Trip to Jamaica

We arrived in Jamaica on 9/18/2004 and stayed 8 nights at Royal Plantation.  This was our sixth stay at Royal Plantation and our 7th visit since they opened in 3/01. 

Our previous trip reports can be found at http://www.tropictravelonline.com/royalplantationreports.html. Our pictures can all be found at http://www.tropictravelonline.com/cgi-bin/gallery/gallery.cgi?Category=100602.

Trip to Jamaica and Arrival at Royal Plantation

We flew first class on Air Jamaica from Houston.  We booked it through our own website - http://www.bookmytravel.com/tto and got first class for $644 a ticket. At the time, a coach ticket was $490.   Todd and I had planned on staying 6 nights at Royal Plantation and 2 nights at Sandals Montego Bay.  Our Montego Bay nights were cancelled because they were at a discounted rate, and there were too many full-paying guests displaced by the recent Hurricane Ivan. We added two nights at Royal Plantation on a second booking at full rack rate. We booked directly with Royal Plantation.

We parked at the City Economy Lot, still $6 a day.  We shuttled to the terminal.  They passed terminal D right up and went to C first, but we made it in plenty of time.  You still can't use the lounge for British Airways at the airport. We pulled away from the gate 8 minutes early and arrived in Jamaica 5 minutes early. Service was wonderful. They started out with juice or fruit punch and cold towels.  They continued with a breakfast choice of French toast, pancakes, or omelet.  We chose the cheese omelet and had sausage and fruit, along with a pastry and Mumms champagne (first time).  They later brought more of that and also gave Todd a white wine.   The plane was half full, but they said it was heavy because passengers brought a lot more luggage. Many were worried about water, etc. so the baggage was quite heavy. 

We arrived at 10:40, 5 minutes early.  We were 3rd in line at customs, and our bags were already off (including the golf clubs) when we got downstairs. We checked out the airport changes-no tarmac (which I miss), and all the lounges are around. Sans Souci, Ritz, Half Moon, Couples, Sandals/Beaches, and Grand Lido have them. There may be others. We were invited to the Sandals one for a snack, but there were no snacks. They had fountain soda, water, and Red Stripe & Red Stripe Light on tap. This did not delay our departure.  It was nice to have a seat.  There were a lot of kids from Boscobel, and they were literally running around, but they didn't stay long.

Royal Plantation and Jamaica Tours arranged a Town Car for us.  We were early, so we were sent to the lounge, but they called someone and got us a ride in minutes.  We were called from the car to make sure we were, indeed, taken care of.  The Jamaica Tours people at Desk 13 were great to us, and we definitely had no complaints.

We always enjoy the ride up to Ocho Rios, although it has been rough a few times with the construction.  This time, more of the road was done.  There were still a few dirt sections, but it was already better than 5 months ago.  Our driver stopped halfway for about 5 minutes, but we still made it in less than 2 hours, and he drove well under the speed limit.

We arrived at 1:15, our earliest arrival in a while.  We received in-room check-in.  We were placed in a luxury room (258) in the west wing.  We've stayed next door in 259, as well as many other rooms on the property.  Our bags arrived instantly.  We had a welcome whole fruit basket and a hand made card.  The fruit basket contained grapes, bananas, papaya, mango, star fruit, an apple, and orange, and gnips. We went to Bayside for lunch.  The menu looked just like the one on TTO. They let Todd order fettuccini alfredo with chicken.  It was not on the menu, but they have always made it for him. They rang it up as jerk chicken and pasta of the day. The gazpacho was back to the old taste! I tried the weinerschnitzel! It tasted good but was thin and overcooked in the corners.   I'd rather have my seafood lunches and save room for dinner.  The schnitzel was supposed to be served with potatoes and salad, but the potatoes didn't arrive on the plate.  We also received no bread basket.

Todd and I booked Royal Plantation so that he could attend the Sandals Signature Guest 3rd annual golf tournament.  Todd played in it last year for the first time.  He arrived this time without a partner.  While dining at Bayside, we saw a couple of others that were returning for the tournament and some people they brought along. We ended up with 6 couples attending the events--3 of the couples were RP returnees, two were Sandals returnees staying at RP, and one was a new couple.  The husband was the brother of a player from last year.  Both of those couples were from Houston.

What We Saw and Heard About the Hurricane

We only saw downed trees or those sawed off. Even little tin huts were in tact. We didn't see a lot of hurricane damage on the north coast, and most we talked to felt truly blessed.  Some did lose a lot of things and needed help.  We donated to a number of people and funds.  We saw some sad folks who probably would rather have not been at work, etc., but their livelihood depends on getting paid. At the hotel, the bat tree had a few limbs chopped off. A number of other trees were chopped off, too.  Also, a lamp up on the patio broke.  The hot tub heating element went out, but while we were there, this was repaired by a stove man.  The water looked good, we saw no erosion, the water was crystal, in fact.  We were told we would not have recognized it a week earlier. People said the water was never contaminated.  A number of areas still had power outages and no running water.  Mostly, power was out where they cut it off because it was too dangerous to turn on.  Even when we left, some didn't have power, and they were sending in helicopter crews to get to the troublesome areas.  Peter and other staff members said we would not have believed the debris the week before and that you couldn't even walk in some areas because of it.
 

First Day at Royal Plantation 9/18

I went to Le Papillon to check out the caviar bar.  They were using the bar there in the restaurant.  I saw the menu but didn't see the presentation since it was mid-afternoon. That afternoon, we saw Deanna, Andre, Cordice, Ricardo (Ricky), Peter, and a few others. Several greeted us on arrival, and the others we saw when dining.

At lunch, we had our first experience with signing a bill.  We also saw a similar menu to what we are used to, but it had prices on it.  There was no problem.  We just signed and left when finished. We saw there would be a delay in waiting for the bill, similar to a regular restaurant.  We knew we were not going to like that.  Not much else was different.  We received drink service along with our meal.  All was placed on one bill.

I went to the lobby to see if Lesley (LesleyGLN from TTO) and her husband, Adrian had arrived.  They were in the lobby.  I chatted with them some and made sure they were in their room OK and then took up their paperwork for Sans Souci since they had booked this only a few days earlier, as they were also displaced from the hurricane.  They were in 302, a one category upgrade in the east wing.

We didn't make it down to the beach.  By the time we were ready to go, the thunder and dark clouds came in.  The hot tub was only 82 degrees, and we found out the hurricane had broken the heating element.  It seemed it was going to pour.  I decided to take a long, hot bath while Todd relaxed in the room.

Our room still had the old bedding and draperies.  The crystal ice bucket had been replaced with a wicker one.  We had Diet Coke instead of Diet Pepsi (something we changed ASAP) and only white wine, no red (perhaps they knew our preference).  We had the lemongrass lotion and aloe and the tropical fruit shampoo and conditioner, along with Royal Plantation soap.  Our view was great.  We had a view of the west beach, Royal Cafe, and Bayside, and we also could see over to Jamaica Inn.
 

We went down to Bayside for dinner.  Dining was inside due to the rain threat, although not a drop of rain came the entire day.  The air conditioning was not working, and the entertainment did not show up.  I got a huge headache, and all the noise drove me crazy.  I had written ahead and asked Chef Hugo if he could put veal marsala on the menu as a special.  We ordered appetizers (I had seafood cocktail & Todd had melons in port), soup (pumpkin, yum) and salad (Todd had a Caesar, and I had market salad) and then an entree.  I was just too hot and upset from the noise.  Todd ate his tenderloin. I had ordered hot tea, and it never came, but it was just way too hot anyway.  I asked to have my veal marsala sent to the room, along with a crème Brule.  Philip, the captain, was worried we didn't like the meal, but I told him it was just too loud and I couldn't sit there.  He said they couldn't deliver until we were in the room.  We went there as soon as we signed the bill. Nobody came 40 minutes later, and I finally noticed the food had been there the whole time. The brought the veal cordon bleu and not the marsala.  I was gravely disappointed, but it was well after 9, and I was very tired anyway.  We just went to bed. I had also ordered a lobster tail on the side.

Sunday 9/19

All was not lost.  I am a big lover of chilled gourmet food, so I nibbled on all my food from the night before early that morning while I gazed at the ocean and watched the water crash over the sand.  I also tried gnips for the first time and ate most of them. I wasn't happy about the veal being the wrong dish, but I did see that it was tender and nibbled on it some.

Todd left at 6:30 for the first practice day of the Sandals Signature Guest tournament.  I didn't want to eat alone and hadn't ordered room service, so my strange breakfast suited me fine.  Todd went with the other SSG tournament repeaters.  They didn't get breakfast at the course like they were supposed to and could not get any water up there either.  None was being brought in yet after the hurricane.

I hung out at the beach a couple of hours. They brought out mango mimosas to both EP and RP guests. Before I even sat down, I had my flag and some wine. At the usual time, they brought fruit to all guests. A little later, I was sprayed down w/ rose water.

When I came back to the room, Todd was back from golf. Todd shot a 94 that day in his practice. He wasn't feeling too good about the tournament.

We went down to Royal Cafe and had lunch. We had the cream of broccoli soup. He ordered the roast beef on French bread. I ordered a lobster BLT. He ordered Caesar, but they didn't have it. Another table just ordered plate after plate of grilled shrimp. They still bring the chips and salsa.

We tried the hot tub, but it was still broken from the hurricane. I went to the spa to use the steam room. It was great! I came back and sat down at the Bayside with the group of RP golfers and wives we met last year and their new companions. Bayside was serving the snack menu. It started pouring, so they were taking people there vs. the beach. They ordered key lime pie even though it wasn't on the menu and various burgers, fruit, soup and sandwiches. We had a long visit and then all left to go get ready for the golf cocktail party.
 

SSG Golf Tournament Opening Night 9/19 at Sandals Dunns River

Todd received a canvas bag, golf balls, a Beaches golf towel, and 2 golf shirts for the tournament.  Every night of the tournament, plus arrival night, he received 2 chocolate golf balls.

We were ready to go to the golf party at Dunns River a few minutes early and went to Appleton. That is when we talked to Hensley. We found out he had some roof damage and a lot of water damage to stuff, including mattress damage and car trouble.

We went through some flooding in Ocho Rios on the way to Dunns River from the afternoon's rain, and a lot of cars had trouble getting thru.

We immediately saw Shelly Anne at Dunns River and had big hugs. She was so beautiful as always and spent all evening trying to wait on guests. She is something else! They had white gloved guys all over. They gave out welcome drinks. I didn't want one. Todd had one. I tried the wine, didn't like it so got champagne. I saw Maggie from the spa, and we went over immediately and had the massage in the chair. They had 3 stations set up. We were the first ones in. Those girls were THE BEST!!!!!!!! I have always loved that spa at Dunns River because they always have a wonderful manager there that makes sure they hire an awesome staff and arrange interesting treatments. Wow! They were encouraging us to come down there for treatments. Of course, it is nice at Royal Plantation, too!

We are not dessert people, but the table was beautiful, and we walked over. These hand-made chocolates caught my eye. I tried the ones w/ the green mint on the outside, chocolate mint on the inside and then a cherry like in a chocolate cherry inside. That is about the best chocolate I have EVER eaten! Later I had to get another one!

Shelly and Lois Grant, the GM were saying, "this isn't dinner, this is just cocktails". They had tenderloin, lasagna, grilled shrimp cooked there, vegetable quesadillas and vegetable spring rolls (both were disappointing to me but all else was incredible), fabulous on-fire jerk wings, chicken satay, pork skewers, cheeses, exotic fruits, fried conch, lots of antipasto, sandwiches, etc. I am sure I forgot half of it. They had a bar setup of mixed drinks and were bringing those that wanted them blended drinks from the Tree bar. Unfortunatly they had Carlo Rossi, a wine I think Butch Stewart should BAN from the chain.
 

The lobby at Dunns is under construction again, and that doesn't give you an elegant feeling at arrival. They have fancied up the driveway area with a beautiful courtyard. They cancelled the pitch and putt due to the rain an hour or two earlier, and it was too dark for pics up there. I had planned to play, so I was a little disappointed, but not much.

They have added 2 pool tables over by the slots.
The gym area was much improved from last I saw, and the hot and cold plunge pool area and jacuzzi there looked lovely.

We had personal service with our group of 8 over to Dunns and back and selected our own time. The driver was there on the dot. One of our bunch was feeling NO pain.

 Back at RP on 9/19

Our companions all went to Le Papillon, and we went to Bayside, all of us were wondering how we would eat.

I ordered a lobster tail, and Todd ordered a filet. He ate his, and I had him bring mine to the room so I could eat it cold this morning again!
 

Todd got a canvas bag w/ signature cup 2004 on it, a golf cap, two golf shirts (one for each day), a Beaches golf towel (very nice), 6 balls, and two golf ball (full-sized)chocolates with a tee. This is scaled down from last year.

9/20  - Monday

Todd went on the 6:45 a.m. bus for the second day of practice for the SSG tournament.  They also had a couples tournament that day.  It was very popular. He got an 83 or something for a score that day.

I went to the craft stalls across the street, but everyone was gouging on the price.  One lady told me to go down the block to the grocery store to buy jerk sauce.  I did just that and bought about a dozen bottles for $69.60 a bottle and a bottle of Myers Rum. It was higher than at the airport, but the jerk sauce was a good deal since the exchange rate was abuot $60 US to the Jamaican dollar.

When Todd came back, we went up to breakfast at about 10:50. They were looking at their watch but took us. I ordered fried eggs, dry toast and home fries. I didn't get the home fries. Todd ordered omelet and blueberry pancakes.

We went to the beach. Wesley set us all up, and the girls brought the fruit by even though they had already been around. It started to sprinkle in a few minutes, and Todd went in. I stayed out w/ a towel over me until it started to rain. About 8 of us were on the beach and ran to the bar to get drinks for our rooms. By then it was POURING. People hung out there for a while. I finally gave up and took some drinks under a towel and headed up.

I watched my soaps and then we headed down to Royal Cafe, as it had just quit raining. I ordered curry apple and zucchini soup (very good) and a market salad. Todd had Cajun catfish and fries and asked for cheddar on the sandwich, along with the soup.

We went up to the non-hot tub, but it was down to 82 now. Evidentally, nobody had told Peter it wasn't working, but I did.

By this time, it was tea time, so a lot of people were there. We just went back to the room.  I had a long bath again.

We had dinner at Le Papillon. Todd wanted to make sure I said it was 50 minutes before we got our entree. We were chatting w/ another couple, and we had a good time. After we got our appetizer, everything came back to back. Ricardo dresses up in a suit and tie and does the wine. Everything is white glove. The menu is different from what is on TTO in that they have added more meat choices. They had veal, venison, sirloin, lamb chops, and chicken.

Before dinner was the manager's cocktail party. They had white and red wine, rum punch a few types of liquor and soft drinks and some sausage rolls. Quite a few attended. They had the mento band during the party and then some alternate jazz (or something, we don't know music) and then after that, it was a band playing a variety, including country. A lot of people listened to them and then went to Sandals night at Margaritaville. We did not go to Margaritaville.
 

At Le Papillon, I had a shrimp cocktail.  Todd had some fruit.  We had salads-mine had bacon, apple pieces, and some feta cheese.  We both had the normandy onion soup.  I couldn't hold much by then.  Todd had the sirloin steak, and I ordered Caribbean lobster.  By then, we had been there almost 3 hours, so I had the lobster wrapped  up, along with a mango creme brulee in puff pastry.    Todd was really wishing we had heard the fiddler that was playing by then, as the person had a lot of talent.  We dined outside. All tables were taken, and all jackets were on the back of the chair.  Ricardo did a very nice job serving the wine at dinner.  He was dressed every night in a suit and tie.  All the service upstairs was white glove.

9/21  - Tuesday

Todd went with the other golfers off to the first official day of the SSG golf tournament at 6:45 a.m.  I munched on my lobster and some fruit from our basket.  By this time, I was ready for a real breakfast.  I went down for breakfast at Bayside.  I ordered eggs, toast, and bacon.  I also had tea and champagne.  The other golf wives were down, too.  We all decided we were going to head up to the golf course for the spouse event at the tournament.

I had a facial at the spa.  They gave me a power repair.  I also added an eye treatment.  I went into the steam room afterward.  While I did the facial, the therapist put my hands in some warm mittens.  I bought a lot of Creative Scentsations lotions and lemongrass body scrub for gifts.  I finished a little after 11 a.m., and it was pouring.  I talked to Maggi, the yoga instructor and his sister.  They had some good words of wisdom for me. I went back to the room for an umbrella.  The other ladies left without me for the course, but Raymond took me up there. 

I had never been to the golf course.  Rachael Chandley was up there, along with Maggie and some of her spa staff from Dunns River.  We started out with chair massages and then moved on to mixology.  It had stopped raining.  Each of us made a drink. I wanted to make a non-alcoholic one and made a smoothie kind of thing that I named the Debbie Dud.

When the tournament day was over, everyone was back for drinks and a meal.  I just had salad because I wanted to eat at RP.  Todd also saved room when he also decided to eat at the resort.  Todd and his partner, Bill had tied for second for the day with a score of 61.  However, there were a couple of 60s and a few 61s.  They were planning to keep the clubs up at the course, but Todd wanted his bag and clubs since all his stuff was in there (like his wallet!).  No problem, we got all that and loaded with the others on the van.  By this day, they had running water.  They were still on generator power.  It was amazing how hard the staff worked to remove over 100 trees and to get this water and power going so that this tournament could go on!!!!

Back at the resort, we sat down to dine at Bayside.  The other golfers made fun of us for eating again, but minutes later, we saw most of them sitting down at Royal Cafe.  They must have liked our idea. Todd had the fillet steak with eggs benedict.  I had the gazpacho, salad and seafood crepe.  I also had a lemon sorbet. 

We got our bathing suits on and went to the beach and hot tub. It was this day, I believe that it got fixed, and it was just starting to heat up. It had made it to 89. Todd got bit by something that day, but since there wasn't much sun, he didn't burn.

It started to rain again after we got settled into beach chairs. Todd ran to the room.  I ran with about 6 others to the beach bar to wait it out.  Everyone had drinks trying to wait. I finally decided it wasn't clearing up and made a run for the room.  We both had a nice bath that evening and decided to venture back out for the beach party.  This week it had been rescheduled to Tuesday because there was a group of 36 travel writers, tour operators, and agents there to inspect the state of RP and other resorts after the hurricane.

The beach BBQ was held up on the Bayside terrace, and dining was inside. This was scaled down a lot from before. No pig, no grilled lobster. They had grilled shrimp, jerk pork, jerk chicken and pasta to order, lots of seafood salads, scallops in the shell, other salads, fruits, and a lot of desserts, including bananas foster. We wished we had ordered room service or gone with the other RP returnees to Dunns River to the Italian place.  Oh, well, we had already had so many big meals during the trip, we were happy to not have a big one.  This would have been a pricey night on EP.  I did get tea and relaxed over that.

We thought there was no show, and we were tired. Todd and I were headed to the room and the juggler/fire guy suddenly came out. I said I wanted to take one picture of the juggler and would be to the room in a minute. I ended up back at the room over 4 hours later. I watched the juggler/fire guy and listened to the steel band w/ Lesley and Adrian and some others and chatted until after 1 a.m., a Debbie first. Butch Stewart came over to see me that night, and he and I and the others had a very nice visit. He came to see all of us that were chatting on the tea terrace and then I talked to him some more in Appleton. He was very gracious and was telling us about Whitehouse and other areas and what was damaged.  Before that, Peter was telling us about the hurricane group in the conference room and how they bedded down but still had the cooks there, etc.

9/22 - Wednesday

Todd went out at 6:45 again for the last day of the tournament.  Today, there was no rain. 

While he was gone, I went down at 9 a.m. for the glass bottom.  I found out it was at 10 a.m., but when the guys found out I was all disappointed, Wesley took me out for my own ride. I wanted to see the progress at Sandals Ocho Rios on the Grande Sport side and any damage.  They have not done the pier or other upgrades down there that I could see. They have been concentrating up the hill on the zero entry pool, etc.  I saw a lot of roof damage on the Grande Sport beach snack hut.  Wesley took me out to the reef.  The water was crystal clear, and we saw 20 feet down plain as day from the side of the boat.  A huge snapper was circling all around us.  We saw a lot of colorful fish, too.  We went over by Jamaica Inn, too.  They were not open.

I spent a lot of time in the pool and at the beach.  I was surprised that the golfers didn't come back until 2 p.m.  I got Todd to go with me to the Royal Cafe.  I tried the crab cakes but didn't like them. We both had cream of fennel soup and salads.

The hot tub was a perfect temperature, and we sat in there for a while and then went back by Appleton for drinks before going to the room to get ready for Boscobel for the final golf tournament outing.

We went on a bus with the people from Sandals Ocho Rios. It was already almost dark when we got to Boscobel, even though it was only a little after 6 p.m.  We had a cocktail party out on the lawn with the Sesame Street characters Zoe and Cookie Monster.  Shelley Anne, Deja Jones, and Rachael were there.  Todd and his partner, Bill, tied for 3rd and won a golf umbrella that looks very nice and is huge.  Todd won first place in the charity event.  He hit 3 out of 5 balls into some lake setup.  Only one other person got more than one ball in there, and they also gave him a prize. That was Ric.  He also played last year.  The prize for that was a bottle of Appleton Reserve and two glasses.  They had a lot of appetizers at this function, too.  I was off most of the time taking pics and trying to avoid the HUGE mosquitoes.

After all the prizes were given, they took us down to dinner out on a patio.  There were no mosquitoes there.  We had nice salads.  The chef came out and explained all the recipes, and we had and the best entree of the trip.  The tenderloins were SOOOO tender and in the best sauce.  We also had lobster tails.  The vegetables were very nice. Todd and I didn't eat dessert. It was a cheesecake.  We watched the entertainment, a nice singer and band, until our driver came to take us all back to Sandals Ocho Rios and Royal Plantation.  The group was very lively and chatty on the way back, discussing all the golf events of the four days.  They were all about golfed out, though. At the dinner, they received an Appleton hat and a small bottle of rum.

9/23 - Thursday

We were surprised to find a buffet when we went to breakfast. It had many Jamaican items and only a small selection of what is normally offered. They had cheeses, smoked salmon and marlin, sausage & bacon, pancakes, French toast, eggs to order, avocado, and a very small selection of fruits. Other guests were very pleased by this because of the seafood omelets, but I ordered lobster scrambled eggs and got shrimp ones. This was the 6th meal at Bayside that was not what I ordered. They also had pastries, such as the chocolate croissants. This buffet was served because there was a large group there,  and we came at the tail end of it.

After that, we enjoyed the hot tub for a long while. I also had a deluxe massage sampler.  This was not really what I had in mind, though I have had it before.  I wanted 80 minutes of massage with emphasis on the shoulders and neck, which I wrote on the form, but instead, I got a reflexology with about a 50 minute massage.  I didn't say anything to the therapist, though, so it was my own fault.  I had a nice steam.

For lunch, we ate mid afternoon at Royal Cafe. There was a great soup called crème crey. I don't know what it was, but it was very good.  We went to the beach together, and then I stayed out longer and got in the water.

For dinner,  we had a lovely dinner and cocktail party for the RP returnees with Suzanne and Peter. That was at Le Papillon. We had a shrimp appetizer and then a tuna appetizer (raw).  We had soup (spicy pumpkin). We had steak and lobster. For dessert, we were served mango crème Brule in phyllo pastry and then petit fours. We had kir royales and then white and red wine. It was a pleasant evening with a lot of visiting. We could hear the entertainers from the background, and they were coming on for a second set when we finished dining.

9/24 - Friday

I had ordered room service to be delivered. I left the time off, so Lenard Livermore called at 6:40 a.m. to find out what time we wanted it delivered.  I said to bring it between 8:30 and 9:00 a.m. When I filled it out, I was tired, and the tag was different and didn't have omelets on it.  I had intended to write one in, but I didn't.  I ordered a steak and some eggs and potatoes and 2 juices and a tea and some fruit.  Lenard brought everything and came back with an omelet in a few short minutes.  It was amazing.  He said new tags will be coming out soon.

We had lunch up at Bayside and spent some time in the pool and jacuzzi.

It rained in the afternoon and did clear up. There was a huge storm, and there was a power outage.  Our keys got deactivated, and we were locked out of our room. This was corrected fairly quickly.  Meanwhile, the maid didn't come that day, nor did the bar concierge until we called twice.  Since we had two bookings, they thought we checked out, although I tried to make sure this wouldn't happen when we checked in the previous Saturday and had also rechecked in at 10 a.m. that day.

We attended Lesley's and Adrian's vow renewal for their 35th anniversary in the drawing room.  Andre had arranged everything.  Another couple, Harriet and Charlie, attended, too.  We had fruit cake and champagne.  Lesley's dress was just beautiful, and Adrian looked very dapper.  They danced, too. 

We had a wonderful dinner at Bayside--potstickers, cream of vegetable soup, I had market salad & Todd had melon balls, he had a tenderloin, and I had the marvelous veal dish from Le Papillon. No dessert. A lovely duo of percussions  and a flutist (who alternated between singing and playing) performed easy listening 70s tunes. It was a spectacular evening.

We had a lovely gift on our bed. It was a bag like they put coffee in and contained 3 "fizzes" of lavender and calendula for the bath. 

9/25 - Saturday & 9/26 - Sunday

I didn't take notes those days, so it all blended together. 

On Saturday night, we went to Bayside.  I had frog legs for an appetizer.  Todd had potstickers when I had appetizer and when I had salad.  We had a soup we didn't really care for. I had lobster, and Todd had a steak.

The front desk decided to surprise us with flower petals on the bed because I was upset about the keys getting deactivated, etc.  That was a lovely touch.  I think they planned more, but we kept coming back to the room.

On Sunday, we did the Air Jamaica check-in.  We had the bags out after 7 a.m., and we were all set by 7:30.  We went to Bayside to breakfast.  Todd had blueberry pancakes.  I had boiled eggs and toast and papaya. 

We went out in the glass bottom boat together.  It was not as clear as the previous time, but we saw a lot of fish, including the snapper again. We also sat on the beach, went in the pool and in the jacuzzi.  Todd went up at 10:45, and I stayed out until 11:30.  We had extended our room until 1 p.m., our departure time.

We got dressed to go and went down to the end of the month Sunday brunch.  There were no breakfast items, not one, so I don't know why they called it that.  They also had Royal Cafe open.  I went downstairs for cream of broccoli soup.  I had crab legs, brule tart, chocolate pudding (the cake with liquer), and some cherry puff pastry.  Todd had prime rib and some other stuff.  We got our bags from the room and said goodbyes.  We took some water and drinks in the Town Car and headed out shortly after 1 p.m.

We got to the airport just before 3 p.m.  We went up to the first class lounge and were there before 3:15.  We boarded in about an hour.  We got back at 8:05 as planned.  Our bags took a while to come off.  We were home at about 9:45.

Service:

We enjoyed our trip very much. It did rain seven out of nine days we were there and rained one to six hours. We could always leave our French balcony open and look out. There were so many storms out at sea, it is no wonder. There were still always at least 6 hours a day of sun most of the time since it was beautiful out at 7 or 8 a.m. We will be back sometime in the first half of next year, I am sure.