All of these ports, including Grand Turk, use the US dollar as their official currency and much of the population speaks English. No tricky currency exchanges nor negotiating in another language. Tourism simplified.
The excursion at Grand Turk that I booked through Holland America was canceled 2 weeks before the cruise. It was called a semi-sub where one boarded and watched thru portholes the colorful fish attracted by food put in the water by the crew of the sub. No getting wet, yet seeing the marine life. Most of the other options involved snuba, snorkeling, diving in the crystal clear water around reefs. The bus tours sounded unexciting on a 6-mile island (an old church, a small historical museum, a lighthouse that reviewers described as not worth visiting); and I didn't feel up to operating Skegways or ATVs. I ended up booking through Viator via Trip Advisor an outing that involved snorkeling (which I planned to skip while my husband participated) and a stingray encounter on an uninhabited island. I guess I am glad I did the excursion, but it wasn't what I wanted to do (my now-canceled outing).
Grand Turk is rather unattractive with scrubby vegetation, a few palms, a small shopping district of maybe 8 shops and restaurants near the pier, a nice beach with lounges and umbrellas provided by the cruise lines (which also supply beach towels in one's cabin), and a huge swimming pool in a complex called Margaritaville where people danced in the pool to Jimmy Buffet music while sipping cocktails. We had read on the internet there was free wifi, but it required a password and those I asked seemed unable to provide it. I schlepped back to the ship with my ipad as I didn't plan to take it on the excursion boat. I also was instructed by Viator to confirm my reservation, upon landing, with the boat operator. The directions were somewhat vague and it wasn't until I had walked thru the shopping area and found myself in a parking lot that dead ended that I realized I needed to walk along the beach near the water. A fence around the parking lot blocked access to the beach so I backtracked. My mood wasn't particularly happy after wasting so much time.
Viator said we would go out on a catamaran, stopping several times to snorkel, then head to Gibbs Cay to see and pet the wild stingrays and learn of their habits. It turned out there were only the two of us so the company used a motorboat.
Run at full throttle, we bumped up and down hard on the waves, giving me bruises on my backside. There was no shade for the passengers. The 2 crewmen were extremely helpful and polite, carrying my tote bag to the boat for me so I didn't have to wade through the waves with an awkward load, helping me onto the boat as I climbed the chain-runged hanging ladder, offering water and soda, and even named a few of the small islands we passed. I told the captain before we headed out that I was a poor swimmer and wouldn't be snorkeling. He suggested I try it with a flotation device. I floated alright, but when I tried to breathe through my mouth with the snorkel apparatus in it, I felt like I wasn't getting any air. I realized then why the snorkeling excursions booked thru the cruise ship said people with certain conditions including asthma would be excluded from snorkeling. I bailed out and hauled myself back on the motorboat. My husband was towed around hanging onto a life preserver ring and saw lots of fish.
You could see Gibbs Cay from where we snorkeled. There was a catamaran anchored there, but no interaction with the dozen or so stingrays by the people walking around. We did luck out with our captain. The large female ray really likes him (he offers fish food to attract her), and we and a lady from the catamaran petted her. So slippery feeling. A few facts were offered, but not much, about stingrays.
I found a few shells on the beach. The aqua water is beautiful. Technically we were not yet in the Caribbean, but in the Atlantic.
Upon return to Grand Turk, we cleaned up some and donned clothing over our swim wear in the public bathroom/changing rooms and headed for the ship to shower and get some pizza. I had sunburned my back as that was the one area I had not applied sunscreen. No desire to ever return to Grand Turk.
Another Holland America ship had docked next to our ship. You get a good idea of how huge these ships are when you see people walking on the pier.
The next day we arrived at San Juan, Puerto Rico about 1 p.m. after eating lunch. Our booked excursion was a stop at Castillo San Felipe del Morro, "El Morro", and a walk through the Old City. A bus drove us to the promontory where the fortress sat. We were taken across the street to a museum featuring native populations of the Americas (South, Central, North, and islands and territories).
Our guide Marisa
Native tribe of United States
The museum was OK. The trade winds swept over the national park area so though it was in the 80's, it felt quite comfortable, especially in the shade.
A cemetery sat between this fortress and Castillo San Cristobal, originally with walls along the whole route.
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We toured the upper parts of the fortification. The United States took over Puerto Rico as a territory in 1898 as a result of winning the Spanish-American War. The ramp had steps leading to a middle part of the fortress (42) and another 70 steps to get to the lowest area. Not surprisingly nobody in our group opted to walk down since that meant having to walk back up.
El Morro was impregnable. This facility was made into a national park in 1949.
Our tour was to end by walking through Old San Juan. We could stay with the group which headed to the pier or go off on our own. We were given a general map. I would have loved to spend more time looking through shops, however, it was almost 4 p.m. when we left El Morro. We had signed up for a flamenco guitar and dance show and were to board the bus at the ship at 4:45. My husband and I did head out on our own looking for the Plaza de Armas. We found it as we walked downhill a bit. A policeman there directed me to nearby Forteleza Street where I wanted to visit a shop that makes Panama hats.
It was warmer away from the promontory. We stopped in another shop/café I had read about on the internet run by ex-pats. I enjoyed a pineapple smoothie, my husband a papaya smoothie. I went down two doors to a small shop and bought my souvenir for our miniature box, a tiled magnet.
I think we could have found our way to the ship terminal, but time was getting short, and we didn't have any idea how long the walk would be. We had noticed taxis queued up around the corner of the plaza and engaged one. The driver got us back through heavy traffic in time to have 10 minutes to use the bathroom and find the meeting place in the terminal for our evening event.
The musician at the show boasted he was once the greatest and best flamenco guitarist in Spain. He was playing in France when he was invited to appear on TV in the United States. He toured around, but eventually moved to Puerto Rico. He played not only flamenco for us, but showed how he could produce almost any class of musical sound on his instrument. He never used a pick.
Our next port was Saint Thomas, VI. We needed to be at our meeting spot for our excursion at 7:45 a.m. We had room service bring us breakfast (omelets with some of those tasty croissants) as the service in the dining room even for breakfast tended to be leisurely.
We boarded a boat for a trip to Saint John where we took a tram tour of the national park deeded over by Laurence Rockefeller. Over half of the island is a nature preserve. Most of the supplies for this island come from Saint Thomas.
Trunk Bay where some of the folks on our excursion boat went to snorkel and have beach time.
Pretty flowers, mostly bougainvillea, but this Poinciana stood out.
I bought this hiking stick "badge" at the National Park store. Back at Charlotte Amalie, Saint Thomas, there were lots of shops geared to tourists near the docks. This was the hottest and most humid port we visited, and I soon headed back to the air-conditioned ship. My husband continued on and found a tee-shirt. A lot of the people on cruise ships go to the downtown area to shop for jewelry; a taxi isn't expensive, but I had no interest in that kind of shopping.
Charlotte Amalie was our most picturesque port.
Three port calls in three days, then a full day at sea. Our next stop was Half Moon Cay, Bahamas, an island owned by Carnival which owns Holland America. Fortunately, we were the only ship that day. Here there is no pier; tender boats take you ashore.
It is illegal to take shells from the Virgin Islands; this island was my only real shot at collecting shells. I found a few new-to-me specimens, all small, but some with pretty pink and yellow stripes. One lady on the beach drew my attention from the sand to see a half rainbow in the sky to the north. I had reserved a clam shell, a half-domed tent-like structure with two lounges. This kept me in the shade most of the time and saved me from sunburn. A tropical BBQ lunch is served on the island in picnic pavilions. Shortly after we returned from lunch to our clam shell, you could see rain streaking the sky headed in our direction. A small squall hit the beach and those not protected by clam shells scrambled away. We waited until the rain stopped, then headed for the tenders to our beautiful ship.
That night (Saturday) we set our watches back an hour. Our first full day at sea we were on Atlantic Standard time, an hour ahead of Fort Lauderdale time, and remained that way until overnight Saturday.
Sunday we had an uneventful flight to Indianapolis. The lady sitting next to me on the plane had been on a Princess cruise. She only got off the ship once to do a little shopping. She spent time at the spa, buying jewelry, in the casino. She had been on many cruises. It was the ship experience she wanted and buying bling. She showed me her $2999 tanzanite and diamond ring she bought for $599. Everybody is different and makes their own cruise experience.
We left Indy wearing heavy winter coats with snow on the ground, but when we came back the snow was all gone and the sun shining.
The Koningsdam was a nice break from reality though.
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