Valor Southern Caribbean review with pictures and Fun Times - better late than never

[pghsteelerfan]

After getting pictures of that side of the island (facing St. Martin), I walked up the trails to the other side while DH stayed with our stuff at the loungers. The views from the top were amazing and I was able to see a couple of other islands. The one way out in the distance is St. Barthelemy (St. Barth’s or St. Bart’s for short) and the smaller, closer island is Tintamarre, which is also right off the coast of and part of St. Martin. I walked down to the beach on the other side and there was sand, but mostly rocks. From the top were also great views of St. Maarten/St. Martin. I wasn’t able to see Valor from there though.

 

Pictures from the trails that lead to the other side of Pinel Island

 

I got the snorkel hut in this one, it's on the left. Also, the beach way in the distance is Orient Beach.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 27, 2013 by pghsteelerfan

[pghsteelerfan]

These are from the other side of Pinel Island from the beach on the other side. The beach is very rocky here, but there are areas with sand beaches as well. The little island in the distance is Tintamarre, which is a smaller island off the northeast coast of St. Maarten/St. Martin

 

 

View looking back toward St. Martin and Orient Beach

 

 

I was able to see St. Barthelemy (St. Barths or St. Barts) way in the distance.

 

I zoomed in for a view in this picture

[pghsteelerfan]

Views from the trails at the top of the hill

 

 

 

 

 

[lyndilouwho]

The water is incredible, so blue! Cant wait! We leave in just 16 days! =)

[pghsteelerfan]

The water is incredible, so blue! Cant wait! We leave in just 16 days! =)

 

It was! I couldn't believe, but loved, all those colors. Not much longer for you now. I'm so jealous. LOL!!! :)

[Alexlee]

I hope you get your dad and his girlfriend addicted to cruising, but your trip sounds like it's going to be so much fun. I wish I could go again soon. We don't get to cruise that often (only 5 cruises in 21 years) but I love it.

 

I was hesitant on doing a review also but because there are so many out there that are so good that I was intimidated by that and also the time. Once I started it became addicting. I did cheat a little by typing up the main part of the review into a Word document. That took over two weeks.

 

Please don't worry about your English, it is very good. It is a lot better than that of people I know who were born and raised in the US, speaking English. I'd love to learn Spanish. I lived in California until I was 10 and in pre-school and kindergarten they were teaching us both English and Spanish (counting & basic words) and it was so easy to learn but they stopped when I was in first grade. In junior high school here, my parents wanted me to take French. I didn't do too well, but I'd love to learn Spanish because a lot of people in the area I live speak it.

 

Thank you:) ...Oh and I'm so glad you finally did choose to do your review cause I'm really enjoying it and all your pics too. That's so bad you couldn't keep with your Spanish classes :(. I tried French as well but I guess it was not for me LOL. I'm learning Italian now and it's kinda easy for me cause its very similar to Spanish :)....well I guess you will be seeing a review of my vacation when I come back:D:D:D

[pghsteelerfan]

After spending almost an hour walking around I made my way back to the lounger then immediately went into the water to cool off since it was hot. I told DH about the trails so he took a turn and went up while I stayed with our stuff.

 

By that time I noticed several other people were there, but most seemed to be local families or people who were staying at resorts on the island. I ended up talking to one lady who was staying at a resort and we discovered we actually live in the same area of Virginia. I also talked to a family who lived in St. Martin. Their native language is French but they spoke English well enough to communicate. They said that Pinel Island was one of their favorite places for a beach day. He mentioned a few of the others (Le Galion was one, I think) but can’t remember them all. The beaches are beautiful and the water is very calm and shallow in most places, so I can see where it would be a favorite of local families, especially those with small kids.

 

When DH got back about 45 minutes later and we the rest of the afternoon was spent either in the loungers or in the water. We brought bottled water with us but it got warm, so DH went up to the bar and got a can of coke for each of us. I think he said the cokes were $4.00 USD each. They gave him a plastic cup full of ice for each coke, which was nice. I asked him if he got change in US dollars or Euros and it was US dollars. At some point I needed to see if I could exchange some US money for Euros. We didn’t order anything to eat since we were still pretty full from breakfast and DH said he’d rather eat once we got back on the ship instead of spending extra to eat there. There were some women who had loungers near us who ordered food and a bottle of wine and the guy working at the restaurant brought a little table out and set it up out in the water and they both ate there. I got a picture of the table after they were done and back in their loungers. Isabelle stopped by to see if we needed anything, we didn’t, but we talked with her for a while. She is from France originally but moved to St. Martin about five years ago, loves it there and loves what she’s doing. When I asked her if she knew if the bar would trade currency, she said she had change she’d trade, so I traded with her for a Euro $5 bill and some coins. We talked some more then she had to get back to the snorkel hut but said she’d stop back again later. At this point there was a lot more people there, but there was still no one using the loungers on either side of us. I think they seat people away from others but will fill in the empty loungers if space is needed. The other side seemed a lot more crowded than where we were but it was never loud and we never felt smothered. It was a perfect beach day.

 

 

 

The loungers we used were just like this

 

 

Over toward the snorkel hut

 

Zoomed in on the snorkel hut

[pghsteelerfan]

Thank you:) ...Oh and I'm so glad you finally did choose to do your review cause I'm really enjoying it and all your pics too. That's so bad you couldn't keep with your Spanish classes :(. I tried French as well but I guess it was not for me LOL. I'm learning Italian now and it's kinda easy for me cause its very similar to Spanish :)....well I guess you will be seeing a review of my vacation when I come back:D:D:D

 

I'm glad you're enjoying it. I love reading reviews and found so many others that I read helpful in things to do and places to go to. I never would have even thought of Sapphire Beach in St. Thomas if I hadn't seen pictures of it in a review and it's one of the prettiest beaches.

 

I really wish they would have kept up with the Spanish classes because when kids are that age it's so easy for them to learn and we could have been speaking it fluently. I was looking into a Spanish class at a local community college, but the first one (Spanish I) was at the college branch that isn't very convenient to get to and the time of the class was during rush hour and it would take an hour and a half just to get there. I'll check each semester though because it could be offered at the local branch during another semester. OK, I always thought Italian sounded like Spanish so I guess that wasn't my imagination.

 

If you do get a chance to do a review, I'll definitely follow.

[pghsteelerfan]

Our loungers

 

This is the ferry from Cul-de-Sac right after arriving at Pinel Island with some passengers

 

 

I have more to add, but Photobucket isn't cooperating right now for some reason so I'm going to have to reboot and try again. More coming...

[pghsteelerfan]

Trying this again. I only have about an hour so I'll try to get as much in as I can and hopefully finish our day in St. Maarten/St. Martin

 

The little table that was set up in the water

 

 

 

 

 

[pghsteelerfan]

 

A few more people, but never crowded

 

This was on the other side of the sand bar, which had a different restaurant and loungers

 

From the other side

 

 

The gift shop

[pghsteelerfan]

From right inside the gift shop looking out to the walkway, which was lined with windchimes

 

 

We needed to be on the 3:00PM ferry back to Cul-de-Sac, so DH took all of the snorkeling gear back to Isabelle at the hut. I tried to stay in the water as much as I could and wanted to wait until the last minute to get out because it was hot. No complaints because I love the hot weather and I wouldn’t be cruising to the Caribbean if I didn’t. Right before the 3:00PM ferry headed over, Isabelle stopped by one more time to thank us. I was able to get a picture of her with DH and she got one of both of us on the beach. We said our good byes and once the ferry arrived, we got back on.

 

DH and Isabelle

 

Isabelle took this picture of us

 

Pictures from the 10 minute ferry ride back to Cul-de-Sac

 

[pghsteelerfan]

More from the ferry

 

 

 

St. Martin is the land on the left and Pinel Island is on the right

 

 

[pghsteelerfan]

 

 

 

 

[Limeia]

I understand that there are 2 beach bars w/food on Pinel Is., is that true? Which one were you near?

 

Also about the snorkel hut, is that an area where everyone has to go and snorkel, or can you just go in from the beach?

[pghsteelerfan]

When we got back to Cul-de-Sac about 10 minutes later, Julian was there waiting for us with that nice, air conditioned van. I’m one of those people who get chilly easily, but this air conditioning really felt good. We had a nice chat and joked around with Julian on the way back. We found out that Julian had the same sense of humor that DH does, so I just let those two go at it while I enjoyed the entertainment. When we got back to the cruise center, which was about 3:45PM, Julian asked if we wanted to shop or if we were going back to the ship first. We wanted to shop so he dropped us off right at the cruise center. I would definitely recommend SXM Tours for anyone wanting to go to Pinal Island not wanting to chance a cab or rent a car for the day. They also offer a variety of other tours. We went into the shops where I got our Christmas ornaments, refrigerator magnet and a shot glass. While in there we ran into one of the couples on our Roll Call who were on the Spencer Ambrose Jalousie Beach Break with us and talked to them for a few minutes before getting in line to pay for my purchases. Since St. Maarten is Dutch and they don’t use Euros, I asked the cashier if I could exchange some US Dollars for their currency but she told me they were all out and they use mainly USD in their registers but she pointed out some other shops that may still have some. Those shops, which were vendor hut type buildings, were closer to the ship, so we went down and in each one we stopped at were out of the St. Maarten currency, even the bar that’s down there. Obviously this was a popular request and one of the venders confirmed for us that it was. If we get back to St. Maarten, one of the first things I will do is a currency trade.

 

We got back on Valor, stopped at our cabin to drop off our stuff then went up to the Lido grille to grab a bite to eat then to the bar for a drink after that. Since it was getting close to 5:00PM sail away time, we took our drinks and went up to Panorama Deck 10 and Spa Deck 11 for better views so we could get pictures. St. Maarten is a beautiful island, even sailing away.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[pghsteelerfan]

I understand that there are 2 beach bars w/food on Pinel Is., is that true? Which one were you near?

 

Also about the snorkel hut, is that an area where everyone has to go and snorkel, or can you just go in from the beach?

 

Yes, there are two beach bars. On Pinel Island there is a sand bar that goes out from the middle. One restaurant is on the left side and the other is on the right. The one on the right is where we were at and it was called "Yellow Beach".

 

Yes, we also had the option of snorkeling from the beach, on both sides of the sand bar. We snorkeled around the hut first but Isabelle told us go ahead and take the snorkel gear with us to the loungers and we could snorkel there or even go back to snorkel around the hut. We never did snorkel from the beach but now I'm kind of kicking myself.

Edited September 27, 2013 by pghsteelerfan

[pghsteelerfan]

 

In this picture there is an island that's barely visible. It's Saba. I used the zoom on the camera to get this picture. It's located southwest of St. Maarten

 

This is St. Bathelemy, which is south of St. Maarten. I also used the zoom lens for this one.

 

 

 

[Alexlee]

I'm glad you're enjoying it. I love reading reviews and found so many others that I read helpful in things to do and places to go to. I never would have even thought of Sapphire Beach in St. Thomas if I hadn't seen pictures of it in a review and it's one of the prettiest beaches.

 

I really wish they would have kept up with the Spanish classes because when kids are that age it's so easy for them to learn and we could have been speaking it fluently. I was looking into a Spanish class at a local community college, but the first one (Spanish I) was at the college branch that isn't very convenient to get to and the time of the class was during rush hour and it would take an hour and a half just to get there. I'll check each semester though because it could be offered at the local branch during another semester. OK, I always thought Italian sounded like Spanish so I guess that wasn't my imagination.

 

If you do get a chance to do a review, I'll definitely follow.

 

I find it really helpful as well, really appreciate the people that take the time to share them:). My DH and I are not really beach persons ( I guess it is because I'm surrounded by them) so we like to go do land tours and other stuff that maybe we won't be able to do in PR.... But I will have to say that Sapphire beach is really pretty and those pics of St. Martin are gorgeous!! Keep checking those Spanish classes it's never to late to learn other languages. ;)

[pghsteelerfan]

 

DH and I were taking turns getting pictures of each other with St. Maarten in the background and someone offered to take a picture with both of us in it. We returned the favor.

 

 

 

 

[pghsteelerfan]

I find it really helpful as well, really appreciate the people that take the time to share them:). My DH and I are not really beach persons ( I guess it is because I'm surrounded by them) so we like to go do land tours and other stuff that maybe we won't be able to do in PR.... But I will have to say that Sapphire beach is really pretty and those pics of St. Martin are gorgeous!! Keep checking those Spanish classes it's never to late to learn other languages. ;)

 

DH and I LOVE the beach but I'm sure if we lived on an island or even near a beach, we'd also want to do something besides a beach. When I lived in California till I was 10, my mom always took us to the beach and when we moved to Pennsylvania, it was six years till I'd see a beach again. We get to a beach about once a year. I'd be in trouble if I lived near a beach because I'd be spending my time there and not getting things done. LOL!!! We're about three to four hours from the closest beach now. I loved Isla Verde Beach in San Juan and could get used to that. :) I'm sure they alternate between the campuses in which Spanish courses are offered. I definitely think I'd be better off starting with the beginner's class though. :)

[pghsteelerfan]

I was hoping to finish up with our day in St. Maarten, but I'm all out of time now since we have plans. I'll be getting back to my review tomorrow finishing up with St. Maarten and I might even get it finished. Thank you to all for following and your kind words. Happy Weekend! :)

[adoptivemommy]

Thank you so much for your review. We are heading out 02/02/2014 for our first cruise and it will be this same cruise. :) lots of beautiful pictures!

[ibcnusoon]

which tour did you do- we are trying to plan for a few weeks time- thank you for any help.

 

We went with http://**********************/ Grey's Tours called "The Tour" (he has other tours to offer). We booked him because he had excellent reviews on TA and had air conditioned vans, a must since we were taking my parents. It's a good 4 hour tour. After the tour he dropped us off at the beach and drove my parents back to the ship, then came back to get us 2 hours later, for no additional fee - we even had time to shop at the port afterwards. What's great is that the ship is in port until 6pm so that's a plus. We only had about 2 hours at the beach, the tour is a good 4 hours, including a chance to walk around Caribelle Batik and Brimestone.

[ibcnusoon]

How was the weather when you were there? I hope you had a nice day and were able to see everything. Even with the rain that day, from what I was able to see, it was very pretty. This is one island I'd love to get back to. I'd actually like to do the same cruise again another time.

 

The weather in St. Kitts was gorgeous! We went the week of Thanksgiving last year and every day in port it was beautiful, sunny - no rain at all, even our weekend pre-cruise in San Juan was hot and sunny. In fact, since it was late November and the ship left St. Kitts at 6pm it was getting dark by then.