DAY 4: ST THOMAS 11-7PM WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 13

Well, I finally managed to fall asleep last night, but it took awhile. I think my Zofran kicked in and I managed to pass out, but it was a rough night.  I was up at 7am and ready to get this day started...issue was, we weren't coming into port until 11am and it could have been a sleep in day. 

As I waited for the family to get up, I turned on the tv to see the bridge report "stats"  (not even sure if that's what they're called, but it's what I'm gonna refer to them as) and it said the waves were 8.2', Temp was 80°, we were 991.8 miles from Miami and had sailed 397.7 miles from DR. We had another 42.9 miles to go to get to St Thomas. 

The sound of the tv managed to wake up the family...oops (just kidding, I was hoping that would work and it did) and we headed to breakfast a little after 8am. Back to the buffet for us.

After getting our bellies full, we decided to just hang out on the balcony in our room and watch the ship come into port. 

Birds gliding over the water...can you spot it?

Here comes the pilot

More pictures of us pulling in:

We were pulling in and docked by 10:30am

I don't remember there being a pool at the port?? From the looks of the signs on the building, it must have been a bar.

There goes the tram up to Paradise Point in the distance. We have only rode it once, back in 2010, but maybe some day we'll do it again. It has magnificent views from up there.

They made the announcement that we could get off the ship and it was now 10:50am so we headed out. 

But first we would need to stop for our photograph before making our way out of the port area:

So what are we doing here today? Well...I really struggled with this port. We land vacation here and have done just about everything. However, I did find something new! Something exciting! Something I just knew Sakari would love!

They have a new speed boat here, located at Sapphire Marina, that does the twisty-turns in the water. It's just like the Twister they had in Cozumel (not sure if they still have it there or not since I really don't see people mention it anymore when I've looked) and it looked super fun. It's called the VI Jet Boat and they are ran by the same company that we did our parasailing there with back when we were staying at Sapphire Beach AND ran by Ocean Surfari, which we used another time for a snorkeling/pizza dance party boat tour on Sakari's birthday during our last land vacation there. So, I knew it was a good company and we had had good experiences with them both times. 

I had contacted them and booked for 3:30pm and the total cost was $190.80 for all 3 of us (you get a $5/pp discount for booking online ahead of time). But it's a short boat ride, so we needed something else to do before that to kill the time while we waited. 

Prior to cruising I contacted several vendors (in DR and Tortola) about doing a Discover Scuba, since we always have to squeeze in at least one dive each vacation. Since Sakari was adamant about doing the falls, I eliminated that port. Then in Tortola, we had some crazy hours and no one could accommodate us going out that early and having us back in time for all aboard...UNLESS we booked a private charter, which was $600. Yikes! No thank you!

I checked NCLs private island (GSC) to see if they may offer a dive there...nope! Well, that meant we would have to dive in St Thomas again if we wanted to dive this trip. So, I contacted Coki Dive Center (we've went with them a few times and they were the first we ever tried DSD with back in 2016 and we really like them). Of course they could do a dive and have us out of there in time to taxi over to Sapphire and do our boat tour. We were excited!

HOWEVER......THINGS DID NOT GO AS PLANNED. 😞 

Remember the rocking of the ship the night before? Well, the people at VI Jet Boats contacted me the morning we arrived in St Thomas to let us know that the waves were just too big to do the tour and they would have to cancel the tour. We were really bummed and at that point I broke the news to Sakari about the "surprise tour" I had planned for her that day wasn't going to happen. Darnit! Maybe next time. They immediately refunded my money, so no worries about booking with this company. I would do it again in a heartbeat. 

Now remember the photo's of us pulling in (above)? The water was as calm as can be. However, the port area of St Thomas is located on the opposite side of Sapphire, so the water must be rough over on that side. That itself had me worried since we were diving also today and Sapphire and Coki are located right down the road from each other. Ok to dive. Not ok to boat. 😭

We headed out of the port to find a taxi and was put on an open air bus. Ok, we finally get to ride the open air bus. Yippee! We were told $14 since there were 3 of us.

They always put everyone going to Red Hook, Sapphire and Coki on the same bus and Coki is always last to get off since it is the furthest away. 

They had the town all decorated with Christmas lights. 

Along the way I got a call from Coki Dive Center wanting to know if we were still coming. I'm not sure why, it's not like we were late or anything. They had told us to get off the ship as soon as we could and make our way there and to try to be there by 12 noon. It was only 11:30am at this point. But, I let them know we were headed that way.

We made our first stop at Red Hook and they stop right in front of Ocean Surfari. Only one couple got off there.

Then we headed to Sapphire Beach Resort. Home sweet home.

We dropped off quite a few people there and then continued on our way to Coki. 

Along the way we drove past our other home sweet home, Point Pleasant Resort:

Then we finally made it to Coki. To read about our awesome day of diving, click the following tab:

After our dive, In case you are wondering what Coki beach looked like on a cruise day...

We stood around trying to decide what to do next. Should we hang out on the beach for awhile? Should we go back to the ship? Should we do a little shopping at the port? We knew that the last time we were here (on a land vacation) that the food place on the beach only accepted cash and well...now that it cost us $42 to get here and will cost $42 to get back, we didn't know if it was a good idea to stay and eat here. However, the mini-me was hungry. Therefore, I must feed! That meant we were going back to the ship for free food.

We found an open air bus and decided to get on and head back. There were only 2 other people on the bus with us. 

It was a short ride back, since we took the quick way back that didn't involve having to go by Sapphire Beach or Red Hook, and was back to the port in no time.

Once back on the ship we decided to shower real quick and get out of our wet clothes and then head up to the buffet for some lunch.

Only once we got there, they were closed. We were told to go down one floor to find food.

Down at the observation room we would find odds and ends comfort food but it was enough to tie us over for a bit. 

I decided since I didn't give my family a proper meal for lunch, I would make reservations to use our Platinum dining rewards and booked our dinner for tonight. 

Since we were in port until 7pm tonight, I wanted to get back off the ship and do some walking around and possibly some shopping. So, we headed back down and off the ship. We are definitely getting our exercise today!

Man the walk toward the port seemed longer than a little earlier and we were the ONLY people heading in that direction. Everyone else was headed back to the ship. I checked and double checked my phone for the time. Eh, plenty of time left.

We went up and down the street browsing at the shops and picking out gifts for the family back home. 

They had a beautiful large Christmas tree at the port.

I did manage to find the Taxi Rate sign...if only I would have noticed it before we left the port it might have not been such a sticker shock.

Can someone tell me why it cost more to go to Red Hook and Sapphire than it does Coki? Weird since Coki is further down the road.

After shopping, we headed back to the ship again. 

The sun was setting and our home away from home was waiting to welcome us back...again. 

The palm trees were lined with Christmas lights. I couldn't wait to see them in the dark when we were pulling out.

We were back on the ship at 5:30pm and we hung out in the room on the balcony to people watch. Would there be an pier runners today?

It was now pretty dark and we seen the last few people making their way back to the ship. 

But...what was this? A bride and groom! They had just gotten married in St Thomas and was making their way back to the ship. They allowed them to be the absolute last people to get on the ship and he picked her up and carried her onto the ship. Awww...how cute. We all cheered them on.

Everyone was on the ship and it was time to sail away. Everything was lit up so pretty.

Time to get ready for our dinner reservations. Sakari wanted to wear her new dress she bought for the cruise so I had her model it for me.

Then we headed off to Los Lobos.

Now for those that don't know it, they have changed up some of the restaurants for the "free" latitudes on this ship. We usually go to La Cucina and La Bistro to use our coupons. However, on this ship they have a few different restaurants and would be using ours at Los Cobos and "Q" (the smokehouse) this time around. 

The menu's:

I ordered the Quesadilola De Tres Quesos as an Appetizer:

That thing was HUGE!! It could have been a meal itself. I would end up having Sakari help me eat 2 pieces of it. 

Sakari only wanted Ceviche, which ended up being a very small bowl.

The hubby ordered the Poblano Relleno (stuffed pepper)

I also ordered the fish taco's as my main course and couldn't eat all of them either. I pushed some off on Sakari where I believe she only took a few bites of the fish and couldn't eat anymore either. 

They ask what we wanted for desert. Oh man, where am I going to put desert??? Well, I found a place to at least try it.

I ordered the Bunelos De La Abuela: Fried Beignets/Brown Sugar Syrup/Cinnamon/Guava. Yep, I was going all out tonight with the sugar. I was hoping I wouldn't pay the price later.

The hubby opted for the Torta De Chocolate, which was a chocolate cake/pecan/cocoa glaze.

Our bellies were over stuffed and he presented the check to us. I think it was $96 total! I took a picture of it but must have been in a hurry because it ended up being really blurry. 

Since we are platinum and get this meal for free, we are only required to pay for Sakari's meal...at least for another few years until she becomes platinum herself (or diamond...who knows at this point). You are welcome daughter. 

Sakari's bill was $16.80 and yes they also add on a service charge to the bills.

Was the meal good? Yes it was. Is it worth that much money? Absolutely not. Outrageous. I can't imagine paying that much for the meal. That's crazy. 

After dinner the hubby and I requested permission to head to the casino for awhile and Sakari granted permission and off we went. We had a great time winning here and there.

I love these slots that start stacking money when you hit the bonus.

The hubby was sitting next to a lady playing this bat game and watched her win $250 on it. So I knew I had to try it and did pretty good with it on the cruise off and on. 

After awhile we decided to cash out our winnings while we were ahead and head back to the room. Sakari was already sleeping. The day must have worn her out.