GOOD MORNING ANTIGUA!

January 30, 2016

By Bonnie.

Well we slept in till 7. I went to bed about 11 and he stayed up till 11:30 working. Yesterday was St Thomas, US Virgin Island. We got up at 6:30 so we could have breakfast and he could study before we went out. I walked around the deck after breakfast while he went back to the room to work. It was nice outside. I could see what looked like a shopping area right off the ship.  There was a large Celebrity ship docked in front of us. After walking I sat on deck 3 and crocheted. He came and got me about 10 and we got off.

We walked to the shops. There were 7 buildings of jewelry, t-shirts and other such stuff. We perused several of the shops and walked by all of the jewelry stores unless they had some other stuff to draw you in. Overall it was a nice area just to walk around. We walked through and on by headed toward downtown which was about 2 miles down the road. There was a lot of traffic but sidewalks abounding.

As we walked taxis would ask you want a ride and we said no. We walked past a couple of drivers parked in an area along the street and they took one look at me and my cane said “Lady you won’t make it. Let me give you a ride.” I smiled and gave them a thumbs up.  We actually were only walking to the supermarket that we had seen from the shopping center. I was looking for Mio which I had forgotten at home. Didn’t find any but bought a package of 10 crystal light individual packets for $5.49!

It was interesting on St Croix and St Thomas that I was able to find lots of pennies on our walks. All of which I picked up. I didn’t find coins on any other ports. But I did get a Bermudian coin in change on one island and a Dutch coin on Antigua last week.

After we got back on the ship about 11:30 we unloaded of stuff in the cabin and headed up to Lido for some lunch. I got a cheeseburger Mexican style I put pico di gallo on my lettuce, tomato, ketchup and mustard. Very good. David had Chinese. Of course there was ice cream for dessert. It was about 12:30 or so and he went back down to work. I decided to set out by the pool and enjoy the island breeze and crochet till about 2. They were showing the movie Peabody and Sherman at 2 in Butterflies lounge. Well, that was what they said but they never did. So I went back to the room for awhile and then at 3 went up to the Red Frog Pub on deck 2 for a craft class. It was the card making kit. So I got one and headed to the Butterflies lounge for David’s talk. It was at 4.

The tech was there but some dude dressed in a white uniform told him to go somewhere else so he but the screen up, locked up the sound room and left. Swell. Then David arrived at the appropriate time, 3:30, and no sound guy. He waited til 3:45 and then called Katie. About 5 minutes later Branislav came – he is David’s favorite tech. Efficiency. About 35 or so people. But all aboard wasn’t until 4:30 so we expected a small crowd. Talk went well. He will repeat that talk today at 4 as we get back on board in Antigua at 4:30 also.

After the talk we headed back to dress for supper. It was elegant night. We headed out about 5:45 to the dining room. A lot of folks were dressed and a lot weren’t. But that is the way it is. Tonight everyone was at their assigned table. We were pretty sure that the dance couple had got on and were to be seated at our table. They were Beth and Andrew. They arrived a little after 6. Seem nice. Andrew is from New England area we think Maine and Beth is from Vermont. Not married. But they will be teaching the dance classes in the Atrium piazza, their classes are at 3:15 on port days. So we probably won’t get to go. Andrew also sails as a host a lot of times. That is a guy who gets on to dance with ladies who are unaccompanied or whose husbands don’t dance when the ladies want to. I guess we might say he is a hired gigolo. He had some interesting stories to tell some which I won’t tell. (Addendum from David: There was the one about his 85 year old cabin mate – on an earlier cruise – and a roll of toilet paper – ask me in person). Oh, my!

Well, they didn’t stay for dessert as this was the Captain’s party and speech evening. We heard it all last week so we opted to have our melting chocolate cake. Then as it was too late to make the first show we sent to Deck 3 and sat and waited for the doors to open to the Taj Mahal for the late show and 8:45 (preshow with the piano bar guy playing and doing a sing a long with the crowd). There were a few people who had definitely had a little to much to drink. One lady Delores, in her 70s, went from one guy’s lap to another. 7 in all. The piano bar guy called her the lap dance lady. She even sat on the cruise director’s lap!  Oh my! Then at 9:15 the song and dance show with the young kids started. Very good. Lots of high energy singing and dancing. We thoroughly enjoyed it.