ST THOMAS NEVER DISAPPOINTS! CUSTOMS AND BORDER PROTECTION TODAY!

Regal Princess/Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas, USVI
Monday, October 21, 2024
Sun, 88F

 

Port of Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas

WARNING:   This post contains information about buying jewelry.

Since this was our 23^rd time in St. Thomas, we knew what we wanted to do. Let me rephrase that—I knew what I wanted to do! But first, because this was our first U.S. port after being in Europe, everyone on the ship had to go through Customs and Border Protection.  Passengers were given a specific time slot to go through this procedure in the ship’s dining room, beginning at 7 a.m.  Apparently all the CBP agents did not show up, so everything was backed up. It is a simple procedure: show your passport and have your photo taken, that is all.  It took us one hour.  We were in the 6^th group. I really felt sorry for those after us because we found out some did not get off the ship until after 11 a.m.  

 

L to R: Regal Princess, Sapphire Princess

Only two ships in port today

When we were finally able to leave the ship at the Havensight port area, we looked for an open air taxi for downtown.  This part was a mess too. Usually, the taxis are organized into those going to beaches and those going downtown.  Taxis were all over the place with virtually no plan for the two groups. Finding a taxi took another 45 minutes. Don’t they know we have jewelry shopping to do?   We did learn later in one of the shops that today/this week was the opening of the season.

 

Open Air Bus in St. Thomas
(photo from another passenger)

I think downtown Old St. Thomas is a treasure—the buildings are very old.  Charlotte Amalie has the largest collection of colonial buildings in the Caribbean. Most of them are classic Caribbean adaptions of English Georgian architecture built by the Danes, dating to the 1830s. What I call the main street is filled with stone buildings that have withstood multiple hurricanes through the years, with major hits about every eight years. Even the double hit in 2017, Hurricanes Irma (178 mph wind, Category 5) and Maria, did not destroy these stone buildings. Of course, other areas of the island near this port were devastated, including Friend H’s favorite hotel.

I wonder what stories these buildings have to tell. Many of the shops maintain the original bare stone walls and I do find them fascinating.  After visiting our favorite jewelry shop, Alpha Jewelers, for a check on my rings, reinforcing the prongs, a thorough cleaning, and replacing a small diamond on one ring (all at no charge), we continued our walk around the charming town.   https://alpha-jewelers.com/

 

Alpha Jewelers

We stopped at Gladys’ Cafe (https://gladyscafe.com/) for lunch where many locals eat, roast chicken, rice and beans, plaintains for TK and a burger for me and then headed back to Alpha to retrieve my rings. I may or may not have made another purchase.  By the way, I am grateful that my brother makes beautiful necklaces for me!

Gladys' Cafe

Inside Gladys' Cafe (photo from Internet)

TK’s Takes: Even though the temperature is 88F, it feels like 99F. This is the only cruise where he went from wearing gloves, layers of shirts, long pants, and a coat to wearing shorts and a tee.

Love this police car!

TK was very interested in this

A Hampton Inn is being constructed

right next to the port at Havensight!

Note:  Tonight at dinner I learned from Friend F that there is a Maitre d' on Sapphire Princess who has worked for Princess for 52  years!!   That is a wonder!

LAND AHOY! ANTIGUA!

Regal Princess/Antigua
Sunday, October 20, 2024
Sun, 86F

TK and Janie arrive safely on land!

Even though we were expecting rain, Antigua greeted us with full on sunshine! And heat! And finally, LAND!!  This is our fourth visit to Antigua, the last time was in 2019 with our Wisconsin friends Donna and Lawrence.

From the blog, February 4, 2019: “We started the day with Lawrence of Antigua which inspired our Lawrence to say he was Lawrence of Wisconsin. Antigua Lawrence was a good tour guide, and his Nissan bus easily held 18 passengers. The island is not volcanic so there are no high mountains as we drove along the English side of the road. It is not a large island and has a population of about 100,000. The main industry is tourism. In the 18^th and 19^th centuries, sugar cane factories were the economic advantage. We passed old sugar cane factories as we drove along. We stopped at several overlooks to see the beautiful harbor. In one area we could see both the Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea.”

2019

Antigua is known for a regatta it holds in April

One of the many beautiful bays

 According to the Internet, the tropical islands of Antigua and Barbuda are located in the heart of the Caribbean about a thousand miles to the east of Jamaica and half that distance from Trinidad on the coast of South America.

The Flag of Antigua and Barbuda

Ironically, Wikipedia states that the island of Antigua was born out of the sea by a volcano about 30 million years ago (contradicting our 2019 tour guide). On the northern flank of this volcano, reefs were formed, hence the greater part of Antigua is low lying and is composed of limestone rock.

The population of Antigua is approaching 93,000. Days and nights are refreshingly cooled by the gentle trade winds. 

This morning when we arrived, it was already very warm.  We did not have a tour scheduled and walked the area built for tourists.  In truth, some islands have areas built for tourists and if one looks beyond that area the living conditions are exposed.  Many (maybe even most) of the islands we visit are economically dependent on the cruise ships that visit regularly.  It is a different atmosphere compared to the ports in Europe.

Regal Princess poses with Janie

Note to Jim B: TK and AI -- that's pretty funny!

CLASSIC FRENCH TOAST AND ANOTHER DAY AT SEA!

Regal Princess/At Sea on the Atlantic Ocean
Friday, October 18, 2024
Sun, 82F

Another day at sea, so not too much to say.  TK’s photos will tell some of the story.  It really was a beautiful day in the Sanctuary. Darn good thing I brought so many books--sitting still is not my passion and at least they keep me occupied.

We did decide that the birds we are seeing may be albatrosses, as Friend Chris mentioned. Such an interesting bird, but my quick research does not seem to show that they exist in the North Atlantic, which is where  we are. Tomorrow I will check with the crew.  Today we both saw one dive into the sea right off our balcony to catch a fish. Still no other sea creatures and no more ships.  

The Third Officer announced today that we are 2325 miles from Funchal, Madeira, and we only have 722 miles to go to Antigua. He also said, for my engineer sons, that this ship has 4 diesel generators/4 stroke engines. Two do 16,800 kw, and two do 14,000 kw, whatever that means. The maximum speed of this ship is 21.9 knots or 25.2 miles per hour.  A quick Google search reported that an aircraft carrier can go between 34 and 40 miles per hour--I don't think we could outrun an aircraft carrier.

Finally, we went to a movie under the stars tonight, Argylle.  The popcorn was very good.

TK thinking about his 

"Guess What This Dish Is" contest

in the Symphony Dining Room

Before the movie, music and 

dancing water (red and blue)

Pool area, Deck 16 earlier today

TK'S  CHALLENGE FOR OCTOBER 16: ANSWER FOLLOWS---

Guess what this dish is:

GOOD GUESSES ALL  -- THANK YOU!!

Four guesses were sent our way

1. 
   AnnThursday, October 17, 2024

   Boy, those seagulls must be tired, but they probably soar with the wind currents. I say the mystery dish is English muffins.

2. 
   TekkumeepThursday, October 17, 2024

   Maybe albatrosses instead of seagulls? Albatrosses are known for flying great distances without landing and without a lot of wing flapping needed, riding the air currents. If those are English muffins, they look burnt. Someone’s shot at cinnamon rolls? Lol

3. 
   Jim Friday, October 18, 2024

   Well the site would not let me publish my response for the food yesterday. So for today i tried the scratch and sniff and I got nothing.
   A Spanish biscuit infused with whipped honey butter and painted with a tomatoes puree.

4.   Julie -- A basket of English muffins

5. ACTUAL ANSWER:  "CLASSIC FRENCH TOAST"

6. Can you believe that???  That is about as different from French toast as I have ever seen

RIDING THE OCEAN AND GUESS WHAT THIS DISH IS!

Regal Princess/At Sea on the Atlantic Ocean
Wednesday, October 16, 2024
Cloudy, spots of rain, 79F

A pretty cool photo by TK

The days are getting much warmer and the sea is quite calm.  Today the Third Officer announced at noon that we are 1062 miles from the nearest land mass, the island of Santa Maria, part of the Azores Islands.  He also said that we are 1600 miles from our next port of call, Antigua. That means that we are REALLY alone on the Atlantic Ocean, far from land!  

(Note: Usually on the TA, we can see another ship crossing with us, or some container ships, or freighters. Not yet!)

Nothing makes me feel tinier than being on the ocean with absolutely nothing in sight. Even though our ship is fairly large, certainly larger than the Brig Niagara (110 ft long w/o bowsprit) and the Mayflower (about 100 ft long), it still looks small in the ocean.

Another note: On the ocean, the horizon is about 3 miles away--depending on the viewer's height and the height of the vessel.  

Regal Princess: 360 ft in length (about 3 football fields long); 217 ft high (about 22 stories high); and 155 ft. wide (almost the size of the Millcreek Mall/WICU tower).

Another stat that I do not understand and I could be comparing apples to oranges:

Regal Princess:  141,000 gross tonnage

Brig Niagara:  492 gross tonnage

Mayflower: 230 gross tonnage

This little exercise is to show that the ship we are aboard right now is very big, yet very  small on the Atlantic Ocean.  I am not even going to think about the 102 passengers and 30 crew on the Mayflower crossing the Atlantic with little knowledge of where they were going.

Enough of that—today was a very quiet day of eating, reading, resting, and writing, nothing to report.

But, TK’s Contest, Guess this dish is!!  Yesterday, October 15

PUMPKIN PIE!

According the the Chef on Regal Princess

Thank you to Ann, Julie, Heidi, and Chris for your great ideas!

 Ann was really on the money with, “A pastry shell filled with pumpkin and some kind of   custard on the side, plus whipped cream (not enough!)”  Every detail!  Plus, TK agrees that the 2024 Regal Princess chef got closer to what beef stroganoff really looks like! Spaghetti-no!

Julie and Heidi had an interesting (and very good) guess:  Pastel de Nata, a Portuguese egg custard tart pastry, optionally dusted with cinnamon—they have enjoyed this pastry (brought to U.S. by grandson/nephew) and it not only sounds delicious, it l ooks exactly like the Regal’s pumpkin pie!

 

Pastel de nata

Chris took a different point of view which to me seems like a good possibility:

“The mystery dish sort of resembles a chicken pot pie, maybe melted cheese on top and leaking gravy from the bottom, lol…and a decorative bit of sour cream. My lunch tastes tend to be more on the savory side than the sweet dessert side.”  Honestly, we can see this too!

 

TK is so pleased that there were guesses that he found another mystery food.  I do appreciate that you humored him on his quest. I am betting today’s challenge is going to be more difficult!

 TK'S TODAY CHALLENGE OCTOBER 16

Guess what this dish is:

What is this?

TK’s Takes: He saw two seagulls soaring over the ship today—think about that, 1000 miles from land!

TK went to Movies Under the Stars last night--Dune II

He did not stay--3 hours is a long movie, but he brought 

very good popcorn back for me!

It's a movie I want to see, but we have it recorded at home.

DAYS AT SEA ON THE REGAL PRINCESS! Guess What This Dish Is!

Regal Princess/At Sea on the Atlantic Ocean
Tuesday, October 15, 2024
Rain, Clouds, then Sun, 77F

Towel animals are back!

A little doggie!

TK wanted me to blog today because he wants to revive his “contest,” "Guess what this food is." Remember, these are Sea Days and I think he had plenty of time to think about things like that.  I will come back to TK’s contest in a moment.

This morning was rainy, so we spent the morning in the covered back of the ship, overlooking the sea.  So far, the ocean is much calmer than a few days ago.  This was very pleasant, the weather is much warmer now, it was not really windy, and what’s not to like about daydreaming?

Regal Princess-Deck 16 Aft

Wish you, dear Readers, could enjoy this with us!

At noon the Third Mate announced that we have traveled 717 miles away from Funchal, Madeira, so far and we have 2000 miles to go. He speaks in nautical miles, then gives us the data in miles. I wish he had given the depth of the ocean.

One interesting detail is that about every two days we are setting our clocks back an hour--tonight we will be only four hours ahead of EDST.

These are very lazy days – I was looking forward to my highlight of the day: lunch in the dining room with my new favorite, “Colossal Fries.”  Those are my favorite coated fries, hot and crispy, and only served at lunch in the dining room as an appetizer. Next time I am going to order a double! Ann, you know what I am talking about!  To make it seem like this was a real lunch, I ordered deep fried Thai spring rolls with shrimp.  TK, thinking more nutritionally, had some kind of soup and some kind of entrée. I was too busy eating fries.

After lunch we headed to a favorite spot on Deck 17, the Sanctuary—we have talked about this spot before, thickly padded lounge chairs, overlooking the ocean, with attendants attending to any beverage you wish, and tea with a variety of tea sandwiches and petite sweets, including scones, clotted cream, and jam at 3 p.m.  There is a charge for this area, but TK gets a lot of onboard credit that must be used on the ship.

TK daydreams while I read and read and read.

 

Thank you for so many books, Chris!!

I have read these books 

plus 3 others  since the plane ride to London

I have 6 books left...

Back to TK’s contest!

On cruise in 2022, he wanted readers to guess what the first dish was:

Beef Stroganoff on the Regal Princess

November 2022

Spaghetti pasta

Beef Stroganoff on the Caribbean Princess

January 2023

Beef Stroganoff on the Regal Princess

October 2024

TK'S NEW CONTEST

Guess what this dish is:

Janie's

TK's

MADEIRA: WARM OCEAN BREEZE AND PALM TREES SWAYING!

Regal Princess/Funchal, Madeira, Portugal
Sunday, October 13, 2024
Sun, 76F

Funchal, Madeira on Sunday morning after we were docked

Who can resist walking along an ocean side promenade with a warm, salty ocean breeze and palm trees swaying?  TK and I were doing just that this morning.  We very pleased with warmer weather and sunshine, leading us to think of ourselves as fair weather cruisers. Funchal is very walkable right off the ship, although Princess offered a shuttle to the city’s center.

  
Funchal from the ship in the afternoon

TK made a screenshot

Strolling along the shore--the Regal Princess in the background

Why not have beautiful blue tiles on your building?

Closeup of one panel of the blue and white tiles

Palm trees along the street

What's not to like!?

TK checking directions

We stopped for a soda

We could run a coffee truck and 

stay in Madeira!

I need to clarify something--Madeira is an autonomous region of Portugal, but it is not considered part of the Azores Islands. It is an archipelago  made up of four islands (two are uninhabited) and situated in the North Atlantic, 250 miles north of the Canary Islands, 320 miles west and 500 miles southwest of mainland Portugal. It sits on the African Tectonic Plate, although it is culturally, politically and ethnically associated with Europe, with its population predominantly descended from Portuguese settlers. Madeira’s population is 254,000.

Funchal, the capital, is the largest city and has a population of 105,795, making it the sixth largest city in Portugal. Because of its high cultural and historical value, Funchal is one of Portugal's main tourist attractions; it is also popular as a destination for New Year's Eve, and it is the leading Portuguese port on cruise liner dockings.

After coffee and a croissant at a local coffee shop, we headed for the city center and Plaza Madeira, a “unique shopping experience.”   We have visited Funchal several times previously, so today was just going to be a leisurely day. There is a cable car to take people to the summit of a nearby incline, and one can take the basket sled ride back down, something Funchal is famous for. 

Others enjoyed the tuk-tuk ride for two or four—a small mode of motorized transportation for driving guests around the city.  

 

Tuk Tuk

This bright shiny mall only had a few stores we recognized, and I think by now readers know we are not really shopping at malls, but just checking out the local streets and people watching.  More stops along the way included stops at sidewalk cafes for soda, and some souvenirs.

 

Madeira Plaza

One food shop in the Food Court

Burger choices:  Fresh looks like tomato and lettuce?, vegan 

(looks like it has a fried egg on top), mushroom, cheese

Continued: Cheese, carbonara, Mediterrean, eggs Benedict, superbread

Friend Julie, I can order the benedict burger for you!

The city park was refreshing, and I noted the lush Clivia miniata, also known as September Lily or Bush Lily, native of South Africa. It was a plant my mother had, and I still have as a houseplant. Mine never blossoms because I have not figured out the right window for it. 

City Park

Bush Lily

Bird of Paradise

Silk Floss Tree

I do not think we have seen such a tree before

I love the purses made of cork and the embroidery of Madeira.  Other souvenirs include Poncha (sugar cane alcohol, honey, sugar, tangerine or lemon), and Madeira wine (a fortified wine, usually sweet). 

Football Sunday!

Shout Out to our football crew in Erie!

Chicago Bears and the Jacksonville Jaguars 

are playing in London at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium 

as part of the NFL's Week 6 schedule.  

TK was watching this game this afternoon.

TK's Takes:   He definitely thinks it's better to cruise in warmer weather.

Finally, when the ship leaves Funchal this afternoon about 6 p.m., we will on the Atlantic until next Sunday when we arrive in Antigua.  I am not sure about the Internet during that time, nor what exciting things we will be reporting. Don't worry!