I thought they were going to have to bag me up and transport me to the ship as if I were a piece of luggage. It was quite easy to find someone willing to take our photo. Lots of helpful, friendly people in the islands. Of course, they'd love to sell you just about anything too. Commerce is certainly a big deal in the ports.
Ships mean tourists and tourists mean money.
A truth not wasted on the residents of these islands. They were all super nice, particularly our cab driver who took us to the French city of Phillipsburg and waited while we shopped at the open market and did some looking around. In fact, on the way, he showed us several sites of interest and stopped to let us take photos. Here's a picture of our ship sitting in St. Maarten Bay. Unlike all the other ports of call, the ship could not dock at this island.