What a pleasant way to pass the morning. Sitting under an umbrella, on the pool deck of the Virgin Islands Renaissance Grand Beach Resort. The event was the Doug Banks live radio show with J. Jackson, a most charming young lady and Banks, a most amenable young man.
The show was a study in radio techniques with the added flip of walk up audience participation. When I got there, a line of ladies and gentlemen were getting pictures of the show regulars autographed by the working regulars. Literally working the air waves while carrying on with the autograph seekers.
The whole tone was "laid back" due to the personalities of the talent and the obvious enchantment of the audience. No push, no shove, simply a good time. People coming together to enjoy the sun, the atmosphere, a few well-known personalities, and each other. If this is the essence of Sinbad, sign us up for more.
Even the press room is laid back. When queried for names and spellings, the phones simply rang until the system informed the caller its "memory is full." Unfortunately, the radio shows didn't rate extensive press releases, but I am sure that is not a big thing in the scheme of life. To meet these people is simply to want to know more and there are several more shows to come.
Talking to some of the audience, it became clear we have a ways to go to maximize our benefit from this event. A couple from Sacramento, California; several young ladies from the mid west; and several more from greater New York all had the same comments. One hundred percent of the eight individuals polled have followed Sinbad on HBO and are simply enthralled with his act and his companions.
The Sacramento couple has seen every HBO Festival and had decided this year was the year. They were especially excited the festival was going to be in the Virgin Islands as they also had a yearning to try us out. Their only problems were with the travel agent's lack of knowledge concerning the islands. Unfortunately the agent had read somewhere that St. John was undeveloped and had taken this to mean it was a poor house not worth visiting. Given this wonderful start, the couple was talked into a charter tour which only covered the festival proper; Wednesday to Monday. They would like to stay for at least a week and really get into the islands. The bad news is they must take the Monday charter back to New Jersey, then a scheduled airline to Sacramento. The good news is they definitely plan to return given what they have seen in the past 24-hours and especially the morning at the Renaissance and the easy going Doug Banks assemblage.
The young ladies from the mid west and greater New York had a similar tale. They all wanted more time in the islands. After all, they had already taken off Wednesday, might as well take off the entire week and apply the same logic to their Monday return. This would net them two weeks to really enjoy the surroundings. Tour operators and hoteliers take note. Here is a 100 percent sample of tourists who want more time to enjoy the islands with Sinbad and his company. How about at least a full week next year?
