We were here in 2018 with Viking Ocean and did the overview tour of the island then. This time we signed up for a boat ride to St. John and then a beach visit. Just as we boarded our boat it started pouring rain and blowing quite hard. The first half of the boat ride was wet and wild. But I did learn that I don't get seasick easily which is good to know. The skies cleared and the seas calmed after a while. Once at St. John (about 45 minutes away) we climbed aboard one of these safari jeeps that we've done before . This is a platform with bench seats that holds about 20 people mounted on the bed of a Ford 450. It was a 20 minute drive to our beach - Trunk Bay. There is still a lot of visible damage from the hurricane over a year ago. One resort at Kaneel Bay was destroyed putting 500 people out of work and there are no plans to rebuild. The boat driver emphasized several times that we would be leaving the beach at 11:45 because the boat back was leaving promptly at 12:15. At the beach our driver said he'd be picking us up at 12:45 and the local guy who was arranging things told us 12:15. Mmmmh. Anyway, while they all got on their phones to sort this out, we headed to the beach. There was snorkel gear available, but between Michael's hand which is still healing, the departure time uncertainty, and the water being a bit colder than we expected, we simply relaxed on the beach and spent a little while in the water. It was very relaxing which was fine. St. John is a beautiful island and we thought maybe one day we'll use the Westin timeshare here. So we eventually left at 12 noon and by the time we got back to the pier, the 12:15 boat had departed. There was a backup but it was having some issue with the pump so we had to wait for that to be repaired, which took about 30 minutes. It was fine since we had shaded seats and the temperature was perfect. The captain declared the pump fixed and off we went. Fortunately, the weather on the way back had improved so the ride was smooth but very noisy - hopefully not from the pump.
Back at the ship, Michael napped for a bit while I did laundry in the complimentary launderette and watched The Favourite on the TV. I must be missing something because I didn't really see what all the fuss was about even though the previews looked promising. I forgot to mention that I watched Bohemian Rhapsody on the plane to Miami and didn't care for that either. Good thing I'm not a voting member of the Academy.
We had our second reservation at Prime 7 and shared a table with Fredda and Dave from outside Denver. Another delightful time meeting new people and learning about their lives. The food was fabulous again. Regent is really setting the bar very high for future cruises. By the way, there is no doubt that we will be doing the World Cruise with them next January. We've begun saying "when we're on the world cruise ..." I didn't really think it would be an issue, but now we know what to expect and we can make better preparations.
One more thing about the cabin that I love. The sitting area near the balcony can be curtained off from the bedroom part so I could read last night without disturbing Michael while he slept. And then, if you want, you can also pull a curtain across the entryway between the closet and the bathroom for more privacy. This is the biggest cabin we've ever had and it's their lowest category.
I had plans to go to the show, but best laid plans ...
I've been remiss on pictures, so here are a couple taken today. Tomorrow is St. Barts
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