The Chit Chat Chit Chat Thread

Cesar R M

Well-Known Member
Part 2
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The tour continued visiting the smaller parts of Marigot. Including some rivers with removable bridges.

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Also the most famous hotels of the zone.

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There areas that were definitively Gettho, very poor. It was weird to see most citizens (both white and natives) waving to all the bus tours. I suppose because they know they depend a lot by tourists.
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Once we got out of marigot, we were on our way to another famous part of the Island. The Princess Julianna Airport.
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Aviation fanatics definitively are delighted.. maniacs and adrenaline junkies too. Nothing like stand right next to a 747 quad engine exhaust powered wind to get them crazy.

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Unfortunately, my dearest mother cant even take photos even with her point and shot (despite gifting her of the camera almost 7 years ago and she still rarely uses it or even read the manual :banghead:).
So she failed to take a photo of me with the 747 flying so close. oh dear..
Id say the separation was less than 10 meters. to the wingtip (not a fan of being in the exhaust line lol, im not a madman)

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The beach itself is also gorgeous, but very crowded. Lots of restaurants there as well. Same as bars and discos and some Casinos as well...

We managed to see 2 planes landing. We only had 40 minutes again.. so we noticed that everyone from our group was leaving, so we followed them.
It was good because everyone was boarding already.
It was time to check the Dutch Quarter area... which is the most crowded area of the island, including some awesome lakes and swamps on both sides.

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It was interesting to see that only the dutch area side of the quarter, had american fastfood areas. Including McDonalds, burger King, Pizza huts, etc.. Didnt see that on the rest of the island or in the french side.
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Also noticed the second power plant of Sint Maarten. I remember hearing (not very well) that all the power comes from 2 gas power plants. both close to Phillipsburg.

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Heres our bus tour on the panoramic "bar" (which was closed) and sightseeing area.


Once done, we boarded and were returning to our ship general area towards Phillipsburg.

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Note the voting flags on the bottom, the oasis of the seas on the left and the gorgeous private areas on the right.


Have some panoramas!
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I apologize again for the black spots in the pictures. My sensor had attracted a lot of dust in Miami beach.

We asked our driver if we could stop there for shopping and said no problem. But that he would not be doing another loop.
We agreed as we could just take a taxi.
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The entrance to Phillipsburg is completely filled with restaurants and stores of all kinds, mostly jewerly and watches.

The whole area is very pleasant. Still was kinda weird being watched all the time as you strolled by (all the town folk seem to check you like you were alien.. cue aliens guy .jpg )

The whole front area was pretty empty.
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There were more people in the luxury stores near the center of the town and behind the building row on the right.

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We stopped at one of the recommended stores, because my mother wanted to buy some jewerly.
My mother unfortunately had suffered many thieving from "trusted" cleaning ladies in the past.
She pretty much lost a fortune of jewerly my dad had gifted her. And then unfortunately my father passed away.
So it was her time to "treat" herself. And get real jewerly (and stop using her fake ones during her reunions with friends).

These people were very nice, but also pushy with sales tactics.
They are going to "drop" the price (keep pushing as most of the times they are still selling above the discount prices you can get online).
The store owner also said that we shouldnt worry, that since my mother purchased with them and was nice.. they were going to drive us to the cruise. (No surprise since this was one of the most recommended stores by the store expert in the Oasis)

My mother finally finished purchasing and we decided to check other stores deeper.
We didn't wade very far. my mother just wanted to check REAL pearls and to see if they could fix her Watch.

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We wandered for a bit, my mother made more purchases... and then.. we were VERY hungry.
We havent had anything to eat since the breakfast and it was almost 4:00 pm by then.

So we decided to return to the store area where a restaurant was nearby. Its pricey but good.
Id say the popcorn style Caribbean shrimp "bang bang" or something like that. It was the best combination of sweet, sour and spices I've ever had with shrimp. The burger was ok. Mother was disappointed by her curry but loved the shrimp as well.
The restaurant is called ":the greenhouse" its impossible to miss if you come from the cruise as its right by the entrance to the beachfront road.

After eating, we went to return to the store and we made our "invitation" valid.
The son of the owner was to drive us, but lol.. the owner left with that car.. so the son paid a taxi which wasn't that expensive (5 USD)

We thanked him and towards the cruise we went!

We took some photos and my mother did review some last stores before going for the ship.
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Tip.. the view from top of the cruise makes it looks like you're very close to the cruise.. hint.. Its not.
Its a looong walk specially if you're tired of walking all day lol.

Continuing in Part 3
 

Cesar R M

Well-Known Member
Part 3
We had no problem getting on line for security and then reviewed to finally enter the cruise ship.

Once inside we took a shower and my mother decided to take a nap while I went back up to the flow simulators (rear of the ship) to check on the departure.
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I suppose someone or some staff forgot the ship left at what hour, because the ship ended departing 45 minutes later (lots of tourists running like their pants were on fire to get to the ship on time.. :rolleyes: )

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Now, a funny conversation happened while the cruise was starting the engines and preparing the departure.

There was this guy with his tiny camera trying to take photos of the birds above us.
He couldn't get decent photos then asked me. "What kind of bird you recon they are?"
And I answered all serious and solemn.. "some big, ugly common pelicans sir!". We laughed our off at that. Because he was really expecting something exotic. (I did too, but the photos of the more "exotic" birds didn't look very good, and they were flying WAY farther than these guys did.)

Took his glass and gave a "cheers" and went to set up a small mini tripod to record the departure.



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Then decided to check the Royal Promenade where there was romantic live music and some couples dancing in the center.
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Did we tell you guys that our Cabin clerk was awesome and made us laugh more than once?

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Anyway, we went to get dinner on our time.

Again waited 5 minutes, got assigned a seating then to dinner we went.
It was very uneventful.

I had the ceviche (which wasted absolutely atrocious, my mother loved it lol)
So I decided to reorder starter and just ordered a shrimp cocktail.
The caribbean pork loin was very good, but had one part very dry and hard.

Once out, we went to brush our teeth and went towards the rear of the ship for OASIS OF DREAMS.
Which is pretty much a Circle du Soleil style show with acrobats and divers.

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And thats it!

Will update this with video of Oasis of Dreams later on.
 

MinnieM123

Premium Member
Thank you.

We will be having turkey, stuffing, veg, gravy, 10 lbs of mashed potatoes ... pretty much the same thing y'all will eat next month. Minus the marshmallow/sweet potato casserole thingy. We don't do that.

I don't like sweet potatoes, so I never made that dish either. There is one dish that I tend to make during the holidays though, and that's the green bean casserole, with the crunchy onions on top. :hungry:
 

MinnieM123

Premium Member
Are you going to make your special mashed potatoes, the ones with the cream cheese and in the crock pot? I made those after your raves and they are so yum! :hungry: I might have to make some this weekend now.

Would you mind sharing the recipe (no rush at all). At some point down the road, I'd like to make that for a side dish (I'm trying to limit carbs, but once in a while, I'll indulge. Also, I'm sure I can cut way down the portion size of the recipe. I often do that.) I'll bet it's easy to prepare, too, in a crock pot. :happy:
 

MinnieM123

Premium Member
Speaking of Thanksgiving, that'll be the first holiday without stepgrandpa. :( Every Thanksgiving he alwayd made sure I got the drumstick. He knew it was my favorite. Although every year he'd ask if I had changed my mind about the mashed potatoes. Er...nope.

Gonna be a hard Thanksgiving this year.

Sympathy like. (I think you should still definitely have the drumstick, as you know he can see you from heaven; and he'd be happy that you were enjoying it on Thanksgiving.)
 

MinnieM123

Premium Member
@Cesar R M , I love your trip pictures. :happy: You and your mom had quite an interesting time with lots of new places to see, yummy food to enjoy, etc.

I always love bus tours, too--you learn a lot about an area from a guided bus tour.

By the way, I love the colors of the ocean. Reminds me of past trips I've had to Bermuda, as well as Aruba and Bonaire, over in the Dutch Netherlands Antilles.

I laughed out loud over the funny towel animal the crew member left on the bed! :joyfull:
 

Figgy1

Well-Known Member
Sauerkraut with Thanksgiving dinner? :hungover: Actually, that is my reaction to sauerkraut all the time. I make Uncle Ben's Original wild rice dish in place of green been casserole (unless my sister's family is coming over) then we have both.
You may want to avoid my house for a bit I put up several jars of sauerkraut yesterday. I think the boys are still mad at me for making them do all the squishing. Seeing they eat almost all of it, it's only fair they help make it:D
 

Figgy1

Well-Known Member
My sister and her daughter will be down there too so the day before Thanksgiving we are meeting them at Liberty Tree for lunch, we are planning to get the Pilgrims feast.

Then for Thanksgiving day my dad might come down for lunch. We have reservations at Whispering Canyon ( we did thanksgiving there before ) and Olivia's. We haven't decided which to go to yet. My dad has no interest in the theme parks anymore but doesn't mind eating at a resort. Any thoughts on either of our choices?
WCC! Americana theme, all you care to eat not to mention the food is good and the place is amazingly fun.
 

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