December 6, 2025 – Fort de France, Martinique – Mostly Sunny – 87F

December 6, 2025 – Fort-de-France, Martinique – Mostly Sunny – 87F

Port Information.  Martinique is an overseas territory of France and Fort-de-France is the capitol city.  The city, located on the Fort-de-France Bay on the Western side of the island, has a population of approximately 75,000 people. It was founded in 1635 and was more easily protected than the other major town, St Pierre, on the Caribbean side.  When St Pierre was destroyed by the eruption of Mt Pelee in 1902, Fort-de-France became the capitol.  French is the official language of Martinique but Martinican Creole is spoken as the cultural language of the island. English is spoken in tourist areas.  Ft. Saint Louis is now a French Naval Base but protected the city in its early existence. 

Maybe it was the wine or maybe the little stroll through Marigot but I was pretty much out like a light the whole night.  I got up at 6:44 AM and decided to wait until about 7:15 or 7:30 AM to go to the Marketplace (coffee service is limited during the “continental breakfast” phase).  As I was waiting, I heard some water running and, at first, thought I had left the faucet on.  I checked and I did not.  I went back into the cabin and the water was still running somewhere.  I checked again and found that the bathroom now had an inch of water on the floor.  It was coming from the toilet.  I hit the flush button and it stopped.  Apparently, the toilet just malfunctioned and wouldn’t stop filling (clean water I was told by several ship people).

I called the desk and in just a few minutes, a guy (not dressed like a maintenance guy or plumber but more like one of the deck folks) came in and grabbed all of the wet stuff and wiped up the rest of the stuff somehow.  He took all of that with him and a new mat appeared.  I have to admit, I wasn’t watching all of it. He told me that the toilet would be fixed from the hall access and I could go to breakfast.  I did go up and have my standard breakfast but didn’t finish it all since I had left Ellen asleep in the room (she, in fact, had slept through the whole ordeal).

The approach to Martinique was scenic.

The bathroom was dry – the toilet now worked. 

Ellen and I went down to the Trident Grill for her first breakfast – blintzes and my second – a bagel and coffee plus a donut (not so great). 

The Trident Grill was filling up and we didn’t want to take anyone’s seat so we went to the room.

We went back and forth about walking into Fort de France. 

Two factors entered into the decision – the first was the very long pier from the cruise terminal to the Simon Hotel and then to the town and the second was the lack of interesting sites in the area near the pier (according to Google Maps).  Also, it was starting to get warm.  We decided, as did a lot of other guests, to pass on the town.

We spent a little time in the shade on the pool deck. While there I had a Blue Curacao Sour and Ellen had a Dirty Banana (not as good as on some other ships).  

It got a little warm on the pool deck and we got a little hungry so we went to the Trident Grill for a late lunch – I had the “Salmon Burger” which was not really a burger but a fancy salmon filet sandwich on a toasted bun.  Super good – four great small fish fillets prepared perfectly accompanied by a tangy tartar sauce.  Ellen had the Asian Salad sans Chicken and she said it was really good.

Our next stop was Palm Court on Deck 12. Ft St Louis, a French Naval base can be seen in the distance.

  

We went to the Waterside Restaurant for dinner – back at Table 141, where we were looking forward to our ribeye steaks.  I had “Roasted Portobello Mushrooms” for an appetizer but got a surprise on the first bite – a little round stone of some kind was in the creamy dish – luckily I didn’t bite down on it or either a tooth would have been cracked or a crown would have been popped loose.  I showed it to the waiter who took it to his boss and several apologies later from the suit on duty, the issue was closed.  By the way, I did finish the dish (no more rocks).  I also had a salad with raspberry vinaigrette – the salad looked a little dry so I asked for more dressing and what I got was not the stated dressing.  I didn’t finish the salad.

The ribeyes were both thick and massive and looked medium well. I have to admit that they were a bit tough – you had to find some tender areas to enjoy the meat, which was tasty. The fries I had with mine were spot on and the waiter found some margarine for Ellen’s baked potato.  The restaurant got very noisy so we passed on dessert and went to the Crystal Cove where the waitress brought Ellen some lemon sorbet from the restaurant and I had some hot tea.

We wanted to make reservations at the Beefbar for tomorrow night because the Waterside Restaurant would be off limits (Cruise #2 Embarkation Day) and the chances of getting in at the Specialty Restaurant would be zero.  We spoke to the Concierge and he said he could not access reservations for tomorrow but Barbara Machado, the Beefbar Hostess could.  We went up to see and scored two reservations for tomorrow night at 6:30 PM.

Chris Burke, Soul Man, is on for his second show tonight at 8:30 PM (only one show tonight).  

Another very loud show with just a tad of country music thrown in among the soul selections.  We didn’t make it to the end but instead listened a bit to the Flair Duo in Crystal Cove.  We also watched the Gents dance with the guests; the female specialty dancer was out on the floor as well doing her stuff - she is really good.

We were back in the Room about 9:45 PM.  Just about when the lights were about to go out, I heard the same gurgling noise from the toilet – I pumped the flush bar until it stopped.  The bowl was full of water but only a little bit of water escaped and was captured by a towel.  I called Guest Services and a tech came up (I could not understand a word he was saying) and fiddled a bit with the toilet (which, of course, now flushed perfectly).  He said it could be used and that he would work on it in the hallway access panel.  He wound up banging and jiggling stuff for a half hour followed by several loud test flushes he initiated. Then he was gone and we tried to get to sleep.