Day 7 found us pulling into the island nation of Antigua shortly before sunrise. We had a beach excursion planned for the day, so that meant we needed our pal Mickey to wake us up pretty early so we could get some breakfast. The Magic was docked in St. John, the capital of Antigua. The beach we were heading to was only supposed to be a 25-minute bus ride, so we expected to have a good amount of time to sit on the beach and relax today.
We had to meet in Rockin' Bar D for our excursion at 9AM. After the 25-minute bus ride, we landed on the beach. The trend of shameless huckstering continuing on this beach as well. First, we paid for our umbrella when we arrived and then were harassed to pay for it again until J. R. finally had to go up front and speak to one of the excursion officials. Then we had at least three people selling bracelets, two trying to sell watersports and two others who were selling who knows what. It definitely was not the best start to the morning. We were going to consider renting jet-skis, but the price was too high. We figured it would go down later in the day, but by the end of the day, the kids were having so much fun in water and the sand that we didn't bother asking again.
Lunch was a buffet at the beach that was included in the excursion. The buffet included barbequed chicken, ribs, hamburgers, hot dogs and pasta salad as well as drinks. It was very good and great to have a different type of food than we had been eating on the ship all week. After lunch, we went back to the beach for a while. Thomas was working with some other shipmates on a sand castle and Rebecca was playing in the water with a friend she had made. We hung around the beach until around 2 and then caught a bus back to the ship. Due to holiday traffic, the ride back took almost 40 minutes and we were caught in gridlock quite a few times. We were really glad we were not trying to come back on our own. Our late arrival back meant we missed the paper plane making, so we all just showered and hung out waiting for dinner.
Tonight's dinner was semi-formal attire and was "Prince and Princess" and we were back in Animator's Palate. Rebecca loved the Princess menus. We wish we had thought to ask Steve if we could keep one of them. We were hoping one of the Princesses would make a surprise appearance in the dining room, but no such luck. Janie ordered "Cinderella's Slipper" for dessert to go and Rebecca was upset she hadn't ordered one as well.
The evening show was "Twice Charmed", one Rebecca had really been looking forward to. This was a fantastic show that we all enjoyed.
We were all pretty tired and had an early morning tomorrow due to U.S. immigration and an early excursion, so we decided to call it a night after the show.