January 13th St Maarten day. We sort of slept in. With early waking for me and a weather check from the balcony. The sun was rising and we were pulling into the dock at Phillipsburg. It was wonderful to smell the air. That warm, sweet smell of sea, fish and over-ripe bananas and oranges. Gathered everything for the beach and everyone together slowly. Had breakfast at Topsiders (note to tea drinkers, on both cruises they were ALWAYS out of Earl Grey, bag some from room service and bring them with you), grabbed some towels from the bins by the Mickey pool, and got off the ship at about 10:00.
We rolled to the water taxi, bought bands for the adults, kids free. The guys on the shuttle helped to get across the planks and gaps with the wheelchair, but this shuttle is not easy access. Got off at the Phillipsburg dock.
There is quite a change since we were here last. We were going to hang at a place we had read about but it was to the left. We noticed there is a new paved section of the higher beach if you turn right from the water shuttle pier. The passage to get onto the wide paved area is very narrow, next to an official shed, but once through this, it was smooth going with the wheelchair. We walked along, looking for good umbrellas and padded lounge chairs, comparing prices. This whole side of the beach is being improved, they were collapsing a large building while we were there, pretty noisy and a lot of concreted dust. We rolled down further to the front of a new appearing restaurant, the Quiche? (Not the correct name, I nabbed a menu but have misplaced that, too), on a new plaza, the workers were still setting the brick work in the ground. The restaurant is painted a bright lime green color and appears brand new. We rented three bright yellow beach chairs and one bright yellow umbrella, $18, a couple of tiny frozen rum drinks thrown in, access to the restaurants toilets included. The kids put on their snorkels, ran to the water, jumped in and Peter settled down on a lounge chair.
Rack, Gma and I went to Front Street to shop. By 1:00 we had purchased a pink-amber Caribbean topaz necklace for Racks girlfriend, a pair of same stone earrings for me and an emerald and diamond ring for Gma at Joes (had to bend Gmas arm, she always wanted one, but did not want to spend the money), a few cheap t-shirts, an expensive color changing shirt, a bottle of wine and some rum-creamy junk, some Belgian chocolates (do not miss these, the best youll ever taste) and we picked up a bunch of freebie junk. We got to the beach to join the guys, and bingo, it started to pour. We moved up to the outside deck of the restaurant and ordered a drink for all and a couple pizzas. Decent prices, nice view. The server was nice, telling us not-to-worry-it was a beach restaurant, and dumping the sand we had tried to contain all over. The rain stopped soon, but we decided to head back to the ship. Despite heavy doses of SPF 45 before leaving the ship and reapplications, the kids looked burned, Whistler on the face where his snorkel mask had rubbed it off and Gameboy badly on the back; we dont know how that happened. (Take note parents.) There were rain clouds roaming around on the nearby hills and we were sure to get doused again. Sure enough, water shuttle back, during the pouring rain, again let up by the time we were on the dock near the ship. Rack stopped to purchase a couple of Rhum Jumbee bottles, and a free, silly, VERY large straw hat. I made one last run into the shops here to find peridot earrings on French wires, no luck.
Reboarded the ship without a wait. Gotta make some comments about St Maarten/St Martin. I know lots of folks have complained about this island. Too poor, too run-down, too sinister, etc. Ive seen advice to even stay on the ship here. Dont do that. This was our third trip here, we LIKE the place. We have explored the island before. I think the shopping is great, the people lovely and the beaches fine. The streets are awful in the downtown area, there are huge stoops and bad stone cobbles, this has not changed. It is very hard to get around with a wheelchair. But what we saw on the right hand side of the beach is encouraging. Give St Maarten a chance.
Rack, Gameboy and Whistler finally got to give their debit card a thorough going over in Quarter Masters. Peter and I hit the adult pool and hot tub again. Gma on the verandah. Then we all got cleaned up, stuffing ourselves with fruit and cheese plates and pizza from room service and the creamy-rum junk, dressed the kids for Tropical Night, and dressed the adults for Palo.
Now a complaint. Early this morning I had gone down to Guest Services to get the kids the Quarter Masters cards. I took todays Navigator with me and asked if it was correct. The CM there looked at it, said yes, it must be, and thanks for pointing it out, he did not know. Instead of Prem Ears at Sea, which is always the show at St Maarten, it showed that Who Wants to Be a Mousketeer was tonight. Remember that little Palo reservation at 7:30? Like smack dab in between the two showings of WWTBAM? Double-checked on the Embarkation Navigator as being a day we would only miss a movie? Here we have Peter, the man who has read every book written on Walter Elias Disney and everything else written by any of the Imagineers, who goes trolling for out-of-print editions of Disney books on the net, a man who used to tape every edition of Vault Disney and watch them over and over, a man who subscribed to Persistence of Vision Magazine (now theres a long story) combined with two little guys who own every Disney movie legally (and some not) available on tape or DVD. And we are not going to win a free cruise at WWTBAM????? Not???? Months of planning, down the tubes. Do we blow off Palo? Nahhhhh, food is more important. At least I try to tell myself so.
The whole family played Mickey Trivia in Studio Seas, Gma, kids and Rack on one team, Peter and I on another. Only one other team had more points than Peter and I, darn, if we just could have remembered that 7th dwarf or the name of Goldie Hawns husband. Now if it was multiple choice like WWTBAM ..
We wanted to show up in the dining room tonight since Adina and Anton seemed upset that we were going to skip and go to Palo (and maybe have worked in a quick stab at getting chosen for WWTBAM? Let it go, let it go, deeeep breath.). They had insisted both times we mentioned our Palo reservation that we come to dinner anyway, since it was Tropical night, in Parrot Cay, no less, and there would be fun things for the kids. We could feed the kids, have an appetizer then bug out. I think this is an example of just how wonderful these servers were. Here they could get some relief, by having a smaller number at dinner, but still they encouraged us to come. We went to Parrot Cay and fed the kids pasta and mac and cheese, the guys had crab and shrimp fritters and Gma and I had the melon mango soup (yummy, I love the cold soups on the Magic). Then the music started, the characters appeared and Anton and Adina grabbed the kids and limboed around the room. The kids loved it and Anton and Adina seemed to, too. We then took the kids to their clubs. Rack and I pushed Gma around deck 10, still wet from the rain, then went to Palo while Peter bugged out for a minute to run down to get his Haunted Mansion book signed by Jason Surrell (see what I mean about owning every Disney book, we would have been chosen, we would have won, I know it, deeeep breath, let it go).
At Palo, Rack and Gma are booked into a table away from us. Bless Rack for doing this. Last cruise he came to Palo with his Mom. I had booked him a table for two this cruise, hoping he would meet some nice lady on the two at sea days as he had on the last cruise. But alas, not this time. We are hoping Gma lasts through the meal and he doesnt end up having to run her out for, well, a break or back to the room. (Apologies to Gma, she has a bunch of spinal fractures, takes huge amounts of pain-killers to cope, and puts up being hostage to us).
We had Kristian from Croatia and great service; we were his only table for the first hour. We enjoyed the appetizer, the dried tomatoes, and garlic and green olives with the bread. Another bottle of the Cabernet. We skipped a lot of the courses, since we were not exactly starving. Peter had the squid and I had Portobello mushroom and polenta appetizer with balsamic vinaigrette, both wonderful. For the entrees we had a special, halibut with sautéed eggplant, summer squash, shrimp mashed potatoes and, surprise!, spinach. (What is it with the chefs on the Magic, every time there is a substantial white fish it ends up on spinach?). But this time it worked. Even the spinach, lovely, with browned butter, maybe, and nutmeg? It was also the prettiest food presentation of the whole cruise. Now dessert.
I glanced over and noted that Rack and Gma had made it to dessert, yeah! Turns out they left soon, but had had the soufflé as did Peter. I like dessert soufflé, and had tried the one at Palo last year, and it was fine. But I had loved the frozen spumoni cassata cream they used to make. I was crushed to learn it would not be on the menu this year. I had read some reviews of the replacement, and they were wishy-washy. Well I thought the Pistachio torte was to die for. We are going to have to cruise again on the Magic just so I can get another, as Dave Barry would say, I'm not kidding. It was a heavy pistachio cake, not unlike a linzer torte. Nutty, dense cake with raspberry jam running through. With Pistachio ice cream. And as if that was not enough, wonderful fresh raspberry, blackberry and strawberry compote along side. To heck with you chocolate soufflé lovers, you dont know what you are missing. We finished with REAL coffee latte that had a lovely, heavy marzipan-like cookie alongside.
During the meal we had pulled away from Phillipsburg, so after we left Palo, we hung at the rails at deck 10 and looked at the stars, then fetched the kids and turned in. We knew we all needed to be up early for St Thomas and another sadly anticipated and dreaded event.
Next, tendering into St Thomas, or how to turn a bunch of happy cruisers reallllly mean.
Tink
We rolled to the water taxi, bought bands for the adults, kids free. The guys on the shuttle helped to get across the planks and gaps with the wheelchair, but this shuttle is not easy access. Got off at the Phillipsburg dock.
There is quite a change since we were here last. We were going to hang at a place we had read about but it was to the left. We noticed there is a new paved section of the higher beach if you turn right from the water shuttle pier. The passage to get onto the wide paved area is very narrow, next to an official shed, but once through this, it was smooth going with the wheelchair. We walked along, looking for good umbrellas and padded lounge chairs, comparing prices. This whole side of the beach is being improved, they were collapsing a large building while we were there, pretty noisy and a lot of concreted dust. We rolled down further to the front of a new appearing restaurant, the Quiche? (Not the correct name, I nabbed a menu but have misplaced that, too), on a new plaza, the workers were still setting the brick work in the ground. The restaurant is painted a bright lime green color and appears brand new. We rented three bright yellow beach chairs and one bright yellow umbrella, $18, a couple of tiny frozen rum drinks thrown in, access to the restaurants toilets included. The kids put on their snorkels, ran to the water, jumped in and Peter settled down on a lounge chair.
Rack, Gma and I went to Front Street to shop. By 1:00 we had purchased a pink-amber Caribbean topaz necklace for Racks girlfriend, a pair of same stone earrings for me and an emerald and diamond ring for Gma at Joes (had to bend Gmas arm, she always wanted one, but did not want to spend the money), a few cheap t-shirts, an expensive color changing shirt, a bottle of wine and some rum-creamy junk, some Belgian chocolates (do not miss these, the best youll ever taste) and we picked up a bunch of freebie junk. We got to the beach to join the guys, and bingo, it started to pour. We moved up to the outside deck of the restaurant and ordered a drink for all and a couple pizzas. Decent prices, nice view. The server was nice, telling us not-to-worry-it was a beach restaurant, and dumping the sand we had tried to contain all over. The rain stopped soon, but we decided to head back to the ship. Despite heavy doses of SPF 45 before leaving the ship and reapplications, the kids looked burned, Whistler on the face where his snorkel mask had rubbed it off and Gameboy badly on the back; we dont know how that happened. (Take note parents.) There were rain clouds roaming around on the nearby hills and we were sure to get doused again. Sure enough, water shuttle back, during the pouring rain, again let up by the time we were on the dock near the ship. Rack stopped to purchase a couple of Rhum Jumbee bottles, and a free, silly, VERY large straw hat. I made one last run into the shops here to find peridot earrings on French wires, no luck.
Reboarded the ship without a wait. Gotta make some comments about St Maarten/St Martin. I know lots of folks have complained about this island. Too poor, too run-down, too sinister, etc. Ive seen advice to even stay on the ship here. Dont do that. This was our third trip here, we LIKE the place. We have explored the island before. I think the shopping is great, the people lovely and the beaches fine. The streets are awful in the downtown area, there are huge stoops and bad stone cobbles, this has not changed. It is very hard to get around with a wheelchair. But what we saw on the right hand side of the beach is encouraging. Give St Maarten a chance.
Rack, Gameboy and Whistler finally got to give their debit card a thorough going over in Quarter Masters. Peter and I hit the adult pool and hot tub again. Gma on the verandah. Then we all got cleaned up, stuffing ourselves with fruit and cheese plates and pizza from room service and the creamy-rum junk, dressed the kids for Tropical Night, and dressed the adults for Palo.
Now a complaint. Early this morning I had gone down to Guest Services to get the kids the Quarter Masters cards. I took todays Navigator with me and asked if it was correct. The CM there looked at it, said yes, it must be, and thanks for pointing it out, he did not know. Instead of Prem Ears at Sea, which is always the show at St Maarten, it showed that Who Wants to Be a Mousketeer was tonight. Remember that little Palo reservation at 7:30? Like smack dab in between the two showings of WWTBAM? Double-checked on the Embarkation Navigator as being a day we would only miss a movie? Here we have Peter, the man who has read every book written on Walter Elias Disney and everything else written by any of the Imagineers, who goes trolling for out-of-print editions of Disney books on the net, a man who used to tape every edition of Vault Disney and watch them over and over, a man who subscribed to Persistence of Vision Magazine (now theres a long story) combined with two little guys who own every Disney movie legally (and some not) available on tape or DVD. And we are not going to win a free cruise at WWTBAM????? Not???? Months of planning, down the tubes. Do we blow off Palo? Nahhhhh, food is more important. At least I try to tell myself so.
The whole family played Mickey Trivia in Studio Seas, Gma, kids and Rack on one team, Peter and I on another. Only one other team had more points than Peter and I, darn, if we just could have remembered that 7th dwarf or the name of Goldie Hawns husband. Now if it was multiple choice like WWTBAM ..
We wanted to show up in the dining room tonight since Adina and Anton seemed upset that we were going to skip and go to Palo (and maybe have worked in a quick stab at getting chosen for WWTBAM? Let it go, let it go, deeeep breath.). They had insisted both times we mentioned our Palo reservation that we come to dinner anyway, since it was Tropical night, in Parrot Cay, no less, and there would be fun things for the kids. We could feed the kids, have an appetizer then bug out. I think this is an example of just how wonderful these servers were. Here they could get some relief, by having a smaller number at dinner, but still they encouraged us to come. We went to Parrot Cay and fed the kids pasta and mac and cheese, the guys had crab and shrimp fritters and Gma and I had the melon mango soup (yummy, I love the cold soups on the Magic). Then the music started, the characters appeared and Anton and Adina grabbed the kids and limboed around the room. The kids loved it and Anton and Adina seemed to, too. We then took the kids to their clubs. Rack and I pushed Gma around deck 10, still wet from the rain, then went to Palo while Peter bugged out for a minute to run down to get his Haunted Mansion book signed by Jason Surrell (see what I mean about owning every Disney book, we would have been chosen, we would have won, I know it, deeeep breath, let it go).
At Palo, Rack and Gma are booked into a table away from us. Bless Rack for doing this. Last cruise he came to Palo with his Mom. I had booked him a table for two this cruise, hoping he would meet some nice lady on the two at sea days as he had on the last cruise. But alas, not this time. We are hoping Gma lasts through the meal and he doesnt end up having to run her out for, well, a break or back to the room. (Apologies to Gma, she has a bunch of spinal fractures, takes huge amounts of pain-killers to cope, and puts up being hostage to us).
We had Kristian from Croatia and great service; we were his only table for the first hour. We enjoyed the appetizer, the dried tomatoes, and garlic and green olives with the bread. Another bottle of the Cabernet. We skipped a lot of the courses, since we were not exactly starving. Peter had the squid and I had Portobello mushroom and polenta appetizer with balsamic vinaigrette, both wonderful. For the entrees we had a special, halibut with sautéed eggplant, summer squash, shrimp mashed potatoes and, surprise!, spinach. (What is it with the chefs on the Magic, every time there is a substantial white fish it ends up on spinach?). But this time it worked. Even the spinach, lovely, with browned butter, maybe, and nutmeg? It was also the prettiest food presentation of the whole cruise. Now dessert.
I glanced over and noted that Rack and Gma had made it to dessert, yeah! Turns out they left soon, but had had the soufflé as did Peter. I like dessert soufflé, and had tried the one at Palo last year, and it was fine. But I had loved the frozen spumoni cassata cream they used to make. I was crushed to learn it would not be on the menu this year. I had read some reviews of the replacement, and they were wishy-washy. Well I thought the Pistachio torte was to die for. We are going to have to cruise again on the Magic just so I can get another, as Dave Barry would say, I'm not kidding. It was a heavy pistachio cake, not unlike a linzer torte. Nutty, dense cake with raspberry jam running through. With Pistachio ice cream. And as if that was not enough, wonderful fresh raspberry, blackberry and strawberry compote along side. To heck with you chocolate soufflé lovers, you dont know what you are missing. We finished with REAL coffee latte that had a lovely, heavy marzipan-like cookie alongside.
During the meal we had pulled away from Phillipsburg, so after we left Palo, we hung at the rails at deck 10 and looked at the stars, then fetched the kids and turned in. We knew we all needed to be up early for St Thomas and another sadly anticipated and dreaded event.
Next, tendering into St Thomas, or how to turn a bunch of happy cruisers reallllly mean.
Tink
