We returned from SXM yesterday and are feeling the post vacation blues today...the countdown clock is now back up to 165 days <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/cry.gif" alt="" /><img src="/forums/images/graemlins/cry.gif" alt="" />

Short report:

Jack and I were joined by his sister Pat on Wednesday. It was a lot of fun introducing her to our favorite place. The island was very green and the weather was perfect with the exception of a little rain on Thursday morning.

Flights were great, no problems either way.

Minor problem with car rental, but Marius at St. Louis Car Rental took care of the situation quickly<img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Thumbsup.gif" alt="" />

Hotel: this was the only disappointing part of the trip. We stayed at the Ocean Club in the Towers. While we received an upgrade from a studio unit to a one bedroom, the unit #103 was in a great deal of need of maintenance. There were paint splatters on the walls, walls had been spackled but not painted in places and the appliances were dated. In addition, the first floor unit was very noisy...you could hear the garage below, people walking in the unit above and noise from the stairs carried clearly into the bedroom. The office was open from around 9:30 to 5pm which made making and receiving telephone calls very difficult. Also, we were required to place a card in the thermostat in order to use the AC and if we detached that card from our key, we would be charged $100.00 <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/thumbsdown.gif" alt="" /> After staying there, we're very happy that we own at Royal Palm.

Now, the fun part:

Food:
we had wonderful meals at Temptation (ate there twice)...the duck was marvelous. The tuna and filet were also very good and the dessert the Chocolate Cobbler --highly recommended by Deepti was incredible.

Citrus...very nice meal and great setting.

Rainbow...wonderful as always (who says you have to have turkey on Thanksgiving?)

Baywatch...had the seafood pasta ala Andy at the TTOL party Friday night. Jack had mussels, also great.

La Croissanterie...the best croissants as usual.

La Belle Epoque...good pizza

Also had great ribs at Mr. Busby's and good ribs at Pedros and at Cheryl's lolo in Grand Case.

Beaches

Cupecoy...not much sand but still a great place to spend the afternoon

Dawn...very nice, lots of cruise ship visitors and kids

Baie Rouge...great beach and good food, but the water is pretty rough on the rocks

Orient...always wonderful

Anse Marcel at Le Meridien...what a wonderful beach, very peaceful, lots of sand and calm waters

The TTOL party at PLP was great, thanks to Maura for putting it together <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/toast.gif" alt="" /> and the dinner at Baywatch was well attended...not a place to sit...thanks to Carol for organizing...we had a great time.

Shopped at DK gems, can't say enough about Deepti, what a lovely person and she's got great jewelry<img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Grin.gif" alt="" />

All in all, another wonderful week in paradise, can't wait to return.

Nan & Jack