Ok Boys and Girls. I am WAYYYY behind on this cruise review. But I am going to finish it up over the next couple of days because in one week I am going to New York City! YEAHHHH!!
Where were we? Oh yeah.St Maartin Day! I was very excited to visit this island because I heard so many stories about how beautiful it is. Since we were already docked when I woke up, I jumped out of bed through the curtains open so that I could take in all the beauty of this island.
This was my view.
The MSC Divinia was parked next to us blocking most of my view from my balcony! That meant I had to get out of room and go visit this island. Oh Darn.
From the ship port we grabbed the water taxi to Phillipsburg. It was a blast. I loved the water and couldn't get enough of it.
Here is a video I shot while riding the taxi.
Once there we walked the beach.
Isn't that beautiful? Turquoise water, white beaches and green mountains, what else do ya need?
We decided to eat lunch at this cute little place.
Our view while eating lunch.
After shopping for a while we headed back to the ship. Here is a video shot while walking back.
Once back on the ship, I headed to the upper decks to take some more pics of St Maartin.
It would really be hard to get tired of that view!!
I decided to enjoy sail away on my balcony.
There is no way to not feel completely calm and relaxed while watching this scenery slowly go by.
After dinner, we finally got to see the Ice Show...YEAH! We got there early which was good because it got crowded fast. The show? At first I was like eh..it's alright. But as the show went on the harder the jumps and moves got. I was extremely impressed that these skaters were doing this stuff. On a moving ship, nonetheless!
This couple amazed me! She "changed" her outfit about 15 times in the 5 minute dance.
After the ice show we headed back to the Promenade where dancin in the streets...70's night was getting ready to happen. It's always fun when the village people show up.
After the party we headed outside and ended up catching the Hobbit on the big screen by the pool.
I actually left Tony watching the movie and wondered around the upper decks getting pics of everything at night.
The Kids Zone
The solarium.
After my picture taking I figured it was time for a snack. So I headed to Sorrentos for a late night pizza run. Tony found me here and joined in on the pizza snacking.
We finally headed back to our cabin to let the gentle seas rock us to sleep. It had been a perfect day on a gorgeous island! I knew I would sleep well that night. And I did!
Next up....Two super relaxing days at sea before they kick us off the ship.
I woke up as we were entering the
channel to the port. So I watched as we sailed in for a little while.
Instead of ordering anything from room service I thought I would just
run down to the promenade cafe and see what kind of breakfast
sandwiches they were offering. They weren't. They only had some
donuts and a few pastries. So I went ahead and went up to the
windjammer to grab us some thing to eat before we got off the ship.
When I walked through the door, Tony
was sitting on the couch with a tray from room service in front of
him. It was our special breakfast that was supposed to
be delivered on Friday. So now I had a plate full of food from the
Windjammer and all of this other food. I was pretty mad and decided
to call them. They didn't seem happy but said they would put a note
on the order saying it was Friday. I reminded them that they
confirmed the day and time with me when I placed the order, that I
just wasn't changing my mind or something.
We left the ship a little before noon.
We stopped and took the “life preserver” picture. I try to get at
least one of these a cruise, in a new port. It's kinda a thing now.
My plans were to at this point to grab
one of the free trolleys and head to the forts. I couldn't see
trolley stop #1 that was supposed to be right outside of the cruise
terminal. So we walked down the street some trying to see if we could
find the trolley or any of the stops. I did read that it was good to
walk down the street some and grab it at #14 to avoid all the people
trying to get on at #1. We found #14 and a trolley pulled in seconds
later. It was a nice open air trolley that took us around the city.
By the way did I mention they were free? So it was nice open air
transportation that pretty well allowed you to see the city as you
were going...for free. We decided to go straight to EL Morro.
A video of our trolley ride.
After El Morro, we jumped back on the
trolley and headed back into the “city”. I had researched
restaurants and decided I wanted to eat at Barrachina's. I told my
husband that we needed to get off at trolley stop #9. We passed #3,
then drove awhile. Next thing we see is #12. I was like what happened
to all the other numbers? So we jumped there and went on our own.
Much to my husband embarrassment I pulled out my trolley map do see
where we ended up and how far away the restaurant was. He HATES this.
For some reason my map reading in public drives him crazy. He says
that it puts a lost tourist target on my head..lol. At this point I
was a little frustrated because THERE WERE NO STREET SIGNS!!! If they
did, they were placed where I wasnt looking. I kinda just went by the
trolley stops to find my around the map..lol. But we found Barachinna
pretty quickly, considering everything. The host said it would be a
30 minute wait or longer. But people must have left because we were
seated within 15 minutes.
The bar area of Barachinna's
We ordered the Puerto Rican favorites platter. It was delicious!
From there we grabbed some souvenirs
and walked back to the ship. It really wasnt a bad walk at all. The
weather was nice with a constant breeze, so it really was a pleasant
day to walk around.
Back in the room we decided to hang out
on our balcony, read some and just enjoy the nice weather. Both of us
fell asleep and ended up napping for an hour! It was 5:25. Back
onboard was at 5:30. So I stayed out there to watch and see if we had
any pier runners. We did. It was only about 5:35 when the last few
showed up. But the captain sounded the horn right at 5:30. I told
Tony that I bet those guys crapped themselves a little when they
heard that horn.
We sailed away at around 6. We just
stayed out on the balcony, took pictures and filmed going by the
fort.
We ate in the Jade area again tonight.
I actually loved the causal atmosphere yet it was totally different
than lunch. The lights are turned down and they serve green tea.
Someone is always around to get you drinks or take away plates.
From there we decided to stroll down to
the promenade to take some time before we headed to the ice show. I
ran into THE SALE. It was the Micheal Kors sale and it was set to
start in 10 minutes. So I got in the middle of it all and grabbed me
a new purse at 25% off. Poor ole hubby could only stand there and let
me go for it.
That little shopping spree only took
about 15 minutes of my time total, and we continued on to the ice
show from there. When we arrived at the Studio B doors, they were
shut with a sign that said closed for rehearsals. We stood there for
awhile even tho we felt that being so close to show time something
wasnt right. But since Studio B is right beside of On Air we decided
to listen to some karoke for a bit while we waited to see what was
going on.
Speaking of Karoke, which by the way,
we don't go to a lot or really any, isnt it funny that its about the
only place you can get away with singing badly? Some people were
good, some just horrible...lol. This one poor guy missed the whole
first line to Summer of '69. But somehow squeezed it in there anyhow.
But lets get back to the Ice show.
About 10 or more had come up to the doors, looked then turned around
and left. I finally asked someone and they told me that the Ice Show
was the next night,Thursday night. I told Tony that I wasn't sure
which night it said when I reserved it online before we left because
I had forgot to print it off. But I knew it was either the day we
were in San Juan or the next day when we were in St Maartin. Either
way I knew it was 9:00, and that I would just watch the cruise
compass and just go then. I told Tony that I knew I had read
somewhere on the cruise compass that the ice shows were on Tuesday
and Wednesday, but maybe I was going crazy.
So we just left deciding I would figure
out where I went wrong later. We headed back to the Promenade and
spent some time at the Bull & Bear.
We left there and headed to the room,
deciding it was going to be another early night for us. I did take
the time to look back over the Cruise Compasses to see where I went
wrong with the Ice Show. I looked all through that days and I could
not find a word about the Ice Show. So I was really starting to
question myself. But then I looked back at Tuesday's and it said
this...
