Royal Plantation November 8 – 15, 2008

Finally coming back to life a little anyway.

I think that early flight out of Miami might be the way to go even though we have to get up in the middle of the night to make it.  Even though we flew about  an hour out of our way (went over Haiti) to miss the storm, when we arrived there was absolutely no one in immigration or customs, blew right through both and was out the door in 15 minutes.

After we arrived, went down to the beach for a drink and to watch the surf.  The largest waves we have ever seen at RP, one came over the pier and washed a heavy wooden lounger and table right off.  Peter later told us, he was looking out his window and when he saw that all he could think about was tsunami.  Crazy people out in it even though the red flag was up, guess they never heard of an undertow.

I had emailed ahead for reservations at Papillion for 7:30.  Not the best meal we had, soup was clear broth with some finely chopped vegetables in the bottom, my veal was cooked to a frazzle although Jane's tenderloin was very good.

Went to Mystic Mountain Sunday, had a good time although our driver was in a hurry to get us back.  I think next time, we'll just get a cab and go on our own as we both could have done the bobsled again and I think Jane would have ziplined.  Dined on the terrace this evening, had a choice of two different fish, lamb, chicken and pasta, no beef?  The fish I had was terrible and again Jane's pasta was good.  I was beginning to wonder if this was going to be the norm.  Also out of fried cheese cake which I have always wanted to try but usually too full to order when we're out.

Turned out is was not the norm, everything we had from here on out was excellent although other than the bar-b-que this was the last time we dined on the terrace.  The beach grill is fantastic, good menu, very well prepared.  Dined there twice in the evening and three times for breakfast.  They move the breakfast buffet down there and leave the a la carte up. It was nice sitting that close to the beach having breakfast.  On our departure day we had breakfast on the terrace and I got the feeling they were very glad to see us, don't think they have much activity up there.  The returning guest dinner was in the conference room and again everything was great, even had a tuna egg roll that was good but way too big. I think the main course was surf and turf but I had two or three glasses of wine which always does me in, got to stay away from wine. I think we missed the best entertainment they had since we were over in the conference room, only caught the last song but she sounded very good. Dined at Papillion one more time and again everything was excellent. All in all the dining was much improved over last time and more like you should expect.

I went to the golf course twice, this being the first time I had not taken my clubs with and I'll probably never drag them with again.  It was so much nicer getting through immigration and customs both ways without them.  After the first time they had a chair masseuse at the course for $1.00 a minute, felt good after a round but she was not there the next time, Oh well.

Speaking of that, went to the spa for a massage on Friday before we left.  No problems with the massage but they are getting way too expensive ($150, 80 minutes) and are too pushy with those products.  Not what you would expect at a 5* resort but certainly not going to keep us from going back but will probably not use the spa again.

Went on a tour of a coffee plantation, kind of pricy but very educational and nice.  Left at 8, got back at 3 so a long day with lots of riding.  The place they took us to really was not set up to do tours but I think that's what made this trip.  The guy that did the tour was the working foreman for the plantation, very knowledgeable and interesting.  They took us around the plantation in the back of a pickup, sitting on a bench with a foam cushion on it, holding on to the side of the pickup. Kind of funny if you think about all the rules and regulations they would have to follow here to do this.  Seen where some of the workers lived, some of their farms etc. again very interesting.  Probably wouldn't go again but would recommend to anyone else if they are interested in this sort of thing. 

Peter was nice enough to arrange a sandwitch for us for our trip back and they even had our same driver (Orville) that brought us to take us back.  Probably had something to do with us requesting him for our coffee plantation trip.  He had some kind of Toyota for a car that had a big back seat.  Most comfortable ride we have ever had. 

Thank you

Tom