Day 98: St. Thomas

We were a bit slow to get moving this morning (small wonder), and it was nearly 9:00am before I showered and went to the buffet for breakfast. G was already there, interneting away with his AT&T 3G service. We know too well that, with three ships at Havensight (as the Emerald Princess was) plus two, including the Oasis of the Sea at Crown Bay, AT&T Internet was going to be slow in the morning degrading to a turtle's-pace by 11:00am or so. Honestly, even if you hate docking at Crown Bay, AT&T Internet is way faster there than at Havensight.

After we became frustrated by just how slow it was (and my 4G Internet was no faster than G's 3G), we discussed plans for the day. G didn't mention (and you can bet I didn't either) climbing the hill to the top of Paradise Point. We were both in the mood for a more relaxed pace today. Martha and Betsy had taken a ship's island tour, so they were doing their own thing, and we decided to explore another beach that we'd never been to on St. Thomas: Morningstar Beach.

We gathered up our gear and, after a $6 per person taxi fare ($8pp from Crown Bay), were dropped at Morningstar, which is where the Marriott Frenchmen's Reef complex is located. The end of the beach not in front of the resort is pretty narrow, and I have a feeling that, on a windy day, the surf could be pretty rough. However, the beach widens out as you get in front of the Marriott time share condos. As you move towards the hotel up on a cliff, there is no beach at all, just 270 degrees of incredible vistas (which is what you get when you build on the edge of a cliff on a peninsula). I couldn't help marvel at the engineering required to build that complex.

First, though, before I marveled, we spent some time on the beach. Rentals are pricey- $10 each for chairs- so we went the "tarp under a tree" route, as we weren't planning to stay there very long. The beach entry is not as gradual as other beaches we've been to, but, to its credit, it is largely rock-free, and it's definitely large rock-free.

After some sand time, we decided to explore the Marriott property, and walked the length of the beach and up to the hotel on the hill (lots of stair climbing). After we'd reached the top, we discovered a panoramic elevator from the hotel down to the beach, built into an area carved out of the cliff (that's when I started marveling, standing there like I was examining the engineering with a curious mind, when, in actuality, I was trying to hide the fact that I was panting a bit after climbing a zillion steps. It's a neat trick: instead of appearing to be out of shape, I appeared to be an intellectual. I think I'll remember that for the future). ;-)

As impressive as the elevator was, the swimming pools are where the Marriott shines (I lost count after 4 of them...some intellectual I am!). Gorgeous, infinity edge pools seamlessly blending with the blue Caribbean Sea below, with tiered waterfalls on the back side, cascading down to teak decking on the rocks below, with canopied day beds. Yes, this place was nice. It should be, for the price. I saw a lot of people sitting poolside eating plastic containers of tortilla chips and guacamole, no doubt their lunches, and no doubt expensive. Tortilla chips and guacamole! In cruise ship-land, that's merely an hors doerve on a bad day, not lunch!

Our taxi driver in the morning has warned us about the traffic going from Morningstar Beach back to Havensight late in the afternoon, telling us that, with three cruise ships docked there, traffic would be bumper to bumper along the way. With a 4:30pm on board time, we left the Marriott just after 3:30pm. Our driver had been right. It was a mess of taxis all along the way. Still, shortly after 4:00pm, we boarded the ship -sandy, salty and sweaty, and immediately got cleaned up. Sailaway from St. Thomas is one of the prettiest ones we have, and we wanted to be up in Skywalkers when it happened about 5:00pm. Martha and Betsy joined us, and we enjoyed hearing about their day and showing them the Frenchmen's Reef area and Morningstar Beach from the deck behind Skywalkers.

Dinner with Sutti is always a celebration, and without a show that appealed tonight (there was just one, impressionist Michael Wilson in the Princess Theater, and we've seen him at least three times this winter), we decided to camp out in Club Fusion starting at 8:00pm to first listen to band Sol Provider and then participate in the activities related to tonight's County Western party.

Glory hallelujah! Just for embarrassing myself on the dance floor, I won a bottle of champagne at the party. G will be so pleased. When he wakes up. 'Cause he retired to the cabin early and missed the whole thing.

Photo 1: Morningstar Beach

Photo 2: Buck island in the distance

Photo 3: infinity edge pool at the Marriott Frenchmen's Reef

Photo 4: view from the lobby

Photo 5: Marriott Frenchmen's Reef and Morningstar Beach as seen from the Emerald Princess at sailaway

St. Thomas (continued)

Photo 1:  the road to the top of the Paradise Point tram (that's G up ahead, leaving me in his dust)

Photo 2:  we climb it for our health, but the view is a heckuva bonus. The buildings next to the ship house lots of shops and that area is called Havensight

Photo 3:  Hassel Island in the foreground, with Water Island behind it

Photo 4:  can you see the Ruby Princess in the distance, at the Crown Bay pier?

Photo 5:  just a few of the yachts at Havensight today. The all white one, at the top leftmost of the photo is named Vibrant Curiosity, is the 31st longest in the world with a price of about $100 million. We couldn't make out the name of the blue-hulled one to the right, but it looked even larger to us. 

http://www.charterworld.com/index.html?sub=yacht-charter&charter=vibrant-curiosity-1892

Day 58: St. Thomas

First, I want to thank you for your prayers. They propelled me up that hill today. However, any good thoughts you might have had regarding the bare chested male pole dancers must have fallen on deaf ears. Apparently God doesn't get involved in those sorts of things.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. And this day that started fairly ordinarily turned so extraordinary by its end that I really must start at the beginning. 

As I mentioned last night, we were at Havensight, and not only were we at Havensight but we had the first berth there. The two ships docked behind us were the Norwegian Sun and the Seven Seas Navigator. The Ruby Princess was at Crown Bay, as expected. This was the third time in five visits to St. Thomas this winter that we have been at Havensight, which is especially noteworthy as last winter we weren't here even once in ten visits. It depends primarily on the other ships in port on any given day, and beyond that it's up to the harbor master. 

So, anyway after breakfast in the dining room, we first spent a couple hours taking care of business using AT&T cell service and 3G internet. The furnace at home is holding up (we can tell from our webcams); that is always our first concern. Then we both had several calls to make, and so took care of those. We also, for the first time, using an iPhone, snagged a PDF file of our brokerage account statement showing our 100 shares of CCL stock, and, using an iPhone, obfuscated parts and added the information required by Princess and then, also using an iPhone, faxed it to Princess Shareholder Relations to secure our on board credits for our February cruises (what I've just said will be Greek to most people but will make perfect sense to Princess cruisers.) The amazing thing is that we did it all from an iPhone. And just to clarify, when I say we, I mean G. But I stood by giving moral support.

I had a few items that I've been carting around since right after we received our box of mail from home that had to be mailed, and for this reason alone it was especially fortuitous for us to be at Havensight, as the post office is located right there. While we were off the ship tending to that duty, we went to the Scotia Bank also located at Havensight (so, you can see, it really was a good thing we were there today) and got money. Money!  We now have money!  We were down to $6, and that only because I found a $5 bill lying at the base of a shrub yesterday on St. Kitts. Isn't life funny?  Here I am thrilled by finding a $5 bill, just as I was with the $12 savings last turnaround day by walking down to Publix, at the same time we're spending 120 days on a cruise ship. Welcome to my world. 

Our next stop was a jewelry repair shop that is truly hidden, tucked away on the back side of Building 1 at Havensight. My favorite pair of earrings, enamel ones I purchased for about $10 two decades ago broke yesterday...the post broke off one of them. I was hopeful I might find a repair shop on St. Thomas, and especially hopeful when I found out that we were going to be at Havensight, but was crestfallen when I was told that there is no fixing it; enamel can't be welded. An end of an era. :-(

But on our way back to the ship...how lucky!  We popped into a jewelry store (actually, G was looking for something and dragged me in there.  Really.) and I saw the most beautiful display of enamel jewelry. Google "Belle Etoile angel fish jewelry" and you'll see what I mean. I was really taken with this design, and it seemed providential. I mean, I break an enamel earring in a sand dollar design one day and find enamel jewelry in an underwater sea life design the next.  Sure, the prices weren't exactly in the same ball park (or on the same planet); the pendant was $199 and the bracelet $675, but I would be given the amazing price of $775 if I bought both pieces. Wow!

G quickly lost interest in the shop (I think he was getting scared by that point), so we left, but on the way back to the ship I made my case:  my birthday is next week AND we have a major anniversary (our 30th) coming up this year. Surely 30 years of marriage warrants a gift of that magnitude. Apparently it doesn't. Or it would, if it hadn't already warranted at winter at sea. 

Now I know.

Back on the ship, we had lunch in the buffet, our iPhones plugged into sockets meant for vacuum cleaners. That's our biggest issue on St. Thomas and in Fort Lauderdale- keeping our phones charged. Those are the only days I really wish we had a balcony cabin instead of an inside, because we could be in our cabin interneting instead of the the buffet. 

Finally, we were Internet-satiated and I said that I thought it would be a good idea for us to climb that hill up to the top of the Paradise Point tram. Yes, let it be known that, this time, I was the one pushing to do it. And so we did. Of course, by this time it was 2:30pm and getting hot, but a good portion of the walk was in the shade. We were lucky that it was just the last, steepest part that was in unrelenting sun. 

As usual, G started with me but soon picked up his pace (I swear...it wasn't because I started to lag!) and was out of sight. That was fine. I no longer had to suffer in silence; I could talk to the road as I climbed. I'm telling you, this is one steep road. If you ever do it (and it's a great training run), turn left at the Harley Davidson store and start climbing; the road immediately goes up, and gives you a pretty good idea right away of what you're in for.  G, always looking out for me, stood at the top after he made it, waving and smiling and taking my photo as I crawled the last 100 yards. What a pal. 

Now, I had been promised a ride back down on the tram. It didn't happen last time because it wasn't yet open for the season. And it didn't happen this time because it now costs $10pp just to ride down (it used to be free).  Once again, here we are. We won't pay $20 to ride the tram down yet we're spending the winter on a cruise ship. Maybe it's because we won't pay $20 to ride the tram down that we're able to spend the winter on a cruise ship. 

So, after a brief (too brief) stay at the top, wiping sweat and drinking lukewarm water, we started back down the hill. And just when I think there is nothing worse than climbing a hill that steep, I became aware of the fact that walking down that hill is even more painful. Because it really was. And the most difficult part was that, not only was there not even one short, level spot to stop to rest (because there wasn't- not even a spot as long as my feet), but also because it was 4pm and we had to be on the ship by 4:30pm. No margin for error, like a trip and fall. No pressure. 

We survived (of course), and felt altogether more healthy and holy for having done it. I just hope we're not docked at Havensight again this year, 'cause I've had it with empty promises of Bushwackers and rides down, and hallucinations  about male pole dancers. 

Photos:  flowering shrubs around Havensight, Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas

Day 28: St. Thomas

We awoke today to see a ship docked in front of us on the "front of the ship" channel (the same view as the webcam link I provided before we left home). We learned, after we had dressed and left the cabin, that it was the Disney Fantasy. We could see the Maasdam at anchor and tendering in Charlotte Amalie harbor, and soon after, the Carnival Dream sailed in and docked at the third berth at Havensight. That left the Noordam and the Oasis of the Seas docked at Crown Bay (and we could even see the tops of them, the Oasis looming over Hassel Island, from the upper decks of our ship).

The day was sunny and beautiful- hot, of course, but gorgeous. However, with SIX ships in port, and in the interest of continued recuperation, we decided to set the bar for the day mind-numbingly low:  mail the Christmas and December birthday cards we'd brought with us from home. That we were docked at Havensight instead of Crown Bay simplified this process ten-fold, as there is a full service U S Post Office branch located right in the shopping complex. If it seems early to be mailing Christmas cards...we didn't have a great deal of flexibility in the matter. Turnaround day in Fort Lauderdale on December 7th is going to find us moving to the Noordam. The Noordam's itinerary doesn't include St. Thomas. Turnaround day in Fort Lauderdale on December 17th will have us busy moving back to the Emerald. And we're not back in St. Thomas again until December 24th...a bit late to be mailing Christmas cards. So it was now or never. 

After breakfast in the dining room, we gathered up our outgoing mail and headed to the post office, just a five minute walk from the ship. What greeted us there was a line out the door and only two clerks. Oh my. G soon lost interest and I encouraged (begged) him to go and walk around a bit; with our phones, we were within easy contact. It seemed everyone in line had boxes to be mailed. I couldn't figure out if these were passengers and/or crew from the three cruise ships at Havensight mailing things home, or locals mailing things "off island" (as they call it) in preparation for Christmas. Either way, every transaction seemed to be taking forever. I didn't have a box to be mailed, but I did have a padded envelope and a Priority Mail envelope in addition to the cards, so I had no alternative but to wait.

When I finally made it to the front of the line, it became immediately obvious what was taking so long:  every package (and my padded envelope and Priority Mail envelope qualified) being mailed, even back to the US, had to have a customs form completed. It seemed I was encountering the Post Office Nazi when I was instructed to cross out the return address I'd written in the corner of the Priority Mail envelope and re-write it in full, two inches to the right. These sorts of things make me crazy...WHAT is the value in that? When I wrote on the customs form that the Priority envelope contained "documents", I had to start all over on a new form..."What KIND of documents does it contain?" 

Heaven help me.

So, I wrote exactly what it contained:  18 Princess Patters, Eastern Caribbean shore excursion forms and an Emerald Princess ship map for a friend who is soon sailing on the Emerald. Now, really, does the US Government need to know that?

Apparently it does. I must have done more than just think the question, because I was strongly assured by the Post Office Nazi that it was her way or no way. Strongly assured. 

Now I know why it took the 35 people ahead of me in line so long to complete their transactions. They were all writing down every item their bathtub-sized boxes contained, all in the interest of US revenue and security.

I hope you'll sleep better tonight. I know I will. 

At any rate, after what seemed like a lifetime, this inane exercise was finally over and the mission was complete. I phoned G and we re-connected and both decided we were hot and hungry...it was time for lunch. Getting back on the ship, walking up the gangway, that blast of AC from the ship hit us and I think, at that moment, we abandoned any thoughts of getting off the ship again today. 

After lunch, we spent most of the afternoon making business and personal calls, paying bills and surfing the net. G did make it to a hot tub late in the afternoon while I got ready for dinner, and he had some very interesting information for me when we met up in Skywalkers for drinks and hors doerves during sailaway at 5pm.   He had just been in the hot tub with a man who had spent three days this cruise being quarantined in his cabin, not for Norovirus, but for Influenza A. Apparently, the medical center on board has the ability to do cultures, and when his came back as Influenza A, he was quarantined to his cabin (his wife was not), his key card was deactivated and his meals were brought to his cabin and his cabin cleaned by special "hazmat" crew members. 

We knew we had been hearing a LOT of coughing and sneezing on board. I'll give my flu shot the credit for keeping me at a cold and not anything worse. Then tonight when we questioned why the dining room had so many empty tables for two, we were told that several passengers were quarantined.  Since Influenza A is largely an airborne illness, there shouldn't be any lingering germs awaiting the contractors and crew on board for the dry dock, and the cruise departing on December 17th should be fine. 

Other interesting nuggets of knowledge:  Some contractors for the dry dock came on board today in St. Thomas, but most are boarding Friday in Fort Lauderdale. They are staying in passenger cabins on Decks 5 and 8 Forward. Over 200 crew members are going home on December 7th, which means an equal number will be coming onboard the same day or on December 17th. And most crew members we've talked with don't know for certain yet what they'll be doing during the dry dock, but feeding the contractors and intense cleaning seem to be the most likely responsibilities for those in the hotel department. It's going to be a busy time, 24/7.

After dinner, we attended the 7:15pm performance of a comedian, Rodney Johnson. I'm not certain we've seen him before- some of his act seemed remotely familiar, but much of it didn't- but we're harsh critics when it comes to comedians and Rodney is one funny guy. The 7:15pm show was packed, much more crowded than usual; I think people are tired and want to make it an early evening after five port days in a row. On the contrary, we're feeling more energetic every day...because we've certainly had a relaxing cruise. 

While we were sitting in the dining room in Deck 5 for dinner, I looked out and was surprised at the size of the waves outside our window. At almost the exact same time, we heard the stabilizers deploy. I don't remember hearing them at all so far on these three cruises; it's been fairly smooth sailing except for part of one evening. Well, tonight is definitely not smooth, and it's rocking and rolling up here on the back of Deck 14.  It's a "tuck in the sheet to keep from rolling out of bed" kind of night. Love it!

We're going to begin packing tomorrow so we can more fully enjoy Princess Cays on Thursday. We'll look like bag people moving to the Noordam; we're carrying a lot of things in our beach bag, backpack and Princess tote bags to make unpacking easier and faster. And G has to get those two 18-packs of Mountain Dew moved too. I can't think about it...it's going to be a tough day.  But despite all that, we're looking forward to it too.  It's always good to try something new...not that we had a lot of choice in the matter. I'm sure we'll have a wonderful time. It will be like going on vacation, and then returning to the Emerald on December 17th will be like coming home again. 

Life is good!

Photo 1:  the Maasdam at anchor and tendering in Charlotte Amalie harbor, St. Thomas. We spent 24 nights on the Maasdam in 2010, and loved this "little" 1250 passenger ship.

Photo 2:  look closely beyond the Maasdam and Hassel Island and you'll see the behemoth Oasis of the Seas and the much smaller Noordam at the Crown Bay dock

Photo 3:  Havensight shopping area

Photo 4:  sailboats moored in beautiful Charlotte Amalie harbor

Photo 5:  the Maasdam turned to leave as the Emerald Princess pushed away from the dock

Photo 6:  the Carnival Dream and Disney Fantasy remained docked at Havensight as we sailed tonight

Day 8: St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands

Our plan today had been to go to Honeymoon Beach on Water Island, and, had we been docked at Crown Bay, we would have done just that. But you can imagine our surprise this morning when, after 10 consecutive cruises last year where we were docked at Crown Bay on the west aide of Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas, we woke up this morning to very different scenery. We were instead docked about 4 miles east of Crown Bay at the West Indies Company pier at Havensight. This changed our plans for the day completely. The ferry to Water Island is near Crown Bay; it is definitely not near Havensight. After a quick conversation, we decided to make today into a walking day, not a beach day, and my sun-rashy skin heaved a sigh of relief.

After a leisurely (is there any other kind on a cruise ship?) breakfast in the dining room, we started out to climb to the top of the Paradise Point tramway, right next to the ship for our morning exercise. This is a gondola on which we rode on our very first trip to St. Thomas in April 1999 (on what we still refer to as the hottest day we've ever had ANYWHERE). Today, G enticed me to make the climb with the promise of a pure paradise at the top of the mountain at the terminus of the gondola: panoramic views, music, entertainment, food, bushwackers (the drink for which they're famous), restrooms, a ride back down on the gondola, cold water, and buff, shirtless young men dancing around poles off whose biceps I licked salt before being served tequila shots. Okay, maybe not that last one but I can promise you that I imagined them so strongly as I trudged up the hill that I wouldn't have been in the the least surprised to see them greeting me as I arrived at the top.

Instead, after 30 minutes of climbing up a damn steep road, so steep that it was imbedded with traction marks all the way up, we were met with...a closed Paradise Point. Closed. Until this Saturday. No panoramic views, no music, no entertainment, food or bushwackers, no restrooms, no ride back down on the gondola or cold water, certainly no buff, shirtless young men dancing around poles off whose biceps I licked salt before being served tequila shots.

Just a half empty, warm water bottle and a walk back down the damn steep road. And a rain that fell during half the walk down, leaving me uncertain whether I was drenched in sweat or precipitation, and the road so slippery we duck-walked our way down.

It was a healthy way to start the day. Unfortunately, it left G ravenously hungry, and we got back on the ship and he had a second breakfast from the buffet followed up by his first hamburger of the cruise from the pool-side grill.

After a quick trip to a hot tub (him), and a stint in our cabin during which I recharged my phone and checked email, we walked back off the ship for some more exercise. We walked to the western edge of Yacht Haven Grande, a shopping and condo development that is a fairly recent addition to Charlotte Amalie. I remember, when we first started coming to St. Thomas, that it was a caution to walk from Havensight into town. No longer...now it is a beautifully landscaped walk for most of the way, and a fairly safe one the remainder of the way.

After reaching the end of Yacht Haven Grande, we turned around and walked back to the very end of the pier, past the Emerald Princess in the first berth, the Norwegian Epic in the second berth, and the Freedom of the Seas in the third berth. (Also in St. Thomas today, the world's largest cruise ship, the Allure of the Seas, and the much smaller Eurodam, both at Crown Bay. It was a good day to avoid the beaches).

Truth be told, we had read online that the Freedom of the Seas, at the very end of the pier at Havensight, had been fully chartered this week as a "swingers" cruise. I think G was intrigued and wanted to see these swingers in person. Well, the Epic's passengers were the youngest of the three ships at Havensight...youngest and most heavily tattoed. (We ride Harleys and I've still never seen tattoos like these...on women!), but the Freedom's passengers weren't the kind that, well, as G said, they weren't people he'd want to swing with. They weren't necessarily young, but they were incredibly interesting to watch.

Meanwhile, back at the Emerald, the average passenger was two generations older and hadn't swung in at least 40 years...if ever.

Despite being on the younger side of the passenger demographic, we definitely fit in better on the more senior Emerald.

It was after 3:30pm when we returned to the ship. After the rainshower while we were walking down from Paradise Point, the day had turned simply hot and sunny, with about 195% humidity. Cool showers and colder soda really hit the spot.

We were up in Skywalkers for sailaway (shrimp and Cosmopolitan night), and leaving St. Thomas is certainly a beautiful one. Dinner was up next, and then, joy of joys, we were invited to the Most Traveled Passenger cocktail party, where I enjoyed two key lime pie martinis and wonderful conversation with couple Hank and Rosemary who will be back on the Emerald again in January.

It's 10pm and my bedtime. Sunrise tomorrow is not until 6:45pm, and I'm hoping to greet it from Deck 19 during a morning walk. Mom said, when I talked with her today, that Venus was appearing huge in the eastern morning sky in Ohio. Maybe it is in the Caribbean too...

Photos 1 and 2: the walk up to Paradise Point

Photo 3: the view from the top

Photo 4: the Allure of the Seas making her way to Crown Bay (look closely and you'll see the 1900 passenger Eurodam already docked there)

Photo 5: Yacht Haven Grande

Photo 6: Sailway from St. Thomas

Yacht Haven Grande, Charlotte Amalie

This area is just west of Havensight, the primary cruise ship dock in Charlotte Amalie. When we first started coming to St. Thomas, this was a run down commercial area. In recent years it has been developed into very high end stores (Coach, Gucci, etc.), restaurants, expensive condos and dockage for huge yachts.