Day 9, Friday, January 16

Our last stop before going home tomorrow is St.Thomas – the jewelry capital of the world.  St. Thomas and its capital city, Charlotte Amalie has unbelievable duty-free shopping and this is what sets St. Thomas apart from all of the other islands.  Also, numerous shops line the small alleys between the two main streets and it is just fun to be there.

In the past, we have visited almost every jewelry store looking for something specific.  We even developed a relationship with a wonderful couple who owed a jewelry store – Ed even bought a ring there in 1983!  They have recently retired so St. Thomas isn’t the same there anymore, which probably saves us a lot of money.

A number of years ago they also built a shopping plaza just as you get off the ship which has many of the major stores that are downtown and lots of little stores.

When we left the ship, we first sopped in the stores at the port.

Then we took a shuttle to downtown where the real shopping action is.  There were only 2 cruise ships in town today so that is about 6,000 people but that is small compared to the number that we have seen before so downtown was rather quiet!

Believe it or not, all we could find to purchase was a magnet and a Christmas ornament!!

We then took what Ed thought was the shuttle back to the ship but it actually was going out in the countryside.  When we realized it we got off and took another shuttle back to the ship and walked around the shops at the port that we did not visit before going back to the ship.

On the ship we went to lunch and then up on the deck to get some sun.  The sun was really hot this week at it is the first time that we were not using oil on the last couple of days; but, we did get a good tan.

Then it was time to go back to the room for a nap.

After the nap, we did the dreaded packing to go home as the luggage had to be outside the door for tonight.  In addition, we have to have clothes for tomorrow and also for a daytime stay at the Marriott as our plane does not leave until 3:30pm.  If all goes as planned, we will be home on time at 9:13pm and be able to pick up Pippen, our new puppy at Jason’s.

We packed fairly quickly and then went to pick up the photos that we had taken and then to the show.

The show was a musical variety show and the cast was very good.

Dinner on the last night is always a little sad.  We made some new friends but we will probably never see them again.

Then it was to the casino where both of us lost!!  With the lost tonight, we ended up just a little in the red.  This is then only the third losing gambling trip out of 42.  We played the games correctly, just did not have enough playing time due to a lack of players to handle the negative swing.  But, like the Cubs, there is always the next time and this time it will start February 28.

This is the last entry into the blog as tomorrow we go to the Marriott from the ship and will stay until just after lunch when we will take a cab to the airport and on home.  We always look forward to a cruise and we always look forward to coming home.  

Night from the sea and we will be home tomorrow.

The view of the harbor from our balcony

Our ship on the right from the town

 

A shopping alley in St. Thomas