclusive.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Simpson Bay Resort all-inclusive?

No. Simpson Bay Resort, Marina & Spa sells room-only rates, and its own promotions are breakfast-included or food-credit packages. The word “all-inclusive” does not appear anywhere on the resort’s official website. An all-inclusive meal plan is available only as an optional package bought through tour operators such as Sunwing, WestJet Vacations or Vacation Express when they bundle flights and hotel. If you book direct or through an OTA, all your food and drink is charged separately.

How far is Simpson Bay Resort from the airport?

About 15 minutes’ drive from Princess Juliana International Airport (SXM), and the resort quotes roughly $15 by taxi for a couple, plus extra for additional passengers and bags. One warning: the Simpson Bay bridge over the lagoon opens three times a day for boat traffic — currently around 09:00, 11:00 and 16:30 outbound in winter — and can add 20-30 minutes to a drive. Build that into your departure timing.

Do I need a rental car at Simpson Bay Resort?

Not strictly, because the Simpson Bay restaurant and bar strip is walkable and the resort has five restaurants. But you’ll want one. Mullet Bay, Maho, Philipsburg, Grand Case and Orient Bay are all within a 10-45 minute drive, and Sint Maarten’s best experiences are spread across two countries. Thrifty and Paradise both have desks on the property.

Is Simpson Bay Resort a timeshare?

It’s a hybrid. The property is run by Royal Resorts Caribbean and includes a vacation-ownership program alongside regular hotel bookings. Guests do report being offered ownership presentations, and owner forums document rising maintenance fees and special assessments. You can politely decline; just know the pitch is part of the experience here.

Is Simpson Bay beach good for swimming?

Yes for calm-water swimming and kids — it’s a sheltered bay with light surf and gentle entry. It is not the island’s most beautiful beach. Mullet Bay (better sand, more surf) is a short drive, Maho is next to it, and the French side’s Orient Bay is 30-40 minutes away.

What’s the deal with the renovations?

The resort has been refurbishing building by building, and 2025-2026 guest reviews repeatedly flag construction noise and paint or epoxy odors in rooms adjacent to active work. Management has acknowledged the guest-placement issue. Email ahead, ask which buildings are complete, and request a refurbished unit away from the current phase — this single step is the difference between a 6/10 and an 8/10 stay here.

Final Verdict: 7.2 out of 10

Simpson Bay Resort, Marina & Spa is the best-value large resort on Sint Maarten and one of the most useful bases in the eastern Caribbean — if you understand what you’re buying. You get a big, apartment-style suite or villa with a kitchen, five real restaurants, a marina, tennis, a spa, big pool decks, a sheltered beach and a 15-minute airport transfer, for rates that start around $124-180 a night in low season. On an island where a two-person dinner routinely tops $120, the kitchen alone can be worth several hundred dollars a week.

What holds it back is condition and honesty of positioning. The rolling renovations have produced too many 2025-2026 reviews about noise and fumes, un-refurbished units feel their age, the timeshare pitch is real, and it is not — despite where it shows up in search results — an all-inclusive resort. Book it as a self-catering beach base for a family or a group who intend to rent a car and eat the island, and it’s an easy recommendation. Book it expecting wristbands and unlimited cocktails and you’ll be disappointed. For the full lay of the land, including which properties here genuinely are all-inclusive, see our St. Martin destination guide.