Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas - Adventure of the Seas Eastern Caribbean Cruise - April 16, 2024

 We had a late arrival in St. Thomas.  We enjoyed breakfast in the buffet and then went up to the Crown Lounge where we discovered more food.  The Crown Lounge is a space dedicated for those with loyalty Diamond and above.  (We earned our Diamond status through reciprocity with Celebrity where we are Elite.)  The lounge has an espresso machine, tea, water (including a fruit infused water), a continental breakfast in the morning, snacks during the day, and then appetizers in the evening with wait staff to take drink orders.  Here are some photos of the continental breakfast.

On this morning, Paul decided to check out the water slides, the Cyclone and the Typhoon.  

We picked up the pilot about 10:35 a.m. and the ship was cleared for passengers to disembark starting at about 11:40 a.m. (ahead of schedule).  I watched our sail in from the helipad.  The Celebrity Reflection had already arrived.

I decided to get off right away as there was some good light on the ships for photographs.  I was among the first 10 or so passengers off the ship.  Meanwhile, Paul found a spot on the promenade where he could admire the Reflection and see me down on the pier.

Celebrity Reflection on the left and the Adventure of the Seas on the right, docked at the Crown Bay dock in Charlotte Amalie.

The small shopping area at this port and unfortunately downtown Charlotte Amalie is quite a walk away being closer to the other cruise terminal.

Looking up at Paul

Back on board, I joined Paul on the promenade where there was a breeze.

A view of the port area from the ship

My shoes had been rubbing my feet so we took the elevator up to the buffet for a late lunch.  This is when I remembered Royal Caribbean usually has the days of the week in their elevators.  This was our first trip (and only) ride in the elevators this cruise.  We generally averaged about 35 flights of stairs a day (according to our Apple Watches).

Then Paul headed to a car make logo trivia event where not only did he win but he had a perfect score.  This was quite impressive as it wasn't just US car makers.

This Vespa sits outside the Italian specialty dining restaurant Giovanni's.

Then shortly before sunset, around the time of the Reflection's all aboard call, we headed back out to port to watch this magnificent ship leave.  It was golden hour by this time so the lighting was perfect.

You can see the small yellow pilot boat alongside the Reflection so that it could follow the ship out of the port and later pick up the local pilot.

The sun had started dipping behind the buildings by this point.

Here is a Timelapse of the ship leaving.

Our room steward left us towel animals a couple times during the cruise.  This one met an untimely death as it leaped from the window seat where I was trying to get comfortable.

Paul accused me of murdering the towel animal and finding joy in it.  This photo is what he claims is his proof of that.  I maintain my innocence.

Dinner this night was A Taste of the Caribbean and the theme carried out in the attire worn by wait staff and other crew around the ship as well as passengers. I understand there was a Caribbean pool party up by the pool.

Our Head Waiter is Jean Paul and he has been really great at suggesting foods that meet my dietary restriction and assuring me they can modify just about anything I may be interested in which has been great. But he also doesn’t take no for an answer and seems to think I will starve if he doesn’t order me multiple dishes. This evening it was three appetizers, two main dishes, and a dessert (I don’t know how I kept him to one dessert). It took some convincing at the end of the meal for me to get him to only order me one of each course for the next night.  It would continue to be a battle as even during the meal, he would try to get me to order something more and when I said, "no", his response was always "why not?"

The show that night was the ice skating show, Ice Spectacular: Cool Art…Hot Ice. It’s a late show for us (10:15 p.m.) and tonight is the only night the ice skaters would perform.  In later days, it did re-appear for a couple matinees but those shows never actually happened because after the evening Quest game (which takes place on the ice arena) one night, they could not get the floor removed from the ice.

The show was really enjoyable and the skaters had so much talent. 

I'll end this post with a photo of us.  I figured Hawaiian is island enough to blend in with Caribbean night.