Day 7

Barb shopping for a purse


 What fun we had today – of course when you have one of the greatest shopping ports in the world to stop at, what would you expect!

We were off the ship, on the shuttle and into town by 8 in the morning and first stopped at the flea market area to do some purse shopping. And would you believe it, Barb found a purse.

 Then it was down the street into town to visit all the old familiar shops. At about 10 we went to Jen’s Island Café and Deli to say hi. We met Jen about 13 years ago when she had a small place. She was from Chicago and of course we were in the food business so we had fun talking at that time. She now has a large restaurant and appears to be doing quite well. Jen took time to talk with us and catch us on old. Jen is also going to be in Chicago this summer and will be there for a wedding at the same time Bloomington Gold is going on so we might get to see her again this summer.  Jen's Deli is located on the corner of the Grand Hotel, at the very end of the main shopping street in St. Thomas and it is a wonderful place to eat.

Jen inside her Cafe

Then it was off to our favorite jewelry store, Chalet D’Or Jewelers. Ed first bought a ring from them in 1983 and most of Barb’s good jewelry has come from their store. They are a lovely family and established their business in 1968. Of course they found something for Barb and now she has a new diamond, ruby and sapphire ring.

We then went back to Jen’s for lunch and Jen sat with us while we ate and talked. After lunch we hopped a shuttle to take us to Magen’s Bay Beach, supposedly one of the best beaches in the world. It was very pretty, great sand and set in a cove on the north side of the island.

We left early because the sun wasn’t that great and went back to the jewelers to pick up Barb’s new ring. The owner then took us in his own car back to the ship. There are shops in front of the ship on the dock so of course we shopped there but didn’t find anything.

The evening dinner was a special one. Once on each cruise, 12 people can make reservations for the Chef’s Table dining experience. This is a new program they have just started at Carnival and it was the best dining experience we have had ever, anywhere!!

Barb's new ring on the left

It also included a visit to the kitchen while they were serving the dinner for the ship - wow was that place busy. Then they served us an assortment of canapés in the kitchen before we headed to the private dining room for the 12 of us and 6 – 8 chefs who prepared our meal.

We had 7 courses and they were:
Norwegian salmon tartar

Fire roasted tomato and poblano chili bisque soup

Rock shrimps and apple beignets
Chopped Mediterranean salad
Fillet of Chilean sea bass
Aged filet mignon

The harbor as we left

And then a special desert, including chocolate melting cake.

We decided not to play in the casino so we went to the r-rated comedy show, watched some salsa dancing, picked up some of our pictures that were ready and then went up to our room for an early night.

Tomorrow is Antigua – shopping and the beach







The chefs preparing our dinner