The Carnival Victory was in port with us, again.
Doing a safety drill...
The pool deck was packed out. Couldn't find an empty chair anywhere!
We've been to St. Thomas.... five or six times - I've lost count. It's a very popular Caribbean port. Our first experience there was dreadful (we booked an excursion through the ship that went completely wrong - luckily they refunded us), but thankfully we've been back more times to get to know the beautiful island better.
Normally, we go to Magen's Bay, but someone my Dad works with recommend Sapphire Beach, as did our tablemates, so we decided to try it out.
We took a taxi there. I honestly don't remember how long it takes to get to Magen's, so I can't compare travel time.
Sapphire Beach was.... GORGEOUS!!! And not crowded at all!
What I remember about Magen's is that we had to pay for our own beach chairs and then drag them to the spot on the very crowded beach that we wanted. Here (like most other beaches we've been to), they set up our beach chairs for us. There was also plenty of beach - shaded and in the sun - to choose from.
My dad and I ventured down the beach to the resort area.
Ohh, Dad! (I may have been encouraging him....)
Then later we had to take a Tiger Rag picture...
And take Rachel where we had ventured earlier...
There were people at the pool, now!
Including a little girl who reprimanded us for what we were about to do...
So did her grandfather. "If they see you doing that, they'll kick you out!"
Rachel - "Oh, it doesn't matter, we aren't even..... we're leaving today!"
We just needed one jump, that's all.
We took an open air taxi back. The ride was a little rough, and our driver liked to sing along to the music over the intercom... he wasn't exactly an American Idol, but the views were great!
Haha!
The only public school on the island. The taxi driver told us that they have a ferry which brings students from St. John to St. Thomas so that they can attend school.
Swimming center funded by Royal Caribbean
We returned to the ship and went straight to the Windjammer for our late lunch/snack/pre-dinner. This will become routine.
Rachel and I did a little hot tubbing before returning to our cabin to watch the ship set sail from our balcony and get ready for our first formal night!
Our cabin attendant had hung up our Clemson Santa hats!
Tonight was supposed to be the Captain's Party, but there was a medical emergency onboard (later heard that it was a crew member), so about 30 minutes after we had set sail, we turned the ship back around so we could take this person to the hospital in St. Thomas. They announced several times that this would NOT delay our arrival in St. Maarten tomorrow. However, the captain was unable to attend the party. Sooooo.... they would be doing the entire shindig again on the next formal night - free drinks and all! Heck yeah!!!
It was sparkly dress night... then again, every formal night is a sparkly dress night.
Sadly, we don't have a picture of dear Dad. He was looking mighty spiffy in his black suit with a pink dress shirt and burgundy tie.
We had pictures taken by their photographer on the staircase. That was the only set of pictures we had taken because we were too consumed by the freebies at the Captain's Party. Also, Mom doesn't like the fake backgrounds, so we always opt for the real staircase, Christmas tree, or Centrum/Promenade/in this case giant chandelier photo.
Well, the next day we went to look at our pictures and... one of our family shots was blurry and the other family shot (actually a good one of us) cut off my left arm while leaving a 3 inch space of random people in the background on the other side of the photo. This is the first time we had worn these dresses, so we were hoping to buy a picture of them... ohh, well!
I'm not really a foodie, nor do I remember what I ate for dinner each night, so I apologize for my lack of food reports. I will try to get better at that in the future!
After dinner, Rachel and I went back to the stateroom to find this little guy...
We had agreed to meet the people we met last night at Jester's again, but we wanted to see the comedy show. So we went there and asked them if they wanted to see it, too. Then we left and went to the late night comedian.
He wasn't very funny. And I think he seriously offended some Puerto Ricans. I mean, everyone expects to get picked on for their stereotype.... but this guy was starting to be a little cruel. He was asking people their jobs. "Any doctors?" Someone said they were a dentist. "Any doctors?" haha... hadn't heard that before. Someone else raised their hand as being a doctor, a surgeon. "Where do you work?" Puerto Rico. "Any doctors?" No one was laughing. I think the humor might have been lost in translation.
After that, we went back to the club, and the place was pretty hopping. So we danced. It was really fun - probably the most fun night at the club during the entire cruise.
NEXT: Day 3 - St. Maarten
No comments:
Post a Comment