05/09/2009 May 9, 2009 7-Night Eastern St Maarten... Watch Out!

[don604]

Welcome WILDCATMICKEY, Great to have you aboard!!

 

[WILDCATMICKEY]

WILDCATMICKEY, glad to have you with us. Is it just the two of you?

Yes, it is just DW and myself. No kids here. We just enjoy the DCL, it's the best.

 

[WILDCATMICKEY]

Yes, Welcome Aboard WILDCAT Mickey!! It’s great we have another past Eastern cruiser with us to share some tips for those of us (like me) who are new to the itinerary!

DW wanted to do this ieinerary again because she like to jewlry sho in ST. Marteen. It was better than the shopping in St. Thomas fo her. We have never done an excursion, but might do one this trip.

 

[scottie]

DW wanted to do this ieinerary again because she like to jewlry sho in ST. Marteen. It was better than the shopping in St. Thomas fo her. We have never done an excursion, but might do one this trip.

Oh boy the magic word... shopping! That is exactly what my wife and MIL are looking forward to for our first 7-night sailing. DW enjoys shopping in Nassau but we have been told St Marteen is way better for jewlery bargins. I already advised them last night they are limited to one of the two days for shopping because I want to plan a beach outing for the other day for all of us (and whoever else on our meet thread that would like to attend). I am dreading the day as we step off the ship and DW asks me for the credit card to buy a new ring!

 

[Mastiff]

Hello fellow shipmates!

We just booked our very first cruise ever! We will be sailing along with you all on May 9th.

We look forward to getting to know you all and a fun year of chatting.

We are booked in a Cat 4 room.

Thanks

 

[WILDCATMICKEY]

Hello fellow shipmates!

We just booked our very first cruise ever! We will be sailing along with you all on May 9th.

We look forward to getting to know you all and a fun year of chatting.

We are booked in a Cat 4 room.

Thanks

Welcome aboard, We are also in a CAT 4.

 

[don604]

Hello fellow shipmates!

We just booked our very first cruise ever! We will be sailing along with you all on May 9th.

We look forward to getting to know you all and a fun year of chatting.

We are booked in a Cat 4 room.

Thanks

Awesome! Great to have you aboard!!

 

[scottie]

Yes, Welcome Mastiff!! Cat 4 has always been our fav cat to stay in but once our youngest came-to-be we were one too many for our beloved Cat 4 rooms! Looking forward to chatting the months away.

 

[DisneyTampa]

Welcome aboard to all the new people that will be joining us!!!


We are almost 1 year away

 

[Pooh's-Honey-Pot]

Just wanted to say "hi everyone!"!

DH and I will be on this cruise - our first cruise ever!! So excited!!

We are the Eastern Cruise by ourselves, then we are doing the Western cruise on 16th May with two friends (also cruise virgins)! It's going to be the best two weeks ever!!!!!!

 

[don604]

Just wanted to say "hi everyone!"!

DH and I will be on this cruise - our first cruise ever!! So excited!!

We are the Eastern Cruise by ourselves, then we are doing the Western cruise on 16th May with two friends (also cruise virgins)! It's going to be the best two weeks ever!!!!!!

Aboard!! Wow, sounds like fun!!!

 

[scottie]

Just wanted to say "hi everyone!"!

DH and I will be on this cruise - our first cruise ever!! So excited!!

We are the Eastern Cruise by ourselves, then we are doing the Western cruise on 16th May with two friends (also cruise virgins)! It's going to be the best two weeks ever!!!!!!

Yes, Welcome Aboard! Boy you two are LUCKY... two super cruises in a row!!!

 

[scottie]

Well I am on a mission now, to decide which island we want to shop on and which island we want to hit a beach for the day. I figure do shopping one day and then use the other day for the beach.

 

[WILDCATMICKEY]

Well I am on a mission now, to decide which island we want to shop on and which island we want to hit a beach for the day. I figure do shopping one day and then use the other day for the beach.

Remember you always have Castaway Cay as a beach day. Since the last time DW got better deals on St Marteen she will shop there and we will do an excursion on St. Thomas.

 

[scottie]

Remember you always have Castaway Cay as a beach day. Since the last time DW got better deals on St Marteen she will shop there and we will do an excursion on St. Thomas.

We are long-time fans of Castaway Cay for sure but defiantly want to spend a day at a lovely beach on one of the islands we have not visited before too. So I guess we need to narrow down which island has the best shopping for jewelry etc. and which has the best beaches and go from there.
I have heard several people say St Maarten tends to hold better deals so we may use that for our shopping days. I would like to do St John for the beach day as they seem to have the best beaches but it seems like a slight adventure to get there and the ship leaves kind of early that day too. Thanks for the tip about better prices in St Maarten!

 

[MickeyCruiser]

My husband, son 8 and I love to hit the beach at each port and a snorkelling excursion at one as well. On our Western we went snorkelling in Grand Cayman and to the beach in the afternoon - this was our best day. I think St. Maarten will be beach day and St.Thomas/St.John day we will go on the doubloon snorkel excursion and then hit the beach for a couple of hours. I am thinking Maegens Bay, but still looking around for something that has good reviews and is easy to get to.

 

[scottie]

I am thinking Maegens Bay, but still looking around for something that has good reviews and is easy to get to.

We just had friends return from an Eastern Cruise and they went to Magens Bay and had a wonderful time… kids and adults. I have had trouble finding bad reviews for that beach so I think we may end up there. It seems to be about a 20 min tax ride which isn’t bad at all. Also appears they have a full array of facilities there such as food, restroom, rental stuff, etc. The $4 adult fee isn’t bad since we will have everything we need there. It appears to a popular beach for cruise excursions so it may be kind of busy but even reports I read where people went on a crowded day still had a great time and found a place to sprawl out.
I have also just started looking into Cokie Point Beach- St Thomas, as I am finding good reviews too and sounds less crowded. This beach is supposed to have excellent snorkeling.
I can’t find us heading over to St John at this point due to the extra 40 mins or so of ferry service on top of a taxi ride and the ship leaves out of port before dinner time I think. Something makes me think we would feel a bit rushed going to St John.

Here are two nice Links I found that has several beaches listed with info about each for St Thomas and St John:

St Thomas
http://www.vinow.com/stthomas/beaches_stt/

St John
http://www.vinow.com/stjohn/beaches_stj/

 

[MickeyCruiser]

These links are great - Thank you for posting.

 

[scottie]

These links are great - Thank you for posting.

Your Welcome! Hopefully they will come in handy for everyone planning to hit the beach. Who knows, maybe a bunch of our meet group will end up at the same beach and we can all have a blast togther- before Castaway Cay!

 

[scottie]

Not to do with our cruise exactly but we are fresh out of airline tickets for our trip to Hilton Head in June. We had tickets on Skybus- which closed up shop this past weekend. I hate to make long drives but I guess that’s what we will be doing because I cant see myself spending over $1800 on airfare for for an 11 hour drive.

As for our Thanksgiving trip to Disney- that is up in the air now too. Airfare for the dates we have to fly is about $500 per person. We planned on using a low-cost airlines but they are all disappearing quickly! I will hope SouthWest comes out with some decent fares for Thanksgiving time. if not, I may have some DVC points up for rent for the first taker!

Now for the big cruise.... I fully plan to be on this ship so let’s just hope the airfare gods are somewhat kind to us for this trip but I don’t imagine I will think twice about the price! Just get us on the ship!