ST. MAARTEN
Tuesday, 25th October, 2022

So today is a special day – it’s Phil’s BIRTHDAY!

Today we docked at St. Maarten, which is both Dutch and French territories. We have been here before about 15 years ago when we cruised on the Queen Mary 2, but we couldn’t remember much about it. I am half Dutch, so it was of interest to me to see the Dutch side of the island.

We had booked a trip on an open top double decker bus, which will take us around the island stopping off at a fishing village, the beach where the airplanes land almost on top of your heads, a rum factory and a Dutch shop.

As we drove along the sometimes ropey roads, we noticed how friendly everyone was, stopping and waving to us, you did have to keep your wits about you however, as some of the branches of the trees on the kerbside would whip past your head.

Our first stop was a little fishing village, which coincidentally had a market that day, but as we had been remiss and not brought a cold drink with us, we searched for a cafe and bought a mango crush, which was very refreshing.

We did wander around the market, but got a bit fed up with the sellers badgering us to buy something, so we went and sat down and admired the view, it really was beautiful.

Our next stop was Maho Beach, where we were hoping to see a jumbo jet land, unfortunately we weren’t lucky, we did see a small aircraft but it wasn’t anything great. So, I have put a YouTube video below where you can see the big planes landing…

This sign is a BIG disclaimer…

Back on board and it was time to visit the rum factory. I’m not a great lover of rum, but once inside the factory, there were several different flavours to try, of course we had to try all of them, some of them were very alcoholic, but they were very flavourful.

Then it was time to get back on board the ship, when we had a quick lunch, not too much as we were going to Alice in Wonderland in the evening, and a Johnny Rocket’s milkshake and went back to the cabin.

It was Caribbean Night on board the boat, so we put on our most colourful tops and headed to Alice in Wonderland to celebrate Phil’s birthday with our friends.

This was one of the best meals we have eaten in a specialty restaurant on board any ship and we’ve eaten in most of them! I even ate a big shrimp, something I have never even been willing to try before. It was simply stunning, the waiter was very attentive, the atmosphere was very relaxed and we even had a visit from the Mad Hatter!

And Phil’s birthday celebrations didn’t stop there! We then headed to the stern of the ship to watch Hiro, the show in the aqua theatre. It was outstanding, my favourite being the two men on the high wire and their incredible routine on the low wire.

After an evening night cap, I think Phil had to agree that it had been a pretty special birthday.

Take a look at the video:

To see a video of what we got up to with lots more photographs and videos, take a look at the YouTube video:

And Lastly:

DAY AT SEA
Monday, 24th October, 2022

Phil woke up feeling 100 percent better, we had arranged to have breakfast in the MDR with Denise and Ian at 9:00 AM, but he couldn’t wait that long as he was VERY hungry and besides he had a lot of catching up to do as he barely ate anything yesterday.

He hot-footed it to the Windjammer and came back with drinks and a couple of Danish pastries to tide him over until breakfast.

We met our friends outside the restaurant and had a waiter-served breakfast, it was a nice, civilized start to the day. I was naughty and had French toast with jam and syrup and fresh cream, while Phil had his favourite breakfast: Eggs Benedict.

We went back to the cabin and couldn’t believe how loud the music from the Carousel was, even with the patio door shut, the noise was still VERY loud. I said that he was probably relieved it wasn’t that noisy yesterday when he was ill!

We had a couple of hours to pass by as we were going to meet our friends at 12:00 noon for the napkin folding in On Air, followed by a 90s music quiz. So we decided to take a walk around The Boardwalk, we had already spied Johnny Rockets and wanted to try their milkshakes which were available on the refreshment package and there was also a sweet shop which definitely needed investigating!

In the top photo I have circled in blue our balcony, as you can see, it was right next to the carousel.

We were on Deck 8, which is the same deck as Central Park, but The Broadwalk is two decks down on Deck 6, which took me a while to get my head around as I thought they were both on the same deck!

As we entered the Broadwalk, we immediately saw why the music was so loud today – there was a Dixie band playing right underneath our balcony!

We had a look in the amusements and of course the sweet shop and then had a walk through Central Park. Phil took a video of this walk, something that a lot of people were doing during this cruise.

It was time to go to the napkin folding demonstration – as Phil’s job, pre-Covid, involved at least 40 weddings a year, he was a dab hand at some napkin folding techniques, but forever wishing to expand his breadth of knowledge of this particular skill, we decided to give it a go.

When the instructor arrived, let’s just say he wasn’t exactly who we thought would be teaching us, I was sure I had seen him teaching line dancing earlier, we were really expecting a waiter to show us.

Somehow, he managed to show us the first napkin folding technique, but the second one completely floored him. An American lady managed to do it and he asked her to come down to the front and show all of us how it was done! It was very funny watching him try to do it, he was laughing as much as any of us. I think he was quite thankful when it came to the end of the session and he could go back to his day job.

We stayed in On Air as there was a 90’s music quiz next, we weren’t sure if it would have mainly American hits, but we do like a quiz, so we stayed where we were.

We didn’t do too badly scoring 24 out of 30 and yes, there were some English songs, so we were quite pleased with ourselves.

There was an afternoon showing of Hairspray in the theatre, so I took Phil to see it as obviously he had missed it the day before and he enjoyed it very much.

The ice skating was extraordinary, especially on a smaller ice rink, it was a bit chilly though, so remember to take a jumper or cardigan to wrap up in.

From there, we went to On Air to watch Perfect Partners, a sort of Mr and Mrs show, not with questions, but with games they had to play. But the star of this show wasn’t the couples, it was the host, Carolina, she was very funny and quick witted, even when she had to deal with an overzealous lady in the audience who ran up to the front and seemed to think it was funny to lift up a dress of one of the contestants, not once, but twice?

Now it was gone midnight and after a slice of pizza, (it’s got to be done) and a cup of tea, it was time for bed. Tomorrow is a special day, it’s Phil’s birthday!

Take a look at the video:

To see a video of what we got up to with lots more photographs and videos, take a look at the YouTube video:

And Lastly:

DAY AT SEA
Sunday, 23rd October, 2022

After a restless night with Phil visiting the bathroom on the hour, every hour, it was evident that he wouldn’t be doing anything that day. I stayed with him until about 10.30 AM and decided to visit the Windjammer for breakfast, hoping that it would be less busy at this time – no, I was wrong, it was very busy. I filled my breakfast plate with some corn beef hash, scrambled eggs and baked beans and managed to find a spare table.

I don’t really eat by myself and I felt very self conscious as I sat there, but I soon realised that nobody paid any attention to a Billy-No-Mates sat by herself. The waiters were very attentive and served me my drinks of a green tea (the only tea I drink) and an apple juice.

I took a glass of water back to the cabin, but Phil was fast asleep, so I left it on the side and wondered what I should do? I had tried phoning our friend’s cabin but there was no answer, so I decided to go on a tour of the ship.

After walking around the track, (there is a great view out of the back of the ship here!) I went back to the cabin to inform Phil that I had found the running track. He is a keen runner and regularly runs 15K a week.

When I arrived at the cabin, Phil was sat up in bed, so we decided to go to the Windjammer for some lunch, but when we got there, he wasn’t feeling up to it, so after I had some fruit and he had a glass of water, we went back to the cabin. He fell asleep on the bed and I sat on the balcony people watching: they were walking along The Broadwalk, going on the carousel and I even caught the waiters dancing outside of Johnny Rockets.

I then had a snooze in the cabin (I was still a bit jet-lagged) and when we both woke up, I started to get ready for the evening. We were due to see Hairspray tonight, which we had booked through the App, but Phil definitely wasn’t up to that, so he told me to watch it with our friends and then to have dinner with them.

Hairspray was a wonderful production, I had never seen it and it had never really been on my list of musicals to watch, but I enjoyed every song, every dance, especially Mama, I’m A Big Girl Now and I felt gutted that Phil wasn’t able to see it.

We went for dinner afterwards and as we hadn’t booked, joined the ‘Without Reservations’ queue and were seated fairly quickly.

I ordered the steak tenderloin and it was one of the best I have ever eaten and it was followed by a Grand Marnier souffle, which was divine.

After the meal, I went back to the cabin, Phil was asleep, so I joined him, hoping that he would feel better in the morning.

Take a look at the video:

To see a video of what we got up to with lots more photographs and videos, take a look at the YouTube video:

And Lastly:

Saturday, 22nd October, 2022

We were a bit worried about how long it would take to board the ship, there seemed to be hundreds of people milling around, but we were pleasantly surprised by the quickness and efficiency of the Royal Caribbean staff and in no time at all, we were boarding the ship!

As luck would have it, we spotted Denise, our friend, straight away and she led us to her husband, Ian, who was busily booking our specialty restaurants, as we had pre-paid for the specialty restaurant package which entitled us to eat at three restaurants during the week. The main one we wanted to make sure we could do was Alice in Wonderland on Tuesday, as that was Phil’s, my husband’s, birthday. We were in luck, we could book it, but the other two restaurants were already quite full up, so we had to settle for five o’clock sittings, which was a bit frustrating.

As we hadn’t eaten at all that day, the first stop was the Windjammer – we have cruised with RC on a few occasions and were familiar with the setup and we have never been disappointed with the food or the service before.

Phil then spotted the zipwire, as we are all involved in scouting, you can imagine that this was something they wanted to do (not me, I have a bad back, or a china back as my husband would say!) We went to enquire and found out that you needed to be wearing a covered t-shirt and closed-in trainers or shoes, which Denise and Ian didn’t have, but Phil did, so he had a go.

After this excitement, it was time for a Pina Colada cocktail. We didn’t buy the alcohol package, we bought the refreshment package as we’re not big drinkers, but you need a cocktail to start off a holiday!

It was a nice change to have a different view than the sea, but I do love watching the ocean and waves at the end of a busy day.

At about 4:45PM the Symphony of the Seas left Miami, it was very hot up on the top deck but the views were incredible. We are used to sailing out of Southampton, so this was a treat for us to see the amazing hotels and buildings and especially the beach.

We arranged to unpack and then get ready for dinner, we had already booked this on the App before we had boarded as we were Any Time dining and Denise and Ian came to have a look at our cabin. We made our way to the Main Dining Room (MDR) and sat down for our first of many meals on board.

I have to say it was a little bit manic, our waiters seemed to have quite a few tables and a very demanding table sat behind us. He forgot one of our drinks and brought me the wrong starter. This was rectified and he was very apologetic, but when my dinner arrived which was roasted chicken with vegetables, the gravy was very spicy, which obviously it’s not supposed to be. I think the wrong sauce was put on this dish, because I’ve never heard of a spicy gravy!

Again, he was very apologetic, offering me a new meal, but I had eaten what was not covered in the sauce and couldn’t have possibly eaten another plate full of food.

We then decided to call it a night as Phil wasn’t feeling too good, so we said our goodnights and headed back to the cabin. Phil was up all night with a bad stomach, so not much sleep was had by either of us. Hopefully in the morning, he will feel better.

Take a look at the video:

To see a video of what we got up to with lots more photographs and videos, take a look at the YouTube video:

And lastly….

22nd October – 29th October, 2022

Thursday 20th October, 2022

Travelling to Miami

We decided to drive to the airport and leave our car with a Meet and Greet service by Blue Circle from Holiday Extras which included a stay at a hotel the night before.

We arrived at the Mercure hotel and booked into our room and discovered that we had been upgraded to a Privilege room, excitedly we looked to see what our perks would be: a carton of orange juice and can of Fanta in the mini-bar and dressing gown and slippers in the wardrobe! I did make use of the orange juice in the morning though…

We were travelling with our friends who we were spending the first week on board the Symphony of the Seas with and then they were spending a further week on board the Explorer of the Seas, whilst we were travelling back home.

We had spent £32 on a pre-paid dinner package, which included starter, main course, pudding and a drink, so we went down to the restaurant to see what was on offer. The meal was okay, but both Phil, my husband and Ian, ordered the Chicken Tikka Masala which by all accounts was very, very hot!

After a couple of drinks, we all headed back to our rooms as we had quite an early start. Having booked our flights through Royal Caribbean at different times, we had different flights, so wouldn’t be seeing each other again until we were on board the ship.

Friday, 21st October, 2022

The next morning, we drove to Heathrow Airport and left our car with the Blue Circle Meet and Greet, which when we found them, was quite painless.

We arrived at Miami at 5.30 PM local time which was 10:30 PM, England time and we searched for the shuttle bush to the hotel we would be staying in, which was The Hilton, Blue Lagoon Hotel. Eventually the transport turned up and we boarded the vehicle to take us to our hotel and which only took about 20 minutes. This was free of charge by the hotel.

After being told we were too late to book on the 10:15 AM shuttle to the port, we decided to get a taxi in the morning and headed to the pool bar for our evening meal, by this time it was about 1:00 AM England time and we were shattered. As soon as the meal was finished we headed back to our room and we were asleep before our heads hit the pillow!

Saturday, 22nd October, 2022

The next morning we went down to the lobby to check out and went to the concierge to book a taxi, to be told that we could go on the shuttle for $13 each! So, we didn’t need telling twice, we paid the driver (who seemed a little stressed with a couple of the women who didn’t have their luggage labels) and then we left for the port!

After what seemed like ages, we arrived at the port and after dropping people off at different cruise ships, it was our turn, we turned the corner and there she was: Symphony of the Sea in all her glory, we were nearly boarding after two days of travelling!

Take a look at the video:

To see a video of what we got up to with lots more photographs and videos, take a look at the YouTube video: