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This is why I would never do All Inclusive at Divi lcote 1 hour ago Michael and I decided it was time to give pureocean a try again at Divi. I always say the food is mediocre here at Divi but I have seen some positive reviews so I thought, why not?
Well, I'll tell you why not!
I looked at a menu on line and there were several options for me. We got a reservation on Open Table for 5:30 at restaurant opening.
We arrived a bit early and sat outside waiting for the restaurant to open.
Promptly at 5:30 the restaurant opened and we walked inside. There were three couples awaiting tables at the time. The hostess appeared a bit confused with the Open Table reservations. She sat the couple in front of us. She came back to us and attempted to find our reservation. And failed. She seemed very confused. I said, "Ok. You can't find our reservation can you seat us anyway?" There was literally only one couple seated and one other couple waiting to be seated. She seated us, but appeared very confused.
We perused the menu which was different than what was online. I elected the chicken piccata despite it being served with cherry tomatoes, green beans and corn instead of with pasta. My husband selected the duck.
Our server was very good (although he didn't ask the temperature my husband wanted his duck). He brought rolls and our wine selections promptly. We talked a bit and I told him that we had never been a huge fan of this restaurant. He said that he would do his best to make us happy.
Our food arrived fairly quickly which was nice.
My husband's duck was nicely presented with a sweet potato puree underneath and wonderfully fresh broccoli and carrots. The plate was beautiful.
My plate, however, was a piece of chicken atop obviously canned green beans and corn. Why on earth would you elect to serve the piccata with corn and beans if they are canned???? Alongside my dinner came mashed potatoes. It seemed an odd pairing but at least the potatoes were good!
My chicken was rather tough. The lemon sauce was decent. But this was no piccata.
Michael's duck was very very tender although the fat was not very well rendered leaving a flabby layer under the skin.
Michael cleaned his plate while I elected to leave the canned vegetables on mine. Now I know that this is an island and it may be difficult to get fresh vegetables. But again, chicken piccata is not usually served with green beans and corn!
As we awaited our bill, we noticed the head of food and beverage walking around the restaurant and we called him over. We hadn't seen this particular food and beverage manager for two years.
Turns out he had left to go to Curacao and had come back. Now the good news is that he is the one who had made some good changes at the resort's restaurants in the past. So, perhaps, next year, the restaurants will be better.
He said that pureocean was going to go to a more buffet style restaurant every night. (This is not something I would appreciate but perhaps others will).
I will say that our server Andrew provided excellent and attentive service and was tipped accordingly. They do add the 15% service charge to the bill but we added more because he was very attentive.
I'm not sure we will try pureocean again if it is buffet only. That's not really my scene.

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Not your average trip report - Nov 4 - Nov 26 Angelface Yesterday at 08:11 PM Hello all! For the NOOBs I am not your typical tourist; my family is from SXM going back generations, and us kids were born in the states but spent summers on the island. With that out of the way, here's a random assortment of thoughts.

This wasn't a vacation. At 96, my dad passed away after living a full and long life, so me and my siblings came down for the services and all the other things one must do. Here are my observations of those three weeks:

Flights down. I got a decent last minute flight out of DCA via Delta. I'm not a fan of connecting in ATL but beggars can't be choosers. Smooth flights all around, deplaned via a ramp and honestly can't remember if we took a bus or walked. In any case, the immigration line was long. It moved, slowly, and for whatever reason my passport scan would not work, so I had to go see the agent, which was fine. Bags came out soon and then I was off to find the folks from Unity for my car which leads me to...

TRAFFIC. Never in my almost 50 years of life have I ever encountered so much traffic at random points during the day (and it not be the height of festive). I landed around 2. It took me almost 2 hours to get my car and get myself over the causeway to Colombier (where my family is from). I would go on to complain about the traffic like the old person that I am becoming almost every day lol

EATS. We ate in most nights, but we made several trips to Calmos - 5 to be precise. The food, the drinks, the views, the service, all fantastic. By our last visit, it felt a little bit like Cheers to us. We loved the old toes in the sand Calmos from back in the day, but clearly love the new version! We also had to stop at O'Plongiour in Marigot - a must for us. We also got takeaway from Sandy's in Marigot twice. Their whole fried snapper is a delight. Carl's in colebay - their donuts and pastries are amazing. We made two trips there!

Random island thoughts. Aside from the traffic, the over-development on the dutch side is crazy. The existing infrastructure can't handle what's there, I don't know what's going to happen when all these projects come online. The mudslides that happened while we were there will only increase. On the plus side, the island never looked so green; it was so rainy while we were there, which eventually broke the heat we initially arrived in. We got a taste of the Christmas winds, and I miss that so much.

Leaving. Check in was smooth, security moved (even if the line was longish). I had to take a work call so I tried out the new priority lounge. I completely understood what someone here said earlier about folks not clearing tables. Hopefully they hire more help because the one dude doing it was not enough. I didn't really eat anything and had one drink. I mostly was there for the quiet, so not sure I'd do it again. Flew United direct back to DC (we walked out to the plane). I really wish Delta would start direct flights from DC; every single United plane I am on is so old and gross. I know they have newer planes dangit!

Anyway, we did a lot of other random things you wouldn't care about - visiting relatives, dealing with french bureaucracy, took a 2 day trip to Anguilla to decompress, spent a crazy amount of time at ACE, etc. We mostly spent time reminiscing about my parents, how lucky we are to call this place home, how much we'll miss them, and how we can't wait to be back next year.

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Looking for Recommendations MonVis Yesterday at 04:37 PM We will be visiting for a week in January. We have visited in the past but we stayed at an all inclusive. We will be renting a car and would like to explore the island. Looking for car rental recommendations. We tried to book with Kenny's but they have no availability. How is Leisure Car Rental?

Also looking for must see spots and must try restaurants.

Thank you so much!

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SJU to EIS jrw Yesterday at 02:40 PM Good morning,

Has anyone had charter flight experience with FlyBVI or Caribbean Flights in the last few years?

THANKS!
Jim

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Maho Village, random photos Nov. 2024 Cincinnati_Kid Yesterday at 01:48 AM One of my favorite areas, lots of activity..

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Sebastian Quilliere patisserie lcote 12/10/2024 09:10 PM So, we just went to what I thought was a place to buy these pastries. It was on the second floor near Leader Price. I'm having some knee pain and I sent my husband up. He said he saw a man there baking away but it didn't appear you could buy anything. Anyone?

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Dionne Warwick to perform at Gala SXMScubaman 12/10/2024 03:51 PM On island now.
LINK

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Happy Holidays to everyone 😊❤️ Kennys 12/10/2024 04:43 AM In life , we all only live one life , hence enjoy. This Friday and coming days we have a great Family getting together 3 races of true feelings, God is good 🙏👏😊❤️

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Don Pizza back in action Kennys 12/10/2024 03:58 AM Has reopened with the same Main Chef but different Management 😊👏

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Christmas Meal in BVI TC42 12/10/2024 01:43 AM Hi gang. We will be sailing during the holiday week. Any great ideas for a Christmas meal? It will be near the end of our week so Anegada doesn't work. We need to return the boat the next morning to Nanny Cay. We have 2 adults and two teens so a pre-fix meal @ $150 each probably doesn't make sense for the kids in particular. I appreciate any ideas. Thx.

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