In St. Croix, large cruise ships dock in Frederiksted, which my guidebook calls “a sleepy town” and suggests I “spend as little time as possible” there. Following a squall line (wind, torrential rain) passing through, we headed out and deceived to remain in Frederiksted for the morning.

The historic Fort Fredriksted, at the base of the pier, is rather modest. It looks more like a ranch-style home with cannons in the backyard pointed out to sea. Behind the fort is a small children’s park with playground equipment. Emerson happily spent a while there on the swings and jungle gyms.

Once done with the park, we strolled through town and along the waterfront. The architecture was charming and generally in good repair. There were a handful of tourist-centric shops and a couple of restaurants/bars (a few of which we’re closed as it was Monday). I bought us drinks at the local pharmacy, which was located (along with the USVI Supreme Court) right in what is normally the highly touristy, duty free shopping zone in other port towns.

All in all, we liked Frederiksted.

I noticed the breeze was picking up and the sky growing cloudy to our east. Being a Floridian, you know a thing about tropical moisture. So, we decided to head back to the ship to avoid getting soaked, and we almost made it before the next downpour!

After lunch, I took Emerson to the kiddie pool, which she loves. She played happily with a nine year old, who didn’t seem to mind she was only three. We then returned to the cabin for an afternoon nap, which Emerson always complains about but ultimately takes.

We ordered room service for dinner in order to have time to catch the 7:00 show. The show featured a variety of numbers from musical theater. Emerson sat riveted by it–for a three year old, she can really focus (if/when she wants to). We mostly enjoyed her enjoying it… this isn’t the West End after all.

We all went to bed early (again). I’m getting over a cold, and Libby and I had frantic weeks leading up to this trip. So, we’re pretty happy just relaxing… such as one can with a three year old in tow anyway.

Note: I’d have added some photos, but I’m posting this from a bar in Antigua. WiFi cost me a beer, but unlike the beer it’s not very good.

Oh well, cheers!

After breakfast we took a taxi ($8/pp.) to the beach at Megans Bay. Despite coming to St. Thomas on two other occasions, we’d never been to this beach before. It’s a really beautiful spot…

As an added bonus, today was blissfully tourist free: Jewel was the only ship in town. As such, Megans Bay–as well as the rest of the island–was fairly vacant as well. This gave us plenty of elbow room to frolic in the surf and swim among the tropical fish.

We returned to the ship for a light lunch in the Windjammer. Tonight we’re having dinner at Chops (despite Emerson being underage per their policy… the host agreed to let us book a table). Bonus!

I might update this post tomorrow talking about our dinner (or not, as I’ve probably reviewed Chops multiple times before).

In either case, you can enjoy our view overlooking downtown St. Thomas:

We awoke early today in order to take full advantage of our 7:00am arrival in St. Thomas. While most the the ship was still waking up, we three were taking a private tour of the island with my grandfather and mother. On prior visit to St. Thomas, Libby and I hung out only in downtown Charlotte Amalie, which was a mistake. St. Thomas is beautiful!

Megan’s Bay and Atlantic Ocean view:

Caribbean view, including our ship:

Unfortunately, Libby’s parents weren’t able to join us or take the optional excursion they’d booked. Instead, they were in the ship’s infirmary, as Dad came down with the norovirus. He’s now quarantined for 24 hours. All in all, the stomach flu isn’t a gift to be thankful for. It’s especially unfortunate/unlucky as they cruise less frequently than us. Poor guy–he’ll be spending his Thanksgiving in his cabin.

Libby and I also did some shopping today in Charlotte Amalie while Mom and Pop watched Emerson. No major purchases for us… honestly, I don’t think St. Thomas is a bargain paradise. We can do as well or better at home or on the Internet…

Tonight’s our second and final formal night, a Thanksgiving feast with all the trimmings (though I’m going to have the beef tenderloin in brioche).

That’s all for now… gotta go: the ice is melting in my rum and Coke (and, yes, I snuck the rum aboard, being the rebel that I am).

Happy Thanksgiving!

We started the morning with specialty coffees, which we enjoyed out on our balcony. We then proceeded into town via a short, cheap ($4/pp.) taxi ride. Princess docks well outside of Charlotte Amalie at Crown Bay. It’s not the most convenient, but it’s perfectly workable.

We arrived in downtown around 10am. Charlotte Amalie sits on a picturesque bay. Two other ships were in port with us: Carnival Victory and Celebrity Equinox. The town has few sights but a lot of duty free shopping. Indeed, it’s something of a Mecca for jewelry shopping. I have to say though, neither of us were blown away by the duty free “deals.” Since I have Internet access, I did a little real-time price comparisons on two items. At the lower end of the market, I found a Seiko watch ($170 in St. Thomas) online for $160. At the high end of the market, I priced out a $20,000 Bregeut watch (which I tried on!) at the same rate in St. Thomas as online. We found a similar pattern in women’s jewelry. Bottom line: while the prices in St. Thomas are good, they seem to be far from extraordinary relative to US market prices (regardless of the deep discount from MSRP / list prices).

All in all, we spent about four hours wandering around the city. We returned to the ship at 2pm for a light snack before our balcony dining tonight. We spent the rest of the afternoon lounging about just watching the world go by. The view from our cabin is wonderful (as noted above) and made for a nice backdrop to a leisurely afternoon.

Tonight was formal night, which we skipped. Instead, we did “Ultimate Balcony Dining” with an emphasis on ULTIMATE. Where to start? Setup began at 6:10… table, linens, stemware, LED “candle,” rose bouquet, water pitchers, ice buckets, oh my!

After all was setup, the photographer arrived to take a series of sunset pictures with us (the dinner includes an 8×10 photo). We were then served our cocktails (strawberry daiquiri and mojito respectively) and a selection of canapés (shrimp, salmon, two kinds of caviar, ham, etc.). Next, we had wonderful blue crab cakes with a mustard cream sauce served in a puff pastry crown. This was followed by a mesclun salad with marinated cherve, olives, and walnuts dressed with an aged balsamic vinaigrette.

For our main, we opted for the surf ‘n turf: a very generously sized grilled filet of beef tenderloin and two broiled lobster tails… for each of us! All of this was washed down with the included bottle of sparkling wine.

We ended with the Princess Chocolate Symphony: a series of dark, Swiss, milk, and white chocolate mouse quenelles served with fresh berries in a white chocolate cup. In addition, they served us wonderful coffees and an entire plate full of friandises!

By the end of the meal, we were moaning out in gastronomic joy like two actors trying out for Bill Murray’s role in a sequel to the “What About Bob?” dinner scene. The service, provided by Jaime and Manny (both seasoned, veteran waiters), was utterly flawless and simply enjoyable. The cost of this experience? $100 per couple. The value of the experience? priceless! This was just a magical meal and an utterly memorable experience–one of the all-time greats aboard any cruise ship!

Here’s a photo of the table setup:

Today’s box score: +1 “country” (USVI)