From: Trae, sosteel@aol.com
Date: 8/20/03 9:13:14 AM
Remote Name: 172.148.124.135
The family that owns the Marriott property began in the chemical business and makes many PVC products. Many of the items you'll see in the hotel, from the cabanas on the beach to the piece of PVC pipe that serves as a crossmember on the pool chair canopies came from their company.
I haven't really posted much on that property yet, so I'll use this time to do it. We had a great time there, primarily because we stayed in one of the villas in a third floor room. It gave us a great view of the pool and beach, plus views of the southern end of the island. The room was first rate with lots of space and nice appointments like the bar, fridge, safe, and so on (oh yes, even a bidet for all you Euro types, lol).
The beach, pool, and cabana bar were terrific, very laid back and never crowded. Staff was excellent and the room service superb (food quality was first rate and it always arrived hot). Take away the five-story monstrosity behind all that and it would be perfect. It's beautiful inside but reminds me too much of all the corporate Marriotts I stay in when I'm on the road for business. I would not want to be there once it's up and running and completely full.
Some sour notes: I was not impressed with the restaurants in the hotel and I got food poisoning from the lamb chops I had at the Grill. It dogged me for almost 48 hours. And yes, I'm 100 percent sure that's what caused it. We walked northwest along the beach a couple of times around the point and it's filthy over there. My guess is that it's a favorite spot for local residents to party and they don't bother to clean up. We picked up quite a bit of trash out of the surf line.
The Marriott cleans their section every morning, rakes it, and even picks up the seaweed. However, the one thing they can't completely eliminate are the butts. I'm a former smoker and my wife still smokes; that empty beer can or cup you just consumed from is perfect for collecting your butts. After you've ground it out in the sand, don't leave it there, put it somewhere so you can throw it away. I've seen this on Sint Maarten and Antigua too and it drives me crazy. And it's not just folks from the States: I saw a large group of Spaniards and another German couple doing the same thing.