(Slightly less so) Cheapo dad's trip report on Independence of the Seas

[Hi_Cees]

Thank you for taking the time to post all the great pics and info !!! Great review!!!

[griffy116]

Thanks for including the photos. WOW... so much horrible destruction still visible. Heartbreaking to know that each of these homes and businesses belong to someone there still suffering.

[dr_truth]

We were playing ping pong two or three days after Christmas and just happened to look into the window of Adventure Ocean and saw at least 30 wrapped presents behind the desk. Now that I think about it, they did look like cups, but I did not know it at the time. I am guessing they did exactly what you suggested and tried to give them out at the kids camp and these were the left-overs.

 

Sorry, I have no photo proof that this happened, nor did I count the exact number of gifts we saw. Disappointing, I know, but you (CC community) will just have to take my word for it.

 

My two did Adventure Ocean and Teen activities after Christmas and no one tried to give them any leftover gifts. :) We didn't go to the Santa thing. I was sick in the cabin, and everyone else left early to get to the island for the tour. So, seems like a snooze and lose situation.

[E@syPe@zy]

Harry...your photos were eye opening. As I was looking at the photos I found myself having mixed feelings. On one hand I feel so very sorry for the residents and business owners of the island, but on the other hand I feel that it's a shame that so little has been done in the months since the hurricane. I have been to post hurricane areas in the U.S. with my husband when he did hurricane restoration and I can tell you that people pitch in and work together to get things done, even while waiting for insurance claims to be processed. I've also been to Mexico shortly after a major hurricane and they pull together and get it back up and running. I understand the French are waiting on insurance claims, but there is a lot that can be done while they are waiting. I know many U.S. residents that waited over a year or more for their insurance to come through, but it didn't stop them from doing everything they could to get their property cleaned up and they also helped other people.

I know it's an island and that creates logistic issues with getting materials, but there's a lot of work that can be done by local people while you are waiting on supplies.

It's very sad, but it looks like it will be a long time before the French side is back up and running.

Harry, I think the photos you and your family took are actually news worthy photos. We really have not heard much about the islands that were hit by the hurricanes other than the difficulty with getting power restored in Puerto Rico. A true eye opening photographic expo!

[hoopslover]

Have been following since the beginning. Love your writing style. Headed on a b2b in April and love your pictures.

[bobmacliberty]

Wow, just...wow. I hope they are able to eventually restore Orient beach to something like it was. Glad to see that you're helping pump some money into the local economy Harry.

[harryfat1]

Thank you for posting all the photos of St. Maarten. We won't be there until June but glad to hear the recover is coming along. We haven't been to St. Maarten for years. Looking forward to returning.

 

OMG,says the nurse.Wonderful pics , says the tourist.

 

Thanks for the compliment. The island is beautiful with many photo opt sites. We were just luck to be there on a clear day to take the pictures.

[harryfat1]

We were playing ping pong two or three days after Christmas and just happened to look into the window of Adventure Ocean and saw at least 30 wrapped presents behind the desk. Now that I think about it, they did look like cups, but I did not know it at the time. I am guessing they did exactly what you suggested and tried to give them out at the kids camp and these were the left-overs.

 

Sorry, I have no photo proof that this happened, nor did I count the exact number of gifts we saw. Disappointing, I know, but you (CC community) will just have to take my word for it.

 

That sounds about right. I would imagine they would leave them in a central location at the kids club for people to collect them if they couldn’t do it on Christmas day as they had to get off the ship for an excursion.

 

Didn’t think RCI would do special delivery to the cabins as they still need to cross off the name from the sheet/mark the card to say the kid got the cup. They couldn’t do it if they just dropped it off.

 

The line to see Santa was crazy long and if we hadn’t just stumbled over at the auxiliary line on the side, we would have missed it. That’s why I put some much time into the write up – trying to inform other parents to check for potential optional lines.

[harryfat1]

Even with the damage…the pictures of St. Maarten just makeme go….aaaaaahhhhhh

 

The damages are to the buildings. The island itself is mainly in tact, minus some issues with sands at beaches so if you just look at the natural beauty of water and mountain, that hasn't changed.

[SherriZ366]

The damages are to the buildings. The island itself is mainly in tact, minus some issues with sands at beaches so if you just look at the natural beauty of water and mountain, that hasn't changed.

St. Maarten got hit hard in 1995 with a hurricane. The Dutch side re-built quicker than the French side did. Most of the structures on Orient Beach were destroyed but were re-built and were the ones we were all familiar with. It may take awhile but both sides will be repaired and rebuilt.

[cruisemeister8]

Harry, shut the front door! This (among other candidates) should be your Christmas card next year. How wonderful to see such pretty water and blue skies on Christmas Day! The north can keep their white Christmas. This is what we're talkin' about!

 

Really enjoying all your pictures. It is sad to see the realities of hurricane damage. It's a stark reminder of the power of mother nature over something tourists take for granted, yet, locals call it home. It must be terrifying to be on such a vulnerable island when a storm is sweeping through. To survive that and show signs of recovery like giving tours on holidays shows a great deal of resilience. Bless all the people on the islands affected.

 

I'm curious to see the rest of your pictures as they come out to find out if you went to the interior harbor and how that fared. I remember tours there where the guides talked about that being a safe harbor from storms. But safe from how big of storms?

[harryfat1]

Wow, what a cool trip report! I just happened to be checking out RCCL's boards (because I'm nosy) and am so glad I happened upon this thread. We are not big cruisers at all ... our last one was more than 10 years ago ... but we are going a Christmas / NYE cruise later this year on Celebrity, so this has been an interesting read indeed! Love the itinerary, really love the pictures, and really REALLY love your commentary. Thanks for making my morning at work so interesting. I thought I was doomed to have to read a 95-page report on the Australian mining industry, but this is much, much better. I just hope the minion I delegated my work to will do a good job and make me look good ...

 

And, yes, I am just as OCD as you when it comes to vacations and planning. Disney - pssht. Been there, done that. My oldest daughter found one of my vacation journals from when I was single. It was one of those "See Europe in 17 Days!" trip, where we went to 14 countries and spent no more than two hours in each place (typical Asian tour group itinerary). I not only had the itinerary printed out and pasted to the cover of the journal, I had a daily schedule of what I would wear each day as well. She thought it was hilarious. I did not see the humor in it. I was prepared, I was appropriately dressed and I remained fashionable. 'Nuff said.

 

Thanks for the awesome trip report, and looking forward to the rest of it!

 

Hi,

 

Thank you for the compliment. Glad to hear that I am a distraction for you at work. Another CC reader checking out the info from work.

 

I had doubled book the Celebrity Silhouette along with RCI Adventure of the Seas for last December as I couldn’t make up my mind what I wanted to do. But the choice was made for us by my kids’ school district and we ended up cancelling both reservations to book it for this cruise.

 

You folks on the Celebrity boards have a legendary trip reviewer in Bimmer. I talked to him in the past in my trip reports as he was very kind to encourage me to write and he is really great on his presentation. Don’t tell him I stole (errr, I meant be artistically inspired) from some of his trip reports…

 

Our family go to Disney parks every few years. Now sure if it’s really for the kids or for the kid in me.

 

You and I are very similar in that we have also been to Europe twice. Once on the multi nation tour (If this is Tuesday, this must be Belgium) type of tours.

 

Hopefully you won’t be too bored with all the RCI references here. Speak up and ask questions if some of the stuff we talk about is unfamiliar as each cruise line do things slightly different at times.

[harryfat1]

For sure, and they ok'd it not having a railing too :p

 

Maybe the railing flew off to another island as Mailman pointed to one of the big power transformer tower at the top of the hill and said one broke off during the hurricane and later found washed ashore at another island few miles away.

 

So if a power transformer tower can blow away, this structure is nothing if the right wind/water comes ashore.

[harryfat1]

For sure, and they ok'd it not having a railing too :p

 

Thanks for the St. Maarten pictures Harry. We did the same Bernard's tour in 2015 and the views are still pretty fresh in my mind. Heartbreaking to see the damage, but great to hear that the locals are in good spirits. I'm fairly certain that I remember that wood platform having a railing along the stairs going up, and vertical slats all around the top deck. I'm guessing that the missing railing and slats are a result of hurricane damage that hasn't been fixed. Impressive that it is still standing at all. I'm interested in seeing your Orient Beach pics (assuming this is still the beach part of the tour) as I've read that the beach area received a lot of damage.

 

Edit: Actually, after looking again at the picture above of the wooden structure, I have a vague memory of staying to the left as I climbed the steps because there was no railing. Who knows.

 

I will finish with all the Orient Beach pics later tonight. About half way done.

 

 

Will be interesting to see what the rebuild place will look like in few years.

[harryfat1]

Great Pictures Harry !!! We will heading to this Island in April, after taking this tour, would you recommend it? or am I asking too soon and messing up your Cruise review flow.....

 

Thanks for the compliment.

 

Bernards gets rave reviews on Trip advisor. You can check them out yourself. Typically ranked in the top 3 of tours:

 

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g1606589-d1840452-Reviews-Bernard_s_Tours-Saint_Martin_St_Martin_St_Maarten.html

 

Having said that, I am not a professional reviewer. I didn't do a side by side comparison test like Consumer Reports to compare 6 cars in comparing the various island tours to see which is the best. In theory another company could be just as good but most people just go with the trusted name companies.

[harryfat1]

Thank you for taking the time to post all the great pics and info !!! Great review!!!

 

Thanks for including the photos. WOW... so much horrible destruction still visible. Heartbreaking to know that each of these homes and businesses belong to someone there still suffering.

 

Thanks for the kind words. Glad the info and pictures are helpful.

 

Once the insurance money start to come in on the French side, they will have the resources to start the rebuild process.

[harryfat1]

My two did Adventure Ocean and Teen activities after Christmas and no one tried to give them any leftover gifts. :) We didn't go to the Santa thing. I was sick in the cabin, and everyone else left early to get to the island for the tour. So, seems like a snooze and lose situation.

 

Sorry to hear you were sick on Christmas Day. Hopefully not from some bad food in WJ or Labadee.

 

Now did your kids asked for the present when they went to Adventure Ocean? Those workers didn’t seem to be the type to ask each kid to see if everybody has a present. You would need to initiate the request on your end to get something.

[harryfat1]

Harry...your photos were eye opening. As I was looking at the photos I found myself having mixed feelings. On one hand I feel so very sorry for the residents and business owners of the island, but on the other hand I feel that it's a shame that so little has been done in the months since the hurricane. I have been to post hurricane areas in the U.S. with my husband when he did hurricane restoration and I can tell you that people pitch in and work together to get things done, even while waiting for insurance claims to be processed. I've also been to Mexico shortly after a major hurricane and they pull together and get it back up and running. I understand the French are waiting on insurance claims, but there is a lot that can be done while they are waiting. I know many U.S. residents that waited over a year or more for their insurance to come through, but it didn't stop them from doing everything they could to get their property cleaned up and they also helped other people.

I know it's an island and that creates logistic issues with getting materials, but there's a lot of work that can be done by local people while you are waiting on supplies.

It's very sad, but it looks like it will be a long time before the French side is back up and running.

Harry, I think the photos you and your family took are actually news worthy photos. We really have not heard much about the islands that were hit by the hurricanes other than the difficulty with getting power restored in Puerto Rico. A true eye opening photographic expo!

 

Thanks you for the high praise although we don’t deserve it. We are just a simple family from California that went on a vacation and just happens to take lots of pictures at an area that didn’t have a lot of outflow of information after the hurricane.

 

I’m just happy to be able to shed some light on the status of things as of last month as information was very sketchy when we went. Even the tour operator wasn’t sure where we might be going. Hopefully this info will be useful for others that will be heading for the island soon. I posted a shorter summary page over at the island boards as well for people who are not RCI cruisers and won’t find this info otherwise.

 

I’m sure the situation will change weekly/monthly as the island recovers and they rebuild the island so if someone goes there in April, what they see might be very different than what we saw in April with more ships docking there, it will bring out more vendors.

 

Maybe because we were there on Christmas Day, it wasn’t as active as people are indoors.

 

Mailman said in the beginning, many people couldn’t get supplies from ships to help them repair at the Dutch side as the “well connected” people ordered and bought the repair items before they were even loaded on the cargo ships heading for St. Maarten. Such that even if an average Joe has the money and wants to buy supplies from the local store, there is nothing to buy as everything on the cargo ship is already sold to someone else that paid top $$ for it. Yes, life is not fair.

 

Mailman also pointed out that some of the cargo ships with supplies were headed for more influential ports like Puerto Rico and St. Thomas due to the US influence so there may be some politics at play as well.

[harryfat1]

Have been following since the beginning. Love your writing style. Headed on a b2b in April and love your pictures.

 

Hi,

 

Thanks for following along since the beginning. When you say beginning, you mean from Allure days or beginning of this report?

 

If from Allure, you will notice my jokes and sense of humor has deteriorated as my comedy writing team has pretty much quit on me. So the older series are more funny but at least I paid $$ to upgrade to better camera and cell phone so at least you get more clear photos in this trip report.

[harryfat1]

Wow, just...wow. I hope they are able to eventually restore Orient beach to something like it was. Glad to see that you're helping pump some money into the local economy Harry.

 

 

Hi, Bob,

 

Yeah, Mailman said part of the orient beach was restricted access by the government as they slowly clear the debris and rebuild. Supposedly they are taking the approach to have more mobile facilities so they can pack up and go in case of hurricanes and storms instead of more permanent structures that will be wiped out again if another major hurricane hit.

 

It will be interesting to see what will rise from the rubble few years from now in this area. The place is world renown and gorgeous water so they will certainly rebuild. Only a question of what format and how quickly they will rebuild.

 

We paid for the tour as well as buying some souvenir (aka visiting uncle in prison) while there so we did our small part. Biggest part will be when the insurance money comes in and then with the cruisers coming back, it will bring a consistent stream of cash to the island economy.

[harryfat1]

St. Maarten got hit hard in 1995 with a hurricane. The Dutch side re-built quicker than the French side did. Most of the structures on Orient Beach were destroyed but were re-built and were the ones we were all familiar with. It may take awhile but both sides will be repaired and rebuilt.

 

Yeah, if the past is an indication of the future, they will rebuild the area as it's too well known not to do so. People will want to visit the place later on to see what it looks like after it's been rebuild. Mailman said they might make some facilities more mobile as to avoid future storms. Will be interesting to see how they do that.

 

Not surprising in the past the Dutch side was faster as you assume the same red tape of insurance processing hasn't improved through time on the French side.

[harryfat1]

Harry, shut the front door! This (among other candidates) should be your Christmas card next year. How wonderful to see such pretty water and blue skies on Christmas Day! The north can keep their white Christmas. This is what we're talkin' about!

 

Really enjoying all your pictures. It is sad to see the realities of hurricane damage. It's a stark reminder of the power of mother nature over something tourists take for granted, yet, locals call it home. It must be terrifying to be on such a vulnerable island when a storm is sweeping through. To survive that and show signs of recovery like giving tours on holidays shows a great deal of resilience. Bless all the people on the islands affected.

 

I'm curious to see the rest of your pictures as they come out to find out if you went to the interior harbor and how that fared. I remember tours there where the guides talked about that being a safe harbor from storms. But safe from how big of storms?

 

Thanks for the kind words on the pictures.

 

Interesting thought of having people vote/voice their opinions of what top 3 pictures they like from the cruise. I am sure there will be some variations. It will be hard for me to pick from the list . I'm biased and emotionally attached to some so hard for me to select but will be interesting for the whoever is still around at the end of this long marathon trip report to say what pictures they like.

[harryfat1]

Whew, I think I replied to everyone that posted a comment. I apologize if I missed anyone. I feel bad if someone said something or asked a question and I didn't respond. It's like going to a party and the host only talked to some people and ignore you totally. That's just not right.

 

OK, where was I? Oh, yeah, finish up Orient Beach tonight.

 

Here's a bit of inner working of trip writing that nobody cares about but I will share is that we try our best to synchronize our camera and cell phone clocks. If not, when you combine the pictures, they will be all screwed up. Since the captain changed the clock on us, I forgot to change the clocks on the cameras to island time so all the cameras are 1 hour off compared to the cell phone clocks.

 

Not a big deal if you are the only photographer for the family but when you have as many equipment as us and not all are on the same time, it's a nightmare to sort them online to present in a trip report as well as slideshows.

 

What that means to you folks is that yesterday's Orient beach pics were all from my wife's camera as her clock was 1 hour different than my cell phone (remember I forgot my camera back at the ship). So it was easier to just drop all her pictures in one cluster and today will be mostly from my cell phone.

 

Like I said, most people don't care...

[harryfat1]

OK, few more pics from the wife's SLR at Orient Beach:

 

 

 

Beach umbrellas and chairs on the other end of the Orient Beach

 

 

 

The wife taking picture of me taking pictures

 

[harryfat1]

Some pics from my cell phone. Similar to what you have already seen. Just slightly different perspective/emphasis