Triumph- Day 5 / St. Maarten

[4 of Harts]

Day 5 but in some ways we’re bumming because it’s our last port day. Don’t get me wrong, I like Days At Sea but port days are definitely nicer and more interesting.

 

Anyway, arrived early. 7am… we were on the starboard side of the ship so our balcony view was of the island under construction and a French cargo ship… interesting but… going out to the Secret Deck I discovered another ship docked next to us, AIDA Cruise Lines.

 

Slow easy going breakfast for me, took our time getting up and about, leaving the ship around 11ish… we were all still crispy from snorkeling so we lathered up the sunblock in an attempt to not get any more sun.

Years ago we tendered into St. Maarten, walked off and went to the dock area , town and discovered the casinos etc. along with the local flavor. We did the America’s Cup then (10 years ago) and I see it still is going on. It still is one of my favorite excursions of all time along with cave tubing in Belize.

 

Anyway… now the dock is in this newly created shop area with the taxi area etc. that just has a plastic, contrived feel about it. It was neat and had some flavor but it just seemed too much geared towards the cruiser that didn’t want to go onto the island.

 

Went thru and got to the cab area. Got yelled at by the Head Master about again, the government regulated prices. $20 for 4 of us to Oyster Pond. Wow.. they got that speech figured out. We were on our way to Captain Oliver’s Resort in the Oyster Pond area. I read about it in Islands magazine a few years ago. The highlight is that it straddles the French and Dutch border of the island. So you can do, "two countries in two steps". Corny but it was a good sell to the kids as well.

 

Got there after about 25 minutes of going through towns and rolling hills, lots of construction and real estate going on. We had a driver, Mary, who spoke only English which I thought was interesting considering Dutch and French were the spoken language, or so I thought. Her best comment when I proded her on how was tourism… "no matta what, when da US sneezes… everyboddy gets a cold… " in my best Caribbean writing. We chewed on that line and have since we got back. Americans spend. Although the ship was sold out you could feel the lesser spending. Excursions were not full. Lots of window shopping. Plenty of money being spent but not to the degree that I’ve seen before.

 

Arriving at Captain Olivers we saw many wonderful views. The restaurant is nestled on a little harbor area. Many beautiful homes looking down. The resort was kind of neat, I’m told that the rooms / cottages go for fairly cheap, $120/night but hey, my room moves! Getting to the restaurant around 11:40 after looking at the birds outside, parrots/toucans etc. we were immediately sat down as the first lunch guests of the night. We were sat at the "best seat in the house" , right next to the sharks , turtles and other marine animals either underneath your seat, plexiglass, or next to you… fenced in area. Quickly we ordered, wife getting the lobster bisque and escargot (as the article said that it was like being in Paris). My wife said that they were good, but after the Paris dining room I had hoped that was what the article truly meant…haha. I got a Cajun steak that was good to very good. Girls got a burger with fries to split. Overall the meal was good, not great. A little bit pricey, $80 after tip, but the environment was really neat. I asked our waiter if he could get us a cab back and he prompted pulled out his cell and called his buddy. We said goodbye to Captain Olivers happy with our taste of St.Maarten.

 

The buddy was there, I negotiated the price down to $15 and we were off. Getting back to the port area quickly I gave the guy $20 total and he seemed overjoyed.

 

We strolled through the shops and such stopping for some cigars for me (Cuban blend, made in front of you) and some drinks. There is a guy making crepes there but we were stuffed and didn’t go for it. Diamonds International and all the standard port stuff. Good to see to grab a few trinkets. Bar at the end of the pier looked like potential for next time.

On the ship in a few moments and used our go up 1 flight to get the elevator procedure. So many people follow the crowd on cruises like cattle. We don’t just to be "rebels". This will be revisited on Day 8.

Back on board by 4:30, ship cruises at 5pm.

 

Went back to the cabin, girls changed into bathing suits and cover ups , took them to the water slide. I got a seat and was able to watch them in the shade. The slide runs next to the pool and doesn’t actually go into it. It is really nice and the kids loved it. The only bad part is that it takes a long time to get through line and they didn’t get a chance to do it as much as they had wished.

 

Back to the cabin, got dressed for dinner. Casual again, wore dockers/polo, kids wore dresses as they love to dress up. Wife wore cruise casual stuff and we all fit in nicely.

 

Jerk pork for dinner for both of us. It was a little snappy/spicey , and I thought was very good. Wife got the same, kids got pizza, mashed potatoes, I got the broccoli as a side. Dinner is so nice and by far is always one of the highlights of the day. With kids it isn’t easy to do dining of that quality at home so we enjoy the opportunity.

 

Took the kids to Camp Carnival. Did some drinks in the cabin, took them in with us to the casino. Lost a little but hung tight in the slots. They have Penny-$10 slots. I’m a fan of the traditional quarter machines with a maximum 3 credit pull. I played roulette as well and didn’t hit at all. I got a few split bets but nothing big.

 

Went back for some more drinks , on the balcony this time. Got the kids from CC at 10pm and back to the cabin. No movie on the big screen tonight. Said goodbye to St.Maarten and land for 2 days.

[4 of Harts]

Caper Day 5 St Maarten / Map of St Maarten :)

Caper Day 5 St Maarten.pdf

St Maarten map.pdf

[4 of Harts]

no movie on the Lido deck this night... looks like it was on 5 out of 7 of the nights...