20241227 Friday, December 27, 2024. St Thomas American Virgin Islands

20241227 Friday, December 27, 2024. St Thomas American Virgin Islands

The Norwegian Breakaway and Holland America Eurodam were already tied up at the dock in St Thomas when our ship arrived and backed into its spot at the end of the cruise ship dock.  One nice thing about this itinerary is that we were able to get cellular phone service at Puerto Rico and also St Thomas since both are considered domestic US service for most American cellular phone plans.  

The American Virgin Islands were purchased from Denmark in 1917 by the US because of concerns of the threats of German U-Boats on American shipping through the Panama Canal.  St. John and St. Croix complete the American Virgin Islands.  

The cruise ship dock is adjacent to a large shopping area.  There is a gondola ride that goes to the top of a nearby mountain within a short walk from the cruise pier.  There is a nice waterfront esplanade in front of the old town center which is about 2 miles from the end of the cruise pier, but you have to negotiate traffic and narrow side walks for about 1 mile before getting to the esplanade.  

Oddly enough, although this is an American territory, and motor vehicles have their steering wheels on the left side, they drive on the left side of the street here, like in a British colonial possession.  

We had an early breakfast in the buffet and then sent John and Price off on their introduction to SCUBA excursion.  They had a fun and exciting experience. After their 30-40 minute SCUBA experience, they also got to do snorkeling and free diving.  They did get to see some interesting fish and a ship wreck.  

Ben and Janet walked into the old town and saw Fort Christian, which was actually more of a prison than an important military installation on St Thomas.  It was tiny compared to the fortresses of San Juan Puerto Rico, but being painted brick red, it is a nice landmark.  

Charlotte Amalie is the capital of the American Virgin islands and hosts the local legislature in a waterfront building.  The old town forms a charming shopping district with lots of restaurants and shops.  

American Virgin Island Legislature

One curious thing about the fancy esplanade in front of Charlotte Amalie are the number of wrecked sail boats resting against the esplanade.  We counted at least 4 partially sunken or laying on their side sailboats on the esplanade or shore in front of the town.  There are apparently left over from Hurricanes where the owners simply abandon the boats after getting their insurance checks. 

 

The ship brought aboard a woman and her collection of parrots for an enrichment program in the Piazza.  She had trained crested cockatoo, two macaws, and a pair of cockatiels.  She gave an educational program on what it takes to raise parrots as pets and had many stories of her experiences with these birds.  It sounded a bit like Netflix could do a show on her, but it was an interesting presentation. 

Ben and Janet got together with Katherine for the 4PM trivia, and as has been our usual style, we came in second place.  

John and Price went back ashore after returning from their SCUBA excursion and explored the Pirate Museum, which they thought was most notable for all the artifacts from the piracy era.  They did make it back on the ship before she shoved off.  

Dinner in the Capri dining room featured oxtail soup, beef Wellington and rack of lamb, all of which were delicious.

After dinner we did a Queen trivia which combined name that tune, what’s the next lyric, and Queen general trivia.  We did well, but came in second again.  

We dropped in on the last part of a new magician Nelson Lugo in the Vista Lounge. He did a combination of sleight of hand and mentalist tricks.  The more intimate setting of the Vista Lounge seemed to work well.  There was nothing new or astounding but it was a perfectly average solo magic performance.  

From there, we hiked all the way to the opposite end of the ship for the last Princess Theater performance which was saxophonist Tommy Proulx, who put on a good show, but we were tired and ready for bed.  

That is after a brief stop at the International Cafe where we had a bowl of delicious creamy potato soup while watching people doing country western line dancing in the Piazza.  

The sad reality of receiving luggage tags and disembarkation instructions arrived this afternoon.  Tomorrow is the first of two sea days before we disembark in Fort Lauderdale.  We’ll start packing away our formal clothes as soon as we get them back from the laundry, as well as our excursion clothing and gear.