St. Thomas

 Tuesday, March 4, 2025

The Eurodam was just getting close to St. Thomas when we met Jon and Michelle for breakfast at the buffet. After we ate, Jon went back to their room, but Michelle, Bob and I went down on the promenade deck to watch as we sailed into the port and docked.

I had already decided that I would let the other three do their own thing today and I would stay on the ship. I hated missing out, but my slow speed and sore knee would have kept me (and them) from having much fun. I'm not really a shopper so I didn't feel like I was missing out on that aspect.

After they left the ship, I went back to the promenade deck but switched sides so I could see the enormous yachts out in the harbor. While I was sitting there a small rain squall came over. I found it so fascinating that I could look out and see it pouring rain over one mountain and the adjacent mountain was in bright sunlight! 

Rain on the left, sun on the right!

Because St. Thomas is a U.S. territory, I had full cell service from T-Mobile. I was able to check email and was surprised to see a message from a reporter at a radio station in Tampa concerning the norovirus outbreak onboard the ship. I had put a short post on the Cruise Critic message boards last week and she had managed to contact me through the link in my blog. She asked to do a Zoom call to interview me, but I prefer to stay out of the limelight and declined the offer. Instead I sent her a short reply with an update on how things were being handled on the ship (all food and drinks served, constant cleaning, etc.)

Bob texted me around 11 am and said the three of them were going to take an island tour at noon. They had walked into Charlotte Amalie and spent some time shopping when Jon found a guy doing tours. Bob said they were quoted a price of $40 each but Jon bargained and got the tour for $35/person. We have been to St. Thomas multiple times and on all but one of those days we spent our time at Coki Beach where Bob went scuba diving and I snorkeled so I was happy they were going to get to see more of the island. Here are a some photos from their day...

Checking out the yachts.

Looking down into the water from the dock...trumpet fish!

One of the brief rain showers got them wet!

Michelle walking down a very narrow alley.

The Eurodam and NCL Epic docked at Havensight Pier.

View of Magen's Bay from Mountain Top (Home of the World Famous Banana Daiquiri)

Sapphire Beach

I tend to be an introvert so I enjoyed my quiet day. I was able to get in touch with some people back home and also checked out the weather forecast for Minnesota. A blizzard warning was in effect! I did a little bit of walking on the promenade deck but because of work being done I couldn't make a complete lap. I made a FaceTime call to our middle son and got to talk to my grandson who was home on spring break. He took one look at my view and said "I want to go swimming in that blue lake!"

After nearly two weeks of rich food, I went to the buffet for lunch and had a tuna sandwich. With it being the beginning of Mardis Gras, there were special cakes for dessert, but I opted for a piece of sugar free cherry cake from the dessert station instead.

Bob texted me when they got back to the ship and told me to meet them at the Dive In. That area was pretty crowded so after they ordered we went into the buffet and sat at "our table." The pagers alerted them when the order was ready.

They were all tired from the walking they did and were ready to relax. Their tour had been in an open air taxi but Bob still had over 11,000 steps for the day! The four of us went down to sit in the lounge chairs on the promenade deck overlooking the yachts and the city of Charlotte Amalie. I really do enjoy the open promenade deck on the Eurodam (and Zaandam) and missed it when we have sailed on the larger Pinnacle Class Ships. 

When the time was getting close for sail away, we moved our little group up to the back of the ship by the Sea View Pool. All of the passengers must have been onboard early because the captain pulled away from the dock about 15 minutes early. We didn't get the beautiful sunset we had hoped for but the clouds were still illuminated by the setting sun and interesting to watch.

NCL Epic

Us watching them watching us!

Since the other three had eaten such a late lunch we opted for dinner at the buffet. I had a tiny piece of the grouper (the same recipe that the chef had prepared in the cooking demonstration yesterday), a very spicy piece of fried catfish, some mashed potatoes and also some eggplant parmesan. For dessert, I sampled a little bit of the berry crepe that Bob had.

We sat in the buffet and visited until after 8 pm. The World Stage entertainment was the show, Song & Dance, which we had already seen and no one was even interested in playing cards. Today was the first of six consecutive port days and I predict that we will all be dragging by the end. 

Back in our cabin, Bob and I gathered up what we though we would need for our tour in Antigua the next day and then crawled into bed to watch a movie.