November 6-10 – the Caribbean to Fort Lauderdale

BLOG ENTRY: November 6-10 – the Caribbean to Fort Lauderdale

Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas Island

We awoke to find our cruise ship docking at the port town of Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas island, US Virgin Islands, in the Caribbean. It was hot. By 9am we were off the ship and found a port side mall with maybe 50 stores, a few of which were already opened and gratefully air-conditioned. We checked out the prices and then took a taxi to the town, about 2kms, for $4 each.

Charlotte Amalie is a beautiful port town on seemingly idyllic St. Thomas island, with about 54,000 inhabitants. Green hills seem to appear stealthily out of the ocean like the loch ness monster. Getting out of the taxi we started walking along the main street which runs along the picturesque bay. We were, though, clearly in North America, gone are the building walled, narrow, gleaming, cobblestone streets of ancient European cities, replaced by pavement, and openness. Stores are often quancet style or wood/metal construction. As we walked along the bay street of the town some narrow streets appeared but had not been honed like the European ones. We finally seemed to be at the end of the commercial area which was finished with a hotel. It was so hot we took a cab back to the boat. Seeing a supermarket on the way and nearby our cruise ship we got out to pick up some basics.

It was a local supermarket. As with other buildings it was metal construction, and while the indside was basically like our supermarkets at home, it was perhaps like ours were in the 1950s, well stocked but not as clean, modern, and well organized. We picked up our items and walked back towards the cruise ship. On the way we found an internet cafe and checked out our email, blog, and bank sites. Afterwards it was raining. We donned our umbrella and headed toward the ship. The rain was incredibly warm, warmer than any rain I had ever felt – maybe 86 degrees. We both recalled our days on the farm when the cold rains were used as showers, and dreamed of using this warm rain for showering.

Arriving back at the dockside mall, we did a little shopping: 1L Bacardi 8yr Rum 16.95; 1L Cdn Club 10.95; 1L Mango Rum 10.95; 1L Appleton 12yr Jamaica Rum 19.95. We also found some costume jewellery and t-shirts for family members.

Back on the boat by 2:30pm we learned that the temperature was 40 Celcius 104 Farenheit. Later a friend explained that Charlotte Amalie is on the Caribbean side of the island and therefore the sea is, much warmer than the Atlantic which also at that latitude, is about 86 degrees farenheit, like a swimming pool that is too warm.

The ship left for San Juan Puerto Rico at 1am.

Saturday, December 8 - San Juan, Puerto Rico

We awoke Saturday to find our ship docked in San Juan. The view from our shipside balcony was one of a large city wrapped around a beautiful bay, somewhat like Vancouver and Horseshoe Bay. We ate a leisurely breakfast, and headed out to explore the area nearby the dock. The temperature was nearly the same as in St. Thomas but the heat was not as unbearable. As we left the ship around 9am we entered a modern building built like half sea shells stacked beside each other. A covered walkway led us to the shore. The shore was well developed with stores, hotels and ancient buildings. A Sheraton hotel with Casino was the first large establishment. We had heard that we could find phones there but it was too early to call our children in Saskatoon, so we continued exploring the area. A few tourist stores were open. We continued walking along a few narrow streets until we came across a coffee shop which was reputed to have wireless internet access for free. We found it but we needed a computer, so we had delicious and artistically designed coffees: cappuccino for Rose and latte for me. Another elderly couple from Czech Republic, entered looking for internet access, but they did not have a computer. Their daughter who lives in Toronto had given them the cruise for their 50th wedding anniversary. We agreed to come back in the afternoon and provide them access to the internet through our computer. After coffee we went across the street to a local town square and looked at some hand crafts on display, then headed back to the ship for lunch. We stopped at the Sheraton to call the children but the 1-888 number for the USA on our prepaid calling card did not work.

After lunch Rose stayed on the air conditioned ship to rest and keep cool. I headed out with the Czech to the internet cafe. The Czech couple did there email work and headed back to the ship. I did mine, and also obtained the prepaid Shaw phone card 1-800 number for Puerto Rico. On the way back I tried to call the children again with the new number, but it still did not work. Back on the boat we had our afternoon social hour with the last of our scotch, rum, and Pringles Sour Cream and Onion, headed up for dinner at 6:15 and to the evening theatre show at 8:15 for a classical performance of Carmen Opera pieces. The ship left Puerto Rico at 2am Sunday for the 2 day trip to Fort Lauderdale.

November 8-9 at sea, and arrival at Fort Lauderdale November 10

Our days at sea on MSC Poesia are always a joy. No bags to pack and lug around. We have breakfast and check the daily ship newsletter for activities. Rose headed out for a vegetable and fruit carving demonstration. I went to the stretching program, followed by some sun tanning and a session in the pool. After lunch Rose read and rested while I somehow ended up in a very enjoyable hour long 'volleyball' (more like water polo) tournament in the pool. The game finally ended with our team winning and I dragged myself out of the pool. I was surprised to receive a compliment from a lovely young French maiden: “Vous avez jouer très bien” she said. “Merci”, I said, and dragged myself back to our cabin for our afternoon social hour. In the evening we had our 4th “Gala” dinner, a time when the ship encourages passengers to dress to the nine’s for a short social including free drinks in the Zebra lounge and talk from the Captain in the Carlo Rossi Theatre, this time to thank us on behalf of the staff, for joining their cruise. The menu was also special with several beef, vegetable and seafood options, all done reasonably well, but nothing to brag about. The finaly dessert though was very well done - flaming baked alaska. 

Monday, morning Rose washed laundry in the bathroom sink again. After stretching, sun tanning and pool time, I returned to the cabin. We started packing to leave the ship tomorrow morning and attended the Disembarkation seminar in the Carlo Rossi Theatre at 11. We went to lunch and completed our packing while watching a few movies on the TV. I finished organizing my receipts throughout the trip. We had our social hour and dinner and readied ourselves for our early 6am rise on Tuesday. We had to have our bags in the hall by 1am for them to be transported to the terminal on the dock. We rose at 6am for breakfast and had to be in the Carol Rossi Theatre by 7:30am for the disembarkation procedure.