Caribbean Stopover at St. Thomas of the U.S. Virgin IslandsWritten by Clint Leung
One of most popular ports of call for Caribbean cruise ships is St. Thomas, one of U.S. Virgin Islands. On three Caribbean cruises that I took so far, two of them included a stopover in St. Thomas. On both occasions, there was a consensus among other passengers we met that St. Thomas was one of nicer islands visited. Although driving in St. Thomas is on left hand side, it is still U.S. territory so this Caribbean island features many other conveniences of being American soil. These included easy telephone connections for calls back to mainland, use of U.S. currency and English as main language. St. Thomas is also one of cleanest of Caribbean islands and locals do not aggressively hustle tourists like they do on other islands. Many passengers stated that St. Thomas is a place they would like to come back to in future.During my first visit to St. Thomas, I took Atlantis submarine excursion which took tourists down to see an actual ocean reef. It was a bit pricey but that was expected. Seeing an ocean reef with marine life up close for first time during this submarine ride actually influenced me to take up scuba diving. During my second trip to island, we decided that we would spend some time snorkeling in local waters since at that time, my partner wasn't a certified scuba diver yet. My advance research suggested that Coki Bay on northeast side of St. Thomas was a nice place to snorkel. When our cruise ship docked at Charlotte Amalie, capital city of U.S. Virgin Islands, we hailed one of many taxi cabs at port. It was a $15 US fare to Coki Beach where Coki Bay is located. It took only about 15 minutes to get there. The scenery along way was magnificent as we went up a hill and saw our cruise ship in distant harbor below. The island itself is very lush with greenery everywhere.
| | Finding Travel DealsWritten by S. A. Baker
If your vacation time is coming up and you are planning on making a trip, then you will need to make some plans. Perhaps you are going to visit family? Or, maybe you plan to take your family to see an attraction somewhere? Maybe you are going to visit another country? Regardless of where you plan to go, you can find great deals on getting there, staying there, and even enjoying your time at location.Often times we want to take our children to see things we saw when we were younger. It would be nice to see some new destinations as well. Either way, we want to do a lot but don't always have funds. So, we are always in search for a deal. There are many out there to be had. Here are some quick ideas. Saving on airfare is all about shopping around. Compare different offers each company has. Can you fly in mid week and avoid weekend charges and busy times? Flying at night or at odd times can also increase your changes of getting a deal. Once you get to your destination, you'll need a place to stay and a car to drive. The best way to get deals on these is to plan ahead. Making reservations ahead of time can be best way to lower your cost. Cutting out extra charges on things you don't need, or won't use, also helps. No need for that car to come with a DVD player if you only plan to drive short distances. Along same lines, you probably won't have time to watch all those movies on cable either. Eliminating these extras can lead to extra cash in your pocket.
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