TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin Tuesday and Wednesday trip report

Tuesday

I am awake early, for me, on vacation, around 7 AM, as I have been this trip. I don't get up that early at home, so I have no idea why I am getting up this early now. No, maybe I do know. At home I haven't been sleeping well, due to..................... whatever. Here I have slept remarkably well. So I wake up refreshed and ready to go..

So, as I am awake around 7:15, and see the Symphony of the Seas coming in to port. OK, she is a HUGE ship, for sure, but here ships seem so much closer than at Beachside, so she really looks BIG.









So, for breakfast, I baked up one of our baguette loaves, and we had it with a lovely ham and cheese omelette.




Lunch was hamburgers on the grill.



I could really get used to doing nothing, which is basically what we did today. Reading, a dip in the pool, watching the passing boats, a little nap, what's not to like???



The pool guys came to clean the pool and we talked to them about the remodel of the pool, which looks really DOPE. They had just finished doing a whole new pool deck, and a new shallow section of the pool, where one can lay and enjoy the sun. I do enjoy how the sun sparkles off the tiles in the shallow section of the pool.



We did see the shy Saba for a while today.



Due to the haze, the sunset was not good this night. Our first night, the sunset was lovely, but since then, they have been pretty average. The Symphony was supposed to leave port at 6 PM. We waited a while for her to come out of port and nothing happened, so we decided to head on over to the Greenhouse for some supper. Neither one of us was really hungry, so we thought something simple would fit the ticket. I had a steak and cheese sub



and Eric had the special French dip. Both were good, classic fare, nothing to complain about.

As we headed back to the house around 8:30, we saw the ship finally heading out, so were able to take a picture once we got home.



Thus endeth another perfectly lazy day.

WEDNESDAY

On Wednesday, I saw the Allure of the Seas sail into port.



I missed seeing the Seabourn Odyssey come into port, so she must have come in way early.

I also saw our "buddy" Grandeur of the Seas head into port, for once.



Grandeur has been sitting out front here ALL week and I probably have taken about a dozen pictures of her. We surmised that she goes into port periodically to restock provisions, etc., from one of the other ships, so we figured that Allure had brought supplies for her. In my mind, I was thinking of the Grandeur as kind of a sad lady, sitting out there all alone, as other ships sail by, with actual passengers onboard, after an awfully long time. It is another reminder of how hard life has to be for cruise ship crew, STILL, due to many or most ships not sailing with passengers. They get to land maybe once a week?? Folks who work on cruise ships really have a hard life..

Wow, can it be that we already need to take our Covid tests to head home???? We actually head home on Friday, but I had scheduled tests for today, kind of hoping that by some miracle, AA might offer us a free ticket to take a bump on Friday. It probably won't happen, but can't hurt to try.


Before we left home, we made reservations at MedWork in Simpson Bay for our return Covid tests. MedWork is in the same building as Advantika, basically exactly across the street from where Toppers used to be. The cost is $70 per person for antigen tests. I actually cannot recommend these folks highly enough. We did our tests there in June to come home and also for this trip and have nothing but praise for them. We scheduled our appointments for 9 AM. We arrived pretty much at 9, and we had both had our tests, and left the building by 9:15 AM. The facility is clean, it's air conditioned, they run very much on time. It's a class act.


So, after our tests, we headed out to breakfast to Reveil Matin. We went there after our test last time. At that time, I thought afterward that we needed to just order ONE meal and split it. Well apparently I am a slow learner, as we did exactly the same thing this time!!!

My meal consisted of 2 pieces of bacon, 2 pieces of ham, one sausage link, 2 eggs (cooked however you want them), awesome fried potatoes, a crepe and a KILLER fruit salad. This fruit salad comes with several of their dishes, or you can opt for it in exchange for the fried potatoes, and it is da BOMB. The fruit is all perfectly ripe, with pineapple, watermelon, canteloupe, raspberries, strawberries, blueberries, etc. YUM!!!

This picture actually doesn't really show how MUCH food there is, but get it for TWO people and you will be perfectly happy. It is called COCORICO on the menu and is $14.95. Seriously when the lady brought out my meal, I thought it was deja vu all over again, from Mark's. The waitress told me that this was NOT the biggest meal they serve. Seriously??

Anyway, so Eric had an omelette and some fried potatoes.



So, I scarfed down some of the feast and put the rest in a "to go" box. We had the leftover ham for lunch on Wednesday, and the leftover bacon, fried potates and fruit salad for breakfast on Thursday.

From Reveil Matin, it was back to MedWork to pick up our NEGATIVE Covid test results. We knew we wanted a gouda wheel to take home, so we headed over the hill to Carrefour to get the gouda and a few other items. As we headed back to the roundabout on the hill, I told Eric that we should head down into town, just to see what's up. He said "why?" and I said "Well, you don't exactly have any other appointments scheduled for today, so why not??" So we headed down the hill past Belair, etc., and headed up Front Street.

There were a decent amount of folks rumbling around on Front Street from the ships in port





, although of course I have no idea if anyone was BUYING anything. But it was obvious that no one was "herding" them or anything, so folks were able to walk around on Front Street without any escorts or whatever. I'm not sure how that works into the "bubble concept" with cruise ship visitors. Anyone that has visited SXM recently on a ship, would be interested to hear.

So, from there it was back to the house to spend a lazy afternoon reading, in the pool, taking a nap, whatever. Life is rough.

We took some pictures of the sunset and my 'buddy' Grandeur


and the Seabourn Odyssey leaving port,





and then the BIG cruise ship leaving




, and then head out for some dinner.

Looks like I'm running out of pictures here, so dinner will wait until the next post.

That's a lot of breakfast. Nice pictures too.

Enjoying your reports and photos, Carol. That big breakfast is my kind of heaven! It's been so long since I've visited the island, and no clue when I can return, so I suck up all the enjoyment I can from fellow travelers. Thanx!👍😊

Shelby--it seems daunting to get here right now, but it's all worth it. Try to figure it out....

Time flies, you just got there and taking the test to depart.

Ice pictures of the ships and food.

Scuba--yeah, for sure!!!

Yes, time flies on island, for sure!

More than just covid issues, unfortunately,. Though, with an autoimmune disease, that's a big factor, for me, for sure. Oh, but I miss it so!!😪

Thank you for your photos and information. That may have to be all that we experience of our special place until next year.
We thought (in January when we booked the last 2 weeks in November) that Covid would be past. We just painfully decided to postpone until 2022 since the risk and hassle outweigh the positive for us.
We enjoy through you and others until then.
Tom and Lisa

Shelby-sorry to hear that. Take care.

Tom--I understand. Everyone has to make their own decision. We are pretty careful, here and at home, and I have to say that for the most part, I have felt very comfortable. We have not eaten inside anywhere and all servers at the restaurants that we have eaten at have been masked. And social distancing has been very good at the places we have been..

Thanks for the update -- sounds like you are having a great, a perfect time doing what you want, eating what you want--who could ask for more! I was wondering if a trip to the casino is in the plans for you and Eric this trip?

No trip to the casino this trip, never really considered it. We only play table games and earlier reports were that were some really weird plastic walls at tables, which didn't sound good. And, otherwise, Covid concerns just didn't seem like it was a good idea.