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NCL Dawn San Juan, St. Thomas, Tortola, Great Stirrup Cay USVI 2/5

Norwegian Cruise Lines NCL Dawn

2003 Date: 4/22/2003

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Arrival

St. Thomas

The voyage to St. Thomas was very short, the distance is less than 100 miles from San Juan. We docked at about 8:00 a.m. with slight overcast. By 8:45 a.m. it was pouring rain. It's interesting how much difference a month can make. When I'm here in March, it's always sunny with never a hint of rain.

St. Thomas

The City

The cruise ship pier is located about 10 minutes away from the major shopping district, however there are shops all around. With my Verizon cell phone, I could get reception from the dock on digital roam.

More Rain

Paradise Point

The ship was at the pier (unlike the Norway which anchors out) so access to shops and taxis was great. After the tenth step off the ship, it started pouring, and kept raining for the next four hours. My first stop was the internet center at the mall on the cruise ship pier. Then I paid $15.00 to ride the tramway to Paradise Point. By the time the tram reached the top, it was completely enveloped by clouds and a heavy downpour. After a small wait there, I gave up waiting for it to clear and proceeded back down. It didn't clear up until later in the afternoon.

Best view of the City is from Paradise Point

Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas, USVI

Caribbean Chocolates

I took a $3.00 taxi/bus ride into town (you can walk it, but in pouring rain that isn't much fun) and did some shopping for the crew. Oddly enough, because I wanted to buy some chocolates for the reception desk, I ended up finding the best kept secret in St. Thomas - The Caribbean Chocolate Company. If you don't see anything else in St. Thomas, come to this place for some of the best homemade chocolate you have ever had. Contact: Caribbean Chocolate Company, Inc. 1 Trompeter Gade Charlotte Amalie, VI 00802 David@CaribbeanChocolateCompany.com

Food is a Great way to Learn a New Place Caribbean Chocolate Company

Back to the Ship

Map

After some shopping, another $3.00 ride got me back to the ship. Later in the afternoon, the rain stopped, and finally we got a partial sunset.

Port Days

Sunset

The nice thing about port days is that the ship is relatively empty, and getting access to the hot tubs is easy. On an overcast and rainy day, even easier.

Evening at Cagney's Steakhouse

Cagney's

After a pre-dinner martini at the Spinnaker Lounge, I took my friend Carol to dinner at Cagney's for some excellent steaks. We shared a bottle of complimentary (from the hotel director) Merlot red wine.

Newsletter

Newsletter Front

Newsletter for the day.

Newsletter

Newsletter Inside

Newsletter for the day.

Map of Ship

Map

The ship is very logically designed, and navigating it is easy after the first few days. Remember that you can get anywhere vertically by the elevators or stairs. But if you want to traverse the ship from end to end, go to the main level of deck 7 or deck 6. Otherwise, moving from one end to the other is difficult. Of course, you can always go to the pool deck (deck 12) and go from one end to the other. The other deck levels have a number of cabins, with small corridors, so moving from one end to the other is only easily done on the pool deck or deck 7.

Additional Photographs: USVI 1/5

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