This post is the sixth in a series from my Caribbean Cruise in February 2015. You can read a review of Ventura, the P&O Cruise Ship I was on, here and find links to the rest of the posts here.
Sint Maarten (or Saint-Martin if you’re on the French side) was the port that we were saving our money for because we had been told how great the shopping was. The port was really beautiful and we had a great day exploring. I even got a mojito from a stand that matched my outfit – perfect!
While there were a lot more shops than there had been in the other ports, it was kind of a strange mix of tourist-type shops with souvenirs and some very unusual fashions and some high-end stores like Pandora, Michael Kors and Ralph Lauren. We had a great time going between the weird market-like shops and the designer boutiques. I debated about getting a Michael Kors bag the whole day, but in the end I decided to be strong and keep my money for activities rather than buying something I don’t really need. I can’t even tell you how unusual this is for me and I am very proud of myself because there were some real bargains! In the end the only things I bought were some handmade jewellery (for less than $15) and a Tropical Dress for Tropical Night on the Ship for about $20 so I thought that was pretty reserved for shopping day.
One of the best things to look at was all the amazing jewellery that was for sale for a fraction of the price that it would cost at home. I will definitely bear Sint Maarten in mind if I am ever in need of some diamonds!
Every so often we would come across some beautiful buildings where you could really see the Dutch influences in the architecture, like in the Court House above. I also loved this sign which told you how far away lots of difference locations were – it was crazy to think that we were about 4000 miles away from home: in some ways that seems like so far but in others, I felt like I was worlds away from the snowy Scottish February that was happening at home!
BethSophie.com 