DAY 2: ST THOMAS!!

So I have been here a few times and have loved everything we have done (Sapphire, Coki) and wanted something different...although it was super hard not to want to return to Coki after the awesome snorkeling last time. I have seriously never seen all of the brightly colored coral anywhere like there was there. But, I like to experience new things each time...so I went in with an open mind.

The great people here on cc recommended Lindquist. So that's where we are going. It's a protected 21 acre area at Smith Bay Park. You can see St John across the water from there and it's a nice view. They have showers and restrooms, but no vending there. There are picnic benches and plenty of grape trees lining the beach for shade. It sounded perfect! It does come with a price tag though (and a small one, but worth it) of $5 for adults to get in and children under 13 are free.

I set my alarm for 6:45am and got up and showered. We headed up to breakfast and I was kind of shocked that there really weren't any lines or many people out and about. We decided to eat breakfast outside by the pool instead of inside at the buffet.

Kendra didn't come alive until around 7:30am and cracked my whip and told her she is about to get left if she didn't hurry and eat. It was almost 8am!

We had been docked for awhile and we were just waiting on the announcement that we could get off the ship...which never came.

Everything looked dead out there so far.

I was peeking over the edge and seen that people were getting off. It was around 8:10 and we decided to head back to the room and grab our beach bags and see if we could get off. (I would find out later that day that we actually arrived and could get off the ship at 7am and I had completely forgotten. Oops).

We were off the ship and the paparazzi was in full force:

There really weren't too many people out and about.

So we headed toward the shopping mall.

Today we are going to Lindquist Beach. To read my review, click the tab:

After visiting the beautiful beach, we headed back to the ship

Back in port for a little shopping

And a little fun

This is what the buildings across the street look like. It's like a mini shopping mall. Man it was so hot out when we returned. We went in the stores just to get out of the heat and have some a/c.

I'm not a big shopper. There's 2 things I buy in port. A magnet from each port we have been to (Sakari collects) and a tee shirt. Once I get one of each of these, if I return to that port, I don't have to shop! LOL I have people (from work and family) that always say "Get me something from ____, while you're on vacation" and my answer is always "nope". I hate when people ask you to bring souvenirs back from places YOU went. I don't bring them back for myself really and I'm surely not spending money on it for someone else. Think about it. Someone gives you some "My friend went to ____ and all they brought me back was this crappy tee shirt" and it's funny at first, but how often do you think they really wear it? Or you bring back that ceramic figurine with the name of the port on it. They haven't been there. They don't know what it signifies. Where does it end up at after it has collected dust for awhile? At the thrift store! That's where! Go to a thrift store and look at the ceramic knick-knack displays and tell me all of those weren't from family and friends buying souvenirs on vacation and when the time is appropriate, you slid it out of site, in hopes that they wouldn't miss it, and gave it to the thrift store. Right? It's a waste of money for me. I refuse to fall into that trap. End of story. LOL

So here is my purchase this time around. I ONLY ended up getting 2 this time because Sakari had to have the one with the cruise ship on it and I had to have the sea horse (the one critter I have yet to find when snorkeling).

I got the sea horse because it matches my new foot tat

What do you think? Can they be friends? (Kendra has the matching tat too). 

Back to the ship we went at 4pm

After showering and changing we headed up to the outside grill to eat and had to take our food inside because it was just too hot to eat outside. After eating we headed back outside to watch the ship pull away.

The kids were more interested in doing things they shouldn't...well, I should say B was. For some reason he had JEANS on!! It was way to hot for that. Let's just say he ended up in the pool showers...playing, and he was soaking wet. Kendra was a little perturbed with him and said they were going back to the room for awhile. I watched it happen, I watch Kendra not watch it happen. I waited for her reaction. I gave her the "watch your kid better" look as she walked away. Was it mean? Maybe. But, we go down this road every time...well, every day I should say with him.

At some point this day, they had a Dr Seuss parade going on inside. We were walking, they were walking and my pictures turned out crappy. Sakari participated in this once. The next time she refused. So, I didn't even mention it to her this time around. Of course, she was upset when she seen the parade and it was too late to join in. The entire "theme" this time around was "Vote for Cat" & "Cat for President". I'm guessing they are not too happy with the elections this year and the Cat in the Hat is a better choice.

Now we did buy the internet package so the hubby can work on vacation. I know others say how it's crappy to go on vacation and work or not get away from the "real world", but honestly, we seem to cruise a lot these days. If he was to completely shut down when we were on vacation, we would lose a lot of money. So, it's as simple as purchasing the internet and running orders about 1 hour a night and be done with it. We have my youngest son, Kolin, run the store while we're gone and the hubby still does the online thing. He don't mind, I don't mind and we still enjoy ourselves. He's always said he can do his job from any location in the world, including a beach...and he does.

Now, the reason I mentioned this is the internet on the Fascination was probably the crappiest we have ever had. It was VERY slow and sometimes didn't connect well. This particular day it would not connect AT ALL after returning from port. It took 2 hours after leaving port for any signal to happen. Such is life, but I just wanted to bring it up.

Later in the day Sakari wanted to go to the kids club. Remember that Carnival doesn't have the kids club open on the first night of the cruise...which I'm still trying to figure out this concept! So, we went and signed her in and told her what was on the schedule for the night (a dance party) to get her super excited.

Like always, we hit up the casino.

That night I would find a few of the games I normally like to play and I would walk away in a couple hours $54.54 ahead of the game. The hubby however, walked away $40 short.

The hubby said "I really have to get these orders in" and wanted to head back to the room to see if the internet was working yet. It was and he decided to devote the next hour or so working. Well, that's not fun for me...so I headed back to the casino without him. LOL Which is a good thing because this time I won another $48.

When I was done, I headed to pick up Sakari from the kids club. She immediately said "That was the BEST NIGHT EVER!!" Ok, I just had to hear about this. They had a dance party and she told me how much fun it was. She even said "It was even better than last nights!!" (Meaning the sailaway party). I was happy she was happy and all was good in the world of Sakari. She also mentioned she got to draw while she was in there. So, I'm sure that had something to do with it.

She mentioned she was hungry, so we headed to the Pizza area at the back of the ship.

My child is not normal...I swear

I ended up with a salad just because I had been craving one. (Yes, you get this from the pizza place).

We made it back to the room and Sakari got a stingray towel animal. Sakari ask how they knew we had seen one today.

A little t.v. and off to bed we went.