We stayed at Silver Shells St. Maarten 201 from 6/11 to 6/19. We would definitely recommend this resort and this specific unit to others.
Unit location: The unit is on the ground floor, so instead of a balcony on the front of the unit, there is a very large patio. The patio is separated by an iron fence from a public terrace that overlooks the pool area. In the back of the unit there are sliding doors off of two of the bedrooms to the parking lot. The only downsides to being on the main floor would be 1) less of a view to the Gulf and 2) if you felt less secure being on the main floor. We felt like the ground floor was ideal. The patio is enormous compared to the balconies, and you can still see the horizon from the ground floor (and hear the water). Being on the terrace overlooking the pool made it much easier to let our young teens go down to the pool without us, which we might have been reluctant to do so if it meant an elevator ride. It was easy to go back and grab something when we went to the beach (e.g., refill the cooler, get more suntan lotion). The ground floor sliding door access in the back of the unit made it easy to load and unload the car. There is also a private spot in the parking garage under the unit with easy elevator access that opens directly to the unit's foyer.
Unit impression: The pictures are accurate. Furniture is nice and perfectly comfortable. Beds are comfy. The showers weren't as clean as we wanted, but the management company was quick to address. The sliding door to the patio was weirdly difficult to slide. There were a few items missing (e.g., grilling utensils) that we had to buy and donate to the unit.
Management company: Compass Resorts has an efficient process for check-in and -out. When we had a few minor issues (e.g., coffee maker stopped working, or we couldn't reset the TV box) they responded promptly. Nice people.
Resort: Perfect location. Silver Shells Resort is ideal for a family vacation. Having a gigantic pool area (on the BEACH SIDE!!!) of the main highway was amazing. It really is a unique property. There is not a lot of nightlife within walking distance, which we viewed as a benefit. Our only real complaint was that the communal gas grills (there are four associated with each building) were poorly maintained and one of them represented an actual safety hazard. There was often a line for people waiting to grill their meals on the two working grills.
tl;dr: We will definitely go back.