I have had problems getting back in to finish Volume VI so I will continue until I can rectify that.
Myself - 37, Compulsive planner Disney Nut
DW, A year or two older coming along for the ride who knows I am Nuts!!!!
DS - 12
DS - 9
St. Thomas/ St. John day
Woke up at 5:00am since we had to deal with Immigration. It provides you times in the Navigator when you need to be in the Theatre however I would get there at least 1/2 hour to an hour early. Wow what a line. There were at least 500 people in front of us that did not have excursions on the Island. It did not take long however after that you needed breakfast.
TIP: Please read everything the night before about immigration as if you do not have all your documents ie BC, Passport, or DL you will not pass.
This is required even if you are not going ashore. 6:30 from excursion people, 7am for everyone else. Also keep this information easily accessable as you will also need it to get disembark.
A man stood in line for 45 minutes only to be asked to provide this information and he did not have it. Please make note of this somewhere.
Make sure if you want to do St. John and any beach on that island that you are one of the first hundred or so people off the ship at 8am when they make the announcement. Deck one is where they let off the boat both aft and forward.
Off the boat as said in other posts a whole bank of taxi's to take you wherever you want to go. Haggle with them. We did and payed a dollar less than the person riding with us. He wanted to fill the cab. Make sure you are not the first to sit in the cab as he will not leave until it is full.
We were off the ship a little after 8am and off to Red Hook for our ferry to St. John. We made it to the ferry dock with about 12 minutes to spare for the first boat at 9am.
Lets talk about that cab ride over those mountains. I have traveled to Boston, Salt Lake City, Chicago, New York, and Philadelphia and with out a doubt the drivers of these open air kamikaze trucks have absolutely no fear for traffic stopped in front of them, corners, animals in the road, pedestrians. They drove with a reckless abandon that I have never seen. On top of being on the wrong side of the road. He honked on his horn the whole time. We went about a block while he was scratching his head with no one in front of him and he just started honking?
Very scary however our DS's were both very much at ease.
Ferry ride over was very nice.
TIP: When going over to St. John do not sit in the back of the boat. The motor which has not seen an oil change smokes and is very loud.
A taxi right off the ferry to Truck Bay and we were off. This can be done on your own.......
St. John/Truck Bay was absolutely beyond words!!!!!!
We beat the Disney excursion by about 45 minutes. Were on the island by 9:20am.
The beach was beautiful and the snokling was great. Alot of fish were in the area and the water was cold at first but it warmed up as we went along. Alot of people were in the water by 11am.
Both our DSs loved the surf and the beach.
TIP: If you are renting snokle equipment and are renting early do not bring a travelers check of more than 50 dollars. In the a.m. they will not have change. Take some 20's.
There was a boy with Downs syndrome that my sons were playing with and his father told me later that his son was having a great time with his 2 new friends. The three amigo's were getting slammed up against the beach by some of the waves and loving ever bit of it. That made me feel very proud of my DSs. I have an uncle with CP and I know how it is to get stares when we go out to dinner with my Grandparents with my Uncle and have people gawk. My sons mae me proud without any help.
Stayed on the beach until lunchtime and then used the public showers to wash off the sand. Very, very nice beach. It was well worth the taxi's and ferry to get over there.
TIP: Make sure you try to remember the Taxi guy when going back. He had some idea that we were to go back with him, and I did not remember that arrangement. Had to play dumb with him and say we did not ride with him. Boy was he upset. Was not my intention. We were already in the other taxi.
Back at the dock we wanted to catch the 1 o'clock ferry back to the boat to do some shopping. We were early (12:30) so we went to get a small bite to eat. Went to JJ's Texas ? and ordered some drinks(sodas) and two appetizers. Well, I have not seen a plate of appetizers like these before. Think of a plate you serve the Turkey at Thanksgiving and that was the plate of Nachos Grande. We also got some chips and salsa. One would have been enough.
This time we took the ferry all the way into Charlotte Armalie which seemed a little cheaper since we did not have the initial taxi driver at the end. The ferry drops you off right in the center of the town.
Walk from the dock to the ship was a little over a mile. Looks alot closer. Make sure you take care of any bathroom issues prior to your walk back to the ship since there are no public bathrooms on this route. Felt very safe walking the streets of Charlotte Armalie. Walked right past the US Consolate in St. Thomas. My DW and DS12 went back to the boat as DS9 and I took the Motorolas and went to the Havensight Mall. Some very nice shops with very good prices. Picked up Escape cologne for men for 38.00 a piece. This bottle included a deotorant stick. Do not believe anyone when they say the prices for alcohol in St. Thomas is cheaper than St. Maarten. Bull cookies!!!! Obtain whatever you are allowed in St. Maarten. I did purchase some Kaluha and Bailey's Irish cream for less than 10.00 dollars a piece. AH Riise seemed to be the best for alcohol. Also if you go on the St. Thomas Website you can obtain a visitors guide that has coupons for free earrings and such.
Got back on the ship around 3:30 and changed. Our DS12 was exhausted so he went to take a nap. My DW and DS9 went to the theater to watch Monsters Inc. and I was left to go play Bingo. I was one number away twice out of 5 games. You get 3 cards for 5 games for 20.00 dollars. Bingo takes about an hour and my wife came to bingo after the movie due to the motorolas. Again very helpful. The boys had gone off to their favorite activity on the ship, the basketball court. We had about half and hour before Who wants to be a mouseketeer.
TIP: For this show, if you want to be a contestant we were provided a nice tip from a cast member. Spread out in the theatre in iferent rows that are mostly empty as they will call a row and if the call a seat unoccupied they will go to the next seat until they find a warm body. We ended up being two seats away from selection. The CM came up during the selection process and said "see it was almost you". My wife would have won at least a few credits because she was able to answer at least the first four questions before needing help. You can also be selected as a panel member. This game was very fun hosted by the Cruise Director Jim.
This was the second Formal/Semi-Formal night. We opted to chose Palo's for dinner. Great choice after a long day. Only change might be to have dinner at Palo's a little earlier maybe right after the show. You have to have time to enjoy this at a nice pace which we did, however we got out of there around 12am. 3.5 hour dinner. Our boys were at the club and said they had a good time. Alot of people were dressed up in suits and ties some like myself dressed in a tux. I kept saying while reading these boards that I was not going to Tux up but after finding a Tux at a good price, (Value City for 79.00 dollars) Armani I am gald I dressed up. My DW looked stunning in her Black Minnie Mouse Evening dress. We had Nadeche again which she remembered my DW and asked how she was taking the ship after Sunday. She and I were very impressed she remembered that. Food was excellent. The Chocolate souffle is (broken record) not to be missed. After dinner we went to pick the boys up and headed for the room for some much needed rest.
It was at this point I knew we were half way through our vacation and had a moment of sorrow. Only a moment as we came back to a Scorpion on the bed. Very cute.
Up next: Volume VIII Last Day at Sea. Disney Dreams and we later found out we shared a jacuzzi with John Travolta.
Myself - 37, Compulsive planner Disney Nut
DW, A year or two older coming along for the ride who knows I am Nuts!!!!
DS - 12
DS - 9
St. Thomas/ St. John day
Woke up at 5:00am since we had to deal with Immigration. It provides you times in the Navigator when you need to be in the Theatre however I would get there at least 1/2 hour to an hour early. Wow what a line. There were at least 500 people in front of us that did not have excursions on the Island. It did not take long however after that you needed breakfast.
TIP: Please read everything the night before about immigration as if you do not have all your documents ie BC, Passport, or DL you will not pass.
This is required even if you are not going ashore. 6:30 from excursion people, 7am for everyone else. Also keep this information easily accessable as you will also need it to get disembark.
A man stood in line for 45 minutes only to be asked to provide this information and he did not have it. Please make note of this somewhere.
Make sure if you want to do St. John and any beach on that island that you are one of the first hundred or so people off the ship at 8am when they make the announcement. Deck one is where they let off the boat both aft and forward.
Off the boat as said in other posts a whole bank of taxi's to take you wherever you want to go. Haggle with them. We did and payed a dollar less than the person riding with us. He wanted to fill the cab. Make sure you are not the first to sit in the cab as he will not leave until it is full.
We were off the ship a little after 8am and off to Red Hook for our ferry to St. John. We made it to the ferry dock with about 12 minutes to spare for the first boat at 9am.
Lets talk about that cab ride over those mountains. I have traveled to Boston, Salt Lake City, Chicago, New York, and Philadelphia and with out a doubt the drivers of these open air kamikaze trucks have absolutely no fear for traffic stopped in front of them, corners, animals in the road, pedestrians. They drove with a reckless abandon that I have never seen. On top of being on the wrong side of the road. He honked on his horn the whole time. We went about a block while he was scratching his head with no one in front of him and he just started honking?
Very scary however our DS's were both very much at ease.
Ferry ride over was very nice.
TIP: When going over to St. John do not sit in the back of the boat. The motor which has not seen an oil change smokes and is very loud.
A taxi right off the ferry to Truck Bay and we were off. This can be done on your own.......
St. John/Truck Bay was absolutely beyond words!!!!!!
We beat the Disney excursion by about 45 minutes. Were on the island by 9:20am.
The beach was beautiful and the snokling was great. Alot of fish were in the area and the water was cold at first but it warmed up as we went along. Alot of people were in the water by 11am.
Both our DSs loved the surf and the beach.
TIP: If you are renting snokle equipment and are renting early do not bring a travelers check of more than 50 dollars. In the a.m. they will not have change. Take some 20's.
There was a boy with Downs syndrome that my sons were playing with and his father told me later that his son was having a great time with his 2 new friends. The three amigo's were getting slammed up against the beach by some of the waves and loving ever bit of it. That made me feel very proud of my DSs. I have an uncle with CP and I know how it is to get stares when we go out to dinner with my Grandparents with my Uncle and have people gawk. My sons mae me proud without any help.
Stayed on the beach until lunchtime and then used the public showers to wash off the sand. Very, very nice beach. It was well worth the taxi's and ferry to get over there.
TIP: Make sure you try to remember the Taxi guy when going back. He had some idea that we were to go back with him, and I did not remember that arrangement. Had to play dumb with him and say we did not ride with him. Boy was he upset. Was not my intention. We were already in the other taxi.
Back at the dock we wanted to catch the 1 o'clock ferry back to the boat to do some shopping. We were early (12:30) so we went to get a small bite to eat. Went to JJ's Texas ? and ordered some drinks(sodas) and two appetizers. Well, I have not seen a plate of appetizers like these before. Think of a plate you serve the Turkey at Thanksgiving and that was the plate of Nachos Grande. We also got some chips and salsa. One would have been enough.
This time we took the ferry all the way into Charlotte Armalie which seemed a little cheaper since we did not have the initial taxi driver at the end. The ferry drops you off right in the center of the town.
Walk from the dock to the ship was a little over a mile. Looks alot closer. Make sure you take care of any bathroom issues prior to your walk back to the ship since there are no public bathrooms on this route. Felt very safe walking the streets of Charlotte Armalie. Walked right past the US Consolate in St. Thomas. My DW and DS12 went back to the boat as DS9 and I took the Motorolas and went to the Havensight Mall. Some very nice shops with very good prices. Picked up Escape cologne for men for 38.00 a piece. This bottle included a deotorant stick. Do not believe anyone when they say the prices for alcohol in St. Thomas is cheaper than St. Maarten. Bull cookies!!!! Obtain whatever you are allowed in St. Maarten. I did purchase some Kaluha and Bailey's Irish cream for less than 10.00 dollars a piece. AH Riise seemed to be the best for alcohol. Also if you go on the St. Thomas Website you can obtain a visitors guide that has coupons for free earrings and such.
Got back on the ship around 3:30 and changed. Our DS12 was exhausted so he went to take a nap. My DW and DS9 went to the theater to watch Monsters Inc. and I was left to go play Bingo. I was one number away twice out of 5 games. You get 3 cards for 5 games for 20.00 dollars. Bingo takes about an hour and my wife came to bingo after the movie due to the motorolas. Again very helpful. The boys had gone off to their favorite activity on the ship, the basketball court. We had about half and hour before Who wants to be a mouseketeer.
TIP: For this show, if you want to be a contestant we were provided a nice tip from a cast member. Spread out in the theatre in iferent rows that are mostly empty as they will call a row and if the call a seat unoccupied they will go to the next seat until they find a warm body. We ended up being two seats away from selection. The CM came up during the selection process and said "see it was almost you". My wife would have won at least a few credits because she was able to answer at least the first four questions before needing help. You can also be selected as a panel member. This game was very fun hosted by the Cruise Director Jim.
This was the second Formal/Semi-Formal night. We opted to chose Palo's for dinner. Great choice after a long day. Only change might be to have dinner at Palo's a little earlier maybe right after the show. You have to have time to enjoy this at a nice pace which we did, however we got out of there around 12am. 3.5 hour dinner. Our boys were at the club and said they had a good time. Alot of people were dressed up in suits and ties some like myself dressed in a tux. I kept saying while reading these boards that I was not going to Tux up but after finding a Tux at a good price, (Value City for 79.00 dollars) Armani I am gald I dressed up. My DW looked stunning in her Black Minnie Mouse Evening dress. We had Nadeche again which she remembered my DW and asked how she was taking the ship after Sunday. She and I were very impressed she remembered that. Food was excellent. The Chocolate souffle is (broken record) not to be missed. After dinner we went to pick the boys up and headed for the room for some much needed rest.
It was at this point I knew we were half way through our vacation and had a moment of sorrow. Only a moment as we came back to a Scorpion on the bed. Very cute.
Up next: Volume VIII Last Day at Sea. Disney Dreams and we later found out we shared a jacuzzi with John Travolta.
inkbounc
