March Break 2015, Day 4: St Maarten

Day 4 saw our first port of call in beautiful St. Maarten. That was our favorite stop during our last cruise so we were all looking forward to seeing it again. Previously, we stayed at a beach near the boat in Philipsburg on the Dutch side of the island. This time, we went on an excursion to a resort at Orient Beach, which is located about 20 minutes away on the French side.

Orient Beach is a Euro-style beach, which basically means it's clothing optional. However, the only bathing suits we saw out of the ordinary were a couple of near senior citizens in thongs. (Yes, one of them was a man.) Luckily for our eyes, they didn't stick around too long. Suffice to say, Lucas found it amusing.

Here are some non-geriatric in a g-string pictures from Orient Beach. (sorry, all the photos I have of them from this angle include a girl's butt over Brandon's head)

Me doing my impression of Moby Dick, the great, white whale.

As part of the excursion, we had a lunch buffet in a tent right next to the beach. You may notice I look like I ate the entire buffet myself. Oh, that reminds me, it was St Patrick's Day. We all wore green (once we were out of the water), and my t-shirt read, "Irish-ish."

On the bus ride back to the ship, I took a crapload of photos, mostly to test out the camera. I know you don't come here for the landscape photos so I'll just post a few. The first one isn't framed very well, but it was the only photo I could get of the Orient Beach area from above.

Yet another picture of Lucas and Jayden. I have a slightly better one with the flash, but of course, neither of them are looking at the camera.

I like this next one for 2 reasons: first, it's a nice view of a town and the geography in St Maarten. More importantly, when looking at this later, it occurred to me that from this distance, that could easily pass for a town in the southwestern part of the US. Well, until you got closer and saw the rundown houses and tiny streets. Then you've probably narrowed it down to L.A.

Though not everyone there was poor, as evidenced by some of the fancy-schmancy houses.

Once we got back to the boat, we dropped Lucas off at the Kids Club, and Marilu and I took a water taxi over to St Maarten for some shopping. She got some bamboo sheets that she's been wanting since our last trip, and I purchased liquor!

Unlike most cruise lines, Disney lets you bring liquor on board instead of storing it until the end of the trip. Considering the sky high prices for alcohol on board, buying your own is a no-brainer. I already had Crown Royal on my mind, and when we went into a store that a special for 2 liters of Crown Royal (plus a "free" 250 ml bottle thrown in) for $31, that was a no-brainer. For comparison purposes, I just checked the LCBO's website, and a 750 ml bottle here in Ontario would cost me $28.95. Kiss my ass, Canada!

Our shopping habits aside, here are some photos from the water taxi showing both the ships and downtown Philipsburg. As you can see below, it was a busy day on St Maarten with no less than 4 ships in port.

Here's a closer look at the prow of the Disney Fantasy. I have much better shots from our stop in Castaway Cay so consider this a preview.

I made sure to get pictures of Marilu on the water taxi with both the cruise ships and Philipsburg in the background. Much better than having to look at me.

Whoops, spoke too soon! A couple with an accent I couldn't place was nice enough to take a picture of us while on shore. (mind you, I once mistook a German accent for an English one so I may not be your go-to guy for accents)

And let's close this out with a few more "scenic" photos of the Dutch side of St Maarten.

This is a good shot of Philipsburg's downtown/boardwalk area. It also happens to show the beach we stayed on last time we were in St. Maarten. In fact, you can see the view from that beach (circa 2012) right here.

And away we go, back to the boat. We'll miss you, St Maarten!

Next up: San Juan!