Charlotte Amelie, St Thomas. This time we arrived at the port of call in the morning and not alone! Other ships were going to dock at St Thomas that day, including Royal Caribbean`s biggest ship, the Oasis of the Seas – I was so excited to see this ship, unfortunately it wasn`t docked at the same place we were, however I got a glimpse of it. –
If you look closely, you can see another ship next to it. Yes, the small (!) one, which is a cruise ship from Costa that had over 2000 passengers aboard, but is nothing in comparison to the Oasis.
You know what that meant, a lot of people walking around St Thomas! The ships were lined up at the port. When a ship from Carnival arrived it literally parked the boat in between RCC and the Norwegian one, just like you do with cars!
I booked an excursion to another one of the US Virgin Islands, St John. But due to high winds it got cancelled. Bummer! Because I`ve already been at St Thomas at previous cruises and did an island tour, as well as Magen`s Bay, the beach. I wanted to see St John, because I`d heard it`s also a lovely island to see. But what can you do…
So what`s a girl supposed to do while in St Thomas, well… shopping of course! St Thomas is the place to go shopping – it`s DUTY-FREE – especially for jewelry. I`ve never seen so many jewelries next to each other.
There is a shopping guide onboard your cruise ship to give you tips and directions for the port of calls. Usually they give an information session at the beginning of the cruise. He/she will explain the best shops to go to for certain items you wish to buy. You even get a map with shops RCC recommends and if you buy at those shops, they guarantee an after service should there be a problem.
For 4 dollars you can take a safari-style taxi downtown to go shopping. (There were others in the taxi going to the beach and had to pay 5 dollars a person, if you decide to go the beach.)
Or you can stay close to the boat and shop at Havensight Mall, which is only a few steps away from the boat. There`s even a free shuttle if you think it`s too far of a walk. They have all kind of shops here too. Jewelries of course, but also souvenir shops, electronic shops, clothing shops,…
TIP If you decide on going Downtown, make sure you have enough time to get back to the pier, because there`s only one road and St Thomas is a popular port of call, so a lot of people need to get back to the pier on time.
There are a lot of cruise excursions offered for St Thomas and sometimes it`s hard to choose. I`ve already told you I did an island tour, which is a great way to see more of this beautiful place. I`ve been to Magen`s Bay. It`s nice, if you like just laying at a beach. Because that`s what it is, a nice beach. There`s not much more to see around here.
Some tips I got from other passengers about shore excursions they would recommend were Bones and the St John Champagne boat trip.
The trip with the Bones is a trip where you can relax aboard the sailing schooner “Bones” that takes you to Christmas Cove and the Honeymoon Coves where you can swim, snorkel and relax.
The Sail trip, is a half-day sail from St. Thomas to St. John aboard a catamaran. They will make a stop at a beach for you to snorkel or relax under palm trees. – I haven`t done these trips myself, but other passengers were excited about them, so I wanted to share that. –
Another beautiful day in the Caribbean came to an end.
Read more:
Leave a Reply