Planning a travel to SABA. Need some help!

[IntlMed]

Hello my dear SABAites,

My wife and I are planning to visit SABA next month. We plan to fly out of the US on the 14th (Thu) and plan to be back in US on the 18th (Mon). As you might expect, I have a few questions on how to plan this trip and I hope you guys could help me out.
(I know ‘amyames’ got great feedback during her trip, so if you are looking at this post Amy, please pitch in as well)


TRAVELWe have to fly out from Cleveland, OHIO. Any suggestions on how to plan the route to SABA? Here is what I have so far:


There are usually great flight deals from Cleveland to Ft. Lauderdale, Ft. Myers, Jacksonville, Orlando, Tampa Bay, West Palm Beach. They run about $180 roundtrip, if you purchase the tickets 3 weeks in advance

Roundtrip airfare to Miami costs more and they usually run about $290 except for a few specials. For example, there is a fare on Airtran now for a roundtrip between Akron (40 miles from CLE) to Miami for $200. (But I have to book this by tomorrow. Yikes)

But this is only as far as the US is concerned. I am still unclear on how to make the jump from FL to SABA. Keeping the costs in mind (from a, b above), what do you recommend as the best option to come to SABA. Fly out of Miami or Fly out of one of the other port cities in FL. ($$)

Hotel Amyames suggested Hotel Juliana's in Windardside, in one of her previous posts. Is this still the preferred choice? Are there any other places that you might recommend?


Visiting the SchoolCan we visit the school on either that Friday – 15th or the Monday – 18th? Are there any exams around that time that would make us not so welcomeJ, by the students or staff at the school?


Contacting studentsIf anybody is willing to spend a few minutes meeting up with my wife and me, we would be delighted to spend some time and get to know you and the school. Please PM me if you would like to give us this opportunity.

Here is what I have so far, please take a minute of your time, to answer whatever questions you could answer. Based on your responses, we will finalize whether it is viable for us to come down next month or not. ($$ and schedules)

Thanks for your input.

International.

[rdecastro]

For booking flights, I've found that shopping online with expedia, travelocity or orbitz is good for finding out what flights exist (the airport code for Sint Maarten is SXM). Then I buy the tickets from the airline directly, it's a LOT cheaper. You can get to Sint Maarten from Miami, San Juan, Puerto Rico, Philadelphia, Dallas and some other cities. From Sint Maarten to Saba you have 3 choices, Win-Air, Edge II, or Dawn II and the joys and perils of each have been discussed to death here.

Julianas is fine. If you want a REALLY nice place on Sint Maarten to stay, go to Mary's Boon Beach Plantation. It's right next to the airport (don't worry, the flights stop around 10 PM), has a great beach, and is just a really nice, different place (not a typical hotel - if you want that, try the Maho).

Either day (or both days) to visit the school should be fine. The first exam block is the third week of class, which is the 25th. You can email the school (housing@saba.edu) and ask L.....(can't mention names here, even when they're published online) to set up a tour. You can also sit in (with the professors permission, since it's only polite to ask) on a first semester class, Histology is 8-10 and Anatomy lecture is 10:15-12:15. I'd recommend the Anatomy class, it's the main class 1st semester.

I'd be glad to meet you and answer any questions I can, during breaks or lunch (breaks are at 10-10:15 and 2:45-3:00, lunch for my semester is 12:15-12:45, or after class (after 5:00). I shouldn't be too hard to find, ask the tour guide from the school, or the lady who runs the snack bar if you can't find me.

[KingMo]

I flew through O'hare/Miami/SXM. American Airlines...went for $600 or so I think.

SXM to Saba, I suggest you take Win-air. Winair tickets you buy directly from the airline on their website (google it). However, if you have a ton of luggage, it might not come with you, in which case you may consider the ferry that rde mentioned above.

Hotels: I stayed at Juliana's on Saba. Seems to be popular and reasonably priced. In St. Maarten, I stayed at the Great Bay Hotel in phillipsburg. The airport is not in Phillipsburg. Great Bay is kinda expensive (130ish on orbitz). But I wanted to stay there so I could check out the Phillipsburg city. If you wanna stay at the airport area, then do what rde said.

Email L in Housing at Saba. She'll arrange a tour for you. Make sure she knows you are coming and she'll be VERY helpful.

Any more help, let us know.