My View: 14 Days of Chasing the Sun on Seaside

[APDMOM]

Dinner:  Italian Night

 

We have an amazing dining team:  Edison and Mark!  They always remember our drink orders and Edison brought our son 3 servings of shrimp cocktail.  He figured out that this young man can never get enough of that appetizer!  😁

 

Tiramisu and Limoncello dessert - both very good!

 

[APDMOM]

We received our Black Card gifts today - two small backpacks and this hat.  I love the Cruise ship on the back!

 

 

 

[APDMOM]

My View:  End of Day 11 - Sunset over St. Thomas

 

[cruisecouple7]

Thanks for the detailed review and great pictures! I was on the Seaside last December in the Yacht Club and loved it! After reading your review I want to cruise on her again, hmmm...maybe a B2B? :)  I will have to wait until after the Meraviglia in January though. Enjoy the rest of your cruise!

[APDMOM]

Daily Planner - Eastern Route Day 4 - Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas

 

 

 

 

 

[stoneman56]

1 hour ago, APDMOM said:

Thanks for the input!  I agree it is always helpful to ask, as invitations may get lost or forgotten.   🙂 We received a second free dinner invitation and are booked for Ocean Cay tomorrow.  Last week, we did Butcher’s Cut. I will report back after our experience tomorrow.

Well done, because you are not really entitled to it. We only found this out when we didn't get an invite for the Black card party the second week and spoke to the cruise consultant, we ended up with loads of stuff not entitled to and she told us we were very lucky. 

We looked at Ocean Cay and because I'm not a great fish eater and the menu was quite restricted we went to Butchers Cut twice. We did pay for the Teppanyaki  but found it more show than substance. Not worth the $59. 

Edited June 12, 2019 by stoneman56
kante speel

[stoneman56]

11 minutes ago, APDMOM said:

We received our Black Card gifts today - two small backpacks and this hat.  I love the Cruise ship on the back!

 

 

 

We got post it notes ;(

[APDMOM]

On 6/9/2019 at 9:55 AM, ttkbwiley said:

 Also, can you confirm if there are additional locker rooms and showers in the gym?

@ttkbwiley

The gym does have many lockers and 3 showers.  The space is a bit more compact, but the gym is much more accessible as it is open from 6 a.m. until 10 p.m.  The Thermal spa is only open from 9 a.m. until 9 p.m.  Hope this helps your planning! 🙂

[APDMOM]

Sports Bar Menu:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chicken Wings:

[cruzlover]

9 hours ago, APDMOM said:

Here they are!  Specialty Restaurant Menus for Seaside:

 

Thanks so much for taking the time to do this! Now to decide which one??

[SteelCruisin]

So if I buy 6 wings it's $4.75.... 12 is $9.75....hmmmm you do the math...lol

[APDMOM]

57 minutes ago, SteelCruisin said:

So if I buy 6 wings it's $4.75.... 12 is $9.75....hmmmm you do the math...lol

😂That was what I thought too... 6 wings win every time, twice!

[Niallol]

1 hour ago, SteelCruisin said:

So if I buy 6 wings it's $4.75.... 12 is $9.75....hmmmm you do the math...lol

 

I think they should stick to complimentary. 🤣

[SteelCruisin]

I understand the charging, but when you buy 2 times the quantity of something , it is usually at a discount, not more...

2x $4.75 is $9.50, but they are charging $9.75...strange....

[APDMOM]

My View: Day 12 -  St. Maarten

[APDMOM]

Walking to Front Street:

 

St. Maarten remains one of my favorite ports - definitely my top Eastern Caribbean destination.  I had two missions today:

1. Find “Tees by the Seas” for the cheap Caribbean shirts (a couple of kind CC friends told us about this place)
2. Find “Elements” to buy more of their jewelry (I bought a beautiful cruise-budget-priced necklace from them in Bonaire).

 

For the first time since we started coming to St. Maarten, I decided to save the $7 that a roundtrip water taxi ride would cost me, and walk to downtown.  I was surprised at how easy and short the walk is!  It only takes about 10 minutes to get to the little bridge by Bobby’s Marina.  The water taxi is fun, but this easy walk is worth the $7 savings to me!

 

Tip:  If you want to save a water taxi or taxi ride, just walk out the port, past the junk yard, past this shop, and there you are... the beginning of downtown and very close to Front Street:

 

 

You walk past a Cheese shop and restaurant:

 

Signs of the hurricane are still very present throughout... Noted on the walk:

 

The Junk Yard - with Air Lekkerbek (Wish I could have been close up for a picture!):

 

Entering the parking lot toward Bobby’s Marina:

 

The bridge to Front Street Area:

 

[APDMOM]

Tip:  Shops in St. Maarten are definitely on island time.  They open around 9:30 or 10 a.m.  When I asked one shopkeeper, she said they open around 9, 9:30, 10.  I love Island Time!

 

So, when I got to the place where our friends told us the Tees by the Seas store is, I found only mostly closed up shops.  I took a walk to capture some of the beautiful views of St. Maarten:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[APDMOM]

After a search for “Elements” on Old street turned up empty, I decided to get my toes in the water:

 

 

[APDMOM]

On the way back, I found Tees by the Seas just a little past Hard Rock Cafe.  I bought 6 nice Caribbean shirts for $40.  The lady who runs the shop is just lovely and I will definitely return to this shop!  I highly recommend them - their prices are some of the lowest we have seen in the Caribbean.

 

 

I made another stop at Old Street to see if “Elements” had opened since it was past 10 by now. 

 

More views on my walk:

 

 

 

 

A lady at another jewelry store down the same street informed me that Elements had left the island after the hurricanes of 2017.  That was very disappointing to hear, as their jewelry does not discolor, and I love the necklace I had bought. I will definitely contact their Bonaire shop, and hope they can open up again sometime in St. Maarten.

 

Old Street - where the yellow car used to be: 

 

 

[APDMOM]

Tees by the Seas - Again!

I started my walk back to the ship and found the “Tees by the Seas” I had originally been looking for.  The lady there was a look-alike of the one at the other store.  Come to find out that she is the daughter of the other, and just as lovely as her mom.  

 

Tip:  If you like Caribbean shirts, “Tees by the Seas” is the place to go!  They have two locations.  One right by the bridge at the beginning of Front Street (by Bobby’s Marina), and the other just past Hard Rock Cafe by the other pier where the water taxi drops you off.

 

I can never get enough of this beautiful island!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hurricane repair still in progress:

[APDMOM]

Back in Port: This is the first time in about 9 visits to St. Maarten that we were the only ship in port.

 

[APDMOM]

Eating Lunch under the Daytime Moon!

 

Some Views from the Ship:

 

 

 

 

 

[APDMOM]

Tip:  For better selfies, put your camera/phone’s self timer on 2 or 3 seconds.  That way, you can push the button to take the picture, and have 2-3 seconds to make sure the picture is positioned just right.   Most people also tend to move the camera/phone a little when they push the button for a selfie.  With the 2-3 seconds delay, you have time to reposition and hold the camera/phone still.

 

 

Pool getting ready for White Party:

 

This was the crowd trying to return 4 minutes before “all aboard”.  I would recommend arriving at least 30 minutes before to avoid standing in the hot sun.  But then, the day was just way too short in St. Maarten:

 

Views from our balcony at sail away:

 

 

 

 

 

[sidari]

Did you go to Pirates Paradise bar ? We did an underwater helmet dive there at St Maarten which very good.

[APDMOM]

1 hour ago, sidari said:

Did you go to Pirates Paradise bar ? We did an underwater helmet dive there at St Maarten which very good.

No, since I was the “designated driver” (aka walking alone in town), I did not want to go to a bar alone.  I do believe it is owned or run by the same family though.  🙂 I will have to look into the helmet dive... do your ears stay completely dry?  I cannot get my ear underwater due to extensive surgeries I had undergone years ago.  For the same reason, ear plugs don’t work well for me.  It would be GREAT if that is one type of underwater activity I can do!