Well, it's my first trip report! This trip was to celebrate my 50th birthday and 20th wedding anniversary. This was our 8th visit, however, we have not been to the island since 1992!!

Left Philadelphia 11/13 for our AA flight. Changed planes in San Juan and arrived in St. Maarten; smooth flight, no problems. Arranged a car from Kenny's; smooth transaction and off to ten days at The Inn At Cupecoy. We choose the Inn because it was intimate and romantic for our 20th anniversary! It is a lovely Inn; the rooms are large and very nicely appointed. Unfortunately, we cannot prevent change and the view of the beach has been seriously obstructed. Even though we don't like the "Americanizing" of the island, there is nothing to prevent it.

The Inn catered to our every need. Everyone was wonderful from the manager, Elisha, to our wonderful maid, Marion.

Beaches:

The beaches have not changed much since our last visit, except, of course, for Orient. We spent the majority of our time at Club Orient section and had a great time. We took the Tiko Tiko cruise on Thursday; had a great time, met wonderful folks. We ate at Baywatch for the first time; had a terrific lunch and met Cheryl. I told her I felt I already knew her from TTOL! I grew up in Bucks County, PA, on the border with New Jersey, so we talked about NJ and the Jersey Shore, etc. She couldn't have been nicer and wished my husband and I well with a kiss!! The only unfortunate incident on Orient occurred on our last day. All week we had noticed two local men "lurking" on the beach, conspicuously wearing bathing suits, but stalking the beach, and to my best description, leering at the women. They would get into conversations with people, or join in a volley ball game. Finally, on our last day there, late in the afternoon, the one gentlemen, wearing only a T-Shirt and standing on the side of The Perch, made eye contact with me and started doing some very "lewd" acts. I told my husband and when he got up to see, the man quick pulled on shorts and took off with the other man. We told the security, both in front of the Perch and on the way out at the security gate. I understand these things can sometimes happen, however, it was very disturbing. Hope something can be done to curb this.

Also spent a great day on Cupecoy and had Danny's ribs which were delicious! Visited Baie Long and Baie Rouge also! Still some of the prettiest beaches around!

On to more pleasant things; had a bathing suit made by Luiz Gomes...couldn't have been nicer! The suit is lovely. Very happy with that.

Since it was my 50th B-Day, hubby took me to DK Gems. Met Deepti, told her I found out all about her on TTOL and she was the sweetest thing! Husband bought me lovely gold and diamond earrings and a matching pendant. They couldn't have been nicer to us! Was very happy we visited her store.

Dining:

Deepti recommended Temptation. We had a great meal there; service was impeccable. I had filet; my husband had Thai shrimp; both meals outstanding.

La Gondola -- wow, being Italian I really appreciated this meal. Started with proiscuitto and melon, then veal parm and spaghetti; wonderful! The waiters in the restaurant were friendly and very professional.

Spiga: Again, another great restaurant. The owners/chef chatted with us, and again, a great meal. I had chicken stuffed with proscuitto and my husband had fish.

Pineapple Pete: Wow! Fun bar and yummy food. Had shrimp topped with crabmeat and a garlic cream sauce. My husband had shrimp scampi. I had the rum creme brulee and was in heaven. Very friendly servers!

Rics Place: Watched our "beloved" Eagles lose to the Cowboys here! Fun bar; met some folks from PA and sat with them for the game. Also had breakfast one morning at Ric's which was outstanding, along with the view of the bay.

One night on the way back from Orient, we stopped at Bounty for a roasted chicken. Well, ran into some VERY rude clerks in this store. I stood and waited and waited, while the three French girls working here completely ignored me...and I am NOT exaggerating! At least three or four French-speaking customer came in, got waited on and left, while I stood there dumbfounded! I will never stop in there again and that's a shame. However, they should remember that a lot of tourist dollars drives their economy..

All in all, it couldn't have been a nicer, more relaxing trip. We realized how much we missed the island in the past years. We are now looking forward to planning for next year!

Thanks to everyone for their input and answers to questions before our trip. We really learned a lot, and were very happy with the resulting good results! (Especially the jewelry!!)