Our position today is docked in Philipsburg. Circle denotes our position. In the bottom photo it shows us on one of the two long piers. We're on the bottom pier. It was a warm and windy day with rain showers around in the afternoon.
Historical/Background Info:
St Maarten
is part of the Leeward islands in the northeast Caribbean Sea. The island
is divided about 60/40 by the countries of France and the Netherlands.
The larger part is French but the population is basically equal and total
population of the island is 78,000. We will be docking in Philipsburg
which is on the Dutch side. The island lies in the hurricane zone and in
2017 hurricane Emma caused significant damage to the tune of $3 billion.
Tourism is the island’s main
industry with around 1 million visitors annually. 85% of the workforce
works in tourism. The US dollar is accepted in most stores on the island.
We were
here twice on our 2022 world cruise, February of 2025, and probably other times
I lost track of.
LAST EVENING
Here are the fried soft shell crabs I special ordered. They were a little over cooked.
We both had the five-spice beef stir fry. We added some siracha to spice it up some more. It came with steamed rice and was very good. Too much food however.
We had another bottle of Rombauer chardonnay and I had a glass left of this wine I had the night before.
We both also enjoyed the lemon meringue pie.
We finished dinner an hour before the show was to start. Too long to wait, and as I mentioned, we don't care that much for comedians. I was in bed by 8:45.
TODAY
Up at 7am as usual and we were already docked. I went down and got our Americano coffees and then started working on this post.
Room service showed up at 7:40. We split the omelet and sausages as the omelet is big.
The Grand Princess cruise ship arrived after us and is using the other pier (thankfully). Maximum capacity on her is 3000 with 1100 crew and was christened in 1998. Before we discovered Regent in 2009, we did 23 cruises on Princess and 33 cruises on Royal Caribbean. We now have 31 cruises on Regent for a total of 1098 nights on board.
Here comes another cruise ship. Sailed in under a rainbow.
She is the brand new Star Seeker, a 224 passenger luxury yacht launched in December 2025. Windstar is the cruise line and her ships are small and go where the big cruise ships can't. They have a fleet of 8 ships. I had never heard of this line.
Gangway is set.
I felt right at home back in our Dallas senior living facility because one of the aft elevators was inop. We have 3 elevators at The Tradition and one seems to be out of service much of the time.
Going to be bunkering some fuel today.
Tours meeting on the pier.
It's a long walk to get off the pier. There are a few carts for guests who have mobility issues.
There are lots of shops as you walk off the pier. Tour buses are on the other side of them.
Cargo dock
Photos of my "Historic Philipsburg by Trolley Train".
Did get a photo of this lovely flower.
Statues remembering the early days of the island when exporting salt was the main economy driver.
You know who this is!!
Local crafts market
A school
Rooster and his 3 wives walking down the street. Two had turned the corner.
Another school with kids playing and waving at us.
Old court house in middle of town. They dumped us off here to shop for 35 minutes (turned into 45). You can imagine how excited I was about this!!!
A block away was a beach. For $20 you have 2 chairs, 2 drinks, & internet.
From beach looking back toward Court House. Lots of men (like these two in blue shirts) trying to sell tours.
Looking back towards the cruise ships.
The beach was sandy but there were some shells also.
Bars along the beach
Lunch today was up in La Veranda. I had the roasted chicken, potatoes, and cauliflower with cheese. Ok I also had a couple slices of pizza.
Spent the afternoon relaxing in our suite again. We are sailing early today at 4pm. We will have two days at sea before arriving at the Port of Miami Friday morning. So we are getting organized and winding down before we arrive there.
Compass Rose menu but we will be dining one last time up in Sette Mari. Last evening I put in an order for a veal parmesan.
Tonight's show is a production company performance, "Divos & Divas". We have seen this show several time but we expect this show will be very special. It will be this cast's last show together. Their contracts are ending when we arrive in Miami and they will be disembarking and heading home. We will be on the front row for sure!
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