{"id":7514,"date":"2019-03-13T07:05:08","date_gmt":"2019-03-13T11:05:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/backtothemouse.com\/index.php\/?p=7514"},"modified":"2019-03-19T16:17:39","modified_gmt":"2019-03-19T20:17:39","slug":"august-11-2018-7-night-eastern-caribbean-cruise-day-4-st-maarten","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/backtothemouse.com\/index.php\/august-11-2018-7-night-eastern-caribbean-cruise-day-4-st-maarten\/","title":{"rendered":"August 11, 2018 7 Night Eastern Caribbean Cruise, Day 4: St Maarten"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"St.<\/a>
St. Maarten Day<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Today was our first port stop of the trip at the beautiful island of St. Maarten (or Saint Martin).  The last time we were on St. Maarten, we took a bus tour of the Dutch and French side.  This time, we decided on something much simpler.  We were planning on a self planned beach day.  We started the day off with a quick breakfast at Cabanas.<\/p>\n

\"View<\/a>
View of Philipsburg St. Maarten<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

One of our favorite podcasts, the DCLDude<\/a>, had discussed a recent seven night eastern Caribbean cruise his family had taken.  When his family stopped in St. Maarten, they had visited the Holland House<\/a>, which is a beachfront hotel in St. Maarten.  We decided to look into it ourselves.  Here is the information we found on their Facebook page:<\/p>\n

--- INFO ON BEACH CHAIRS & DAY PASSES ---\r\n\r\nDear Friends, We are getting many request for information about day packages for \r\nthe beach from those of you who are visiting us on a cruise. The following \r\ninformation might be helpful and we look forward to welcome you!\r\n\r\nThe package we offer is $25 and includes;\r\n\r\n\r\n- 2 beach chairs and 1 umbrella from the time you arrive\r\n- 4 beverages consisting of beers, water and soda.\r\n- Free WiFi\r\n- Shower on the beach that you can use.\r\n\r\n- We serve lunch on the beach and have a full cocktail menu available for your.\r\n- Bathrooms are inside of the hotel and free to use.\r\n- First come, first serve. We do not take reservations.\r\nIn case you want to make reservations for lunch,\r\n\r\nplease email oceanlounge@hollandhousehotel.com<\/a>\r\n\r\nKind regards! Holland House Team\r\n<\/pre>\n
The Fantasy docks at the double dock on the southern portion of the harbor, so we had to get over to the Holland House.  We decided to take the water taxi.<\/p>\n
\"Disney<\/a>
Disney Fantasy<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
As you enter the port area, there is a mini shopping mall with most of the stores you would expect in a port area (Diamonds International, Majesty Jewelry, etc).  There are also a few places to drink if you would like.<\/p>\n
\"Port<\/a>
Port Entry Area<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Typical<\/a>
Typical Port Store<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
There is a sign as well if you want to get your picture taken next to it.<\/p>\n
\"St.<\/a>
St. Maarten Port Sign<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Looking<\/a>
Looking Back at the Disney Fantasy<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
There is a booth in the shopping area for the water taxi.  If you look in the above photo, it is the light blue booth with the sign pointing to it.  You can buy one way or round trip tickets.  We selected round trip tickets and we received wrist bands.  The wrist bands would allow us to to board the water taxi at either end.  The person in the booth then directed us to the water taxi dock.  The path takes you through the stores and down a pathway next to the water.  You can go onto the dock from there.<\/p>\n
\"Path<\/a>
Path to the Water Taxi<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Here is a map I made with the help of google maps.  The Holland House is also marked on the map.<\/p>\n
\"Map<\/a>
Map to Holland House<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
As you enter the dock, there is another booth to purchase tickets for the water taxi.  If you already have a wrist band, you can go on board the water taxi.  The water taxi is a huge catamaran with lots of seating. <\/p>\n
\"Outside<\/a>
Outside of the Water Taxi<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Inside<\/a>
Inside of Water Taxi<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Once on board, it is a short ten or so minute ride over to the main dock, which is located in the middle of the beach strip.  During the trip, the crew of the boat was selling water, sodas, and beers for $1 each. <\/p>\n
\"Main<\/a>
Main Beach Strip<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
 Here is a look back at the Fantasy.<\/p>\n
\"Disney<\/a>
Disney Fantasy<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
As you approach the water taxi dock, you can see the the Holland House with the white umbrellas.<\/p>\n
\"Holland<\/a>
Holland House<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Here is the water taxi after it dropped us off.<\/p>\n
\"Water<\/a>
Water Taxi at the Dock<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
After you land at the dock, you take an immediate right to head to the Holland House.  There are a number of hotels that pretty much have the same deal as the Holland House.  Two Chairs, Umbrella, and a number of drinks for $20-$25.  Most of them have WiFi available as well. <\/p>\n
\"Holland<\/a>
Holland House<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
We checked in at an outside bar were we got the WiFi password (which never worked at the beach but was fine near the bar).  We decided to wait a bit on our drinks, but didn’t have any problem getting them later delivered in a bucket filled with ice. <\/p>\n
\"Holland<\/a>
Holland House Beach<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\n
 <\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\"View<\/a>
View of the Fantasy from the Holland House<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Right next to our chairs was an area where you could rent jet skis.  In hindsight, we probably should have sat at the other end chair section (away from the Fantasy).  The problem wasn’t the jet skis themselves, it was the guys smoking who were renting out the jet skis. <\/p>\n
\"Jet<\/a>
Jet Ski Rentals<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
The beach was great though.  The sand was nice and the water was clear.  The island views were fantastic and we had great weather.  We could go inside the Holland House (which is a hotel) to use the restrooms.  You can also order food or drinks directly to the beach (the wait staff walks around).<\/p>\n
\"Beach<\/a>
Beach in front of Holland House<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
After sitting at the beach for a few hours, Nancy headed back to the ship because she wasn’t feeling well.  The rest of us decided to stroll around the town for just a bit, then we would head back.  There are a lot of bars and restaurants trying to get tourist business.<\/p>\n
\"Soup<\/a>
Soup of the Day<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
We spent another hour or so walking around and looking in shops, then boarded the water taxi for our return trip to the Fantasy.  Since we hadn’t eaten in the town, the kids and I headed to the pool deck for a quick service lunch.  The ship was pretty crowded at this point, which meant it took quite a while to get some food.  Then I promptly dropped my tray.  So, I spent another ten minutes getting more food and finally met up with the kids (who were smart and got their own food).  We ate and discussed what we should do.  We finally settled on riding the Aqua Duck.<\/p>\n
\"Aqua<\/a>
Aqua Duck<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
We returned to the room to shower off after our beach day and found this waiting for us.  It was our first platinum welcome gift, a box of chocolates.  We received a note in our stateroom when we first checked in offering us a fruit tray, sparkling wine, or chocolate and we selected the chocolate.  It was delivered to Nancy while the rest of us were still at the beach.<\/p>\n
\"Platinum<\/a>
Platinum Welcome Gift<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
There were five chocolates inside the box.  We ate a few and they were delicious!<\/p>\n
\"Castaway<\/a>
Castaway Club Platinum Chocolate Gift<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
We rested until it was time to leave St. Maarten.  We got to see the St. Maarten Coast Guard ship as it escorted the Fantasy out of the harbor.<\/p>\n
\"St.<\/a>
St. Maarten Coast Guard<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
We were also treated to a wonderful sunset!<\/p>\n
\"St.<\/a>
St. Maarten Sunset<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Tonight was the Pirates in the Caribbean party, but we decided to take a pass on it.  I don’t actually remember what we did instead of the party, probably watched movies in the room.  Tonight’s dinner was in Animator’s Palate, but was the Pirates in the Caribbean Menu<\/a>.  The normal screens that show Crush were instead showing various Pirate themed scenes.<\/p>\n
\"Animator's<\/a>
Animator’s Palate Theme for Pirate Night<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Animator's<\/a>
Animator’s Palate Theme for Pirate Night<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Nancy still wasn’t quite feeling up to snuff, so I headed back to the room with her.  Here was our towel animal for the night.         \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n
\"Hanging<\/a>
Hanging Towel Animal<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
As we were getting ready for bed, my youngest daughter came back a bit early from the Edge.  She said she was going to watch “Solo” in the Buena Vista Theater.  It sounded like fun, so I headed off with her to watch the movie.  There was a light crowd there considering that it started around 11:15 pm or so.<\/p>\n
\"Buena<\/a>
Buena Vista Theater<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Once the movie ended, we headed back to the room to get some sleep.  Tomorrow we would be stopping at St. Thomas!<\/p>\n
Boarding<\/a> | Exploring<\/a> | Sea Day 1<\/a> | Sea Day 2<\/a> | St. Maarten<\/a> | St. Thomas<\/a> | Sea Day 3<\/a> | Castaway Cay<\/a> | Disembarkation<\/a><\/p>\n
If you have enjoyed this article, please be sure to check out our Disney Cruise Line information page<\/a>, which has useful hints as well as our cruise trip reports!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Today was our first port stop of the trip at the beautiful island of St. Maarten (or Saint Martin).  The Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"{title}\n\n{excerpt}\n\n{url}","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[11],"tags":[32,23,60,203,20,235,244,242,243],"class_list":["post-7514","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-disney-cruise","tag-animators-palate","tag-castaway-club","tag-disney-fantasy","tag-pirate-night-menu","tag-pirate-party","tag-pirates-in-the-caribbean","tag-platinum-castaway-club","tag-st-maarten","tag-st-martin","no-post-thumbnail","no-read-more-tag","no-sticky","use-excerpt","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":11869,"url":"https:\/\/backtothemouse.com\/index.php\/january-26-2020-7-night-southern-caribbean-cruise-part-5-st-maarten\/","url_meta":{"origin":7514,"position":0},"title":"January 26, 2020 – 7 Night Southern Caribbean Cruise – Part 5: St Maarten","author":"Joseph","date":"September 21, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"We slept in till 9:30 am on St. Maarten day since we didn't have a specific time we needed to leave the ship.\u00a0 We decided on this cruise to get in a number of relaxing beach days and this would be the first one.\u00a0 We decided to return to one\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Disney Cruise"","block_context":{"text":"Disney Cruise","link":"https:\/\/backtothemouse.com\/index.php\/category\/disney-cruise\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"St. Maarten","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/backtothemouse.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/IMG_8591-scaled-e1588534331285-819x1024.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/backtothemouse.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/IMG_8591-scaled-e1588534331285-819x1024.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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be our big cruise for the spring.\u00a0 As the winter went on, we\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Disney Cruise"","block_context":{"text":"Disney Cruise","link":"https:\/\/backtothemouse.com\/index.php\/category\/disney-cruise\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/backtothemouse.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/IMG_0905-1024x768.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/backtothemouse.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/IMG_0905-1024x768.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/backtothemouse.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/IMG_0905-1024x768.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":7517,"url":"https:\/\/backtothemouse.com\/index.php\/august-11-2018-7-night-eastern-caribbean-cruise-day-1-boarding\/","url_meta":{"origin":7514,"position":3},"title":"August 11, 2018 7 Night Eastern Caribbean Cruise, Day 1: Boarding","author":"Joseph","date":"February 23, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"We originally booked our 7 Night Eastern Caribbean Cruise in August 2017.\u00a0 We were looking at scheduling trips around our WDW Annual Passes that we had just activated.\u00a0 While looking at dates, I noticed we would have some time between when school started and when our annual passes ended.\u00a0 What\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Disney Cruise"","block_context":{"text":"Disney Cruise","link":"https:\/\/backtothemouse.com\/index.php\/category\/disney-cruise\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Sail Away Day","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/backtothemouse.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/IMG_1425-768x1024.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/backtothemouse.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/IMG_1425-768x1024.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/backtothemouse.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/IMG_1425-768x1024.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 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We didn't want to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Disney Cruise"","block_context":{"text":"Disney Cruise","link":"https:\/\/backtothemouse.com\/index.php\/category\/disney-cruise\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/backtothemouse.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/IMG_1534-768x1024.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/backtothemouse.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/IMG_1534-768x1024.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/backtothemouse.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/IMG_1534-768x1024.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":7511,"url":"https:\/\/backtothemouse.com\/index.php\/august-11-2018-7-night-eastern-caribbean-cruise-day-7-castaway-cay\/","url_meta":{"origin":7514,"position":5},"title":"August 11, 2018 7 Night Eastern Caribbean Cruise, Day 7: Castaway Cay","author":"Joseph","date":"March 22, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Today was Castaway Cay day, one of our favorite stops!\u00a0 We had a lot of plans for the day and were eager to get started.\u00a0 Nancy and our friends were going to run the Castaway Cay 5K and then head to one of the cabanas on Serenity Bay Beach, the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Disney Cruise"","block_context":{"text":"Disney Cruise","link":"https:\/\/backtothemouse.com\/index.php\/category\/disney-cruise\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Castaway Cay Day","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/backtothemouse.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/IMG_1899-768x1024.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/backtothemouse.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/IMG_1899-768x1024.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/backtothemouse.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/IMG_1899-768x1024.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/peu3ZL-1Xc","jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/backtothemouse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7514","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/backtothemouse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/backtothemouse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/backtothemouse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/backtothemouse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7514"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/backtothemouse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7514\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8838,"href":"https:\/\/backtothemouse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7514\/revisions\/8838"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/backtothemouse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7514"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/backtothemouse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7514"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/backtothemouse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7514"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}