Tuesday, January 14, 2025

December 13, 2024 – St. John, USVI – Mostly Sunny – 81F

Today, Onward is an anchor off the US VI of St John.  This is a tender port and since I have been a few times, I am not planning to go ashore.

Horrible sleeping night – I am blaming this on the decaf (not decaf) in the Windows Café.  My hypothesis is that the waiters, while using the fancy multi-coffee machines in the Cafe, somehow mix up decaf and real coffee.  No more coffee for dinner – I’m going to go to the Mosaic Café where I can see how they are making the coffee.

Breakfast is earlier today because of the tendering. I caught the sunrise from my Cabin, 

and then I went up there around 7:30 AM. The Sunset Veranda was still wet from an overnight rainfall so I got the seat in the corner by the patio doors.  I am still trying to stay away from people – COVID is still a thing.

I timed my breakfast better today.  I ordered pancakes and waited for them while I finished my little bit of corn flakes.  I retrieved my pancakes and ordered two eggs OM and they were brought to my table – so everything was there at the right time. The coffee, which is usually bitter and strong, was perfect today.  And even though I was inside, I still had a good view of St John and the tiny neighboring islands.

After breakfast, I went back to the room to catch up on my cruise log.

As I am typing this in my cabin, I noticed that the ship, which was at anchor seemed to have moved to a new spot – there is a difference between circling around the anchor spot and linear moving.  The ship is still moving.  There is a lot of chop out there and perhaps Onward was repositioned so that getting on and off the tenders would be easier. I just checked the ship’s position on the TV and it looks like we are moving at 0.7-0.8 knots on a different course. Azamara is not big on announcements so I’m not sure what is happening. At 9:00 AM, the ship is once again positioned for tendering. 

All caught up 9:00 AM.

I didn’t see a lot of tenders running but the ship did seem pretty quiet. I wanted to spend the morning out on Deck 5 but both sides were closed due to tender operations.  I wound up in the Living Room checking emails, internet, and even starting a new book, “Indigo Slam” an Elvis Cole mystery by Robert Crais.  I haven’t read one of these books in a while – maybe I can finish it before the next cruise.

About 11 AM, I went up the Windows Café to get a good seat for lunch.  I had intended to keep it simple today and just get some Tuna Salad, Egg Salad, and a roll to put them on but instead, I got the spicy Tuna Wrap from the Patio.  My food was brought to the Veranda and I had it with a bottle of Warsteiner, a German Beer.  The wrap again was very good –and well done - but there is just too much wrap – so I eat one half and then take the tuna out of the other half and eat it straight.  The onion rings were not that great today; there is a lot of variability in their preparation. 

Here are a couple of panoramic shots of St John and neighboring islands.






Then it was back to the Living Room, which was basically deserted. But it was nice in there with a great view of the US Virgin Islands – St Thomas (I think this is St Thomas)

was on the port side of the ship and St John 

was on the starboard side.  Lots of other islands were also there and I tried to figure out what they were on Google Maps but it was impossible.

When I got down to the room there was a message on my phone (there is no blinking light on these phones and the only way I knew was that Rustico, my room steward, left me a note on the bed to call him.  It all had to do with moving to a new room – I checked out the new cabin, 4018, which is portside forward.  It was the same room but in the older section of the ship – old thermostat and no easy closing drawers, but it had no noise.  It was sort of under the theater but the shows on this ship are over a little after ten so I don’t think that will be a problem considering the tradeoff for a quiet room.

I got a new sea pass card from Guest Relations and Rustico took all my stuff to the new room by hand.  I almost left my night light but he got that for me as well.  The new room is quiet – I don’t know what kind of guest would be happy with the 24/7 noise in the original cabin.  I was able to deal with it with earplugs but after a while, the plugs irritate your ears.

My plan tonight is simple – it is “Taste pf Italy” up in the Windows Café and I recall that means that they will have a pasta bar.  I hope to get their before the pasta pans are defiled.  

I was up in the Windows Café early – there was supposed to be a Shabbat Service up there on the starboard side but I didn’t see anyone in the café – so I could get a nice outside seat.  I nursed a Schweppes Club Soda until the Café opened at 6:30 PM.  The crew is never quite ready to go at the bell (even though the guests are) but I was still first in line to ensure a Kosher pasta.  I had spaghetti with onions and tomatoes in Marinara Sauce.  The pasta was cooked in the pan with the other ingredients so had I not been first, there would have been meat in both pans which would have required a lengthy discussion with the cook about cleaning the pans.  I also had some Caprese Salad (hold the basil) which was OK.  The pasta was good even though the sauce was not a thick chunky tomato type of marinara (I was hungry and finished it all).  I also had some onion focaccia bread (really good).  The outside deck was great – not windy and not hot. 

I got pictures of the St John sailaway as the Sun was going down.








And the Moon rising.

I went in to get dessert – in this case, some Italian donut balls. When I got back to my table, it had been taken by a couple of ladies.  They got up but I told them to stay and I would go inside.  I haven’t trusted the decaf coffee on board so I asked for hot water and used one of those blue decaf coffee packets.  The donuts were doughy but OK and the coffee was actually pretty good.  I finished up and found a seat on the pool deck – the padded sofas and seats out there are very comfortable.  I called Ellen on WhatsApp (the calls are really clear on the ship’s Wi-Fi system.

I was contemplating going to the show tonight – “Club Crooner” – but instead spent some time in The Den nursing a decaf from Mosaic Café (I was still wary of the coffee so I just sipped a little). 

I was pretty tired from my terrible night last night so I went to my new room.  I also wanted to see whether you could hear the show and you couldn’t.  There were people chatting in the hall and that’s understandable because this is the main corridor – my other room was in an adjacent corridor and had no foot traffic.  The silence on the other hand -no engine noise - is deafening.  The only issue I saw with this room is that the pillows have a perfume like smell – maybe the detergent used to wash the pillow cases.  I think that the smell will fade and the pillow cases will be changed soon so this will probably not be a problem.  There is still a week left on this leg of my double cruise so that's a week of quiet.

As the evening got later the room was still quiet so, at least tonight, the foot traffic concern is not a concern.

Lights out at 11:00 PM.


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