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Two of our ports-of-call, St. Thomas and Tortola, each have beautiful and intriguing islets merely a taxi, ferry or water-shuttle away. The two little gems are St. John which lies alongside St. Thomas, and Virgin Gorda which is next to Tortola.

ST. JOHN

All cruise ships that stop in St. Thomas have morning excursions to Trunk Bay Beach in St. John. Off this beach there is an underwater snorkel trail where you can see thousands of beautiful, "day-glo" tropical fish and colorful coral. There are many other gorgeous beaches on St. John. My favorite is Cinammon Beach. Sitting on that beach and viewing the specks of little green hilly islets dotting the water as you look out to sea is heaven, indeed. I'm not a snorkler, but just wading and bobbing my way out to the reef (its shallow-going) I saw with the naked eye all sorts of brilliantly-colored fish in the crystal-clear water.

Caneel Bay Beach is probably the most beautiful on St. John. The best snorkling is off Caneel. Through your goggles, you can see starfish, squid, rays and sea turtles, along with a super-abundance of exotic fish life.

Two-thirds of St. John is a U.S. National Park, on land donated many decades ago by the Rockefeller family. It's largely undeveloped, but all food, restroom, etc. amenities are there. Everything is spotless.

St. John is really a snorkler's and swimmer's paradise extraordinaire. Since we're in port from 8 AM till midnight, there's plenty of time to see the incredibly gorgeous beaches of this little jewel islet alongside St. Thomas.

The brochure in your cabin will provide details of any shore excursions.

A thumbnail sketch of Virgin Gorda, the islet near Tortola will follow.

Leni

This sounds like its going to be wonderful! Sadly, I'm on continuous call at $dayjob during late May/early June (our busiest time; tons of stage productions and lighting to set up during the spring and summer months), and I already have a Crystal cruise scheduled for October.

I hope all of you have a fantastic time! And if you'll accept a few tips from somebody who would live on a cruise ship if he could:

Take half the luggage and twice the money you think you will need.

Take at least one pair of trousers with elastic in the waistband, or a comfortably large pair. You can worry about working off the excess waist you'll have when you get back.

There is a reason that the balcony cabins are so popular. Nothing compares to being able to walk out on your own balcony and smelling that sea air.

Book your return carriage (taxi, airport shuttle, whatever) from the cruise ship dock to the airport before you go. Nothing is worse than standing around for 3 hours after you return trying to catch a cab; they all seem to be busy. In fact, booking all of your to and from travel ahead of time will save you no end of sweat and bother.

A piece of duct tape the size of a dollar bill can get you out of myriad scrapes aboard a cruise ship. It truly is the miracle adhesive.

Never, NEVER draw to an inside straight at the casino :)

The wife and I just took a Caribbean cruise down to St. Thomas recently (among other stops). We took the excursion to St. John and Trunk Bay, too. It was very, very beautiful. Definitely worth the time and money, and I DEFINITELY recommend doing the snorkeling there. The reef and the fish are beautiful. There's also food/drinks/bathrooms no more than 100 yards back from the beach, too. Very beautiful, lots of fun, I highly recommend it.