Sunday: St. Maarten

For those of you who said you were going on Jewel of the Seas in the future, here’s a word or two on WiFi. We didn’t think there was WiFi available at first, but there is in certain areas. For instance, the library on Deck 9 has it. So now that I’ve figured that out, I can actually do a blog with pictures. My apologies for the delay.

So let’s go back to Saturday in San Juan when we were getting on the boat. It was a five minute cab ride from the Sheraton Puerto Rico (Convention Center) to the airport. Why it cost $15 I’ll never know. We arrived at the pier at 10:30 AM and got in line, since they would not let us onboard until 11 AM. At 11:05 we were getting on. At 11:15 we were sitting in the Windjammer café with the Captain at the next table having lunch with his officers. Cool.

They said the rooms would be available at 1 PM. The doors opened to the cabin hallway at 1 PM. I love Royal Caribbean. We have a balcony cabin in the bump-out of Deck 9. Highly recommended location. I’ll post pictures later in the week.

Dinner was in the main dining room – My Time reservations with a window table for two. The menu is completely new and much, much better than in the past. We each wanted four appetizers and two main courses. We got two and one rather than embarrass ourselves. If they offer the seafood soup…GET IT. Yum.

The casino decided it hated me, but loved my wife. We did OK. Good slots.

Today (Sunday) was St. Maarten, my favorite Caribbean port. I did the famous America’s Cup Yacht Races for the fourth time. Our boat won for the fourth time. Coincidence? I think not. The boats they use are from the 1987 America’s Cup. Stars and Stripes, the winning boat that year, was being painted and was not available. But it was still fun.

Picture time: Some of us arriving and some from the yacht racing.

 

 

Arriving at Phillipsburg, St. Maarten

 

Di watching us pulling into the pier. Well, alongside the pier, actually.

 

Skipper Ernie on the America's Cup yacht True North and one of my fellow crew members. Yes, she has a beer in her hand. You can't work on a yacht without a beer in your hand, I found out.

 

Other crew members. The beer is in the open square container on the left. At least, that's what they told me. Hey, we won. We deserved a beer, or two or three. It was hot. Nobody fell overboard.