Anguilla

We took this vacation Easter week 2007.

GETTING THERE: We flew Newark to St. Maarten on a non-stop Continental flight. We left 50 minutes late but landed only 5 minutes behind schedule at 12:10pm. Immigration and getting our luggage took about 30 minutes. The 20-minute taxi ride to Marigot Port cost $18 (before tip). We had to wait about 30 minutes for the next ferry ($12/adult + $8/our son). Going through Anguilla immigration took about 15-20 minutes. Then it was a short cab ride to our hotel. All in all, it took us about 2 hours from the time we landed to the time we got to our room. We were on the beach by 2:30pm.

HOTEL: We stayed at the Rendezvous Bay Hotel and Villas. We were sold by a Trip Advisor photo which was taken from inside the guest's first floor beach villa room looking out the door toward the beach/water. WOW. We wanted that view too. The cost for it, especially compared to the other resorts, was a pretty big selling point as well.

~ ROOM: We booked a first floor beach villa room. I actually thought all the villas had 2 floors. Not true. We were in #15, a one floor only villa room (the next to last  one at the end of the beach). The room is spacious, clean and airy with vaulted ceilings. It has a mini-fridge, a.c., ceiling fan, safe (big enough  for our son's  portable dvd player and other items)and a powerful hairdryer. There is no tv (which we loved) but you can get one on request. There's also a huge patio with a bucket of water on the steps, so you can clean your feet after beach time and avoid tracking wet sand into the room. The water is changed every morning. Be aware that the sound of the waves can clearly be heard. We loved falling asleep to it every night, but it could be a problem for some. The biggest positive to the beach villa rooms is being just steps away from the water.

Now for the negatives. The room is spartan and dated. Some towels had wear and tear. The water pressure is not great. There's low light in the bathroom (not conducive to applying makeup before an evening out). There are hangers but none for skirts. I don't know about you but I love to wear them in the Caribbean so I was not very pleased about that. The 2 double-doors to the patio are old and have gaps around the frame which probably makes it easier for mosquitoes to get into the room... which brings me to the biggest negative (at least to me): those darn mosquitoes!! They are RELENTLESS. They would get in the room every day. They lay in wait by the front door and the patio doors. Thanks to a previous review, I was aware of the problem. We brought a HUGE can of Raid and Off spray. Both my son and I still got bitten (maybe 10 bites each). My husband who NEVER gets bitten got 2 bites. There's your proof to how RELENTLESS they are! It would have been much worse without Raid and Off.

~ BEACH: Sigh.......... Forget all the negatives I listed! Uh, except the mosquitoes. :-)

~ FOOD: Cedar Grove Cafe's food is very good. We had breakfast there every morning, lunch once and dinner once. My detailed review is in the restaurant review section below.  The restaurant is a 5-minute leisurely walk from the villas.

~ STAFF/SERVICE: Bart, the hotel manager, is great.  We weren't very impressed by the wait staff at the  restaurant.  We thought they lacked warmth,  except for one young waitress . As our stay progressed, the other waitresses became friendlier.

~ RENTAL CAR: We rented a Toyota Corolla through the hotel for 4 full days. No problems.

~ BEST OF RBH: Rex and Earl... the resort's beautiful sweet dogs.

THOUGHTS: We really liked RBH. It was all very laid back and quiet. If we were to go back to Anguilla and the resort hadn't shut down, we would absolutely consider staying there again.

BEACHES: Picture perfect. Our favorites were Rendezvous Bay, Shoal Bay West and Savannah Bay.

Shoal Bay West

Savannah Bay

Savannah Bay

Shoal Bay East

Maunday's Bay

Meads Bay

Little Bay

RESTAURANTS: Planning this part of our trip was sooooo hard. Why? Too many choices, too little time. The restaurants we visited all had a service charge included in the bill. You can add a tip if you chose to.

BREAKFAST:

~ CEDAR GROVE CAFE: For convenience sake (read: 5-year-old child), we chose to have breakfast at RBH each morning. The food was consistently good. Our usual breakfast was 2 orders of scrambled eggs with toast ($8/person), 1 cheese omelette with toast ($10) + 3 juices ($4/juice). Total: $41.80 (includes a 10% service charge). One day, I tried their plain pancakes. You get 3 thick ones ($8). Very good. A copy of the NY Times Digest is provided at the breakfast table.

LUNCH:

~ CEDAR GROVE CAFE: We actually did room service. It would have been nice to eat out on the patio but the mosquitoes would have had a field day with my son and me. We had a cheeseburger with fries ($12), a grilled chicken breast on a sesame seed bun ($12) + 4 slices of white bread (to make our son jelly sandwiches). With 2 cokes + 1 juice, total came to $48.50 (includes $5 delivery charge and 10% service charge). The food was good.

~ GWEN'S REGGAE GRILL: We had lunch there after spending the morning on Shoal Bay East. We had a chicken salad ($12), a chicken sandwich with fries ($10), a cheeseburger with fries ($10). With a mango daiquiri + 2 juices, total came to $43. We were not impressed.

~ TRATTORIA TRAMONTO: What a lovely restaurant. We had lunch there after spending the morning on Shoal Bay West. As I mentioned before, you can use their beach chairs for free if you have lunch there. I had the mussels ($16). My husband had the penne pasta with basil and tomato sauce ($14). Our son had the penne pasta with tomato sauce ($14). With 2 juices + 1 coke + 1 bottled water, the cost came to $69 (includes 15% service charge). Despite the lovely setting and good service, we thought the food was just okay.

~ ROY'S BAYSIDE GRILL: This is another casual place in a very nice setting. However, the service was SLOW and INDIFFERENT and the food was BLAH. I had the caesar salad ($10). My husband had the grilled cheese with fries ($12). Our son had a bowl of fries ($3). With 1 coke + 1 Juice + 1 small bottled water, total came to $39.10 (includes 15% service charge).

DINNER:

~ CEDAR GROVE CAFE: We have such mixed feelings about our one dinner there. The food was OUTSTANDING (frankly, the best dinner we had our entire stay on the island) but the service left a lot to be desired. Bottom line, we sat down for dinner at 7pm and didn't get out of there till a little after 9pm. We only had entrees. No appetizers, no desserts. Ugh. When we got the bill, we were charged for a soup we didn't have. When we pointed it out to the young lady (we were not rude about it), she just took the bill, made the change while NOT uttering a word to us. Double ugh. Anyway, moving on to the outstanding food: Our son had the penne pasta ($8). I had the night's special, a swordfish in creole sauce with curried yam in a bed of plantains ($34). My husband had the seared cajun spiced loin of yellow fin tuna. May we say YUMMY and YUMMY?! Both of our fish were WONDERFUL. With a fruit punch + a rum punch + a bottled water, dinner came to $86.45 (includes 10% service charge).

 ~ STRAW HAT: What a FANTASTIC looking place. I can't begin to describe it as I wouldn't do it justice. All I can say is that it's on the water with flood lights illuminating the surrounding water and the boats bobbing in the water. And I love the fact that all the lamp shades are actually straw hats. The staff/service was very good. The food was good, but not great. It's a popular restaurant. A lot of people showed up for dinner and it did get kind of loud. Our son had the fettucine with tomato sauce ($9). Both my husband and I had the seared filet of red snapper ($29/each) with a side of plantains and mashed potatoes ($6/each). For dessert, I had the caramelized bananas broiled with sugar served with vanilla ice cream ($11). With 1 ti punch + 2 juices, total came to $124.20 (includes 15% service charge).

~ FLAVOURS: This is another lovely open air restaurant with great views of Road Bay. We noticed right away that Flavours had more choices on its menu than the other places we had been to. Instead of the standard bread, fried cakes with salsa on the side were brought to the table. They were DELICIOUS. Then we were brought some pumpkin soup, compliments of the chef. That was also VERY GOOD. My husband had the garlic flavored Tilapia ($22). I had the broiled spare ribs in special bbq sauce ($22).  With 1 bottled water + 1 glass of wine + 1 coke + 1 juice, total came to $73 (includes 15% service charge). The food and the staff/service were VERY GOOD. Christine, the French owner, is so nice. We recommend Flavours.

 ~ BANANAS BY THE SEA: This restaurant is open air and right on Meads Bay. We LOVED the look, the atmosphere, our wonderful waitress Marceer (sp?) and Bob (the owner?). We HIGHLY recommend this place. Both my husband and I had the shrimp scampi with white wine, butter and an ingredient they won't divulge ($32/each). Simply DIVINE! For dessert, I had the chocolate souffle with bailey creme ($12). YUMMY! With 1 glass of wine + 1 coke + 1 juice + 1 bottled water, our dinner came to $108 (includes 15% service charge).

~ CAPRICE: Our final WONDERFUL dinner on Anguilla. This is a CLASSY Italian restaurant with GREAT food and GREAT service. Even though it's not on the water, you still get a great view of St. Maarten at night. You can have dinner in an enclosed terrace or inside. We were seated on the terrace which has sliding windows. They were open and a lovely breeze could be felt. We HIGHLY recommend Caprice. Both my husband and I had the lasagna alla bolognese ($26/each). For dessert, my husband had the white and black chocolate salami. Don't recoil! It's not really salami ($16). I had the creme brulee ($14). With 1 glass of wine + 1 coke + 1 juice + 1 bottled water, dinner came to $126.50 (15% service charge included).

~~ OTHER STUFF ~~

WEATHER/WATER TEMP: We had GREAT weather, except for one day. That day it rained in the morning for no more than 5 minutes, then the rest of the day remained windy and overcast. The other days were sunny and hot. There were a couple of days when I thought the water temp was a little cool, but overall the water was nice.

CONSTRUCTION: I read a lot about it before our trip, as well as the concerns about how Anguilla is changing. Obviously, I can't make any comparisons since this was a first trip. We did find the island to be very under-developed compared to other islands we've been to. We really liked the fact that the resorts lining the beaches are not on top of each other. But who knows what the future will bring, right? :-(

RETURNING HOME: It took us about 1 hour 1/2 from the time we left our RBH room till we were sitting in the SXM airport lounge. Much faster and easier than coming in, we thought. I have to share a celebrity-on-our-flight-moment. We were one of the first people on board but didn't really pay attention to who was coming in after us. Before taking off, the flight attendant proceeded to move the row behind us to 2 rows in front of us on the other side. I looked up and who did I think I saw? Meryl Streep. But then I thought it couldn't be her. We were in coach! So I told my husband "the woman in the hat who just got up looks just like Meryl Streep". A few minutes later, my husband said "It has to be her, the woman sitting next the aisle next to her has a movie script in her hand". Fine detectives we are, aren't we? LOL! Anyway, to make a long story short, it was her traveling with 5 or 6 people. I'm sure other people noticed her but no one bothered her. Very cool.

PLANNING OUR TRIP: I can't say enough good things about www.anguillaforum.com and www.anguillaguide.com. Those 2 sites were really helpful during the planning stage of our trip. You should absolutely use them if you're going to Anguilla.