Sidebar: We actually had that Sapphire Princess cruise as well two or three others booked before it went down to South America for the winter. I’m not sure when or why we changed our minds on them, but it was quite a while ago as our sights had been solely on the Regal for six or seven months.
We had received letters in our cabin a few days ago that we were to go through US immigration in Group F and that they anticipated it would be 8:15am or later. I have no idea how many groups there were- the highest I saw was M- but we initially had no plans for the day so group F was fine with us. We went to breakfast in the Allegro Dining Room (we call it Al’s Diner) and planned our day while we ate.
Since we were docked at Havensight, we decided to try to get to St. John, preferring the longer ferry ride by going directly from Charlotte Amalie instead of the shorter ride from Red Hook. There was a public ferry leaving at 10am for St. John, and a return ferry at 3:45pm. That sounded workable, though we might have had to take a taxi to the Charlotte Amalie waterfront depending on our immigration timing. Then we looked at the Princess excursions using the app and found ‘St. John on your own’ that left at 11am. We are still trying to use up on board credit, so that one sounded perfect.
G ran down to the Shorex Desk to buy the tickets and I went to the cabin to start packing for the day. He called me (St Thomas! We had phone service!) and told me we had to be immediately walked through immigration with an officer as they didn’t want anyone holding up shore excursions due to immigration delays. When I joined them on Deck 5, I was shocked at the mass of humanity in the Piazza. People were packed everywhere waiting for their letter to be called. We were led to the front of line and and cleared and then had a short while to return to the cabin to finish packing for the day.
We later heard that some people were still waiting around noon to get cleared. Moral of the story: either book a ship’s excursion or just avoid the process until they call for last and final passengers (you can go after your letter, but not before). Or don’t book a transatlantic cruise with a US port before the disembarkation port.
When we walked off the ship, we were assaulted by that same hot, muggy air we’d had in Antigua. The large ferry boat was a short walk from the ship, but some people were struggling even with that distance due to the heat. We opted to sit on the upper, open level and I applied a second layer of sunblock while we waited to leave. I had to laugh. G’s yellow shirt, our Tilley hats and Teva Toachi 2s (no longer available), my buckets of sunscreen…it’s been years since we cruised this side of the Caribbean but we fell right back into old patterns.
Upper ferry deck seating
Sapphire and Regal Princess
St. Thomas coast line
The ride to St. John is always a beautiful one, and, because we did it as part of an excursion, it was narrated today with lots of good info (though we heard only part of it up on the open deck). Sadly, Jeffrey Epstein’s Great St. James and Little Saint James islands could be seen on the starboard side, and I thought about how many times we sailed past those islands with no idea about what was happening there. They were recently sold for $125M and the money is being used to settle his many lawsuits.
Once we arrived at Cruz Bay on St. John, the heat quickly squashed any thoughts we might have had about walking around. Instead we jumped on an open taxi for a two hour tour of the island for $35pp. We’ve done this tour several times in the past, but it gives great views of several beaches and neighboring islands as well as provides interesting narration. In fact, driver Kevin was an excellent guide, probably the best we’ve ever had on St John.
Our St. John taxi
Cruz Bay, St. John
Cancel Bay Beach
Trunk Bay
A shower just offshore
Driver Kevin
Trunk Bay
Maho Bay
We saw a few donkeys and one deer in the National Park
My cousin lived and worked on St. John and I remember two things in particular that she told me. First is that whatever you might need from a store, even if it’s just a roll of toilet paper, it costs $50 (15 years ago) just to get you and your car to St. Thomas and back. And when our dads passed way just two weeks apart in July 2010, and we were all in NW Ohio and SE Michigan for few weeks, she said that the heat and humidity on St. John was nothing compared to what we were experiencing. So having been raised there, I really should be used to it. But I’m not. 😉
We chose to sit inside the ferry on our return where it was shaded and air conditioned. Once back on St. Thomas, a couple of people had a tough time walking the short distance from the ferry to the ship, and we were getting cold water from the crew to take back to them. We purchased the excursion very quickly this morning, and I’m not sure the walking part was adequately spelled out, because some people struggled. The heat didn’t help.
There wasn’t enough time to go to the spa to shower, so I used our mini suite shower and thought again that we may be moving to an inside cabin next cruise, but I won’t be totally unhappy about that.
Our Restaurant Manager Roxanna had a special Indian dish, chicken vindaloo, prepared for me tonight, and, oh my, that was so delicious. The same cousin who lived on St. John got me hooked on Indian food, though I rarely have it at home.
This caprese salad was a disgrace.
Heirloom tomatoes? No, unripe tomato slices and two halves of a cherry tomato
Basil? No, tiny (very) piece of arugula
Chicken vindaloo made special for me 💙
I was wiped out after dinner, and decided to skip tonight’s comedian in the Princess Theater. The shows were 30 minutes early to allow for tonight’s Deck party. There was never any thought of making it to that. G did go to the show (he said it was a country music comedian and that he was good). I returned to the cabin where my medallion would not open the door. Grrr.
There is a bit of a story here. Both of our medallions were getting sluggish a couple of days ago. We went to Guest Services where they determined G’s battery was dead but mine was fine. I told them I was staying on for the next cruise, and asked if they could just replace my battery now because it certainly wouldn’t last for the next cruise and they wouldn’t do that. So mine had continued to be sluggish and required me to hold my wrist up to the unlock panel until last night when it quit altogether. Luckily, steward Blinson was nearby and let me in, but I had to remember to get to Guest Services again first thing tomorrow morning.
Apparently G texted me from the Princess Theater before the show even began, but I was already asleep. He returned to the cabin afterward and watched Monday Night Football on TV and I still didn’t wake up. Yep, I was that tired. One port, just one day in port wore me out. Times have certainly changed.
