St. Thomas & Tortola Cruise Guide from the Royal Caribbean’s Brilliance of the Seas

Intro

After a chaotic start in San Juan, getting locked out of my hotel room for two hours before even stepping onto the ship, and a 3-hour departure delay, our Southern Caribbean adventure aboard Royal Caribbean’s Brilliance of the Seas was finally underway!

The main goal of this entire trip was pretty simple: add as many new countries to my travel list as possible in the shortest amount of time. Leaving the cold New York City weather behind, I was ready to wake up to turquoise waters, island-hop across the Caribbean, and cross off some major bucket-list spots.

Our first two stops on the itinerary were back-to-back Virgin Islands ports: Charlotte Amalie in St. Thomas (USVI) on Day 2, followed immediately by Tortola in the British Virgin Islands on Day 3. While I had actually been to St. Thomas before on a previous cruise, Tortola was going to be a brand-new territory for me, officially kicking off my count of new destinations for this sailing!

With Google Maps bookmarked, YouTube research done, and excursions locked in since March, I was ready to hit the ground running. Here is everything I got up to during our stops in St. Thomas and Tortola, let’s do this!

Day 02 – Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands

I had been in St. Thomas before, also with Royal Caribbean, but in a bigger cruise, the Allure of the Seas, during my Atlantis Cruise. I had also been there before many years ago, so this island does not really make part of my new territories or countryes conquered during this trip, but this cruise gave me the chance to explore it a little bit more. But let’s start the day from the beginning, and after getting my coffee in the morning, using the Coffee Card, I got ready and went to see out of the deck.

Once again I was in the Crown Bay Center port to the west of the bay and not in the main port area on the east. But it was ok, I had plenty of time to explore around.

But first, breakfast at Windjammer. I used to hate cruises before I went on them, but there’s nothing more liberating than this type of travelling. Do not get me wrong, I love the land or air travel even more, but cruise trips are just so relaxing. Being able to get up and go get breakfast from a buffet, and then walk to a new destination that appeared overnight.

Getting to the island

Since this is a US territory, we just went outside easily. The weather was really nice, and the ship looked a little bit more small than their counterpart Allure of the Seas that took me here a year ago.

St. Thomas Population: Approximately 42,261 (according to the official U.S. Census).

Total USVI Population: The entire territory (St. Thomas, St. Croix, and St. John) has a total population of around 87,146.

Capital & Main Hub: Charlotte Amalie is the largest settlement on the island, holding roughly 14,000 to 17,000 residents.

Took a taxi to the east side of the bay, which is basically the city center. There are no Ubers, or they are scarce.

From the taxi, I was able to see the Norwegian and Princess cruises, and the beautiful water. There was going to be a beach day, but not today definitely.

Paradise Point, St. Thomas Skyride

Because the main destination today was the Paradise Point, St. Thomas Skyride. Nothing like getting on a cable car in an island lol.

The Skyride to Paradise Point is an aerial tramway in St. Thomas that lifts passengers roughly 700 feet above sea level to a scenic overlook on Flag Hill, directly overlooking Charlotte Amalie Harbor.

The Ride: Swiss-engineered, 8-passenger gondolas make the roughly 7-minute ascent up the mountainside, offering panoramic views of the harbor, docked cruise ships, Water Island, and surrounding cays.

At the Summit: The hilltop features multi-level observation decks, souvenir shops, nature trails, a restaurant and bar famous for its signature Bushwacker frozen cocktail, and occasional live Caribbean music.

When the taxi dropped me off at the town center, it was easy to find the cable car and just go up paying not too much for the ticket. I was paired with 3 old ladies, very chatty btw lol.

But the view was amazing, and yes, my cruise was all the way across the bay.

Meanwhile other cruises were just down there. Oh well.

It was time to taste the paradise at Taste at Paradise Point, the bar located in the lookout.

I of course got the Bailey’s Bushwacker. It was pretty strong, but at least did not make me tipsy in the first five minutes like other drinks lol.

The system of the gondolas had the 3 of them together at every single time. Interesting how it operated.

The views from up here were amazing, I really recommend coming here, relax, enjoy the panoramic and chill while drinking something.

Time to go down, and one last view while on the gondolas.

Exploring the town and back to the ship

After getting down the cable car, I had to walk a lot for the place to take the taxi, but decided to do a detour and explore a little bit of the town. Full of shops, and looking definitely better than when I came here around 2018. Back then the town looked like a 3rd world country, very abandoned and desolated.

The view from the mall was quite good, unfortunately, the place I was looking for to get some food was closed, I guess would get it back in the ship.

And after some search, I found a taxi that took me to the west side of the bay where the Brilliance of the Seas was.

Once inside I went straight to my stateroom to get some AC and chill, and my room attendant had left me an animal towel.

Dinner and show for Day 2

A couple of hours later, it was the special invitation event, for the Crown and Anchor members with more than Emerald status. I was lucky to be invited and got to see how they would celebrate all the guests that had achieved goals and earning top status.

Dinner was at the Main Dining Room. I was not going to spend much money in the Specialty Dining options, especially having eaten in all of them in previous cruises. For the Appetizer I got the Baked French Onion Soup: Savory Beef Broth with caramelized onions and herb croutons coated with melted gruyere and parmesan cheeses. It was good, although I do not like onion too much.

I also got the Crispy Buttermilk Calamari: Golden fried squid rings served with a fresh fennel salad and chipotle lime aioli.

For my main course, I got the Herb-Crusted salmon: Pan-seared with a crunchy horseradish infused topping, served with celery root puree, sauteed snow peas and lemon butter sauce.

Since this was a French night, I also got the Creme Brulee: Smooth, rich vanilla custard, topped with a crackly caramelized sugar topping.

After dinner, I got to see the Production Showtime: Center Stage at the Pacifica Theatre.

It was basically the musicians and dancers from the cruise, and they put together a Broadway style act with many different types of songs. Really refreshing actually.

Day 03 – Tortola, British Virgin Islands

The next morning we were already in Tortola, British Virgin Islands. The trip was going fast, but we had many places to be. After getting my coffee and getting ready, it was time for my breakfast at the Windjammer.

And today, I got some French toast, because of course.

It seemed to be a perfect day today, I could not wait to go down and explore the town and the island.

But before that, I explored a little bit of the ship, like when I passed by the Adventure Ocean, the club for younger guests at Royal Caribbean ships.

The All Aboard time was pretty late at 5:30 PM, so I had time to explore a little bit of the island without too much stress. Now, I had to figure out the taxi situation.

Exploring around the port

And yes, I was officially in my country/territory #85: British Virgin Islands! It seems this Norwegian ship was following us and now it was next to us in the port.

I got to explore the Tortola Pier Park, but I got some other things to do around.

It was cute, but I had seen better cruise ports before. It was nice having something like this tho.

Because, for example, I got to buy a very nice shaved ice in this area.

Time for another weird “taxi” situation, more like a bus, that would drop off us at the next destination.

Cane Garden Bay

Cane Garden Bay is one of the most famous and lively beach destinations on the island of Tortola in the British Virgin Islands. Nestled along a picturesque, protected horseshoe-shaped cove, it features calm, crystal-clear turquoise waters and a vibrant shore lined with palm trees.

The mountains next to the clear water was a nice touch. It was pretty crowded but manageable.

I was a beach day but not a water day. I think probably in the next stop I would get in the water, let’s see.

Tortola has a population of approximately 24,000 to 33,000 residents, with roughly 9,400 of them living in the capital city of Road Town. And addressing the elephant in the room, yes, this is not an independent country, but rather a UK territory, and just like the countries that form the UK (like England), I count it as a separate entity.

Interesting to see Cali, Colombia first in this sign. But I have been to many of these countries as well.

The taxi would sell you a return as well, and it was time for one of the pick ups, and for me to come back to the cruise. The view cruising the mountain to go to the other side of the island, where the cruise was decked on, was amazing.

And on the way down, you could see the bay, and the Brilliance of the Seas, looking brilliant as always. I was loving this cruise so far.

Leaving port

It was time to leave Tortola, and get to my stateroom to relax for a bit. The beach is always tiring, especially after getting a couple of expensive pina coladas lol.

But from afar I could see the previous Norwegian cruise leaving in the distance, Would I ever see this cruise that was following us, again during this trip?

After relaxing in my room, I went out for some coffee, and to see the sunset. The top deck was empty, where was everyone?

The sunset tho, as we left Tortola, was splendid.

Show and dinner for Day 03

The show in the Pacifica Theater was Juan Alvarez, the magician. It was pretty nice. I am not a huge fan of magicians in cruises, but this one hit the spot.

Passed real quick by the Casino, so different from a Disney cruise lol, and yes, you can smell the tobacco, even though it is supposed to be non-smoking.

Dinner was Mexican style in the Windjammer (no MDR this time), getting some burritos and Dulce de Leche, but of course I had to grab some fish. This was only the first 3 days of my trip, do not miss the continuation with bigger adventures the more south we go on this cruise, see ya in the next one.