rcdisneyfam
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 1, 2000
Hi, me again with part 2......Well it is Tuesday and time to get up and venture out to the island of St. Maarten. We were up at 6:00 a.m. Last night we put our roomservice card on the door for breakfast delivery at 7:00 a.m Needless to say, the phone rang and it was 6:45 and breakfast was on its way up. We had cereal, bagels, danish, coffee and it was plenty to fill us up before our day in St. Maarten. We were off the ship at 8:00 a.m. all 10 of us we paid for the wrist band for the water taxi to get over to Great Bay Beach area. The girls both got their hair braided and were done by 9:15. Just in time for stores to open at 9:00 a.m for shopping. We got hairbraiding for $1.50 each. DD had 33 braids in back to the headband area with red beads in each so it looked like a head band of red beads. It was pretty and she was all ready for tropical night with her new doo!! We then shopped till we dropped. DH and our friend John found their Cigars at Gift World and we purchased some liquor there too. Went to Del Sol and got the t-shirts, hair clips and nail polish that change in the sun and found some Tommy Girl Colgne for DD at a perfume store. Found Guava Berry Liquor place and stopped in for some tasty samples, wow was my stomach burning when we left there. Purchased the spice liquor flavor. I did treat myself to a necklace, bracelet and earrings of Marquesite stones and it was beautiful. Decided I didn't want the average t-shirt for a souvenir this time. Kids went to the beach with our friends at Great Bay, they rented chairs and umbrellas for $10.00 and were given 2 free drink tickets for each set of chairs and umbrellas rented, they also rented jetskiis for $40 for a half an hour. DH and I headed back to the ship with our shopping bags, dropped them off at the ship and grabbed a burger up on deck 9 and headed back on the water taxi back to Great Bay. We found the girl that braided DD's hair she said she would get us a good cab driver for an island tour of St. Maarten. "Easy Boy" was our cab driver, an older gentleman in a red VW van, air conditioned. It was a 2 hour island tour and it was $30 each for DH and I. He took us everywhere, we even saw Diana Ross's house. Orient Beach was a site in itself I couldn't believe all the people walking around nude!! 
We got back to the ship around 3:30 and everyone else in our party was back on ship. Showered up for dinner, it was Tropical Night at Dinner. Went to Lumiere's and everyone had a flower lei on each table setting. We were all decked out in our tropical attire. Wow what a party it was, they had all the waiters going crazy doing the limbo, walking on their hands, getting everyone up to party. That night it was the Deck Party and it was from 10p.m. until Midnight. It was great. DH and John snuck away for a little bit to the Cigar and Cognac party at the quiet cove pool. It was the usual, crazy guys smoking cigars and chilling out. Headed to bed around 1 a.m. Left the roomservice card on the door again for breakfast to be delivered the next morning, the same type of food delivered again early.
We were up at 6:00 a.m. and room service was there at 6:45 a.m. We were off the ship at 8:00 a.m. and caught a cab for 12 people. Caroline & Mike and the boys joined us with our friends from home. My parents went off on their own. We had a cab driver "Herbert" in St. Thomas. He took each of us to Red Hook $8.00 each to catch the Ferry to St. John's. We got there with about 15 minutes to spare and paid $3.00 each for the Ferry to St. John's. Herbert said he would pick us up at 1:20 p.m. as we were going to take the ferry back at 1:00 p.m. The Ferry ride was about 20 minutes to St. John's. When we were on the ferry, saw my parents on the same ferry and they were going to St. John's to catch an island tour. They took the island tour with a cab driver for $16 each. Herbert, our cab driver in St. Thomas said we should look for a cab driver in St. John "Claudius" he would take us to Trunk Bay. We no sooner got off the ferry in Cruz Bay and Claudius was waiting for us, "Party of 12" he said, right this way. It was $4.00 each to Trunk Bay. We said we wanted to be back on the 1:00 ferry back to St. Thomas. He said he would pick us up at 12:30 to take us back to Cruz Bay for the ferry at 1 p.m. So we were on Trunk Bay at 9:30 and it was the most beautiful place on earth that we have ever seen. We swam all the time we were there and it was like heaven. We all had a great time. Time to shower off and clean up to catch the cab back. We got back to the ferry for 1 p.m. and back to St. Thomas by 1:20 and Herbert was waiting for us and took us back to the ship. Everyone except DH and I went back to the ship. DH and I went up to Paradise Tramway, $12.00 each to go up to the top. Wow what a view it was. There was a 15 minute show that passed over and then the sun came out and it was beautiful, the pictures were awesome from up there. There is a nice little deli up there and a bar and live band, some small shops and a bunch of parrots that a lady can take your picture with them. It was nice to have seen. DH and I shopped a little on the way back in the shopping area by the ship and were back on the ship 3:45. We decided we didn't get any lunch, so I popped open a bottle of wine we brought with us it was in the little fridge. I ordeded 2 cheese and fruit trays from Room Service and we enjoyed cheese, crackers and fruit with a bottle of wine on the verandah as we sailed away from St. Thomas. How beautiful it was!! Dinner tonight was back at Animators Palate and we had our color show tonight. It was nice and then for the fun, "Who Wants to Be a Mousketeer" well, our friends that came with us, John's seat and row number was called up he was the 3rd person up there. He asked his daughter to go up with him she is 14. So they answered 8 our of 10 questions and walked away with $400 shipboard credit. It was so much fun. I video taped it and it is so funny to watch. We went to Rockin D Bar at 10:15 for the Juggling show and then Match your Mate show followed in the same bar after at 11:00 p.m. it all was great fun. The match your mate show was histerical to see the couples up there. We turned in at around 12:30 to rest up for another day at sea.
It is now Thursday and we were up at 8:00 a.m. and I was up on deck 9 for my coffee as usual and then got DH up to have breakfast at Topsiders again. I then enjoyed a swim in the Quiet Cove Pool all by myself and then jumped in the hot tub alone. How peaceful it was. DH and I went to a Navigator Series again today and later we were able to get a Bridge Tour. We were there when the Captain announced the Western Carribean cruise. We were all excited as we found out before everyone else. Captain made an annoucement at noon that day to the whole ship about the Western cruise. DH and I ordered room service for lunch, ordered a Faccicia Bread with fresh roasted veggies. It was great and enjoyed that on the Verandah again as well. The Bridge tour was great and learned alot. That was at 3:30 that day. Caught poolside games at the Adult pool and the Ice Carving Demo at the Family Pool. Tonight was the Captain's Gala at Parrot Cay and we had Twin Lobster Tails and DH decided he would order the Filet of Beef to go with that, yes, he ordered 2 entrees. I ordered 2 appetizers, the baked clam appetizer and the shrimp appetizer. Dinner was superb!! We packed mostly everything so we would not have to do it all the last night. Just strolled the promenade deck and turned in around 12:30 a.m.
Next Day...Castaway Cay Day....We were surprised we could not get off until 9:30. Last year we did the Wonder cruise and we were off much earlier and much easier. We went down at 9:00 a.m. and were all the way up on the 2nd floor in line to get off. Wow, I couldn't believe it. We were not off until 9:45 a.m. and it was a mad rush for the beach. We ended up walking as the first tram was already full. We got down there in plenty of time to get the beach chairs we usually like by the 1st lifeguard on the family beach. DH had Parasailing at 11:30. They were a little behind on the parasailing as people were so late getting off. If you do parasailing or open air cabana, make your appointments for later in the day, not the first few bookings. It was a beautiful day at the beach, I got the floats we rented and floated all day. Caught up with DH after he parasailed $70 for about 10 minutes. He said he went up about 500 ft. and no one could go on the boat to take pictures or video unless they were paying to parasail too. So next time we will both go parasailing. Anyway we went to Cookies BBQ and it was the best lunch ever. I was so stuffed. Did a little shopping at the store on CC and showered off the sand and went back to the ship around 3:30. Showered and got ready for dinner at Palo's. We had dinner at 6 p.m. for the 6 adults in our party. The kids did their own thing and Dinner at Palo's was great. We brought our own bottle of wine (NY State wine) of course, and were not charged a corkage fee. The waiters were great and we had so much fun. We did not get to the last show of the cruise, but ended up finishing up to pack and we met Caroline and Mike up in the ESPN bar for our last evening on the ship. It was great fun. After we headed back to the room, we ended up talking outside in the midship area with some of the other DIS people and had a lot of laughs and exchanged addresses and phone numbers. We will definitely get together with Mike and Caroline even if they have to come up to Snowy Syracuse for a visit. Even though, we would really like to go see them some time soon too.
Had breakfast at 6:45 at Lumiere's saw our servers and gave them their well deserved tips. disembarked by 7:30 a.m. and gathered luggage went through customs, no problem. Waited about 15 minutes for Tiffany Town Car Service and we were on our way back to Orlando Airport to fly home to Syracuse. Had a 2 hour wait for our plane and flights home were perfect and all on time.
Definitely, Fly in a day early, Radisson is a great hotel to stay at, free shuttle to terminal. Tiffany Town Car Service all the way!!! Get to the port early, and get all the craziness done for all your ressies first and then it is smooth sailing for the rest of the cruise. Do order room service on the days that you go to an island it saves on a lot of time. Don't be afraid to ask for something that is not on the menu. Our friend John wanted shrimp cocktail at Palo's and they went down to Lumiere's to get it for him and then they brought him 2 of them. Don't worry about the 10 - 17 year old kids if you bring them, We saw them at dinner and hardly the rest of the day and we enjoyed the week as much as they did. The walkie talkies came in handy the first day. Some people used them all the time, we didn't have the need to use them other than the first day. Most of all enjoy yourself as we had the best time of our lives. Weather was perfect and we hand no problems all week. Oh I forgot, we did have to make a stop in Puerto Rico on Monday around 5:00 p.m. as there was a sick child on board and needed medical attention. We did find out later in the week that it was is his appendix. Thank God they got him to medical attention. Also, I forgot that we had a reception for returning guests on Monday around the time we were near Puerto Rico. It was the Castaway Cay reception, free drinks and appetizers, it was very nice. Food all week was very good and plentiful. We each gained 4 lbs. that week. We can't wait to book the Western Carribean cruise, just trying to figure out when we will go. Any questions, don't hesitate to ask......Roberta & Ralph
We got back to the ship around 3:30 and everyone else in our party was back on ship. Showered up for dinner, it was Tropical Night at Dinner. Went to Lumiere's and everyone had a flower lei on each table setting. We were all decked out in our tropical attire. Wow what a party it was, they had all the waiters going crazy doing the limbo, walking on their hands, getting everyone up to party. That night it was the Deck Party and it was from 10p.m. until Midnight. It was great. DH and John snuck away for a little bit to the Cigar and Cognac party at the quiet cove pool. It was the usual, crazy guys smoking cigars and chilling out. Headed to bed around 1 a.m. Left the roomservice card on the door again for breakfast to be delivered the next morning, the same type of food delivered again early. We were up at 6:00 a.m. and room service was there at 6:45 a.m. We were off the ship at 8:00 a.m. and caught a cab for 12 people. Caroline & Mike and the boys joined us with our friends from home. My parents went off on their own. We had a cab driver "Herbert" in St. Thomas. He took each of us to Red Hook $8.00 each to catch the Ferry to St. John's. We got there with about 15 minutes to spare and paid $3.00 each for the Ferry to St. John's. Herbert said he would pick us up at 1:20 p.m. as we were going to take the ferry back at 1:00 p.m. The Ferry ride was about 20 minutes to St. John's. When we were on the ferry, saw my parents on the same ferry and they were going to St. John's to catch an island tour. They took the island tour with a cab driver for $16 each. Herbert, our cab driver in St. Thomas said we should look for a cab driver in St. John "Claudius" he would take us to Trunk Bay. We no sooner got off the ferry in Cruz Bay and Claudius was waiting for us, "Party of 12" he said, right this way. It was $4.00 each to Trunk Bay. We said we wanted to be back on the 1:00 ferry back to St. Thomas. He said he would pick us up at 12:30 to take us back to Cruz Bay for the ferry at 1 p.m. So we were on Trunk Bay at 9:30 and it was the most beautiful place on earth that we have ever seen. We swam all the time we were there and it was like heaven. We all had a great time. Time to shower off and clean up to catch the cab back. We got back to the ferry for 1 p.m. and back to St. Thomas by 1:20 and Herbert was waiting for us and took us back to the ship. Everyone except DH and I went back to the ship. DH and I went up to Paradise Tramway, $12.00 each to go up to the top. Wow what a view it was. There was a 15 minute show that passed over and then the sun came out and it was beautiful, the pictures were awesome from up there. There is a nice little deli up there and a bar and live band, some small shops and a bunch of parrots that a lady can take your picture with them. It was nice to have seen. DH and I shopped a little on the way back in the shopping area by the ship and were back on the ship 3:45. We decided we didn't get any lunch, so I popped open a bottle of wine we brought with us it was in the little fridge. I ordeded 2 cheese and fruit trays from Room Service and we enjoyed cheese, crackers and fruit with a bottle of wine on the verandah as we sailed away from St. Thomas. How beautiful it was!! Dinner tonight was back at Animators Palate and we had our color show tonight. It was nice and then for the fun, "Who Wants to Be a Mousketeer" well, our friends that came with us, John's seat and row number was called up he was the 3rd person up there. He asked his daughter to go up with him she is 14. So they answered 8 our of 10 questions and walked away with $400 shipboard credit. It was so much fun. I video taped it and it is so funny to watch. We went to Rockin D Bar at 10:15 for the Juggling show and then Match your Mate show followed in the same bar after at 11:00 p.m. it all was great fun. The match your mate show was histerical to see the couples up there. We turned in at around 12:30 to rest up for another day at sea.
It is now Thursday and we were up at 8:00 a.m. and I was up on deck 9 for my coffee as usual and then got DH up to have breakfast at Topsiders again. I then enjoyed a swim in the Quiet Cove Pool all by myself and then jumped in the hot tub alone. How peaceful it was. DH and I went to a Navigator Series again today and later we were able to get a Bridge Tour. We were there when the Captain announced the Western Carribean cruise. We were all excited as we found out before everyone else. Captain made an annoucement at noon that day to the whole ship about the Western cruise. DH and I ordered room service for lunch, ordered a Faccicia Bread with fresh roasted veggies. It was great and enjoyed that on the Verandah again as well. The Bridge tour was great and learned alot. That was at 3:30 that day. Caught poolside games at the Adult pool and the Ice Carving Demo at the Family Pool. Tonight was the Captain's Gala at Parrot Cay and we had Twin Lobster Tails and DH decided he would order the Filet of Beef to go with that, yes, he ordered 2 entrees. I ordered 2 appetizers, the baked clam appetizer and the shrimp appetizer. Dinner was superb!! We packed mostly everything so we would not have to do it all the last night. Just strolled the promenade deck and turned in around 12:30 a.m.
Next Day...Castaway Cay Day....We were surprised we could not get off until 9:30. Last year we did the Wonder cruise and we were off much earlier and much easier. We went down at 9:00 a.m. and were all the way up on the 2nd floor in line to get off. Wow, I couldn't believe it. We were not off until 9:45 a.m. and it was a mad rush for the beach. We ended up walking as the first tram was already full. We got down there in plenty of time to get the beach chairs we usually like by the 1st lifeguard on the family beach. DH had Parasailing at 11:30. They were a little behind on the parasailing as people were so late getting off. If you do parasailing or open air cabana, make your appointments for later in the day, not the first few bookings. It was a beautiful day at the beach, I got the floats we rented and floated all day. Caught up with DH after he parasailed $70 for about 10 minutes. He said he went up about 500 ft. and no one could go on the boat to take pictures or video unless they were paying to parasail too. So next time we will both go parasailing. Anyway we went to Cookies BBQ and it was the best lunch ever. I was so stuffed. Did a little shopping at the store on CC and showered off the sand and went back to the ship around 3:30. Showered and got ready for dinner at Palo's. We had dinner at 6 p.m. for the 6 adults in our party. The kids did their own thing and Dinner at Palo's was great. We brought our own bottle of wine (NY State wine) of course, and were not charged a corkage fee. The waiters were great and we had so much fun. We did not get to the last show of the cruise, but ended up finishing up to pack and we met Caroline and Mike up in the ESPN bar for our last evening on the ship. It was great fun. After we headed back to the room, we ended up talking outside in the midship area with some of the other DIS people and had a lot of laughs and exchanged addresses and phone numbers. We will definitely get together with Mike and Caroline even if they have to come up to Snowy Syracuse for a visit. Even though, we would really like to go see them some time soon too.
Had breakfast at 6:45 at Lumiere's saw our servers and gave them their well deserved tips. disembarked by 7:30 a.m. and gathered luggage went through customs, no problem. Waited about 15 minutes for Tiffany Town Car Service and we were on our way back to Orlando Airport to fly home to Syracuse. Had a 2 hour wait for our plane and flights home were perfect and all on time.
Definitely, Fly in a day early, Radisson is a great hotel to stay at, free shuttle to terminal. Tiffany Town Car Service all the way!!! Get to the port early, and get all the craziness done for all your ressies first and then it is smooth sailing for the rest of the cruise. Do order room service on the days that you go to an island it saves on a lot of time. Don't be afraid to ask for something that is not on the menu. Our friend John wanted shrimp cocktail at Palo's and they went down to Lumiere's to get it for him and then they brought him 2 of them. Don't worry about the 10 - 17 year old kids if you bring them, We saw them at dinner and hardly the rest of the day and we enjoyed the week as much as they did. The walkie talkies came in handy the first day. Some people used them all the time, we didn't have the need to use them other than the first day. Most of all enjoy yourself as we had the best time of our lives. Weather was perfect and we hand no problems all week. Oh I forgot, we did have to make a stop in Puerto Rico on Monday around 5:00 p.m. as there was a sick child on board and needed medical attention. We did find out later in the week that it was is his appendix. Thank God they got him to medical attention. Also, I forgot that we had a reception for returning guests on Monday around the time we were near Puerto Rico. It was the Castaway Cay reception, free drinks and appetizers, it was very nice. Food all week was very good and plentiful. We each gained 4 lbs. that week. We can't wait to book the Western Carribean cruise, just trying to figure out when we will go. Any questions, don't hesitate to ask......Roberta & Ralph
