Jan 19

Jan 19 Day Five - St. Thomas

This morning, Apex is docked at Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas, one of the U.S. Virgin Islands. Guests on board are only allowed to disembark the vessel here if they have booked one of the ship’s shore excursions. So, unfortunately, we will not be going ashore to make our usual liquor purchases to take home.

Even though the ship in in port, many people have opted to stay on board and the Apex cruise staff have plenty of activities going on today. We once again tried our hand at Team Trivia. Today’s challenge was emoji trivia where a series of emojis were displayed on the screen and we had to try to figure out the title of a movie. For example, can you figure out the title to the movie represented by the emojis below?

After Trivia, we attended a session on perspective drawing. We were each given a piece of paper, a ruler and a pencil and, Alexa, one of the cruise staff, explained the technique for creating a perspective drawing. It was pretty interesting and different from any activity we have experienced on any other cruise.

When Apex is in port, lunch options are limited to Mast Grill, Oceanview Cafe, Room Service or Le Grand Bistro on Deck 5. Even though there is a $20/pp cover charge, we decided to give Le Grand Bistro a try. The menu is pretty extensive here with a choice of appetizers, soups, salads and main courses. I ordered the Lobster Bisque, the Chèvre Crepe and Steak Frites (steak and French Fries).

The crepe arrived first and was substantial, but the garlic cream filling lacked any real garlic flavor. The Lobster Bisque was served in a bowl topped with a flaky puff pastry and was delicious. It was one of the best Lobster Bisques I have ever had.

By the time our main courses arrived, Rickee and I were both stuffed. I was only able to make it half way through my steak before crying UNCLE. Of course, we skipped the dessert course. In our opinion, Le Grand Bistro is well worth the $20 cover charge based on food quality, quantity and relaxed atmosphere.

The lunch was so filling that we skipped dinner entirely this evening and opted for a cocktail in Eden Bar. Unfortunately, this evening’s show, Tree of Life, was cancelled due to ‘technical difficulties’ so, instead, we went back to The Club to watch the Yes/No Game. This game involves guests being asked a series of questions by Cruise Director, Lauren, and if they can go three minutes without saying the words “Yes” or “No”, they win. Of course, Rickee just had to try her hand at it and she could only last 30 seconds before uttering “uh huh”, which counts as a “yes”.

About eight different guests took their turn in the “hot seat”, and nobody was able to go more than 90 seconds without saying “Yes” or “No”. Everyone had a great time and a lot of laughs.

Tomorrow is our last day at sea before we arrive at Nassau, Bahamas.