The "third times a charm" HCL cruise PTR - Page 20 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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Glad you and Eric got some quality time together! I can't wait to hear about St. John. All your pictures are beautiful! Although the one with all the iguanas was a bit shocking.
I spent my honeymoon (15 years ago!) on St. Thomas. Thanks for the memories.
I don't remember the 99 steps at all, must have been busy doing other things! LOL!
__________________
Donning my Wellies to cut Peat in Scotland
Melissa
Sleeping...there's no sleeping on vacation (picture Tom Hanks in A League of Their Own...nice how it can be adapted to any situation, huh? )
I like that you guys got to do your own thing for a while...but maybe you need some iguana camoflauge sitting on the bench next time and they won't find you.
99 steps...hmmm......sounds like great training for, oh, I don't know...maybe a 5k?? And gee...I wonder who you could have sent a postcard to from St. Thomas...
I wish everyday started this way! I wouldnt mind getting up so early
Quote:
Originally Posted by OhToodles!
Glad you and Eric got some quality time together! I can't wait to hear about St. John. All your pictures are beautiful! Although the one with all the iguanas was a bit shocking.
I know! I am so glad we got to do this by ourselves. It was such a nice quiet start to the day. My brother used to have iguanas and I was facisnated that there were so many I mean it was literally every single rock!! I bet I saw 50 iguanas before it the day was over!
Quote:
Originally Posted by pamcarey
Great update! Sounds like a lovely morning so far...
You know it was nice to get up early and the early bird does truly get the worm because it was nice to have such a laid back quiet morning
Quote:
Originally Posted by MGW
I spent my honeymoon (15 years ago!) on St. Thomas. Thanks for the memories.
I don't remember the 99 steps at all, must have been busy doing other things! LOL!
I love that place and I've got so many pictures just because its one of my fav places If you walked up them you def would remember them *LOL* But i'm sure you were otherwise occupied...i know i wouldve been
Quote:
Originally Posted by PrincessSharon
Great start! How cool you saw the DCL in port. I can't believe those iguanas! Can't wait to hear about St. John!
I love seeing the disney ships! I have seen them every cruise we've taken thus far and I love when they leave port because they play "when you wish upon a star" it give me a little slice of disney on my nondisney vacation
Quote:
Originally Posted by dsteiny23
Okay...I'm a day behind, but great update!!
Sleeping...there's no sleeping on vacation (picture Tom Hanks in A League of Their Own...nice how it can be adapted to any situation, huh? )
I like that you guys got to do your own thing for a while...but maybe you need some iguana camoflauge sitting on the bench next time and they won't find you.
99 steps...hmmm......sounds like great training for, oh, I don't know...maybe a 5k?? And gee...I wonder who you could have sent a postcard to from St. Thomas...
And I LOVE your top!!
I always tell Eric "we can sleep when we get back!!" But, we honestly had had plenty of sleep even though we got up at 7, which in disney terms isnt early at all*L*
I'm telling you...those iguanas walked right up to people...they were not afraid of us humans......
When I did those steps I was thinking that prior to my 5 k race training I probably wouldve stopped half way up *LOL* *still working on getting the race in*
Hmmmm i dunno but i surely shouldve sent the postcard from there instead of the Bahamas *LOL*
Thanks about the tub top Its one of my favs and I thought it looked very beachy
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kenny
Great update!! I'm glad you got pics of the Magic! They make me homesick!! I LOVE your sig pic with the islands in the background!
We've seen the Magic and the Wonder in port. Like I was saying to someone before we always see the disney cruise ships and each time Eric says " i know you'd jump ships if i would let you!!"
That siggie pic is my fav pic of the trip!! It looks like a painted postcard in the background like it was superimposed ya know???
It was still partly cloudy at this point and it was around 11am. We boarded the Ferry to St. John which would take us to our excursion. Weird, side story here, the guy boarding the boats and taking our tickets saw Eric's Tennessee hat. He was like "Hey man! Did you go to UT??" Eric was like "no but my girlfriend did and we are big Tenn Vols fans" Turns out our excursion guy actually just graduated from the Univeristy of Tenn and he was working there for a year to take some time off. Weird that we would run into someone from our hometown
We boarded the Ferry to St. John which was included in the Excursion to St. John. We wanted to sit on the top deck but it was already nearly full. So the next best seat was in the front on the bottom of the ship. There were seats that lined the front and i sat with my back to a window.
It was really nice today around 80 degrees with little humidity. The ferry left on time and as we start heading out to sea the Captain warns us that for the people setting on the bottom front and sides of the ship you might get wet??!!!!! I tried to hide myself some from that spray by positioning myself with his parents in front of me *L*
So, at this point Eric's mom offers me some sunscreen to which I reply "Eh, its not that far and its cloudy???!!" Famous last words..........
The ride over was amazing to St. John. It was about a 45 minute ride. It was so nice on the front of that boat, riding the waves up and down. That's until the sea spray kept hitting us and we were laughing so hard when someone would get soaked it was so much fun!
On the way over our Captain gave us commentary about St. John and St. Thomas and the surrounding islands.
He showed us a lot of Celeb homes and I"m going to say I dont exactly remember the celeb that lives in the homes but here are pics of those homes.
Actually I do remember this is Micheal Jackson's home
I want to say this was Micheal Jordan's home
Those homes are on the coast of St. Thomas leading over to St. John.
This picture is of Charlotte Amelie's port looking over at it from the sea
This is of us arriving in St. John
This is us coming into Cruz Bay St. John
Cruz Bay is where we docked and the sky began to clear and it was mostly sunny!!! It was a beautiful bay and we were escorted to an open air bus with a group of others who were going on the Island tour.
Here's another view of us coming into Cruz Bay
We loaded up on this bus and the top was covered but the sides were open and four to a bench.
When the tour first start he went up this steep hill and we looked back over Cruz Bay
Eric began to get upset because he thought this was a tour where you saw the sights but could get out and take pics and the tour guide never stopped. So, at the next stop which was Caneel Bay, Eric asked if we could get out of the bus and the tour guide said "yes of course" Like we should just have known*L*
Now these pics are of Caneel Bay and Caneel Bay resort is located there so its pretty much a private beach and it starts at 325 a night!!!!!
This next stop was Trunk Bay where i've decided we HAVE to go back to and see and swim,etc
Eric and I were in such awe of this beach and had read that its listed as a top ten beach that you can see the excitement on our faces in this picture and it turned out to be one of my favs of the whole trip
Trunk Bay again
Okay, so we continued up a winding mountain and continued to follow the coast line of St. John. He would point out facts about the island and talk about the beaches.
We quickly came upon Cinnamon Bay and If you guys are Kenny Chesney fans at all he writes about these beaches in St. John in a lot of his songs!
Cinnamon Bay has a campsite there as well and you can camp on the beach and this beach has a lot of activities, etc. So, he stopped there for about 15 mins to let us use the restroom and get a snack
While I took advantage of the Bathroom break, Eric ran down to the beach to take pics
I think it looked heavily like rain at this point but it was really only cloudy
A little surf shop on the beach
So, on our way out we see this......
The driver said it was a termite mound in the tree!!!!! Wow!
We continue our drive up a steep mountain and this is pretty much our view the whole trip
Nice views the whole way!
Steep drive
So, we are wondering at this point where the heck we are going and then we see where we were going!!!!
A truly most gorgeous sight!
We actually bought a hand painted picture from a lady there at the top of this exact scene!! Its amazing!
So, at the top he let us out and there were all these little shops that sold things that were geared to the island itself
Here are the shops
It was so nice inside the shops selling handmade jewerly and handpainted pictures.
So then we had to have our picture taken here....
If you will notice in that picture I look red!!! I had yet to catch on....
Here is a pic of us but its a bit dark
So, after this last stop, that was the last stop and we made our way down the mountain back to Cruz Bay with no stops.
Once back in Cruz Bay we took some pics in town leading back to the dock
This is the Quiet Mon Pub which for those Kenny Chesney Fans (which i'm not but my boyfriend is *L*) he sings about drinking there
Just a little cafe
Once we were dropped off back at the dock we had about 30 mins to spare and Eric and I quickly spotted a FAB seller!!
Eric always gets a FAB that is made in that country so its an island orginal
We are standing there drinking a FAB and then all of a sudden I go to scratch my chest and it burns! yeah i know better....but it seemed not too hot and cloudy and I was moving right???? wrong!! I was burnt already. So, his mother loaded me up with sunscreen for the sunny ride back!
I will say this is probably the funniest tan line i've ever had!! a tub top tan with a shorts tan line on the bottom!
We walked back to the dock and our boat was just arriving. They had given us passes to get back on the boat at 2:15pm. Once we boarded we headed back out to the same spot and I nearly fell asleep on the ride back because he played Carribbean music and the wind and the sun it all felt so good
Here is our arrival back at the ship around 3pm
Once we got off the boat, it was 3pm and we had until 430. So, we decided to do some shopping at the port shops.
Here is where we spend a lot of our money.
We bought another water color painting for our bathroom from a local and then I bought a ring with a stone indegenious to that area and then I bought some Amber earrings and a necklace.
Once we made our purchases we started taking pics of the port and the boat but his parents left and decided since it was about 345 they were going to get back on the ship. We took these pics while we just explored ourselves
There's the bench we sat on earlier that morning
Oh and this pic reminds me of my Beach Bag obsession and I did buy a beach bag *LOL*
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After taking all these pictures it was around 4pm. We decided if boarding was at 430pm we had plenty of time for a beer. So, we sat down at the bar across from the ship and I was hungry and he had this pile of Bananas there because the special drink for the day was Banana Daquiri's. So, i offered him some money for a Banana and he gave me two free of charge Then he gave me some beer nuts and we ordered two beers a Red Stripe for me of course and Eric got something else....i dunno...
Here we are at the bar
After drinking a beer and watching people run for the boat even though the horn had not yet blown...we began to get a little nervous and made our way back. There is a really funny picture of us heading back to the ship and its on Eric's parents Disc and I will download it later but the jist of the story goes....we are walking down the pier and our ship is like a huge looming creature and then out of nowhere I hear my name and eric hears his????????? yeah you heard it here! So, We look up and there are his parents waving like mad off of their balcolny Too funny so we didnt realize they took our picture so I will post it later
We board the ship and we go to our balcolny to watch the ship leave and we see this family of four. Two small children running for it and its like 5 mins until they leave.
Then all of a sudden the port authorities are running with the mother back to eht shops...we think they mustve lost something. Then they run to catch the ship which was held for them. So, we leave out right on time! We are heading out to sea around 5pm. And here comes the disney ship too! With its horn that plays a song
As we head out we took some pics
Okay so I dont know if you can see but there's all these boats in the port and they dock at sea like that and live there for months at a time!! I so want to live like that!
So, then we are heading out to sea and boy is there a storm rolling in! We can see it coming and then something weird happens!
We are going out to sea and all of a sudden this Coast Guard chopper flies right next to the ship! So, close I could see the guys inside and they waved to us!
I'm not sure if they were checking things out but the flew right into the storm to the left of us!!
Then we see this out of nowhere in the ocean
It was a completely rock island!
Completely odd and out of place!
We watch the islands go by for awhile which is why I feel that a balcolny is such a must have!
We hang out on the balcolny and watch the sun go down. I start reading Twilight at this point! YAY!
So, we decide to head in and get ready for dinner and here is a pic of us before dinner
We had some nice tans going on by the end of the day
Dinner was great as usual and we then headed off to watch a show. It was AMAZING , it was this broadway show where they played 80's songs and hits. It was so awesome and I was singing along and Eric usually hates this stuff but he actually said how much he liked the show afterwards. By this time it was nearly 11pm and we decided to call it a night
It was a awesome day in the Virgin Islands and we are never disappointed!
Up next: Our last day at sea and Friday Half Moon Cay....
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I can't wait to hear about St. John. All your pictures are beautiful! Although the one with all the iguanas was a bit shocking. 
Disney Magic - Oct 2015
Can't wait to hear about St. John!
...sounds like great training for, oh, I don't know...maybe a 5k?? And gee...I wonder who you could have sent a postcard to from St. Thomas...
your top!!
a tub top tan with a shorts tan line on the bottom! 
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