St. Maarten - Two Perfect Days!

Well, here we arrive in St. Maarten! Pictured is our little group after 5 days of fun, sun, surf, pampering and ANYTHING else we wanted! Normally as you get off the ship you are sad, knowing there is an all day plane ride ahead, saying goodbye and all that - BUT not this time! We decided to spend two nights in St. Maarten this trip - and what a great choice!

Not only did we disembark the ship in a good mood and ready for some more fun, but we got to see alot more of St. Maarten that would normally be allowed in a "port stop".

We stayed at the Wyndham Sapphire Bay Resort, right on the border of the French and Dutch sides of the island, very close to Marigot. We arrived at the hotel by noon, unpacked and enjoyed a leisurely lunch by the pool. We then struck out to see some of the Island, shop and of course look for some Guavaberry Rum!

Beverly Hills of the Caribbean!

After last night we were looking forward to a relaxing day in beautiful St. Bartholomew, better know as St. Barts. We had a wonderful time strolling the streets. The girls loved the french clothing shops. I really enjoyed watching the mega yachts come and go. This islands yachting community puts any other I've seen to shame.

The island is decorated with quaint homes with red-orange roofs. Palm trees grow think on the hills. This is a definite must visit while in the Caribbean.
Priscilla and I had lunch at a waterside cafe while Adele went to famous sea shell beach. Steve hasn't made it out of his cabin yet. :)

Later we returned to the Sea Dream were Adele and I took jet skies and zipped around the ship. Priscilla and Steve watched us from The Top of the Ship lounge.

Sea Dream Surprises! Jost van Dyke...

Wow, how do I tell you about today. Do I start with the private beach and five meat, five fish and everything you could ever want to go with it, BBQ the Sea Dream's head chef prepared on the beach? The very special caviar and champagne presentation served by white uniformed/white gloved senior ship staff, at high noon, in the water, with the ship blasting it's horn in the back ground! The amazing Thai massages the girls got on the beach or the Soggy Dollar bar, where you swim, buy, drink, swim? That how your dollars get soggy.

Jost van Dyke is a major hot spot for New Years Eve. Thousands of boats tie together around the island to celebrate the coming of the new year. I have always wanted to attend this celebration. I have to say the way I was introduced to the island by The crew of the Sea Dream may top any New Years Eve experience the island has to offer.

By the way Priscilla and Adele went snorkeling as well. They said the fish were beautiful.

Later on that evening. After naps. We tendered back to hang out at a local palapa roofed bar and dance club, we'll I wouldn't really call it a club. But we did dance!

Luxury @ Sea - Visting St. John, USVI

This morning we took a small motor boat called a tender from the Sea Dream to St. John. We walked up and down many of the city streets finding a thriving community. In a street market I had a wonderful conversation with one of the merchants. She had moved to St. John from New York City about three years ago. She loved her escape.

After exploring the town we grabbed a local bus that took us to a World Famous Trunk Bay. There is a fee to go onto this beach but let me tell you it is worth it! There is a huge reef that is beautiful and I'm sure would have been awesome snorkeling. Unfortunately we had moved into an area with sporadic showers and the the San Diego girls wouldn't go into the water. So we laid out for a bit on the beach (when it wasn't raining), had lunch at the little beach shack and headed back to our sanctuary, The Sea Dream. When the beach bus dropped us off back by the tender there was a Sea Dream staff member waiting at a shaded table with light snacks and cold water for us. We waited about 5 minutes, then our tender took us back. We enjoyed the rest of the evening upstairs at the top of the ship lounge. Where we would end up spending most of our evenings.

St. Thomas - Cocktails & Friends!

We flew from San Juan to St. Thomas this morning. The plane we were in flew low enough that we were able to see all the the islands and beautiful water beneath us for our 30 minute flight. We gathered our luggage and headed for the Sea Dream II.
As our driver approached the private dock we were stopped by a security guard who asked for our boarding passes and passports. Only Sea Dream passengers are allowed on this dock far away from the other cruise ship terminals. The crew greeted us tagged our luggage with our room numbers and we hopped back in the cab and headed for town. In town we ate, drank and were merry. The girls went shopping at the local outside market. After a full day of adventuring we headed back to The Sea Dream. Again we were greeted by the crew.

When we boarded we were handed a glass of champagne and welcomed by Captain Eric, the cruise director and the spa staff. After going to our cabins and changing into comfortable dinner attire we came back up on deck to relax at a table by the pool. While there the spa staff gave us shoulder massages that left you feeling like mush. So starts our Sea Dream Caribbean adventure. p.s. The food is incredible.

Valentines in the Caribbean!

Today is Valentines day and my girlfriend Priscilla, Adele and her husband Steve are all taking off to the Caribbean. We will land in San Juan. Spend one night, then fly to St Thomas then board the Sea Dream II. We will be on board for four days. Disembarking in St. Martin, for two awesome days then head home on the 21st. We are all so excited!

It felt wonderful to get off the plane and step out in the hot Caribbean weather. We headed for town. We only had the one night in San Juan so we wanted to find a nice restaurant to eat dinner at. We asked the locals and they turned us on to the Yeurba Buena!. The food was delicious. The best part was our table was a large wood swing. We had Valentines dinner rocking back and forth out side under the San Juan sky.