AT THIS POINT, LET ME SAY THAT JULIE AND I HAVE BEEN VERY FORTUNATE IN NEVER HAVING PROBLEMS ON ANY OF OUR EXCURSIONS, BUT FOR ULTIMATE SAFETY, STAYING WITH OFFICIAL TOUR GROUPS IS ADVISED. IF YOU WANT TO BE AS WILD AS US, ANOTHER TIP WOULD BE TO FIND SOME TRAVELING FRIENDS ON THE SHIP WHO CAN SHARE THE COST AS WELL AS GIVING YOU MORE STRENGTH IN NUMBERS. OUR VACATION STORY IS NOT INTENDED AS AN EXAMPLE BUT TO TELL YOU ABOUT SOME OF THE GREAT PLACES TO VISIT IN THE PORTS.
After breakfast, we got off the ship and walked to find a bus stop, which wasn't as easy as it seemed like it should be. We finally learned that the best spot to catch a bus was by a hospital up on a hill, and we sat there waiting for a bus for twenty minutes or so, telling several jitneys and vans that stopped for us that we were waiting for the bus. It turns out that the jitneys and vans were just as much busses as the busses, however, and we took a van for a dollar a piece to an area called Secret Harbor. An extra buck a piece enticed the driver to take us down right next to the beach. A taxi cab will take you straight to Secret Harbor, if you're not as cheap as us. In fact, you can set it up for him to pick you up with whatever standard cab trick you like to employ (i.e., tear a ten dollar bill in half and give half to the cab driver with the understanding you'll give him the rest when he comes back for you).Secret Harbor is a beautiful beach. Although there's a hotel right there, we still had the beach to ourselves and a half dozen others. We found great snorkeling near the rocks on the left side of the beach. The Blue Moon Cafe, a covered open air bar perched on the beach, provided the perfect place for a Diet Coke during a break, and $2 per soda seemed very reasonable for such a cool place with a great view.
After some more snorkeling, we hiked up the hill to find a bus to Magen's Bay, but when we didn't see any for a long stretch of time, we instead flagged down a jitney going the opposite direction. It happened to be a shuttle between the Bluebird Resort, located in the town near the cruise dock, and the Elysian Resort, its sister on an otherwise deserted stretch of beach. We gave the driver a tip for the ride to the Elysian, where we had Diet Cokes ($2.25 each) and split a bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich ($4.25) at its cafe on the beach. A three foot iguana joined us briefly, walking around the beach like he owned the place. This is another beautiful beach, but we didn't even go in the turquoise water, since we wanted to take the jitney toward town, having become concerned about making it back to the ship on time. For tip only, the shuttle driver dropped us in town, where we walked around checking out the shops. The people all speak with a dialect similar to Jamaica, mon.
As a special note, Carnival told us about shopping in St. Thomas in a presentation on the night we boarded the ship, and the hilarious cruise director, Greg, handed out free shots of flavored rum which can be purchased in St. Thomas. This presentation turned out to be a lot of fun, although it's not really entertainment. We planned to buy this rum at one of the recommended shops at three bottles for $18, but for one reason or another we put off the purchase until we had already taken a $5 taxi ride back to the smaller shopping center by the ship. If you want to buy the booze to take home, listen to the presentation, and buy it at the recommended shops in town and have it delivered to the ship. We ended up buying some Bailey's Irish Cream for $10.95 and rum for $3.95 at a store near the pier, but we didn't get any souvenir bottles like we planned.I went to an art auction, which is an event they hold several times during the cruise. They claim to sell art at a substantial discount from gallery prices. They definitely seem to be good values. I have a feeling most aren't super bargains, but some people seem to buy a lot. I just liked watching and listening. By the end of the trip, we almost bought some signed and numbered lithographs by Alexander Chen at $80 each but chickened out. Time will tell if they would have been great investments.
When onboard during daylight, Julie usually laid by the pool and read, taking occasional slides down the water slide or dips in the pool to cool down. If you're interested in such, there is an adults only/clothing optional sunning area on the top level, but we aren't quite that liberated ourselves.
That evening, we went to our assigned dining room table, where we met our waiter, Johan, a young man from Romania, and our waitress, a pretty girl from Slovania. Although we sat by the picture window overlooking the ocean at a table for eight, the other passengers assigned to our table never once came to join us during the cruise, so we enjoyed intimate dining in the deluxe, two story dining room every night.
I started with cold grilled baby vegetables with soy sauce and then a salad with honey mustard dressing. I ordered the filet of sole marinated in Chardonnay and lemon sauce, which turned out to be the best seafood I've ever tasted. I had apple pie a la mode for desert. I also had a glass of Berringer White Zinfandel with dinner. The menu said this was $4, and I was charged $4.50 plus tip, but it seemed too trivial to complain over. I'd give this meal five stars, as one of the best I've ever tasted.
Julie had the grilled baby vegetables followed by tomato and gin bisque. For her main course, she had veal chops, and for desert, tiramisu.
After dinner, we went shopping at the jewelry sale on the ship. Julie bought some ten dollar red earrings to match her new red dress. We continued to the casino for the rum swizzle party (free rum swizzles for an hour) and bought twenty dollars worth of quarters. Julie dropped most of them quickly into some slot machines before giving me the rest while she went to look at one of the other shops. I switched to video poker, and when I hit four of a kind, winning a hundred dollars, I left a winner, looking for Julie so I could brag.
We headed to the Palladium for the comedy show, which had funny moments but was not what I would call great. We decided to check out the 24 hour pizzeria after the show, and, as embarrassing as it is to admit, we had some pizza as a late night snack before returning to the room to watch the movie RULES OF ENGAGEMENT on television. The nightclubs rocked without us.
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