The whole purpose of taking a cruise is to visit the various ports-of-call and explore new things. We've taken many cruises in the past, and though we have breakfast and dinner on the ship we always have lunch at a local restaurant so we can say we ate at a restaurant at that location. Some people may return to the ship for lunch, but I would think far more people will eat at their intended destination. The first time we made port in St. Maarten years ago we visited Orient Beach and had lunch at Kakao and loved it.

When it comes to shopping, yes you can shop on the ship but believe me the prices are no better than what you'll find at the various ports-of-call. Only the last day or two of a cruise do they mark stuff down, and even then it's just tee shirts and other lower cost items. One reason that I believe shopping may be down a bit in cities like Philipsburg could be the rising costs associated with cruises. Today, so much money is spent on the cruise itself and transportation to get to-and-from the cruise port additional funds for shopping are getting reduced. Last year my wife and I went on a Mediterranean cruise with Celebrity. For a balcony cabin it was about $3,500 for a seven day cruise from Rome to Barcelona. This year, with Celebrity the same exact cruise is priced just under $5,000 for two people. Add-in the cost to fly to-and-from Europe and now you are looking at seven grand.

Price increases for Caribbean cruises have also increased, though not quite this dramatic. These rising cruise prices could be playing a big role in reducing the pocket cash that people have when shopping at the port. We now take far fewer cruises, and found it much more affordable to forego the cruise and fly directly to our favorite location for a week ... like St. Maarten.