Harmony & Me Live - Eastern 11/25 to 12/2

[h20skibum]

Day 4 is St. Maarten.  Since I am up early again, it is time to go to guest services to avoid the lines. Alexandra is on night shift duty again. 

 

Me. “Hi, remember me?  The red dot 🔴 guy. The bartender says my offers are not on this card, and he doesn’t know about the red dot.”

 

She picks up my card and looks at it and says. “That is because you are nothing. There is nothing printed on your card. “

 

 

Believe me, I am really something, because Susan says I am. But I have learned to pay attention to her inflection when she says it. 

 

So I gave her the same guest documents I gave her the last time I was here about the prepaid gratuities. 

 

Me. “See, right here it says Emerald.  All the offers should be on the card.”

 

 

 

 

Her. “Oh. I see you are Emerald. I will have to put in your crown and anchor number, and print a new card.”

 

 

So now, with the new card printed, she says. “We are all out of red dots 🔴 .  I don’t want to try to peel it off, so you will need to use that card to get in the shows, and the new one for your offers.”

 

Is it just me, or is that a really bad sign that they ran out of red dots?  And I look at each of the three cards they have now given me, and all have different account numbers.  It just seems that method is a recipe for disaster. I have that feeling I will see more of guest services and the LA before the cruise ends.  

 

Oh well, the sun is shining, and it is time for some fun in St. Maarten.

Edited December 4, 2018 by h20skibum

[ShipsandDipper]

Following along.  Aghast at how often you're having to visit guest services!  I usually bring copies of purchases, etc., and I certainly will have those when we get on Harmony next month.

[MaiseyM]

Wow.  That's crazy.  Now that you are off the ship (I think?) are you on the phone with them re: the work you had to put in to be recognized?  

[crusinthrough]

I followed along.  Did you try to contact your TA while onboard to help settle the problem?  It seems like you used a lot of precious vacation time trying to get things fixed. I know things happen but this was insane.  Hopefully, you enjoyed your cruise despite the issue. 

[h20skibum]

On 12/3/2018 at 7:21 AM, driftersdream said:

Following along! 

 

10 hours ago, MaiseyM said:

Wow.  That's crazy. 

 

6 hours ago, crusinthrough said:

I followed along.  

 

Thanks to all for following, and to online I may have missed.  The story continues, so I guess you will need to follow to the end. 

[h20skibum]

It is a beautiful sunny day in St. Maarten, and our only excursion is the Golden Eagle Sailaway in the afternoon. 

 

We get off the ship, and start on our walk to town. It is only a 15 minute walk from the port, and it is actually faster than waiting in line and taking the water taxi. 

 

There are still reminders of the hurricane, and some areas are still rebuilding. 

 

[h20skibum]

We found The Adult Toy Box along the way. 

 

[h20skibum]

Us guys contributed to the local economy in our own way and enjoyed the beach view, while our wives shopped and did their contributing.

[h20skibum]

So what is the first thing everyone thinks about seeing when they go to St. Maarten?   Star Wars, of course.  

 

I was looking for things to do in Phillipsburg before our afternoon snorkeling excursion. My pre-cruise research turned up the Yoda Guy Movie Exhibit.  Nick Maley, a key contributor to the development of the Yoda character runs a movie exhibit museum with his wife, in Phillipsburg. The published information says he has worked on characters and animatronics for over 50 movies. 

 

We did a quick tour of the museum, and met both Nick and his wife.  He is usually there after 10 in the mornings.  If you are inclined, you can gat a photo with him, as long as you have done the tour, or purchased something. The tour costs $12 per person. 

 

A few photos from the exhibit. 

 

 

 

[h20skibum]

A photo of my arm, and Nick.  Had to crop out my face so no one would get confused which one Yoda was. 😁

[h20skibum]

Seriously, I just try to avoid putting my photo out there on social media.  I may have slipped a couple times, but not often. In fact, my face, and my son’s face make up part of the Mario Mosaic (version 1, and 2 which is shown below). Gladly contributed for this worthy cause for cancer research and patient care. 

 

 

Next, back to the Golden Eagle Sailaway. 

Edited December 5, 2018 by h20skibum

[h20skibum]

 

Golden Eagle Sailaway is listed as one of the most popular excursions in the excursion brochure.  It appears they have a number of catamarans, and we were on no. 3. 

 

Usually, we like to spend the day at Orient beach, but since we were looking to snorkel this cruise, this looked like a good option. We booked it pre-cruise, during one of the sales.  It pays to watch the sales, because it was about $40 more per person to book onboard. 

 

The snorkel site was not the best for any sea life, but it did have an old canon and a helicopter beneath the surface.  From the snorkel site, we sailed on toward Maho, and saw several planes landing.  The beach stop was just past Maho beach. 

 

There was plenty of beer and rum punch served after snorkeling, and it continued to the end of the excursion.  

 

Perhaps a video for some highlights.

 

 

[h20skibum]

So a few notes about the Golden Eagle Sailaway.   The actual excursion differs somewhat from what is listed in Royal Caribbean’s excursion description.

 

This excursion first takes you to a spot in Little Bay to snorkel.  After snorkeling, it takes you just offshore of Maho beach to see any planes that may be landing, then continues past to Mullet Bay for the beach stop.  At the beach stop, the waves are fairly strong, and the water is maybe 20 foot deep where the boat drops anchor.  They give you pool noodles to use to swim to shore, if you want to spend time on the beach.

 

You have to probably be within 10 foot of shore before you can touch bottom, and even then the waves may drag you back out.  I think the video caught a little of this.

 

They did take a cooler ashore to have drinks available there.  They advise that once at the beach there may be some nudity on this part of the island, and they were correct (sorry, no photos)

 

You can see that they implied the snorkeling would be from the beach.  There were some families with young kids that were disappointed that this was not the case.  The waves at the beach were too strong for some.

 

We still enjoyed the excursion, and took advantage of the adult beverages offered.  Just be aware of what you will get if you take kids on this.

[h20skibum]

 

We returned to the port area after our Sailaway excursion, and Adventure is still tied up beside us.

[h20skibum]

While getting ready for dinner, I noticed this sign. 

 

They seriously need to tell people not to flush the towels?

 

[h20skibum]

So dinner tonight is both the rack of lamb, and a side of the garlic tiger shrimp.  

 

Top it off with some cherries jubilee for desert.

 

Skipped the headliner show and opted for a night in the lounges instead. 

Edited December 11, 2018 by h20skibum

[h20skibum]

Early morning for San Juan.  This is the first morning I haven’t had to visit guest services. 

 

There are no crowds around the car and the Christmas tree early in the morning.

[h20skibum]

Sunrise is beautiful. Looks like it will be a great day ashore. 

[mondsd]

thanks for continuing the review.  looking forward to the rest

[mugtech]

Does Harmony have a theme song?  Back in 2006 Mariner kept playing Smoke on the Water, and a certain NCL ship kept playing versions of Here Comes the Sun.

[h20skibum]

4 hours ago, mondsd said:

thanks for continuing the review.  looking forward to the rest

 

Too many things piled up while I was away, and they needed my attention.  Now I am back to finishing.  I hate to leave things undone. 

 

4 hours ago, mugtech said:

Does Harmony have a theme song?  Back in 2006 Mariner kept playing Smoke on the Water, and a certain NCL ship kept playing versions of Here Comes the Sun.

 

I don’t know of one.  Maybe they should use Harmony and Me. 😃

[h20skibum]

We sail past El Moro Fort on the way in. 

 

 

[h20skibum]

Old San Juan is easily walkable from the ship.  We had spent extended time here in previous trips, so we didn’t have any excursion planned. Just get off the ship, and walk the city to take in the sights. 

 

We are only in port for a short time 7:30 till the all aboard at 1:30. San Juan was an hour ahead of ship time, so it was 8:30 when we got off. We walked up the hill, past the statue of Cristóbal Colon, to the San Cristóbal fort, and had a short wait until it opened at 9. 

 

 

 

[h20skibum]

I have a lifetime National Parks pass, so that got the four of us in for free.  The fort was not too busy this early.

 

Models of the Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria

 

 

Inside views at the fort

 

 

 

The American, Puerto Rico, and Spanish Military (Burgundy Cross) flags 

 

 

Looking at El Moro in the distance

 

Edited December 12, 2018 by h20skibum

[h20skibum]

I love the colorful, narrow streets of Old San Juan. 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 12, 2018 by h20skibum