FT. LAUDERDALE - January 24th - We were several hours late leaving Ft. Lauderdale. The previous cruise had a breakout of norovirus and the ship had to undergo a full sanitization process before we could board. We're on the Island Princess which was completely refurbished in 2015 (2200 passengers). We're in a suite at the rear of the ship which was previously part of the gym. The gym has been moved to the 6th deck with state of the art equipment but no windows. There is only one upright bike for Len but he says it's great with several different races programmed so he gets the feel of an actual race, with uphill, downhill, corners, etc. There is a thermal suite in the salon area which we get to use. There are 3 different steam rooms, a sauna, showers and heated benches for relaxing.
There are several people on board from our World Cruise in 2016.
Seas were very rough on the 26th and open decks were closed most of the day. We had to put our clocks forward an hour and, strangely, they did it at noon rather than 2 am.
ST. MAARTEN - Population - French 36,000, Dutch 39,000. Each side uses their own money. English widely spoken.
We're docked next to a yacht (Eclipse), owned by a Russian and, if Google is right, the most expensive yacht in the world at well over a billion dollars (533 ft. long). It has 92 crew aboard, 6 guest suites (the owners suite is 5000 sq. ft.), 3 helicopters, a submarine and its pool is, apparently, bigger than anything on the Island Princess.
The Island is open for business but there is a lot still to be done - you see damage all over and it's worse if you go a block or so off the beach. Some places that people suggested we see are completely destroyed and may never be rebuilt. The people are resilient and say they'll come back stronger than ever. They are still a happy, cheerful lot and thank you for any money you spend in their stores.
This is the smallest island in the world shared by 2 nations. Legend has it that a Frenchman and a Dutchman divided ownership of the island through a walk off. The two men stood back to back and headed in opposite directions walking around the island until they met. It is rumored that The Dutchman paused for a refreshing brew and as a result the French ended up claiming 21 sq. miles of the island while the Dutch got only 16.
MARTINIQUE - Population 400,000. French and Euros.
This is the first time we have visited this island. One of the highlights of the island is the Balata Botanical Gardens where there are 300 types of palm trees and over 3000 varieties of tropical plants. Our plan was to visit these gardens but we just got off the ship and into a tourist information tent when there was a huge downpour. To our left there was a set of about 50 stairs and the water was gushing down them like a fast flowing river. Our plans went out the window but we took a short walk before returning to the ship. Throughout the afternoon the bridge would announce that more rain was on the way and to take cover.
