Before I can talk about what we did today, I have to mention the ocean was quite rough last night. I was awoken a few times to jostling of the ship, but I believe it if you are going to have rough waves, may as well occur when you are sleeping.
We decided to sleep in, and woke up around 9:30am and found the ship docked in St. Maarten. Our balcony was rather wet and it was cloudy, so clearly there was a storm that had passed by. Luckily, the weather was progressively clearing.
We grabbed breakfast at the Windjammer and then headed off the ship to explore a bit.
We had no plans for St. Maarten, so our plan was to take the water taxi to downtown Phillipsburg and explore.
The water taxi costs $7 per person for a roundtrip ticket. The ride is perhaps 5 minutes from stop to stop.
Even with the partly cloudy conditions, it was very, very warm. We walked along the boardwalk area of Phillipsburg and I instantly regretted not taking a bathing suit with me to be able to hop in the ocean.
Both my daughters wanted to get their hair braided, so we found a lady who did that for them.
Next up, we decided to visit the Yoda Guy museum, which is a Star Wars and sci-fi museum built by a very talented makeup and modeling veteran of the movie industry.
Nick has built a museum and shop that documents the great lengths he has gone in his career to work on Star Wars, Highlander, The Terminator and more films.
In fact, Nick was there in person to sign anything you care to purchase and talk about his career. He is incredibly generous with his time, and loves to share stories.
You can walk in and look around the shop, or pay admission for his museum. If you consider yourself a Star Wars fan, it is a must-see stop.
Did I mention it was hot? Because it was very hot, so we decided to head back to the ship and order room service in our cabin for lunch. One of the nice benefits of staying in a suite is the room service charge is waived.
Back onboard Freedom of the Seas, we decided to order room service for lunch. It seemed like the perfect marriage of convenience and food.
After showering and eating, the kids decided to take a nap while our group headed up to the Solarium for a hot tub meetup (because you can never go wrong with friends in a hot tub)!
As afternoon turned to evening, it was time to depart St. Maarten and we had our first real nice view from the balcony. Luckily the sun's angle changed just enough to make it really pleasant to be outside and a great view of St. Maarten leaving and the sun setting.
We all got ready for dinner and then headed to Sabor for dinner. I love Sabor, and with an ever dwindling amount of Sabor locations left, I hope to make it into Sabor a few more times.
No meal at Sabor is complete without a heaping serving of handmade guacamole and a lovely margarita on the side.
I opted for the tuna crudo tacos, as per usual, but also ordered the duck tacos, which were fantastic.
This evening's entertainment was the Broadway tribute show, Marquee. There was music from Phantom of the Opera, La cage aux Folles, and more to enjoy.
I rounded out my evening with friends at the pub (not all friends pictured here).
Tomorrow is a sea day and the big holiday celebration!
Stray Observations
The Queen Mary 2 was docked next to us today. First time I have seen this ship in person.
I spotted Izumi Express as an option still on Freedom of the Seas. Essentially, there is grab-and-go sushi available to purchase onboard in the evening. By the time I stopped by they were sold out of most of it, but I might have to try this out later in the sailing.
