The Emerald Princess was as steady last night as she's been in over a month, and our sleep reflected that. It was a welcome change to be able to sleep without the jolts and shudders that we've been experiencing since early December. We were up early, completely rested, and had our coffee from the International Cafe and were in the DaVinci Dining Room for breakfast shortly after it opened at 7am. In fact, I had a load of laundry started by 8:30am, and then hung it up in the cabin to dry. It was only then that we discovered that laundry we'd sent to be washed by the ship and that was returned last night was missing a pair of G's undershorts, but, when we mentioned it to Raymond, he was all over it and within an hour or so had located them in the laundry and returned them to us. Go Raymond! I can't tell you what a difference it makes in our overall cruise experience to have a trifecta of an excellent waiter, and junior waiter AND cabin steward.
The Emerald Princess was one of SIX cruise ships in St. Thomas today, and that is not a fun thing. Luckily, we had the very first berth at Havensight today, with the Disney Fantasy and Norwegian Epic at our stern. At Crown Bay were the Royal Princess and Carnival Glory, and the Norwegian Sun was at anchor in the Charlotte Amalie harbor. Things were busy today!
Also busy: AT&T 3G and 4G Internet. While I was able to get online first thing this morning and publish my blog post from yesterday (despite all those photos!), by 10am things were slowing considerably. From then on, I could only get on Internet occasionally. It took several tries to get the Antigua beach video uploaded to YouTube and it wasn't until we were sailing away that I could get it published in my blog.
G had walked off the ship while I was doing laundry to make a deposit in our account at Scotia Bank. It's so easy to do when we're at Havensight. From where we were docked, he could walk right off the ship and into the bank. We coincidentally met up just before 11am, as I was walking off the ship and he was returning to it. He joined me for my walk to Royal Catibbean jewelers, to look at those omega chains I've been admiring for years, but have really wanted since G got me the ammolite pendant a couple of weeks ago. Well, we found exactly what I had in mind...a reversible omega with gold on one side and sterling silver on the other. It really makes the pendant pop in a way that the thin chain it came on did not.
Our task was completed and we walked around Havensight a bit and were still back on the ship by noon. Lunch was pizza and a beer, and then I had to do a bit of work before going up to Deck 19 to walk on the jogging track. The weather today was perfect; it was sunny, but there was a light breeze from the north. We've had wind from the north for a couple of days now, and it cools the air by a couple of degrees, but what it really does is eliminate the humidity. I walked for about an hour, enjoying an audiobook and the impressive views from the highest point of the ship. I could see over Hassel Island to Crown Bay, and the tops of the Royal Princess and the Carnival Glory.
The Norwegian Sun at anchor in the foreground and the Royal Princess and the Carnival Glory in the distance at Crown Bay.
The super yachts in the harbor at Yacht Haven Grande were as large and as many as I'd ever seen. As I like to do, I Googled some of these yachts and their stats are almost too much to fathom.
Among these below:
Lady Britt- owned by a Scandinavian businessman, 207 feet in length, $500,000 weekly charter rate PLUS EXPENSES!
Excellence V- 196 feet in length
Alfa Nero- 270 feet in length, for sale for $190 million in 2008
These make those mere $50 million yachts in the background just pale in comparison, don't they!
Imagine the total value of the four cruise ships, all the super yachts, all the regular yachts and the sailboats moored in Charlotte Amalie harbor today! Somewhere between $5 and $7 BILLION, I guesstimated. Wow.
Finally I returned to the 162 square foot inside cabin in which we reside happily for several months each winter. Tonight, for the third cruise in a row where, on the evening we leave St. Thomas, it's a formal night. I really can't explain it, but it appears to have nothing to do with Boxing Day as I once thought, and not to be a mistake in the Patter (which I had also considered possible). But on these cruises, with JJ Ulrich as the cruise director, formal nights have been the second day at sea when the cruise starts with two of them, and then St. Thomas. I'll let you know if it changes. Anyway, G needed a haircut (I do too, desperately, but I'm holding out for Great Clips on turnaround day in Fort Lauderdale), and it was nice to give him a haircut while the ship was docked (nice, and less dangerous!). I'm getting a bit weary of formal nights, and so went "semi formal" tonight with a silk kimono jacket...and my new necklace, of course! Just before we left the cabin to go up to Skywalkers for the Elite Lounge, I caught this photo of the "front of the ship" webcam on our cabin's TV. I thought the shadow on Charlotte Amalie from the Emerald Princess and clearly showing the bridge wings was kind of interesting.
Sailaway from St. Thomas is always beautiful, and it was nice to enjoy with a Breeza Marina in hand. We were the last cruise ship to leave Havensight, giving us a clear view of the length of the pier that can accommodate three cruise ships.
Dinner with Darko was escargot followed by lobster and lots of laughs with Jim and Marcia (we've asked for them to be seated at our usual table for two by the window and we're sitting at the next table).
And after dinner: a show in the Explorers Lounge with pianist Ryan Ahern. What a thrill that was to be seated just 12 feet from him and 20 feet from the Emerald Princess orchestra that accompanied him. He played a medley of classical music and show tunes and Under the Sea from The Little Mermaid and the theme from Love Story and...oh my, I was so loving it all!
With the moon looking full in a clear night sky, and the lights of Puerto Rico just off our port side, we decided tonight was another Barefoot Bubbly night on the Terrace Deck. We returned to the cabin, changed into shorts and T's, grabbed some cheese and fruit from the Horizon Court Buffet and met up out back. Just us and Anthony the bartender, and moonlight sparkling off the water 15 decks below.
Life is so good.
:-)