Day 8, January 6, 2010

The pictures are:
1. Arriving at St. Maarten.
2. The entrance to Club Orient on Orient Beach.
3. Our ship (back right) and two others.
4. Ed's fillet

The day in Sint Maarten - St. Martin

We forgot to tell you that last night we were joined at our table by Andy, an employee of Carnival’s outside public relations firm. Andy flew to St. Thomas from Miami to join the ship and take some publicity shots for the next four days. He has been on over 60 cruises so we had fun listening to some of his stories last night
Now onto the trip today –

This is one of the prettiest islands in the Caribbean and one of the most unique. One part of the island is Dutch and the other part is French. Were told that this island is the smallest land mass in the world to be shared by two different nations. It is only 37 square miles and one-third is Dutch and two-thirds is French.

The two major things to do here are shopping and going to the beach. We decided on the beach since we had shopped and shopped on St. Thomas.

We docked at the Dutch side and when we left the ship at 10:00am we immediately got a shuttle van to take us to the French side of the island and Orient Beach, a spectacular beach. We had 18 in the van when a mile from the dock the van lost its transmission. The driver flagged down a returning van, we all transferred and we were on our way.

As it was last year, the beach was wonderful. Sorry the only picture that we can show is a picture of their billboard at the entrance, as they don’t allow cameras on the beach.

While walking on the beach, we met the lady who hands out the beads and got to talking to her and it turns out that she and her husband are from Pontiac, IL and ride their motorcycle to Kicks in Towanda and to the Merna Tap on weekend rides. We exchanged e-mail addresses and said we would meet during the spring when they ride down. They stay on the beach every year. They even knew exactly where we lived.

At 2:30pm we went on our last walk down the beach and back, jumped in the water to wash the oil off and found a returning shuttle to take us back to the ship.

We were onboard by 4:00pm and relaxing on our balcony.

Dinner tonight is very special. The cruise line has a supper club that only serves a few each night in a “5-star, world class” atmosphere. There is an extra change to eat in this room and it is called The Chef’s Art Steakhouse. We were very lucky in that Claudia, one of the supervisors in the Casino and our host on a previous cruise comped us to diner.

It lived up to its reputation; the food and service were top of the line. Ed had a 9oz fillet which was cooked to perfection and almost melted in his mouth. Barb had the surf and turf and it also was excellent.

Then we went to the comedy club and the new comedian who just came on the ship was really, really funny. His name was Mark Simmons and he is from Chicago. His bio said that he had a starring roll in Barbershop and Barbershop II, the movies.

Then a great night in the casino and it is time for bed. We are heading for home and the next two days are at sea.

Night for now.