Kaleidoscope Travel & Cruise

Article Published: February 1st, 2007

St Thomas was our fourth port of call on our recent group cruise. At 7:00am on November 20 the MS Volendam docked in the city of Charlotte Amalie, the capital of the United States Virgin Islands and the most popular cruise port in the Caribbean. Charlotte Amalie is named after a Danish Queen. Near the pier you will find a world-famous shopping center. Since the tradewinds brought the Schooner and Clipper Ships, St. Thomas has been a duty free port. Other Caribbean Islands have only recently endorsed the duty-free concept. As a result, Virgin Island Merchants offer lower prices and more varied product offerings. The centuries old warehouses stretch the downtown waterfront to Dronnigens Gade (Main Street). They once held Molasses, Lumber, Rum, and Spices awaiting export and Trade goods such as manufactured items, ceramics, gold, and gems brought from around the world. The warehouses are now tastefully converted and restored to house retail stores with products and prices to satisfy the most demanding clients. Most of the ladies in our groupfound some wonderful pieces of jewelry they couldn’t resist. We departed St. Thomas at 5:00pm. Our next port of call was Half Moon Cay, Bahamas, Holland America’s private island. But due to stormy weather we were unable to drop anchor, so we spent another day at sea as we made our way back to Fort Lauderdale.

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