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.

St. Thomas

February 8, 2023

My iPhone health app showed I was within a few steps of having 11,000 total yeseterday (4.6 miles) and most of it was done in the heat. You would have thought I would have slept well, but I had trouble drifting off. My theory? The ship was still docked and I have gotten to the point where I can't sleep without the rocking of the ship. I was aware when we sailed and after that I slept much better.

The Nieuw Statendam covered the short distance to St. Thomas overnight and we were already docked when we woke up this morning. When I looked out the balcony door I felt like I was living amongst the lifestyles of the rich and famous!

I had made up my mind that I wasn't getting off the ship today. With six ships scheduled to be in St. Thomas, I knew any beach we went to would be crazy crowded. Shopping isn't my thing so I will just stay onboard and pretend that the Nieuw Statendam is my private luxury yacht while everyone else is on shore.

My original plan for this port was to take the gondola up to the top of Paradise Point. Once I decided to not get off, Bob left to "go for a walk". I could track his location on my iPhone and it didn't take me long to see where he was headed...up the mountain to the top of Paradise Point! He at least sent a video from the top so I could see the view.

This is the way "most" people get to the top of Paradise Point.

This is the way Bob got to the top of Paradise Point...walking up this steep road.

His reward for the long strenuous hike.

This was also a view he had while at Paradise Point. 😲

I couldn't believe how quickly he made the walk UP and then back DOWN the mountain and back on the ship again. Since a strenuous hike wasn't enough exercise, he went to the gym to lift weights. Me? I was perfectly happy sitting on the balcony. Great weather, good cell phone service and a million dollar view.

And speaking of a million dollar view...I actually had a three hundred million dollar view.
This yacht, owned by Nancy Walton, heir to the Walmart fortune, was purchased for $300 million!

Going to the NY Deli & Pizza seemed like a good option for lunch while so many passengers were off the ship. I tried a Bronx Pizza (lots of meat) and Bob got a Rueben sandwich...and we both got salads. For dessert we walked back through the buffet and Bob had a pineapple soft serve ice cream cone and I got a sugar free almond cake.

I thought Bob might be ready to relax, but he left the ship again and walked along the shoreline of the marina. I changed into my swimsuit and relocated to the sea view pool with a view of the Disney Fantasy. Several times I went into the pool, but the water was very chilly so I didn't stay long. Bob showed up about 2 pm to say he was back from his walk but was going to play pickleball on the Sport's Deck. That man can't eat enough calories in a day to keep his body fueled!

This time Bob's walk took him in the opposite direction.

No shortage of available chairs by the pool today!

A little after 3 pm the pool area was getting more crowded and I knew I had been in the sun long enough. Our balcony was in the shade and an interesting place to be with all of the boat traffic coming and going. We follow several YouTube channels of people who live full time on sailboats and catamarans and I wondered how many of the boats moored in the bay were full timers? There were lots of dinghies coming and going with people shuttling between their boats and the shore.

Dinghy dock was a busy place.

Sail away from St. Thomas is always beautiful and we were able to enjoy it from the balcony. The Norwegian Encore was still tied to the dock as we left. Once we were out to sea, we showered and got ready for our 6:30 pm dinner reservation at the Asian specialty restaurant, Tamarind. Things looked hopeful for a good sunset, but then the sun disappeared into a bank of clouds and that was that.

We had eaten at Tamarind when we were on the Eurodam in Alaska last year and like it enough to repeat. Having a nice sum of onboard credit made the decision even easier. 

After we finished eating, it was too late to make the early show at the World Stage so we went back to the cabin and sat on the balcony. Off in the distance we could see lights on land and from looking at our location on Google Maps, we decided it was probably San Juan. With Bob's binoculars we could also see four other ships in the distance. One was definitely a cruise ship, but the other three were too far away to distinguish.

For starters, Bob had the Satay Sampler and I had the Lobster & Shrimp Potstickers

Main course: Bob had the Szechuan Shrimp and I had the Wasabi & Soy Crusted Beef Tenderloin. 

For dessert we both had the sorbet assortment.

It had been several years since we had last seen the "Seven Worlds One Planet" BBC Earth Show and much of it I had forgotten. The Lincoln Center Stage quartet provided the accompaniment to the video and it was so much better than on the Zaandam when only the violin and piano duo played.

Tomorrow would be the last sea day of the cruise. Seven day cruises just seem to fly by!!

St. Thomas

Sunday, November 17, 2019

I could save myself the trouble of writing a blog post today and just copy and paste one from a previous visit to St. Thomas. After stopping at this island multiple times, we did exactly what we have done in the past...spend the day at Coki Beach. It's not that Coki Beach is the most beautiful or the most convenient, but it just works well when some of the group wants to scuba dive and the others don't.

Our day started by meeting Jon and Michelle for breakfast at 7:15 at the buffet. We didn't dawdle and were ready to go when the ship was cleared and the gangway was ready. I expected to travel to Coki Beach in one of the common open-air taxis, but instead we were assigned to a van taxi with a few people going the same direction. Some of the others were going kayaking and a few more were going to catch the ferry to St. John to spend the day snorkeling. Since we would be getting off last, we were told to sit in the back of the van which was not easy with our big beach bags and scuba gear.

Jon and Bob had a dive scheduled with Coki Dive Center at 9 am and we arrived a little after 8:30 am. Once the guys had checked in for their dives, Michelle and I walked down the stairway the leads to the beach.

At that time of the morning the beach was pretty deserted...except for a mother hen and her chicks scratching around the sand looking for something to eat. I had (jokingly) told Michelle that there would be a guy with dreadlocks and no teeth renting chairs and that pretty well describes the man we gave $10 to for a couple of well worn lounges.

Our private beach.

For a short time, it was just us and the chickens!

We pulled our chairs up under a tree for some shade and settled in. I got out my GoPro to get some video of the waves washing up on the beach and looked up and saw the most beautiful rainbow. A postcard view!

Here is a link to the video I made of the waves lapping up onto the beach. My Escape to Paradise video! Watching this will help me get through our long, cold Minnesota winter!

Michelle and I alternated between our lounge chairs, floating on our noodles and snorkeling. Later, when Jon watched the video I took, he had a hard time believing how many fish we had seen! Certainly more than they did during their dive! It was like swimming in an aquarium!

During the morning it began to sprinkle off and on and then it changed to a heavy, steady rain. Trying to put our bags and towels up under the tree to stay dry was futile, but we had everything of value sealed in ziplock bags so no harm was done. Eventually the clouds moved on and the sun returned.

During the rain, the water became this incredible shade of aqua!

By noon we were starting to wonder if the guys were coming back! There were some ladies walking down the beach selling jewelry, but we were more interested in the older lady who had a basket full of warm, freshly made empenadas. We bought the last two for $3/each and they were delicious!

It was around 1:15 when Bob and Jon got back, but we still had to wait until a separate truck returned with their gear. Another van taxi was waiting when we left the beach and it dropped us off at the shopping area next to the Havensight dock. I was anxious to get back on the ship because our bags full of wet towels and snorkel equipment weighed a ton. Michelle made a brief stop at the Pandora store and where she bought a charm, but otherwise no shopping for us.

We dropped off our stuff in the cabin and without showering, went directly to the buffet. By that time (around 2:30) there were just pre-made sandwiches at the buffet which didn't look too appetizing. The next best option was getting some nachos from the Dive In and sharing a little of the pizza that Jon ordered. We had good cell service so got to FaceTime our son and grandkids back in Minnesota while we ate.

The four of us went out on the promenade deck and enjoyed the beautiful view of St. Thomas. We decided that we wanted to watch as the Veendam sailed away from St. Thomas, so Bob ran up to the dining room to let them know we would not be coming to dinner at our usual time. (After such a late lunch no one wanted an early dinner anyway!) Technically our table was part of the "anytime dining" section and we wanted to make the table available to someone else.

The Volendam was docked right behind us and left first. Then it was our turn. About the same time, we saw the Celebrity Summit leaving from the other dock in St. Thomas, Crown Bay. Our early dinner time had kept us from seeing sunsets during the cruise, but we more than made up for it this evening.

The Volendam pulling away from the dock.

The Volendam sailing off into the sunset.

A storm brewing on the horizon as the pilot boat left the Veendam.

Celebrity Summit after leaving Crown Bay.

The Celebrity Summit sailing past the storm.

When the skies were totally dark and the Veendam was on her way, we went to the dining room. There was no wait and even though we were seated at a different table, we were still in the same section with our regular waiter, Oka!

With a sea day coming up and the chance to sleep late, I didn't mind that we went to the late show in the theater. If we hadn't already had enough comedy shows, it was another comedian. Chris Pendleton was the headliner and someone we had seen on a previous cruise. We had enjoyed her before (yes...Chris is a "she") but for some reason she just didn't seem as funny the second time around. And although the comedy was lacking, we did enjoy the musical portion of her show. Chris is an accomplished violinist and includes her daughter, Zoe, in the show. For such a young age, Zoe is also very talented on the violin.

With the later evening, our routine card game was not going to happen. We went to the lido just long enough to get something to drink and then back to the cabin.

I was startled when I opened the door, flipped on the light and saw what looked like a man dressed in black being hung! Bob had worn a full wetsuit when diving and trying to get it dried out was proving to be difficult in an inside cabin. (A balcony would have been nice for this!) He had it on a hanger which was hooked around a super strong magnetic that he had stuck to the ceiling. At first glance it really did look like a person!