It was my birthday when we arrived in St. Maarten on the 13th December 2011. MSC Poesia was docking while Norwegian Epic was ahead and Navigator of the Seas was last. It's funny. I had set foot on every single ship in port (visited Poesia but cruised on the others) and they had all been in Southampton. Connie had been my second cruise and Navigator my third so I was spoilt by RCCL. Navigator hadn't meant to be there. Originally, she was wintering out of Barcelona but at the beginning of 2011, the St. Maarten cruise schedule added her, which I thought was a mistake. Royal Caribbean announced her return to Fort Lauderdale in April 2011. There was also the unexpected sight of SeaDream I, passing Philipsburg en route to St. Barths for a couple of hours before moving to Marigot from noon. She was so tiny compared to the other ships around. She is only 4260grt and had her maiden voyage in 1984 as Sea Goddess I (Sea Goddess II came along the following year). Both were then chartered to Cunard from 1986 for twelve years before being transerred to Seabourn to become Seabourn Goddess I (and Seabourn Goddess II). In 2001, they were sold to SeaDream Yacht Club, whose founder, Atle Brynstead, had also been behind Seabourn. My friend, Ken MacLean, was aboard Epic, having booked it to be with my on my birthday. |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| Since Ken had booked through a private tour company, I went onto the pier to meet him and we tried to find the yellow building where Bernard's Tours had said they'd be. It was nice walking past the ships, although Connie didn't half suddenly look small against Epic. |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| As we came into Marigot on the French side, SeaDream I was anchored. Unfortunately, it was so far from where the driver parked the bus, then it poured down, a quick shot through the window was the best I could manage. Ken had asked him to stop to get photos but it was the middle of a busy road so not important. It would have been if she hadn't tootled past us in Philipsburg that morning. |
 |
| So much for getting us back for 2pm, as the email had said, so we missed Poesia sailing. Again, Ken had asked John to stop when we saw her but it was another busy road so not important. It would have been nice but we'd seen her in the morning again which was all that mattered. The clouds looked ominous so I hoped they wouldn't bring more wet stuff. |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| We were due to sail first at 5pm with the other two an hour later. We blasted but disappointingly, there wasn't a peep from Navigator. |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| My Constellation cruise review can be found here. |
| Back to Stalking Index |