northsouth
DIS cruiser
- Joined
- Dec 1, 2000
Arrive St Maarten Tuesday, made sure all girls up fairly early (for them), left ship around 830am and paid for all to use water taxi for the day. Water taxi'd over to first dropoff for P'burg. We shopped a little and gawked around. Walked up and down Great Bay Beach a little, bought 12 yo a color changing T shirt that she liked, myself a regular T shirt I liked for 7.99. Went in a colorfully painted little art gallery and bought some stuff I liked and some for my brother who loves Caribbean art. Bought some guavaberry liqueur (really love that stuff!! give it a try!!). Around 11am we headed back to the ship to rest and get some lunch, going to try for a beach in the afternoon. Ended up at Orient Beach for the afternoon.
I loved St Maarten, the people are very friendly and the hair braiders and souvenir mongers, while somewhat annoying, are bearable and fairly polite I thought. In fact, on Orient Beach we met some very interesting hawkers/peddlers and tourists as well and had some good conversations. That's what I like about travelling, is meeting new people and being open to new experiences. Well, Orient Beach was an experience, that is true!! We only saw a few bare people, and they were just sashaying down the beach so naturally that it took a moment to realize they were nude or topless. The beach itself has a very lovely setting, the typical clear blue green water, some sizeable hills surrounding the area, all in all a pleasant place to spend the afternoon. I didn't really like how all the beach umbrellas are crammed so close together but we still had a nice afternoon there, on our own for a $25 (each way) taxi ride for 6 people. Then we paid $14 for 2 chairs and an umbrella, that included 1 free rum drink at a certain bar. Our taxi driver we had flagged down in Philipsburg, he was alright and didn't drive crazy or anything.
He came back and picked us up there at the time we had agreed on, very dependable. He had offered us Dawn Beach or Orient for $25 each way, I forget how we picked Orient but there we were (I think because I wanted to see the French side of the island and we had missed going to Marigot). In retrospect we probably should've picked Dawn Beach because of the nudity at Orient but really the nudity was not all that apparent as you would think. You'd probably see more nudity in an art gallery or museum than on the public side of Orient Beach.
When we got back to Philipsburg we had him drop us downtown and shopped a little more, but everything was quieting down, so we took the water taxi back to the port well before the last water taxi left at 6pm. I watched the sunset from the dock area and had a last guavaberry colada before going back to the ship. The sunset as usual was spectacular, I have photos of every sunset I saw, just love 'em. Watched the Golden Princess (I think, could be wrong) sail away into the sunset, then I mailed a couple of postcards and headed back to the Magic.
That night we had our Palo dinner as described in Part 2. When we got back to our room after dinner there was another neat towel animal and a flyer stating "breaking news" saying that we did NOT have to get up very early for immigration the next day, unless we were non US citizens. HURRAY!!
DH had booked us on the 740am St John 5 star snorkelling excursion and I really would rather get up at 630 than 530am, and my wish came true!!!
So up early the next day for our excursion, I had been up on deck around 7am to see the view of the city (without my camera!) when a sudden sprinkle of rain fell and a magical, very intense rainbow appeared over the hillside of St Thomas, illuminated by the morning sun!! After that I was never without my camera again. It was a beautiful sight though, and I felt privileged to have seen it. BTW that was the only rain I saw the whole cruise. Even on our Castaway Cay day it was cool and cloudy but not rainy.
We met for our 5 star St John excursion at Studio Sea at 740am and everything went pretty smoothly. I had planned to do St John on our own after reading all the tips from this board, but DH felt uneasy about that ("We may miss the ship!!" and all) so we booked an excursion (and booked it the day before, no problem, mon). That turned out just fine, the only drawback being only having about an hour and a half at Trunk Bay. Also I think it would've been marginally less expensive on our own, but more of a hassle. The excursion was $45 pp, we just walked to the end of the pier, boarded the Leylon Sneed transport boat and off we went. Snorkel gear was provided, we had about an hour sailing each way to Trunk Bay, then we "anchored" right off the snorkelling grounds of Trunk Bay, on the far side away from the main beach area. I think I remember the excursion people saying they really don't anchor because it can harm the coral, so they clip onto some kind of mooring. Anyway, they had pretty good narration on each end of the trip, a personable group of young people led the excursion, and on the way back we had rum punch offered, or non alcoholic smoothies for the kids. The Leylon Sneed is a nice boat for this kind of thing, has a bathroom (head) and everything, and was pretty steady in the water. Then you have a choice of snorkelling right off the boat about 100 yards (?) from shore, or they will take you to shore in a wobbly little dinghy, and you better hang on tight (at least I did)!! Also you climb down to the dinghy on a 4 foot ladder off the side of the boat, so this excursion may not be for everyone. I opted for the dinghy to shore, practiced my snorkelling a bit and headed off to see the underwater sights on the coral reef. It was so beautiful there. I had an underwater camera and snapped a lot, it's like a whole other world for those of us who have never experienced it before. And the beach itself is gorgeous too, you just have to see it.
Too soon it was time to go at 1055am, and we were back at the ship by 12 or 1230pm for lunch.
Walked into Charlotte Amalie after lunch, about a mile in the hot sun. I don't know why people would pass us and exclaim "they're walking into town!!!" as if that were shocking, as we passed many other people who also walked. Many taxi drivers tried to get us into their vehicles, supposedly be careful of the non licensed taxi drivers, they are not registered officially as St Thomas taxis and you are supposed to look for the official ones. I don't know what would happen if you get one of the renegade ones. No one ever said.
I did not really have any real shopping to do, but the girls all wanted to shop, so we had our 2 way radios and kept in touch, while DH and I went to Hard Rock cafe to get a pin for my dad's wife. So that was all my shopping, and we found a nice little bar to sit at in the mall area by Hard Rock while the girls shopped in all the little shops there. I had 2 bushwhackers, they are absolutely delicious, try one (or two). After all that hot walking I felt much better, wrote out 3 postcards and mailed them eventually, and it was soon time to round up our girls and head back to the dock.
We did catch a taxi back to the port from town, he wanted $3 pp for the one mile back to the ship, I offered him $16 for us six and he didn't argue. We shopped a little at Havensight mall on our return and then back on the ship.
Tonight was our Animator's Palate color change night, but first we went to the show, Who Wants to be A Mouseketeer. This thread is long enough, I will continue on Part 4.
I loved St Maarten, the people are very friendly and the hair braiders and souvenir mongers, while somewhat annoying, are bearable and fairly polite I thought. In fact, on Orient Beach we met some very interesting hawkers/peddlers and tourists as well and had some good conversations. That's what I like about travelling, is meeting new people and being open to new experiences. Well, Orient Beach was an experience, that is true!! We only saw a few bare people, and they were just sashaying down the beach so naturally that it took a moment to realize they were nude or topless. The beach itself has a very lovely setting, the typical clear blue green water, some sizeable hills surrounding the area, all in all a pleasant place to spend the afternoon. I didn't really like how all the beach umbrellas are crammed so close together but we still had a nice afternoon there, on our own for a $25 (each way) taxi ride for 6 people. Then we paid $14 for 2 chairs and an umbrella, that included 1 free rum drink at a certain bar. Our taxi driver we had flagged down in Philipsburg, he was alright and didn't drive crazy or anything.
He came back and picked us up there at the time we had agreed on, very dependable. He had offered us Dawn Beach or Orient for $25 each way, I forget how we picked Orient but there we were (I think because I wanted to see the French side of the island and we had missed going to Marigot). In retrospect we probably should've picked Dawn Beach because of the nudity at Orient but really the nudity was not all that apparent as you would think. You'd probably see more nudity in an art gallery or museum than on the public side of Orient Beach.
When we got back to Philipsburg we had him drop us downtown and shopped a little more, but everything was quieting down, so we took the water taxi back to the port well before the last water taxi left at 6pm. I watched the sunset from the dock area and had a last guavaberry colada before going back to the ship. The sunset as usual was spectacular, I have photos of every sunset I saw, just love 'em. Watched the Golden Princess (I think, could be wrong) sail away into the sunset, then I mailed a couple of postcards and headed back to the Magic.
That night we had our Palo dinner as described in Part 2. When we got back to our room after dinner there was another neat towel animal and a flyer stating "breaking news" saying that we did NOT have to get up very early for immigration the next day, unless we were non US citizens. HURRAY!!
DH had booked us on the 740am St John 5 star snorkelling excursion and I really would rather get up at 630 than 530am, and my wish came true!!!
So up early the next day for our excursion, I had been up on deck around 7am to see the view of the city (without my camera!) when a sudden sprinkle of rain fell and a magical, very intense rainbow appeared over the hillside of St Thomas, illuminated by the morning sun!! After that I was never without my camera again. It was a beautiful sight though, and I felt privileged to have seen it. BTW that was the only rain I saw the whole cruise. Even on our Castaway Cay day it was cool and cloudy but not rainy.
We met for our 5 star St John excursion at Studio Sea at 740am and everything went pretty smoothly. I had planned to do St John on our own after reading all the tips from this board, but DH felt uneasy about that ("We may miss the ship!!" and all) so we booked an excursion (and booked it the day before, no problem, mon). That turned out just fine, the only drawback being only having about an hour and a half at Trunk Bay. Also I think it would've been marginally less expensive on our own, but more of a hassle. The excursion was $45 pp, we just walked to the end of the pier, boarded the Leylon Sneed transport boat and off we went. Snorkel gear was provided, we had about an hour sailing each way to Trunk Bay, then we "anchored" right off the snorkelling grounds of Trunk Bay, on the far side away from the main beach area. I think I remember the excursion people saying they really don't anchor because it can harm the coral, so they clip onto some kind of mooring. Anyway, they had pretty good narration on each end of the trip, a personable group of young people led the excursion, and on the way back we had rum punch offered, or non alcoholic smoothies for the kids. The Leylon Sneed is a nice boat for this kind of thing, has a bathroom (head) and everything, and was pretty steady in the water. Then you have a choice of snorkelling right off the boat about 100 yards (?) from shore, or they will take you to shore in a wobbly little dinghy, and you better hang on tight (at least I did)!! Also you climb down to the dinghy on a 4 foot ladder off the side of the boat, so this excursion may not be for everyone. I opted for the dinghy to shore, practiced my snorkelling a bit and headed off to see the underwater sights on the coral reef. It was so beautiful there. I had an underwater camera and snapped a lot, it's like a whole other world for those of us who have never experienced it before. And the beach itself is gorgeous too, you just have to see it.
Too soon it was time to go at 1055am, and we were back at the ship by 12 or 1230pm for lunch.
Walked into Charlotte Amalie after lunch, about a mile in the hot sun. I don't know why people would pass us and exclaim "they're walking into town!!!" as if that were shocking, as we passed many other people who also walked. Many taxi drivers tried to get us into their vehicles, supposedly be careful of the non licensed taxi drivers, they are not registered officially as St Thomas taxis and you are supposed to look for the official ones. I don't know what would happen if you get one of the renegade ones. No one ever said.
I did not really have any real shopping to do, but the girls all wanted to shop, so we had our 2 way radios and kept in touch, while DH and I went to Hard Rock cafe to get a pin for my dad's wife. So that was all my shopping, and we found a nice little bar to sit at in the mall area by Hard Rock while the girls shopped in all the little shops there. I had 2 bushwhackers, they are absolutely delicious, try one (or two). After all that hot walking I felt much better, wrote out 3 postcards and mailed them eventually, and it was soon time to round up our girls and head back to the dock.
We did catch a taxi back to the port from town, he wanted $3 pp for the one mile back to the ship, I offered him $16 for us six and he didn't argue. We shopped a little at Havensight mall on our return and then back on the ship.
Tonight was our Animator's Palate color change night, but first we went to the show, Who Wants to be A Mouseketeer. This thread is long enough, I will continue on Part 4.
