Star Clipper, Treasure Islands, Dec 10, 2011

This will be our very first cruise anywhere! We're really excited and wonder who else is going and where you're from?!?

We'll be aboard!! We have cruised on the big box floating hotels several times and are looking forward to something more real. My husband and I are from Northern California and will be arriving in St. Maarten a day early to get used to the time change and to avoid any traveling stress. First time to the Caribbean! So excited:D How about you?

Hi there and thanks for your response. I forgot all about this web site and just had time this afternoon to surf a bit and found your response! Yes, we are going on the Dec cruise out of St Marteen which leaves the port at 10 pm on Dec 10th with the last scheduled island being St Barth's on Friday the 16th. I'm pretty sure this is the same cruise you two will be on.

We also are getting to St Martin a bit early....thursday... and will stay that night and Friday on Orient Beach. We've been to St Martin a couple of times and although Orient Beach is a busy place and none to private, it's still a hoot watching the people and walking the beach.

I read the trip report on the Cruise Critic board about the trip that we will take and I'm glad I read it---lots of good info.

You'll love the Caribbean. We've been there several times and the beauty of the beaches and water is really nice. Holler back here or get me at achdrbrown@aol.com

Hi There-- my husband and I just booked on this cruise. Looks pretty awesome !

It's getting close and I'm getting excited. Discovered that our flight out of St Maarten was cancelled and re-booked randomly by American Airlines at a time in the morning when the ship is not even in port yet! That was upsetting, because they never even notified us. I fixed that and now feel calm and ready to focus on the fun!! Some of the "excursions" look fun. Weather looks like mid 70's to mid 80's. Perfect!! Can't wait to ditch the winter sweaters:D

We are getting excited too ! Just trying to get all prepared fro Christmas before we leave.

We fly Thursday night out of LAX, then connect on Friday to St Maarten out of Miami. We are also on American-- we could be on the same flight on Friday ???

I usually do a lot of pre-planning for port stops, but this is such a different type cruise for us.

We are just going to plan day to day-- and see what happens

Hubby is an avid scuba diver and plans to do some diving

Where are you staying pre-cruise ?

We are on the 5:45pm out of Miami on the 9th and will be staying at the Divi Little Bay the night before the cruise. I too am early preparing for X-mas. We have a large family gathering, with gift giving, to attend the day after we get home. sigh. No stress, no worries, doing all that beforehand. I've been trying to figure out the balance of dress code. Swim clothes, shorts and T's, plus something nicer for dinner. Some pictures on the Internet show some pretty snazzy dressers compared to what I was planning on. Must be the Europeans:p. Gotta love those Speedos on the European men though!:eek: I'm slightly concerned about seasickness but don't want to be groggy with side affects on such a wonderful vacation so, I'm going to get one of those bracelets and some ginger chews. We have a 6am flight out of San Francisco on the 9th so we are headed to the city the night before. That means one week from tomorrow for us!!!!!:D

We are on the 11am out of Miami (after a red eye from lax !)

Also staying at Little Divi-- website looks great, trip advisor reviews are interesting ???

Oh well, its one night

For the evenings, I am thinking of capris with nice tops, and a couple of dresses -- that will have to be good enough

Did you get any Euro ? I just ordered a small amount from my bank.

Look forward to meeting you on board-- I am Yvonne. Hubby is Tim. We are from Anaheim Hills, CA

I am curious to see how full the ship is. Who in their right mind travels at this time of year ?? Ha ha !!

I also was concerned about the Tripadvisor reviews for Little Divi but since we arrive late at night it was important to me to wake up to the beautiful ocean with the opportunity to go get wet! After another post on this site where I asked about hotels near the port, someone sent me a bunch of links regarding the pollution and septic run off in to Great Bay. Yuck! So my idea was, with Little Divi, I can swim in Little Bay before checking out of the Hotel and heading to the ship. I don't think I can spend a whole day looking at the water and not getting in! All hotels in the area have negative reviews. People just like to complain. I would rather have the bad reviews about personnel than physical aspects of the Hotel. I can deal with grouchy people....for one day;) We plan on boarding as soon as available, settling in, then hanging out on deck watching the other passengers arrive. I am Robin, with husband Kevin from northern CA. Early 50's, average build and height, both brown hair (mostly, grin), mine is long/below shoulders and will probably be pulled up in a ponytail or clip if windy. We have been on the big ship Norwegian cruises several times where "anything goes" regarding dining so a dress code is new to me. I'm just doing skirts and sun dresses, husband polo or Hawaiian shirts and khakis for dinner. Hope that works because here we come!!:D

Oh, about Euro....supposedly the Taxi takes dollars ($20 from Airport to Divi...negotiate with driver before getting in) and from what I understand, most places will accept dollars and any larger purchases should be put on a credit card which exchanges at a better rate than banks. Besides a few bottles of Rum:cool: I'm hoping to keep purchases to a minimum. I want to play, not shop and neither of us are "foodies" so we will be eating on board. That being said, I'm leaving space in my suitcase in case I bring things home:D.

Hi Robin-- I saw all that info about the pollution in Great Bay too. I was originally thinking of Sonesta, and those posts changed my mind.

We arrive just in time for happy hour at the Divi ! I agree with you about tripadvisor. Sometimes, you have to just realize people love to complain about anything.

I don't really think we will need the Euro, but I figured if we don't end up using it, I can settle part of our on board account with it.

Rum (Pussers ?) is definitely on my shopping list.

We have done several big ships too (mainly Princess). Last year we did the Paul Gaugin in Tahiti with only about 180 people. And also AMAwaterway river cruise in Europe with only about 115 people. The smaller sailings are soooo much different. I love big ship cruising, but I REALLY love the smaller ships.

I did a cruise a couple of months ago - Vancouver to Los Angeles -and the water was very very rough. I was taking Bonine and it worked great. It doesn't make you as groggy as Dramamine.

I have heard good things about ginger-- where do you buy it ?

Tim is early 50's. I am not quite there yet (as I love to remind Tim !!).

lots to do today to finish up Christmas shopping and start the initial packing ---

Have a good weekend

Tonight I am putting on Christmas music and wrapping presents. I want that Cruise Calm to last afterwards as long as possible!

How did you survive the winds? We are about an hour north of San Francisco on the coast and the news hyped it much more than we actually received. We lost power for a few hours but nothing dramatic.

American Airlines changed our flights again!!:mad: The change frustrates me because they don't notify you, but actually we get in to St Maarten an hour earlier now.

Hopefully our Californian Radar is accurate and we can spot each other.

See you there!

For anyone randomly following this thread......a quick story regarding the Cruise Critic family.....the day of our cruise we slid in to a Taxi at the Divi Little Bay. Always diligent, our Taxi driver looked around for more passengers to squeeze in. Another couple joined us, we looked at each other questioningly and it turned out to be the other posters on this thread link!!! Great people who we ended up sharing meals with and drinks at the Bar throughout the sailing. Beautiful connections!

Hi Robin

We are booked on this cruise for January 2013 and would love to hear how you enjoyed it, highs, lows, anything at all to keep me going until the big day arrives. Not really very good at waiting, waiting, waiting!!:D

Thanks

Hi! I just responded to "Bob" on my Leeward Islands thread. He is also on your sailing! We loved the Star Clipper and are returning on Jan 5th to do it again!! Unlike the big box ships where you hardly talk to anyone else....well at least on Norwegian because there is no sit down dinner time....we met so many wonderful people on our sailing who we still keep in touch with. So many laughs and shared experiences that I will never forget. What sort of information are you interested in? Ship? Ports? Or the whole detailed story??:D:D

Bluelady.....I noticed that you are sailing the Star in an Aft cabin. We did that on our Alaskan Cruise. SO worth the extra bucks!! The view is tremendous and the prop wash is mesmerizing. We grabbed our food and ate all our meals on our balcony. You will love it! They say....once you go aft you never go back:D

Hi! I just responded to "Bob" on my Leeward Islands thread. He is also on your sailing! We loved the Star Clipper and are returning on Jan 5th to do it again!! Unlike the big box ships where you hardly talk to anyone else....well at least on Norwegian because there is no sit down dinner time....we met so many wonderful people on our sailing who we still keep in touch with. So many laughs and shared experiences that I will never forget. What sort of information are you interested in? Ship? Ports? Or the whole detailed story??:D:D

Anything that you would like to share would be great. Wondering about the ports. We are thinking of not booking shore excursions but just enjoying whatever the islands may offer. Did you do ship shore excursions and, if so, what did you enjoy?

Bluelady.....I noticed that you are sailing the Star in an Aft cabin. We did that on our Alaskan Cruise. SO worth the extra bucks!! The view is tremendous and the prop wash is mesmerizing. We grabbed our food and ate all our meals on our balcony. You will love it! They say....once you go aft you never go back:D

Thanks, this is our first NCL and first aft cabin so looking forward to it.

First Clipper cruise, first NCL, a year of firsts!

Oh, about Euro....supposedly the Taxi takes dollars ($20 from Airport to Divi...negotiate with driver before getting in) and from what I understand, most places will accept dollars and any larger purchases should be put on a credit card which exchanges at a better rate than banks. Besides a few bottles of Rum:cool: I'm hoping to keep purchases to a minimum. I want to play, not shop and neither of us are "foodies" so we will be eating on board. That being said, I'm leaving space in my suitcase in case I bring things home:D.

Everywhere in St Maartin accepts US dollars, great jewelry shopping in St. Martin, and stick to buying the local rums, they are great! Swim on the little bay side, out by the rocks is some decent snorkeling! ;)