When we arrived, there were five other cruise ships docked at the island so everything was busy and very active. We are told that this island is known for it's active night life and many people who visit the island love the party atmosphere so much they end up staying.
Our ship, the Freedom of the Seas, is on the right. We were told there were approximately 4,000 passengers with 1,500 crew members on our ship. BIG ship! At St. Maarten, we arrived on the Dutch side and then took a tour to the French side for a day on the beach.
Awwwww relaxing on the beach.
Tori's very much a beach baby, she should be living near the ocean.
The interesting thing about St. Maarten is that the island really isn't that tropical. The entire island is covered with a scrubby kind of bush or tree. We only saw palm trees when we reached the beach. We were told that the palm trees aren't natural to St. Maarten but have been planted along the shoreline to give the island more of a tropical feel. The weather is gorgeous there along with the sand and water.
Evan's also a natural on the boogie board. I'll bet if he tried out a surf board he be a pro within a few hours.... just like his Dad.
Speaking of.... here's the hottest guy on the beach. Once you look past Todd, here's my tip number one. When you're taking an excursion to the beach as part of your cruse, plan on huge crowds at the beach. This was a disappointment for us to have to deal with so many people on the beach. I guess with five cruise ships docked at the island and an average of 3,000 to 4,000 people per ship there's bound to be A LOT of people at the beach. We just weren't expecting the crowds. Even with all the people, our tour guide took great care of us and we felt that we were still pampered.
Another tip, plan to be heavily solicited to purchase "stuff" by the island locals. A large group of women flocked each new group of tourists trying to sale hats, towels, bags, and braid your hair. They were all very nice and respectful and just trying to make a living, right? So just plan for it.
We were served a wonderful lunch at an outdoor restaurant. Good stuff!
All good things must come to an end... why? Why is that, dang it?! Once again we're back on the ship and saying farewell to St. Maarten.
A fond farewell to a fabulous cruise and family vacation. Before I say farewell, I want to give just one more tip, well, actually three tips.
Todd and I have now cruised for a week and we have also traveled to an all-inclusive beach resort for a vacation. We prefer the all-inclusive beach resort vacation over a cruise. Not everyone may feel this way but some of our reasons are:
1. There was no additional tipping at the All-inclusive resort. Once we arrived, we didn't need to pay anything additional for tips but on the cruise we felt that we were paying tips left and right and up and down.
2. All-inclusive meant all-inclusive but the cruise was definitely not all-inclusive. On the cruise, we had to pay additional to eat at some of the restaurants. We also had to pay for any drinks beyond just water and juice. If you wanted a soda or a fun, fruity-frozen drink (virgin of course) you had to pay for it.... with a tip of course.
3. At the all-inclusive resort you could sit on the beach all day and be served your breakfast, lunch, and dinner there on the beach if you chose! Enough said!
Overall Todd and I found that we prefer the laid back vacation of sitting on the beach and doing an occasional excursion versus the constant busyness and activity driven cruise. Evan and Tori absolutely LOVED the cruise but they're not old like ..... well us older folks.
