St. Thomas USVI

Today we are in St. Thomas USVI! It’s another day without concrete plans. We sleep in and then go to the buffet for breakfast. One of the interesting things about the buffet is that there are two sides and the sides serve different items. So many cruise ships mirror the selection, but not this one. I have banana pancakes and some beef from the oriental section which was really good. 

SkyRide

There is a cable car nearby, and we can see it from the ship. We’re going up there! It takes about fifteen minutes to walk to the cable car, and we go through a little mall along the way. The mall is specifically for tourists from the ships, so it has mostly souvenirs. We buy tickets for the cable car which was about $30 for each adult and $20 for children. I think the price is a little steep for what it is, but it’s still less expensive than any of the shore excursion options. The ride up is pretty quick and the view from the top is spectacular. There are more souvenir shops at the top and a restaurant. We find a table and order drinks. Brian and I have the Bushwacker drink which is their specialty and my son has a frozen mango drink. They were delicious and the Bushwacker tasted amazing but also had a ton of alcohol. I definitely couldn’t have more than one of these without consequences. 

Bushwhacker

We return back to the ship and relax in the room. I take a nap and we order room service. The room service was quick and we order off the kid’s menu. PB&J for my son and cheese quesadillas for me. I take one bite of my food and immediately spit it out. Whose bright idea was it to put jalapeños on a children’s quesadilla?!? There is plenty of food on the ship so I’ll have no issue finding something else to eat. My son relaxes and plays on his iPad while I watch a movie. 

Eventually we move outside to enjoy the pool. I grab a slice of pizza and my son of course gets ice cream. It’s later in the day and the pool deck is not crowded. At some point musicians come to play Caribbean sounds which is really nice. We’re very close to the stage and the volume was perfect. On many ships, I vacate an area when the band comes because it’s way too loud for me. This was a pleasant surprise. 

This ship doesn’t have much for children. The initial rendering of the ship had a whole splash pad and kid’s area on Deck 19, but for reasons unknown to me, they didn’t complete that part of the ship. I’ve heard that some of the jets for the splash pad were installed and rumor has it that they have been on in the past. We can see this area, but it hasn’t been turned on at all on our sailing. Pools and hot tubs are enough to entertain many children and children get creative. The pools have loungers in a shallow end, and my son and another kid pull two over to the edge and that becomes their water slides. 

There are three spaces onboard for children. The firefly lounge is for smaller children. There is another lounger for 8-12 year olds and then another for teens. We registered our son the first day but haven’t used the space yet. We signed up for an experience tomorrow and our son will need to come here. We take today to get him familiar with the space and drop him off for fifteen minutes. We then go to Good Spirits which is conveniently located nearby. 

Good Spirits is a bar and is empty when we poke our heads in. We ask if they are open and they say yes. They just finished a private event and re-opened to the public so we arrived at a good time. The cocktail menu is pretty extensive and has a lot of interesting options. We order our drinks and they are just as delicious as the sound. Our waitress tells us they have a mixology demonstration every night at 10:15pm that sounds interesting. 

Good Spirits

Fifteen minutes have passed so we go back to the kid’s club to collect our child. He’s sitting at a table beading a bracelet. He wants more time. Yes! We wander around the shops and come back about fifteen minutes later. He’s ready to go and he gets a toy upon leaving the kid’s club as a prize for coming for the evening. It’s funny to me that the ship doesn’t have that much for children because Princess understands children well. We had a very positive experience on our last Princess cruise as well. They chose very active activities for the kids, and it feels more like camp than school. There also aren’t many children so the space is calm and controlled. We also like that they give a schedule the very first day so you can see ahead of time the activities that will take place. 

We go back to the room and my husband and son wind down for the evening. I’m interested in the mixology show so I go back at ten. There are no seats available at ten so I wander the ship for fifteen minutes. The bar is near the casino and the casino is the happening place to be. I believe I heard someone say that this is the largest casino on a Princess ship although that may have changed with the new Star Princess.  The casino is packed! Every slot machine has an active participant. Casinos aren’t my scene and I just pass through. The smoke is suffocating, and I can’t wait to leave. I wander and find some of the specialty restaurants. 

Mixology Show

It’s time for the show! I’m really not sure what to expect, but the experience exceeds my expectations, and I wish I knew about this bar earlier. The bar is travel themed and each drink is themed to a destination. The drink I ordered early was the Dominican Republic drink. My husband had ordered the Cartagena one. The mixologist gives an introduction to what it’s all about. Basically, you can order your drink to be made on the show. The first drink is the one from the Yucatán in Mexico. We watch a mini documentary about the region and about how the ingredients in the drink are used in that area. The mixologist takes over and continues to tell us about the ingredients as he handcrafts the cocktail. This one has muddled watermelon and jalapeños. The liquors used for the drink are also carefully chosen. When it’s time to shake the cocktail, the person who ordered it comes to the stage and it’s a whole thing. The drink is then poured and delivered to the table. We end the presentation with another video about the region, and the recipe is displayed. Four different drinks are made like this, and it was so interesting. I really want to try some of the ones after hearing about them too! It was a very educational drinking experience, and you can find me here at 10:15pm every day going forward.