We had to wake up very early today to go through immigration on the ship. St. Thomas and St. John are a part of the U.S. Virgin Islands, a U.S. Territory, so it was like coming back home. We woke up at 6:00 and went to the Walt Disney Theater where they checked our identification and stamped our hands. The process went quickly, there was coffee, and Danish served in Preludes. We then went back to the room and got ready, then went up to Topsiders for breakfast It was crowded there for so early in the morning, because everyone on the ship had to do the immigration thing. Joe Rohde and his family were sitting at the table next to us, so we had a chance to chat for a few minutes. We got into a discussion about Sara and her college applications. Joe's wife reinforced what I always believed was that a fine arts program at a liberal arts school was much more valuable than going to a pure art school.

When we were finished eating, it was 7:30. I decided to try my cell phone again and was pleased to find out that I had a signal. Although the call was digital roam, we called Sara and Elana at our friends' house, catching them both as they were waking up After we finished talking to them, we went down to the Buena Vista Theater for our excursion. We were doing the St. John Island Tour. Another excursion was meeting there too; a trip to Trunk Bay beach, but it was cancelled because the water was too rough.

We left the ship and got onto a water ferry called the Island Girl (think Elton John). It is a 45-minute ride by water to St. John A guide pointed out various points of interest. He reminded me so much of the comedian Chris Tucker. We saw houses owned by Michael Jordan, Kevin Costner and Madonna. She only uses it once every five years or so. I offered to house sit for her.

When we got to St. John, we were loaded onto a safari bus, similar to the ones in Animal Kingdom. Our driver and tour guide was Chris. He was very good, telling us everything and showing us some of the most interesting little things about the island. There are only 5,000 residents of St. John and the schools go only through eighth grade. Kids have to to take a ferry to St. Thomas to go to high school. Although the U.S. Virgin Islands are U.S. Territory, they drive on the left side of the road, since the islands were once owned by the British. We saw some of the most gorgeous beaches and views I’ve ever seen. The tour itself took about two hours We then took the Island Girl back to St. Thomas, arriving at around 1:30. If anyone has twenty-seven million I can borrow, there are two small islands for sale, Big St. James and Little St. James. The catch is that you have to buy them as a pair, hence the twenty-seven million.

When we got back to St. Thomas, we grabbed a cab into Charlotte Amilie, which is the shopping district. It’s only about a mile and a half from the ship. Judy found something for our friends who our girls were staying with. Yes, we got the obligatory T-shirts, but we bought some other souvenirs for the kids. I never did find that Rolex for $200!

We took another taxi back to the ship and boarded at 3:00. We quickly changed into our bathing suits and went swimming for a couple of hours. The water in the adult pool was 88 degrees! Then it was back to the room to get ready for dinner.

Dinner tonight was in Animator’s Palette. Tonight was the night where everything changes color. Only Pat and Frank were there tonight. Judy had salmon (again), but it wasn’t plain. It had a honey maple glaze and was one of the items on the menu She couldn’t make up her mind about dessert, so she got the strawberry shortcake AND the Boston Creme pie!

After dinner, I went to the pin trading station I picked up some limited edition pins and traded my remaining pins. There were about five junior officers there, all with lanyards. We also met some of the performers from Magic 8. As I mentioned in a previous report, this is the next cast that have come on board for their final rehearsals before taking over. The present cast is Magic 7 and Magic 8 will be taking over in one week The new cast comes on board for two weeks to rehearse on stage with the real set. Up till now, they’ve been in Toronto rehearsing on a gymnasium floor that is marked out, but no real scenery You don’t realize until you see the performers out of makeup how young they are.

Tonight’s show was Who Wants To Be a Mouseketeer. Tammy, the cast member who runs the pin trading in the evening, gave me some pointers on how to be picked for the panel. We went into the theater and sat with Frank and Pat

When the show starts, they first pick six people to be the panel (one of the lifelines) and following Tammy's suggestion to act crazy, I got picked. I'm good at acting crazy. In addition, Jim, the cruise director was doing the picking and being a big guy, I caught his eye easily enough. I also got to be the spokesman for the panel and got to hold the mike. We sat on stage right. Then they picked people to be in the hot seat randomly by computer, picking a row and seat number. We had a lot of fun, although I’m afraid we weren’t a good panel. We gave one wrong answer (What year was Snow White released? We said 1941, but it was 1937), but fortunately, we were not counted on too often For our fine work, we got a very special pin that is only given to people that participate in the panel. I’ve been told that this pin goes on eBay for over $200. Trust me, I ain’t trading this one

As we were leaving after the show, we got into a conversation with the guy who was sitting next to me on the panel. It turns out he is a Lt. Colonel in the army and was working at the Pentagon the day of the attack. We had a very interesting discussion with he and his wife and learned many things. He was lucky, his office was in the wing that got hit, but he was across the street for a meeting at the time the plane struck. They had actually planned the cruise before the attack and decided to go through with it anyway.

We were still with Frank and Pat and went to the show in Rockin Bar D at 10:15. The performer was Michael Harrison, a comedian and ventriloquist who was very funny. This was a definitely adult show, very un-Disney-like. There are two cabaret shows, one at 7:45 that is indicated in the navigator as being for the family and the other at 10:15 that is marked for adults only. After the comedy act, they had a version of the newlywed game, called Match Your Mate that was hysterical. They picked three types of couples, a pair of almost newlyweds, a couple who were married 15 years and a couple who were married 48 years. The questions and their answers brought out some raucous laughter. The show ended at midnite.