 | Disney Cruise Line Trip Report Part Four! |
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| DisneyDan
Sunday, April 1, 2012 3:13:37 AM |
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Hi all,
Welcome to the fourth part of my Disney Cruise Trip Report.
Day 5 was our first port of call, the Dutch owned St Maarten.
The ship docked early in the morning just before breakfast and we were allowed to debark any time after about 8am (if I remember correctly).
So, after breakfast we made our way down to the tender lobby on deck one.
To debark the ship you need your Key to the World card, and they also recommend ID, but all 3 days we were in ports we were never asked for additional ID.
When you leave the ship at St Maarten you find yourself at an area just outside the main town, where there are a few shops and bars.
You can either walk down to the main town from here or take a short, pleasant boat ride directly to the beach in the main town of Philipsburg.
The ferry ride offers a cheap return and is an efficient way of getting across.
Your personal navigator will tell you what time the ship closes it's doors, and the last ferry will always be well before this, from what we understood. So, so long as you can get a boat back to the dock, you should be fine.
I have to say that we really liked St Maarten. It was very lush, pretty and friendly.
As for shopping, well to be honest, unless you are really wealthy and are interested in jewellery, there isn't too much to buy.
But, St Maarten is an enjoyable, clean and friendly place to be. The beach is lovely too, but very popular.
McDonald's on the main street has free wifi, and offers the usual western fare.
We had a beautiful day in St Maarten; the sun was shining (after an early morning downpour), and we felt like we had had a nice break from the confines of the ship where we had been for 3 days.
There isn't too much more I can say about it, just that we really enjoyed spending the day on St Maarten, and as I said, it made for a welcome break off the ship.
Once back on board, at about 4pm, then the real fun began!
Arriving in St Maarten meant we had arrived in the Caribbean, and in true Disney style there was a big party!
Pirates IN the Caribbean Night was our favourite night aboard ship by far.
Starting at around embarkation time, and throughout the evening, Mickey and Friends could be found in various places in or near the Atrium Lobby dressed in their swashbuckling finest!
Special appearances this evening were:
- Mickey, Minnie, Chip, Dale and Stitch all in pirate clothes (you can imagine my excitement about Pirate Stitch!)
- Jack Sparrow
- Captain Hook and Mr Smee
- and Peter Pan.
There was special pirate merchandise on sale in the stores and lobby, and a drinks cart in the lobby with Peter Pan/Captain Hook cups and other pirate themed glasses.
Dinner was a special pirates menu, and everyone was given a pirate bandana to wear!
Dinner for us was at Lumiere's, so it was a little odd - the people who got Parrot Cay would have had the best setting for this themed night.
The main event of the evening was the Pirates IN the Caribbean Deck Party up at the Goofy Pool Stage on deck 9.
Warming up with interactive LEGO Pirates games on the Funnel Vision, the deck party then proceeded into a mixture of dance party and pirate takeover of the ship!
Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Chip, Dale, Stitch, Hook and Smee were all there, dressed in their pirate best.
Mickey had a particularly impressive entrance, which I won't spoil for now! I did think it was odd that Goofy was in the show, but not out for meets in his pirate costume, though.
The party led right into fireworks, yes, right there at sea!
The whole thing was nothing short of amazing!
After the deck party had finished, a special pirate themed buffet appeared on deck 9 next to the pool.
Funnel Vision proceeded to then play the first Pirates movie.
And that was pretty much that day!
We really loved the whole day.
Stopping in St Maarten made a nice change, and the Pirate Night was wonderful.
The next day was another port of call, St Thomas in the US Virgin Islands.
The ship cannot always dock directly at St Thomas and so instead uses something called tenders. This was the case when we sailed.
Tendering involves having to wait in the Walt Disney Theater for your debark time, then going as a group down to the tender lobby, boarding another boat and chugging across to Charlotte Amalie (the main town).
It was definitely a bit of a pain to say the least.
Charlotte Amalie itself is not a patch in Philipsburg in St Maarten either. There is no beach, the town is more run down and crowded, and overall just doesn't have a pleasant a feel as St Maarten did.
There isn't much to buy there, except jewellery once again, and the only place with free wifi is a pricey bar near the main road/waterfront.
Nobody we spoke to spent anywhere near the time they had spent in St Maarten the day before, and neither did we.
To get back to the ship you wait at the DCL tent at the waterfront and board a ferry once again.
That's pretty much all I can say about St Thomas!
If we were to go again on a sailing that includes St Thomas (which seems unlikely), we would either have a lazy day aboard the ship, or do one if the tours (if they were offering one we liked).
Once back on ship that afternoon, the character fun began!
They had a bunch of character sets today that were only for that day.
Some were repeats, but a lot were one-time opportunities on the whole sailing.
The entire list was:
- Timon
- Goofy and Max
- Pinocchio and Jiminy Cricket
- Snow White and Dopey
- Belle
- Princess Aurora
- Princess Tiana
- Cinderella
- The White Rabbit
- The Queen of Hearts
- and Sorcerer Mickey
Also this evening there was a special Officers Pin Trading event at Preludes on Deck 4.
The senior officers were there for about half an hour, including the Captain, and you could trade pins, talk with them and get your photo.
It was neat to meet Captain John, but also to see the officers pins.
They obviously spend most of their time on the bridge or doing other important duties, so they actually have some more interesting, rarer pins, as they don't trade often.
This evening was finally our turn to dine at Animator's Palate for the dinner show (you may recall our first time was for Formal Night, where they don't do the show).
Basically the restaurant magically transforms before your eyes, and there is a very special guest near the end to conduct the finale...
The next day would be our last sea day, followed by Castaway Cay and the grand finale!
Stay tuned over the next few days for the final part of my Cruise Trip Report!
Dan. |