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Almost 9:15 am and ship has just been clear yet, huge & long lines of pax stretching into Deck 6's atrium from FWD stairs, including many with Shorex & hoping for 5, now maybe 4.5 hours at Megan's Bay or other nearby beaches. We are going to skip Drake's Seat this time & skip those scenic ride. Taxi shuttles are $6 p/p one way to nearby downtown's waterfront shopping area. Duty-free shops are all here in (a 5 to 8 minutes walk on level pavement) Havensight pier, Sky is docked in front of us. Skyride, 700 ft. up to Paradise Point is open on cruise ship days, $25 p/p round trip and NCL shorex priced it at $35 p/p for your convenience ($50 FAS credit, free for pax #1)

We are docked at Havensight now after an easy escort by the pilot boat into the harbour. OSH is quite busy for breakfast as many discovered it's faster in service & food served hot.

Ahead, Charlotte Amalie at St. Thomas

Good early morning, 7:30 am ship/local time, we are 10 nm from reaching St. Thomas to dock, joining a smaller NCL ship (Sky) there today. Overnight cruise speed about 11 knots, currently at 14 knots with a strong diagonal crosswind of 35 knots, waves 4.9 ft. A short stay from 9 to 4 pm, really about 6 hours. Google Fi just picked up a faint, stray cellular signal now ... still about 7 nm to St. Thomas (over 1,600 nm to NYC) While having late breakfast yesterday at OSH, watched the crew respond to Code Bravo, Deck 4 Starboard, reporting to Assembly Station Port side. With many crew members pulled away, meal service were slower. Hash brown potatoes ... plentiful.

Unofficial FAQ 2023-1 The upcharged Breakfast Menu, for your convenience at $4.95 plus 20% and ... Unofficial FAQ 2023-2 How to connect to ship's satellite WiFi

Third time eating dinner in Tropicana, step up to the first podium at 6:45 pm as we didn't reserve ahead, given that vibrating pager to wait nearby, i.e. casino bar. Place is full with some empty tables waiting to be cleaned & set for the new round. 10-15 minutes later, it was our turn ... not bad, gave us an almost front row seat next to the singers & dance floor. The singer duo were live on stage, but not impressed, especially her relatively flat tones & being somewhat missing the key. Our meal took 1:45 as expected. Again, when Susan (DW) said wow, the portion is just small and she is a small eater. Guess who's socializing with some of the guests nearby ... surely, some of you recognized him, he gained a little extra. Do you know or recognize him ?

Expecting our 4G LTE signal to fade & drop pretty soon, going to dinner around 7'ish. Will come back online later over Satellite WiFi - news about Starlink coming soon is just great - and answer questions left here, hopefully to help ... best efforts. Later

Scenic & just beautiful

Enjoy these pictures - final batch as we continued to reverse out towards the Caribbean Sea, doing a 180 port side & leaving St. John's. Until next time, bye 👍

For tech geeks only - cellular data speed (Jamaica - Digicel, the carrier) 5:45 pm, thrusters on, stirring up the cloudy underwater mud bottoms at the pier ... looks like no pier runners & should be leaving soon, either on time or slightly early. 2 minutes later, we are backing out & away from the cruise pier.

Independent taxi driver that's locally approved to work in the ports area. Driver will do restroom stops as planned & requested if "urgent" NCL cost, suffice to say, more. # # # The semi "crowded" bleach in the last batch of photos were due to NCL ship passengers being there, it looked pretty nice - just as easy to arrange transportation yourself to get there & return later, allow extra time as there are some sections of roads with traffic slowdowns. 5:35vpm local time, past all abroad time - ship sounded her horn twice already ... scheduled to leave at 6 pm for St. Thomas, USVI

We didn't book anything as our plan was just to wing it when we step outside, as we weren't sure if our friends are up to doing any sightseeing. Google is my "research" partner. The photos from this cruise's port stops have visual clues on where the taxi stands & dispatcher/tour agents are standing ... and sometimes take a little negotiating, like today - 2 hour tour was either $20 or $25, and we just walked past one driver trying to 8 of us into the van for $30 each. Those extra details should help a few of you looking for deals on your own - be sure to have a working mobile phone & port agent's info/contact in case of emergencies. Asked to make sure it's air conditioned, working & that it'll be on - some of the official tour partners were using open air pickup w converted bus seats, bouncing up & down - roads are not exactly well maintained or flat, some pretty steep & hilly. We've been blessed with nice, sunny & beautiful weather with temp's in low to mid 80's. These aren't, obviously NCL official tours but we don't see good values with their offerings. Another friend of mine cruising solo (didn't know we're on the same ship/cruise until St. Kitts) this time managed to use those $50 Shorex credit to his advantage, net cost for a 2 hour trolly tour was $19. Let me know, Ellie, if you have other questions & feel free to just ask. Regards - H

St. John's highlights - photos, batch 2

Discovering use of the digital zoom features on the Google Pixel 7 Pro advanced camera - sharply focused & clear vs. the Galaxy S22+

St. John's highlights - photos, batch 2

Today's short tour photos batch #1 as we left the shopping area where the van was parked, just 8 of us sharing the van. Churches, oldest sugarcane factory, sports stadium as we head to the central south side of the island, population about 90,000

Stay tuned - hooping past our landmark, Diamonds Int'l on "Broadway" 😆 Scenic island tour coming up, 2 hours for $20 to $25 p/p in a 15 seats air conditioned van.

Aren't you on your way to work 😁 LOL Looking at forecast ahead in case the ship has to make a last minute change of plans & stop at GSC on Sunday ... instead of Amber Cove, DR

Another picture-perfect port day, low hanging clouds with sunny skies ahead😎 Gangway is FWD Deck 4, cleared & ready about 10 minutes ago. Day 8 of our 12 days ... time flies, St. Thomas tomorrow & we looked certain in stopping at Amber Cove on Sunday.

OK Google - let's map it St. John's, Antiqua - arrived @ 7:40 am local time (AST) & docked about 10 minutes to the calls of roosters around town.

Good results on 5 Ghz WiFi 4 with the Google Pixel 7 Pro - can't get the Galaxy S22+ to match or beat it.

FWIW - reason given was someone at NCL did not want to tender 4,000 passengers ashore at St. Lucia. This is what I learned, could be urban legend ... and if there will be 4,700 onboard 🫣

@trbarton If you are Sapphire or higher, you can go to the CruiseNext desk in the atrium to sign up for Dining with Officers and it is free, being in the MDR - wines & sparkling water are complimentary. Refer to the Latitudes guide section on ... Welcome Abroad Shows are typically 45 minutes ... haven't gone to one in over 15 years, can't tell you more about it ...

Tonight's MDR menu w photos - these are like the old "Cooking Lite" menu but even lower calorie counts with the petite serving size or portion. No worries gaining weight if you stick with choices like rainbow trout ... haven't seen salmon as entrees for dinner yet. Getting late, ship's speed just above 10 knots, waves 4.9 ft. - sailed 70 nm from Dominica and 60 nm remaining to St. John.

BTF was good, just 1 hour long & ended about 8:50 pm, later than expected. We noticed only 2 musicians playing like being 3, 1 of them moving back & forth to play different instruments. Somebody with a good memory from 2022 or before COVID, the usual size of the band, wasn't it 3 or 4 ... DW said I am being too critical looking at those tiny details. Tonight's late dinner at Savor was fine, everyone at much faster speed since it was 9 pm & they close at 9:30 but when we finished & left at 10 pm - still about 1/3 full with diners. Walked up to the casino to change $100 into smaller bills, they have plenty of newly printed $1 bills, in numerical sequence. Much busier tonight than lately but our CAS friends said the slots are extra tight, very bad payouts & he's not going to keep feeding those machines - expensive cartons of water plus tipping the beverage runners.