Day 138: St. Martin

Today was in the twelve top 5 best days of the entire winter. And it's only 8:45pm as I start this post, but I can barely keep my eyes open. It was that great of a day.

But it was another rough night last night. Even the crew is talking about it, and most of their cabins are much lower on the ship than ours is.  Waiter Victor said he was awakened by the ship's shaking at least once an hour last night. That's pretty good...we were probably awake four times every hour. Although the Emerald Princess didn't arrive in St. Martin until 10am today, at some point last night I did set an alarm for 8am. I was afraid that we might just sleep in, especially once the ship was docked and stable. 

G skipped breakfast altogether but had a hot chocolate while we were waiting on Deck 5 to disembark. I went down to the International Cafe a little earlier and had a cup of coffee and my second breakfast sandwich of the season. (So, if you're keeping track, that's a grand total of two times that I've gotten food at the International Cafe. Staying away from that food is key to having the same clothes I wore in September still fit). 

We are smarter now, and knew where to line up (right outside the Internet Cafe on Deck 5) to be one of the first people off the ship. We were packed for a boat/beach day, and once we disembarked, we walked through the cruise pier area and exited the port, turning left and walking down to the Dock Maarten small boat marina. It was an easy 15 minute walk, and we walked through Chesterfield's restaurant on the waterfront to meet up with Captain Bob. 

Captain Bob's is the top rated excursion on Trip Advisor for Philipsburg, the town on the Dutch side of Sint Maarten where the cruise ships dock. This was the tour we had tried to get on the last time we were here but there was no space available. We had immediately reserved two spots for today and were thrilled to see how sunny it was. There were five boats going out today, and we didn't all do things in the same order, but, in the interest of time, I am simply going to copy and paste the tour description from the email that Captain Bob sent me at the time we reserved our trip. With a couple of exceptions (which I'll note), this is how we spent our day. 

Captain Arno was not too hard on the eyes. And that luscious French accent...

Source:  http://www.paradise-islands.org/st-maarten/map.htm

It helps to picture our day if you have a map of St. Martin to refer to.

Tour description

We take off along the South coast of St. Martin to Simpson Bay and through the Dutch side bridge into the Simpson Bay Lagoon.  During the winter, we pass up close to some of the biggest private yachts in the world (these were huge, but by the time we returned to Philipsburg at 4:30pm, the second largest privately owned yacht in the world was docked right next to the Emerald Princess). 

Bridge crossing Simpson Bay

Yacht parking lot

New bridge over Simpson Bay to the airport

We cross to the French side of the lagoon, towards Marigot and under the French side bridge into the Caribbean Sea.  

The long south shore of Anguilla in the distance

Grand Case Beach lunch stop pics: 

That float gets around!

Our delicious lunch. We chose mahi mahi.

We travel along the North coast of St. Martin stopping to see all the beaches along this coast, Lovers Beach, Friars Bay, Happy Bay, and Grand Case.  We also pass a most interesting rock formation.

Creole Rock...this looked exactly like where we snorkeled with the sea lions in the Sea of Cortez last year.

Depending on the weather and the number of boats present, we stop at Creole Rock or one of the other nice spots to do some snorkeling. (We actually stopped at Creole Rock after a huge lunch, a couple of beers and a guava berry colada. It was very windy and rough and I opted not to snorkel, causing G to almost fall off the boat in surprise. He claims I have never before missed a snorkeling opportunity. He's probably right.)

After, we continue along the coast past Anse Marcel toward the eastern side of the island and the Atlantic Ocean.

This will bring us to Pinel Island where we have lunch  (although we spent some time on the beach, we actually ate lunch in a beach restaurant on Grand Case Beach) and some time to relax on the beach.  Pinel is a tropical paradise with calm, shallow, blue water and swaying palm trees.  There is a small boutique under the palm trees where you will find unique items not found in the normal tourist traps on St. Martin and the prices are very reasonable. 

Pinel Island pics:

Loved these tables in the water!

Lobster G

Sugar birds in the gift shop

Iguanas, of course. They are everywhere in the Caribbean

After lunch, we sometimes head over to Tintemarre Island if the group and the waves allow.  It can be rough going there, but the spot is nice and a great place to swim and walk the beach.  Tintemarre is a deserted tropical island with a beautiful beach and is usually un-crowded.  There is no development on the island and no public transportation to it. (We were able to get to Tintemarre today and I snorkeled there. We saw turtles from the boat but I couldn't see them snorkeling because the wind had reduced the underwater visibility). 

The long, relatively secluded beach of Tintemarre. I might have said it was completely secluded if mine hadn't just been the only footprints on the beach on Eleuthera!

On the way back to Philipsburg, we go back all the way around the island past Bay Rouge, Plum Bay, Long Bay.  (Somewhere in this area we went past a few huge compounds right on the water. Our pilot Arno told us that one of them was Donald Trump's. I think that's a fine place for him to live. ;-) ) Then past Cupecoy, & Mullet Bay and then stop at Maho Bay to catch a big jet taking off or landing at the international airport.  The planes pass very close over your heads and you get to see why PJIA international Airport is listed as one of the 10 most dangerous airports in the world. I think it was rated as #3 on the TV show of the same name. Search St. Martin landings on YouTube and you will see what I mean.

Because the airport services a small island, there are not flights coming and going all day, every day.  Normally we do get to see at least one big plane come in and go out but there is no guarantee.  Some days there are no flights scheduled at the time we go by and on other days, if there is a delay or the plane leaves early we may miss them.  We do not get off the boat at Maho beach because we are forbidden to come close to the beach for safety reasons.  The effect of being on the water right under them is still impressive plus the view of the "nuts" standing behind the jets as they take off is quite interesting. (We saw one large Westjet flight from Toronto and two smaller planes land today). 

Then we continue back to Philipsburg for a 4:40 PM arrival.

There is a short video posted on YouTube that covers the entire trip:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUEydx9xWiA&feature=plcp&context=C4e9e978VDvjVQa1PpcFPKxXnNm6szOUe58pOFdRwsPvJWKJJ-Pvs=

End of tour information

You can see why I was particularly happy that my Fuji XP80 camera had started working again. I used the camera all day today and it performed beautifully. The boats were very new and extremely powerful with three large outboard engines. There was limited shade from a Bimini cover but all the seats were well cushioned, which was a good thing. We flew across the water, and actually went airborne a couple of times. Bags that weren't secured in a dry hatch were soaked. We never even bothered to use our beach towels; we wouldn't have stayed dry very long anyway. And I'm glad we left our iPhones behind. Nothing was safe from the spray. 

The water color everywhere was just spectacular. We had never before toured around St. Martin by boat, and were surprised by all the development and beaches. There are beaches tucked around every point of land, and most of the island is comprised of dry hills covered with vegetation and cacti. 

We also had a wonderful view of the southern shore of the neighboring island of Anguilla (An-GWIL-a), and in the distance we could see the mountains of the tiny island of Saba (Say-ba) and the hills of St. Barths. We have never visited Anguilla or Saba but have stopped in St. Barths a couple of times on Holland America cruises. Normally, only the smallest ships stop in St. Barths and mainstream cruise lines never stop in Saba or Anguilla. 

America's Cup yacht excursion near Philipsburg  

The second largest privately owned yacht in the world, Eclipse, with its own missile defense system.

Once back at Dock Maarten, we stopped in the Amsterdam wine and cheese store on the dock where we were treated to ice cream made right on the island, courtesy of Captain Bob. We arrived back on the Emerald Princess around 5pm; it had been a full and fun day. We each raced through showers and made it to the dining room by 5:45pm. Not especially hungry after a wonderful lunch on the beach and then ice cream, we each ate a couple of appetizers and more ice cream (there's always room for sorbet!) and made it to the 7pm performance of production show Disco:  Blame it on the Boogie. The cast must have had as good a day as we did; they were having so much fun tonight that they received a well-deserved standing ovation at the show's end. 

David Pitchfork and the Emerald Princess orchestra were playing Dixieland jazz in the Piazza and we stopped to listen to them. We are feeling quite spoiled to have a 7-member show band after the 4-member band on the Pacific Princess. They are also performing for tonight's Love Boat Disco Deck Party, which we would love to stay up for...but there is no way. G is already asleep and I will be soon. Our arrival in St. Thomas tomorrow is scheduled for 7am and, though our plans for the day aren't firm, we don't want to sleep in. 

I have several photos to post about our boat excursion today, but am close enough to free internet in St. Thomas to wait until tomorrow. I'll add them, and also upload a few more photos from the Eleuthera Death March then. 

Day 117: St. Martin

We were very excited about our day in St. Martin today, not least because the weather has continued to be perfect this cruise. Actually, the heavy rain we had the night before we missed Princess Cays last cruise was also the last time we've had less than sunny skies. 

We were also looking forward to today for another reason...new friends Chris and Dan had booked an all day excursion in St. Martin with Captain Bob, the #1 rated excursion in Phillipsburg, St. Maarten (the Dutch side of this two-flagged island). We decided to follow them to the marina, just a 15-minute or so walk from the cruise ship pier, on the outside chance there had been a cancellation and was room for one more couple. 

Our 10am arrival made for an easy morning.  G grabbed a quick breakfast in the Horizon Court Buffet but I had coffee and my first food of the cruise (since January 4!) from the International Cafe. Really; I had not had even one snack from there...though I did pick up a glazed donut with sprinkles for G one morning when I was getting my coffee to take in to breakfast in the DaVinci Dining Room. Today I opted for one of the breakfast sandwiches I had gotten hooked on last year on the Grand Princess. While I sat there and ate, Dan and Chris and eventually G all found me. The plan had been to meet there and walk off the ship together. 

Well...you know what these late arrivals (on time, but still later in the morning) do to the lines to get off the ship. It was interesting today to watch the line grow exponentially starting about 9:50am, to the point where there was no finding the end of it by the time the ship was docked and cleared just ten minutes later. Luckily, Security was there to keep people moving in the right direction and, once the line started to move, we were off the ship within a few minutes. Still, it's not my favorite way to disembark...and just wait until our 1pm arrival in Grand Turk in two days. 

We walked through the developed port area and turned left onto the main road, walking toward town until we came to the small boat marina area. Unfortunately, Captain Bob was fully booked and had no cancellations today, but can accommodate us later this season. We'll wait for the trip report from Chris and Dan before deciding to make a reservation. 

Suddenly finding ourselves with no major plans for the day, we considered taking a taxi to G's favorite, Maho Beach, right at the end of the Queen Juliana International Airport runway. While we were talking about that, we continued walking toward the boardwalk that fronts the wide, beautiful Great Bay Beach in Phillipsburg.  Almost immediately we came upon a lady selling a boat tour to Maho Beach to watch a KLM flight arrive from the Netherlands. These 747s are the largest planes to land on St. Martin and create quite a show as they seem to be almost within reach of those people on the beach. 

Instantly intrigued, we thought that the opportunity to get to the beach without having to take the long taxi ride in heavy traffic was a winner. We paid the $40pp for the trip and had a seat at a picnic table on the water in the shade of several palm trees. The boat held 8 passengers, and we were soon joined by others. Eventually, though, we started to get suspicious that we wouldn't have time to get to the beach before the flight arrived. G found a restaurant with free wifi and went online to check the latest flight arrival information and came back to tell us that the plane was landing in 25 minutes. At the same time, the lady selling the tour came back with our money, apologizing that there had been an issue with the boat and we wouldn't be able to go. Well...shoot. 

I was a bit peeved. If we hadn't waited nearly an hour for the boat to leave, we could have gotten to Maho Beach by taxi. But, at that point, we just needed to salvage the day, and renting two chairs and an umbrella and getting a bucket of beers on that long, beautiful beach went a long way toward doing it. We had taken our floats with us, and swam and floated and drank beers and ordered some chips and salsa and generally had a wonderfully relaxing day within sight of the cruise ship. 

The boardwalk along Great Bay Beach

G said today that he thinks this is the best beach in the Caribbean. "Even better than Carlisle Bay Beach on Barbados?" I asked. Yep, even better then that. 

One of the delightfully European alleys in Phillipsburg.

A funny thing happened when I was taking this photo of this church located right on the beach. I was wondering if Andy (Father Andy) would have a chance to see it...and out walked Andy!  He had just stopped by to take a look and discovered there was a Mass being offered there at noon...and stayed for it. 

Very near the church ;-)

There are many, many bars/restaurants along the beach with this same sort of offer.

We stayed on the beach until after 4:30pm (on board time was 5:30pm), and, in the interest of time, bought a one way ferry ride back to the ship ($5pp, but unlimited rides for the day cost $7). We had to wait quite awhile for the boat, as the Royal Caribbean ship in port with us was already leaving and so there were just a few of us left on the beach. We made a mad dash back to our cabin to clean up a bit for dinner and made it to the Michelangelo Dining Room by shortly after 5:30pm. 

When Captain Forteeze made an announcement right at 6pm, we assumed it was his "welcome back on board" announcement, and it was, but then he proceeded to tell us that our starboard propulsion system was only functioning at 50% due to a software glitch (we jokingly pictured Chief Roddy sitting in front of a computer screen furiously paging through a Windows 10 User Manual) and that we'd be staying at the pier a bit longer so it could be repaired. 30 minutes later he updated us to tell us it was still being worked on, but that we had plenty of time to get to St. Thomas by tomorrow at our scheduled arrival time at 7am. 

Still, there was excitement amongst the crew. St. Martin is a wonderful port to be delayed in, and I don't think that too many people- passengers and crew alike- would have been too disappointed if we had had to stay overnight there. Fortunately (or unfortunately), by 7pm Captain Forteeze announced that the issue was fixed and we'd soon be sailing. 

G and I decided that sailaway from St. Martin after dark under a star filled sky was more exciting than the production show Disco: Blame it on the Boogie, and went directly from dinner to the jogging track on Deck 19 aft for a beautiful view of the lights of St. Martin as we pushed away from the pier. We stayed up there for quite a while- it was a warm, windless night- and watched as the western bays of St. Martin came into view. Finally, our day spent walking in the hot sun and playing in the water made sleep more appealing from staying up for tonight's Love Boat Disco Deck Party (but what a gorgeous night for it), and we were in the cabin by 9pm. 

My favorite little pool on Deck 17 aft

The two cruise ship piers in Phillipsburg, St. Martin

We are cruising at about 9mph toward St. Thomas right now, and are feeling not even the slightest bit of movement in our cabin. It will be like sleeping in a hotel room tonight, and, between the lack of wind and starry sky, makes me hopeful that our good weather luck will continue tomorrow. 

Day 110: St. Maarten

Do you remember the episode on Seinfeld when George Constanza does the opposite of what he'd normally do and is amazed at what happens? Well, without making a conscious decision, we seem to be doing that same thing on this cruise, and we're discovering that what happens for us is more fun than ever. Instead of being early to bed, early to rise on this cruise, we are later to bed and even later to rise. We're enjoying the live music offerings, theme parties and other entertainment, and getting to sleep after 1am every night. We're cruising like people half our age would on a one week cruise.  What a blast!

I can't say why, exactly, this cruise is unfolding this way. Part of it is probably that I'm feeling better than I have in three weeks (that was a long lasting cold!). Part of it is no doubt that we went home for a few days and everything was fine, putting our minds at ease. Part of it is simply geography; we're in a familiar part of the world and back in Fort Lauderdale every few days. It's very comfortable for us. But most of it is all the wonderful additions to the Princess product this year to celebrate their 50th anniversary. We're seeing menu offerings we've never seen, enjoying theme parties never offered in the past, and constantly seeing reminders that this is a special year. It's given a cruise product that we are so familiar with a whole new feel and we don't want to miss out on anything. 

Last night, after we went back out, we spent time in the Explorers Lounge listening to party band Epithanie, in the Wheelhouse listening to the Massina Duo from Argentina, back in Explorers Lounge to watch the first round of Princess Pop Star (a first for us) and then up to Skywalkers where, based on the music being played, we discovered we are older than we think we are (it was just one heavy beat after another with no discernible songs). 

We were finally awakened today by the sounds of the Caribbean Princess docking in Philipsburg, St Maarten, the Dutch side of the small island that is half Dutch and half French. The sounds went on and on; it seemed that the wind was causing a bit of a struggle in getting docked, but we finally made it. I heard announcements asking passengers not to crowd the midship public areas and gangways (always an issue when we dock later in the morning), but, though we were supposed to have arrived at 10am, it was 10:30am before the ship was cleared and people could finally go ashore. 

Not that the delay affected us, of course. We were still trying to get ourselves to breakfast in the Horizon Court Buffet. :-|

We had intended to take a taxi over to Maho Beach again this year, to watch the planes landing, but, it wasn't until I posted our itinerary last night that we realized we weren't scheduled to arrive until 10am. Planes land more frequently earlier in the day; by the time we made the 30-45 minute ride to Maho, we'd be missing out on a lot of the fun. We decided instead to just see what the day brought. 

Well, it brought sunny weather in addition to the wind. We were one of FIVE cruise ships in St. Maarten today (Norwegian Getaway, MSC Divina, Thomson Celebration and a Carnival ship (not sure which one)). Things were hopping today, but the nice tourist area around the port can handle that many passengers on St. Maarten. Still, we knew traffic would be fierce. 

It was nearly 1pm before we walked off the ship. Our first stop was Kay Jewelers to pick up our FREE genuine rainbow topaz stone. Of course, it's rather useless on its own, and to have it set in something cost at least $50, but, we're doing the opposite here, and while we would usually ignore that sort of come on, today we didn't. I'll have to get it added to the will. ;-)

We walked around the entire port area, and were drawn to a store that sold Bose products, where we tested some of their wireless speakers (and were quite impressed). Do you mean we can get rid of the obsolete corner stereo cabinet and two large speakers in the family room and replace it all with something that fits in a pocket?  Sold!  Well, almost. We're going to comparison ship it online and perhaps purchase it when we're here again next week. 

Eventually we wandered over to two stands close to the cruise ships. At one, St. Maarten's reknowned Guavaberry liquor is used to make Guavaberry coladas. I'm a fan, and bought one. G went next door and got a coconut smoothie with rum added (this is startlingly opposite behavior on his part). We sat and people watched and finished our drinks...and were shocked when we stood up. Those frou frou beach drinks packed a punch!!  Of course, we had eaten lightly (almost nothing) thus far today, but we managed to get back to our cabin before we collapsed.

Coconut smoothies came from the shop on the left; guavaberry coladas on the right. 

An hour later, it was already time to get ready for the evening (and we had accomplished exactly what today?  Not one damn thing. Now, this is a cruise!!).  We wanted to be in the Piazza at 5pm for the VooDoo Dancers Folkloric Show, a taste of St. Maarten's Carnival. This was new to us; it was a group of six scantily clad women doing samba dances and by the end they had several passengers (including  G) up with them doing a conga line. 

We arrived at dinner exactly at 5:30pm fairly starved (a good feeling on a cruise ship). It was the Italian night menu, and while I stuck with my tried and true penne arrabiata with chicken, G ordered trout. I have never, in the 35 years I've known him, seen him eat trout. When he ordered hazelnut semifreddo for dessert, I was wondering just who this person was and what he had done with my husband, but then he ordered two scoops of ice cream to go with it, and the world made sense again.  

At 7:15pm in Skywalkers was this cruise's Most Traveled Passengers (MTP) cocktail party. We enjoy the cocktail parties so much more than a luncheon on a sea day, and are glad that's what we're getting on the Caribbean Princess. G had wondered, on embarkation day, if we'd even be among the top 20 most traveled couples on board this 3200 passenger ship to score an invite to the MTP; despite this being only a seven night cruise, the passenger demographic still seems older than us. He needn't have worried. We're the fourth most traveled couple, a bridesmaid position that brings with it no special recognition but requires nothing in return at the Captains Circle party either (I had to take the microphone and answer a question on the Pacific Princess, not an easy thing for this shy girl to do).  I had two Breeza Marinas and yummy hors doerves and mini desserts and we spent more time talking with 88-year old Ed (of the Oceania Marina in Papeete) and his wife Joyce. That's one of the things I love about cruising:  in our lives at home, we have little opportunity to socialize with people of that age, yet some of our fondest cruise memories include them. 

We still had a busy evening in store for us, first in the Piazza to listen to Dixieland jazz by the Caribbean Princess orchestra, then to the Wheelhouse Bar to listen to the Massina duo. There is a group of dancers onboard from Canada who love to dance in the Wheelhouse to their music, but they all have the 8pm dinner seating, so from 8pm to 10pm or so, the Massina duo uses that time to do less dance-y music and we enjoyed hearing Don't Cry for me Argentina in Spanish and a Time to Say Goodbye in Italian. 

At 9:30pm we were in the Piazza for the 50th Anniversary Festivals of the World Mardi Gras party with party band Epithanie and the horns from the Caribbean Princess orchestra. Cruise Director Kelly had the most perfect dress for the occasion and the whole thing was a lot of fun. We spoke with a musician from Epithanie who said this was the first time they'd done this with the horns section of the orchestra and they had had to do several rehearsals to figure it all out. It was perfect to us. I wore the mask I decorated yesterday and it was, without a doubt, the ugliest one there. Go me!

The party ended just as the 10:15pm performance of production show Caribbean Caliente was starting in the Princess Theater. We walked in a minute early and had no problem finding seats. It was a new show to us, and was fun, with lots of Latin music and dance. At the end, band Epithanie came on stage and got everyone on their feet. This is the first time we've seen this kind of integration of the entertainment on a cruise. 

The night was still not over...we went back to the Wheelhouse for more of the Massina Duo, then to the Explorers Lounge for more Epithanie. It was after midnight when I returned to the cabin; G is still out partying. We arrive in St. Thomas at 7am tomorrow morning and want to be on the 8am ferry to Water Island. 

Ha ha ha ha ha. I would be ROTFL-ing at that if I had the energy to do so. 

Maho Beach, St. Martin videos

Day 17: St. Martin

Prepared Thursday evening, November 14th

We had not been to St. Martin in over 8 years and so, in addition to, of course, being on the world's biggest cruise ship, on this cruise we were most looking forward to being on St. Martin again.

And, sidebar: in case you're wondering why it was that we were on all these islands- Grand Cayman, Cozumel and St Martin- eight years ago...G was away for two years for the War in Iraq and we hadn't seen each other for 7 months when we finally returned home. He had a couple of months of leave and adjustment time before he had to return to work. We spent 63 nights on cruises, all booked last minute, all in the Caribbean. Eastern, Western, Southern, out of Galveston, Fort Lauderdale and San Juan...we did it all that winter.

So, back to today...we were so pleased to see the Royal Princess docked right next to the Allure OTS this morning, and we went up to the Sun Deck above the bridge to take a really good up close look at the aft end of the Royal Princess. It's funny how we can see a ship much more closely when we're not on the ship. We always enjoy being in port with ships we've sailed on in the past, but when it's a ship we've just recently been on, or are about to go on, it's especially fun.

We had breakfast in the Solarium Bistro...with many people off the ship already, there was no line at all, and we've learned what food is good there (huge bowls of fruit, including papaya, and excellent varieties of muesli) and which to avoid (the reheated pancakes and cafeteria scrambled eggs). And I always enjoy the two flavors of enhanced water and love that the Allure offers somethin besides the usual cruise ship drink options of water, ice tea or lemonade.

It had been so long since we'd been in St. Martin that the entire area around the cruise ship pier was new to us. In fact, we remember our first visit where we walked into Phillipsburg from the ship and it was like taking our lives in our hands. Like Yacht Haven Grande in St. Thomas, or the Renaissance resort in Curaçao, these are improvements that not only make the pier area prettier but safer too.

St. Martin is one island governed by two nationalities: St. Marteen is the Dutch side, where the cruise ships dock, and St. Martin is the French side. All that marks passing from one country to the other is a sign on the side of the road, and cars and people move freely (as in, there are no barriers at all) between one side and the other. We'd already done the French town of Marigot and the infamous Orient Beach, known for its topless (and less) sunbathing. But on this trip we had one mission in mind: to get to Maho Beach on the Dutch side of the island.

Leaving the ship and walking to the end of the pier, it was obvious, seeing the Allure and the Royal Princess side by side, that the Allure is bit longer than the Royal Princess but a heckuva lot wider. It has to be, to accommodate two separate sides of ship with central neighborhoods. But it's hard to comprehend the difference until you see them side by side.

There is a well organized taxi dispatch area just beyond the shops at the cruise port, divided up by destination, and there were lots of people waning to go to. Maho Beach. We did hit a bit of a glitch with one taxi driver when he tried to squeeze one more person than he had seats into his minivan, but we spotted that and sent him on his way, waiting for the next taxi driver. The fare was between $8 and $10 per person each way, and I was astounded by 1.) how long it took to get there (it looks so close on a map; and 2) how congested and developed St. Martin has become. Now, for the best idea of the appeal of Maho Beach, better than any of the videos I will post in a couple of day, go to YouTube and search on
Maho Beach and KLM. The appeal of Maho Beach is that it is located right at the end (and I mean the VERY end) of St. Martin's only runway. There is the beach, then a two lane road, then the chain link fence at the end of the runway. When planes, especially large ones, land or take off, the force of wind expelled sends towels, beach bags, even people tumbling into the ocean. The biggest show of all comes on Saturdays, when the vacation week starts and the 747's from the Netherlands, France and the US land.

Great fun!

What I didn't realize from the YouTube videos is that Maho is not a deserted stretch of beach with a fence on one side. No, Maho must be one of the most congested, biggest parties I've ever seen. Anchored by a beach bar on either end (we chose the more popular Sunset Bar), it is one wild time, with lots of drinking and sun burning, punctuated by planes taking off and landing to cheers and applause. The arrival times of the next several flights are hand written on a surfboard with chalk, but knowing the flights could arrive early, a yell goes up whenever anyone sees one on the horizon to alert the boozing spectators.

Almost immediately, we found new BFFs Gus and Karen, and Jeff and Candy, with whom we've been the mainstays of the Diamond Lounge every night during free drinks. We then met Candy (really. Another one) and Tom and made our way through, well, I forget how many exactly, but several buckets of six beers each. After all, it was hot out there! We had a huge discussion about what time we needed to be back on the ship, which was complicated because the Allure had never changed time, remaining in EST, although St. Thomas and St. Martin were actually on hour ahead of EST (which is, what? Atlantic Standard Time?).

Finally, though, the taxi drivers were warning us we needed to get back to the ship, because traffic would be heavy, and they were right (although they had started saying that right after lunch). Thinking the Royal Princess would sail at 5pm AST, I was up on the Sun Deck over the bridge at 4pm Allure time, but saw the Royal's gangways still out. So we had time for a quick clean up (and G squeezed in a hot tub- quelle surprise!) and we up on the Sun Deck at 6pm when the Royal Princess did finally sail, right at sunset, and what a spectacular sight that was! It sat for a minute, after it backed out, as if it was posing for us, and such a pretty lady she is, too.

Then, we were off to Blaze for the Diamond Lounge drinks (oh my), before another cruise highlight, the ice show, called Ice Games. Yes, a figure skating show. On a ship. Actually, this concept was not new to the Allure and Oasis; we'd seen the ice show several years ago on the Mariner of the Sea. But that this can be done at all, and done at the level the skaters are performing is just amazing. Honestly, the entertainment alone, this show and OceanAria and Kenny James and Chicago and more good stuff to come were alone worth the price of the cruise. We had fantastic seats, and I can recommend sitting in the first row, middle on the right side of the ice, because I was involved in the show (no, not on the ice, thank God, but from my seat) and the skaters were whizzing by so close to us we would get a cold breeze each time they did.

For dinner that night, we returned to the Adagio Dining Room as a walk in. I have to say I'm most impressed by the way Royal Caribbean handles My Time Dining, which is like Princess' Anytime Dining where you can dine at any time, not at traditional early or late dining. We have never waited and have always been seated in the section of the same wait staff (the incomparable Althea and Marlon). Like on Holland America, it's nice that the person seating us addresses us by name, and, when we are seated, we are welcomed back by name by our waitstaff.

We followed up dinner with live music (there must have been 8 different choices happening concurrently around the ship), and our new favorite way of ending the evening- a stroll through Central Park before bed.

Just another incredible day in paradise!

Photo 1: the aft starboard suites on the Royal Princess

Photo 2: the America's Cup sailing yacht excursion

Photo 3: the Royal Princess (on the right) is big but the Allure OTS is HUGE!

Photo 4: flight arrival times posted at the Sunset Bar

Photo 5: Maho Beach