Tony--
Sorry it's taken so long to reply to your post. We were at Disney today and just now got back home (11:32 P.M.) We stopped at Olivia's at Old Key West for lunch and then headed to Disney-MGM Studios for the afternoon/evening. And now, I'm tired!
This will be our third visit to St. Thomas and we have tried a few different things on the island. On our first visit in May of 2003 we took a taxi to down town Charlot Amalia and shopped. The downtown area had over 300 shops according to the Shopping In Paradise Guide. There's also restaurants, art galleries, and neat walkways and pathways. It was a lot of fun just to explore the downtown area on our own.
Last month was our second visit to the island so we wanted to do some excursions. We pre-booked the St. John Eco Hike through
Disney Cruise Line and we also booked tram tickets to visit Paradise Point.
I have to say that the Eco Hike was a great experience and one that both Travis and I enjoyed a lot. The guide, Thunder Hawk, was very knowledgeable about the island and pointed a lot of things out that we would have missed had we visited the island by ourselves. St. John is just beautiful! (The vast majority of St. John is a national park with hiking trails that you can visit on your own if you wish.) He also provided a great deal of historical information on the island too.
The excursion also included a visit to Honeymoon Bay. A spectacular beach that the Eco Hike group (about 25 people from the Magic) had practically all to ourselves.
The excursion included a water taxi ride on the
Island Girl from St. Thomas to St. John. It probably took 20-25 minutes to get to St. John and was a bit rough in some spots but we enjoyed this part of the excursion too. There was a guide on the taxi that also pointed out some local spots of interest on the island's coast (Madonna's home, Michael Jordans three homes, etc.) and talked about the history of the island.
All in all, I would rate this excursion highly and definitely recommend it.
Last month we also visited Paradise Point. It's a short cable car ride to a ridge overlooking the port. They have some bird shows, shops, and a cafe at the summit. The views are spectacular from there and it was a great place to grab a cool drink (they have a legendary drink called the Bushwhacker, *very* yummy!) and a snack after the Eco Hike.
I'm not too sure what we'll plan on doing this time around. We'll have to look over the excursions again and see if anything sticks out at us.
Ahhh, the famous Konk Coolers! Yes, they are very tasty indeed! And most appropriate for a birthday!
Thankfully you can get them at any bar on the ship too on any day. So, you can start the birthday celebration early once you board!
I think our thread will become more active as the sailing approaches. Until then, we'll just have to keep it alive!
Now, off to bed for me. I need to recover from Disney.
I'll be sure to make the change the next time I update the site.
Bumping this thread up a bit! 
TonyF 
