Trip Report: 12-night Holiday Cruise in the Caribbean on the SILHOUETTE (2018)

[SleepingUgly]

Day 5 – St. Maarten (cont.)

 

The boat left Bobby’s Marina around 9.40 am and we sailed along the coastline for a short while, before entering Simpson Bay Lagoon, where we saw quite a few fancy-schmancy yachts docked.  Supposedly, one of them belongs to the owner of Victoria’s Secret.  Not sure who that would be – Les Wexner, the head of L Brands corporation, possibly?  These yachts were all docked on the Dutch side of the island as I think we were told it was friendlier in terms of docking fees as opposed to the French side, or whatever you would call stuff like that.  I wouldn’t know, I have people who hire people to manage people to handle those details for me for my yacht.

 

We then passed under this really cool bridge to the French side.  Notice how the bridge opens to let boats pass.  This is a very Dutch design, apparently. 

 

We then continued through the French side of Simpsons Bay.  Here (and, actually, on the Dutch side as well), you can see that damage from last year’s and previous hurricanes are still quite visible and evident.  I'm pretty sure the damaged buildings were all from last year's storms, but some of the boats left in the water may have been from last year or earlier years.

 

It probably took us around 15 minutes to slowly sail through Simpsons Bay Lagoon.  It was an extremely enjoyable ride.  Soon, however, we left the lagoon behind and entered the Caribbean Sea, where Captain Nico put the metal to the pedal, and we went much faster for the next 10 minutes or so.  We were headed to Creole Rock.

 

[rosewood jo]

I got that first night was jason Neisstadt  impressionist, another night frank vali show,   abba mania another night in the atrium....that's basically what i'm looking for.  if easier just send me the title of what's going on each night....... silent disco?  how many nights?

[SleepingUgly]

Day 5 – St. Maarten (cont.)

 

We arrived at the Creole Rock area probably around 10.15 am or so.  The weather was a bit cloudy and it was sprinkling a bit, but it was still very warm and was not a problem to snorkel.  AJ, the first mate, got in the water with us.  Nico brought out the snorkeling equipment and the fins; pretty much all of us, with the exception of one couple, needed to use their equipment.  They all looked new and well taken care of.

 

There were quite a few boats in the area already but AJ confidently led most of us closer to Creole Rock, where most of the fish would be.  Our little one wanted to try it, but couldn’t last long after making it halfway, so I had to drag her back to the boat and stay there with her.  Dh and our two other daughters all swam closer to the rock, and they said there were tons of fishes there.  I was disappointed I missed out, but really – I was relaxing on a boat with my little one, the rain having stopped and the sun came out, both of us with drinks in hand and just enjoying the view and the gentle rocking of the boat.  Yeah, I guess we didn’t miss out on much after all.

 

Here is the little one, after having just gotten in the water

 

Our oldest, preparing to jump in with her GoPro

 

Thar she goes!

 

The girls and dh, heading towards Creole Rock

 

Right next to the boat, the little one and I saw a few fishies

 

She's had enough

 

Our oldest was able to take a cool video with her GoPro of how many fishes there were by Creole Rock.  I couldn't get the video to post, but took some screenshots of an abbreviated version of the video she had posted on Instagram.  Sorry these pictures aren't that great, since they are screenshots of a video, but hopefully, it gives you an idea of what you can expect to see if you are lucky enough to snorkel by Creole Rock.

 

Actually, the video works!  Just click on this link and hopefully, you will be able to watch the video instead of having to rely on my lame screenshots.

Edited January 14, 2019 by SleepingUgly

[RealBatman]

One of the yachts you photographed, Illusion V, is available for charter! (She's currently in Palm Beach). A 5 day charter to the Bahamas is a measly $220,000 US (including the security deposit)! A great deal, since she normally charters for $350,000 a week! 🙂 Kind of makes the Silhouette price that much more palatable! 

 

We board Silhouette on Sunday. I'm looking forward to the remainder of your review, and while not wanting it to end, I'm anxious to see what else is in store! As I said before, best review EVER! Thank you!

[pd7277]

On 1/13/2019 at 2:55 PM, SleepingUgly said:

and also passed by the little beach close to Fort Frederiksted and next to the pier that you could go to very easily by walking, if you didn't feel like going all the way to Rainbow Beach.

How was the entry into the water at Rainbow Beach?  Rocks, shells, big dip?

 

We went to the beach by the ship and entry into the water was very difficult.  Water shoes would have helped some, but still uncomfortable.  Then again, it did have some decent snorkeling.

[SleepingUgly]

Day 5 – St. Maarten (cont.)

 

We stayed around Creole Rock for probably around 40 minutes.  We never felt rushed and AJ was out in the waters, leading our group and helping them out.  Once everyone was back on board, they all agreed it was a very worthwhile stop.

 

We then took off for Tintamarre Island.  This was a 20-minute ride away at a very high speed.  The attraction here is that there may be turtles in the area.  Apparently, before the hurricanes last year, this area used to be teeming with turtles, but they have since disappeared.  Hopefully, they will return as time goes on.  We swam with turtles in Barbados previously so it would not have been something new, but it still would have been really cool to see.

 

As the captain was starting to speed up to get to Tintamarre Island, he cut the engines all of a sudden and told us to be very quiet.  I thought someone had fallen overboard or something.  But, no.  He had spotted dolphins!  They were the first sighting of the season and both Nico and AJ were very, very excited to see their return for the year.  It was really cool to see something that the local experts were also excited about.

 

We stayed quiet and still and watched the dolphins for a short while.  They didn’t come out of the water much but we could see their fins quite clearly.  It was definitely awesome to have experienced that, and the kids were thrilled.

 

After that, we continued onto Tintamarre Island, where we dropped anchor once again and everyone got out to snorkel.  The little one wanted to stay onboard so dh stayed with her this time, and I got to go in the water.  I had my underwater camera with me and got a few hazy pictures of a shy turtle who chose to stay far away from me.  I don't blame you, buddy.  I'd stay away from me as well when I'm hangry.  That was the only turtle we saw, and someone else in our group saw a ray as well, but there wasn’t as much to see here as there was near Creole Rock.  The good thing was that the water was much calmer here so we could just swim and relax in the water.  The winds and waves were quite strong around Creole Rock so the swimming conditions were much tougher.

 

Our oldest chose to swim all the way to Tintamarre Island itself and hang out on the beach for a bit, and then swam back to the boat.  We probably stayed here for another 30 minutes or so, either snorkeling / swimming or relaxing on the boat. 

 

By now, it was after 12 pm and we were starving, from having done all that swimming and snorkeling.  We were hoping that the next stop would be lunch, but no.  We were now on our way to Pinel Island to pay a visit to the resident iguanas.

 

It was a quick five-minute ride to Pinel Island, which was packed with people who were hanging out on the beach for the day.  There are restaurants and shops here as well.  But the biggest attractions are the iguanas, which are very used to humans.  You can walk among them with no issues and even pet them (although I don't know if that's encouraged so I didn't try it, but dh ventured and he still has all his fingers).  Some idiots (not from our boat) even tried to pick them up, but the iguanas weren't putting up with any of that monkey business.  I'm not sure if we missed it but it would be nice to have signs put up, reminding visitors to respect these animals, and advising people whether or not you were allowed to touch or you should only look.  Definitely alert dingbats they should not pick them up, but I'm not sure if a sign would resolve that problem.  

 

[SleepingUgly]

3 hours ago, rosewood jo said:

I got that first night was jason Neisstadt  impressionist, another night frank vali show,   abba mania another night in the atrium....that's basically what i'm looking for.  if easier just send me the title of what's going on each night....... silent disco?  how many nights?

 

I will grab all my copies of the Celebrity Today and give you a summary tomorrow - hope that won't be too late?  Just remember that the "headliner" act will change from cruise to cruise, as entertainers don't stay on the ship the entire time.  For instance, the impersonator - he was due to leave the ship when we docked in St. Maarten and go on another ship.  I'm not sure if they do contracts with only Celebrity, or Royal Caribbean as a whole, and I'm not sure of their upcoming schedules.  

 

I do know that, on Royal Caribbean, people have emailed the cruiseline around 30 days before their cruise and asked about the entertainment line-up.  I think they will have this information available 30 days out; maybe it is two weeks.  Anyway, I know people have done that on RC cruises on the mega ships, where they need to book tickets in advance, like the ice shows and water shows.  I'm not sure if you can possibly do that with Celebrity as well, if you are interested in a more definitive answer about the entertainers scheduled for your cruise?

 

Anyway, I'll post more tomorrow about the entertainment on our cruise.

 

Linda

 

[SleepingUgly]

1 hour ago, RealBatman said:

One of the yachts you photographed, Illusion V, is available for charter! (She's currently in Palm Beach). A 5 day charter to the Bahamas is a measly $220,000 US (including the security deposit)! A great deal, since she normally charters for $350,000 a week! 🙂 Kind of makes the Silhouette price that much more palatable! 

 

We board Silhouette on Sunday. I'm looking forward to the remainder of your review, and while not wanting it to end, I'm anxious to see what else is in store! As I said before, best review EVER! Thank you!

 

Right?  Here I am, complaining about how much we spent for our Celebrity cruise, when I didn't realize it but I got meself a right real bargain, yee-haw!  

 

I hope you have a fantastic trip, and thanks again for the very kind words.  I don't think I will be able to finish before Sunday, so if you have any specific questions before you leave, please let me know!

 

Linda

 

[SleepingUgly]

1 hour ago, pd7277 said:

How was the entry into the water at Rainbow Beach?  Rocks, shells, big dip?

 

We went to the beach by the ship and entry into the water was very difficult.  Water shoes would have helped some, but still uncomfortable.  Then again, it did have some decent snorkeling.

 

Hi - I recall the entry was not rocky, but there was a rather steep / sudden drop after the first couple of feet into the ocean.  But after that, it was not too bad and we could walk around comfortably.  I'm sure I would have remembered the little one's constant whining and griping if the rocks had been hard on her feet, but she stayed in the water a good long time with no complaints, so that probably tells us something. 🙂

 

Linda

 

[FRMPEI]

Hi Linda,

 

Where to start?  I did not want to add a comment until I got caught up. I am only up to the end Christmas Day... now I am behind. Love your trip report style of writing rather than a review. I love trip reports with lots of details and photos. Even though I have been on Silhouette a few times I still feel compelled to keep reading. Love how your girls pose with all the crew in your photos.  DW and I love cruising with our boys when we can afford it.  We are going on same cruise March 3. Like you I am the planner with some help from DW.  

 

Keep the good stuff coming.

 

Regards,

Kevin Reid

[rosewood jo]

I read as best I could what you had on line ALONG what I found on Internet.     

Were these ur shows?

  

COSMOPOLITAN

UPTOWN

STORY OF MY LIFE

PEARL

 

DID THEY HAVE SILENT DISCO AND ABBA MANIA? 

 

This helps soooo much.  You are awesome! 

[SleepingUgly]

33 minutes ago, FRMPEI said:

Hi Linda,

 

Where to start?  I did not want to add a comment until I got caught up. I am only up to the end Christmas Day... now I am behind. Love your trip report style of writing rather than a review. I love trip reports with lots of details and photos. Even though I have been on Silhouette a few times I still feel compelled to keep reading. Love how your girls pose with all the crew in your photos.  DW and I love cruising with our boys when we can afford it.  We are going on same cruise March 3. Like you I am the planner with some help from DW.  

 

Keep the good stuff coming.

 

Regards,

Kevin Reid

 

Hi Kevin!
 

What an honor that you are here!  I should have mentioned you in my early shout-outs as well because I definitely read your reviews and loved all of them.  Thanks for being someone who inspired me to do this trip report as well.  I trust you and your wife and your boys have all been healthy?  I am really looking forward to reading your trip report on your upcoming cruise, should you decide to write one.  I need to live vicariously through all of your until my next cruise!

 

Thanks again for reading and following along.  Hope all is well for you up there in PEI!

 

Linda

 

[DENIE]

Just caught back up.  Still loving your review - probably the best one I've ever read!  Thanks for posting!  Makes me want to get back on the Silhouette again!!

[SleepingUgly]

9 hours ago, DENIE said:

Just caught back up.  Still loving your review - probably the best one I've ever read!  Thanks for posting!  Makes me want to get back on the Silhouette again!!

 

She is a great ship, isn't she?  Thanks for hanging in there with me!

 

Linda

 

[ipeeinthepool]

33 minutes ago, SleepingUgly said:

 

She is a great ship, isn't she?  Thanks for hanging in there with me!

 

Linda

 

 

Your review is great, I've enjoyed reading about each day. Your photographs are awesome and your daughters pose for pictures much better than most.  I'm lucky to get two pictures of my DD on a cruise.  After looking at your pictures one thing that is obvious is that your oldest and youngest daughters have a great connection.  Congrats on a beautiful and happy family.

[SleepingUgly]

Day 5 – St. Maarten (cont.)

 

OK, a few more pictures of Pinel Island and then we can move on.  This really was a pretty little island, if not a bit crowded, but it was definitely interesting and folks looked like they were really enjoying themselves there.  The water was super calm and so clear and blue, and there was always something going on, what with the many boats from tours such as ours that would arrive and then leave after 20-30 minutes.  So you can relax but also not be bored at the same time.  Seems pretty perfect to me.

 

After saying good-bye to Pinel Island and the iguanas, we headed back to the mainland of St. Maarten for lunch.  I believe everyone was starving by then.  I know my family was.  At each of our three stops that morning, we all swam and/or snorkeled for pretty much the entire time, which really does a number on you, especially around Creole Rock, where the waves were quite choppy.  There were plenty of drinks on the boat but no snacks, so we were ready to stuff our faces with some good food.

 

We anchored very close to shore at Grand Case, and waded onto the beach and sat down at the Rainbow Café. 

 

Rainbow Cafe is a fun little restaurant with plenty of outdoor seating, right there on the beach.  We sat down and AJ and Nico went right to work, serving us our food and setting out plates and utensils.  A nice young man from the restaurant came and took drink orders, as drinks were not included with our lunch.  We ordered one bottle of beer, three sodas and an Orangina.  Total for all drinks was around $17, and we had to add a dollar on top of that because we were paying in USD.  Um, OK.  That’s a new one.  It’s not like the cost was 17 euros and they needed the dollar for conversion purposes.  I guess it’s just a “convenience fee”.  Oh well, we’re eating on the beach, after a fun morning, and the food is good and people are friendly and the weather is fantastic.  Not going to complain. 

 

I had ordered the chicken Caesar's salad, which was almost gone by the time I took this picture.  Also on my plate are some fries from the kids' plates, and a small piece of chicken tender from the little one's plate.  Dh and the two older girls had burgers and fries.

 

After lunch, the little one and I played around in the water a bit.  This area seemed like a really fun location, with little restaurants similar to Rainbow Café along the beach, and some of them also renting out hotel rooms.  The Four Seasons they are not, but the location and view cannot be beat.  It was well off the beaten path that most tourists and especially day trippers from the cruise ships will traverse, so that says a lot.  Nice, quiet and not very commercial.  A fantastic stop for our lunch.  These pictures are to show you what the area looked like when you approach from the ocean ... and our resident photo-bomber in action.  The red loungers and umbrellas are all part of Rainbow Cafe. You can still see the damage from last year's hurricane in the white building behind them.

 

After lunch - we stayed there for almost one hour, so it was very nice and relaxing; in fact, the entire day was relaxing and we never felt rushed to leave any of our stops at all - it was off to Maho Bay / Beach, where we stopped for around 30 minutes or so offshore, watching the planes land and one take off.  I believe it was almost 3 pm at this time so quite a few planes were arriving.  During the time we spent here, we probably saw 5-6 planes land – including a couple of good-sized jets from United and Air France, along with smaller, private jets – and a large Delta plane take off.  I’m sure it’s much more exciting to be on the actual beach itself and see the planes flying towards you, seemingly getting ready to land right on top of you, but it was a great vantage point from offshore as well, as we could see the planes coming for us, and then as it flew low towards the beach and landing oh-so precariously, all without having to worry about sand whipping angrily about our legs and getting lodged in our eyes.   We got there at the right time as we were very fortunate to have seen so much action.  According to Nico, sometimes the boat would sit there and they would maybe catch just one plane arriving, if any at all.

 

[chamima]

Linda

What would you think of spending the day at Rainbow Beach?

[SleepingUgly]

1 hour ago, chamima said:

Linda

What would you think of spending the day at Rainbow Beach?

 

Honestly, Karen, I think it may depend on how long you are in port for.  We had basically just half-a-day, as it was Christmas and we didn't leave the ship until around 10 am and I wanted to be back by the port by 3 pm to get some shopping done, so I figured a few hours at the beach would be fine for us.  Plus, because it was Christmas, a lot of places were closed so we didn't feel that a trip into Christiansted would be worth it.  However, that would have been our first choice had it been a "normal" day, or we may have even rented a car and driven out to Point Udal on our own, just to say we'd been to the eastern most point in the US.  If you do rent a car, there are also other beaches in St. Croix that you can hit up on your own, and not have to rely on a taxi and its schedule.

 

I will say it was a lot of fun at Rainbow Beach.  The service was on point, and they do have a little restaurant and bar there so you can stay for a few hours and not go hungry / thirsty.  The beach is not lengthy or expansive, though, so if you like to take long walks on the beach (and yes, I like Pina coladas, and getting caught in the rain), this may not be a good beach for you.  However, we were there for a little over three hours and never felt bored or restless, and had a lot of fun either resting in our chairs or being in the water or taking short walks here and there.

 

I think they had mentioned another beach - Sandcastle Beach - which is supposed to be more laid-back and quieter, whereas Rainbow is better for families.  They are both about the same distance from the cruise pier, with Sandcastle in the opposite direction as Rainbow.  That may be another option to consider, if you are looking to stay closer to the ship?  I think there is a hotel there that sells inexpensive day passes - I want to say $10 per person but please don't quote me on that.

 

HTH!

 

Linda

 

[SleepingUgly]

Day 5 – St. Maarten (cont.)

 

After our time at Maho Bay, Nico and AJ asked if anyone had to rush back to their ship for departure, as we had all arrived on different cruise ships.  None of us did so they said we have time to go to a beach for a short break.  You may recall from one of my earlier posts, in which I had copied the description of the tour straight from Billy Bones’ website, that an afternoon beach break was supposed to have been included anyway.  No biggie – we were actually quite tired and it had already been a long day, so we would have been fine if we had returned to the ship at this time.  However, it’s onto Mullet Bay for us!

 

We anchored off of Mullet Beach and, this time, about half the people decided to stay on the boat.  Guess we weren’t the only ones who were tired.  Still, our family loves the water so we all jumped in, including the little one.  We swam to the beach, which was a lot farther than it looked, and since most people were back on the boat by now, we didn’t stay long and started swimming back.  This time, it was the oldest daughter’s turn to drag the little one along.  We all got some good exercise on that excursion, that’s for sure! 

 

Once we were back on the boat, we started to head back to Bobby’s Marina.  On the way, we passed by some obscenely ostentatious house that was only part of a larger complex.  Surprise, surprise.  Donald Trump had purchased this property a while back and now rents it out; he apparently does not stay here himself.  I think they said the property was available to rent on Airbnb for around $10K-$11K per night.  I'll spare you my thoughts and comments about this investment shack of his.  

 

It was a great, fun ride back to the marina, with fantastic views of the shore and the cruise ships still docked in port.

 

 

[SleepingUgly]

2 hours ago, ipeeinthepool said:

 

Your review is great, I've enjoyed reading about each day. Your photographs are awesome and your daughters pose for pictures much better than most.  I'm lucky to get two pictures of my DD on a cruise.  After looking at your pictures one thing that is obvious is that your oldest and youngest daughters have a great connection.  Congrats on a beautiful and happy family.

 

Thank you!  Those two indeed have a special relationship, despite their 11-year age difference.  Our oldest went back to college just yesterday and, even though she will be back very soon for her father's birthday, the little one was in tears because she missed her sister already.  We try our best with the kids - as long as they are happy and healthy - and do their best to be positive, respectful, contributing members to our family and society - then I really can't complain.  Thanks again for your very kind words!

 

Linda

 

[SleepingUgly]

Day 5 – St. Maarten (cont.)

 

Once back at Bobby’s Marina, we all piled out and thanked Nico and AJ for a wonderful, relaxing and super-fun day.  They really helped to make this a memorable excursion.  I had simply wanted to escape the crowds that I was expecting to be on land that day, due to seven ships being in port, but I ended up finding a truly unique and incredible experience for our family.  If you are looking for an extraordinary snorkeling option in St. Maarten, I highly recommend Billy Bones Boat Charters.  They are a fantastic, professional operation; I’m sure you will have as great of a time that we had, if not more!

 

 

We then trudged back to the ship, walking along the same pathway that we had taken that morning.  There was a lot of traffic heading to port – it was about 4.30 pm now – so I’m guessing passengers from other ships were rushing back before last call as three ships would sail out around 5-6 pm.  The Silhouette, however – along with the Edge and the Marella cruise ship – would stay in port until 11 pm.

 

[chamima]

1 hour ago, SleepingUgly said:

 

Honestly, Karen, I think it may depend on how long you are in port for.  We had basically just half-a-day, as it was Christmas and we didn't leave the ship until around 10 am and I wanted to be back by the port by 3 pm to get some shopping done, so I figured a few hours at the beach would be fine for us.  Plus, because it was Christmas, a lot of places were closed so we didn't feel that a trip into Christiansted would be worth it.  However, that would have been our first choice had it been a "normal" day, or we may have even rented a car and driven out to Point Udal on our own, just to say we'd been to the eastern most point in the US.  If you do rent a car, there are also other beaches in St. Croix that you can hit up on your own, and not have to rely on a taxi and its schedule.

 

I will say it was a lot of fun at Rainbow Beach.  The service was on point, and they do have a little restaurant and bar there so you can stay for a few hours and not go hungry / thirsty.  The beach is not lengthy or expansive, though, so if you like to take long walks on the beach (and yes, I like Pina coladas, and getting caught in the rain), this may not be a good beach for you.  However, we were there for a little over three hours and never felt bored or restless, and had a lot of fun either resting in our chairs or being in the water or taking short walks here and there.

 

I think they had mentioned another beach - Sandcastle Beach - which is supposed to be more laid-back and quieter, whereas Rainbow is better for families.  They are both about the same distance from the cruise pier, with Sandcastle in the opposite direction as Rainbow.  That may be another option to consider, if you are looking to stay closer to the ship?  I think there is a hotel there that sells inexpensive day passes - I want to say $10 per person but please don't quote me on that.

 

HTH!

 

Linda

 

 

 

Sorry Linda

I should have been clearer.

I meant the Rainbow Cafe beach on St. Maarten.

What would you have thought of spending the day there ?

[SleepingUgly]

Day 5 – St. Maarten (cont.)

 

Jiminy Cricket, are we done with St. Maarten yet?  Almost there, my friends, almost there ... we'll aim to finish things up in the next two posts.

 

Once we got back to the ship, we went straight to the rooms to shower and rested a bit.  It had been an insanely long day for all of us. When I was booking the excursion, I was like, “Oh, I don’t want to do just a four-hour, half-day tour.  We can take on more than that!  Let’s do a seven-hour, full-day tour.”  While it was fun, it was also exhausting and dh asked that we not plan any more full-day excursions in the future.  I had to agree with him.  (Of course, the damn fool could also do his own research and book his own stupid tours, but do I really want to get into that now?)

 

Around 6 pm or so, we went to grab some dinner at the buffet.  We found a table on the side of the ship facing the Edge and sat there.

 

It was not busy in the buffet at all, and at dinnertime, they also include a children’s section with mac and cheese, mashed potatoes and French fries.  All necessities to give those young, growing bodies the nutritious boost they need.  Of course they don’t need all that crap, so I helped them out by piling it all on my plate so, that way, the youngsters would be forced to visit the salad bar.  I know, I know, I’m much too kind.  Please, no accolades, but if you must, I prefer verbal praise over meaningless applause.

 

After dinner, during which the little one probably almost dozed off in her bowl of soup at least a few times, we went back to the rooms, where the two younger ones proceeded to change into their pajamas, got into their beds, and switched on the Food Network on their TV.  OK, then, Grandpa and Grandma are done for the night.  As for dh and the oldest and me, though, we were going out, being the crazy cats that we are.  The plan was to head to Front Street, where we’d check things out and do some shopping, and maybe hit up one of the local casinos.  When we had first planned this trip and I saw we were going to be in St. Maarten until late, I figured this would be a good time to introduce our oldest to the joy of a smoky casino since I knew the minimum gambling age on the island was 18.  However, it turns out she could gamble on the ship, so the novelty was gone, but we were still going out to see if we could find a land-based casino at which she could try her luck.

 

We walked off the ship around 8 pm and was surprised that the pier was quite empty.  That should have been our first clue.  The shops in the port area were all pretty much closed as well, which I thought was weird since there were still three ships in port.  But we soldiered on.  We went to the taxi ranks and got a van that took us to Front Street for $2 per person.

 

The drive took maybe no more than five minutes, and we were dropped off at the end of the world.  Or so it seemed that way to us.  We were dropped off on a dark, quiet street, with no activity whatsoever near us.  We were like, “Um, is this Front Street?”  The driver, being all extra friendly because she just made $6 for driving all of 30 seconds, gave us directions to a couple of bars in the area.  “Uh, where’s the nearest casino?” we asked cautiously.  She happily pointed out the casino to us, down an even darker avenue, past the darkest alleyway of all dark alleyways.  Gulp.

 

So, there we were, three idiot American suburbanites, wandering the streets of Philipsburg, after hours.  Who knew all the stores would be closed?  Well, YOU DO now, thanks to my stupidity. 

 

We walked a few blocks and found the glaring, flashing lights of the Jump Up Casino.  Actually, the lights were more along the lines of being dull and with some in non-working condition, but potatoes potahtoes.  We had arrived and we were here to win big!

 

Remember that scene from the movie Animal House, when Otter and Boon and the gang went to see Otis Day and the Knights play in that roadside bar?  Remember the greeting they got from the clientele when they first walked in?  Well, not to be offensive or non-PC, but that was similar to the greeting we got when we walked into the Jump Up Casino.  We were the only non-locals there.  I guess cruise passengers don’t usually venture this way.  We shuffled as a group over to the cashier window and got $100 in change.  Dh flipped $20 to each of us and scampered off, in search of his tables.  Way to protect your mate and young, bruh.

 

The two of us walked around for a few minutes and lost one of our $20s in an uber-unfriendly slot machine in a matter of minutes.  So we walked around some more.  Honestly, it was not a bad place, although it was extremely smoky.  No one gave us dirty looks or bothered us– with the exception of a few “Well, hellloooo there” greetings to my daughter from some of the men – but that was about it.  Dh came to find us shortly after.  He hadn’t found any tables – think there were only machines in that casino – so we decided to leave, mostly because the smoke was really bothering our daughter, who has bad asthma.  On our way out, we asked security at the door where we could find taxis, and he very nicely pointed out the spot to us.  At least, I think he was security.  He was dressed in a sharp suit, seated at a table near the entrance, and everyone seemed to know him.  He could have been the mayor, the local mob boss, the casino owner, the local suit model ... who the heck knows.  He was nice and helped us out.

 

At the taxi stand, we waved someone down who was zipping past.  He slammed on his brakes and got out to talk to us.  I checked out his van, which was covered in religious quotes.  We figured we can’t go wrong with someone who takes such good care of his vehicle – and he even had on a tie with crosses on it – so we asked if he can take us back to the pier.  He hesitated a bit; I think he was on his way home because his wife was sitting in the front seat and she did not look happy that he stopped.  If "hurumph" had a facial expression, she wore it the entire ride to the pier.  He probably felt sorry for us because we looked completely lost and desperate; I think I may have even been whining a bit.  Anyway, he quoted us $3 per person, and before he could even finish speaking, we had scrambled into the back of his van, before he had a chance to change his mind.  We arrived back at the pier in around five minutes, and we thanked him and his wife profusely, got out and waved them good-bye.  They must have thought we were nuts or drunk or stupid ... or all of the above.

 

[SleepingUgly]

Day 5 – St. Maarten (cont.)

 

Let’s just finish up the day then, shall we?

 

We walked back to the ship, with very few people around us.  It was only around 9 pm or so, but the pier was pretty much deserted.  All the shops had closed by this time.  We weren’t able to get any souvenirs here, which we were disappointed with, but it had still been a good day.

 

We took the opportunity to walk all the way down to the end of the pier to get some pictures of both the Silhouette and the Edge.

 

We got back onboard the ship and stopped at the Martini bar to check things out.  We got a little show put on for us; I think I got the chocolate Martini again but I don’t remember what dh got.

 

After that, our oldest daughter went back to the room because she was exhausted.  She was also getting a headache from all the smoke in the casino.  Dh and I rested in the room for a bit, and then went to the buffet to check out the “Chef’s Late Night Selections" around 10.30 pm, but it was just pizza and pasta and desserts.  I got a few things to take back to the room with me.  We ate and watched some TV, and then fell asleep a little after 11 pm.  It had been a long but very memorable day.  St. Maarten is definitely worth returning to! 

 

[SleepingUgly]

1 hour ago, chamima said:

 

 

Sorry Linda

I should have been clearer.

I meant the Rainbow Cafe beach on St. Maarten.

What would you have thought of spending the day there ?

 

Hi Karen - I personally would love spending a day at Grand Case beach, where Rainbow Cafe is located, but others may not.  For instance, I don't think I saw any water sports being offered there so some people may get bored easily?  However, if you want a place to relax and read and enjoy the view - all with good eats and drink service nearby - and do so in an out-of-the-way location not that close to the cruise pier, this is a good place to do it.  It is on the French side of the island so prices may be a bit higher, but the environment is quite laid back and easy-going.  I think it would be a great place to do a beach day, especially if your goal is rest and relaxation.

 

HTH!
 

Linda