Caribbean

Wednesday, December 30th, 2009 St. Thomas (US Virgin Islands)

By around 8 am we were docked at the pier in St. Thomas, one of the three main islands (with St. Croix and St. John) that comprise the US Virgin Islands. Once part of the Dutch West Indies the islands were taken over by America after the first world war and the islanders are now American citizens.  Charlotte Amalie is the capital and main port.

We had decided not to book any excursions - a decision that  actually worked out fine.  However Joelle, who used to livd in St. Thomas , told us that we should really get out and see around the island as it is quite beautiful. We had every intention of doing so and  went  ashore early to do a bit of shopping and then get a cab to do some sight-seeing.  But the heavens decided otherwise. We had just finished our  shopping when It  began to pour - a heavy pounding rain - and within minutes we were  all soaked through to the skin. So, shivering despite the soggy warmth,  we splashed back to the ship and did not get up to the mountain to see the reputedly famous views. We decided to relax for the rest of the afternoon, read  and make the best of our free time.

By six thirty we were dancing in the Club Savoia. The music alternated between the band and  Wendy's music when the band is on break, which gives a lot of dance variety. Then to our frustration the cruise staff came out to play games such as bingo and took over the floor. That meant we had to move to Club Verde and its much smaller floor until dinner time.

Because we were in an upgraded cabin, a mini-suite,  we were given an invitation to have dinner in the Club Ristorante so at 8:30 when the group went off to dinner in the Michaelangelo Restaurant,  Mike, Amanda and I went up to Club Ristorante on deck for our special invitation dinner. It was the best meal we had on the ship

We had a nice sized table for three and the service was as good one would expect in a better level restaurant. Although I tend not to drink much wine on these dance cruises (I don't want to fall over during a quickstep or Viennese waltz, right?) we decided a good bottle of wine would complement this special occasion nicely.

We chose a bottle of Elena Walch 2008 Gewurtztraminer from Alto Adige, Italy.  I was quite intrigued at the idea of an Italian Gewurtztraminer as I associate the varietal more with Germany or the Alsace region of France , as well as our Okanagan region in BC now of course. But later, when I did some research I remembered that the varietal was actually named after the Italian town of Tramin - the full name in German, Gewurtztraminer,  meaning spicy Traminer. And the Trentino Alto Adige region is in the North East part of Italy, bordering on Austria; German is as commonly spoken there as Italian.

 Monday, December 28, 2009  Sea days - Dancing from Fort Lauderdale to St. Thomas

Today is the first of two days at sea and we have 2 hour dance workshops scheduled on both days; These will be on the 4 most common social dances  - rumba and foxtrot, and  waltz and chacha . On the return two days at sea, Wendy has scheduled bolero (one of my favorites), salsa (not my favorite), tango and swing. We were asked to be at Club Verde by 10  am.

As far as our cabin goes it is very comfortable and well designed, with adequate storage space  so that we are not tripping over each other's stuff.  The balcony has two long pool chairs and a table.  It has the best view of any office I have worked in except maybe my "office" on the Pacific Princess, traveling between Honolulu and Tahiti.