The purpose of this blog is, of course, to find information about St. Martin and other islands we love to visit.
But let’s take a moment to think about the men and women in uniform overseas. It becomes more and more disturbing to think about the number of wounded coming home with traumatic brain injuries. If you or someone you know might be in this situation, please visit this informative website, Brain-Injury-Online.com.
The lower value of the dollar is making travel outside the United States, especially to those wonderful Carribbean islands that use Euros, much more expensive. A recent study shows that the international service fee charged by credit card companies is usually less expensive than converting your dollars to local currency.
Get more information about credit cards at CreditCardsforAmerica.com.
St. Martin/Sint Maarten is a tiny little island owned by two governments: Netherlands and France. It offers a great opportunity to experience European culture at its finest and probably explains why we’ve spent over 100 nights on the island and return each year.
Barbados will long be remembered as one of our most fun stops while cruising on Royal Caribbean’s Monarch of the Seas. The rum punch (1 cup sugar, 1 cup lime juice, 1 cup water, 3 cups dark rum) was regularly spiked by the pirates aboard our island excursion.
The pirates walked the deck with bottle of rum in both hands and made certain everyone’s drink was properly seasoned.
You can read more about our Barbados Adventure here.
Most people taking a Carribean Vacation will use a credit card while outside the borders of the United States. And most credit cards charge a foreign exchange fee when you do so.
You can get more information about Credit Card Foreign Exchange Fees here.
Like most people we booked a “once in a lifetime” cruise with Royal Caribbean. It’s almost laughable now because it was a three-day cruise to the Bahamas. But it introduced us to that wonderful part of earth where sunshine and attitudes are always bright.
Again like most people we had ”first time wow” and were enthralled by nearly everything, including the dozens of hair-braiders near the straw market in Nassau. So we took the same cruise again.
A 7-day cruise was next on the agenda, and we discovered the island of St. Martin. It was love at first sight. The next year we flew to Juliana Airport on St. Martin for a 5-day stay at what was then Blue Bay Resort on Orient Beach.
Beth still describes waking up that first morning to the sound of waves hitting the beach as one of the more thrilling and peaceful memories she has.
Cruise ship prices were depressed the next year and we were able to get a 10th floor balcony room on Royal Caribbean’s Adventure of the Seas at a ridiculously low price. But - the one-day stopover at St. Martin convinced us that we would fly back to the island from then on.
With the exception of one 10-day stay we fly to St. Martin every year for two weeks, and the Magic of the Caribbean has become our lifestyle.