FMF Cruise Review, Part 5

This is a follow-up post to part 4.

Today we hit two more islands!

Wednesday, January 18

The weather was still "ok" today -- "ok" being defined as 70-75 degrees, a bit windy, and overcast. Better than Michigan, but not the tropical feel we wanted. In addition, the waves were high, so our excursion today (we pulled in to Tortola, British Virgin Islands this morning) was cancelled. We were supposed to go to the Virgin Gorda Baths and do snorkeling, but the waves were too high and the trip was cancelled. Because we had booked our excursions through the ship, we received notice of this early in the morning with a note left on our door (and our account was credited with a refund.)

Later in the day we talked to another couple we had befriended and their experience illustrated another advantage of booking an excursion through the ship (or at least on your own with a reputable company.) They had cruised several times and headed out to the baths on their own. They took a series of transports to get there. I can't remember them all but it was something like a boat, then a bus, then a cab -- each costing them something along the way (plus costs on the way back). Then they even paid to get into the park where the baths were only to find out that they were inaccessible that day due to waves. They had no way of finding this information out ahead of time (or at least didn't think of it.) So what seemed to be a "cheap" way to see the baths ended up costing them more than what those of us who went the "expensive" way paid.

With our plans cancelled, we hopped off the ship and decided to wing it. There was nothing really close to the ship to do, so we walked a bit and ran into several 20-person (or so) open-air busses. These were private companies offering various tours to the cruisers. We selected one and ended up getting a 2 1/2 hour tour of the island (with stops at a rum maker and the beach) for $15 per person. You can't get a sneeze from the ship for $15 per person (all excursions cost in the $60 to $100 range per person). So we snapped it up and had a GREAT day touring the island. While the temperature was cool for water activities, it was fine for seeing the sights -- shopping areas, villages, the coast, etc. I've included a couple pictures of their beaches at the end of this post so you can see how beautiful it was.

We were back at the ship by 1 pm or so, cleaned up, ate, then spent the afternoon in the hot tub and the ship's pool (the weather had started to turn warmer by the time we got back). That evening we went to the ship's magic show. I can't remember who the magician was, but he was VERY good.

Thursday, January 19

This was our second-best day of the whole trip (hint: the best day is tomorrow).

We pulled into St. Maarten, the Dutch side of the dual-country island (the other portion is St. Martin, governed by France.) It was a warm, sunny day, the type of day you hope for/imagine when you go on a tropical vacation.

We hadn't purchased an excursion for St. Maarten because we couldn't find one we liked. We heard that there was nice shopping near the dock, so we go off and started walking.

About a mile or so later (I could be off -- I'm terrible with distances -- but it did take us 10-15 minutes to walk it), we hit the gold mine -- both a nice shopping area and a beautiful beach. At one of the stores my son and I got soccer jerseys from teams we like. We paid $30 each for what would have cost $50 to $75 for a "great" deal online, so we were happy. We spent a couple hours shopping and walking the city and after that we were HOT. We decided to walk back to the ship, change into our swim gear (we didn't know a beach was close so we had worn shorts and t-shirts), then walk back to the beach. Which is what we did.

We spent a couple of beautiful hours on a gorgeous beach (see below for a picture of it). The water was warm and clear and the sun was shining. Afterwards, we went and picked up a t-shirt for my daughter and headed back to the ship -- exhausted from all the walking, swimming, and sun.

After a late lunch/early dinner, we relaxed a bit on our balcony (watching a Royal Caribbean ship docked close to us and then enjoying the water/scenery as we pulled out), showered, then went to see comedian Dave Heenan. He was funny, but a bit raunchy for the kids (and we went to the early show where that is supposed to be a non-issue.) Afterwards we topped off with a late dinner (yes, you can eat as much as you like on a cruise, and we did), took showers, and got ready for the next day.

St. Maarten was one of our favorite places and I can see us going back there someday.

That's it for this post. Come back next time to see how our visits to Antigua and Barbados went. For now, enjoy these pictures -- two high up shots of Tortola beaches and one (closer view) of our beach in St. Maarten. (click images to make bigger)

Click here to read part 6 of this series.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Comments

[Catherine]

Really enjoying this series.

We were on a cruise the same week as you, but we departed from Fort Lauderdale. We were on St. Maarten the same day and it was beautiful. We also forgot our swimsuits straight off the boat! Our routine now, after several cruises, is to just wing it and take a lowkey approach to our port/island visit. We tend not to book excursions ahead, preferring to see how we feel and what the weather is like.

We have missed out on certain popular trips, but you can usually have a good time very inexpensively in port or grabbing some low-cost transportation. We typically befriend some crew members and find out the best place for local eats and how to get to the nearest Wallmart or equivalent. These guys come back every week and know the way to post offices and other local amenities.

This was our second time on a ship to St. Maarten. This cruise also included our second trip to St. Thomas. Knowing that, I no longer feel like we absolutely have to get to all the highlights, as I'm sure there will be a return trip. It takes alot of pressure off, and we're able to just kick back and relax.

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