This year we vacationed for 3 weeks, since we recently retired and don’t have to worry about using vacation days. We stayed at the Royal Islander for 2 weeks, Caravanserai for 1 and for our last night we stayed with friends who are renting a villa above the pavilion under construction on Orient Bay. I have the scoop of what it’s going to be!!
Royal Islander - New this year is the Miami Herald delivered to your door every morning. Free!! In the rooms are the new machines for Movie on Demand, and the network connections for the Internet. Neither are ready quite yet, but when they are WiFi will be available for your laptop at the pool. Parking seems to have gotten worse. Friday and Saturday night cars are parking on the other side of the street also. Traffic is a nightmare getting through. That should change soon since the concrete was being poured for the shoulder of the road the final week we were there. Two friends had their cars broken into parked on the shoulder near the airport side of Maho.
One day we were home early due to clouds and we heard a rumble which I thought was thunder, but we found out the next day that it was a 4.4 earthquake about 3 miles from SXM!!
The second week at the RI the weather changed drastically. My son flew in from Denver Saturday only to get stuck in Puerto Rico over night due to bad storms in Miami. Sleeping on the floor of the airport was tough. He arrived Sunday morning and we headed to Orient for about a half day of sun. That would be the last of it for a week. We had the worse downpours I’ve ever seen on the island. The first day was 5.9 inches!! Everyday continued to be overcast, and if it wasn’t raining during the day, it was pouring hard in the evening. Driving through Mullet was scary. It was so flooded that cars were breaking down. By the third day, people, including myself were forced to drive on the golf course. There was so much flooding everywhere that we gave up on trying to go to the Marina or Grand Case for dinner. One day, while driving back from friends staying over at Orient, you couldn’t see where the edge of the roads were or where the drop off drains were. Then the mountain road had rock slides which brought traffic to a standstill. What a week. By Friday my son and I went over to airport and extend his trip to Tuesday. He had to go back with a little tan!! So by Sunday afternoon the sun peeked through a little, and it was finally near the end.
The new deli at the Royal Islander is great. Fresh meats, vegetables, pastries, a deli, beach chairs, lotion and umbrellas. No need to pack the stuff now. The place has everything you need and the prices aren’t bad. There’s also a Subway deli at the end of Maho. They are open for breakfast and also opened 24 hours on Friday and Saturday night.
The Internet Zone has moved up behind Cheri’s. It’s still $5 an hour. It’s next to a new Chinese restaurant, but we didn’t try that one yet.
Caravanserai - I liked this place. Parking was easy, the place is set up nice. The only faults I found were that there’s no oven or toaster oven. It has a 2 burner stove and microwave. The TV does have a built in VCR. (Was able to tape All My Children, Yippee again!) Each apartment has an electronic safe where you set your own code.
Last night on the island we stayed with our good friends, Chuck & Joni who rented the villa above the pavilion on Orient. The view is absolutely the best. A man called Louie owns all the property and his brother owns BooBoo Jams. Anyhow, Louie is building this place to be called the Palm Grove. Looks like he may be in competition with his brother. Who knows when it will be ready, the place has been in the works for a while now.
Dining out was more expensive this year due to the value of our dollar against the euro. Our dollars worth about 85 cents. So for a $25 item on the menu, you payed about $27.
We finally ate at Johnny’s under the Tree. I had Lobster and Gary had the Chicken & Ribs and they were good. The only problem is that it’s so smoky to eat there. We did eat at Spiga in Grand Case for our last dinner and that was great.
Beaches had sand come and go. Over at Club Orient, Papagaya’s is still lapping the water. Beach chairs and umbrellas have gone up to $6 each. Getting mighty expensive to enjoy yourselves.
Never got down to Front St this year, so I don’t know if anything has changed. The rest of the island seems to be the same.
The departure tax seems to be confusing and I’m planning on writing to American airlines. First of all, the departure tax is supposed to be included now. At the American counter they charge you $24 for the tax. I stood next to my son and witnessed this. My husband and I flew back on Continental. The departure tax is $20 at the normal counter where it always was. I went over to the airport service desk and asked why two airlines could do this and the girl just shrugged her shoulders.
Well, if I can think of anything more to tell you, I’ll add more.
Pauline
.
