I promised that I would write a trip report upon my return. I am sorry that it has taken so long. We took a Norwegian 10 cruise and my last port was St Maarten. The cruise began on 2-16-13. We got permission from Norwegian and the port authority to disembark on 2-24-13. During embarkation with overloaded luggage I broke my baby finger. I was in a lot of pain and met a Doctor on the ship and he set it for me. That put a damper on the trip. The night before arriving in St Maarten the embarkation/disembarkation officer requested our passports. They were stamped the following morning when the ship went through immigration. We settled up our ship board expenses and disembarked. The ship’s crew assisted us with all the luggage and loading the taxi for our trip to Club Orient. We had the taxi stop at Sangs for some groceries and refreshments.

When we arrived at Club O at 10 am for our 7 day stay they had our mini suite ready for us, even though they were 100% booked. We both felt completely rested, which is not usual because we travel from the West Coast. We were so excited to be back home. During the cruise we went to St Thomas, Dominica, St Lucia and Barbados. At every port we wished that we were in St. Martin and Club Orient instead. We had a good time on the cruise but prefer just flying to St. Maarten.

We rented a car from Hertz at Club Orient but they changed the pricing on us substantially so we just took cabs instead because we were only going to there for 1 week. The days were warm and evenings very nice. The water was on the cool side. The service was as good as always at Club O and everyone was friendly and nice. I used Skype to make all my calls back to the states with no charge. The reception was good most of the time. The stay was too short so we will be returning in October for a fall trip. As long as there is no hurricane problem, we like the fall the best as the water is warm and the island is less crowded with cruise ships.

We were concerned about leaving from the airport in St Maarten as we would not have a immigration form. There was no problem. We took a 4:00 pm flight and arrived in Miami and stayed at the Miami International Airport Hotel because we had an 8 am connecting flight. Immigration was fast and efficient. We were pleasantly surprised with how nice the hotel was and how convenient it was. They have a restaurant and lounge. I would not hesitate to overnight at the airport hotel again. There is also a food court right outside the hotel and we were in the mood for Burger King. It was the best hamburger that I have ever had! The next morning we checked out of the hotel and were at our gate in no time flat.