FLfamilyof 4
World Peace IS Possible
- Joined
- Mar 16, 2001
How strange it was for me to be awake again at a very early hour. I imagine it was 6am. Through the sheer curtain of the verandah glass door (there are also room darkening curtains which pull over the sheers in case you are wondering...) I could see we were stopped and in port. Since our agenda did not include getting off the ship right away, I rested for about an hour before I got up. Once up, I saw we were docked next to another ship. We had pulled right into St. Maarten instead of backing in, as apparently happens sometimes, so we had the best view as we were on the port side of the ship! How very turquoise blue the water was! All the sailboats in the harbor decorated the bay like ornaments on a Christmas tree. From the verandah, oops I am in my pajamas when I realize passengers from the other ship are also awake. They are walking around on deck and looking at our beautiful ship. Envious, no doubt! Back into the cabin I retreat to get dressed before venturing back out for a look. I see now that the other ship is RCCL's Monarch of the Seas. Overall, it looks pretty nice. However, it is smaller than the Magic, not as elegant and only the very upper deck of cabins has verandahs. All the outside cabins on Monarch have small square windows. They don't even compare to the huge, round windows in the Magic's oceanview rooms. I bet all the RCCL passengers are sorry they didn't book a DCL cruise! We do our usual breakfast on the verandah. I felt the food on the buffet was good. There were a wide range of choices and everything was cooked okay for us.(ie bacon & scrambled eggs) We just did not want to eat breakfast or lunch in the restaurants. To us, it would have felt cooped up & away from the action. That was just our preference. After breakfast, we took DD & DS to the pools for family time. We had the WHOLE Mickey pool to ourselves for about an hour. We also ventured to the Goofy pool for the jacuzzis. The water in the Goofy pool is 77 degrees according the ship info on the TV. WAAAAY too cold for us Floridians. 
DD & DS enjoyed this morning very much. I had told them ahead of time not toexpect the pools to be too much fun when we were at sea. Although it was crowded on those days, DD & DS had a great time anyway. They stayed mostly at the Mickey Pool despite it being shallow. I think the slide was the reason. At about 11:30, we ate lunch at Pluto's--YUMMY chicken fingers! Then off to St. Maarten.
As we disembarked, it was amazing to be standing on the pier next to the Magic. She is magnificent! We ran into California MOM & family as they were headed back to the ship. We knew we just wanted to take a island tour, go to Del Sol and to the Guavaberry Emporium. We were unsure if we should first take the little ferry boat straight over to the shopping area of Phillipsburg or walk to the visitor center at the beginning of the pier. CalifornaiMom told us they got a taxi over at the visitor center and took a tour for $68 (four of them just like us). So that is what we did. I expected to be fighting off women wanting to braid my DD's hair or other people trying to sell something. Surprisingly, this never happened. I later heard from someone they are waiting for all the cruise passengers at the dock where the ferry boats go. Glad we didn't take the ferry boat! Maybe too, since we were not there early in the day, we got lucky?! We rode in an air conditioned, large passsenger van. I told the man we wanted to go all by ourselves. No problem. Our driver, Jeff, was soft spoken. He didn't talk and talk; just answered our questions politey and gave info at a few places he thought were of importance. I have been to the Caribbean before and was not surprised at the poverty and lack of sanitation in some areas. DH was appalled at how there could be a garbage dump just feet away from the ocean. i guess he saw motor oil dumped in a few of these places as well. No EPA on St. Maarten is what I told DH. St. Maarten's climate is a bit drier than St. Thomas, so the vegetation is not as lush or green. Therefore, perhaps not as pretty. I did think there were some beautiful areas though.We drove through Phillipsburg, to the cul-de-sac, over to Marigot and Grand Case. We didn't chose to get out anywhere...just having a look. we then drove down to the Orient Beach area. Lots of nice, new resorts and some under construction. The waves were rolling. Lots of jetskiing and parasailing action. Yes, we did drive by the nude beach and I have video to prove it. DD & DS were forewarned. They just thought it was funny. No unclothed people were close enough for them to get a good look at anyway. Camcorders do have zoom lenses though!
Once back in Phillipsburg, we had Jeff drop us off on Front Street. We walked out on to Great bay Beach for the view and pictures. Then to Del Sol where DD & DS each picked out a tshirt. Afterwards, to the GB Emporium. The GB colada sample was delicious. I bought a full size colada and 2 bottles of GB liquor. Next door, is a t-shirt shack that has shirts with funny, adult humor sayings on them. I took a picture of one. In hindsight, wish I would have read them all, taken more pictures, or even bought one. However, DD & DS can read just about anything now and I did not want to expose them to certain vocabulary words! We hailed a taxi back to the ship. Amazing how our "very tired" DD & DS were all of a sudden ready for Oceaneer's. So back they went to the Club! We were on ship by 3pm-ish.
We had dinner in Parrot Cay which was perfect since it was Tropical night. After that we went to the Tropical Deck Party while kids were enjoying Goofy's Pajama Party. CaliforniaMom, her DD-10 and I had a blast dancing on the Goofy Pool stage. DH went to get DD & DS so they got to see the characters dance & perform. At about midnight, we were all in bed, exhausted in a good way. The next morning we would need to get up early for our 5 Star Snorkel Excursion. It had been 11 years since I was in St. Thomas. I was looking forward to going back!
DD & DS enjoyed this morning very much. I had told them ahead of time not toexpect the pools to be too much fun when we were at sea. Although it was crowded on those days, DD & DS had a great time anyway. They stayed mostly at the Mickey Pool despite it being shallow. I think the slide was the reason. At about 11:30, we ate lunch at Pluto's--YUMMY chicken fingers! Then off to St. Maarten. As we disembarked, it was amazing to be standing on the pier next to the Magic. She is magnificent! We ran into California MOM & family as they were headed back to the ship. We knew we just wanted to take a island tour, go to Del Sol and to the Guavaberry Emporium. We were unsure if we should first take the little ferry boat straight over to the shopping area of Phillipsburg or walk to the visitor center at the beginning of the pier. CalifornaiMom told us they got a taxi over at the visitor center and took a tour for $68 (four of them just like us). So that is what we did. I expected to be fighting off women wanting to braid my DD's hair or other people trying to sell something. Surprisingly, this never happened. I later heard from someone they are waiting for all the cruise passengers at the dock where the ferry boats go. Glad we didn't take the ferry boat! Maybe too, since we were not there early in the day, we got lucky?! We rode in an air conditioned, large passsenger van. I told the man we wanted to go all by ourselves. No problem. Our driver, Jeff, was soft spoken. He didn't talk and talk; just answered our questions politey and gave info at a few places he thought were of importance. I have been to the Caribbean before and was not surprised at the poverty and lack of sanitation in some areas. DH was appalled at how there could be a garbage dump just feet away from the ocean. i guess he saw motor oil dumped in a few of these places as well. No EPA on St. Maarten is what I told DH. St. Maarten's climate is a bit drier than St. Thomas, so the vegetation is not as lush or green. Therefore, perhaps not as pretty. I did think there were some beautiful areas though.We drove through Phillipsburg, to the cul-de-sac, over to Marigot and Grand Case. We didn't chose to get out anywhere...just having a look. we then drove down to the Orient Beach area. Lots of nice, new resorts and some under construction. The waves were rolling. Lots of jetskiing and parasailing action. Yes, we did drive by the nude beach and I have video to prove it. DD & DS were forewarned. They just thought it was funny. No unclothed people were close enough for them to get a good look at anyway. Camcorders do have zoom lenses though!
Once back in Phillipsburg, we had Jeff drop us off on Front Street. We walked out on to Great bay Beach for the view and pictures. Then to Del Sol where DD & DS each picked out a tshirt. Afterwards, to the GB Emporium. The GB colada sample was delicious. I bought a full size colada and 2 bottles of GB liquor. Next door, is a t-shirt shack that has shirts with funny, adult humor sayings on them. I took a picture of one. In hindsight, wish I would have read them all, taken more pictures, or even bought one. However, DD & DS can read just about anything now and I did not want to expose them to certain vocabulary words! We hailed a taxi back to the ship. Amazing how our "very tired" DD & DS were all of a sudden ready for Oceaneer's. So back they went to the Club! We were on ship by 3pm-ish.
We had dinner in Parrot Cay which was perfect since it was Tropical night. After that we went to the Tropical Deck Party while kids were enjoying Goofy's Pajama Party. CaliforniaMom, her DD-10 and I had a blast dancing on the Goofy Pool stage. DH went to get DD & DS so they got to see the characters dance & perform. At about midnight, we were all in bed, exhausted in a good way. The next morning we would need to get up early for our 5 Star Snorkel Excursion. It had been 11 years since I was in St. Thomas. I was looking forward to going back!
