Tinbergs on Tour

March 10, 2026 – St. John’s. Antigua – Partly Cloudy – 79F

Another beautiful day in the West Indies. 

FYI...this is the path to breakfast - a right turn out of the stateroom and then all the way to the other end of the ship - then up to Deck 9, where the magic happens.

I was up in the Terrace Cafe early enough to watch the sail in and docking in St. John's.  I also watch the Windstar Wind Spirit sail into St John's.

Also here today are – Celebrity Ascent and the mambo NCL Epic (4000 passengers).  These ships will iucrease St John's population of 22,000 people.

I got a picture of the NCL Epic from our stateroom window. Passengers were already heading to town or to tours.

After my usual great breakfast - complete with a fantastic view - 

and Ellen’s room service breakfast, also good, we disembarked and headed for the town of St. John’s, the capital of Antigua and Barbuda..  It was a short walk to the cruise “terminal” area. I should mention that security is a "suggestion" here.  I hope those people are not getting paid to not pay attention.  Those are multimillion dollar ships out there – you need security.

We walked through the small garden like enclave near the pier and then exited to the town.  We crisscrossed the streets and stopped at an open air flea market (huge with everyone selling the same merchandise – it becomes a hunt for the best price).  

It’s also an opportunity to get out of the sun (right overhead because of the time).  After some comparison shopping, I actually bought a cap ($10) that fit (tough to find) and some magnets (2 for $8).  We saw quite a lot of the town – it was difficult to walk because of the disrepair of the sidewalks and uneven surfaces. 

We moved from the town to the pedestrian walkway, Heritage Quay.  Heritage Quay, is the largest shopping complex in St John's.  It opened in 1988 to cater to cruise passengers - it has about 50 duty free shops. 

The sidewalks were in much better shape here and the stores a bit more upscale.  I stopped to try some local rum – it was good but I don’t buy anything like that on our voyages.

We also found a "Bubble Tea" store.  

Having had a successful forage, we found our way back to the pier.  At the pier, we found a nice bar/restaurant complete with tropical foliage.

We went through “security” and back to the ship.  This gave me an opportunity to get a really nice picture of NCL Epic, Winstar Wind Spirit, and Oceania Insignia.  Celebrity Ascent was around the corner and out of camera range.

We went to the Terrace Café for lunch – I ordered a breaded cod sandwich from Waves – really good. Like a Filet-o-Fish on steroids. Good views of St John's complemented the lunch.

I also got an iconic ET picture as well.

Spent the afternoon out on open deck 5 with a view of the Wind Spirit. Insignia has very nice loungers (wrapped in soft towels).  

I am reading the latest Preston and Childs Pendergast Novel “The Beginning”.  I am making some progress.  It is about Pendergast’s first case as a Junior Special Agent working with a veteran agent who can’t keep up with the pale man’s intellect.  It also introduces Pendergast’s man, Proctor, in a parallel plot line. I will try to renew it but I might have to hold it and start where I left off. 

During the afternoon, we spotted rainbows

as well as rainbows and an aircraft landing at the island's aiport (look closely).

While out on the deck, I ran into an issue with my Wi-Fi.  The Reception Desk could not resolve the issue so I went up to Insignia at Sea (Deck 9 Forward) at 4 PM. The IT manager first told me it was my carrier’s fault but I told him it was working this morning.  He tapped some keys on his laptop and that fixed the problem so it looked like more of a system problem than a problem with my phone per se.

Dinner was back out on the veranda at the Terrace Café.  We ordered two hot dogs (because I am a peasant) and a ribeye steak (because Ellen is royalty).  Both meals were good. 

We watched the scenic sailway.

After dinner, we went down to Martinis where I helped out a couple with Music Trivia and Ellen got some almost decent seats for the show.  Tuned out that one of my assists – “Aspects of Love”, which nobody but us got – was the deciding point for the win – three more points toward a backpack. 

The show tonight was “Acoustic Music”.  

It involved all of the singers and dancers and the show band (which took up the entire dance floor). 

 

Each singer and/or combination of singers did pop tunes (“Respect”, “Don’t Stop Believing” and more).  They walked around the band area and sometimes sang on the stage.  All of the songs were of the same genre and the music was pretty loud at times completely drowning out the vocals.  The show was OK.  They just need to mix up the playlist. 

The ship is once again in rumble mode. Lights out at 10:45 PM.