Lisa D
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Aug 25, 1999
- Messages
- 486
Cast: myself, DH, DS age 13 and DS age 10
This morning DH looks out of the window and his only words were "Oh My God!" Apparently it has been waaaaaay too long since we've been in the Caribbean - nearly 20 years. Having kids will do this to you. St. Maartin looks absolutely beautiful as we dock.
Today we are all going on the Golden Eagle Catamaran to Tintamarre Island - a deserted island on the French side. I debated and debated over this excursion or the Rhino Riders, finally making the final decision based on $$$.
We have a quick breakfast at Topsiders and we're off to our meeting place.
The catamaran pulls right up to the dock, and we all take our shoes off to board. There are only about 20 people on this excursion, which is nice. The sign said the catamaran would hold 86 people, but we're glad there's not that many. It's a beautiful day and the ride to the island took about 45 minutes. The crew took some hard-core snorklers by dingy to a reef that was close by. We were just content to float in the beautiful water with the swim noodles they gave us, and explore the island. It's rather warm, so we usually only explored for about 10 minutes before going back in the water. Luckily, this was not the day for the Club Orient Catamaran!
On the way back, we had our choice of beer, rum punch, or soda. There was also an open bar if anyone wanted any real drinks (I don't think anyone did). They provided ham and cheese hoagies, and also popped a bottle of bubbly. The music on the way back was a little rowdier, and the crew performed "YMCA" for us. It was an awesome morning, and the crew was wonderful. My only complaint was I thought that the kids should have been a lower price, since they were not having any beer or rum punch. Oh well - DS 13 did manage to put away two sandwiches.
We reboarded the ship and had a small lunch (except for DS 13 who ate his fill). Both kids do not want to swim this afternoon because they want to be awake for Pirate Night (they were too tired on the Wonder cruise), so they go off to the clubs. DH and I spend a little time at the Adult Pool, and then head out to do a little shopping. We took the water taxi to Great Bay, but most of the shops were closed down for a parade later that afternoon. We had been forewarned about this but decided to take our chances anyway. We did get some great deals on Finlandia Vodka and Appleton Rum. We picked up some t-shirts for the kids. We decided to get back to the ship before the parade started, since all the stores had removed their merchandise from the windows and padlocked their doors.
Our dinner tonight is in Lumiere's with the Pirate menu. DH, DS 13 and I all go for the Pearls of the Caribbean, which had enough seafood to make a whole meal even without the linguine. We convinced DS 10 to try the Pork Loin, and he did eat most of it. DS 13 wants to watch the show with the teens, but the rest of us find a spot on deck to wait for the show. It seems somewhat different from the first time we saw it on the Wonder - they downplayed the "evil pirates take over the ship" theme somewhat. The fireworks were really neat. After the show we were pretty much wiped out for the day.
Tomorrow - another new adventure in St. Thomas.
This morning DH looks out of the window and his only words were "Oh My God!" Apparently it has been waaaaaay too long since we've been in the Caribbean - nearly 20 years. Having kids will do this to you. St. Maartin looks absolutely beautiful as we dock.
Today we are all going on the Golden Eagle Catamaran to Tintamarre Island - a deserted island on the French side. I debated and debated over this excursion or the Rhino Riders, finally making the final decision based on $$$.
We have a quick breakfast at Topsiders and we're off to our meeting place.
The catamaran pulls right up to the dock, and we all take our shoes off to board. There are only about 20 people on this excursion, which is nice. The sign said the catamaran would hold 86 people, but we're glad there's not that many. It's a beautiful day and the ride to the island took about 45 minutes. The crew took some hard-core snorklers by dingy to a reef that was close by. We were just content to float in the beautiful water with the swim noodles they gave us, and explore the island. It's rather warm, so we usually only explored for about 10 minutes before going back in the water. Luckily, this was not the day for the Club Orient Catamaran!
On the way back, we had our choice of beer, rum punch, or soda. There was also an open bar if anyone wanted any real drinks (I don't think anyone did). They provided ham and cheese hoagies, and also popped a bottle of bubbly. The music on the way back was a little rowdier, and the crew performed "YMCA" for us. It was an awesome morning, and the crew was wonderful. My only complaint was I thought that the kids should have been a lower price, since they were not having any beer or rum punch. Oh well - DS 13 did manage to put away two sandwiches.
We reboarded the ship and had a small lunch (except for DS 13 who ate his fill). Both kids do not want to swim this afternoon because they want to be awake for Pirate Night (they were too tired on the Wonder cruise), so they go off to the clubs. DH and I spend a little time at the Adult Pool, and then head out to do a little shopping. We took the water taxi to Great Bay, but most of the shops were closed down for a parade later that afternoon. We had been forewarned about this but decided to take our chances anyway. We did get some great deals on Finlandia Vodka and Appleton Rum. We picked up some t-shirts for the kids. We decided to get back to the ship before the parade started, since all the stores had removed their merchandise from the windows and padlocked their doors.
Our dinner tonight is in Lumiere's with the Pirate menu. DH, DS 13 and I all go for the Pearls of the Caribbean, which had enough seafood to make a whole meal even without the linguine. We convinced DS 10 to try the Pork Loin, and he did eat most of it. DS 13 wants to watch the show with the teens, but the rest of us find a spot on deck to wait for the show. It seems somewhat different from the first time we saw it on the Wonder - they downplayed the "evil pirates take over the ship" theme somewhat. The fireworks were really neat. After the show we were pretty much wiped out for the day.
Tomorrow - another new adventure in St. Thomas.
