Capital: Philipsburg is the captial of Dutch St. Maarten; Marigot is the capital of French St. Martin.
Population: 32,000 in Dutch St. Maarten; 25,000 in French St. Martin.
Language: Dutch, French, and English.
Location: St. Maarten is 144 miles east of St. Thomas. Nearby are the islands of Anguilla (9 miles away) and St. Barts (21 miles away).
Size: A total area of 37 square miles: 16 square miles on the Dutch side and 21 square miles on the French side.

We took our sole cruise ship excursion on St. Maarten, mainly because we didn't know how to get to any snorkelling places on our own. So we, along with 25 other people, piled into 2 large buses and headed to the French side of the island for a half day snorkelling trip. This sign lies between the two sides of the island - the Dutch and the French. The plus side of the trip was that we got to listen to some of the history of the island; the negative is that the weather wasn't very nice (rained quite a bit), and the snorkelling was okay but not spectacular. However, we're really spoiled after snorkelling in Moorea, but in terms of what we'd seen snorkelling so far on the trip, this was pretty good. At least we got to see some of the island on the bus trip, which was nice. We found it hard to justify paying lots of money for all the add-on excursions so we didn't really do any. However this means you really need to read up on the places you're going and figure out what you can do in the short amount of time you'll be there.

One of the most important parts of the cruise experience is the dinner table and your dinner companions. We were lucky to have some wonderful people to sit with. Since you'll see these people at least once a day, if not more, this can really affect your cruising experience. We were randomly assigned this table, which in addition to these nice people, turned out to be the Doctor's Table on the ship! Which meant that, like the Captain's Table, the ship's doctor(s) came and dined with us twice during the trip. What was especially nice was that the doctors treated us to fine wines and champagnes for the dinner! That certainly loosened up things at the table. :) Our wonderful dining companions were: Josephine and Chuck, Betty, Susan and Nick.