Trip report 12/25/17

[let's go cruising]

Day 2 St. Thomas 12/25/17

 

 

I had investigated on Cruise Critic where to go, so I had my information ready. We did not dock at Crown Bay, but at Havensight. But, they called it Port Zante. Maybe someone else can explain, because I sure didn’t understand what was happening. The Compass said that “There is no shuttle bus, you can just walk to downtown.” Nope. Only the hardiest would have walked all the way to town.

 

 

I had wanted to look into using the Safari Bus, but it was Christmas Day. I don’t know if it was operating otherwise, we learned that you can only trust the information from people who have no financial stake in the matter.

 

 

I knew that Lindbergh Beach, and Emerald Beach Hotel specifically, were not only open, but close to port. Of course, we were farther away because we weren’t at Crown Bay, the Serenade was there, but it wasn’t too far. The first group of taxi drivers we came across told us that Lindbergh Beach was closed. We should go to Coki Beach. All along the route, the drivers tried to talk us into Magen’s Bay or Coki. My strategy is to just keep walking, so we did. Eventually, we came to a driver who would take us to Emerald Beach. We got him to take us for $3 per person. It was $5 per person back, because there was no competition on the way back. On the way, our driver was able to fill his taxi with people going to a farther beach.

 

 

Lindbergh Beach and the Emerald Beach Hotel were indeed open. It is a small bay with, from what we could tell, only two hotels on it. The other hotel was so damaged, it was unusable. They had set up some sort of restaurant on their deck, but DH said no way are we risking eating there. Emerald Beach was up and running. The hotel had guests and they were serving food and drinks. At first, we couldn’t tell what damage they had. We learned that the dining room had had windows all around. They were missing except for one. So, the former indoor dining room was now an open-air restaurant. Worked for us. The former outdoor bar was too damaged to use, but was already under construction. The pool was closed, but only because that is where they have sort of stored the hurricane debris until they can get rid of it.

 

 

The beach did have glass. We wore beach shoes, but we were in the minority. The beach was very nice. There were people, but not too many. We ate at the Emerald. It was a very nice day, especially since it was our first real day. It was very calm and quite pretty.

 

 

Driving back through town, we saw a lot more damage to buildings than we saw in San Juan. St. Thomas was completely green. A woman who lived there told me that after the hurricanes, everything was brown. It was astonishing really.

[adriennerm]

Thank you for this information. I will be in St. Thomas 2/13/18. I'm still looking for excursions.

[JaniceB]

Did you notice if they had chair rentals at the beach?

[let's go cruising]

Did you notice if they had chair rentals at the beach?

 

Yes, they did. I don't specifically remember anyone asking us to rent them. It was very low-key. But there were definitely chairs. When we get our photographs on the computer, I'll post some.

 

Renee

[EatonDoolittle]

Day 2 St. Thomas 12/25/17

IWe did not dock at Crown Bay' date=' but at Havensight. But, they called it Port Zante. Maybe someone else can explain, because I sure didn’t understand what was happening. The Compass said that “There is no shuttle bus, you can just walk to downtown.” Nope. Only the hardiest would have walked all the way to town.[/font']

 

.

 

I believe you may have mixed up your islands, or your daily newspapers.

Port Zante is the pier area in St Kitts, and one can indeed easily walk to town. It's right there.

[let's go cruising]

I believe you may have mixed up your islands, or your daily newspapers.

Port Zante is the pier area in St Kitts, and one can indeed easily walk to town. It's right there.

 

Ah, now I understand. That is what the Cruise Compass said. That day HAD been replacing St. Croix with St. Kitts. For our cruise, they replaced St. Kitts with St. Thomas. I guess they missed that edit. I'm glad you understand because I sure didn't.

 

Renee

[JaniceB]

Yes' date=' they did. I don't specifically remember anyone asking us to rent them. It was very low-key. But there were definitely chairs. When we get our photographs on the computer, I'll post some.

 

Renee[/quote']

 

Thank you, I would love to see them.

[Suzyrn89]

Would love to see pic of Emerald Beach, have been there before and planned to go there mid Feb but concerned about how much damage there is or still remains. Just looking for chairs, umbrellas, beach bar and food.