The old guys
who normally gather at Denny’s on FM 1960 every Friday were in their rightful
places when the subject eventually slid around to ocean cruises. Since it had been a little over two years
since Shirley and I had sailed to Key West and the Bahamas with the Creel
bunch, I had been thinking about scheduling another trip to give us a chance to
get out of town and relax a bit. Other
than a trip to my sister’s home in Missouri, we haven’t done much traveling
lately, so it was time to go somewhere.
If I were given a choice of where to go, Hawaii would always be my first choice. However, I have found that the older we get,
there is another factor we consider when considering a vacation trip: the
hassle factor. To go to Hawaii requires
air travel (with all the wonderful hazards of airports, security checks, and
flight delays,) hotel/motel/condo rentals, car rentals, arrangements for food,
and planning for any entertainment. In a
word, a Hawaiian trip rates very high on the hassle factor scale.
Counter the effort of planning a Hawaiian
trip with the ease of a cruise: you walk onto a boat, and for a week you do not
have to do anything but enjoy. No
planning…. eat when you want and what you want, do everything or do
nothing. Your time and your planning are
own. Five years ago, the idea of a
cruise seemed remote and not necessarily attractive. Why would I want to be trapped on a boat for
a week? I have learned the
attractiveness of a cruise: ease of
planning (buy the package) and ease of scheduling (do what you want when
you want.)
Anyway, at Denny’s on a Friday in July,
Jerry Stewart, a good friend who also happens to be a cruise expert having
enjoyed over twenty cruises in recent years, mentioned that he and his lovely
wife, Bobbie, had decided to take a cruise in September. I mentioned that Shirley and I had been
considering the same idea, and he made the mistake of saying, “You all ought to
go with us.” Within 48 hours, Shirley
and I were scheduled for the same Carnival Breeze cruise out of Galveston on
September 10-17 going to Jamaica, the Caymen Islands, and Cozumel.
Sunday, September 10, 2017, Departure from Galveston
We had agreed to take our car to
Galveston, picking up Jerry and Bobbie along the way, so about 10:00 a.m. we
slipped into the Stewart driveway.
Within a matter of seconds (since they were waiting on their porch) we
were back on IH45 headed south to the Galveston docks. Arriving at the parking area just across the
street from the hulking Carnival Breese, a 1,000 foot behemoth of a boat as
tall as a 14 story building, we begin probably the most stressful event in the
life of a cruise trip: the checking in process.
One has to consider that in a matter of three hours or so, Carnival has
to check in 4,100 passengers, each one loaded with luggage, and all have to
walk through a single door into the ship.
It all begins with parking about a quarter mile away from the ship. You unload your luggage and walk to a
gathering area where eventually a 15 passenger bus comes by and picks up you
and your luggage and hauls you to the terminal.
There you unload, and horse your luggage to the nearest baggage check in
person. He will load your luggage onto
the cart and then say, “Go down there to the end of the line for check in,” and
point to the end of a line seemingly a quarter mile away. You then walk down to join the long line of
excited travelers waiting impatiently to get on board and start having
fun. Since these are international
cruises, the official check in begins with showing your loading pass
(downloaded from your computer), then showing your picture identification
(passport), and then, just like the airlines, go through a security checkpoint
with x-ray and metal detection.
Going through security, I had to remove my
belt just like at the airlines, but that didn’t mean that security was tight…when
I walked through the metal detector, it started buzzing because of my metal
hip. I was prepared to explain the
situation, but no one ever questioned me or raised a head when the alarm went off…so
I kept walking. All the luggage
went through the x-ray, but the guy looking at the luggage appeared more bored
than anything else, and the conveyer belt never slowed down.
Next came
the registration and room confirmation.
We had our pictures taken (they took a photo of our passport photo), and
were told to proceed upstairs to the next level for boarding. There we sat for several minutes until
someone told us to begin boarding by going “that way.” We followed the crowd walking down a hall
which turned into an escalating walkway which zigzagged back and forth going
ever higher until we were at the same level as the entryway to the Carnival
Breeze. It was a hard climb for Shirley with her uncooperative back and knee. She had brought her cane, but it wasn’t much
help, I think. We walked across a gangplank onto
the ship to a chorus of “Welcome aboard!” greetings and into a room with
deafening music and many chairs. It was
the Atrium of the Breeze, an open area extending from the third deck to the twelfth.
We sat down to rest after the hour long boarding process. Eventually we were told that our staterooms
would not be available until 1:30, so we decided to go up to deck ten to the
Lido Buffet and have lunch.
The last couple of years I have been on a fairly stringent diet. I wear a Fitbit to keep track of my steps and monitor my calorie intake, but I left my Fitbit at home for this trip because I knew I would never stay within my guidelines. I weighed the morning before we left, and I calculated I would gain a few pounds this week, but after getting back home, I’ll just have to go back to my normal regimentation and hopefully the excess will eventually go away. That’s the plan, anyway.
So we had lunch in the Lido and relaxed a bit until nearly 2:00 p.m. In the meantime, Jerry went to see the maitre’d in the main restaurant to see if he could sweet talk him/her into a reserved table for us. At that moment we had “open dining,” which meant that we could go anytime we wanted for the evening meal, but it was first come, first served. With “early dining,” you have a reserved time and even a reserved table every evening, so all you had to do is walk in and have a seat. Jerry came back saying that he would know sometime tomorrow. Anyway, we headed to our rooms. We couples were four rooms apart: we were in stateroom 6279, and Bobbie and Jerry were in 6289. We were neighbors.
Our luggage still hadn’t arrived to our
rooms yet, so we took brief naps, since we were a little tired from the check
in ordeal. Our stateroom was the standard
balcony stateroom. We were on deck 6,
the starboard side, so we could look over the city of Galveston while we waited
to shove off from the dock. Of course,
before all this went down, we had to go through the obligatory emergency drill
and preparation, which involved going to our designated lifeboat boarding area
and reviewing the instructions for putting on a life jacket, etc. The term “calm
and orderly evacuation” was used several times, but I really doubt that in a
truly emergency situation there would be very much done in a “calm and orderly”
fashion. Just ask the folks on the
Titanic.
Shortly after the training ended, we made our way back to our stateroom just in time to see that we were slowly moving away from the Galveston dock and easing our way toward the Houston Ship Channel. Thirty minutes or so later we passed the last point of the south jetty of the channel. I saw the spot where I caught my last 22-pound bull red when we church guys chartered a fishing expedition a few years ago. And out to sea (or gulf) we went.
The last couple of years I have been on a fairly stringent diet. I wear a Fitbit to keep track of my steps and monitor my calorie intake, but I left my Fitbit at home for this trip because I knew I would never stay within my guidelines. I weighed the morning before we left, and I calculated I would gain a few pounds this week, but after getting back home, I’ll just have to go back to my normal regimentation and hopefully the excess will eventually go away. That’s the plan, anyway.
So we had lunch in the Lido and relaxed a bit until nearly 2:00 p.m. In the meantime, Jerry went to see the maitre’d in the main restaurant to see if he could sweet talk him/her into a reserved table for us. At that moment we had “open dining,” which meant that we could go anytime we wanted for the evening meal, but it was first come, first served. With “early dining,” you have a reserved time and even a reserved table every evening, so all you had to do is walk in and have a seat. Jerry came back saying that he would know sometime tomorrow. Anyway, we headed to our rooms. We couples were four rooms apart: we were in stateroom 6279, and Bobbie and Jerry were in 6289. We were neighbors.
Shortly after the training ended, we made our way back to our stateroom just in time to see that we were slowly moving away from the Galveston dock and easing our way toward the Houston Ship Channel. Thirty minutes or so later we passed the last point of the south jetty of the channel. I saw the spot where I caught my last 22-pound bull red when we church guys chartered a fishing expedition a few years ago. And out to sea (or gulf) we went.
In the spirit of tradition, I ordered my
usual shrimp cocktail, flatiron steak, and melting chocolate cake. It was…okay.
The cocktail consisted of five small shrimp, the steak was a little
tough and, and the chocolate cake was somehow not as awe-inspiring as what I
remembered. The service was good, but
the food was average at best. Maybe it
was just the first meal, and things will get better. Anyway, by the time we finished we were all
pretty well done for from the events of the day, so we said our good nights and
headed to our rooms. We finished putting
away our clothing from our luggage and packed it in for the night.
Monday, September 11, 2017, Sea Day #1
As I’ve already mentioned, the Atrium of
the Breeze is the open area extending from the third deck all the way to the
twelfth deck. It glitters with glass elevators, flashy decorations, and
overlooking balconies on each deck. On
the bottom (third) level (where we entered yesterday) is the entertainment area
with open bar and loud music. It’s a
place to make boisterous merriment, if you’re into that sort of thing. I mention this to get to the point that I
learned that noise can come from not only your next-door neighbor, but from
three decks down as well. Our stateroom
was just off the elevators on the sixth deck, and it was like we were sitting
on one of the bar stools on the third deck.
The sounds of heavy music, laughter, yelling, and glasses tinkling
pervaded our room until about midnight.
Fortunately it didn’t bother me.
Thanks to the magic of iPods and ear buds, I listened serenely to
beautiful music and drifted off to sleep.
It was only between songs that I heard the dull rumblings of the
invading racket. Well, at least it
always ended about midnight, and toward the end of the week they actually began having adult music performed, such as a string trio which played very serene music. It was okay.
What
was more troublesome were the heavy seas and headwinds we began to encounter
during the night. It’s hard to imagine
how a ship of this size could squeak and groan as much as the Breeze did, but
that was the case. From the balcony came
the sounds of whistling wind, clanging doors, and rattling whatevers. By the time we awoke, the captain was on the
intercom telling us we were feeling the after-effects of Hurricane Irma which
was in the process of slamming into Florida.
As we headed up to deck ten for breakfast with the Stewarts, people
everywhere were giving good impressions of a colony of drunks after a long
night’s binge. It took a little
concentration to stand somewhat respectably and wait for the elevator, and as
we walked I held Shirley’s hand, partly to help her but also to steady myself.
After a good breakfast, we decided to visit
the shops on the fifth deck. On the port
side of the shopping area are all the name brand shops with everything at full
list price, so watches that sell at your local jeweler for $250 you can buy
here for $399. On the starboard side of
the ship are the $10 tables (buy four, get the fourth one free.) My kind of shopping. The tee shirts and souvenirs are still too
expensive, but from experience, those items tend to drop in price later in the
cruise, so the first day out is not the best time to shop.
Amazingly, when we returned to our
stateroom we found a note under our door telling us that we had received Early
(reserved) Dining. We will be dining in
the Blush Restaurant, third deck, at 6:00 p.m. and our table number is
549. So we are set for evening
dining.
We also met our first of a series of little towel creatures the steward placed in our room every day. After a couple of hours of writing
on this report, I was told by Shirley that she wanted to go wandering around,
so I shut down the computer (my old Sony VAIO laptop from 1998…about all it’s
good for is Word writing.) and we headed down to deck three to see what’s to
see. Besides the two major restaurants,
on deck three is the Ovation Theater where a hot bingo game was going on. It was too late for us to join, so we moved
up a notch to deck four. Deck four is
the photo gallery where you can pose in front of a myriad of backdrops with
your current companion or buy the photos that the wandering photographers take
of you during your cruise. Having already experience deck five, we skipped up
to deck eleven, which basically surrounds the pool on deck ten along with its
large outdoor video screen where evening movies and last night’s Monday Night
football game with the Cowboys was shown.
I don’t even know who won as of this writing. We decided to walk to the back…I mean
stern…of the ship where we marveled at the wake the ship was leaving. It was quieter there, since there was no loud
music going on, but it was awash with jacuzzies, hot tubs, mini pools with
mostly young people soaking and interacting.
I can only say that somewhere there should be an international law
forbidding some…um…weight-challenged…people from wearing what passes for a
bathing suit. For every person who
looked semi-acceptable in a bathing suit, there were ten poor souls who really
needed to put on a robe. Other than a great
view of the ocean, there wasn’t much to appeal to the mature adult at the stern
of this ship, so we moved on. The twelfth, thirteenth, and fourteenth decks of
the ship are partial, forward decks where all the outdoor youth activities take
place. No interest to us…we skipped.
Back to the stateroom.
After
relaxing a bit more, around 4:45 we began preparing for our new dining
experience at the Blush Restaurant. We
sailed by the Stewart stateroom (four rooms away), picked them up, and headed
for the Blush Restaurant on the third level.
Sure enough, although there was a line of people trying to get in, we
passed them all up and walked to our reserved table and met our dining companions. The tables were all set for eight souls, so
we were curious who we would meet. Jerry
was hopeful it wasn’t a quartet of Black Panthers or some other group who felt
they had been downtrodden and were out for retribution. Fortunately, with the wisdom of
the maitre’d evident, we were grouped with souls of like persuasion and
equivalent age bracket, so we all got along famously.
Having been disappointed with the shrimp cocktail and flat iron steak from last night, I ordered as an appetizer fried oysters and as an entrée a ribeye steak with baked potato. When the appetizer arrived, on the plate were TWO fried oysters…that’s it. I couldn’t believe my eyes. Only two oysters? Mental note: tomorrow night, do not order the shrimp cocktail or oysters. I was feeling a little down, to say the least. However, when the ribeye arrived, I felt better. Compared to the steak last night, it was at least flavorful and tender, and the baked potato was well dressed and tasty. We were well served with bread, tea, and coffee. I decided to give the melting chocolate dessert one more chance before I marked it off the list, and I’m glad I did. This time it was very flavorful chocolate, hot, with two scoops of ice cream. It was like how I remembered, so at least with this dinner I got two “satisfies” out of three. Progress was being made. Shortly before 8:00, we headed back to the stateroom, pleasantly full and ready to relax. We were thankful that as we had sailed further south, the seas had started to quieten a bit, resulting in the ship pitching and yawing less, which made walking less of a challenge.
Having been disappointed with the shrimp cocktail and flat iron steak from last night, I ordered as an appetizer fried oysters and as an entrée a ribeye steak with baked potato. When the appetizer arrived, on the plate were TWO fried oysters…that’s it. I couldn’t believe my eyes. Only two oysters? Mental note: tomorrow night, do not order the shrimp cocktail or oysters. I was feeling a little down, to say the least. However, when the ribeye arrived, I felt better. Compared to the steak last night, it was at least flavorful and tender, and the baked potato was well dressed and tasty. We were well served with bread, tea, and coffee. I decided to give the melting chocolate dessert one more chance before I marked it off the list, and I’m glad I did. This time it was very flavorful chocolate, hot, with two scoops of ice cream. It was like how I remembered, so at least with this dinner I got two “satisfies” out of three. Progress was being made. Shortly before 8:00, we headed back to the stateroom, pleasantly full and ready to relax. We were thankful that as we had sailed further south, the seas had started to quieten a bit, resulting in the ship pitching and yawing less, which made walking less of a challenge.
Tuesday, September 12, 2017, Sea Day #2
Well, nothing like being awakened at 6:30
a.m. by a phone call from the Guest Services department saying that we had an
emergency message from Kimberly Downing.
I asked him to give us the message, and he said we would have to come to
Guest Services to receive it…which raised the level of concern even higher. We dressed in record time and imagined every
terrible scenario that could have taken place as we made our way to the third
deck and the service desk. The desk
person identified us and using his cell phone, dialed a code and then handed me
the phone. On the other end was our
beloved daughter, Kim.
Kim cut to the chase immediately and said, “First of all, everyone in our family is OK.” That was good news, but then I waited for the other shoe to drop. She told me Buddy had passed out for some reason and fell, resulting in serious facial lacerations. There was concern originally about possible cranial damage or heart problems, but the ensuing tests were all negative. Apparently, this event took place on Sunday. Because of the original fear of brain damage or aneurysm, he was being kept in an unconscious, cooled-down state until a conclusion from the tests could be reached. As of this writing, he is being prepped to regain consciousness in the next 24 hours. We closed our conversation with Kim suggesting that we buy the internet package that Carnival offered to allow us to stay in contact.
I told the desk person that I wanted to purchase the internet plan, and I was surprised when he graciously offer to give us for no charge their best plan to allow us to keep in touch with the family back home.. Carnival made a lifelong friend out of me. Within a few minutes I was receiving messages, and I sent a message to Jeannie. She gave further details about Buddy’s fall and the stress of the last two days. I will not retell the story on these pages, but it was clear that Buddy had a road to recovery that will take a while. Fortunately, he has a large, strong family around him to offer all the support he will be needing.
By this time it was 7:30, so I called Jerry. He had told me to call him whatever time I got up, but I don’t think he was expecting a call at 7:30 because he was still in bed. Anyway, we and wives met a few minutes later at the Lido Restaurant and enjoyed a breakfast. It was a lighter breakfast, since I had exceeded my daily capacity for food in the last couple of days. I was a little uncomfortable trying to sleep last night due to my overindulgence at dinner last night, so I decided to try to control the eating a bit more today. Coffee, roll, fruit…that was breakfast.
Afterward, Jerry and Bobbie headed off to some sort of trivia game, and we decided to try our hand at Bingo. On our previous cruise we had played and had a good outcome, so the hook had already been set. Down to deck three to the Ovation Room, and forty-five minutes later we left with a wonderful experience… but no winnings. Oh, well, it had entertainment value.
Kim cut to the chase immediately and said, “First of all, everyone in our family is OK.” That was good news, but then I waited for the other shoe to drop. She told me Buddy had passed out for some reason and fell, resulting in serious facial lacerations. There was concern originally about possible cranial damage or heart problems, but the ensuing tests were all negative. Apparently, this event took place on Sunday. Because of the original fear of brain damage or aneurysm, he was being kept in an unconscious, cooled-down state until a conclusion from the tests could be reached. As of this writing, he is being prepped to regain consciousness in the next 24 hours. We closed our conversation with Kim suggesting that we buy the internet package that Carnival offered to allow us to stay in contact.
I told the desk person that I wanted to purchase the internet plan, and I was surprised when he graciously offer to give us for no charge their best plan to allow us to keep in touch with the family back home.. Carnival made a lifelong friend out of me. Within a few minutes I was receiving messages, and I sent a message to Jeannie. She gave further details about Buddy’s fall and the stress of the last two days. I will not retell the story on these pages, but it was clear that Buddy had a road to recovery that will take a while. Fortunately, he has a large, strong family around him to offer all the support he will be needing.
By this time it was 7:30, so I called Jerry. He had told me to call him whatever time I got up, but I don’t think he was expecting a call at 7:30 because he was still in bed. Anyway, we and wives met a few minutes later at the Lido Restaurant and enjoyed a breakfast. It was a lighter breakfast, since I had exceeded my daily capacity for food in the last couple of days. I was a little uncomfortable trying to sleep last night due to my overindulgence at dinner last night, so I decided to try to control the eating a bit more today. Coffee, roll, fruit…that was breakfast.
Afterward, Jerry and Bobbie headed off to some sort of trivia game, and we decided to try our hand at Bingo. On our previous cruise we had played and had a good outcome, so the hook had already been set. Down to deck three to the Ovation Room, and forty-five minutes later we left with a wonderful experience… but no winnings. Oh, well, it had entertainment value.
Back to the room. The seas had really settled and we were
actually cruising normally without having to hang onto railings, so maybe our
unsteady sailing was over. As I wrote
this we had just passed the western tip of Cuba and were within a day’s
distance from our first stop, Montego Bay, Jamaica. We looked forward to a tour of a city we have never
visited.
Around 12:30 we headed down to a new
experience…eating at Guy’s Pig and Anchor Barbeque on deck five. Turned out to be amazing barbeque. While we sat on the outside deck and as we
were getting ready to eat, we ran through a bit of a rain squall, so we escaped
indoors where we discovered a coffee bar with Starbucks coffee. After finishing off the barbeque, I got us a
couple of coffees and the biggest slice of carrot cake I’ve ever seen. It was loaded with icing, which Shirley doesn’t
care for, so I happily took care of her rejected icing. (Sigh) So much food…so
little time.
Around 1:30, Shirley and I went to the Ovation Theater where a game of
Clue was commencing. This Clue game
involved live characters, a murdered person, and an inspector who needed the
audience’s help in solving the crime based on clues. Sort of a humanized version of the old board
game. Each “suspect” was questioned, and we listened to their alibis. In the next couple of days, additional clues
will be posted around the ship, and come Saturday, the person who guesses
correctly who committed the crime, with what instrument, and where has the
potential of winning $2,000.00. Not too
sure we’ll get involved, but watching the kickoff of the game was entertaining.
About 3:15 I went to the tenth deck to
listen to a guy play a guitar. I am sure
I have seen him on previous cruises because he sort of stands out amongst the
herd. He was from Fiji, went by the name
Jerry and could sing any kind of rock and roll or country with an exact
imitation of the voice of the original singer of each song. The singing was pretty amazing…it’s not often
you see an Asian from Fiji singing a Merle Haggard song as well as Merle
himself, but it was his guitar skills that were amazing. He played a hollow body cutaway folk style
electrified guitar with a skill and entertainment quotient far higher than
nearly any other guitarist I’ve ever heard.
It was totally entertaining for an hour, and the crowd got into it and
enjoyed every minute. Near the end of his performance, he played an
instrumental of “America, the Beautiful” that was a work of musical art.
Back to the stateroom for an hour or so of
rest, then at 5:55, we trotted by the Stewart homestead, and we all made our
way back to the Blush Restaurant for our reserved table dining experience. I enjoyed escargot in garlic butter, a Caesar
salad, and grilled pork chop. The pork
chop was not as impressive as Perry’s massive pork chop, but it was good. In fact, this was probably the best meal I’ve
had so far, especially since it was topped off with (what else?) a melting
chocolate cake with ice cream...although the chocolate cake wasn’t as good as
last night. Three nights of chocolate
cake…I may have to try something different tomorrow night.
By this time, we had gotten the message
that Buddy was still holding his own and showing more awareness of his
surroundings, so our prayers continue with him, Jeannie, and the family. We have also received three calls from Guest
Services asking if everything was under control back home, and did we need any
additional help from Carnival. Even
though I answered “no” to the questions, we were told that if we needed to get
off the boat in Galveston quickly after we arrived on Sunday, just to let them
know and we would be allowed to get off first.
Pretty impressive. Of course, I
told Jerry of Carnival’s offer, and that we were considering taking advantage
of the quick exit and that he and Bobbie may have to find their own way
home. But after a minute or so, I told
him we would graciously wait for them.
Wednesday, September 13, 2017, Jamaica
 |
| Hello, Jamaica! |
Our tour was
“The 10 Best of Montego Bay,” a combination sightseeing and shopping tour. We learned a lot about Jamaica, but I will
not turn this blog into a history or geography lesson. Suffice it to say we had a very entertaining,
knowledgeable tour guide, and an excellent driver. The excellent driver was critical, because
the roads were crowded and narrow with honking cars and people wandering in all
directions. I have never heard such horn
honking, not necessarily out of driver anger, but simply to warn the other
drivers that “here I come, ready
or not.” And here we (or they)
came. Spaces between cars were measured
in inches, but somehow it all worked, and drivers took charge or yielded as the
need arose.
The tour ended at the hot spot for drinkers…Jimmy Buffett’s
Margaritaville. We did not enter, but
the place was jumping. We got to see
some lovely sights…a corn-rowed scraggly dude smoking marijuana and actively
hustling it to the tourists…. until he got stopped by the police. Apparently, he saw them coming because they
searched him thoroughly but found no pot, so they let him go with a
warning. Our bus tour guide said he is
there every day selling pot and watching for the cops, but that he is a
magician when it comes to hiding his stash. And if they can’t find it on his
person, he can’t be charged. The cops
also stopped a couple of young…um…ladies who were also apparently selling more
personal items, and to listen to them, you would have thought they were on
their way to Sunday School. They weren’t
dressed for Sunday School, though.
The crowning moment of the tour, though, was our 45 minutes spent in the
Margaritaville vicinity, the end of which as we were loading, one of our young
lady tourists was brought back to the bus stumbling drunk…in 45 minutes, no
less. As we continued our cruise, she
began throwing up in a barf bag, conveniently given to her by our tour
guide. Fortunately, the drunk was
sitting right in from of the tour guide, and the guide handled it very
professionally. With backup barf bags in
one hand and the microphone in the other she continued her comments about the
sights we were seeing. Probably half of
the people on the bus were never aware of the unfortunate girl. The things I just mentioned sound a little negative, but the tour was actually
very entertaining and informative.
Naturally the tour ended at the Shoppes at Rose Hall, the place to go
when buying Jamaican souvenirs.
Back to the boat about 4:40, just enough
time to rest a little, and then prepare for dinner. Picked up the Stewarts about 6:00 and we were
shortly at our assigned table, ready to eat. Had the usual average steak and
sides, and my melting chocolate cake for dessert. I think that may be the last one. It was good, but not great, and not near as
good as even the one from last night.
Tomorrow night I go into new dessert territory and try something else.
Afterward, we decided to go to a piano bar
on the fifth deck, primarily because next to it was a Starbucks. We enjoyed good coffee and visited, while the
girl singer on the stage tried to channel Patsy Cline. She had a way to go.
After this, we had to walk through the
casino to get back to the forward part of the ship and our rooms. Jerry mentioned he had never won anything, and
I tried to get him to try his luck. He
had said before the cruise that he was going to bring 100 pennies and if he
lost those, he was going to quit. I told
him the penny machines are not really penny machines but you play a quarter, 40
cents or whatever on each pull. Too rich
for his blood, he said. But then he
goaded me to try my luck, so I put in two dollars….and won $42.00 in about 45
seconds. Jerry could not believe it, and
of course I attributed it to clean living…. but I quit while I was ahead. Anyway, we left with Jerry mumbling about how
lucky I was. I have to admit, I have
brought up the subject a couple of times since then.
Back to our rooms about 9:00 with Grand
Cayman Island on the morning horizon.
Thursday, September 14, 2017, Grand Cayman
Today, Shirley and I had to be in the
Ovation Theater at 7:30 for our tour, so we were up early for a quick
breakfast, then on our way. Walking into
the theater about 7:10, the guide led us to the elevators, down to deck “O” to
be loaded into tenders for the trip to the shore. Grand Cayman does not have a port for cruise
liners, so everyone must take a tender, a smaller ship with a capacity of about
200 persons from the cruise ship to the docks.
We did so, and quickly hooked up with our tour company, the “Amphibious
Bus Land and Sea Adventure.”
From the water, we motored up the road to
the world famous Seven Mile Beach, a strip of white powdery sand with upscale
hotels. We parked at one of them and
were given 45 minutes to roam around, but to be honest, there were no shopping
areas, only drinking areas, so I went to the beach, took a couple of photos,
and Shirley and I stayed in the bus.
About 11:00 Shirley and I caught the tender back to the boat. We rested for awhile, and then up to Lido for
lunch where in a few minutes Bobbie and Jerry showed up. The early afternoon, I rested. Shirley went wandering around somewhere, but we
both just sort of chilled out for the afternoon.
Friday, September 15, 2017, Cozumel
Our tour didn’t start until 1:00 p.m.
today, so we had a leisurely breakfast in the Lido from about 9:00-10:00. The Breeze wasn’t due into Cozumel until
10:00, so about the time we sat down for breakfast, we nudged up against the
dock. I think I like leaving for tours a
little later, because the moment the ship touched a dock, the majority of the
passengers flooded the elevators to get to deck “O” for disembarkation. With a later tour time, the mad rush to
vacate the premises is over, and we could take a civilized process to exit the
boat.
We did so about 12:15, walking down the
(really) long dock to the terminal, which by the way forces entering passengers
to walk through the liquor store, souvenir store, perfume store, and whatever
else they can think to sell you before they let you out into the
countryside. Coming back is the same
way; they take one last crack at you as you board the boat, forcing you to walk
through all the shops.
Into the
water I went, along with the rest of the boat’s mob. It wasn’t perfect snorkeling for several
reasons: We were restricted to a certain
area which was too small for the number of people, and as a result it was
difficult to snorkel more than ten feet without running into someone. The water was clear, but the coral was dead
rock…very little live coral was seen, and that goes for the fish also. I may have seen a fish or two, but I’m not
sure. That may have been my fault; I, of
course, snorkeled without my glasses, and my vision is somewhat limited without
them (an understatement.) Fortunately, I
had my GoPro camera with me, so when I view my video, I’ll know better if there
were fish in the waters or not.
But at the
time I saw nada. When I snorkeled in
Hawai’i in 2011, I had prescription goggles, which are wonderful for the
visually challenged. The last think
about the snorkeling was…I ran out of gas after about 20 minutes. I had to keep kicking to avoid other
snorkelers and to keep even with the boat due to a slight current pulling us away from the boat. We had been scheduled to be there for 45
minutes, but I was done in short order.
Came out of the water and sat by Shirley. It wasn’t a lost cause; the weather was
beautiful, and the scenery was lovely.
After all, it WAS Cozumel.
We hoisted our sails and weighed anchor at
the scheduled time and headed to our next spot, a beach set up for the fun
times: beach volleyball, kayaks, floats, hammocks, chairs/umbrellas,
unlimited/open bar (we didn’t do that one), and places just to sit and
relax. The beach was lovely white sand
with gentle waves. Shirley and I both
enjoyed the water and floated, swam, sat, dug for shells, and enjoyed the
ambience of the areas for most of our hour and fifteen minutes there. The
weather and temperature were ideal. It
was a nice time. The most interesting sideline to this part of the adventure
was that as we approached the beach to unload, the captain asked everyone to go
to the front of the boat. That in turn
raised the propellers in the rear and allowed then to remain unstuck as he ran
the ship as far onto the shore as it would go.
We exited down the same stairs we snorkeled from to get to the
beach. When we left, we did the
reverse…everyone to the front of the boat, he put the engines into reverse and
the props pulled us off the sand as smooth as you can imagine. About 4:30 though, the sails went up again (literally)
and off we went back to the Breeze. It
was a beautiful sailing day.
We got back to the docks about 5:15, and with
the deadline to return to the boat was 5:30, we had no time to shop. But we dutifully walked through all the stores
headed back to the ship. As soon as we
exited the stores, however, we still had a long walk to the ship, so I dealt
with one of the local “transporters,” these guys who have a bicycle with two
wheels in back with two side by side seats.
We climbed aboard and were whisked to the gangplank in no time and
zipped through check in with no problems.
By this time it was 5:35, and our dinner
time is 6:00. We were both salty and
hot, so we had to freshen up before dinner.
I called Jerry and they had the same dilemma from their tour. So we told them we would meet them at our
assigned table. As we were walking by
their room, however, out they came, so other than being about 15 minutes late,
we made it to dinner.
Tonight it was roasted meatballs as an
appetizer, fried, crusted Portobello mushrooms with vegetable sides, and cheese
cake. The mushrooms did not look
impressive when delivered, but were actually pretty tasty. The cheesecake was so-so. We had a good dinner and visit, and
afterward, Jerry felt the need for popcorn, so we went to the tenth deck where
popcorn is distributed, and he and Shirley got their popcorn. I eat popcorn occasionally, but there are
other foods that attract me more.
Since we were all pretty well famished from
the day’s activities, we said our goodbyes about 8:30 and went to our
staterooms to collapse for the night. A
good day.
Saturday, September 16, 2017, Sea Day
I think all of us were worn from
yesterday’s activities, because we didn’t begin to stir until after 8:00 We
decided that since this was the last full day of our cruise, we would enjoy a
nice, sit-down, order-from-the-menu breakfast in the Blush Restaurant (where we
have our evening meals) instead of the buffet in the Lido.
So down to deck three we went. We did not have a reserved table for
breakfast, but the line went quickly and we were soon entabled not too far from
where our normal evening dining spot was.
So we felt at home. We even had
the same waitress and waiter. They
apparently work long hours. Much more high-class
menu than the generic stuff at the Lido.
I enjoyed eggs Benedict with sausage links, cinnamon rolls, and
chocolate pancakes. Plenty of coffee, orange juice, and pineapple juice. It was
very nice. We even had a table-hopping
magician visit and dazzle us with his tricks.
He really was pretty good. We
chatted and sipped coffee for over an hour, thoroughly enjoying the ambience
and the company of our friends, the Stewarts.
I would tell you how I felt about Jerry Stewart, but I know he will read
this sooner or later, so I will say simply he’s a great guy (choke.) Let’s just
say he is married to a VERY patient, understanding, and wonderful woman. I’ve
never heard her raise her voice…. I doubt if Jerry can say that.
Since this
is the last full day of travel, all the stores on the ship had their clearance
sales going full blast, so we had to at least look the merchandise over. Naturally, I had to buy a couple of tee
shirts for posterity’s sake. They had
flashy watches 2 for $30.00, but I must be getting really cheap, because I
didn’t buy any. I still had my watches from the last cruise, so I
couldn’t justify shelling out even fifteen bucks for another watch. I’ve become MUCH more discriminating.
Somewhere along the way we lost the
Stewarts, so Shirley and I went to the Promenade Deck (5th) and sat
out under an umbrella and absorbed the scenery. It’s very tranquil to watch the
sea slowly slide by, especially on a calm day when there is absolute no ship
rocking at all. It’s like sitting at an
oceanside hotel.
At 11:00 we went to the Ovation Theater
where we had a thirty-minute briefing about debarkation procedures for
tomorrow. The process was pretty routine
for cruise debarkationers, since everyone was scheduled at various times to
disembark, starting around 8:30. Our
time to disembark was 11:15, which was a little late, but at the same time gave
us an opportunity to get one more breakfast in before we had to go back into
the world.
After the briefing, we went back to our
stateroom. Shirley’s back and leg were
still bothering her, and she needed to get off her feet. While she read, I sadly pulled out the
suitcase and began packing items for our exit tomorrow. We had to have our luggage packed and outside
our stateroom door that night between 7:30 and 10:00 for it to be carried down
to the receiving room inside the terminal,
Saves a lot of luggage lugging, but you’ve got to plan for what you’re
going to wear the next day and pack accordingly.
About 1:00 Shirley got a hankering for
something to drink, so we went up to the Lido.
Naturally you can’t drink tea or whatever without something to go with
it, so we went through the “sweets” line and picked up a few morsels of sugary
stuff. With a little coffee to finish it
off, we sat and consumed a day’s worth of calories, probably, but it was
good. Back to the room to continue
packing
By the time 5:15 or so rolled around, we
had enjoyed a nap, did a little reading, and gotten most of the packing
done. We readied ourselves for the
evening dinner and promptly at 6:00 we picked up the Stewarts and headed to our
final cruise dinner together. Tonight I
had baked onion soup, cornmeal crusted chicken breast with broccoli, and cherry
pie and ice cream. For once, it was all
very tasty. Shirley had tiger shrimp
creole which was apparently very good, also, according to Shirley. We finished and, since this was the last
night, we drifted by the den of iniquity (casino), if for no other reason than
to cash in our winnings, modest though they be.
I maintained my record of having never lost.
Back to the room to finalize our packing
and place our luggage outside our door.
As I mentioned earlier, we would not see it again until we got into the
terminal in Galveston, and by 9:30 our luggage had disappeared en route to its
final destination. We were hoping for a
happy reunion with our luggage tomorrow.
Sunday, September 17, 2017, Return to Galveston
Woke up this morning about 5:30, just in
time to see our Carnival Breeze being gently pushed into her dock. Needless to say, it was not time to get up,
since debarkation did not begin until 8:30.
So it was back to bed for me.
Around 7:00 we began to stir and prepare for our saying goodbye to our
cruise vacation. To unload 4,100
passengers in the most organized fashion, Carnival assigns debarking times by
the same zone number that our luggage will be placed in the terminal. In the terminal,
the luggage area is divided into zones, and your luggage is placed in an
assigned zone. Our debarking number was
the same as our luggage zone…29. Since
there were only 32 zones, it meant that we would be some of the last people off
the boat, but the good side of that situation was we would have time for one
more hearty breakfast in the Lido restaurant.
We had to be out of our room, though, by
8:30. At that time all passengers had to
go to a waiting area, breakfast, or somewhere to await the crew calling their
zone numbers, at which time passengers could make their way to deck three and
the gangplank. So to the Lido we went, which was abuzz with last minute
activity, but we were able to find a table, and indulge in another great
breakfast. I’ve learned to like eggs
benedict, especially with sausage, potatoes, pancakes, toast, etc.…you get the
picture. It’s going to be starvation
city when we get home.
Our
estimated departure time was 11:15; however, everything went much quicker
than planned, and by 10:30 we were headed down to deck three. We flashed our Carnival cards one more time
as we walked onto the three-story high gangplank, which zigged and zagged until
we were down on the ground floor. Apparently, the big thing as of
this cruise was the lack of having to make any sort of declaration to customs
upon leaving the ship. We just walked
over to where our luggage was, picked it up and walked out the door.
Then, of course, the fun began, as one had
to haul the luggage about half a block to where the buses were picking up passengers
to take them to their cars. Since there
were 4,100 people trying to get to cars, there was a bit of a line. Actually, it did not take too long; in
probably 30 minutes, we were loaded aboard and taken to parking lot number two,
where our Sorento stood out all alone because all its neighbors had already
headed home. We loaded up and shortly
were approaching the onramp to IH45…and that’s where we stopped.
Bumper to bumper as far as you could
see. It took us almost an hour to get
over the Galveston causeway bridge, and over an hour to get to exit ten, where
we had decided to stop at McDonalds for a pit stop. Inside there were about a hundred people, so
we decided to press on. To make a long
story short, it took us nearly three hours to get to Lupe Tortillas just south
of FM1960 on IH45. Turned out there was
road construction and one lane traffic for several miles. It had traffic backed up clear back to
Galveston.
The Stewarts and the Downing had their last
meal together…Tex-Mex, which folks on Carnival Lines ships do not know how to
make. I’m not that crazy about Mexican
food, but my three companions ate like it was their first meal of the
week. Give me steak or seafood any day.
By the time we dropped off the Stewarts at
their home, it was after 1:30, and it was after 2:00 by the time we rolled into
our driveway. It was good to be home, but it had been a great cruise.
Everything else was very wonderful;
however, I’ll admit my own bed at home really felt good that Sunday evening
when I crawled between the sheets. Will
we take another cruise? Let’s see…I
have a break in my work in May…..
Posts
