Today we docked at the port in the Dutch side of St Maarten. The island is split in two with one half owned by the Dutch and the other side owned by the French…they even speak their own language depending on which side you are at, although English seems to be universal reflecting the islands reliance on tourism.
After breakfast, an amusing affair which left us chuckling, we packed a beach bag and headed on out. It’s quite a walk to the water taxi. They charge $7 return fare for the ferry over to Philipsburg, the Dutch side capital. Disembarking the ferry you are swarmed upon by tour and beach touts… we bargained hard with one lady who started at $35 for 2 loungers, parasol and 5 drinks and finally agreed with $20 for 2 loungers and no drinks.
Our loungers were at the waters edge and we were quick to strip down to our swimming suits…water shoes on and in we went. It has a steep shelf with the sand shifting under your feet, so it’s not the easiest to get into …however we managed it with some decorum!!……Bliss, warm water, clear and bright blue who could ask for more…
We even managed to get out without falling and doing my usual beached whale impersonation!!
After several sunbathing then cooling off in the sea sessions we took the ferry back to the ship and had a light lunch followed by an afternoon nap.
We went up to the Photo studio at our appointed time. We were once again sat down and all yesterdays photos were shown to us. We were given choices between similar pictures. We never have individual photos but the photographer had insisted and there were some very nice ones of us both together. He had us select 20 in total. Then came the crunch ……..I did say that the photo session had been complimentary didn’t I??
ummmmm…well ….we were given a choice of either a photo album or the photos on a memory stick …. And our 20 selected photos at the discounted price would ONLY cost a $1000 on a memory stick…….well!!!!! ……They might have had to of put one of the individual photos on our coffins because we both nearly dropped dead……The photos started at the discounted price of $99 each but the more you bought the cheaper they got. So if you bought 20 they were discounted to $50 per picture. Absolutely no way …..he tried several combinations with us eventually saying that we could have an album with actual photos, plus a memory stick plus two canvasses with our 2 favourite photos on for the bargin price of $650 ….. I am not certain which bit of “ we’re not in the market for buying photos at that price and anyway how do we get the canvasses home” he didn’t understand. I was all for walking out at that point, but the COMPLIMENTARY PHOTO SESSION had been a big part of our special day… he asked what we would pay and we agreed $200 for just 2 photos on a memory stick.
I asked which part was complimentary and he said the photo session, to which I asked wasn’t that complimentary to ALL guests which he agreed it was. …….we said the letter was a scam to which he replied that Princess Shoreside gave them the names of all cruisers celebrating an anniversary or a birthday and they sent the personalised letters out to each of them. So we have been to guest relations and told them how we feel the letter scams people….it is ambiguous in the fact it leads you to believe you are being gifted a photo …in-fact nothing at all is complimentary because the photo sessions are free to everyone…..I can’t think of anywhere in the world where complimentary doesn’t mean free of charge…..it’s a bit like saying your bingo game is free but you have to pay for the prize…..So at the moment we have two lovely pictures at a huge price …but they are a memory of our special day…even though we will always think that Princess Cruises has pulled a scam on us….we will wait and see what guest relations comes back with but we’re not holding our breaths.
After our massively disappointing session in the photo studio we went for supper and enjoyed some nice seafood antipasto …Ernesto knows us well!!! …when I said that it was a much bigger portion than usual he just laughed and we knew he’d given us one and a half portions….. we both had veal escalope as our main courses and John had a soufflé whilst I had the sugar free option of a coffee moose desert. Feeling much more relaxed again we settled in Princess Live lounge for a quiz before having an early night.
2 J's World of Adventure 