Thursday, August 4, 2011

Thursday Travels; Millennium, St. Thomas

I have visited a total of 13 ports so far in my cruise travels. The most beautiful was easily Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas, USVI. A gorgeous hilly and green island, St. Thomas and its sidekick, St. John, are simply stunning! Add to the fact that they are English speaking islands, and you have a fun and easy port to navigate. 
The shopping, if that is your thing, is incredible. And taxis to the downtown area are easy to find. You could even walk downtown, but since it is along a busy stretch of road and about 2 miles, most people prefer the taxis, even if they are a bit pricey.

Our St. Thomas experience was divided into two parts…a morning ferry ride to St John started our day. We booked a shore excursion from the ship…remember this was our first cruise…for snorkeling at Trunk Bay in St. John. Trunk Bay is a beautiful location to snorkel, but falls very short of my best snorkeling experience. It is great for beginners, and actually has a snorkeling trail, but the variety of fish just weren’t there. 
The highlights were actually found in getting to Trunk Bay. Both the 20 minute ferry ride to and from St. John and the drive on St. John to get to Trunk Bay were beautiful. St. John is a lovely island with much of the land protected from development, making it quite different in character from St. Thomas.

Once our excursion was over DD and I made the trek into downtown Charlotte Amalie for some shopping therapy. St. Thomas is an excellent place to buy jewelry, and there were jewelry stores everywhere! At least there were choices beyond the infamous Diamonds International that can be found in every port known to man. Here you can do some nice comparison shopping and feel a little better about the prices you are paying.

Once finished with our window shopping, DD and I joined the guys back on the ship for one of the most beautiful sailaways I have ever experienced.

 Next stop: Nassau, Bahamas.

Bon Voyage ~Marla

3 comments:

  1. Beautiful place! We're checking out Royal Caribbean's European cruises.

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  2. Love Royal Caribbean!! The Millennium was our Celebrity venture...Royal is more my style though. You should check out Celebrity too...I think you would enjoy it!

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  3. Your pictures are amazing! Trunk Bay has one of the most beautiful beaches in the Caribbean, let alone the world. Glad you had fun!

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