I rose again around 5 and found howling winds up on deck. We pulled into Frederikstead, St. Croix around 7:15. Captain Gus reported we were late because we had a medical emergency as we were leaving San Juan and had to return to port to evacuate the person. He also reported that this is the ship’s maiden call, and I would assume one of the last maiden calls Enchantment will make. His words of wisdom “Learn from the mistakes of others. You’ll never live long enough to make them all yourself.” It was also my first visit to St. Croix.
I had booked a walking tour of Frederikstead, but was informed a couple days ago it was cancelled. I rebooked a walking tour of Christiansted, the larger village. The 2 towns are only about 11 miles apart but it takes a half hour by taxi. Two taxis (15-passenger vans) dropped us off in the historic district where we were met by our guide. She concentrated on the story of Alexander Hamilton, who spent his boyhood years here, but not too pleasantly. His mother had an older son by an arranged marriage that didn’t suit her. Her husband had her put in prison for 6 months. He thought she would return to him when she was released but instead she fled to the island of her birth (I think St. Kitts), She had several sons there before returning to St. Croix. The marriage which produced Alexander was deemed invalid by Danish authorities, and Alexander’s family was deemed illegitimate, and not allowed to attend church or school. When he was 14 his mother died and he was deemed a ward of the state. He fled to the US a few years later and never returned to St. Croix.
Our tour started with a visit to the scale house where the king weighed all incoming and outgoing cargo and assessed taxes, collected at the customs house across the street. It was just a few yards more to Fort Christiansvaren. While primarily designed to protect the village it was also a prison site with a cell for Mrs. Hamilton and mostly cells and dungeons for slaves. The worst place was the hole where prisoners were shackled, herded together and given scant breathing room, food, or water. Sentences were typically 25 years to life but few survived 30 days in the brutal conditions. A more cheerful place was the Steeple house, the original church here, where the emancipation proclamation for St. Croix slaves was issued. The church was moved to larger quarters and the building served a number of uses before becoming a museum. I thought Government House, our final stop, was a waste with a slow, disorganized security procedure and little of interest. The tour ended at 11:30 at the town boardwalk where we had an hour to browse before returning to the ship. The internet on the ship had not been working since we arrived in San Juan and I found an internet cafe. I got a lot done there but had to meet the bus before completely finishing.
After returning to the ship I walked around Frederiksted, both exploring and looking for wifi. I really did not find an appealing place and returned to the ship about 2:30 (and the internet was then working).
The welcome back party was in the Spotlight Club at 5:15 with Shine playing. One couple was recognized about 900 cruise points. As I was leaving the party John Blair pulled me aside and confirmed that a Freestyle machine will be coming to the Enchantment. He still did not know when it would debut but it definitely does not sound imminent. We had an additional couple at our table tonight, and I learned that my original tablemate and I attended the same elementary school in upstate New York. The headline entertainment today was Haines Magic. The Orpheum was very crowded and I left after a few minutes.
As today’s parting shot we made a bit of history today. St. Croix is brand new to Enchantment, mostly new to Royal Caribbean, and has a ways to go in infrastructure but is a nice alternative to crowded St. Thomas. Another port here is a positive development.
Roy
Travelling locally and the world 