Our Cruise, part 3

Donna and I have both been to St. Thomas several times in the past. The last time was while aboard the Celebrity Summit, the notorious cruise on which both us ended up with medical bills approaching a thousand dollars. Of the five ports the ship hit we were only able to get off on two, with St. Thomas (the last port) being the only one in which we spent several hours shopping and having lunch. As Donna’s knee was bothering her due to the incident in the tour bus the day before, she decided to spend the day relaxing aboard.

Pete, who had never been on a cruise, was excited at the prospect of heading to one of the local beaches. We had checked out several of the ‘shore excursions’ offered by Carnival, but most included shopping and site-seeing, neither of which interested either of us. The whole point was to spend several hours at a beach, relaxing and not being on the ship’s schedule. Also, the official tours started at around $39 per person with nothing included, except the admission to the beach.

Getting off the ship around 9:30am we found a number of open-air trucks with bench seats. The price chart listed Megan’s Bay, which we had been told was nice, at $10 per person so we decided to take our chances. It was the right choice!

Megan’s Bay is considered one of the most beautiful beaches on the island and it is obvious why. Sandy beaches, under palm trees with picnic tables and a small snack bar & gift shop. It costs $3 person to get in for the day and Pete sprung for another $6 a piece to get a couple of beach chairs. The water in St. Thomas is clear and warm, with small fish swimming right between your legs as you wade in. No jet skis are allowed in the area, and the only motorboats belong to area residents. Only small sail boats, paddle-boats and rafts are available for rental, so you can float and swim with little concern.

We remained for almost three hours, only suffering minor sunburn on our backs and feet. Real Men don’t ask each other to put sun screen on each other, after all!

Oddly it was only $8 each to return to the ship, and the drive back took you along the hills where Pete was able to take some nice photos. I hadn’t taken my camera along, so you’ll have to take my word for how beautiful things were, unless I can find some shots of Megan’s Bay on line. We got back to the ship in time to grab some burgers by the pool and take showers before heading out to dinner later.

The Legend pulled out early that evening and I was able to get some shots. After dinner, we had some drinks and spent a while in the casino. Pete, who was a favorite of the Casino Hostess by now, decided to stay while Donna & I headed back to relax, and get some room service.

The whole point of the cruise was relaxation so the two of us skipped most of the shows. The three we attended were quite good; being the typical stuff you’d see in a Las Vegas or resort show. If you’ve seen this type of thing you’ll know that they are filled with Broadway and movie musical numbers, generally with three or four ‘featured’ singers along with a dozen or so dancer/performers.

Thursday morning found us at the pier in Tortola in the British Virgin Islands. Friends had told us that the beaches here were even more beautiful than those in St. Thomas, but as the ship was only going to be in port until 2:00pm we felt that we’d skip those in favor of some last minute souvenir shopping. I’ve got a few pics of the shopping area, which I’ll eventually get around to posting here. Donna and Pete bought some t-shirts for the various kids back home, checked out a couple of the jewelry shops and then headed back for lunch.

While we had a lot of fun during the cruise, it was fairly uneventful, until Friday night/Saturday morning. I wrote about the man jumping overboard to his apparent death last week, so there isn’t much to add. I don’t want to end all this on a down note.

Again, cruising is In My Humble Opinion the best way to relax with little pressure once you get onboard. I’ve heard that some ‘all inclusive’ resorts are comparable, but I haven’t tried one yet so that remains to be seen.