Dutch St. Maarten
By noon time, Marc and I headed to the Dutch side of the island with our tour group. It was nice being on the French side but we certainly wanted to see the other half of the island which was governed by the Dutch. It was interesting to see the tiny mark separating the two sides of the island.
This was a monument shared by the two governments on the island.
A view of Cole Bay, Simpson Bay, and Little Bay at Dutch St. Maarten
Many expats lived here and construction of houses was booming at the time of our visit. These were some of the villas, townhomes, and mansions built on the hills of Philipsburg.
Here I am in downtown Philipsburg in front of the Court House.
St. Maarten was not going to be complete without the duty free stores that populate the Caribbean islands catering to the American cruisers who come to this part of the world year round.
This was taken at the entrance of the Old Street Shopping Mall on Back Street in downtown Philipsburg.
It was past mid day when we toured Philipsburg and both Marc and I were hungry. Not wanting to board the tender to return to the ship only to return to the island for more sightseeing, we decided to just eat at a McDonald's nearby. Although we were in a foreign country, US dollars were widely accepted everywhere.
This was the Royal Caribbean ship docked in Philipsburg for the day just like the MV Tropicale.
After a full day of sightseeing, I was truly hungry by the time we returned to the ship. Every afternoon, around 5 pm or so, trays upon trays of cakes were placed in various parts of the ship for hungry passengers to partake. Well partake I did as I helped myself to five or six slices of these sweet and tasty treats each and every night we were on board for the entire duration of the cruise. Hey! I was hungry. Okay?
That's me getting some pastries.
It was so nice of the restaurant's head and waiters greet me during my birthday. They all sang "Happy Birthday" and brought a cake topped with a candle for me to blow. It was indeed such a sweet event celebrating it with some of the best tablemates Marc and I ever had in all our cruise travels.
Cutting my birthday cake
Oops, did I just get crowned Mr. Carnival?
This was our first cruise together and it was unforgettable. We had a truly grand time. That was 1997. We have been on two more cruises since then the last being in 2010. Although we like to join cruises, we don't travel on each and every ship that sails. We prefer cruises with very few days at sea. For us, nothing can be better than docking in a new island country each day we are on board. We have now traveled to 19 island countries throughout the Caribbean. How we wish we could join one often. Cruises have gotten expensive though. We just lucked out on the last one. We were able to travel with Princess the last time when the economy got hit so terribly last beginning 2007. Prices were slashed to half.