Caribbean Travel Roundup

Newsletter - Gert van Dijken, Editor

• By: Marcia Rowland
• Date: Tue, 28 Oct 2003 12:22:22 -0500

• By: Marcia Quinn
• Date: Mon, 20 Oct 2003 17:23:11 -0400

• By: Schultz
• Date: Mon, 27 Oct 2003 10:19:32 -0500

Hi All,

I'll start this off by saying that I didn't know whether to write a trip 
report this year or not.  Anyhow, since you are reading this you, you know my 
decision.   This year we were in serious need of some R & R.  Since we have 
pretty much done all of the tourist things (at least several times each) on 
previous visits, this trip was going to be a low-key, low activity event.  
Rather than being a detailed journal as some of my prior reports have been, 
this one outlines some details of our trip and some observations.

We visited St. Thomas this year for ten days in mid August.  We were especially 
looking forward to this trip since last year, for the first time in the past 
five years we were unable to make it down to the USVI.  Our alternate trip to 
the Dominican last fall was nice but nothing close to being as good as our 
visits to the USVI.

A first for us was taking US Airways down to St. Thomas.  After years of flying 
American Airlines, this year US Airways offered a fare that was significantly 
lower than that for American.  We flew from Cleveland to Charlotte and 
connected to St. Thomas.  Another benefit of the US Airways flight was not 
having to connect through either Miami or San Juan as in previous years.  The 
Charlotte airport is much nicer than those other two.  

Here's a random thought.  How can you tell when you've finally made it to 
paradise?  For us it's always that point when your plane lands and you take 
that first step out from the plane onto the ladder.  When the heat and humidity 
just kind of slap you in the face.......that's when we know we're there.

We again rented a car, another Echo, from Discount.  We had considered changing 
to another rental firm this year, but when comparing the dollars saved against 
Discount's track record, we decided not to change.  We have rented from 
Discount for the past five trips and have never had ANY problem with the cars 
provided.  We felt that reliability earned our repeat business.  This year our 
pick up, drop off and office time were faster than usual.

While driving from the airport to the East End, it was nice to see that the 
first indications of progress on the Yacht Haven renovation have begun to show 
up.....even if it was only putting up some plywood barriers and having local 
groups paint murals.  

As we have done on our last four visits, we again stayed at Secret Harbour.  If 
it's possible, it seems like the resort gets better each time we stay there.  
I've traveled throughout the Caribbean over the past seventeen years, visited 
more islands than I can remember, and Secret Harbour is my absolute favorite 
place to stay.  Ernest Halliday, the General Manager, and his staff always 
manage to make us feel like we are coming home when we arrive.  Ernest talks 
about guests as being part of the Secret Harbour family, and his staff really 
goes out of their way to make you feel like you are exactly that.  Sandra in 
reservations managed to get us the specific one-bedroom suite we always request 
and it had been redecorated again with new wall hangings, living room 
furnishings and patio furniture.  

The resort seemed more crowded than in summers past, but then again the whole 
island felt that way this year.  Maybe it's the result of all of us on the 
board talking about how great a place it is to visit in the summer.  Even so, 
the beach was never very crowded and there were always plenty of available 
chairs.  We also saw several weddings taking place on the beach during our stay 
this year.  And, for those of you who are following the battle, the jet skis 
did not move during the entire time we were there.  So far, so good. 

I took some time this year and walked through the areas around the resort also. 
 There are just so many gorgeous villas in that area.  I also drove a short way 
down the road to check out the construction going on at the Ritz.

As I've said in my prior trip reports, so much of what we remember about our 
visits are the old friends we get a chance to see again and the new friends we 
always seem to make.  This year was no exception.  We not only had a chance to 
eat dinner at the AOL get together with them but had opportunities throughout 
the visit to see some on several different occasions. 

We made our way around several beaches as we usually do.  Got back to Hull Bay 
this year and spent a fabulous day there.  I think that there may have been two 
other people there when we arrived and by the time we left there were a 
whopping 6 or 8 people.  Also managed to have a few cold ones at Larry's 
Hideaway right there.   Definitely an "island" type place and one to 
remember.  Also hit Sapphire and the beach at the Ren (more on that later) as 
well as spending our usual Friday at Magens.  Compared to the number of beaches 
we usually hit, this year we seemed to spend more time staying at the one right 
there at Secret Harbour.  Snorkeling at SH seemed even better this year also.  
There was an abundance of marine life all along the reef running the length of 
the harbor.

Our shopping this year was limited, we made one trip to downtown and one trip 
to Havensight.  After checking out a few different jewelry stores, we wound up 
back at Cardow for the third time and made a few purchases there.  We also got 
a chance to check out the new supermarket, Food Center,  right across from 
Compass Point and found it to be nice.  I thought it had a comparable selection 
to Plaza Extra and was definitely closer to Secret Harbour.  We also made trips 
to Marina Market and Gourmet Gallery during our stay for some of the more 
"unusual" treats they offered.

One of the highlights of our previous trips has been the excellent meals we 
have had at various restaurants around the island.  This year for the first 
time that I can remember, there were more bad experiences than ever before.  
I'll mention the good ones first.  Blue Moon was great as always as was 
Romano's (one of our two best meals) and Mims. Gladys' was a great lunch as 
always.  The Grateful Deli and the Delly Deck were also good again for lunch.  
The surprise for this visit was the Old Stone Farmhouse.  On our last visit 
there, the meal was very good.  On this visit, the meal was amazing.  We wound 
up sitting by ourselves in one of the side rooms and tried the chef's 
sampling menu.  The food and service were both excellent.  It will definitely 
be on our "must do" list of restaurants from now on.

We tried the new Mafolie since we had heard several folks speak highly of it.  
The view as always was fabulous.  The wait staff seemed very eager to please.  
The meal was pretty average though.  I might want to try it again next time to 
see if it moves up to its potential.  Roberts, where the AOL dinner was, at the 
Elysian was also one that I would try again.  It was good and also has a lot of 
potential.

One other place worthy of mention is the Caribbean Steak House & Saloon.  We 
didn't have enough evenings this year to be able to eat there, but we did 
manage to make it over after dinner a couple of evenings.  If you are looking 
for someplace to head to for a good time, music and some drinks, this is the 
place.

One that will definitely be removed from our list for next time is Agave 
Terrace.  For years we have always been able to count on Agave for consistently 
good food and average to above service to go along with the amazing view.  This 
year it was terrible.  The food was bad, the waiter was argumentative, and the 
overall experience was bad. This was a real disappointment. 

Another one to remove is Patrick's.  For years we enjoyed eating at Raffles 
every year.  The last time we were there was right before Sandy left for home 
for the last time, Patrick was even the chef and it was still very good.  This 
year the food was not good (there is a very, very limited selection) and the 
service was horrendous even by island standards.  And for those old timers that 
remember what the ambiance was like at Raffles, the place is now stark and 
without any character.  It too was a big disappointment.  We also ate dinner at 
Baywinds at the Ren one night.  The only saving grace for that evening was the 
entertainment.  It is definitely not somewhere I would return to for dinner.

And now for something completely different    due to a mix-up with our original 
room and airline reservations, we needed to find a place to stay on our last 
night in St. Thomas.  If I had been smart, I would have extended our stay at 
Secret Harbour for an additional day.  Instead (it sounded like a good idea at 
the time) I thought it would be interesting to stay the last night at one of 
the other resorts on the island that I had never stayed at.  I wound up booking 
a resort view room at the Renaissance Grand.  Within a couple of minutes of 
checking in, I knew we were in trouble.

Before I go into details of our 24 hours at the Ren, I am going to bore you 
with a general observation I made while sitting on my balcony at the Ren.  I 
think this really was a pretty much a reinforcement of something I had thought 
about many times before.  In my mind, there are two different types of resorts. 
 In previous reports I have referred to the distinction between low-rise, 
beachfront properties and high-rise hotels.  I believe that vacationers are 
usually attracted to one or the other.  I have always preferred the low-rise 
beachfronts on STT, staying at Bolongo, Morningstar, Sapphire, & Secret 
Harbour.  At those places you get larger rooms, right on the water where you 
can pretty much fall out your front door and hit the surf.  They tend to be 
smaller and quieter and often times have fewer "amenities" than the larger 
places but IMHO offer more of the "island" feel than the larger places.  
For me, the alternatives that I categorize as high-rise tend to offer more of a 
"mainland city" feel and tend to be more crowded, often having more 
decorative surroundings, higher prices and more amenities - especially room 
service. 

Having checked in at the Ren, the first thing I was told was that someone would 
be there to "drive you to your room shortly".  Having just left Secret 
Harbour where your room is a short walk from any other point on the resort, I 
was not expecting that.  So, after a ride that seemed to be about half a mile 
(I'm sure it wasn't that far really) up the side of a hill, we got to our 
room.  The room was OK, about ¼ the size of our suite at SH.  The balcony 
offered a nice view of the floral plantings on the resort and it was also about 
1/3 of the size of the balcony at SH.  We had left something in our car in the 
parking lot and I decided to go down and bring it back.  After that walk down 
and back up the hill in the heat, with the parking lot seeming to be miles 
away, I was ready to chill on the beach.  

We walked back down again through the pool area where we picked up our towels.  
The pool was absolutely packed as was the area surrounding the pool.  We got 
our towels and some drinks and headed to the beach, where we discovered we were 
two of maybe ten people on the entire stretch.

The beach itself is small and adequate for sitting.  The one end was covered 
with the jet ski rentals.  I think what I found most interesting is that the 
markers to identify how far you were allowed to swim were only about forty feet 
from shore.  But with the waves that were hitting that day, it was probably a 
good thing you weren't allowed to go out any further.

So I figured out that I gave up my large room, with a large balcony, located 
right off a beach that has beautiful, calm water and fantastic snorkeling for a 
small room with a small balcony that was more expensive than Secret Harbour and 
that was half a mile up a hill from a little beach with water that was too 
rough to do much in.  Hey, but the Ren has room service! 

I am really not trying to bash the Ren because I know folks who absolutely love 
the place.  I just want to emphasize how completely different two places on the 
same island can be and how they can appeal to different people depending upon 
what you find important in a resort. 

But the Ren also has some great employees.  As I mentioned earlier in the 
report, we went to Baywinds restaurant for dinner that night.  It was Karaoke 
night.  "Oh my god!" I thought to myself, "what have we gotten ourselves 
into?"  Anyhow, we thought we would eat and be out of there before it 
started, but the wait staff wasn't cooperating.  We wound up just getting our 
main course when the entertainment started.  By the time we were finished 
eating (and drinking a bit.....or maybe more than a bit) the show seemed to be 
getting pretty interesting.  The little kids who tried singing for the first 
time were being replaced with adults who seemed to have had some prior 
entertainment experience.  We were to find out later after many more drinks 
with those same singers at the bar, that one was Taco Joe, the AV director for 
the Ren, one was Sean, his assistant in the AV department, one was Wayne one of 
the bartenders at the place and several others were friends or co-workers who 
pretty much did this same thing at Karaoke every week.  Anyhow, we wound up 
having a great time with these folks that night.  As usual, the people we met 
made the evening worthwhile, although I believe the chances of our staying at 
the Ren in the future are extremely remote.

So, even after spending ten days in paradise, the vacation seemed to be way too 
short.  As always we tried to think up last minute justifications for calling 
back home and giving excuses as to why we just had to stay on-island longer.  
But, as in years past, we wound up getting on the plane and making the return 
home.

I have to thank one of our STT friends for her words of wisdom to me after my 
return home.  She said, "If you lived here, you would still have to deal with 
the same things, BUT you could just look out at the ocean, have a pain killer 
at Duffy's and everything would be OK again."  

This happens to be one of the most accurate statements I've ever heard.  Only 
300 plus days until our next trip to STT.

Schultz