Day 5 - Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas
Wednesday, October 5, 2005
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We pulled into St. Thomas bright and early—and I do mean bright and and I do mean early. It was something like 6am and it was blindingly sunny and bright when Tom pulled back the curtains! All passengers had to pass through on-board immigration so by the time they got to our deck, we had already had breakfast and were ready to hit the town. We hadn’t really decided what we were going to do (aside from shopping) because the weather has been shaky all week. Once we got off the taxi in town, we were bombarded with “I’ll make you a special deal” offers of tours around the island with swimming stops at the beaches. Part of me wanted to take one, but I always feel I’m getting ripped off (although I’m sure it was a fine deal)…and we weren’t really sure we wanted to go to the beach or see the island anyway. So, we went shopping. And when I say we went shopping, I mean we looked at some things and couldn’t even bring ourselves to go into stores like Cartier. St. Thomas is ALL about shopping and good deals on diamonds and jewels and watches, but we just didn’t have money in our budget for anything expensive, so our shopping was mainly just the window variety. Just wandering in and out of the shops was fun, though, and we now know where we need to come back to when we can afford Tom’s Rolex (didn’t even look at prices) and the Hearts-On-Fire earrings to match my wedding ring (the smallest pair they had could have been mine for the low low price of $850)!
We did get some small souvenirs like a beach tote (to carry all our stuff—the bag the ship gave us was too small), a T-shirt, and a silver dolphin slide for a necklace I already have at home. The one thing that did start to get a bit annoying was all the shopkeeps standing on the street, beckoning you into their stores with tales of “50% off all jewelry” or whatever their particular bargain is...because EVERYTHING is on sale in St. Thomas!! We wandered for quite some time and found a few gifts, meanwhile chatting with some of the (obviously) non-native workers. One girl had a coffee mug with a UP sticker on it and I jokingly asked Tom what he thought it stood for and he said “Upper Peninsula” and I said “Yeah, right” and asked the girl and she said “Upper Peninsula.” Turns out she was from Marquette. Small world.
We did end up splurging on a watch for each of us—Tom has been drooling over watches on board the ship all week, and he found a better deal on a watch he liked better, so we decided it would be his present for when he makes captain, LOL, and that he can wear it to formal night tomorrow, but he can’t wear it at home until he actually makes Captain. (Yeah, I doubt that will happen, either!) I got a dress watch that’s really quite pretty (two-tone with an oval, diamond-encrusted, mother-of-pearl face)…I figure I would never spend that much on a watch, but in the grand scheme of things, it wasn’t bad at all (my massage was more if you can believe it—and just thinking about that makes me sick because had I known—or even thought—I was going to get a watch, I would not have gotten the massage)…but the watch will probably last me the rest of my life (what with the few times I have a need to wear a dress watch) so it’s all good.
At one point, we had stopped to have a seat to gather our thoughts and plan where we wanted to go next, and a couple stopped us to ask what we thought of our ship. The husband was a bit confused and asked her how she knew we were on that particular cruise (since there are three ships in port) and she pointed to our “Zuiderdam” bag we were carrying! Long story short, they wanted our opinion on the ship/line because they had been on 12 cruises and were thinking of trying Holland America. We admitted this was our first cruise so we had absolutely nothing to compare it to, but the ship was nice, the food has been excellent, and the service unparalleled. They said they had heard great things and would now seriously consider the line. We asked what recommendations they had, and they warned us to stay away from Carnival and Princess—that we had been spoiled by the service on HAL and would not be happy with some of the other lines!—but that they would recommend Royal Caribbean. So, it looks like we really lucked out with the cruise we chose. It’s really interesting to just sit back and listen to people talk about cruising—it’s amazing the number of people who cruise extensively. We overheard two couples talking about this being their fifth or so cruise this year. THIS YEAR! And talking about cruising like we’d talk about going to town for dinner. I WANT TO BE THEM!!
About this time, we decided to head back to the ship, as we saw some dark clouds rolling in—and we also wanted to make it back in time for lunch! (We did, however, stop to get a small order of sushi, just so I could say I had sushi on St. Thomas.) We made it back just in time, as it started POURING while we were eating. (Now, about an hour later, it’s cloudy and overcast but it has stopped raining.) We had tossed around the idea of going back out (there’s a mini mall shopping area right next to the dock, but it’s pretty much all the same stores we visited today and we’ve seriously blown our wad already so why tempt fate? There is a skyway tram ride I’d sort of be interested in (within walking distance even) but I’m actually feeling quite content right now…and I might actually need to take a nap if we’re going to be up late tonight (we have dinner reservations at 6:30 in the upscale restaurant, plus we want to go to the late show tonight at 10:30). Since we’ve not been up past 11 since the cruise started, we figure we should get at least one late night in!
On our way to dinner, we stopped to get our portraits taken—a few times a week, they have photographers around the ship to take professional-style portraits and the prices are NOT bad at all. Hopefully we will get a great shot and we’ll have a nice picture of us. The only bad thing is that the poses were really at the photographer’s discretion and they were (to me) unnatural poses. We’ll see what we think of them when we see them tomorrow. Like I said, I am hoping for at least ONE good one.
So, dinner. I just have one word: EXTRAORDINARY! Really. Of course, it started with delicious bread with seasoned oil for dipping. Oh. My. God. I could have made an entire meal out of just that! Tom didn’t eat any bread at all since he had already snuck a peak at the menu and was thinking about the 22oz porterhouse! It took about three seconds to decide what I wanted—as soon as I saw filet mignon with béarnaise sauce…that’s my favorite cut of meat and my favorite sauce! However, just in case we hadn’t decided, they rolled out the meat tray (okay, meat tray sounds bad, but it was really quite fancy!) and showed us the exact cuts we would be getting. It was gorgeous just sitting on the platter! So, I had the petite cut filet mignon (their petite was 7oz and the pinnacle cut was 10oz!) and asparagus, both with béarnaise. Tom had the 22oz porterhouse with béarnaise and scalloped potatoes. We were both really wondering what the actual quality of the meal was going to be—yes, it’s the fancy schmancy restaurant that you have to pay extra to eat at—but we’d been eating great meals all week in the dining room, so we couldn’t wait to compare. Then our meals came.
OH.
MY.
GOD.
My filet was honestly the best steak I have even eaten in my life. It had the most delicious seasoned crust, it was cooked a perfect medium rare, and it was melt-in-your-mouth delicious. Tom said his steak was in his top five (so I guess my steak was better!). After we gorged ourselves on dinner, out came the dessert menu. I had Warm Grand Marnier Chocolate Volcano Cake (“the ultimate chocolate experience”) and Tom had Pinnacle Crème Brûlee (“flavors of chocolate, coffee & vanilla bean”). I also had a glass of Claar Cellars Late Harvest Riesling—we have GOT to find that wine on shore!! We walked out pleasantly stuffed and very pleased with our dinner! (Although, admittedly, we felt a little guilty for not eating in the dining room!)
After dinner we went up to the Crow’s Nest to have the drink of the day—a Lemon Drop. The ship was rolling so much that it was hard to walk with the drink (in a martini glass) without spilling it! We had some time to waste before the 9:30 show, so we decided to go to the 8:30 show featuring a past Olympic gymnast, Lance Ringnald. Unfortunately, we were a few minutes late so the lights were already down and we couldn’t find anywhere to sit, so we had to stand for most of it (until a couple near us left and we took their seats). He was really quite good—and funny. When he said he needed to take a break (after performing a rigorous routine on the silks—the strips of fabric hanging from the ceiling, as seen on Cirque de Soleil) he jumped up on stage with the band and played the piano and sang! We honestly hadn’t been expecting much with the show, so it was a really nice surprise! After that show, we had a bit more time to waste until the 10:30 comedy show, so Tom suggested we go to the casino (it was another smokeless night). I didn’t really want to go—I didn’t want to chance losing any money (since I had come out ahead both other nights) but we each got our roll of nickels…and were done in about 15 minutes. We didn’t win anything. Bah humbug. We’re still up for the week, but it really bothers me that we lost $4 for nothing. (Now you can see why I only play nickels. I would have a REALLY hard time losing quarters.)
We decided to head to the lounge a little early, figuring we would just get seats and take it easy while waiting…except there was already a karaoke show going on and the place was packed—standing room only! So, of course, when it was over, about 95% of the people stayed, so there really weren’t enough seats for everyone there. And let me just take a minute here to complain about the old people on this cruise. I have rarely seen such rudeness. (I know, not all of them, but a few rotten apples…) Before the lights even came up (so you could have a chance to see where there might be seats), and instead of waiting their turn in the line that had been forming, they were literally pushing you aside to get in front of you. I was pushed aside by no less than four couples rushing to get seats. Not one of them ever issued a single “excuse me.” ARGH! So, we ended up standing for the entire hour show—the second one in a row. Damn old people. Anyway, the comedy show was funny and we’re glad we went, even though we did have to stand.
After the show, we went back to our room—stumbling the whole way because the ship was STILL really rocking and rolling. As soon as we got back, I started to get a headache…I’m not sure why the motion hits me more in our room and nowhere else, but it was enough to worry me about sleeping. I took a seasick pill, just as preventative medicine.