Traveler

Day  -2  ,
As I suspected I woke up around 3 am due to the jetlag which mean I only slept  3 hour.
To avoid waking up my spouse I moved to the second room to watch some TV and go over emails I guess getting the upgrade at the hotel was useful.
The hotel itself is very near Universal, almost a walking distance, we consider this option (walking) but somehow we picked the coldest day so far in Orlando and it was rainy (we actually brought the cold front with us) . I was waiting until 7 am for the guest service to open so  I could reserve the shuttle ride to the park.
The early shuttle was already full  I had to settle for the next one which I did not like too much as I wanted to be there early to avoid some of the crowds, the other option was to use the car but I remembered it will take more time (queue , parking , walking).
After quick breakfast we took the shuttle to the park (5 minute drive) and walked to the entrance.
There is some magic with those park (if I am allowed to use the word magic for Universal) I mean, if you come with the right mode, allowing yourself to leave any cynical feeling at the gate (not easy for me I admit) and just have fun it can be a great  experience , in other words, let’s face it you can  feel like a child again for few hours.
We went directly  to the Diagon alley which was under contraction last time we visit the park (too long ago I guess , shame on us well mainly on me) , the waiting time for the ride (the escape from Gringotts)  was less than 10 minutes so I even did not bothered to use the express pass I bought.
I enjoy the ride although I think the older ride at the other park (the Forbidden Journey) is still better.
After the ride we went to drink the warm butterbeer , yes they serve it warm also and the cold day was perfect for that, another thing you need to forget when you are at a theme park is  counting calories (you start to see the similarity to a cruise right ?) .
We wanted to take advantage on the short lines during the morning so we jumped on the Hogwarts express to move to the adventure island.
We reach there just on time to do the forbidden journey ride as the waiting time was again only 10 minutes, I love to go to a theme park when it’s cold and rainy, lines are much better !
We went and did all the other attraction we planned to do there, took something to eat and did again (this time using the express pass) the forbidden journey, although on a full stomach it’s a different experience, still loved it.
We took the train back to Universal studio to do the rest of the attractions we skipped before, including some of my favorites like the mommy revenge and the new ride with Jimmy Fallon which was hilarious.
We did again the escape from Gringotts just in time to see the Macys parade.
Although it was still quite early we were both tired and since we done already most of the attractions we wanted we headed back to the hotel.
It was a perfect day
 

Day 9 - St Kitts
I awoke at the pier In St Kitts.  Beside us again today would be the Celebrity Summit.

Today I went scuba diving booked through RCI.  This two tank dive will be executed by a local dive shop "Dive St. Kitts".  As dive boats go it isn't the biggest dive boat I've been on so it was cozy but fine.  We met at the end of the pier and had a 15 minute bus ride to the dive shop.

The dive sites were a 20 minutes boat ride from the dock.
Today's dive had some current and because of that visibility wasn't the best but it was still a nice dive.  We saw lizard fish, lion fish, trunk fish, stingray, turtle, eels, crabs, lobster and more.







St Kitts is a beautiful island and we got to see the island from the sea coming back from the dive.

That's our dive master today (the woman) and our dive boat driver at the helm with great views of St. Kitts as a back drop.



There were four ship guests becoming certified today but they went off on their own dive boat.
Note for divers - they want to see your Open Water Diver Certification card at the dive shop on board before they will print your excursion tickets.  I found out it's closed on port days so having not done that by day 3 I wasn't able to visit the on board dive shop before St Kitts.  You can also visit the shore excursion desk on board to have them go through the dive questions with you, inspect your C card and print your excursion ticket.
Back to the ship there was a football game on the outdoor TV.

 

Day -3
To blog or not to blog this is the question.
On one hand it was a nice experience last time , on the other hand this following cruise was just got excellent  live review from Matt , also blogging in parallel  to such nice blog from Anthem with pictures I can only dream to  take with my poor phone  …
But hey there is not such a thing as too much live blogs right ?!
 
So once again (and not so far from last time) we are planning to be on cruise.
This time a quick 5 days on Indi.
 
So let’s start from the whys:
After the last cruise we got a voucher from the Casino for a free cruise, the voucher allow you a free (well they call it  free, you still need to pay gratitude and taxes) to choose from a list that contains mainly Caribbean cruises.
If you choose not to use one of the cruises from the list you can use the voucher value for any other cruise you choose (only new cruises allowed  and it should be no later than one year from the voucher date)  
Why Indi – well I was looking for a bigger ship after our last cruise in the Voyager and a shorter one.
The main idea is for us to squeeze a cruise and some other activities in one week which will allow us to be back home/work at the next Sunday.
So the 5 days cruise was just perfect for that and I loved to find out short cruise on bigger ship (usually the shorter cruise are on the small ships for some reason).
Why now?  , We both need to consume some vacation days as the end of the year around the corner  and we both over the allowed accumulated quota.
The most important reason - its going to be my spouse birthday and I cannot think about  a  better  place to celebrate such occasion …
Besides that, does anyone really need an excuse why to cruising RC ?  J
 
As Usual (if I can call a second live blog usual) I am starting the blog few days earlier as the vacation starts now and I started my long journey to the US (currently waiting for my connection in a country which I will not disclose its name but its famous for its Swiss cheese , Swiss chocolates and Swiss clocks).
The plan was very simple, flying to Miami, take a car and drive to Orlando (I refuse to go to Florida and skip Orlando parks, sorry, if I am already there I will take advantage on it),
3.5 hours’ drive after a transatlantic flight is not something I am not familiar with and we planned to split the drive between us , its sounds like a good plan.
Plans are one thing and reality is another, my spouse was called few days ago,  urgently to some business meetings in the US.
It was perfect on one hand as it save us one of the reward airline ticket (all I needed now is one domestic ticket from the city the meeting are taking place to Orlando) on the other hand it means I will do the Miami – Orlando drive alone, well not totally alone, although  Matt still do not know it yet but he is going to make sure I will stay awake during driving by listen to a binge  RC blog podcasting I calculate after 8 podcast I should arrive safely, you can say many thing about Matt (just good thing don’t worry) but no one can say his  podcast  can be used as lullaby, especially with his enthusiasm,
Before you all ask why I did not fly directly to Orlando ?  well as I am using rewards  miles I cannot be too picky , in other words , it’s much easier to find international flight to Miami than to Orlando.
So now the plan is even easier , land in Miami , run to immigration and custom , pray that the lines are short and I am not stuck behind people from a flight of certain countries in Europe which the immigration officer love to question them for long period of time.
I will pick the car set the BT and start my way to meet my spouse so tomorrow we can visit Universal.
 
Currently still waiting here ,  after leaving a teenager to watch the apartment (he rather be left alone almost for the first time than joining us).
I just hope it will be ok as all we ask him  is (he is a teenager you know you cannot ask them much) :
We want still have the apartment when we are back.
No complaints from neighbors.
Alcohol bottles remain the same as they were , and no , to refill the Gray guess with water or the whiskies with teas does not count .
The cat should still be alive.
 
Not too complicated as I said, good we have insurance (and his grandmother to spy on him from a distance).
 
Here is the cat reaction after understanding we are again going to cruise without him .

 
 
Tomorrow visiting Harry Potter (I hope).

Woohoo!  Going on Indy on the 21st so looking forward to your live blog!
Hint - the best camera is the one you have with you.  Some of my pictures are from my phone because I don't always want to carry the Albatros that my good camera seems to be on some days around my neck.
Cheers!

Day -3
To blog or not to blog this is the question.
On one hand it was a nice experience last time , on the other hand this following cruise was just got excellent  live review from Matt , also blogging in parallel  to such nice blog from Anthem with pictures I can only dream to  take with my poor phone  …
But hey there is not such a thing as too much live blogs right ?!
 
So once again (and not so far from last time) we are planning to be on cruise.
This time a quick 5 days on Indi.
 
So let’s start from the whys:
After the last cruise we got a voucher from the Casino for a free cruise, the voucher allow you a free (well they call it  free, you still need to pay gratitude and taxes) to choose from a list that contains mainly Caribbean cruises.
If you choose not to use one of the cruises from the list you can use the voucher value for any other cruise you choose (only new cruises allowed  and it should be no later than one year from the voucher date)  
Why Indi – well I was looking for a bigger ship after our last cruise in the Voyager and a shorter one.
The main idea is for us to squeeze a cruise and some other activities in one week which will allow us to be back home/work at the next Sunday.
So the 5 days cruise was just perfect for that and I loved to find out short cruise on bigger ship (usually the shorter cruise are on the small ships for some reason).
Why now?  , We both need to consume some vacation days as the end of the year around the corner  and we both over the allowed accumulated quota.
The most important reason - its going to be my spouse birthday and I cannot think about  a  better  place to celebrate such occasion …
Besides that, does anyone really need an excuse why to cruising RC ?  J
 
As Usual (if I can call a second live blog usual) I am starting the blog few days earlier as the vacation starts now and I started my long journey to the US (currently waiting for my connection in a country which I will not disclose its name but its famous for its Swiss cheese , Swiss chocolates and Swiss clocks).
The plan was very simple, flying to Miami, take a car and drive to Orlando (I refuse to go to Florida and skip Orlando parks, sorry, if I am already there I will take advantage on it),
3.5 hours’ drive after a transatlantic flight is not something I am not familiar with and we planned to split the drive between us , its sounds like a good plan.
Plans are one thing and reality is another, my spouse was called few days ago,  urgently to some business meetings in the US.
It was perfect on one hand as it save us one of the reward airline ticket (all I needed now is one domestic ticket from the city the meeting are taking place to Orlando) on the other hand it means I will do the Miami – Orlando drive alone, well not totally alone, although  Matt still do not know it yet but he is going to make sure I will stay awake during driving by listen to a binge  RC blog podcasting I calculate after 8 podcast I should arrive safely, you can say many thing about Matt (just good thing don’t worry) but no one can say his  podcast  can be used as lullaby, especially with his enthusiasm,
Before you all ask why I did not fly directly to Orlando ?  well as I am using rewards  miles I cannot be too picky , in other words , it’s much easier to find international flight to Miami than to Orlando.
So now the plan is even easier , land in Miami , run to immigration and custom , pray that the lines are short and I am not stuck behind people from a flight of certain countries in Europe which the immigration officer love to question them for long period of time.
I will pick the car set the BT and start my way to meet my spouse so tomorrow we can visit Universal.
 
Currently still waiting here ,  after leaving a teenager to watch the apartment (he rather be left alone almost for the first time than joining us).
I just hope it will be ok as all we ask him  is (he is a teenager you know you cannot ask them much) :
We want still have the apartment when we are back.
No complaints from neighbors.
Alcohol bottles remain the same as they were , and no , to refill the Gray guess with water or the whiskies with teas does not count .
The cat should still be alive.
 
Not too complicated as I said, good we have insurance (and his grandmother to spy on him from a distance).
 
Here is the cat reaction after understanding we are again going to cruise without him .

 
 
Tomorrow visiting Harry Potter (I hope).

Day -3
To blog or not to blog this is the question.
On one hand it was a nice experience last time , on the other hand this following cruise was just got excellent  live review from Matt , also blogging in parallel  to such nice blog from Anthem with pictures I can only dream to  take with my poor phone  …
But hey there is not such a thing as too much live blogs right ?!
 
So once again (and not so far from last time) we are planning to be on cruise.
This time a quick 5 days on Indi.
 
So let’s start from the whys:
After the last cruise we got a voucher from the Casino for a free cruise, the voucher allow you a free (well they call it  free, you still need to pay gratitude and taxes) to choose from a list that contains mainly Caribbean cruises.
If you choose not to use one of the cruises from the list you can use the voucher value for any other cruise you choose (only new cruises allowed  and it should be no later than one year from the voucher date)  
Why Indi – well I was looking for a bigger ship after our last cruise in the Voyager and a shorter one.
The main idea is for us to squeeze a cruise and some other activities in one week which will allow us to be back home/work at the next Sunday.
So the 5 days cruise was just perfect for that and I loved to find out short cruise on bigger ship (usually the shorter cruise are on the small ships for some reason).
Why now?  , We both need to consume some vacation days as the end of the year around the corner  and we both over the allowed accumulated quota.
The most important reason - its going to be my spouse birthday and I cannot think about  a  better  place to celebrate such occasion …
Besides that, does anyone really need an excuse why to cruising RC ?  J
 
As Usual (if I can call a second live blog usual) I am starting the blog few days earlier as the vacation starts now and I started my long journey to the US (currently waiting for my connection in a country which I will not disclose its name but its famous for its Swiss cheese , Swiss chocolates and Swiss clocks).
The plan was very simple, flying to Miami, take a car and drive to Orlando (I refuse to go to Florida and skip Orlando parks, sorry, if I am already there I will take advantage on it),
3.5 hours’ drive after a transatlantic flight is not something I am not familiar with and we planned to split the drive between us , its sounds like a good plan.
Plans are one thing and reality is another, my spouse was called few days ago,  urgently to some business meetings in the US.
It was perfect on one hand as it save us one of the reward airline ticket (all I needed now is one domestic ticket from the city the meeting are taking place to Orlando) on the other hand it means I will do the Miami – Orlando drive alone, well not totally alone, although  Matt still do not know it yet but he is going to make sure I will stay awake during driving by listen to a binge  RC blog podcasting I calculate after 8 podcast I should arrive safely, you can say many thing about Matt (just good thing don’t worry) but no one can say his  podcast  can be used as lullaby, especially with his enthusiasm,
Before you all ask why I did not fly directly to Orlando ?  well as I am using rewards  miles I cannot be too picky , in other words , it’s much easier to find international flight to Miami than to Orlando.
So now the plan is even easier , land in Miami , run to immigration and custom , pray that the lines are short and I am not stuck behind people from a flight of certain countries in Europe which the immigration officer love to question them for long period of time.
I will pick the car set the BT and start my way to meet my spouse so tomorrow we can visit Universal.
 
Currently still waiting here ,  after leaving a teenager to watch the apartment (he rather be left alone almost for the first time than joining us).
I just hope it will be ok as all we ask him  is (he is a teenager you know you cannot ask them much) :
We want still have the apartment when we are back.
No complaints from neighbors.
Alcohol bottles remain the same as they were , and no , to refill the Gray guess with water or the whiskies with teas does not count .
The cat should still be alive.
 
Not too complicated as I said, good we have insurance (and his grandmother to spy on him from a distance).
 
Here is the cat reaction after understanding we are again going to cruise without him .

 
 
Tomorrow visiting Harry Potter (I hope).

Day -3
To blog or not to blog this is the question.
On one hand it was a nice experience last time , on the other hand this following cruise was just got excellent  live review from Matt , also blogging in parallel  to such nice blog from Anthem with pictures I can only dream to  take with my poor phone  …
But hey there is not such a thing as too much live blogs right ?!
 
So once again (and not so far from last time) we are planning to be on cruise.
This time a quick 5 days on Indi.
 
So let’s start from the whys:
After the last cruise we got a voucher from the Casino for a free cruise, the voucher allow you a free (well they call it  free, you still need to pay gratitude and taxes) to choose from a list that contains mainly Caribbean cruises.
If you choose not to use one of the cruises from the list you can use the voucher value for any other cruise you choose (only new cruises allowed  and it should be no later than one year from the voucher date)  
Why Indi – well I was looking for a bigger ship after our last cruise in the Voyager and a shorter one.
The main idea is for us to squeeze a cruise and some other activities in one week which will allow us to be back home/work at the next Sunday.
So the 5 days cruise was just perfect for that and I loved to find out short cruise on bigger ship (usually the shorter cruise are on the small ships for some reason).
Why now?  , We both need to consume some vacation days as the end of the year around the corner  and we both over the allowed accumulated quota.
The most important reason - its going to be my spouse birthday and I cannot think about  a  better  place to celebrate such occasion …
Besides that, does anyone really need an excuse why to cruising RC ?  J
 
As Usual (if I can call a second live blog usual) I am starting the blog few days earlier as the vacation starts now and I started my long journey to the US (currently waiting for my connection in a country which I will not disclose its name but its famous for its Swiss cheese , Swiss chocolates and Swiss clocks).
The plan was very simple, flying to Miami, take a car and drive to Orlando (I refuse to go to Florida and skip Orlando parks, sorry, if I am already there I will take advantage on it),
3.5 hours’ drive after a transatlantic flight is not something I am not familiar with and we planned to split the drive between us , its sounds like a good plan.
Plans are one thing and reality is another, my spouse was called few days ago,  urgently to some business meetings in the US.
It was perfect on one hand as it save us one of the reward airline ticket (all I needed now is one domestic ticket from the city the meeting are taking place to Orlando) on the other hand it means I will do the Miami – Orlando drive alone, well not totally alone, although  Matt still do not know it yet but he is going to make sure I will stay awake during driving by listen to a binge  RC blog podcasting I calculate after 8 podcast I should arrive safely, you can say many thing about Matt (just good thing don’t worry) but no one can say his  podcast  can be used as lullaby, especially with his enthusiasm,
Before you all ask why I did not fly directly to Orlando ?  well as I am using rewards  miles I cannot be too picky , in other words , it’s much easier to find international flight to Miami than to Orlando.
So now the plan is even easier , land in Miami , run to immigration and custom , pray that the lines are short and I am not stuck behind people from a flight of certain countries in Europe which the immigration officer love to question them for long period of time.
I will pick the car set the BT and start my way to meet my spouse so tomorrow we can visit Universal.
 
Currently still waiting here ,  after leaving a teenager to watch the apartment (he rather be left alone almost for the first time than joining us).
I just hope it will be ok as all we ask him  is (he is a teenager you know you cannot ask them much) :
We want still have the apartment when we are back.
No complaints from neighbors.
Alcohol bottles remain the same as they were , and no , to refill the Gray guess with water or the whiskies with teas does not count .
The cat should still be alive.
 
Not too complicated as I said, good we have insurance (and his grandmother to spy on him from a distance).
 
Here is the cat reaction after understanding we are again going to cruise without him .

 
 
Tomorrow visiting Harry Potter (I hope).

Day -3
To blog or not to blog this is the question.
On one hand it was a nice experience last time , on the other hand this following cruise was just got excellent  live review from Matt , also blogging in parallel  to such nice blog from Anthem with pictures I can only dream to  take with my poor phone  …
But hey there is not such a thing as too much live blogs right ?!
 
So once again (and not so far from last time) we are planning to be on cruise.
This time a quick 5 days on Indi.
 
So let’s start from the whys:
After the last cruise we got a voucher from the Casino for a free cruise, the voucher allow you a free (well they call it  free, you still need to pay gratitude and taxes) to choose from a list that contains mainly Caribbean cruises.
If you choose not to use one of the cruises from the list you can use the voucher value for any other cruise you choose (only new cruises allowed  and it should be no later than one year from the voucher date)  
Why Indi – well I was looking for a bigger ship after our last cruise in the Voyager and a shorter one.
The main idea is for us to squeeze a cruise and some other activities in one week which will allow us to be back home/work at the next Sunday.
So the 5 days cruise was just perfect for that and I loved to find out short cruise on bigger ship (usually the shorter cruise are on the small ships for some reason).
Why now?  , We both need to consume some vacation days as the end of the year around the corner  and we both over the allowed accumulated quota.
The most important reason - its going to be my spouse birthday and I cannot think about  a  better  place to celebrate such occasion …
Besides that, does anyone really need an excuse why to cruising RC ?  J
 
As Usual (if I can call a second live blog usual) I am starting the blog few days earlier as the vacation starts now and I started my long journey to the US (currently waiting for my connection in a country which I will not disclose its name but its famous for its Swiss cheese , Swiss chocolates and Swiss clocks).
The plan was very simple, flying to Miami, take a car and drive to Orlando (I refuse to go to Florida and skip Orlando parks, sorry, if I am already there I will take advantage on it),
3.5 hours’ drive after a transatlantic flight is not something I am not familiar with and we planned to split the drive between us , its sounds like a good plan.
Plans are one thing and reality is another, my spouse was called few days ago,  urgently to some business meetings in the US.
It was perfect on one hand as it save us one of the reward airline ticket (all I needed now is one domestic ticket from the city the meeting are taking place to Orlando) on the other hand it means I will do the Miami – Orlando drive alone, well not totally alone, although  Matt still do not know it yet but he is going to make sure I will stay awake during driving by listen to a binge  RC blog podcasting I calculate after 8 podcast I should arrive safely, you can say many thing about Matt (just good thing don’t worry) but no one can say his  podcast  can be used as lullaby, especially with his enthusiasm,
Before you all ask why I did not fly directly to Orlando ?  well as I am using rewards  miles I cannot be too picky , in other words , it’s much easier to find international flight to Miami than to Orlando.
So now the plan is even easier , land in Miami , run to immigration and custom , pray that the lines are short and I am not stuck behind people from a flight of certain countries in Europe which the immigration officer love to question them for long period of time.
I will pick the car set the BT and start my way to meet my spouse so tomorrow we can visit Universal.
 
Currently still waiting here ,  after leaving a teenager to watch the apartment (he rather be left alone almost for the first time than joining us).
I just hope it will be ok as all we ask him  is (he is a teenager you know you cannot ask them much) :
We want still have the apartment when we are back.
No complaints from neighbors.
Alcohol bottles remain the same as they were , and no , to refill the Gray guess with water or the whiskies with teas does not count .
The cat should still be alive.
 
Not too complicated as I said, good we have insurance (and his grandmother to spy on him from a distance).
 
Here is the cat reaction after understanding we are again going to cruise without him .

 
 
Tomorrow visiting Harry Potter (I hope).

Day 5 - St Thomas
I woke up early to make sure I could watch our approach before our pier arrival.  I was happy to see much of this side of the island with power.  


The main power generating plant is not far from Crown Bay so it's no surprise the South East of the island was first to get power back.  
A line of showers moved through sending me into the Solarium but soon after we were treated to a nice sunrise as we approached the harbor.  This is one of the bridge wings on Anthem (the port wing has been closed for both sailings). 

Today we would be docking at the West Indies pier or what many refer to as Havensight.  
I wanted to wait for the sun to rise a little higher for it to set off the color in the water so I went off to the Solarium Bistro for breakfast.  As it turns out this early morning photo with the blue sky day would be one of the best of this area of the island.  The blue sky wouldn't last all day.


The Captain mentioned increasing chances for rain so I decided to head to Magens Bay for some pictures while the weather was good.  This photo was taken shortly after leaving the Havensight Mall area.

I took a 'Safari' taxi for $8 and joined 10 other shipmates on our way to the beach.  On the ride out of town I looked over and saw Oasis docked in Crown Bay.

That is Anthem far left and Oasis far right.



I had asked our driver if he could stop by Drake's Seat and he did.  This is the spot to get a great overview picture of Magens Bay Beach.


As we approached Magens Bay you could see large areas of forest that had been damaged by the hurricanes.  In the past this was dense and you couldn't see much of anything when you looked into the forest.  Now you could see many trees down, many with no tops and most with no foliage.  
Magens Bay is a preserve managed by the local USVI government and has a $5 per person entrance fee.  We paid at the gate.  Our driver then took us to the South end of the beach where they had set up a temporary bar, grill and beach shop while the centrally located building that used to house them is being rebuilt. It's cash only right now.  I tipped well and I hope you do too.




Chairs and umbrellas can also be rented here.  Otherwise it's a ship towel on the sand - don't forget one.  There are showers and a foot wash area as well as restrooms all working fine on this occasion.

Magens Bay Beach remains as beautiful as ever.
As I took this photo, Beatles Abbey Road popped into my head...

I was curious what the efforts were to repair the beach.  Royal Caribbean partnered with the local USVI authority that operates the park to restore it.  Beyond the obvious structures that were damaged and are being rebuilt,  you can see there are hundreds of new trees that have been planted recently each with temporary braces until they take root.  

This is the activity to rebuild the central bar, grill and gift store building.  It's looking close to completion.  Maybe another few weeks?   Hard to tell in the islands...







I wanted to stop by Charlotte Amalie for lunch so at this point I headed to the taxi stand to get a ride back into town.  Dark clouds were starting to move in and I sensed rain was coming and boy did it.   Safely in our Safari taxi me and a couple from Oasis watched the downpour as we made our way back into town.  There is an overlook with great views of the harbor but a traffic accident had closed that road and with the heavy rain it made no sense to try.  For each of these $8 ride I gave our drivers a $20 - they need the money.
Fortunately the rain stopped just as the driver dropped me off in Charlotte Amalie.  
Lunch today was at a favorite restaurant of mine 'The Green House' with views of the harbor.  




I was happy to see the "Blackened Mahi Caesar Salad" was still on the menu.  
On my first trip to St Thomas I found this restaurant and since then the Mahi salad has become a ritual meal.



A Bushwhacker and a beer rounded off lunch. 
With another line of showers coming this way I found another Safari taxi for the ride back to the ship.  
The stores in the Havensight Mall were all open and people were eagerly shopping. 


Back on board I jumped in the shower and made plans to take a nap.
Summary of my day on St. Thomas and some thoughts.
Some of the pictures I decided to include to illustrate how far the flora and fauna on St Thomas has come.  Talking with my friends who live here they told me in the days after the hurricane everything was brown.  There was no green anywhere.  It was very depressing.  Even they are amazed how quickly green has returned.  That in no small way is helping everyone get through this.  Life is normal one told me (even though he doesn't have power back just yet).
From a distance St Thomas looks like it always has but you don't have to look very far to see signs of hurricane damage.  Some people may never rebuild.  It was like this when I lived here and I recall stories of "that was from hurricane ..." when I saw a broken down building.  I imagine there will be similar stories years from now.
When the ship arrived I saw lines of utility trucks leaving their staging area near the West Indies pier.   At lunch I saw a truck pulling a trailer full of pole transformers drive by.   Maybe tomorrow my friend will get power back.
This morning I observed a cargo ship carrying dozens of luxury yachts enter the harbor behind us.  This is a thing.  People ship their luxury yachts and fly in to use them as a base to explore from.  Oh the lives of the rich and famous.  However it shows you even they are returning.  
I tipped a LOT more than I have in the past but they have been without income for way too long.  
St Thomas is back and there is no reason to avoid coming here.

Day 4 - San Juan, Scheduled Arrival 3pm 
As we approached San Juan our sunny day ended and it became apparent we would have some liquid sunshine, emphasis on liquid, to contend with.

We docked near the Sheraton in Old San Juan. Skies began to look better but radar showed another line or two approaching from the East.


After a few false starts to avoid getting drenched I finally ventured out.  

San Juan is doing much better than much of Puerto Rico.  On the surface it doesn't look much different compared to previous visits.
There were street performers waiting to greet us. 

I've eaten here before but was looking for something a little less corporate to visit tonight.

I ended up at Tijuana's bar and grill.  This is very close to the ship pier on this side of the harbor and I've walked past it many times before.

Today is the first day they have opened since Hurricane Maria.  They have a limited menu right now and are cash only but I'm glad I stopped by.
Beer and a burrito sounded pretty good to me with great views. 

The bill came to around $18.  I left them $40.
After this I wandered down the shore along the edge of the fort walls that used to protect the city in the days of old.

Another wave of rain moved through but it was light and refreshing.  They have festive lights set up.  San Juan is back and is ready to greet you. The rain soaked streets increased the contrast and made it especially pretty tonight.

 
I made it down to the fountain I've visited before but lighting wasn't very good tonight and some more rain was moving in so I doubled back to a restaurant and bar I passed along the way.

The Princesa Gastro Bar has the "It's Rum Time" sign that you'll see around San Juan.  On the outside it's a small bar but I was I glad I stopped by.



I talked to 'Angel' the bar keeper and he eagerly explained the island rum he had available.  It's quite a selection.  He arranged it compared to popular liquor such as Scotch, Bourbon and Vodka.  He explained that if someone likes a certain type of Scotch, they might like this type of rum and so on.  He was very passionate and he invited me into his bar.   


After discussing my likes and dislikes he recommend a couple for me to try.   He then presented them to me, complete with bottles to review as I sampled them.

I was impressed.  As a frequent Scotch drinker I appreciated the flavors and differences between the samples that I would not have noticed had I not discussed them with him.  Despite being a small looking bar, it's packed with some great island rum and other liquor if you just don't like rum  (Scotch, Vodka, Gin, wine, etc). 
This might not be the kind of place to seek a rum punch or frozen something but there is no doubt Angel could probably come up with something for you.
The ambiance in the shadow of the old fort wall combined with the restaurant next door is quite nice.

I won't say the ridiculous price he tried to charge me.  I had to do a double take with my old eyes but I tripled it in cash.

They say the trick to navigating is always look for the North star as it shines brightest in the sky.  This wasn't lost on me as I made my way home to Anthem in light rain with a belly full of rum.









 


Back on board I settled down in Vintages to write and post this. There's no place like home.
I was hoping for not just an adventure in San Juan but I also wanted to contribute to the local economy as they need our tourist dollars in the long road to recovery.  It's wasn't what I had in my mind but I'm quite pleased how it played out.
I went into the Walgreens to pickup a few things I forgot to pack.  I used my credit card.  My time in old San Juan all seemed very normal except the restaurants and bars were lightly occupied.  They need tourists to return.  Absent of money coming in some of these businesses will be forced to close if tourists don't return.
If anyone is concerned about booking a cruise with a call on San Juan, don't be.  Book it.

With self-disembarkation, you can leave anytime you want once the ship has been cleared.

most of the flight will be in the morning afternoon , 
a 6 PM flight will arrive after midnight (5 hours flight from NYC)  , 
From Newark airport you have daily 7:30 AM direct  flight (around 230 $) but I guess you are losing half day flying ... on the other hand , when you will arrive your hotel will already be ready for you and you do not need late checkout in NY.

Our arrival back to Bayonne:






Now I know how Super Mario felt when he told me on Freedom "Get Off My Ship!". 

 
B2B process:
We were asked to be in Boleros at 9:15am.  At 9:45am they escorted us off.  They collected our SeaPass cards as we scanned them to leave the ship.  As a group they held us in the terminal waiting for our new SeaPass cards before seeing customs.  After 20 minutes we formed a single file line for a separate customs officer and then a u-turn back in the direction we came.  We never did enter the terminal where I waited to board the first cruise.  We were now in the area where you would get your luggage and queue up for customs.  The doors to customs area now closed we were in a vast mostly empty section of the building where they set up rows of seats and escorted Sky Class to sit.  It was like we were on display with a crowd of zoo visitors curiously looking at us from their seats.  I'm sure they were wondering 'who are these people?'.  Right around 11am they allowed us to re-board.   That makes it 1h 15m off ship.  
I immediately went to Guest Services to get my Wow band re-coded to my new room.  Since I had the same muster station I was able to re-use mine from the first cruise.  I knew that was the case and why I paid the $5 to buy one.  For my Anthem cruise in January I'm far forward on port.  I suspect I'll be A2 so my E2 Wow band won't be re-useable.
It didn't take long for the crowds to build and with folks pushing, pulling or dragging their carry on luggage it felt very crowded and very slow to get around.  
Originally the signs said cabins would be ready by 1pm but at 1pm the same signs now said 2pm.  
Consecutive cruisers were treated to a sit down lunch in The Chic restaurant ay noon.  Quite tasty.

Muster drill didn't use scanners to record guest presence like it did on cruise 1 for some reason.  Instead they were writing down everyone's cabin number on paper.  This slowed it down a lot.  At least I was in Two70 sitting down.  It was about 25m long and immediately after releasing us we began to push away from the pier.
Anthem muster locations:

It took roughly 30 minutes to reach the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge.  It was much colder this time, 49 degrees and our cruise director staff were absent from the pool deck doing the bridge countdown.

And in even more unrelated news I booked the Symphony TA in October as soon as I re-boarded at the Next Cruise desk.  Symphony, here I come!  Somebody stop me!

The best way to be sure will be to have a passport.
If you do not have a passport and you willing to pay extra 60 $ for expedite process you can use this service and get it ready for your travel , once you have it you can make sure the name on the passport is identical to the reservation (if not , you can ask RC to change the name)  .
https://travel.state.gov/content/passports/en/passports/services/expedited.html
Regarding if it will work as RC told you with the driving license/birth certificate   , I can not answer , one of the most problematic thing in RC is to get firm answer  from them.
Hope it will work well for you (most of the chances it will) 

Tonight's show was "We Will Rock You" in the main theater.  Given how quick the MDR was tonight I had time to run to Vintages for a glass of wine before the show.  
The show started off a bit slow for me and I was wondering what I got myself into.  As it progressed I began to warm up to it more and more.  Roughly halfway through I was really enjoying it and by the end I was on my feet applauding with the rest of the theater.  Don't miss it, especially if you like Rock and the music of Queen.
I plan to go again next cruise but from the upper level so I can see the band who sit in four boxes stage left and right on the second level and were hard to see from front and center.

Yesterday was an action packed evening.  First my ride in Northstar.  

We boarded just as the sun was setting.

Despite 15 people being in Northstar it was quite roomy.

We slowly started rising.  It runs a pre-selected computer program, the operator didn't "drive" it, at least not on my ride.










Our ride over, we just waited for Northstar to dock.

After exiting there is a small viewing platform which is the highest you can visit on the ship (other than inside Northstar) so a few more pictures were in order.



It was a 10 minute ride and it started to rain just towards the end while we were almost back down to the ground but it only lasted a few seconds.
It goes by really fast and Northstar is very smooth.  With a camera up to my face for much of it I didn't even realize we had started our descent until we were almost fully back down.
With Northstar complete it was time for sail away. 

After my 9pm dinner I went walking around the ship to burn off a handful of calories.  It's Sunday night and football was still playing on the outdoor screen.  



While closed at this time of night, Northstar's prominent presence contributes to the ambiance of the pool deck at night.


The indoor pools were also closed this late at night but they illuminate them to add to the vibe of Anthem at night.




Then off to the Solarium which is very relaxing at night.  The main multi-level tiered pool was closed for cleaning but there were some hot tubs still open with guests enjoying them.



 
 


There is a colorful swing in the Solarium.

I think I like this Solarium the best of any ship I've sailed.

Next a stop in Vintages before they closed for the night.


Vintages and Jamie's Italian are located in The VIA and it's a wonderful use of geometric shapes and lighting.

One last look at the elevator bank this time looking up before heading to bed.

Alure and Oasis are almost the same.
Both are the same size, will serve you the same food , have the same special restaurants.
Allure showing Mama Mia, Oasis Cats.
we were cursing both  of the ships , could not find many differences.
Oasis is going out from Port  Canaveral while Allure from  Fort Lauderdale/Miami (Some time next year)
Port Canaveral is 45 minutes from Orlando, which means it will cost you more to arrive there and back (the cheapest will be to rent a car, RC taking 35 $ PP each way) going to the port in Fort Lauderdale is around 10 minutes ore less from the airport and most of the hotels around.
If the flight to Orlando and  Fort Lauderdale/Miami airport  cost the same and you are not planning to visit Orlando's  parks (which if you already travel from the UK I might consider to visit a park or two) than for sure take the Allure.
If you are planning to go to Orlando first to visit Disney/Universal you might consider to take Oasis. by the way if you still want to be in Orlando and take allure you can always rent a car and return it in in FLL/Miami airport.
By the way , most of the times , the hotels in Orlando will be cheaper comparing to Fort Lauderdale/Miami. 
So before you decide you should ask yourself  what you want to do before/after the cruise ....

From my experience the price on the ship most of the times are very good, mainly if you are taking the two/three bottles offers.
Rum, Grey Gauss (which I use as a price indicator any many duty free shops) are for sure better than the airports duty frees.
Regarding packing and sending in the check suitcase , I did it many times (every flight almost that I am taking I will always return a wine or a liqueur based where I am flying from). beside one incident due to bad bottle it all went ok. It is always good idea to bring with you a duck tape or something like that to secure the cork/plug.
 
 

Thanks for this very nice detailed blog , 
Enjoyed every post , got me even more excited  for my Independence OTS next month. 

My home town , Tel Aviv. 

My home town , Tel Aviv. 

First of all , what a wonderful blog, enjoying every post 
Regarding  the 80/90  parties , they actually started to do it, in my cruise they had both 70s party and 80 party. 

I must say, after experience in writing this live blog it amaze me how you do it every day , my full respect for you  maintaining  this wonderful site .