US Virgin Islands ~ 2023.03.02

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Trip Planning

Chuck and Viriginia a the beginning of our cruise in 2022 on the Celebrity Beyond, currently the most expensive ship ever built!
We visited Barcelona, Malaga and Cadiz in Spain. Then stopped in Lisbon Portugal and on to the Azore Islands. We ended up in Newark after crossing the Atlantic.
The weather was wonderful the first six days of the cruise, 70 degrees and no wind. Then we hit bad weather, rough seas and strong winds, the Atlantic sea currents were running both north to the south and east to the west.
As the waves hit the ship, at times it actually vibrated. The Captain said it was very strange for this to happen!
We had a cruise planned over a year ago but it fell through due to the pandemic.
The money we had put down was used to help pay for this cruise visiting the southern Caribbean Sea!

Personnal Travel Agent - Gerard Ramos - Vacations to Go

Gerard has been our travel agent for many years as we have cruised around the world to the Caribbean, the Atlantic Ocean, Indian Ocean, the South Pacific and more cruises.
He is is so helpful and responds quickly to questions one might have about traveling, especially in a time of uncertainty as far as Covid is concerned.
Gerard Ramos
Master Cruise Counselor
Vacations To Go
gramos@vacationstogo.com
My office hours: Tue-Sat: 8am-5pm (US Central Time)
US and Canada: 1-800-338-4962 ext. 7487
Feel free to tell Gerard you viewed his business as a travel agent on my website.

US Virgin Islands Flag History

US Virgin Islands Island Prior to Transfer Day 1917, the Danish colonial administration used a simple flag modeled on the blue ensign with the flag of Denmark in its canton.
The Danish flag is popularly said to have fallen from the sky during a 1219 battle of the Danish king Valdemar II during the Livonian Crusade against the Estonians. The Nordic Cross on the flag represents Christianity.
The idea of a U.S. Virgin Islands flag began with the administration of Rear Admiral Sumner Ely Wetmore Kittelle, who was sworn in as governor of the islands on April 26, 1921. He approached Mr. White, captain of the Grebe, and Percival Wilson Sparks, a cartoonist, and asked them for suggestions for a flag design.
Sparks immediately drew a design on paper. Afterwards, Sparks transferred it on heavy cotton material, then asked his wife Grace and her sister Blanche Joseph to embroider the design. The later result was what became the United States Virgin Islands flag.

US Virgin Islands History

The US Virgin Islands are 40-50 miles east of Puerto Rico; and about 1106 miles southeast Miami, Florida.
The Virgin Islands are divided between the United States and the United Kingdom; so you have the United States Virgin Islands (USVI) and the British Virgin Islands (BVI).
U.S. Virgin Islands
The USVI consist of 4 larger islands: St. Croix, St. Thomas, St. John and Water Island, and some 50 smaller islets and cays. The total area of the USVI is 133 square miles. The United States Virgin Islands, often abbreviated USVI, is a group of islands and cays located in the Lesser Antilles of the Eastern Caribbean. Consisting of three larger islands (Saint Croix, Saint John, and Saint Thomas) plus fifty smaller islets and cays, it has a total land area of approximately 346 square kilometres (134 sq mi).
Like many of its Caribbean neighbors, its history includes native Amerindian settlement, European colonization, and the enslavement of Africans. Before the colonial period, the islands were inhabited at different times by the Arawak, Ciboney, and Kalinago peoples. Europeans are first known to have encountered the islands during Columbus' second voyage. Over the next century, settlers from across western Europe laid claim to the land and the majority of indigenous peoples either perished or were displaced. The islands initially profited from the triangular trade, and many enslaved peoples were brought to the island, beginning in 1673.
The islands were acquired by the Danish West India Company between 1672 and 1733, eventually becoming known as the Danish West Indies. Following a slave rebellion in 1848, slavery was abolished in the Danish territories, and the plantation economy of the islands collapsed. Faced with mounting deficits, the Danish Government then engaged in several attempts to sell the islands. After decades of negotiations, the United States purchased the islands in 1917. They officially became an unincorporated U.S. territory in 1927.