Section 7; Day 6, St. Thomas

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First in port for a change, ahead of Celebrity Galaxy and RCI Rhapsody of the Seas. HAL Statendam was even later and had to tender. The harbor is lovely and quiet, with mist and another double rainbow. The winds have allayed and only a scattered shower mars a perfect Caribbean morning. After breakfast in the Florentine (we've eaten only once elsewhere) we made a brief shopping sortie into the Havenside mall and returned to the ship for reading and writing on the verandah, looking over the yacht harbor. Rhapsody is having a muster drill, so the lifeboats are circling like birds from a nest. I'm sure the passengers aren't even aware it's going on.

We have received the evaluation form with a dignified mention of its importance by Jose last evening and a less eloquent but a heartfelt plea from the much improved Dixon. It's a shame that their job and certainly advancement depends on a perfect, not just a good or very good evaluation. I'm sure the politics onboard must be horrendous. For instance, Jose, a much more polished and professional waiter than most and certainly capable of advancing to headwaiter status, will probably not do so. You see, he is Portuguese and the headwaiters and maitre d' slots are all filled by Italians. I don't know if this is by design or by custom.

Lunch was in the Florentine. Two hamburgers in our group (the sickness grows) but I had vitello tonnato, thin cold slices of veal covered in a tuna-mayo sauce ( one of those dishes that sounds horrible but is exquisite.) This was followed by a very creditable salad nicoise, although I would prefer a lighter tuna. Susan had a black bean soup followed by mushroom and something pasta - One more day and she will fall and order a hamburger, I'm sure. The rich, heavy diet is beginning to get old and, although the menu items sound good, I lose my appetite about halfway through a dish. When we take a longer cruise, we will probably spend a lot more time on the Lido, as fruits and vegetables provide a large part of our diet at home

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Afternoon activities were a snorkel tour to Trunk Bay on St. John for the older folks and a sea kayak tour for the younger set. The St. John trip involved a 30-minute water taxi (fast and bumpy) to Cruz Bay, then open-air taxis to Trunk Bay. My wife and I are experienced snorkelers, so we bypassed the instruction and mandatory snorkel vest and went a little down the beach and flopped. I did snorkel a bit - the Park Service has set up a course with underwater markers. I found the coral tired and the fish kind of scanty - mostly yellowtail snapper and trumpet fish. I soon just flopped on the beach - an incredible beach. I just looked "beach" up in the dictionary and saw a picture of Trunk Bay - honest!! We went by a couple of even prettier beaches and put St. John at the top of our non-cruise vacation list.

The kayak trip was to a marine sanctuary through the only mangroves on the island - very ecological approach. The fish population declined when most of the mangrove estuaries were cut down for development and this area serves as a nursery for sea life. Some snorkeled, and others did very easy kayaking - no experience necessary.

Farewell dinner (menu) is always emotional as we part with our waiter and junior waiter, not to mention that this is tip night. Jose (pronounced Joe' seh) Amaro from Portugal and Roland Lesko, from Hungary, provided excellent service and the $3 / person / day for the waiter and $1.75 / person / day for the junior waiter is really a bargain if you eat most meals in the dining rooms, as we did. Of course, this is the recommended amount and can be increased, as we did.

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It was also Susan's Birthday, and they brought a lovely cake and sang to her (badly.) I won't reiterate the menu, as we just scored a complete set of dinner menus from Mario, the maitre d'. I think the menus had something to do with the gratuity. I tipped both the headwaiter - he was of frequent help - and the Maitre d' when he gave us the menus.

We didn't do any shows the last night. Got our bags in the hall by bedtime and only had to retrieve and open two of them before they disappeared. Our last night was calm, but we slept poorly, anticipating our departure and flight home.