When One Day Wasn't Enough: Our Grand Case Story

What happens when a cruise stop turns into one of your favorite resort vacations ever?

In this episode of Explorations All Over, Russ shares how a brief visit to Grand Case, St. Martin during a cruise led to not just one return trip — but several. From lazy mornings at the Grand Case Beach Club to unforgettable meals on a street lined with 40 gourmet restaurants, this story is about more than just palm trees and sunsets. It’s about finding a place that sticks with you long after the suitcase is unpacked.

Plus, a hilarious dinner mishap involving shrimp, finger bowls, and a new phrase you’ll never forget: shrimp dip.

🧭 What You’ll Hear in This Episode:

• How a cruise stop first introduced us to Grand Case
• Why we returned — and how we made it our own
• Tips for booking, saving, and getting around the island
• The daily rhythm of a perfect beach vacation
• Favorite restaurants, local gems, and cheese smuggling
• One unforgettable dinner story that still makes us laugh
• A teaser for the upcoming Far Flung Destinations series

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome
• 1:15 Our first trip to St. Martin
• 3:45 A quick island primer: Dutch versus French sides
• 5:00 Discovering Orient Beach and the seed to return
• 6:30 Why cruises can be great samplers
• 7:20 Booking our return with Delta Vacations
• 9:00 What makes the Grand Case Beach Club special
• 10:15 Grand Case as the culinary capital of the Caribbean
• 12:00 Renting a car, daily routines and getting around
• 14:30 The rhythm of the week: beach, wine, sunset, dinner, repeat
• 17:00 Favorite dinner: Le Mambo and the magic of Muriel
• 18:45 Marigot vs. Phillipsburg, and cheese packing issues
• 20:15 Our 2001 return with friends
• 21:50 The shrimp dip story (and what not to do with a finger bowl)
• 23:45 Wrapping up and reflections
• 24:30 Subscriber invitation and teaser for Far Flung Destinations

Transcript

When One Day Wasn’t Enough: Our Grand Case Story

Hey there, I’m Russ — whether this is your first time listening or you’ve been with me since the start, I’m so glad you tuned in. Welcome to Explorations All Over.

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Today I’m going to tell you about a place we visited on a cruise... and just couldn’t shake.

 It’s been over 10 years now, but the story of how a single cruise stop to Saint Martin turned into several week-long resort vacations — and maybe our favorite Caribbean destination ever — still sticks with me.

Now, I’ll be honest — it’s been a while since we stayed in Grand Case. But what made that first visit unforgettable wasn’t just the resort or the restaurants — it was that feeling of discovering a place on a cruise, falling in love with it, and going back to really live in it for a while.  A lot has changed in St. Martin since we visited, I’m sure. But the things that drew us there — the warmth of the people, the beauty of the beaches, and the unforgettable food in Grand Case — those things felt timeless, and that’s the story I want to share today.

Let me set the stage: We were cruising on Celebrity Cruise’s Meridien in 1996.  It was a typical one day stop to get our retail therapy on, but we had just come from St. Thomas, the shopping capital of the Caribbean, so we kept the shopping to a minimum, making sure to stop at the Guavaberry Shop to pick up flavored rums and hot sauces.  Then we hopped a cab to Orient Beach on the French side of the island.

A little about the island of Saint Martin, in case you didn’t know: The island is split between two countries — the Dutch side, with its capital in Philipsburg, and the French side, with Marigot as its capital.  Most large cruise ships dock in Phillipsburg, smaller ships in Marigot.  The island is small and it’s easy to navigate.  No, there’s no “border” to speak of, just a small marker letting you know that you’ve gone from one side to the other.

We spent a gorgeous beach day at Orient Beach; warm sand, warm ocean and warm hospitality, including a great lunch.  I’ll never forget lying on the chaise lounge looking at the crystal clear blue water and white sand and having a waiter bring me a Mai Tai and thinking, “It doesn’t get any better than this”. We got back on the ship and knew St. Martin was a place we wanted to revisit.

Let me just stop here and say that one of the many benefits of cruising is that you get a sampling of different places; their flavor, culture and attractions.  If you find one that particularly strikes your fancy you can revisit it either on another cruise or, do what we did, and book a longer stay.

In 2000 we used Delta Vacations to find a resort and decided on the Grand Case Beach Club.  We chose Grand Case because it was far away from the hordes of cruisers that descend into Philipsburg almost every day.  What we didn’t know was that Grand Case is known as the dining capital of the Caribbean, with more than 40 restaurants lining the town’s main street.  Being foodies, this was right up our alley.

Here’s a tip: you can often save money booking an air/hotel package directly with an airline.  Save even more money by adding a rental car too.  And if you are a member of that airline’s loyalty program it’s a great way to rack up lots of point for future travel.

The GCBC is different than most hotels in that the rooms have kitchens, so if you want to prepare dinner at home, you can do so.  But there is a standard size refrigerator as well so if you buy any cheese, wine or anything that needs to be kept cold there is plenty of space.  Book an oceanview room, the view is amazing especially at sunset.

As I mentioned Grand Case’s main street is lined with outstanding gourmet restaurants, almost all serve French cuisine, one right next to the other and only a 10-15 minute walk from the hotel.  The hotel has a restaurant, which we enjoyed every morning for breakfast, but we ventured out every evening to discover a new place.  There’s everything from an outdoor food court to high end, white linen establishments, so there’s something for everyone and every budget.

I mentioned about renting a car, and you might wonder if you even need it.  That’s your call.  The last time we were in Grand Case in 2015 Uber wasn’t around and taxis were available, but the price adds up if your using taxis to get everywhere.  We like the flexibility of having our own wheels to get around.

Let me tell you about our daily routine: Wake up, throw on our bathing suits and a tee shirt and head over to the Sunset Café for breakfast.  After breakfast, pack up towels and sunscreen and drive over to Orient Beach.  Our favorite section to hang out is Bikini Beach, where we had visited back in 1996, and every day enjoyed the friendly service and fantastic lunches they serve.  Then around 3:30 we headed back to the hotel, take a nap, shower and dress for dinner, casual of course.  We had cheese, crackers and wine from the grocery store where we stopped after landing, and enjoyed them as we took in the spectacular sunset.  Then we walked into town, picked a place and enjoyed one amazing dinner after another.

There were days when we would stay at the resort’s gorgeous beach or participate in one of the many activities that the hotel could plan like scuba diving and sunset cruises, great for honeymooners.  One day we took a fantastic catamaran snorkeling trip on the Skoo Bi Doo.  It was tons of fun and thankfully we remembered the sunscreen.  The Beach Club has lots of beach things to use like snorkeling gear, paddle boards, kayaks, floats, and sand toys so it’s great for families, too.

We never had a bad meal, but we did have favorite places.  One was Le Mambo, a restaurant at the far end of the street, run by a husband and wife couple.  Muriel ran the restaurant while George was the chef.  All the restaurants in Grand Case were welcoming and all the food was excellent, but there was just something about our experience and her genuine hospitality that made us feel so at home.

Grand Case had that effect on us as well.  The routine was so laid back, the weather spectacular and every day seemed perfect.

Saint Martin’s two capitals are so very different from each other.  Marigot is very laid back with some lovely shops and bistros that all face the quiet harbor.  Philipsburg, on the other hand, is bustling with tons of jewelry shops, clothing shops, and the aforementioned Guavaberry Shop.  

One place not to miss is the Amsterdam Cheese and Liquor Store.  Being on the Dutch side, the shop has a whole array of authentic cheeses shipped in from the Netherlands as well as chocolates and other treats.  I remember packing to go home and wondering how I was going to fit all the cheese I bought into my suitcase.

That week flew by and it was time to say Au Revoir.

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A year later, in 2001, we would find ourselves in St. Martin while sailing on the Disney Magic with our friends Ned and Harry.  We did a little shopping and then headed over to Orient Beach and they loved it as much as we did, including a fantastic lunch, lots of time in the water and of course a perfectly made Mai Tai.  We then took a taxi over to the Beach Club so that they could see it and we enjoyed a cocktail while taking in the incredible sunset.  Since the ship wasn’t leaving until late, we walked down to Le Mambo and Muriel greeted us like old friends and welcomed Ned and Harry the same.

Funny story: we all ordered a special starter of whole prawns cooked in a butter curry sauce.  Well because the shrimp were supposed to be eaten with your hands, we each got a dish filled with water and a slice of lemon.  We were eating when three of us looked over at Ned who was putting his prawn in the water.  One of us asked him, “What are you doing?”  He looked up sheepishly and said, “This isn’t a dip for the shrimp, is it?”  We said, “NO! That’s for your fingers when you’re done eating.”

We all had a laugh, including Muriel, who walked over with a fresh finger bowl for Ned, who looked at me and said, “How do you say I’m sorry in French?”  She chuckled, “I have to say that is the first time someone has ever washed the sauce off of the prawn.”  To this day we still call it shrimp dip.

We returned to Grand Case in 2002 and again in 2004  Can you tell how much we loved it?  We stuck to our old routine: breakfast, beach, nap, dinner.  Not a bad life.  Each time we went back it felt like going to see old friends, and there was such a sense of the familiar.  

The beach was just as beautiful, the hotel just as comfortable.  We went back to some of the same restaurants, but the only people that remembered us were Muriel and George at Le Mambo, who were as happy to see us as we were to see them.

It wouldn’t be until 2015 that we returned to St. Martin and Grand Case.  It was a short visit just before we boarded Windsurf Cruises’ Windsurf.  A lot had changed, but a lot still remained the same.  The Grand Case Beach Club was under renovation, but we were still able to book our oceanfront room and the Sunset Café still had the best breakfast around.  The sand at Bikini Beach was still the same brilliant white and the lunch still as delicious, although – come to think of it - I didn’t try the Mai Tai.

As for things that changed, the saddest for us was that Le Mambo had closed.  Muriel and George had two children and they decided to move back to France to raise them.  We were happy for them, but sad for us. We tried a couple of new places but went back to one we enjoyed before, Le Pressoir, a lovely restaurant with incredible French cuisine, but no shrimp dip.

Windsurf is a 5-masted sailing ship that impresses every time she arrives and leaves a port.  Our first encounter with St. Martin was when we were on a cruise sailing into the harbor and our last was sailing out.   But as we left Philipsburg with sails raised aloft, I looked back and thought, “No, St. Martin.  You’re not done with us yet!”

It’s been another 10 years since our last visit, but we still talk about those dinners, those sunsets, and yes, that shrimp dip. And that’s what travel is all about — the memories that stick with you long after the suitcase is unpacked.

Don’t forget to follow the podcast on Facebook, where I’ve posted a bunch of photos the accompany this episode, and make sure to share it with friends, family, coworkers or anyone who has an interest in travel.  Drop me a review, comment or feedback.  I’d love to hear from you.

Once again, I’m Russ. Thanks for being part of the journey and thanks for sharing in my Explorations All Over!  I’ll see you soon.