St. Croix USVI

We arrived safely in San Juan, Puerto Rico yesterday afternoon and made it to the ship, the Celebrity Summit around 3:30. Not much time to grab a quick bite and head to the mandatory muster drill. We think that Celebrity must have taken their drill training from Costa because it was the most disorganized, useless, drill that we have ever attended! It was in a lounge without enough seats, with no air conditioning and we were in the corridor so you couldn't even see the person putting on their life vest. Thankfully we have done enough of them to know the routine, but it did not strike confidence in your heart that all would go smoothly in the event of an emergency.

After dinner (seated at a table for 2 instead of 6-- promised to be rectified by tonight) I went to the salon for a much needed trim and color! Ilene from South Africa must be a fan of the 1960's show Mad Men because I think the resulting "do" is very 60's retro!



Today we docked in Frederiksted, St Croix--86 degrees, sunny skies. They have the most organized taxi shuttle service that we have ever seen! Walk off the ship, buy your $16 pp RT ticket, get in the bus and let Griffin whisk you the 17 miles to the other side of the island to the bigger town of Christiansted--all the while he is regaling you with 600+ years of history! The island is part of the US Virgin Islands, a US territory, purchased from Denmark in 1917 for $25 million in gold. 26 miles by 6 miles, home to 51,000 people. They fly 7 flags representing all the countries that have owned them. Curiously, they drive on the left, but the cars are from the US. They have voted down changing three times.


In Christiansted you can catch the ferry to Bucks Island which is a National Monument and has phenomenal snorkeling, but we chose to stay in town, stroll the boardwalk and visit Fort Christiansted and the Steeple Building Museum. We felt guilty not paying the $3 entrance fee, but Fritz's National Park pass got us in for free and the Park rangers were delightful, knowledgeable people. One note, don't sit on the yellow walls in black shorts--it's like milk paint and comes right off making a terrible mess-- and trying to rub it off makes it worse!


Because it was Sunday there wasn't much open, except the churches and because they have been run by so many countries they have every denomination you can imagine. We chose to visit instead a delightful little harbor side bar to refresh ourselves. We sat at the bar, overlooking the water and listened to the steel drum duo. I had a wonderful concoction, described on the menu as the "house special" made from: Cruzan Coconut and Banana Rum (distilled on the island) with Blackberry brandy, grenadine, sour mix, pineapple juice Topped with a float of black strap rum! YUM Fritz had a beer!


Formal night tonight, so had better go and refresh my humidity enhanced "do".

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