St Croix is very pretty and the small town is very nice, but still recovering from hurricane Maria which destroyed 70% of the buildings here.
We had a nice walk, lots of chickens.
We also found a tiny library
Spent some more time at the Ice Bar. Fun company and tasty drinks.
Dinner at Blu again, super service and great food again. Met Kathy and Tony from New Jersey, fun couple. He celebrated his 84th birthday on the cruise. I should hope to be so happy and engaged at 84.
We went for a walk to the fort which was very nice, the people here are super nice, the walk to the fort perhaps not so nice, lots of rubble and trash. But we are glad we did it. Views from the fort are awesome.
The port area here is very nice and is being expanded even more.
Dinner was amazing, we went to the chefs table. Only 6 guests at the dinner total. Food, wine and company were all fantastic.
After an uneventful trip down the Florida Turnpike we arrived at pier 29 in Port Everglades. Not a favorite pier because you have to shuttle off for parking, a first world problem.
After parking and taking the shuttle back We entered the terminal. Immediate checks for vaccination card, negative test and passports and then through security.
Check in was uneventful except the couple in from of us had done zero online check in so that caused a 10 minute delay. After check in we went straight onto the ship, boarded.
Luggage drop off at 11:15 then parking and shuttle and we were still on the ship at 12:04. Not too bad at all.
Up to our room 1575 Aqua class, where our keys were waiting. We dropped off our carry on and went down to finish the safety drill.
The safety drill consisted of watching a couple videos after you get to the terminal, we did this while waiting on the slow couple. Then you have to go to your muster station where a crew member scans your badge and gives you a very brief drill and you are done. This is one good thing that has come from Covid.
Speaking of covid, masks are required indoors on the ship unless you are eating or drinking or in a pool. Has not been a problem and people have been good about following the rule.
The ship itself is spotless and less than half full A little over 1,100 people I hear, it is awesome.
Next was up to the sunset bar for a G&T and to start the real vacation.
We then had lunch at the Porch, a nice day for it and we were there all by ourselves. Already kinda strange having so few people on the ship. I had the very spicy lobster roll and Susan had the grilled Branzino which she declared as delicious.
Back to the room to unpack and get ready for a pre dinner cocktail or two and then dinner at Murano’s.
Pre dinner cocktails were at the World Class bar, very nice cocktails.
Dinner was amazing, Susan had the lamb and I had the lobster. A great first day
Looks like this is actually going to happen, we passed our covid test by being negative… I guess we failed and that was a good thing.
The Binax home test was super easy, took about 25 minutes each, with 15 the minutes just waiting for the results to show up.
We did our online health survey on the app. All good there
And great news is we were upgraded to Aqua Class via a move-up offer, we love the Blu restaurant. Can’t wait. Of course they sent us luggage tags for the other room, but I just printed new ones, we are good to go.
Tomorrow morning is the drive to Port Everglades!
Not Just Another Cruise Blog
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