2015 - St. Thomas - Again

Celebrity Reflection coming into St. Thomas
Copyright Andy Richards 2015 - All Rights Reserved

THIS WAS our third time in St. Thomas. We had seen much of the island, including Magens Bay 😎 last year. The concensus was to find a nice beach somewhere. We had heard that the Island of St. John was cool, and it was a short ferry ride over. There are ferries from the Cruise dock. But that distance was nearly 12 miles and they were estimating close to an hour each way. Aside from not really wanting to spend 2 hours on another boat, we had some concerns about getting back to the ship timely. We would be dependent upon schedules, weather, etc.

Red Hook to Cruz Bay Ferry - St. John, USVI
Copyright Andy Richards 2015 - All Rights Reserved

I DON'T remember who, but somebody suggested we take a 15 - minute taxi ride to Red Hook at the east end of the island and take the Red Hook ferry across. Only 2 miles and 15 - 20 minutes. That's what we did and it was a great call. The vast majority of St. John is a U.S. National Park - essentially uninhabited. But the western side of the island has a few nice resorts and some amazing beaches. The little community of Cruz Bay, where our boat came in, was very nice, with some nice restaurants and shops. Our quest for a beach was solved when a local told us how to get to a small, but public beach that was little known and therefore not overrun with tourists.

Caneel Bay - St. John, USVI
Copyright Andy Richards 2015 - All Rights Reserved

IT WAS probably technically part of the large and popular Caneel Beach, but it was separated by a natural rock promontory which was actually a rather dangerous spot, and which physically kept it separate. We had to help rescue a woman who got pulled into that area by the current. Fortunately, we got to her before she got into the rocks. We did hear that there are drownings in that spot occasionally. You can see from the picture above how rough it is. Looking out toward the moored boats is north from our little beach. The big beach is off to the right. To get to our little beach, we took the shuttle from the port to the Caneel Bay Resort. Rather than go into the resort, we got off in the parking lot and walked down a little unobvious path our "friend" had told us to follow. I lead us behind some of the resort cottages and down onto a very beautiful little sandy beach. There may have been 30 - 40 people there during the day. It was obviously "spot," though, as the catamaran cruises were all anchored out in front of it (though it looked like those participants who swam to shore mostly went further to the north to the much larger Caneel Beach. The photo below is looking west from "our" beach. It looks tranquil. I took both shots withing seconds of each other standing in essentially the same spot. What a difference a handful of feet makes!

Small Beach at Caneel Bay - St. John, USVI
Copyright Andy Richards 2015 - All Rights Reserved

THAT IS  the one and only time I have ever swam in the Caribbean. I have never seen such clear blue water. We were out up to our knecks and I could still see the sandy bottom clearly. We spent our afternoon there, had a few beers, and just relaxed. Surprisingly, there was a very small concessionaire and we were able to get an umbrella, some chairs, and some beers.

Cruz Bay Shops - St. John, USVI
Copyright Andy Richards 2015 - All Rights Reserved

WE HAD made certain we knew the return schedule of the ferries, and made our way back to Cruz Bay in plenty of time, with even a few minutes to walk around the little port area. An uneventful ferry ride back to Red Hook was followed by an easy flagging of a taxi and before we knew it, we were back on board and ready for our evening routine. Tomorrow we would do our (already) last port of call, St. Maarten.

Another Year; Another Caribbean Cruise

Back from yet another southern cruise - the Bahamas, so technically not the Caribbean, but close enough, it seems fitting that I jump back into our cruises with yet another Caribbean adventure. This time it is our third venture into that part of the world in 2015. I was our reunion with the Celebrity Reflection and we were excited to be back on her - little did we know that we would board her 3 more times in future years

Celebrity Reflection - Caribbean 2015
Copyright Andy Richards 2015 - All Rights Reserved

WE MUST have decided, somewhere along the line, that we like this cruising thing. 😀 In February 2015, we went on our 4th straight Caribbean Cruise in 4 years. Later this same year we would do our "makeup" Princess Cruise in the Mediterranean.

Our 2015 Caribbean Cruise "Crew"
Copyright Andy Richards 2015 - All Rights Reserved

WE MAINTAINED only 3/5 of the same crew as last year. In order to keep it within the one-week period that seemed to fit our schedules (we were all still working full time), we found a cruise out of Ft. Lauderdale that only made 3 stops. Sailing out of San Juan takes about 3-4 days at sea out of the equation. But we didn't want the hassle of flights in and out of San Juan again, and at this point, the stops weren't really that important. Once again, this one was going to be a mid-winter getaway for us in the sun.

I have probably spent more of my own time at the Sunset Bar on Celebrity ships than anywhere else aboard

MY PARTNER Bob (and Pam) and our friends Bob and Sue made up our group this time. The 6 of us got along swimmingly, and it was frankly easier to deal with the smaller group. This time we were on the Celebrity Reflection. It was - in a way - a homecoming for us. The Reflection was where it all started for us as far a Celebrity is concerned. This would be our second of 5 (so far) sailings on her. As much as we like all the Celebrity ships, the Reflection is a particular favorite of mine. Slightly bigger and newer than last year's Summit, there were just a couple amenities that we thought were a step up. In later years, we would ultimately sail more times on Edge Class ships than any other and Celebrity stepped those up yet again, for the most part. On the Reflection, my favorite haunt, and in my opinion, its best attribute, is the Sunset Bar. Unllike the Millenium ships, the layout of the Solstice ships (with its 16 decks vs. the 12 deck Millenium ships), allowed for a dedicated area on the rear of the ship on deck 15 for the Sunset Bar and ample seating area (there is a Sunset Bar on the Millenium ships, but it is part of the outdoor eating area of the buffet). As I described in our "Obrien Cruise" blog post, there was also the innovative "lawn" section, also on deck 15 aft. I have probably spent more of my own time at the Sunset Bar on Celebrity ships than anywhere else aboard. Sometime in the past couple years, someone had handed me a cigar on a golf course and I decided to smoke it. That began my - ever-since - cigar smoking habit. By the time this cruise rolled around, I had learned to bring my own cigars. Weather permitting, I spent every afternoon back there. Fortunately, my companions weren't averse to joining me for sunset and cocktails.

Sunset Bar - Celebrity Reflection
Copyright Andy Richards 2015 - All Rights Reserved

THE MARTINI bar, of course, had neither moved nor much changed, and was our rendevous point for our before dinner drinks. We were still on the old "set time and  table" routine at that time (though it would be our last time). We had a nice table for 6 all week. As usual, the food was excellent. Partner-Bob had a routine of escargot every single night (carried over from last year's Summit cruise). Sue and I were the only wine drinkers, and our "package" got us most of the wine-by-the glass offered on board. You may recall the signature "wine tower" in the center of the dining room. According to our winelist, there was said to be $600 bottle of cabernet up there somewhere. We asked for a glass of it and our waiter just laughed. We had to try.

HUMOROUS ANECDOTE time (well, humorous to us at least). Cruisers know that in the ship dining rooms, the meals are usually in 3 courses: appetizers, main dishes, and desert. Celebrity wait staff takes the first 2 course orders and then brings a separate desert menu after the meal. Bob (the other Bob) was joking with the waiters. "Do you have an blueberry pie?" The are always very polite and very serious and they apologetically said they didn't and they didn't expect it to be on the menu all week. The next night, of course, Bob asked for blueberry pie once again. After the 3rd night, it became kind of a joke. On our next to last night, they brought us our desert menus. But they didn't give one to Bob. He looked at them questioningly, and they said we have a special desert for you sir. And - you guessed it. Blueberry Pie (a whole one). We all had blueberry pie the next night.

Castillo San Cristobal - San Juan, Puerto Rico
Copyright Andy Richards 2015 - All Rights Reserved

OUR PORTS of call this time were San Juan, St. Thomas, and St. Maarten. On all the shorter (one week or less) Celebrity cruises out of Ft. Lauderdale, it seems like San Juan is a port stop. But - presumably because of timing - it is always a 1/2 day or less. Many of the destination islands are a short sail from San Juan. But it seems like it takes a full day and 1/2 to get to San Juan. We stopped there again on our holiday cruise in 2024. In both cases we didn't get in to port until after 3:00 p.m., and departed usually around 9:00. That makes booking an excursion difficult. But this time we wanted to at least get off the ship. We knew the Fort was nearby and we walked up there for a while, and then back down into Old San Juan to do a short version of a "pub crawl." We stopped at a bar that had a stock of beers, and bought a "flight." Afterward, we found another bar down on the waterfront, just in view of the ship. I chatted with a bartender and got a short schooling on rums. I asked him to choose a good one for me and he poured me one. When we finished there, we headed back to the ship.

San Juan, Puerto Rico
Copyright Andy Richards 2015 - All Rights Reserved

I HAD never done any night shooting on a cruise. But I always bring a little travel tripod and this time, I decided to get off the ship again and go down on the wharf, to try to photograph our ship. The resulting photograph of our ship is the one I use here as the official blog "background."

EXCEPT FOR the sunset cocktails (we were on shore for the sunset this day), we followed our usual routine and met at the Martini Bar before dinner. Tomorrow we would be in St. Thomas, and this time we had a plan.

2014 - 6 - St. Thomas

St. Thomas, USVI

INTERESTINGLY, OUR first and last ports of call were in the USVI. On this itinerary, I think the primary reason was that they were both close to our out and back port in San Juan. We started in St. Croix, the largest of them. We finished in St. Thomas, probably about 1/2 the physical size of St. Croix. The populations of the two islands are, however, essentially identical. St. Thomas is - at least in my opinion - the much more popular tourist attraction and more frequent cruise ship stop. The bustling Charlotte Amalie is not only the capitol city of the USVI, but by far the largest city. It houses governmental facilities, including the main building of the Supreme Court of the USVI. It is a crowded, sometimes dirty and sometimes dangerous larger city.

Downtown Charlotte Amalie - St. Thomas, USVI
Copyright Andy Richards 2012 - All Rights Reserved

FORTUNATELY, much of the rest of the island is much more rural and tranquil. And beautiful. A vocanic island like a lot of the Caribbean islands, it is mountainous. Although there are numerous seaports around the island - especially on its southern side, the cruise ships dock in one of two harbors in Charlotte Amalie: "Havensight" or Crown Bay. The main piers are at the older, Havensight Port (formerly the West India Company Docks). Of the several times we have stopped there, we normally have docked at Havensight to the east of the city. One time, however, in 2012 on the Ruby Princess, we docked at the Crown Bay port, which is across the Long Bay and to the west of the center city. Crown Bay Marina houses some very large, very expensive pleasure cruisers as well.

Magens Bay - St. Thomas, USVI
Copyright  Andy Richards 2014 - All Rights Reserved

SINCE THIS was our last stop on the cruise, some of the group wanted to do some shopping. So our plan as we got off the ship was to find an easy mode of transportation to downtown Charlotte Amalie, where we knew we could find anything we wanted to shop for. My wife and I had done this before, and knew that the "golf - cart style" taxis were easy and inexpensive. We walked up to one that was filling up and spoke to the driver. There was apparently a communications problem. There were 6 of us who all very clearly said we wanted to go to Charlotte Amalie. He gave us the thumbs up and we climbed aboard. It wasn't the trip I remembered from back in 2012, where it was a relatively straight shot to town. Instead we got a tour up some curvy, steep switchbacks up a mountain. Eventually, he stopped at a viewpoint looking down on one of St. Thomas' mosts popular tourist beaches: Magens Bay. It was a pretty spectacular view. After we all re-loaded, we eventually ended up at the Magen's Bay public beach. A long way from Charlotte Amalie. But we thought he just decided to take the beachgoers (which turned out to be everybody but us) first. Then he got really angry at us, saying we were trying to scam him into a ride when we told him: "no, we said Charlotte Amalie." Anyway, he grudgingly took us back to town and got paid and we all moved on with our lives. This wasn't really a photo or excursion day. We did some shopping for gifts, etc., and found a nice bar by the water and sat for a while before returning for our last night on the ship.

IT WAS a good trip. One that would be repeated (for some of us) the next year. We would not cruise again until then. We did some "world traveling" but not on a cruise ship.

That wraps up 2024 Cruises - In just a few days, we will board the Celebrity Summit for the shortest cruise I have ever taken (5 days in and out of Ft. Lauderdale to the Bahamas and back). It will be our 21st! I will continue to catch up, with 2025 cruises, when I return in December See you then!