twangster

My destination was sort of El Morro and anything I happen to see along the way so I just started walking up hill vaguely in that direction snapping a few pictures along the way.

I walked past a church with open doors so I couldn't resist a photo.

Eventually I reached the edge of the field in front of El Morro just in time for sunset.


Behind me the lights along the road towards Castillo San Cristóbal caught my attention so I went that way.

I wasn't really feeling the photography juices flowing so I had to figure something out. 

Maybe some long exposure light streaking photos would do the trick.

This is why I love golden hour.



Castillo San Cristóbal.  With my camera doing a 30 second exposure I used the light on my phone to "paint" the area closest to me with light.  

Day 4 - San Juan
Quite windy as we approached Puerto Rico but Empress handled it really well.

The pilot boat was having a fun ride.


Finally San Juan was within sight.

El Morro was grand as ever.


Into our berth early as promised.

The Ocean's 7 bar:

At 11am our lunch was ready.

Lunch was a hamburger or a hot dog.  I wouldn't rave about the meal but it did the job.

Fearful I might develop an ache somewhere in my body I thought it wise to take a local drink called a Painkiller.  

To be extra safe I thought it best to consume several.

The types of incidents that make the news are few and far between.  Things can happen with or without alcohol when people perceive someone has done them wrong.  On an increasing basis people are easily offended when they see something that isn't their way of living.  A few people drinking and talking loudly in a hot tub is just good fun and enjoyable to some people but downright outlandish and god forsaking to someone who doesn't drink based on their religion.  
I was on a cruise over Super Bowl and didn't observe any outlandish drunken behavior or fights yet people went into a FB group to complain "drunken people were all over the place wreaking havoc on their vacation the whole cruise".  
 

Day 6 - St Thomas
After a short overnight ride over from Tortola we arrived to a rain storm in St Thomas at Crown Bay.  Fortunately it's the Caribbean.  If you don't like the weather wait 15 minutes.  
This is a work day for me.  Gotta pay for these cruises somehow.  I stayed on the ship.  #boring




I was curious where we went last night since it's a very short distance.  Looks like we just puddled around for a bit then made our way to St Thomas.

The port area is very nice with some shopping, a few waterfront bars and no pushy vendors.

Too soon it was 12:45pm and time to head back to the real world.  The barge returned victims back to the excursion boat.

With that we were off towards Tortola.

The desired effect worked and full relaxation mode kicked in.

The Ocean's 7 bar:

At 11am our lunch was ready.

Lunch was a hamburger or a hot dog.  I wouldn't rave about the meal but it did the job.

Fearful I might develop an ache somewhere in my body I thought it wise to take a local drink called a Painkiller.  

To be extra safe I thought it best to consume several.

There are several bars that we were free to visit.





This beach is popular with the yachting and sailing crowd.

My excursion today was Escape to Jost Van Dyke booked through Royal and later cheaper when it went on sale and I saved $19.  Jost Van Dyke is one of the smaller islands in the BVI with a small permanent population.  I've been to Jost Van Dyke before and booking this excursion was the very next thing I did after booking this cruise.
Very close to the end of the pier is the staging area for excursion boats.

The boat has both inside and outside seating fore and aft.   

The forward outdoor seating does some sea spray but it was very refreshing.

Around 25 minutes later we were approaching this little slice of heaven right here on Jost Van Dyke.

The water here is quite stunning.

I wasn't quick enough to capture the decent size sea turtle that popped up close by in this general direction.

On previous trips here the boat anchored and we swam to shore.  This excursion comes with a barge that takes guests to shore where you can just walk onto the beach without getting wet.

There are numerous bars that line the beach.  Our designated section was at the end of the beach at Ocean 7 names after seven sisters that founded this bar.  Loungers and umbrellas were reserved for us.  We received tickets for one drink (beer/soda/water) and one meal each.


It's such a beautiful beach. 

Melbourne is a sleepy little airport which can be great but sometimes that means rental cars options are more limited or priced higher.  It's also not that much closer, it's still a drive.  
One thing I didn't like, if a flight has delays or cancels there are very few flights into Melbourne while Orlando has many daily flight that your airline can move you to if one flight cancels.  
I did Melbourne once but now just use Orlando when cruising from PC.

Once the sea depth is over 10 feet what's the difference?  :) 

The types of incidents that make the news are few and far between.  Things can happen with or without alcohol when people perceive someone has done them wrong.  On an increasing basis people are easily offended when they see something that isn't their way of living.  A few people drinking and talking loudly in a hot tub is just good fun and enjoyable to some people but downright outlandish and god forsaking to someone who doesn't drink based on their religion.  
I was on a cruise over Super Bowl and didn't observe any outlandish drunken behavior or fights yet people went into a FB group to complain "drunken people were all over the place wreaking havoc on their vacation the whole cruise".  
 

Day 7 - Sea Day
On our way back to Miami.  Lot's going on around the ship but I'm on my office balcony working some more.

Voom has worked better on this cruise.  While in St Thomas my cell signal would drop randomly before coming back.  I ended up going back on Voom and using wifi calling which was more stable compared to the local cell towers.

Dinner in Chops, the second of my D+ BOGO.




This is the 8th times I've eaten in Chops on Empress and it was bound to happen, the odds were not in my favor.  Finally a meal that was just okay.  Service was great but the filet lacked in flavor just a bit.  It's wasn't a bad steak but it was just average.  Maybe the Diamond Happy Hour wine closed down my taste buds, a better wine might have enhanced the meal.  Should have stuck with a paid glass of wine.

Day 6 - St Thomas
After a short overnight ride over from Tortola we arrived to a rain storm in St Thomas at Crown Bay.  Fortunately it's the Caribbean.  If you don't like the weather wait 15 minutes.  
This is a work day for me.  Gotta pay for these cruises somehow.  I stayed on the ship.  #boring




I was curious where we went last night since it's a very short distance.  Looks like we just puddled around for a bit then made our way to St Thomas.

Itinerary absolutely comes into play.  Radiance was doing Alaska and Australia in 2018 and both are more expensive areas to cruise so her numbers bear that out.

Day 7 - Sea Day
On our way back to Miami.  Lot's going on around the ship but I'm on my office balcony working some more.

Voom has worked better on this cruise.  While in St Thomas my cell signal would drop randomly before coming back.  I ended up going back on Voom and using wifi calling which was more stable compared to the local cell towers.

Dinner in Chops, the second of my D+ BOGO.




This is the 8th times I've eaten in Chops on Empress and it was bound to happen, the odds were not in my favor.  Finally a meal that was just okay.  Service was great but the filet lacked in flavor just a bit.  It's wasn't a bad steak but it was just average.  Maybe the Diamond Happy Hour wine closed down my taste buds, a better wine might have enhanced the meal.  Should have stuck with a paid glass of wine.

Day 6 - St Thomas
After a short overnight ride over from Tortola we arrived to a rain storm in St Thomas at Crown Bay.  Fortunately it's the Caribbean.  If you don't like the weather wait 15 minutes.  
This is a work day for me.  Gotta pay for these cruises somehow.  I stayed on the ship.  #boring




I was curious where we went last night since it's a very short distance.  Looks like we just puddled around for a bit then made our way to St Thomas.

The crispy goat cheese salad is my all time favorite dish at Chops.
 

Once the sea depth is over 10 feet what's the difference?  :) 

Day 7 - Sea Day
On our way back to Miami.  Lot's going on around the ship but I'm on my office balcony working some more.

Voom has worked better on this cruise.  While in St Thomas my cell signal would drop randomly before coming back.  I ended up going back on Voom and using wifi calling which was more stable compared to the local cell towers.

Dinner in Chops, the second of my D+ BOGO.




This is the 8th times I've eaten in Chops on Empress and it was bound to happen, the odds were not in my favor.  Finally a meal that was just okay.  Service was great but the filet lacked in flavor just a bit.  It's wasn't a bad steak but it was just average.  Maybe the Diamond Happy Hour wine closed down my taste buds, a better wine might have enhanced the meal.  Should have stuck with a paid glass of wine.