TRIP REPORT 12/20/10 – 1/1/11 Christmas/New Years

Hi everyone. We just returned from two weeks in our favorite 2nd home. We have been going to St. Maarten since 1984, with our first stay at Mullet Bay. How the island has changed since then! The biggest change we noticed this year was the Cupecoy area. It used to be very creepy to drive through the dark deserted lowlands area. Now there is a tremendous mall (still under construction) and Porto Cupecoy, which is an entire village of condos, shops, marina and restaurants. We ate in one of the restaurants (see review below), and were very impressed with the beauty and overall layout of this development. A friend of ours looked at a 2 bedroom condo, and said it was nice, but that with a $950,000 pricetag, it seemed overpriced for what it was.

FLIGHTS
Jet Blue direct flight from JFK, New York. Smooth flight in both directions. Luckily the huge blizzard in NY was in the middle of our stay, so it did not affect us at all.

CAR RENTAL/ PHONE RENTAL
Once again we rented our car from Michael at Unity, and had great service as always. And for the second year in a row, we rented a phone form Sharon Harris. It's always so nice to arrive and know that all is taken care of and that you have nothing to worry about. Always a pleasure!!!


ROYAL ISLANDER LA PLAGE / MAHO area
The resort was well-maintained as always, and the flowers on the property were magnificent. Unfortunately, we had NO BEACH during our entire 2 week stay. Like last year, the ocean waves were coming up over the pink fence that separates the pool area from the beach, almost every day. However, in the past, the term "no beach" meant you could not SIT on the sand--no room for lounge chairs. This year you couldn't even STAND on it-- it was the worst we've ever seen. There was about an 8 foot drop from the bottom of the steps to the sand/rocks. You could not physically get down to the sand at all! Towards the end of our stay, we were able to go down once to the beach from the steps by Tortuga Restaurant, when the surf had receded somewhat. The end of Maho Beach by Sunset Bar had slightly more beach, but not much.

Internet access still continues to be an issue at the Royal Islander. They are charging $50 per week or $60 per month to use their wireless network. Last year, we were only able to access the internet from the lobby. For the most part, our laptop worked in our room this year, but not 100% of the time. Once or twice I was able to get service by the pool. And once I picked up the Maho pool network for free. So things are improving, but they still have a long way to go to get consistent good internet service.

The Tortuga restaurant was very good this year for breakfast and lunch, and there were no issues getting towels by the pool. Chairs and umbrellas seemed abundant this year by the pool area, despite the loss of the beach sitting area. Overall, there were less people than usual these 2 weeks. Several of our friends who come regularly every year didn’t come because of the economy and the $1200 flights from NY this time of year.

We still have access to the gym on the 3rd floor of the Maho Hotel. However, it is continuing to show signs of age and a lack of maintenance. Two treadmills were out of order during our entire 2-week stay, as they were last year as well. The pretty, state of the art spa across the street in La Terasse has unfortunately closed, but The Good Life Spa in Maho is still operational.

Three times I tried to check out the shops by La Terasse, but they were always closed. One had a sign up that read “closed for vacation”. I certainly don’t understand them being closed Xmas week. It actually looked like perhaps they were all out of business, but just left the clothes hanging inside—very weird!!!

Overall though, we still love our little home away from home, and wouldn’t dream of staying anywhere other than the Royal Islander La Plage. The landscaping is breathtaking, and there are always workers raking, cleaning, pruning, and generally maintaining the property. The location can’t be beat, with the Casino Royale across the street, and many GREAT restaurants, bars, and clubs within walking distance.

RESTAURANTS and BARS
We mostly have breakfast and lunch in our room, but look forward to our dinners out. This was the third year in a row that we did not go to Grand Case at all for dinner. Since our favorites L’Alabama and Sebastiano are out of business, since many restaurants there are still not 1:1, and since we now have great ones on the Dutch side, we just did not feel like making the trek. This is also the first year ever that we skipped Mario’s – just too pricey in this economy, and people have said though still good, it is not as good as it used to be

Le Belle Epoque (Marigot Marina)– always the best escargot on the island, and great pizza; Love the atmosphere and people watching here

Pizza Pasta (Maho) – Great pizza, pasta bolognese, and veal parm as always; very tiny restaurant, so need a reservation; we also took food out from here for a private New Years Eve party

La Rosa Too (Maho) – extremely disappointing this year; food has always been good, with poor service; now food seems to match service, which was almost nonexistent (couldn’t get water refilled, etc.); probably our last visit

Uncle Harry’s (past airport heading to Simpson Bay) – Great food and very friendly, exceptional service. My daughter and I shared a delicious 3 ½ pound lobster, and my husband had steak; excellent overall experience, though a little pricey at close to $60 per person.

Bajatsu (Maho) – considered a “steak restaurant”, but we love the escargot, grilled shrimp skewer, plantains, sweet potato fries, etc.; BEST SERVICE of ANY restaurant here in all our years of coming to the island; I felt like we were at Le Cote Basque in Manhattan with 5 waiters around us at all times. Perhaps this was due to the fact that they were not full, but neither were most of the other restaurants we visited this year, and nothing compared to this service!

Granduca (Maho) – our first time here, though it was opened last Xmas; Best veal parmesan we had this trip, with friendly, efficient service; Enzo, it was great to see you again – thanks for a lovely dining experience

Taloula Mango’s (Phillipsburg on the boardwalk) – lunch on the beach; good ribs; if you sit on the beach chairs in front of the restaurant (we paid $10 for 2 chairs and an umbrella), your “beach boy” will bring you a menu and deliver your food; NOTE: this is also called The Blue Bitch

Le Gondola (Cupecoy) - Nice Italian restaurant; good service, but food not as good as last year

Sunset Bar and Grill (Maho by airport) –Always a fun experience— ate there once and took out lunch once; had a hamburger and a huge hot dog—both excellent; and they now serve great crispy French Fries (the old Sunset Beach Bar only gave you potato chips)

Pineapple Pete’s (Simpson Bay) – went twice – excellent food, and owner, Pete, really takes pride in his food and service; very attentive wait staff; Tuesdays, there is a great classic rock band there (Ronnie Santana is the guitarist), and my husband got to sit in with the band to play the drums both Tuesdays we were on island; great time if you like live music-- and I highly recommend the food as well—the escargot, onion soup, and lamb shank are awesome!!

Le Croissanterie (Marigot) – went for breakfast twice; excellent crepes and croissants; friendly efficient service

Rendevouz Lounge (Cupecoy) – new restaurant in Porto Cupecoy; went for late lunch one day – excellent paninis and nice overall setting and view

Bamboo Bernies (Maho) – first time here; EXCELLENT food; Technically a “Japanese” Restaurant, but five of us went and none of us eat Sushi; shared a lot of different appetizers, like chicken sate, beef negamaki, dumplings, spring rolls, etc, and one was better than the next; my salmon was delicious, as was the chicken and noodles dish; probably my favorite meal of the trip, foodwise, though, regarding service, there was a long wait between the appetizers and entrees.

BEACHES
We drove to Orient Beach one day, but it was just too windy to stay that day. We checked out Palm Beach, which is way at the far end of Orient Beach. Looks like a very nice place to hang for the day-- with very thick cushions on the lounge chairs and a nice restaurant. If you eat lunch in the restaurant (not just drinks), they will give you free lounge chairs for the day.

We spent one day in Phillipsburg (Great Bay Beach). Those who want to shop, shop, and the rest of us hang out on beach chairs in front of Taloula Mangos. We order lunch and beers from there and spend a very relaxing day on the beach. The new boardwalk has made it such a pleasant destination now.

Most of our time was spent on our pool deck overlooking the ocean, though I truly did miss sitting on the Maho Beach in front of our building. I could only actually enter the ocean once (took out a raft), as the surf was just too rough our entire stay.


FUN AND ADVENTURE

Dive Safari – our daughter scuba dives with them every year; she had to cancel the dive booked the first week, due to very rough surf and churned up seas. Luckily she was able to reschedule for a day the second week, and had a great 2-tank dive; we highly recommend the staff here


NEW YEARS EVE
13 of us had a private party in a friend's Penthouse at the Royal Islander. We took out delicous food from Pizza Pasta, and watched the fireworks from the balcony. We could actually see 3 separate sets of fireworks from up there. Of course, there were the fabulous Maho fireworks, but we also saw 2 different displays coming from what looked like the Cupecoy area.


OBSERVATIONS
Weird weather pattern continues – Last year we had the hottest 2 weeks ever, with thunder and lightning for 1st time, and 2 full days of rain; this year, we had a lot of wind and clouds, extremely rough surf, and one full day of rain. I am not a meteorologist, but I definitely can see that Global warming is affecting the world, and it seems that our history of 2 weeks of blue skies and sun in St. Maarten could be a thing of the past. But of course the weather surely beat the blizzard we missed in New York!!!

Crime is certainly on the rise, and if you don’t believe this, you are just closing your eyes. One night, in the Maho parking garage, many cars were broken into, and we believe ours was one of them. Of course, we had nothing in ours, but it still makes you feel violated. We did notice, however, there were many police stationed around the Marigot Marina-- never saw this before.

Star Sigtings
In the SXM airport on New Years Day, I sat next to one of the Black Eyed Peas, and he told me they had performed the night before for New Years Eve. Anyone know where they performed?? Also, Chris Rock was there with a Rasta beard. Did he perform with them??? Any info would be appreciated.


There you have it!! Sorry this is so long, but I know I always pick up one or two new restaurants or things to do from these trip reports, even after all these years of visiting the island. Overall, we had another fantastic trip. That’s about all I can remember. Post any questions here, or feel free to e-mail me privately. Already counting down to next year!!!!