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

[scottie]

I found my cabin for this cruise first....

....then I discovered the little button that rotates you around the ship (which incidently makes everything even cooler) and found my cabin from my last eastern.

Then I started looking at the other doors on the lower decks...

Then to the crew door where I first ever boarded the Magic for a tour...

Then I started looking at the baggage guys loading up stuff in the terminal...

Anyone who has cruised before, and used a private transfer to port, do you recall if the long covered walkway that runs parallel to Charles M Rowland Dr. in the livemap picture is the area the taxis/towncars drop passengers off?
Yes I am a dork and just trying to plan our travel to the terminal door!

 

[YenSid1222]

Anyone who has cruised before, and used a private transfer to port, do you recall if the long covered walkway that runs parallel to Charles M Rowland Dr. in the livemap picture is the area the taxis/towncars drop passengers off?
Yes I am a dork and just trying to plan our travel to the terminal door!

Yes!

You can kind of see the turn around on the south side of the covering. That is where you will be dropped off. There will be luggage porters right there for you. Then you will walk under the long narrow covering over to the terminal and the security station.

Have your singles ready!

 

[SCDizneyDawn]

Hello fellow cruisers! We will be sitting in the Disney teminal 3 weeks from RIGHT NOW

Hope everyone has a great weekend.

 

[DisneyMommy1022]

My DD who is 7 wanted a new do for the cruise so today we went and had 10 inches chopped off and we donated to Locks of Love. I think she looks so cute and its the first time that I have seen her with short hair! Now my DM on the other hand need to keep her thoughts to her self because she thinks anyone under 30 needs long hair and had my DD in tears over her new hair cut! Man sometime my mother drives me nuts but I guess that is why I lover her... RIGHT????

 

[akl432]

Where are you going on St. Maarten? Trying to decide where to go for our day in St. Maarten. We would like to spend part of the day at the beach and part of the day shopping.

I am thinking maybe Orient Beach and then (?) What is the most beautiful beach for clear water and white sand? (We won't snorkel.)

Is the shopping better on the French or Dutch side?

 

[YenSid1222]

Where are you going on St. Maarten? Trying to decide where to go for our day in St. Maarten. We would like to spend part of the day at the beach and part of the day shopping.

I am thinking maybe Orient Beach and then (?) What is the most beautiful beach for clear water and white sand? (We won't snorkel.)

Is the shopping better on the French or Dutch side?

I enjoyed Sunset Beach at the end of the SXM runway. There is a great bar/grill and the planes pass right over your head. It is exciting.

I think the shopping was nicer on the French side, but I did not do much of it.

 

[scottie]

My DD who is 7 wanted a new do for the cruise so today we went and had 10 inches chopped off and we donated to Locks of Love. I think she looks so cute and its the first time that I have seen her with short hair! Now my DM on the other hand need to keep her thoughts to her self because she thinks anyone under 30 needs long hair and had my DD in tears over her new hair cut! Man sometime my mother drives me nuts but I guess that is why I lover her... RIGHT????

Just take a deep breath and remember 3 weeks from Now....

Where are you going on St. Maarten? Trying to decide where to go for our day in St. Maarten. We would like to spend part of the day at the beach and part of the day shopping.

I am thinking maybe Orient Beach and then (?) What is the most beautiful beach for clear water and white sand? (We won't snorkel.)

Is the shopping better on the French or Dutch side?

For St Maarten day, I am headed out in the AM for the 12 Meter Regatta Excursion and then when I get back I think at least some of our party is planning to make their way off the ship to go shopping. I believe the plan is to go to whatever shopping district is nearest to the ship.

 

[Royfam]

I can hardly handle how excited I am I'm almost done with my FE gift. I was up until 1:30 last night and hoping to finish this weekend! I can't decide if I'm going to mail them or pack them My DH only lets us bring ONE bad per person, That's why we don't dress up for formal night. Does anyone know if it's really expensive to ship? I think I've only shipped once and it had a prepaid label.

I am open to meeting up for a quick meet, just let me know. so how does it work if someone changes rooms at port ( in regards to FE )

Finally getting a little nice weather here. I can't wait to see the crystal blue water, I can never get enough of it. Pick up our dramamine yesterday almost all done shopping... laundry bags, check...over the door organizer, check...shorts, check...swimsuits, check...passports, check!

 

[YenSid1222]

I wish I was further along with all my stuff for the cruise. But the pay period I am working on right now is for the hours I am paid the Friday before we leave...so I am pretty much living here at work!

I just keep reading the board and today have made it through the exhaustion by working my through listening to all three mainstage shows on my iPod. Well, I am not quite done yet...already did Golden Mickeys, Twice Charmed and now I am just finishing the Prince Ali section of Dreams.

Would some call that obsession?

As for meets, we did it prior to the safety drill on my last two cruises and it worked well. I think we did like 2pm. Enough time for everyone to be on board, but just enough to meet, etc. I think after the drill is a bit harder. I go right up to the sail away, enjoy the fruity frozen thing in the souvenir glass, watch us head out to sea for a minute and then it is time to change clothes for the first show.

 

[Sagbrook]

I enjoyed Sunset Beach at the end of the SXM runway. There is a great bar/grill and the planes pass right over your head. It is exciting.

I think the shopping was nicer on the French side, but I did not do much of it.

How do you get to Sunset Beach? Taxi? How far from ship? Do they have any activities going on there ie.banana boats, parasailing etc?

This beach sounds like fun for the kiddies with the planes overhead.

 

[YenSid1222]

How do you get to Sunset Beach? Taxi? How far from ship? Do they have any activities going on there ie.banana boats, parasailing etc?

This beach sounds like fun for the kiddies with the planes overhead.

I took a taxi. It is a good ways from the ship. If you go to a website with a map of the island, you can easily see the dock for the ship in Philipsburg. The airport is on the far west side of the island. I don't remember activites...and I doubt they could do parasailing because it would cause a problem for landing planes. Seriously, they are that close to the ground:

http://www.airliners.net/photo/Cors...dth=1200&height844&sok=&sort=&photo_nr=4&sid=

 

[Sagbrook]

I took a taxi. It is a good ways from the ship. If you go to a website with a map of the island, you can easily see the dock for the ship in Philipsburg. The airport is on the far west side of the island. I don't remember activites...and I doubt they could do parasailing because it would cause a problem for landing planes. Seriously, they are that close to the ground:

http://www.airliners.net/photo/Cors...dth=1200&height844&sok=&sort=&photo_nr=4&sid=

Oh My, the planes sure are close, are you kidding me?? Are they really as close as it looks?

 

[scottie]

My dad shared an amusing story the other night of a business reward trip he took with my mom over to St Maarten a while back. They had to do a scavenger hunt at Orient Beach and one of the things they had to find was a book of matches from someone on the "adult" side of that beach. As you may guess it was a bit hard to find someone with pockets to hold matches!

 

[ufcabear]

What is the best transportation to use to go to the beach with the planes.

 

[MouseNDaHouse]

What is the best transportation to use to go to the beach with the planes.

I'm thinking hang glider would be discouraged.

 

[DisneyMommy1022]

We have chosen to do the beach excursion at Orient Bay. Then we will do some shopping. St. Thomas is where we are having our problem. We have no clue what to do????

 

[YenSid1222]

What is the best transportation to use to go to the beach with the planes.

I took a cab from Philipsburg. He dropped me off right at the beach and talked to some of his cab buddies at a hotel really close by to make sure I had someone to get me back to the ship.

Also, YES, the planes are that close. It is absolutely incredible. The bar there has the control tower piped in and there is a chalk board set up with all major arrival times.

If the planes happen to be taking off toward the island, the jet wash from the engines is so strong it is known to blow people into the water. There is some youtube video of people hanging on to the fence trying to stay up. It is really cool.

Be aware that this is a public beach and there is the chance you will see someone topless. There was only one person when I was there on my last Eastern, but still wanted to give anyone that wants to avoid that the heads up.

 

[YenSid1222]

In case you were unsure just how close the aircraft will pass above your head:

http://www.airliners.net/photo/Amer...t=&photo_nr=14&prev_id=1508779&next_id=NEXTID

 

[Rominet]

Where are you going on St. Maarten? Trying to decide where to go for our day in St. Maarten. We would like to spend part of the day at the beach and part of the day shopping.

I am thinking maybe Orient Beach and then (?) What is the most beautiful beach for clear water and white sand? (We won't snorkel.)

Is the shopping better on the French or Dutch side?

excursion called The French Connection. We will spend the morning shopping in Marigot (my Frenchie in-laws love to shop) and then get on a private boat in the afternoon for a three island tour, snorkeling, gormet food, etc. The best part is that the kids can be with us (a lot of more exciting Disney excursions have age limits) and the boat has a cabin underneath with bathrooms, etc, so that my SIL's baby and our youngest two, twins, can nap.

We were in St. Maarten last August and I would have to say that the two sides are so different it's hard to say which is better for shopping. I would have to say the French side. It had a lot of different things that you don't see in the states, where as the Dutch side almost felt like anytown usa. For example, there were a lot of Payless Shoes and McDonalds. Not very exotic. We enjoyed the French side because the food was better, shopping was more fun, it felt more like we went some where different!

Hey, we also did the Lotterie FArm Zipline I highly recommend it. It was so fun!

Valerie

 

[Rominet]

Hi Jen,

Wow, if you did the Nike half twice, you are doing much better than I am! I've only been running a little more than a year. It's more of a mid-life crisis thing for me but I have a lot of fun with it.

I've competed in a lot of races but they were mostly 5 and 10K's. I ran my first half marathon in October but haven't done a full yet. I'm saving that for WDW in January. That will probably be my one and only full marathon as I think that's just way too long for me. After two hours, I just don't want to be out there anymore! I won't be paying much attention to the time at WDW Marathon as I will be too busy stopping for pictures and video and just want to absorb that amazing experience.

You must have some really beautiful places to run around your neck of the woods. Are there very many local races?

-steve

I have done the Disneyworld HM once before and I definitely can't imagine going a step further, so WOW, good for you! Good luck!

Valerie