Day Four: St Thomas

We woke up mid-morning to find we were still sailing at a pretty good clip.  We were scheduled to be in St Thomas around 1pm today.   Looks like a lazy morning for us until we get into port.  

I was packing my camera bag in our living space when I saw something quite large fly by our balcony.  It was a bird!    I had no idea what kind (other than black/dark gray body and white head and another type all white) and will have to Google it later.  In the meantime, I snapped several pictures and was able to catch one flying high.  They were all over the port side of our ship.  Some were diving for fish.  Lovely way to start the day.  

As we were sailing into St Thomas, there were places I could not identify.  I was used to seeing full palm trees either single ones lined up or groups of them and used them as landmarks along with the boats anchored in familiar areas.  Now I could see homes and building structures that I did not recall seeing in previous years when we visited this island.  That’s why I did not recognize Honeymoon Beach.  There were no boats anchored in that area.  

At some point it felt as if the ship was slowly gliding into port.  It was so quiet even on the port side of our ship.  Fellow cruisers were out in their balconies and we could hear some chatter, but it was really quiet.  Today, we were the first ship to dock at Havensight followed by a Carnival ship and it was 12:30pm.  A Royal Caribbean ship was already docked at Crown Bay.  

We could see green all over the island.  A few spots looked brown from what could be from a small mud slide or run off from the rains.  We could see lots of homes and buildings that we did not noticed before especially in the upper parts of the island and hill side.  There was only a handful of expensive yachts docked at Yacht Haven and a couple of boats anchored in the harbor.  Normally we would see lots of activity and lots of boats anchored here.  

Once we docked at Havensight, we could see some buildings and homes being worked on and hear some heavy equipment being used in the distance.  We could hear the traffic noise from the cars and taxi getting around the island.  

We had no excursions planned for this island.  We wanted to walk around and meet with a few locals and maybe purchase a few pieces of local artwork.     

We left our ship in the early afternoon.  After a quick walk around in the Havensight shopping area (most shops were open) we left port and headed to downtown Charlotte Amalie.  Along the way we passed Yacht Haven.  Their wrought iron fence that surrounds the shopping/business perimeter was propped up heavy wood beams.  We entered an area where the heavy gates used to be.  It was quiet here.  Some of the businesses were closed.  We walked out to the dock area and noticed the pier to the right of us was closed off.  They were fixing/replacing the lines that extend into each slip.  To the left it looked like recent work was completed and that’s where the expensive yachts were docked.  

We headed back out and continued walking towards town.  We followed along the sidewalk next to the road with long lines of cars and taxi.  When we made it into Charlotte Amalie, we were looking for a place to cross to the other side.  Hubby made a point of looking for a cross walk and then a light.  That’s when we noticed the lights were not working at any of the intersections.  We waited patiently and found a “space” between cars to cross.  

The main shopping area was bustling on what I would call Main Street.  It’s the narrow one way road with shops/buildings on either side.  We noticed a few storefronts that used to be shops, now had a Lease sign on the boarded up windows.  Another sign said “we’ve moved across the street”.  Most of the shops were open and welcoming our fellow cruisers.  

After chatting with a few shop owners, we found Glady’s Restaurant & Bar located on Royal Dane Mall area.  We had to walk down an alley and make a right into another alley between two narrow buildings and then a left down another alley.  I had the jerk chicken with rice and peas and plantains while Hubby had the curry chicken.  It was a nice Caribbean meal and a nice break from the ship’s food.  While we ate our lunch indoors, it started to rain cats and dogs outside.  It lasted for a few minutes and then the sun popped out again.  

We made a point to stop in Royal Caribbean shop to look for G, but we found out he no longer works there.  Hope he and his family are doing well.  

It is hot in St Thomas.  It’s taken some time for us to get used to the heat when we were used to the frigid cold back home.  We are thankful for the clouds that move around the island as it provides some relief for a few minutes.  

We walked into a few shops displaying art work and some crafts.  One shop owner (a fellow photographer) finally received electricity at her home two weeks ago.  She said she was tired of “camping” and well just plain tired.  For the last few weeks, she was able to get a weak cell signal until recently.  She assumed they were fixing or replacing the nearest cell tower.  A few days ago, trucks finally came and removed all the debris from her surrounding home as well as her neighbors.  She told me she was thankful for folks like us (cruisers) to come to the their island.  For now, we (cruisers) are the only tourist on the island.  Many of the hotels are closed due to damage as well as the resorts (along with their beaches) to tourists and many were housing the workers who were helping with the rebuild efforts.  We purchased some art work from her and thanked her for her time and for sharing her experience with us.  

We continued walking around for a bit and noticed how tired we were (not used to the bright sun) and decided to head back to the ship.   Walking back was not an option and we shared a taxi with another couple.  Good thing as it started to rain on our way back to the ship. More like a downpour.   

We heard from a fellow cruiser that Magen’s Bay was a beautiful beach and was very crowded with passengers from the three ships in port.  Magen’s Bay was the only open beach on the island.  

In the early evening, I spent a lot of time on our balcony enjoying the views and serenity of the island.  I took lots of pictures as the sun was setting and casting a warm glow around the island.  A catamaran was sailing back from an excursion.  I called this one the “party boat” and they were a lively bunch.  

When the sun started to set, I watched as the islanders began turning on their lights at the shops and at their homes around the island.  It was beautiful to see.  Several small boats were coming back into port.  They looked as though they were transporting folks from around the island. 

We were all aboard around 8:30pm and left the port before 9pm.  We were sad to leave St Thomas.  It still is a beautiful island.  They have a lot of rebuilding to do and it will take some time.  We will definitely be back.   

Wednesday-Day 4: St Thomas

We arrived into St Thomas and docked at Crown Bay around 9am.  I could tell it was going to be a beautiful day without any haze.  For us, this was the first time we could see the homes at the very top of St Thomas as well as see other islands nearby.  It was that clear.  Picture perfect in my opinion.

We had no excursions planned for the day and wanted to enjoy the island.  When we heard that a dear friend of ours was visiting the island during our stop, we were thrilled and knew this day would be extra special.  

Our friend, M, picked us up at Crown Bay and we went into downtown Charlotte Amalie to walk around and do some window shopping.  I was able to pick up a nice gift for my mom's upcoming 80th birthday.  A big thanks to M for negotiating an island discount for us.  

Our next stop was the Royal Caribbean shop to find M's friend, G.  Hubby and I had met G a few years back when we had a stop in St Thomas.  Let's just say G took care of me just as he did a few years back.  Thank you G!  

I don't know why, but shopping always makes me hungry.  Along the way to the restaurant I came across this sign:  

After lunch, we headed up the mountain and had a wonderful visit with M's parents.  The view from here (clear day) was spectacular.  Here's a view of Havensight and Yacht Grande area with the Freedom of the Seas docked:

Another view with M taking a picture:  

We had a great day in St Thomas made extra special with our friends M and his parents.  Thank you for a wonderful time!

(Note: additional pictures will be posted here soon).

Wednesday (01/07): St Thomas

St Thomas (Havensight):  7am-4pm
Temperature:  81 degrees

Formal Night
Princess Patter-Today's Activities:  Bible Study/Singles & Solos Get-together/Backgammon Lovers/Knitters & Natters/Crew Emergency Drills (9:45am-alarms will sound and broadcasts will be made as the crew practices their emergency duties.  During this practice, limited passenger services will be provided.  Be advised that part of the exercise involves checking passenger staterooms to ensure that have been evacuated)...the crew take this seriously/Card & Board games/Quiet Room (Skywalker's)/Morning Trivia/Scattergories challenge/Party Bridge Play/Darts Competition/Golf Chipping challenge/BOGO Happy Hour/Minute to Win It/Afternoon Brainbuster Trivia/Pop Choir rehearsal/Afternoon Tea/ART 101: Life and Art of Thomas Kinkade/Piano Melodies/Water Volleyball/Formal Night portraits/Caribbean Melodies with Sugar Cane/Casino Night-No smoking/Music Trivia/Early Evening Karaoke/Dance til Dawn/Liars Club gameshow/Dance the Night Away/Club 18-20 Dance Party

Note:  Sorry for the previous post as it was posted out of sequence. My blogging software had a mind of it's own. I saw that entry was not posted back in December and I went to press "publish" thinking it would go back and publish with December's date. Instead it published with today's date. We'll call that on...operator error.

Back to our current cruise at hand....

Cruise Life:  We had a pleasant surprise. We sailed into St Thomas and docked at Havensight instead of Crown Bay. For the last three years, we've docked at Crown Bay which is where Princess has a contract with. One of the "humongous of the Seas" must be docked in Crown Bay which resulted in the pier switch. No worries. In front of us was the new Regal Princess ship. It's HUGE! My camera's lens was not wide enough to get the whole ship in the picture. Behind us is the NCL Getaway ship. Docked out in the water is The NCL Gem. We were very fortunate to be docked here. Unfortunately, the shops were not open early in the morning and we had an all day excursion planned with no time to shop afterwards.

Full moon in the early morning hours

NCL Getaway arriving as the Ruby backs into the port area

Arriving into Havensight

The ship docked around 7am. We walked off around 8am thinking we could do some window shopping before our excursion. We were hoping to visit the local dive shop here. That wasn't the case. We could not find the shop. They may have gone out of business or moved. Who knows. The last time we were at Havensight must have been four years ago. A long time ago and things have changed. There is now a Senior Frogs and several new shops (e.g. surf, grocery/mart, etc). I followed a hen and her chicks around the shopping area hoping to grab a few pictures.

It was noticeably warmer this morning compared the other islands we've been to this week. We eventually had to leave the shade of the shopping area and headed back to our ship's gangway to meet our excursion group. We stopped at the security gate and the guard required a picture ID along with our Princess cruise card. Good thing I brought along our driver's license. This might be the only island that requires a second ID with a picture.

Once our group gathered and signed a waiver, we followed our guide to the end of the pier where the Regal Princess was docked and where the entrance to Yacht Haven (exclusive/expensive shopping) was located. We stood at his pier waiting for our catamaran to arrive and a second excursion group from the Regal to join us. I took advantage of this time to take pictures of the new ship and our new home next year.

We set sail and headed out on a southeastern course to Buck Island where we'd be swimming with the turtles. After 45 minutes, we dropped anchor and were given our normal snorkeling safety rules/guidelines. Hubby jumped into the cool water. As I watched him snorkel away from the boat, I tried to get his attention to no avail. A turtle had surfaced to take a breath of air right behind him. By time I got into the water, there were several other boats anchored and several groups of snorkelers in the water. Hubby and I saw a few turtles and a stingray swimming at the bottom of the ocean floor.

We spent about 45 minutes snorkeling and dodging boats trying to leave this snorkeling site. Yes, we do have to pop our head out of the water every now and then to make sure we don't get in the way of boaters. For me, it's other snorkelers who try to run over me or try to grab me because they're not good swimmers.

With everyone back on the boat, we headed back towards the pier/dock and made a western course towards Water Island where we'll have lunch on Honeymoon Beach. We had two hours to relax, dine, and play in the water. This beach is like a private sanctuary. Peaceful and quiet with rows of palm trees gently moving with the breeze. The sun was out and smiling at us. It was so hot here that the sand almost burned the bottoms of my feet. Yes, I was hopping and running on the beach to get to the water's edge. So much for the peace and quiet....

I had an interesting experience on this tiny island. A fellow cruiser from the Allure (humongous of the seas) stopped me on the beach. He had just arrived with his wife and was wondering if I lived on Water Island. Really? I told him no and thanked him for making me feel like a "native" (because of the tan I was developing nicely). I did assure him that Honeymoon beach was the best choice he made. Gave him some ideas on what to see and do and also chatted with him on the other Caribbean islands we've been to. I do like to chat about cruising and the Caribbean.

After two hours, we headed back to the ship maneuvering around the yachts in Charlotte Amalie. We passed Crown Bay pier to see the RCCL Allure of the Seas and a Carnival shipped docked. We were the last excursion to arrive back into port and a bit late. I know this because I see Carlo, the Princess Excursion Director, waiting for us at the pier. If Carlo is personally waiting for you...you have missed the "time for passengers to be back on the ship". The Princess Excursion ship policy does work. They do wait for you....

The Ruby sailed out of port around 4pm. Way too early in my book. Since we were in US territory, I made a few calls (from my iPhone) to home and to my brother in Texas. Checking my family's pulse to make sure they were okay.

The Regal Princess

Yacht Haven area

Tonight's movie at MUTS:  The Fault of Our Stars

Monday (01/05): Another @Sea Post and Next Few Days

Note:  I wanted to post what will be happening the next few days. Starting tomorrow (Tuesday), we'll be in St Maarten followed by St Thomas, and then Grand Turk on Thursday. We also have snorkeling/beach excursions planned. Full days with a lot of activities. So pardon me if I go silent for a day or two.

After this 1st sea day, I'm kind of anxious to be back in the water with the beautiful fish. I'm feeling a bit lazy today along with wanting to take several naps.

Back to today's events....

Cruise Life:  After lunch, I dropped Hubby off at the cabin. I made my rounds on decks #7, #6, and #5 and where the main Piazza (center venue) is located. There's a lot going on...especially people watching. Deck 5, you will find me looking for peanut butter cookies at the International Cafe (IC). On this same deck is where I get my specialty coffee also at the IC. Across the way, is the Future Cruise Sales desk where I patiently wait for Angela, the Princess Rep to appear. If I wanted to, I could head over to the Internet Cafe next door and burn more Internet minutes.

Deck 6 is where is the Purser's desk and Princess kiosk is located and where I pause for station identification. There are also shops/boutiques located on this level. Deck 7 has the sales tables where I pause for the second station identification. More shops and boutiques are here. Nearby, is the library where I find my daily dose of Sudoku and other brain teasers available for us to take with us.

I was able to sit and chat with Angela about future cruises. Looks like Hubby and I will be on the brand new ship Regal Princess next year. Well, by then it will be less than two years old.
It's 4pm and time to get ready for formal night. More later....

St Thomas!

I was up early in time to see that we were approaching St Thomas.  It was 6am and fairly dark.  I could see the island lit up in lights.  It was beautiful.  There’s something about the calmness and serenity as the ship slowed down and moved through the channel of water.  Sometimes I felt we were gliding on top of the water.  It was so peaceful. 

As we approached our dock in Crown Bay, the morning was getting a bit brighter.  Hubby and I headed up to the Horizon Court buffet for breakfast.  I get my normal fix of:  smoked salmon and capers, a small container of peach yogurt, one egg over easy, a small side of potatoes, and a chocolate croissant.  I call this my breakfast of champions. 

My typical breakfast of champions (fruit, yogurt, eggs, potato, smoked salmon and capers)

Do I really need to eat all this?  Well, yes.  There are times when I don’t know when we’ll eat during our excursions and when 11:30am comes, I will get light headed and a bit cranky.  It all works out (consumption and calories) as long as we do some sort of exercise while in port.  Snorkeling and beaching do count as a form of exercise. 

Back in our cabin, we donned our swim suits and slathered on the suntan lotion.  After dressing in our shorts, t-shirts, and flip flops we grabbed our bags and headed down to deck 4 and exit mid-ship.  We wandered around the dock area looking for our excursion group.  Once located, we were given waiver forms to sign.  That was also our entrance ticket to board the catamaran.  Steph was our guide and bartender.  We met Jordan who was our snorkel safety master and part of the catamaran crew.  Captain Tom steered and directed our catamaran. 

We headed out to the open waters away from St Thomas and sailed towards Buck Island.  Along the way, we learned that Steph works on the excursion tours for several months during the cruise season.  During the down season, she heads back home in the US.  Jordan lives in St Thomas permanently.  He sold everything he owned in the US and came to St Thomas not knowing anyone.  Next year, he will be traveling to South America and backpacking through the countryside for several months.  Steph and Jordan live in different places on the island about an hour’s drive.  I can’t comprehend this as the island is very small in comparison to others we have visited.  Captain Tom has his own boat where he lives with his wife in St Thomas.  It was very interesting to hear about their “stories” and island life. 

We’ve been to Buck Island before and anchored on the north edge of the island.  Jordan gave us our snorkel safety rules/guidelines and told us it was against the law to touch the turtles.  We would be fined.  It was time to get into the water and snorkel for 45 minutes.  Steph was our snorkel guide and we followed her in search of turtles.  It didn’t take long before we saw several of them swimming around the bottom of the sea bed.  We also saw a stingray buried in the sand.  Hubby was able to get a great picture of the stingray. 

A stingray!

Watching the turtles swim...they are so graceful!

Once we were back on the catamaran, we headed back over to St Thomas.  Our next stop was Honeymoon Beach on Water Island for lunch on the beach.  Strange as it may sound, but we like this beach more than the famous Magen’s Bay Beach. 

We had two hours of fun in the sun time at this beach.  We ate lunch and relaxed under the shade of the palm trees.  We spent some time swimming in the beautiful blue waters burning our breakfast calories.  Life is good!

We were sad to leave this tiny beach/island.  Even though our fellow cruisers were with us, the beach didn’t seem crowded.  It was very peaceful and serene. 

We got back to Crown Bay around 3:30pm.  Since we had only 30 minutes before we had to be back on the ship, we walked through the shops to see if there was anything new or interesting. 

Tonight was formal night!  Again, we don’t participate.  Instead we have dinner….  

When we got back to our cabin, I saw a notice in our mailbox.  The notice was for disembarkation and included our luggage tags.  Light Blue 4.  I quickly tossed the notice into my night stand drawer.  I didn’t want to think about the end of our cruise.  We still had one more island and one more sea day.  I wanted to enjoy them. 

Since it was formal night, it is also laundry night for us.  Once again, the launderette was empty.  Hubby and I grabbed our bags of dirty clothes and headed towards the back of the ship.  Hubby loaded the washing machine with soap and dirty clothes.  I loaded the coins into the machine (8 quarters) and we were off and running and back to our cabin. 

One of several self-serve launderettes on the ship

A much needed soap, bleach, softeners, and change machines

While hubby spent some quiet time between the balcony and watching TV in our cabin, I was busy downloading the day’s pictures onto my laptop.  In between reviewing pictures I also made a stroll down to the launderette to move our clothes from the washing machine to the dryer.  Once again, I loaded 8 quarters into the machine and checked the time when I needed to be back.

Later, Hubby helped me gather the warm clothes and we headed back to our cabin.  I had spread some of them out on our bed as few pieces were slightly damp, but warm.  

Crown Bay port

Sailing out of St Thomas

A Beautiful Day in St Thomas

We arrived into St Thomas around 8am and docked at Crown Bay. I could tell it was going to be a beautiful day. It was partly cloudy with a high of 82 degrees. St Thomas is 32 square miles and has a population of 52,000. Charlotte Amalie is the capital.

We met our snorkeling group at the pier around 8:50 and headed to a catamaran called “the Cat”. It looked brand new.

Looking back on the Emerald Princess:

We sailed over to Havensight, the main port in St Thomas, to pick up fellow cruisers from the Ruby Princess (sister ship to our Emerald Princess). We also saw the huge Celebrity ship, Solstice, docked here:

Our catamaran was full and ready to set sail out of Havensight. We headed over to Turtle Cove which I believe is on Buck Island. Here, we snorkeled and saw lots of sea turtles. One even came up next to hubby to catch a breath of air. This is our second time we’ve been to Turtle Cove and the water was really clear. Especially, when we could see the turtles swimming at the bottom.

There were other catamarans and boats with snorkelers here, but it didn’t seem too crowded. We pretty much stayed with our group.

Here is a picture of hubby snorkeling:

We climbed back on our catamaran and sailed to Honeymoon Beach on Water Island. Here we had a true BBQ lunch on the beach! There was ribs, chicken, salad, macaroni salad, beans, etc.

We spent most of our time in the water here. It was quite refreshing.

We headed back and arrived into Crown Bay around 2:30. We were hoping “The Cat” would take us over to Havensight, but not today. We decided not to take a taxi over as we had to be back on the ship by 4:30. Wouldn’t allow us enough time and we weren’t sure about the traffic in town. So, again we were not able to visit our favorite dive shop.

When we got back to our cabin, we were pretty much wiped out from the day’s activities. Since the catamaran didn’t have any fresh water onboard, I spent time rinsing and soaking our snorkel gear in our tub.

For dinner, we ate at Caribe Café. It was Italian night and we ate vegetarian this evening. Afterwards, we headed over to the Explorer’s Lounge to catch a movie…”Wall Street” (second movie). Hubby order two “medium” pina coladas. I have to say, several cruisers around us gasped when they saw the size of our drinks!

It was a beautiful day in St Thomas. The sky was blue with white puffy clouds and the water was very clear. It was a great snorkeling day!

Tomorrow, we’ll be in Dominica and snorkeling in the Champagne Reef.