We had the most incredibly perfect trip - topped off by the fact that we
were celebrating our 20 year anniversary.  We can't decide what was more
special - our 15 year there when we renewed our vows or our 20th with a
beautiful beach dinner on a Persian rug surrounded by tiki torches and
bonfires (the first at RP where they rolled out the carpet). They blocked
off the west beach, and we had our own chef and waiter.  They made all our
favorites (lobster, steak, shrimp, and lamb chops).  This was complimented
with lobster and salmon appetizers plus a crème Brule and a special 20th
anniversary vanilla and chocolate cake. We had a bottle of white wine, red
wine, and a bottle of Veuve Clicquot. It was all magical. And, our dear
friends Geoff and June from England were there to share it with us.

Peter, Suzanne, Andre, Marc and the staff went completely out of their way
for us - treating us as true royal returnees. I truly can't even begin to
tell you how amazing it was. All of the staff were absolutely amazing. We
can't wait to see them all again - Simone, Siboney, Natalie, Latoya, Marcia,
Ivorene, , Marlisa, Mr. Black, Dorothea, Ernestine, Rhona, Esther,
Shawn, Donald, Stevens, Dwight, Garry, Ian, Leon, O'Rayne, Audell, Joshua,
Cleon, Anna Kaye, Durrant, and more! We are already planning to go back for
our 9th stay (11 visit) next September - if we can wait that long. And, we
loved the fact that every night Peter would wait to have a night cap with
us - it was just so special.

As I posted earlier, we were in one of the 55 rooms (355) because Randy
loves the lounger out there. On the first night he slept straight through on
the balcony till 5AM. Every other night he joined me after about an hour of
being put to sleep by the ocean and tree frogs because he loved the duvet
which he calls a "dubai".

I didn't keep track of all our food choices each day, but I can tell you
that I thought the food was as good if not better as it was when Chef Hugo
used to be there.  We only ate at La Terraza once as we prefer the Le
Papillion menu and eating on the balcony.  It doesn't really matter where you
eat, though, as they allow you to order off of either restaurant menu (or
room service menu).I did save the returning guest menu and have listed it
below.

WINES
WHITE
Mitre D' Or Grand Vin
Dazaley Emil Nuesch 2003

RED
Beringer Stone Cellars Merlot 2004
California

APPETIZER
Duck Confit, Blueberry sauce nestled on portabella mushrooms ragout

SOUP
Callaloo and lobster bisque perfumed with tear drops of scotch bonnet oil

FISH COURSE
Herb crusted salmon filler, green pea sauce, sun dried and cherry tomato
relish

SORBET
Champagne

ENTREE
Seared jumbo prawns with lamb medallion, coconut mint sauce, potato puff,
and glazed asparagus

DESSERT
White mousse presented in delicate pastry shaped basket


We thought it was one of the best returning guest dinners ever - even though
Surf & Turf is my favorite.  It became a joke about me and lobster with all
the waiters.  They knew that no matter what I ordered (steak, lamb, veal,
duck, or grouper) that I got a lobster tail on the side.  On one night,
Randy had us get the waiter going . What we did was each ask for a lobster
tail on the side when we ordered dessert  (we had dinner every night with
Geoff & June).  The waiter looked at us funny, but wrote it down without
questioning it. Then, as he was walking away to go put the order in, Randy
told him it was a joke and we didn't really want the lobster tail.  The
waiter thought it was a riot because he knew we were getting him back for
one he pulled one over on us earlier in the evening. Basically, when they
brought the 4 meals out with the silver lids on them, they set mine in front
of me and Randy's in front of him saying it was steak. Well, we had both
ordered veal and our friends had ordered the steak. Randy offered for us to
switch chairs, but they said they would switch it once they took off the
lids.  However, when they took the lids off, they truly had it correct and
were just teasing us. They loved having a good time with us and visa versa.

We went over to SGOR for breakfast 1 day. We had an omelet that was good
(cooked to order).  The pancakes and French toast were ice cold, but it was
nice to have a quick breakfast since they are still an hour or more at RP.
Although RP does now have an express breakfast (eggs, bacon, and toast) that
is supposed to be delivered in 15 minutes.  We didn't try this so don't know
if it is really express or not.  We also took the shuttle from SOR over to
SDR on Friday morning. We had breakfast over there and it was great. We were
just going to stay for an hour or so, but discovered they had the new brick
oven pizza so stayed for lunch and jumped on the 2:15PM shuttle.  We enjoyed
the water fall in the pool sitting on the seat just listening to it and had
the infamous pina colada with "lead in the pencil" - rum poured in to the
straw so your first sip is all alcohol. I also did the water aquacize class
and Randy got to play a couple of beach volleyball games - although he
missed his buddy Brad. He was really impressed with the court as the whole
time they played, one of the playmakers was watering it down to keep the
sand soft - he said it was great. We plan to do SDR a couple times on our
trip the next time.

One very special part of our trip was getting to see Simone's little guy.
They allowed her to bring him (Joshua) on property for a short 10 minute
visit. We stayed in the courtyard outside the gift shop to make sure no
guests would be upset by having a baby on the premises.  Although I can't
imagine anyone not enjoying such as beautiful baby.

We kept busier on this vacation than any other. All the tours and going off
property helped us not to just eat and drink all day.  We did end up gaining
4-5 lbs over the 9 days / 8 nights even with exercising every day. I don't
even exercise at home because I work 12-14 hour days, but have to do it on
vacation so I don't gain 10 lbs.  We had them give us a 6AM wake up call
every morning (sounds horrible, but really wasn't) and would be in the gym
by 6:30AM so we could go on the tours for 8:05AM and grab coffee and a
danish in between.  We had so much energy that we even did it on the days we
weren't going off property.  We both amazingly stayed up till midnight every
night and had more energy then ever before.

The 3 tours we did included:
  a.. Canopy (Zip Line)
  b.. Mountain to Sea Bike
  c.. ATV Adventure
We loved all 3 of them.

We had originally planned to do the Bike Tour and then learned about the
Canopy Tour.  Our friends from England (in their 70s) weren't up for either
of those, but were willing to try the ATVs, so we decided to do that too.
Not to mention that Debbie alerted me to a 2 for 1 special if you booked on
the website, so it was $88, $60, and $75 per couple for the Canopy, Bike,
and ATV tour, respectively.  You couldn't beat it.  I would even recommend
all 3 at full price.  The only down side was that they picked us up at 8:05
AM every morning for a 9AM tour because we had to stop at different hotels -
typically 4 others including Sandals Grande Ocho Rios, Sea Castle or Sunset
in downtown, Sandals Dunns River, and RIU.  So, next time we would probably
do 2 tours right after each other to cut down on the commute time to and
from.

They recommend long pants and sneakers on the canopy.  We did wear them, but
you could have gotten away with shorts as long as they are longer since they
put you in a harness and if they were shorter, it might rub you.  For the
Bike and ATV tours we wore shorts. For all 3 we wore sneakers.  Some folks
wore water shoes or strapped sandals, but I would recommend sneakers.  We
also took Off insect repellant and didn't get any bites.  We didn't notice
any bugs and it didn't seem that others got any bites, but you are in the
jungle so I would recommend bug repellant as a safe guard.

Our friends (in their 70s) went with us on the ATV tour and we had a great
time. No rain - the weather was picture perfect. We also got a ride back in
one of the new Mercedes - they just bought 6 of them and had come in the
week before. We were the first guests to ride in this one - less than a 100
miles - so cool. They placed 2 Heineken beers, 2 waters, and 2 royal club
sandwiches (bacon, lettuce, tomato, smoked turkey, and egg) in the back seat
for us. We only drank one of the waters, ate one sandwich, and left the
beers :-) Our flight out of MoBay left almost a half hour early to Dallas so
we caught an early flight to Austin. Then our luggage was the first 4 out of
10 off the belt. I had rented a compact car from Avis to go from the airport
to home (we then drop it off at the local Avis office) and we ended up with
a Buick Lucerne with XM satellite radio. So this just capped off what was
already a fabulous trip.

On each tour they provided refreshments and the guides were all top notch.
On the Canopy Tour you just got water from a big cooler.  On the bike tour,
you got water from the cooler, then stopped at a tavern where you got a free
Pepsi or Ting and cod fish with yams to sample, and ended with snorkeling
(where I jumped off the cliff 20 feet into the water below) with a rum or
fruit punch at the end.  On the ATV, they did bottled water. All equipment
was in excellent condition. For more details, you can get a description and
see a photo at: http://www.chukkacaribbean.com/

We also indulged in  3 spa days.  We did two scrub-a-dub-dubs Two in a Tub
where it is a couples treatment that includes a body scrub, jacuzzi
hydrotherapy seaweed bath, and a 35 minute massage that we added an
additional 15 minutes too. We did this on Saturday (the day after we got
there) and the day before we left (Friday) and our skin felt amazing. It was
$295 for a couple and then I think it was $60 or so to add 15 minutes to
both of our massages.  We also did an 80 minute sampler massage on Wednesday
for our anniversary.  I had told Randy that the spa treatments were our
anniversary gift to each other, but he ended up buying me the MOST BEAUTIFUL
3 carat diamond bangle bracelet to celebrate our 20 years together.  When we
got back, I bought him Madden 08 Football for the Wii which he loves, but I
think I made out in the deal.

I can't begin to convey what an absolutely awesome trip we had. Debbie has
posted all our photos.

RP is still our home away from home and we can't wait to go back to see
everyone.