“Bad/difficult” is such a subjective matter. So, having just passed through there a week ago (SBH to SXM to US), I’d give it a 3 on a 10 scale . . . 10 being best. And my impression is based on an experience when the airport was not terribly — only “fairly” — crowded.
The airline counter people at Delta were disinterested in “service” . . . only interested — as far as I could tell — in kibitzing with colleagues, interspersed with indifferent attention to customers.
The immigration experience was worse . . . as I waited, first in line, for an agent to become available, two apparently local people pushed past me in the line when an agent’s window opened — they ignored me when I protested, & when I followed them to the window, the agent smilingly said, “You weren’t fast enough!”
Food & drink . . . only “+” moments in the time there:
1. The pizza place had no food . . . nothing! (Line at the hamburger place was miles long.). The very nice young female clerk said that there’d be some food in 15 minutes. I naively thought that someone was fixing food somewhere nearby. NO! In about 30 minutes, a pizza delivery person came with several of those large red soft-insulated carriers filled with assorted lukewarm pizzas, clearly from an offsite location. The young clerk waved to me to come over from my seat at a nearby table, & she explained to people in line that I had been waiting longer than any of them. A big tip to her!
2. At the bar — though with the same name, a shadow of the former “Blue Bitch Bar” — the female (& only) bartender looked at me & said in a slow drawl, “Same thing?” Mind you, I haven’t been there since before Irma! I’m not sure what it says, but she remembered my drink of choice! A big tip to her!
Transit through SXM can save money vs. Tradewind through SJU. Not always, however . . . I generally find very cheap tickets through SJU, which offset the Tradewind ticket price.
So . . . in my opinion, “bad &/or difficult” is relative to your tolerance for temporary, crowded, bordering-on-dirty facilities with indifferent-to-surly airport personnel & very crowded bathrooms.