I can't say this will be an exciting trip report because we tend to do the same things we always do when in St. Maarten even though we have the best intentions to expand our horizons. I guess there is something to say about doing the things you are comfortable with and enjoy doing. And that all starts with the Royal Islander. We haven't been back there since the resort was closed due to hurricane damage. Now, you wouldn't know a hurricane visited the place at all. Still beautiful, still a great staff and still a great location. Sometimes, it is just hard to leave the place, but we did manage to get around somewhat aided by fantastic weather (not a single drop of rain that we saw) and the warmest water that I can remember.

Beaches. We visited Orient Beach two days, both of which were extremely crowded. We got there a little late the first time, around 11am, and no chairs were available at Andy and Cheryl's, but Adrian came to our rescue. He fixed us up with his friend next door who had to go beyond Pedro's to find chairs. Our main reason for going to Orient is Andy's food. I had my usual Margarita Buffalo shrimp and MaryJane had mussels. We shared an order of ribs. Maybe it is just beach food, but it is great beach food, good enough for us to drive back there on Saturday, our last full day. This time we arrived about 9:30 and had no trouble getting chairs in the front row. Yep, I had the Margarita shrimp again and MaryJane tried the Seafood Fantasy. She liked it but wished she ordered the mussels again. We also spent one day at Karacter. It was less crowded and much closer to the Royal Islander than Orient, and we had a nice time there. But we both agreed that we prefer Andy's food over theirs. Creatures of habit maybe, but what can you do? The beach at the Royal Islander went from little to none. Early in the week, the Sea was calm, warm and inviting. Later it looked a little rougher so we stuck to the pool which was warm an uncrowded. We were sorry we did not bring our rafts with us as there was plenty of room for them.

Other Lunches. Aside from our lunches at the beaches, we ate at the Tortuga Restaurant at the Royal Islander. We both had very good salads and enjoyed watching the planes come in. On another day, we walked across the beach to the Sunset Bar & Grill and enjoyed a decent lunch there. Our table service was very good and our waitress friendly and efficient. On our way over there a plane was about to take off. Being the experience beach walker that I am, I told MaryJane that we had nothing to worry about since we were not directly behind the plane. Unfortunately we both got sandblasted. Fortunately she began talking to me again the next day. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Wink.gif" alt="" /> We also drove into Phillipsburg one day but couldn't find a parking space anywhere, including the two pay lots. So we drove off to Marigot and had a wonderful lunch at La Belle Epoque. MaryJane had a salad of some sort and I had one of their tasty pizzas with the spicy olive oil. It's a great place to spend a lazy afternoon watching the world walk by.

Dinners. We are pretty simple eaters and not into gourmet food. Nevertheless, we had some good to terrific meals. One early evening we walked into Granduca without a reservation and were seated immediately. I have always been a fan of LaRosa II but I have to say that if it came down to just one Italian meal in St. Maarten, Granduca would win hands down. The restaurant itself is laid out well with ample room between tables and the service was outstanding. We were served two types of bread with two types of spreads--one garlic based and the other pepper based. Both were fantastic. We each had appetizers and veal entrees. My lemon veal was probably the best I have ever had, and I try to order it everywhere I go on vacation. Great meal and very reasonable too. For our last night, we had reservations to Bajatzu in Maho. We have been there before and it was as good as ever. We also ate at Jimbo's, and the BBB and both were fine for what we wanted.

We did have one other very good dinner and that was in Grand Case. I don't drive there at night anymore because of an eye issue with headlights and, as a result, we have never been to Harmony Night. This year, however, we saw that the Royal Islander was offering a shuttle service to Grand Case on Tuesday Night for Harmony night. The cost was $20 per person and we jumped at the opportunity. I know the shuttle stopped at the Great Bay Hotel, the Royal Islander, the Sapphire and the Towers, and probably would stop at other resorts as well. It held 12 seats and all were filled. We were glad we made the shuttle reservations early Monday as we were told some people were shut out. We had a very good meal at La Testivan, again without reservations, and enjoyed Harmony Night. Still, I think we expected a little more in the way of musical highlights. The marching band consisted of just two dancing girls and a couple of guys beating drums. They walked up the street one time and down one other time. That was it. We were glad we went but will not be in any hurry to return.

Casinos. We played every night, 5 nights at the Casino Royale where we were given $10 vouchers (not good on Video Poker machines) and a $20 voucher on Tuesday, and 2 nights at the Hollywood Casino. I play only Video Poker and MaryJane generally does too but because of the vouchers she did play some slots. We both play Double Double Bonus when in Atlantic City but the Casino Royale did not have that game as far as we could tell. There were many others though, including Triple Double Bonus and Deuces Wild, which we played. We lost at the Hollywood both times but had much better luck at the Casino Royale. We won some, we lost some, and on our last night we were close to even. Before heading out to Bajatzu for an 8pm reservation, we decided to give the Casino Royale one last chance. Got there about 7:15 and started losing, but that soon changed. At 7:40 I hit four Aces with a deuce kicker in the back room by the stage. Went out front and saw MaryJane playing the nickel version of Triple Double Bonus. Showed her my voucher for $1,000 and told her we had to go. She said she would switch to quarters as she only had about $10 left. Wouldn't you know, she hit for the same hand that I had hit just a few minutes earlier. We both cashed our vouchers and left happy. I am not sure if the Video Poker played in St. Maarten is really random or not, but we can't complain, at least on this trip.

Overall Impressions. We thought the island was crowded, at least what we saw of the beaches, most of the restaurants and casinos. People looked like they were having fun! We did hit some traffic going into Phillipsburg but it was not as bad as some other years. Overall, it was a great hassle free vacation, and we look forward to returning to the Royal Islander in December.
Tom