Our next stop was St Thomas and we docked at about 8am. We’d moved our breakfast back to our usual 9am time so settled in on our balcony with our tea and pastries. \u00a0As we munched on a croissant, all of a sudden another Cruise ship sailed right past to dock in front of us. It was the Carnival Glory. \u00a0Shortly after this we also saw RCL’s Freedom of the Seas arrive, so after being the only ship in port at St Martin we figured St Thomas could be busy with 3 big ships in.<\/p>\n
\nWe got off the ship at about 11:30 am in the end. \u00a0The dock was busy and the weather was scorching. It was very humid heat as well and not particularly comfortable. \u00a0We had tickets for the Skyride cable cars but decided to take a trip downtown first. \u00a0We boarded a taxi (these are open sided minibus type vehicles that hold 12 to 18 passengers) and went into town. \u00a0The heat was exhausting so we went into shops to get a blast of the aircon (not that I minded at all of course). \u00a0My first purchase was a silver bangle with a star fish on it. \u00a0We bartered a little and got a good price. \u00a0All this usual shops were there which is predominantly jewellery. \u00a0I did get a colour change nail varnish from Del Sol and then we went into Diamonds International. \u00a0I had looked at some earrings the previous day that are changeable from cluster studs to drops and I really liked the style and concept. \u00a0I looked at them again and this was the last pair in store. \u00a0Paul didn’t think they we that good value for money and at an offer price there was no bartering to be done. \u00a0Paul did acknowledge though that I would not get the change concept elsewhere so I splashed out. \u00a0They are only a quarter carat (tcw for both) but they do sparkle and look really nice.<\/p>\n
\nAfter this we decided to leave town and head to the Skyride. \u00a0We got in a taxi but were the first aboard so being a 12 seater and a per person charge he naturally wanted to fill up. The traffic was again heaving and getting about in a vehicle was slow. \u00a0We did ask the driver to drop us directly at Skyride which he did so that worked out well.<\/p>\n
\nWe had seen a queue at Skyride as we passed on the way to town but thankfully this had all gone now so we only had to wait a minute or so before the next set of cable cars came around. \u00a0They were not that big but took 8 people, although we had 6 adults and a stroller in ours. \u00a0The journey up took about 5 minutes and you could see down the hillside to the port and beyond. \u00a0When we got off we went up the stairs to the highest point. The view from here was partially obscured though by the cable car system. We headed back down and to the cafe area where the views were much better. \u00a0We took the obligatory photos, had a quick look around before deciding the make our way back down. There is really only \u00a0a cafe up there and since our food is all free on board we figured we’d eat back on the boat. \u00a0We walked back to the boat which took about 10 minutes and was blisteringly hot. \u00a0We went straight up to deck 11 and got some food. \u00a0Paul tried the burger whilst I had tuna and chicken caesar wraps.<\/p>\n
\nWe had a DVC members meeting at 4:30pm and given that this would take us up to dinner, we went to our state room and quickly got changed before making our way to the Tube lounge for our meeting. \u00a0I took a Pina Colada with me to help me along. \u00a0The freebies were the same as we had already been given but we grabbed another A4 folio as they are really quite nice. \u00a0The main point of the meeting was to sell add on points but they also got us into teams for a bit of a challenge. \u00a0We didn’t do too well as the challenges were about how many Disney watches your team had or how many memberships cards (and as you didn’t need to show them we didn’t take them). The final question, which relied on ability, \u00a0was to work out the points needed for an Animal Kingdom Concierge room. \u00a0Our team worked it our correctly in seconds but we then waited whilst all other teams got is wrong repeatedly and were given an eternity until they did get it right. \u00a0As a result, they won given they had Disney watches in the previous round. \u00a0Needless to say we were less than impressed. \u00a0 \u00a0 Apparently though, Animal Kingdom lodge has been voted best resort in North America. \u00a0That’s pretty neat given its our home resort. \u00a0I do want to stay there next year.<\/p>\n
\nWe came out and looked at our photos in Shutters before dinner. \u00a0We liked the pirate one but not the others and oddly had a completely strange family pic in our folio. \u00a0We had been told to head to Animator’s Palette earlier so we did. \u00a0We saw our table mates outside and waited with them. \u00a0Telling us all to be early was ridiculous as it created a huge crowd and queue and yet they didn’t open the doors any earlier! \u00a0 We took our seats then the first thing we had to do was draw a character. \u00a0There is a paper with an outline on it ( ie head, torso, legs, arms) and we each got a marker felt tip. \u00a0We set about our creations, remembering the rules of no writing or letters at all. \u00a0We added our name to our work and handed it in to our waiter. \u00a0During dinner there were clips of Disney movies playing on the screens with accompanying music. \u00a0We started with an entree sampler (the only thing to have) which was prawns, tuna and melon with ham. \u00a0After this there was a popcorn soup. It sounded odd so we all had to try it but sadly the verdict was not good. \u00a0Our whole table hated it so we told our waiter to let the chef know! \u00a0Mains for us were lamb and sirloin (Paul’s staple diet here!). \u00a0The dessert choice was also very limited to either banana bread pudding or a sampler of chocolate mousse, cheesecake and tiramisu. \u00a0Paul had the sampler and I had the bread pudding, which turned out to be a tiny portion. \u00a0It was really nice all the same, so good that \u00a0Hayley had seconds. \u00a0As soon as we had finished it was time for the grand feature we had been waiting for. \u00a0All of our characters come on screen and are animated. \u00a0They dance along the screen and even interact with Disney characters on screen; Paul’s creation danced with Pinocchio for some time. \u00a0It was awesome. \u00a0Very clever tech and really well produced. \u00a0We got a few pics of our characters dancing too. \u00a0At the end of the show all our names are listed in the credits on screen as well and we got our drawings returned to us with an official Animator’s stamp on them. \u00a0 Now surely everyone reading this is thinking how awesome a Disney cruise is??!!<\/p>\n
\nAfter dinner we went to the lounges at the back. \u00a0The show was a hypnotist and neither of us were really fussed about watching it. \u00a0 Instead we went to Ooh La La and had some champagne cocktails. \u00a0We chatted to the bar staff (who were and Essex girl and an Irish girl) and also spoke with a very glamorous American couple from California. Paul also had a cocktail made for him but the Essex girl called a cake. \u00a0It’s got Amaretto, cherry liqueur and coke in it which makes it taste like a cherry bakewell. \u00a0 He loved it but we ere surprised that none of the Americans knew what bakewell tart was.<\/p>\n
\nAt 10:30 we wanted over to O’Gills pub for the pub quiz. \u00a0Another cocktail was ordered to help us along although we scored pretty poorly it has to be said. \u00a0By this time we were both weary so headed back to bed. \u00a0 We didn’t bed down til midnight and Paul set his alarm for 3am as he was going to get up and take photos of a deserted ship. \u00a0I heard it go off and him leave (now there’s dedication to your art) so I spread out and slept some more.<\/p>\n
Our next stop was St Thomas and we docked at about 8am. We’d moved our breakfast back to our usual 9am time so settled in on our balcony with our tea and pastries. \u00a0As we munched on a croissant, all of a sudden another Cruise ship sailed right past to dock in front of us. … <\/p>\n