Allure March 3, 2013 Review. Not as awesome as I thought, but still better than work

[cruisin_cutie216]

DBF and I were at Bikini Beach!! We LOVED it. Did you happen to see the black lab and the pit bull mix dog walking around the beach? Precious!

[whataboutport]

Finally it was time to leave Orient, and our driver was now the infamous Sexy. We piled into a larger bus, and the people who were there first were very surprised that there were new people. I would be too if I had been one of them. There were *just* enough seats for all of us. What if there was one more? What then? I thought that was a bit strange too. Anyway, so now onward to Marigold. On the way there Sexy gave us more useless commentary about who is the new owner of Chuck Norris' old house (answer: Chuck Norris' ex wife. har har har), and things like, if you look to the left you will see an empty lot that is the future home of a new medical facility. Ok that's nice. We drove by a dead grass golf course (I wonder where is this nice golf course that Capt Johnny likes so much in SXM?). And then we come up to this hilltop point and he says for us to look at the view, but we don't actually get out to take pics, we have do do so from inside the van.

 

This one has some nice graffiti on this podium thing. Don't click if you are offended by the F word, but it's not that bad, but still.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/53728344/P1060540.JPG

 

Also taken from inside the van:

 

Almost to Marigold he points out a wrecked ship that's been there for years after a hurricane. Now this is something I thought was cool, but again, pics from inside the van while zooming by. I'm glad I got some decent ones.

 

 

Edited March 15, 2013 by whataboutport

[whataboutport]

DBF and I were at Bikini Beach!! We LOVED it. Did you happen to see the black lab and the pit bull mix dog walking around the beach? Precious!

I only saw the dog I posted and a cat or two. Not the black lab or pittie. Did you get bugged by the vendors as well at Bikini? Did you stay there all day or just part of a tour?

[Steppy08]

And also the Budda Bar at Bikini is -----> That way.

 

As you can see the weather is cloudy again.

 

 

I guess if you think you will have a problem with the nudity, don't come here. The beach was just so so anyway after being at Trunk the day before. It wouldn't have mattered to me if we skipped this and had more time in Marigold (which was WAY too short all of 20 mins!)

 

Not sure what you were expecting to see at Orient... If you were uncomfortable with the whole nudity thing and European beaches why even go there?

 

And it's Marigot, not Marigold.

[cruisin_cutie216]

I only saw the dog I posted and a cat or two. Not the black lab or pittie. Did you get bugged by the vendors as well at Bikini? Did you stay there all day or just part of a tour?

 

we spent a good chunk of the afternoon there and we went on our own. we did the jetskiing they had there and ordered drinks/food from the restaurant that was there. food wasn't too bad.

 

the vendors were around but left us alone for the most part. This was DBF and I's favorite port on the cruise and our most relaxing. It was perfectly warm and wonderful out.

[whataboutport]

Marigold was beautiful. I really wished we had more time there. We only had 20 mins. >=( As we drove in Sexy points out the fort on the top of the hill, and the mile hike up and mile hike back, and that this is the stairs you go up to the trail to get to the fort. But that we can't go there bc you need to have at least one hour in Marigold to see it. ooookay.

 

I would have really like to stay at Marigold longer and skip Orient, but there's always next time. Marigold has a beautiful harbor with nice boats, and clear blue water.

 

There's a small shopping area, but mostly it's lots of restaurants. I loved this bench.

 

Sexy pointed out this stand while we drove in, that this is the guy to see if you want fresh sugar cane juice. Oh yeah! We love sugar cane juice, and he also had fresh coconut juice. Sugar cane was $6 a cup, coconut was $5 for the whole coconut.

 

[sstepson]

I agree...the capital of the French side is nice. However, it's spelled "Marigot", not "Marigold".

 

A marigold is a flower...

[whataboutport]

Not sure what you were expecting to see at Orient... If you were uncomfortable with the whole nudity thing and European beaches why even go there?

 

And it's Marigot, not Marigold.

 

Thanks for the correction on the spelling, noted.

Not everyone is as well traveled as yourself. To answer your question why did I even go there? Bc I went on a cruise and wanted to to to St John, and SXM was another port of call. Since Bernards tour was so well received here I decided to book it. Have I ever been to a European beach before? No, so how would I have known I would not have liked it that much? I wouldn't have and well now I know. This review is not for people who know everything, it's for people who are first timers like myself. I hope this would help at least one person in the future.

 

and I def wasn't expecting to be bugged by vendors every five minutes. Heard that Junkanoo was like that but didn't see anything about Orient.

[whataboutport]

we spent a good chunk of the afternoon there and we went on our own. we did the jetskiing they had there and ordered drinks/food from the restaurant that was there. food wasn't too bad.

 

the vendors were around but left us alone for the most part. This was DBF and I's favorite port on the cruise and our most relaxing. It was perfectly warm and wonderful out.

 

That's great to hear something positive. We barely used out chair rentals and every few minutes someone else came by to ask us to buy something.

[whataboutport]

I agree...the capital of the French side is nice. However, it's spelled "Marigot", not "Marigold".

 

A marigold is a flower...

 

Ok I got it. MarigoT

[PhilNDebbieAtSea]

Awesome pictures and great review! Thanks!

[lvstitch]

So what time did you actually dock in St Marten? I am trying to book a tour and am so confused about the ship time/Island time thing too.

[whataboutport]

We were hungry but didn't have time to eat at the many restaurants here. We went to the famous Seraphina's to take a look. There was a guy outside asking us very aggressively for a dollar. We said sorry, and he kept insisting, why can't I have a dollar? Why not just one dollar? Give me one dollar? That really caught me off guard. Anyway, like I said we're not into sweets, so we took a look at the sandwiches. They look like the stuff you get at the Promenade Cafe.

 

 

 

So instead we walked by this place, that happened to be right next door to the sugar cane guy and saw a woman ordered a stuffed crab. We asked how much ($5) so we got that, and it was a very good snack.

 

 

We scarfed it down, and went back to the van, and we were the last ones to get on. Sorry guys. Just wished I had more time there.

[whataboutport]

Awesome pictures and great review! Thanks!

Thanks for following along. :)

So what time did you actually dock in St Marten? I am trying to book a tour and am so confused about the ship time/Island time thing too.

We docked at 7am ship time. yes it was confusing for me, still is. I guess whatever tour you book just make sure you tell them you are confused about ship time vs. island time and see if they can help you. According to past Cruise compasses, I had put down we docked at 8am ship time, but in actuality we docked at 7am ship time that day. I don't know if this is usually the case. I remember on my papers, STT was 9am dock time and SXM was 8am, but we got there at 7. Sorry I couldn't be of more help.

[whataboutport]

Tomorrow I will do Maho Beach and wrap this up. Maho was really cool. =)

[maureencruiser]

Nice review so far, thanks for the food porn! :D

[ALSEAU]

Thanks for sharing.

[abridalmaven]

So the next day was a sea day. I was really looking forward to eating breakfast in the MDR, esp the eggs benedict. Well, they weren't as good as I remembered from having them last time on Monarch. I also got the smoked salmon, and good thing I ordered two dishes bc both plates were very small portions. I remembered last time I got the benedict and either the smoked salmon or kippered herring (can't remember) and I was so stuffed that I couldn't finish them.

 

 

 

The smoked salmon was just fine, and I really liked this kind of lettuce.

 

Not really much to report from this day. They had finally opened up the Sun Deck this day, so that is where we spent a lot of our time sunbathing that day, but there were a lot of clouds out still. We missed dinner that night in the MDR, we slept through it! So we ended up getting room service. Room service has a limited menu, but really comes in handy, esp if you want hot food and your only other options are either pizza at Sorrentos or cold sandwiches at the Promenade Cafe.

 

BTW let me add in here, I didn't really care for the pizza at Sorrentos. I've never had authentic NY pizza, and being from CA I guess my tastes are different, but this pizza had a crap load of cheese, barely any sauce and even fewer toppings. However, I did like the semi soft crusts. We ate here two times when it was really late and just wanted to grab something quick, but not one of my fave places to eat. I think during the day you can order a custom pizza but we never did this.

 

As for Promenade Cafe, their cold sandwiches were just fine if that was what you were in the mood for. I saw many people getting brownies and sweets too, but you know I never got any. There were usually three different sandwiches, two with meat, and one veggie (grilled eggplant). There is a cold version of the kummelweck here too. Not the same though.

 

Which brings me to the Park Cafe. If you want to grab something that can store in your mini fridge (don't forget to ask you stateroom attendant to empty it for you!) you can get a few of the asian shrimp and noodle salad and keep in the fridge, and you can have a late night snack of shrimp if you want. The shrimp are large, not like those tiny bay shrimp you get in the salad bar in the Park Cafe. You can get some salad dressing for dip if you like, I happen to like 1000 island. :)

 

I like the pizza. And I AM from NY. Born and raised in Queens. You may not like our pizza, lots of cheese. Had a friend tell me our pizza was too greasy and too cheesy.

[peteukmcr]

So now we are at the last port day St Maarten. I think it's abbreviated SXM? Not sure why. Anyway, we woke up to a view of this ginormous mega yacht. Oh wait, there was two. No wait actually there was THREE! The third one came in later in the afternoon and Capt Johnny actually said they were waiting for us to leave so it could dock where the Allure was. He also said the cheapest of those mega yachts were $300 million, and that all three together were worth $1.4 billion and worth MORE than the Allure! OMG who has that kind of money?! Anyone one this sailing, did you catch who was the owners of any of these?

If this yacht was called "A" then we saw this in Cannes in 2012.

 

It reportedly belongs to Russian billionaire Andrey Melnichenkos and is named after his wife Aleksandra.

Edited March 15, 2013 by peteukmcr

[MouseGirl]

Thanks so much for posting this great review - I'm really enjoying reading about your experiences. I have one quick question for you if you don't mind. What would you say was the total time that you actually got to spend at the beach at Trunk Bay? We're debating doing the ship excursion on our next cruise and I'm just wondering once you factor in the ferry trip over and cab ride to the beach how much time you have to enjoy the beach itself.

 

Thanks again and can't wait to read the rest of your review!

MouseGirl

[UCF_Knight]

We went to the famous Seraphina's to take a look. There was a guy outside asking us very aggressively for a dollar. We said sorry, and he kept insisting, why can't I have a dollar? Why not just one dollar? Give me one dollar? That really caught me off guard. Anyway, like I said we're not into sweets, so we took a look at the sandwiches.

 

That's probably the same beggar that was at Sarafina's when I was there in October. The guy was very aggressive and scared my 4 and 6 year old girls. We were sitting there at a table 'inside' the restaurant and he came up asking for money and wouldn't leave us alone. "Give me five dollars. Come on, five dollars, I want five dollars. You need to give me five dollars."

 

He then said, "Give me some chocolate. Come on. I want chocolate. Why do you not give me chocolate? Give me half the chocolate" and he actually started reaching for our pastry that was sitting on the table. I had to tell him NO forcefully quite a few times before he left us alone. The workers there seemed very disinterested in chasing him away from hounding their customers who were sitting inside their shop.

Edited March 15, 2013 by UCF_Knight

[whataboutport]

I like the pizza. And I AM from NY. Born and raised in Queens. You may not like our pizza, lots of cheese. Had a friend tell me our pizza was too greasy and too cheesy.

 

Well I wouldn't know, I've never had real NY pizza before! EEK! I like lots of sauce and topping, and just enough cheese to hold everything together. :)

[whataboutport]

If this yacht was called "A" then we saw this in Cannes in 2012.

 

It reportedly belongs to Russian billionaire Andrey Melnichenkos and is named after his wife Aleksandra.

 

YES! It had a A on the back, exactly like that! Wow cool! I thought maybe it was some Asian billionaire bc I saw a bunch of Asian guys standing guard LOL.

 

At first I couldn't figure out if it was a submarine or what. Never seen anything like that before.

Edited March 16, 2013 by whataboutport

[whataboutport]

Thanks so much for posting this great review - I'm really enjoying reading about your experiences. I have one quick question for you if you don't mind. What would you say was the total time that you actually got to spend at the beach at Trunk Bay? We're debating doing the ship excursion on our next cruise and I'm just wondering once you factor in the ferry trip over and cab ride to the beach how much time you have to enjoy the beach itself.

 

Thanks again and can't wait to read the rest of your review!

MouseGirl

 

We got about 3.5 hrs, but that's from the time the ferry dropped us off, not once we actually got to Trunk, however we left a bit early back to the town so we could get a proper meal. At Trunk there's only a small snack bar. It has hot food, but it's basic stuff, hot dogs, fries, etc. They do serve some alcoholic drinks too, but I didn't try any.

 

If you want to do the same excursion I did, if you book the Walking tour or Shopping tour, you can go directly to the taxis to take you to Trunk. I wanted to do the Coastal cruise as well to have a look at the beaches from the other side. This I would say was an additional 20-25. Not long. They take you from Cruz bay only as far as Trunk and then back. I thought it was going to circle the entire island, but no, thinking about that now, that would have taken a very long time!

 

Before I booked this, I also thought about going without a tour. Meaning taking a cab from the dock to Red Hook, then the ferry across to Cruz. The pricing was about the same, but with the excursion you get some more coastal scenes. The taxi from the dock to Red Hook is more mountainous (as far was that I believe to have read, I have not done the taxi to Red Hook personally). Hope this helps. :)

Edited March 16, 2013 by whataboutport

[addicted2]

YES! It had a A on the back, exactly like that! Wow cool! I thought maybe it was some Asian billionaire bc I saw a bunch of Asian guys standing guard LOL.

 

At first I couldn't figure out if it was a submarine or what. Never seen anything like that before.

 

We saw this yacht too on the 5th of March while on our Indy cruise. It was incredible, looked like something from a James Bond movie. We had heard that there had been a yacht regada over the previous weekend so figured it was leftover from that. Glad someone knew more about it. Thanks. Enjoying your review, keep it coming.