The Final Days of Glory

With Half Moon Cay and San Juan officially behind us, the last stop on the itinerary was St. Thomas (U.S. Virgin Islands). This ended up being a bit anticlimactic – although the weather was beautifully hot. Really beautifully hot.

As was the case in San Juan, I opted to wander around St. Thomas without the aid of a guide or official excursion. This didn’t turn out as well as San Juan as there were no forts to explore. None that I saw anyway. On the upside, I didn’t wander alone as I met up with Joanne (from dinner on day one) and we took to the streets with the hopes we might find something interesting. We weren’t particularly successful. There were a lot of small shops and a pseudo market selling the usual trinkets, shirts, bags, and the like. With neither of us being shoppers, we were not tempted by their wares. Well, Joanne may have been tempted by a yellow bag but she prevailed in the end.

In addition to the touristy shops, St. Thomas also has a Skyride (tram) that leads to Paradise Point for what is apparently a good photo opportunity of the island. Neither of us were particularly interested in taking the tram but I got the brilliant idea of walking up the hill to Paradise Point. This idea became somewhat less brilliant pretty quickly. Had there been a hiking path to the top I think it would have been fun – well, my idea of fun – however, we found ourselves just walking up a steep switchback road which wasn’t particularly interesting and that took much of the charm out of the hike. About a third of the way up the hill, someone (ie. not me) suggested that we abandon the plan of walking up the hill and find a patio to have a drink. This ended up being an excellent plan.

We stopped at one of the bars along the way for a cold beverage and hung out there for about an hour. It was pretty nice. From there we wandered a bit more but, as we did, it became increasingly evident that we weren’t going to find anything we deemed interesting without signing up for an official excursion – and clearly it was too late for that. So, after a bit of deliberation, we opted to return to the boat for lunch.

Back on the boat, the usual activities were going on, most of which were variations of previous activities. There was a “movie” playing on the big outdoor screen. I used quotations there because the “movie” in question was Grown Ups and, well, it was terrible. Very terrible. So VERY terrible. After 30 minutes it was time to move on. In reality, it was probably time to move on after about ten minutes.

In some ways, the return to the boat marked the end of the cruise. There were no further stops scheduled. The next port at which we would stop would be Miami – which of course would be the actual end of the cruise – but that was two “Fun Days at Sea” away.

The final two days passed pretty quickly. They weren’t particularly productive but, then again, neither were the first five days. I don’t think people go on cruises to be productive. Anyway, there were burgers eaten. And ice cream. And the buffet. There were comedy shows, an “Epic Rock” show (which really stretched the definition of “epic”), a few beers, a Motown show, a short stint at the casino tables, ping pong (I may have lost), basketball, mini-golf (I may have won), more ice cream, a few more beers, and of course, the piano bar.

I look back and it’s hard to believe that my inaugural cruise has officially come and gone. There were definitely highs and lows during the week but all things considered it was a good week. I don’t see myself taking a cruise again anytime soon but I certainly don’t regret the decision.