Photo Review: Celebrity Summit 2/7/15 Southern Caribbean (with 2 days in San Juan)

[HeatherC430]

Thanks Robin (ABCGreys) for the link from Calabaza! Here are a few more pictures taken from Calabaza's crew on the day of our excursion...

 

 

 

[HeatherC430]

 

 

 

 

 

[HeatherC430]

 

 

 

 

 

[HeatherC430]

 

 

 

 

[HeatherC430]

 

 

 

 

[HeatherC430]

One random thing I forgot to mention regarding my tour with Spencer Ambrose. For anyone who decides to do a tour through his tour company, consider taking school supplies for low income school children.

 

Below are the items I took with me for donation. Spencer's daughter graciously took the school supplies from me after we checked into the tour.

 

Below is a snip-it from Spencer's website in the FAQ section:

 

I would like to help St. Lucian school children in low-income districts.

What kind of school supplies are most needed?

If you decide you would like to help St. Lucian school children, I will gratefully accept any gifts of school supplies at the beginning of your tour. Most needed items include exercise notebooks, coloring books, pens and pencils, erasers, markers, colored pencils, crayons, lined paper and new or used fiction novels suitable for 12-14 year olds (ie: Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, Lizzie McGuire, Diary of a Wimpy Kid...). I will personally collect and distribute your gifts to those schools most in need. No amount is too small to make a difference!

 

 

Up next, St. Maarten...

[CruisinCrow]

Thanks Robin (ABCGreys) for the link from Calabaza! Here are a few more pictures taken from Calabaza's crew on the day of our excursion...

 

 

 

 

That's awesome that they took pictures of you.

 

On a separate note, where do you get all your cute cover-up dresses?

[HeatherC430]

 

 

 

 

 

[HeatherC430]

 

 

 

 

 

[HeatherC430]

 

 

 

[HeatherC430]

 

 

 

 

 

[HeatherC430]

 

 

 

 

 

[HeatherC430]

 

 

Entrance to the water-taxi....

 

[HeatherC430]

This was my 3rd time in St. Maarten. My first time was my very first cruise, and the last visit was with my mom on last year’s cruise. This was my husband’s first time in St. Maarten, so I wanted to do some sort of combination tour of the island. I remember on my last cruise I couple we met raved about their tour with Bernard in St. Maarten, stating it was a comprehensive tour of the island, included drinks thoughout the tour and was inexpensively priced. Sounded just about perfect to me. After researching online, I found many others shared the positive reviews of Bernard’s various tours. We decided on the Island Tour II, description below directly from the website. To reserve the tour online, it was $5 per person, then another $40 per person was due on the day of tour.

 

I booked this tour online at: http://www.bernardstours.com/tours.html

 

SXM Island Tour II

9:00 am - 2:30 pm

Beach Sightseeing and Shopping - $45/pp5 | $5/pp Deposit

All tours depart from the Cruise Information Center

 

• Pickup at the cruise pier

• Iguana Farm ( currently under construction until further notice)

• Stop at the French and Dutch border [2 mins]

• Brief stop at Oyster Pond over looking the island of St Barths [5-10 mins]

• Orient Beach where you'll be able to swim and have lunch [90-120 mins]

• Marigot - open market (French Capital) [30 mins]

• Maho Beach - see low flying planes [45 mins]

• Drive through Simpson Bay marina

• Harold Jack Hill (View of Simpson Marina,Airport & Anguilla)

• Return to Philipsburg depends on tour departure time; all guests will be returned in time to meet their ship's sail time.

Upon return to Philipsburg, transfer back to the ship will be provided free of charge, or you may choose to remain in Philipsburg to shop or sightsee at your own leisure. Walking back to the ship takes between 12 and 15 minutes, or a taxi may take you for approximately $3.

*NOTE: Itinerary subject to change. Weather and traffic on the island are constantly changing, and sometimes, this requires itinerary changes.

 

We arrived at the port area about 15 minutes before the tour was scheduled to depart. The instructions via email said to inquire at the information center. We did and they gave us directions to the meeting spot. At that time, none of the stores in the port area were open yet, so most of the foot traffic were others doing tours as well. We checked in and they gave us a sticker to denote which van we’d be in for the day. The “Mailman” was our tour guide for the day & I can’t say enough good things about him.

The iguana farm wasn’t so much a “farm” more or less an area along side the road that was loaded with iguana. Our van pulled over and watched them swam as the mailman fed them some treats he had purchased when the tour first set off.

 

Orient Beach was nice, as most of the Caribbean beaches are, however, it was a little too crowded for my taste. This was probably my least favorite beach of all those I visited during the week. I felt like I was at Myrtle Beach with the number of people in the water and in the actual beach area. The sand that was there was pretty much packed with chairs (you had to rent), and there really wasn’t even a place for you to put your beach bag down while you went in the water. Luckily, some of our cruise critic friends we had met onboard and while on Spencer’s tour had paid for beach chairs so we left our stuff with them while we went into the water.

 

The stop on the French side in Marigot was probably my favorite aspect of the day. The French pastry shop we stopped for a quick lunch while we were there and everything was amazing. My mom & I had walked past it on our last stop, but didn’t eat anything. Everything was so good I was kicking myself for not eating something from there on the last stop. It was a bit difficult to order since the entire menu was in French, but the girls that waited on you did speak English too, so we were able to maneuver enough to get something. My husband ordered a sandwich on a baguette with salmon, goat cheese, and who knows what else. He said it was pretty good. I had a ham and cheese on a croissant that was amazing (even though it sounds pretty plain jane) & we split an éclair for dessert. We both had a drink as well and our total bill was alittle over $20 which was cheaper than I had expected. Again, since the menu wasn’t in USD, we didn’t really know how much anything was, we just ordered. This place is a must if you’re in the French side at Marigot.

 

Maho beach was a lot of hype to live up to. The beach and bar area were totally packed when we arrived. During our 45 minute stop there was only one large plane taking off, and a handful of smaller ones were landing while we were there. The waves at the beach looked pretty treacherous that day. The planes coming so close overhead was a pretty cool thing to see though.

All in all it was a great day. It gave you a good sense of the various aspects of St. Maarten while checking out both the French & Dutch sides. I’d recommend this tour to others who are seeking a similar experience. The photos of the various stops give you a good idea of what you’re in store for on this tour.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[HeatherC430]

 

I was showing someone how the flip up screen on my camera worked to take photos of yourself, and it actually turned out pretty funny.

 

 

The Caribs were flowing throughout the tour...

 

 

 

 

[HeatherC430]

I forgot...we also stopped briefly at an overlook, and at the bottom near the beach there was a local with many various forms of sealife he would tell you about while giving you the opportunity to hold them. Donations were accepted.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[HeatherC430]

 

 

 

 

 

[HeatherC430]

Next stop, Iguana Farm...

 

 

 

 

 

 

[HeatherC430]

 

 

 

 

 

[HeatherC430]

 

 

 

[HeatherC430]

Next up Orient Beach...

 

 

 

 

 

 

[HeatherC430]

 

 

 

 

 

[HeatherC430]

This is a good representation of the volume of people on the beach.

 

 

 

 

 

[HeatherC430]

Next up, the French town of Marigot...

 

 

 

The outdoor vendors...

 

 

[HeatherC430]

Sarafina's - The French Pastry Shop/Bakery you simply must go to for lunch!

 

 

 

I was too busy trying to decide what I wanted, I didn't take any pictures of the various pastries and such in the display cases. Below was what we got for lunch.

 

 

We made a friend, who also liked the Salmon...