WARNING: Our son Andrew is a wonderful person and very smart and, fortunately for him, he doesn’t take after his dad in some respects. If you ask Andrew a question he will answer it completely and correctly in a dozen words. In my case it will be answered in about three chapters. He gives me a bad time about pictures. If he sees something beautiful or worth capturing on film, he will take one shot. In my case it will usually be around ten or twelve shots of the same subject, just to make sure I get a good one. In any event, this is somewhat lengthy and I do apologize for that. Hopefully it will be as enjoyable to you as our recent trip and recounting the trip is to me.
Another thing I have to be very up front about is the fact that I am a real neophyte when it comes to cruise ships and cruising. I learned there were many people on this cruise who have taken 15 or 20 cruises or more. In fact they announced that one woman has spent something like 1,400 days cruising just with Princess Cruises. We met several people who had just gotten off one cruise ship and got right on ours to take another cruise. The first day we sat next to a couple from Tucson at lunch and they had just finished a cruise on the largest cruise ship in the world. They got off a ship which holds 6,500 passengers and got on our ship to cruise with us. And remember, it isn’t like you get on and will get off at the next corner – you are on for the full length of the cruise. We met a couple from Buffalo, New York. They have a lovely home right on the lake and enjoy their home but are sick and tired of the winters. They decided to get a winter home in Florida, Arizona or New Mexico or any place warm but decided with the cost of upkeep for two homes it would be a lot less expensive and more enjoyable to spend the winter months cruising. They had been on one cruise ship and at the conclusion of that cruise got on our ship.
There were many people in our own group who have taken multiple cruises and back to back cruises. There was one lady who has taken something like 45 trips just with Sun Tours. I am sure they were not all cruises but I am sure they were enjoyable and worthwhile.
JUST CRUISING
Being a farm boy from a small town in the San Luis Valley in Southern Colorado, I grew up thinking that Cruising meant driving up and down the main street in town in my 48 Ford club coupe. When my mom asked what I was going to be doing, I said “cruising”. Among friends, we called it “dragging the gut”. With my 48 Ford, a sharp car in my opinion, and for several of my buddies, this was the past time and entertainment of the day. After all, there weren’t too many oceans, or even bodies of water, in that part of the world so this had to be our cruising.
I think the first experience I had with any kind of a boat was as a youngster on a trip to Denver. Lakeside Amusement park, which was adjacent to a lake had a motor boat that would take you for a ride out on this little lake. Up to that time, this was my big thrill on the water.
As I got older and more sophisticated, (who me – sophisticated) I actually went out on the ocean in big diesel powered motor boats deep sea fishing. I did this in Puerto Rico, Acapulco, Mexico, Vancouver, BC and a few other places. I loved being on a boat but wasn’t much of a fisherman. While others were casting for Swordfish, Barracuda, Sharks, Whales or whatever it is you fish for, I was busy casting for beer in the ice chest. But I still loved being on a boat.
My first experience on a big boat was a boat that held about 200 people and went from Pompano Beach, Florida to West End Bahamas. I remember a forward and an aft deck and a big room in the middle with long wooden tables classroom style and benches on either side. The tables had wooden railings around the sides of the table and I was to learn that this was to keep the dinner plates from sliding off the table onto the floor as the boat tipped and pitched back and forth. The weather was not too good that day and the boat pitched back and forth the entire trip. After we were underway we learned this was the first day the boat had gone out for several days because of the very bad weather. It looked like they were at least a day early in finally going out. In any event, while others were turning different shades of green and getting sick, I loved every moment. I was standing on the very front part of the forward deck with waves coming up and and splashing over the boat – and I can’t even swim. When I looked back and saw the crew from the kitchen and other crew members hanging over the rail on the side of the ship losing their “cookies”, I finally decided it might be time for me to go back into the cabin.
It might have been about ten years later that we had our first real cruise. This was back when the “Love Boat” was a popular TV show and as a result of that show many people started considering a cruise for their vacation. While there weren’t a lot of cruise ships at that time, more and more of them were coming on the scene and the costs were very reasonable. We went on a Caribbean cruise which was a convention trip with our company on the Carnival Line. This cruise was on their original ship, “The Carnival”. It was a wonderful cruise and so much fun. I have always looked back on that trip as the most enjoyable and relaxing trip I have had. I remember I took at lot of pictures of the boat and unfortunately just as I was ready to snap the picture, a girl in a bikini would walk in front of the lens. I ended up with a lot of great shots of the boat that were ruined because of some bikini clad girl getting in the way. I think I still have some of those pictures just to remind me how upset I was.
Since that first cruise, the ships have gotten much bigger and more elaborate and the cost is much more. I have thought about another cruise, but it seems like the only trips I have made in recent years have been to the doctor and/or the hospital. I have that routine down pat now so kind of feel like something different might be in order
THE EMERALD PRINCESS
This ship is supposed to be the second largest cruise ship in existence, however I heard while on the cruise that another ship has just gone into service which will make the Emerald Princess the third largest cruise ship.
The ship has a gross registered tonnage of 113,561 tons. That is over 225 million pounds if my math is correct. How can something like that float? The length is 946.8 feet. This would be roughly the length of three football fields end to end. It is 118 feet wide. That is almost 40 yards, or almost half the length of a football field. The ship can carry 3,573 passengers and a crew of 1,227, or about one crew member for every three passengers. (This is like an entire city of around 5,000 people) There 12 different places to eat and at least six of them are equivalent to five star restaurants, including one which requires a $23.00 per person cover charge just to come in, with all the elegance and choices of menu and service. There are six bars, clubs and lounges, a medical center, a photography video gallery, art gallery, casino, cyber golf simulator, internet café, library, health and fitness center, spa and beauty salon, boutique, and a variety of gift shops.
They have a beautiful and massive theater which probably holds around five or six hundred people or more and is designed so there are no bad seats. They also have a poolside TV screen which is 300 square feet with a 69,000 watt sound system where you can watch movies or TV shows – like NFL games. They have many forms of entertainment every night and sometimes different programs during the day for those who don’t want to go ashore while in port. This ship is so large there are parts of it we didn’t even discover until the last day.
The ship has four swimming pools, each with sauna baths, poolside bars, sandwich bars and whatever else you might want or need.
Here are some statistics that were almost as interesting to me as the trip. The food selection is vast and different every day. Below is an average of what this ship consumes on a daily basis.
Fish prepared daily – 1,500 pounds
Poultry cooked daily – 1,800 pounds
Pork and Pork products – 1,000 pounds
Veal – 400 pounds
Lamb – 460 pounds
Average amount of pastas made daily – 500 pounds
Average amount of potatoes cooked daily – 2,000 pounds
Average amount of vegetables cooked daily – 2,500 pounds
Average amount of soups made daily – 550 gallons
Average amount of salads served daily – 1,600 pounds
Average amount of shrimps used daily – 300 pounds
Average amount of mayonnaise used daily – 28 gallons
Average amount of sandwiches made daily – 1,500 each
Average amount of flour used daily – 1,700 pounds
Average amount of assorted pastries prepared daily – 6,000
Average amount of ice cream prepared daily – 90 gallons
Average amount of cakes and pies served daily – 300
Average amount of butter used daily – 500 pounds
Average amount of fresh fruits served daily – 7,000 pounds
Average amount of coffee consumed daily – 470 gallons
Average amount of coffee cream consumed daily – 62 gallons
Average amount of sugar consumed daily – 150 pounds
Average amount of dishes washed daily – 70,000
Average amount of glasses washed daily – 21,500
Average amount of detergent used daily – 30 gallons
Even though this ship is equivalent to a city of 5,000, I can’t imagine a city of 5,000 having this much consumption in a day. On the other hand, an average city of 5,000 would probably not eat nearly as well as the people on this ship do and so often. You can literally eat around the clock.
THE TRIP AND THE CRUISE
Sunday morning we had to be at the check-in counter at the airport by 6:30 am. We were up at 4:30 and left for the airport at 5:15. What a lousy way to start a vacation. We made it to the airport and parked the car and got the shuttle bus over to the terminal. It was especially cold that morning and the only way I could cope with it was by wearing a heavy winter jacket. I had to drag that jacket around with me until we actually got on the ship, and then I am sure I was the only one on the ship with a heavy winter jacket.
We boarded Southwest Airlines and had to fly to Las Vegas and change planes there. When we got to Las Vegas we got on another Southwest Flight which flew us right back almost directly over Albuquerque and just outside of Clovis and Lubbock and then east along the coast to Florida. I still haven’t figured out how this was an advantage to Southwest and it obviously wasn’t any kind of advantage to us. We were with a group of around 47 people on a tour arranged by Sun Tours in Albuquerque. Mary knew a few of these people as she had toured with them in Egypt and Europe. The rest of them we got to know well before the trip was over.
We arrived in Ft. Lauderdale and our tour guide, Linda with Sun Tours, had everything arranged. We all had huge lime green tags on our luggage which made it easy to identify and Linda had arranged for a bus to pick us up (she has a special driver she always gets because he does such a good job, and he did.) All the luggage was loaded on the bus for us and we drove a short distance to a beautiful Marriott Court Yard Hotel and checked in for the night. The luggage was unloaded for us again and all we had to do is take it up to our rooms. There was a Bass Pro Shop just across the parking lot from our hotel and they had a restaurant attached to the pro shop. Linda had advised them to be ready for nearly 50 people and we went over and it was a busy place but they were ready for us. Their menu was nearly all seafood and/or spicy food.
MONDAY JANUARY 17TH
Monday morning George and his bus came by and picked us up and loaded our suitcases and we were off to the docks at Port Everglades to meet our ship. An example of this special bus driver that Linda always requests is that he went a little out of his way to take us to a shopping center in Ft Lauderdale. Linda said that the Princess Cruise Line would allow each person to take one bottle of liquor on board the ship when you first went aboard. After that, if you bought liquor on one of the islands, you would have to check it when you came back on board and they would hold it for you until you got off at the end of the trip, but you were not allowed to take any liquor to your cabin from outside except this one bottle initially. You could buy liquor on the ship from the ship’s store but I guess they didn’t want competition from the islands. Mary and I could have cared less, but we did get a bottle of champagne and a bottle of wine just in case we wanted it and some of the other people wanted to take some wine or other liquor on board with them, so this gave us all that opportunity. George then took us to Port Everglades where our baggage was unloaded and proceeded to board the Emerald Princess.
The only times we handled our luggage, and it was heavy, was getting on the airplane in Albuquerque, taking it to our room at the hotel and back to the lobby the next morning. The rest of the time we didn’t touch it until on our return trip we had to find it at customs and go through customs and take it to the bus in Ft Lauderdale. And, of course, we had to get it to the airplane in Fort Lauderdale, and retrieve it and get it to our car in Albuquerque.
We checked in at the registration desk on the ship and received a Princess card which would be our room key and our money on board the ship for the duration of the trip. You couldn’t pay cash for anything except postage. Everything else went on your pre-approved card. I guess this was true even in the casino, even though I never went in. I guess any winnings were credited to you card as well. They did have our refrigerator stocked with soft drinks and bottled water. You could get a can of coke for $4.95. Mary has been trying to get me to cut down on coke, not that I drink that much, but all of a sudden her mission was accomplished. We found our room and roamed around the ship for awhile and eventually went back to our room and our luggage was there waiting for us.
Our room number was 731, which you would think would mean we were on the 7th deck. Wrong – we were on the 11th deck. The top deck was number 19 but the ship really only had 18 decks. They left out number 13. We had a very nice room with a balcony on the Starboard side of the ship. We had a huge closet, a queen size bed, refrigerator, flat screen TV, a desk, and a nice bathroom with shower. We opened the sliding glass door and we were on our own private balcony with chairs and a table and a fabulous view all up and down the side of the ship and the entire ocean and everything else on the starboard side of the ship. Our steward, Ben who was from the Philippines, came in twice a day and kept the room very nice for us.
One of the activities for the first day was a federally required Muster Drill to demonstrate and explain what to do and where to go in case of emergency. We had a demonstration of how to use the life jackets and what else to do in case of any emergency. At 5:50 pm Eastern Time the mooring lines were let go and we moved off the berth at Port Everglades. (One major difference between this ship and the Carnival ship we were on is that the Carnival and all other ships were brought into port and left port with the aid of tug boats. This ship used thruster and propulsion and the Captain could move it in any direction, sometimes even bringing it in sideways like parallel parking on the street, except the ship didn’t have to go backwards and forwards – it could also move sideways.)
When the ship arrives at a port and when you leave port, there is a Pilot Boat that comes out right beside the ship. It is easily identifiable as the lettering “PILOT” pretty much covers the side of the boat. A pilot from this boat actually gets on board the cruise ship and takes the ship in and out of the harbor. I guess they hoist him up with some kind of harness and a pulley as it is a long way up between the pilot boat and the bridge. Once you are out of the harbor he is dropped down onto the pilot boat which has by now pulled right up alongside the ship while it is moving.
TUESDAY – JANUARY 18TH
At 7:30 am we anchored off the coast of Princess Cays. Shortly after we anchored they started lowering tenders to take us ashore on Princess Cays as there is no dock for the ship at this destination. Mary had signed us up for a tour on a glass bottom boat. We were probably anchored between about a ½ mile off the coast and we all went down to the gang plank and climbed aboard the tenders. They had them lined up one after the other, so it didn’t take long to get aboard but it was a little difficult. The tenders were bucking up and down in the rough seas as you were walking across the gang plank to get on. They had two men on the gang plank and two men inside the tender, all with life jackets on, to grab the arms and hold on to each passenger as they made their way from the ship into the tender. The seas were very rough at the time and it was an up and down ride as we hit the waves going over. I was in the very front row and banged my head on the ceiling a couple of times. I felt like I was in a giant tin can bouncing around in the water. Normally I would have enjoyed this, but my stomach wasn’t in condition for this kind of trip.
After we had gone down to the gang plank they announced the glass bottom boat tour had been cancelled because of the rough seas. When we got over to the island there wasn’t too much for us to do. We hadn’t come prepared to do anything else. Some of the people had fun swimming and inner tubing and just laying around in the sun, but we came prepared for the glass bottom boat tour and that is all. They had an area behind the small docks for the tenders, they referred to as the cheap merchandise. We went back and there were several booths of souvenir type stuff. We came back and pulled up lounge chairs with another couple and just sat on the beach. I got some great pictures of the ship sitting just off shore.
At 11:30 they had a barbeque for us and we got plenty of food and only then we discovered there were some nicer shops on the other side we hadn’t noticed. After we finished the barbeque we got in line for the next tender back to the ship and went back and got on board and wandered around the ship again. At about 3:30 pm everyone was back on board and we departed for St. Thomas.
An interesting note on Princess Cay is that it is the southernmost tip of the Bahamas and is a very small island. According to the Director, 46 acres of this island, the area where we docked with the tenders, is owned by the Canadian Railroad Line, which is also the owner of the Princess Cruise Line.
WEDNESDAY – JANUARY 19TH
At 2:00 am we changed from Eastern Standard Time to Atlantic Standard Time and had to move the clocks forward one hour.
Tuesday night and all day Wednesday we were at sea. Throughout the day the Emerald Princess continued a southeasterly course towards St. Thomas, passing North of Caicos Islands and the Silver banks. At noon on Wednesday we were 35 nautical miles north of Hispaniola Island, and therefore the Dominican Republic.
We had plenty to do that day just exploring the ship and trying to learn where everything was. They have a very nice store on the ship that sells very nice and expensive jewelry, and throughout the trip they were making announcements and promoting the stores that would be available to us at the next stop. There is some kind of connection between the stores on the ship and the stores on shore as the ship really promotes the buying of jewelry, especially diamonds, when you go on shore. They also had a tremendous display or art and had several art auctions with some pretty high price tags.
THURSDAY – JANUARY 20TH
We docked at St. Thomas at approximately 8:00 am Thursday morning. This leg of the trip had put us at sea for approximately twenty seven and a half hours. We went ashore and got on one of about 30 or so unusual taxies or tour vehicles. Almost all of the vehicles were fairly new Ford F-450 trucks that had a bed with five or six rows of benches facing forward, each bench holding five or six people, little steps on the side to get up onto the bed, and a canopy over the top. Our driver was a woman and her first name was America. You couldn’t understand anything she said and I made the mistake of saying something to her using one of about ten words I know in Spanish. She got all excited and thought I could speak Spanish and started trying to communicate with me in Spanish.
In St. Thomas they drive on the left hand side of the road. The roads are very narrow two lane roads and we found ourselves going up very steep hills only to turn on a blind hairpin curve where we would swing out into the other lane to be able to make the turn. Then we would go down a steep hill and go through the process again. It was a little nerve racking, but the drivers are all very adept at using their horns. Even big eighteen wheelers came tearing down the little mountain road, often using both lanes. Often it seemed that we were just inches from touching mirrors with another vehicle as we passed.
There is a little routine the drivers seem to use in each of the tour stops. They make a stop at some little place on the pretense of giving you a little break, but by coincidence this little place seems to always have various souvenirs, trinkets and some kind of refreshment for sale. I think they must be members of the same family or have some other cooperative association. On this particular trip we all of a sudden pulled off the road up to a building and we were parked at about a thirty degree angle up from the road with the vehicle right at the front of the building and the back almost to the edge of the road. When we got ready to leave, we were backing out onto this busy road on a blind curve.
Often when you make these stops other tour buses are coming in and pretty soon there is no place to park and one vehicle is trying to leave as another is coming in and they seem to be trying to use the same space to navigate. It starts to get a little nerve racking after awhile. You have to stop and remember these people do this day in and day out and this is their livelihood, so they probably know what they are doing. On one of the islands I made a comment that they must have lots of accidents. The driver said the previous year they had four vehicle fatalities and they were all on motorcycles.
A second stop we made on this trip was just off the road. Down over the bank of the road below us was the beautiful Magens Bay, a large horseshoe shaped bay with pretty clear blue water and sandy beaches. This was our destination on this tour. As we stood at the edge of the mountain overlooking the bay there was an abundance of lush green foliage. All of a sudden there was the head and face of an ugly creature in the bushes with a long tail that extended for several feet. It was a huge iguana which I believe was about the size of a small alligator. I took pictures of the iguanas and of the bay below and we got back in the bus/taxi/truck and went down this steep hill around the edge of the bay and into the park. The beach was fairly crowded but it was almost all people from different cruise ships in the harbor. I think there were three ships counting ours when we came in, so there were a lot of people but it a very long beach too. The parking lot was full of vehicles that had transported all these people to this place, some trying to get in and some trying to get out.
It was a nice beach and beautiful water. Mary is a great swimmer and I am a good talker and listener. She immediately got into the water and I had intentions of doing so. As I was sitting there a man came up from the water and we started chatting and pretty soon we were old friends who had never met before. He was from Connecticut and before it was all over I knew everything about him and his past and his family. When it was time to depart I had never made it into the water but I did have an enjoyable conversation with this man from Connecticut.
We all went back to the taxi/truck and got aboard for our journey up the hill and down the hill several times before we reached the downtown area of St Thomas. There were some beautiful shots of scenery from the top of these hills of the bay, the islands and the downtown area. As was pre-arranged, I am sure, we were dropped off right in the diamond district of down town. Some very nice stores lined the street with one store after the other selling diamonds and other high dollar jewelry. Once in awhile there would be a store selling high quality expensive crystal or leather and a few selling high dollar watches. (Thank you – I am doing just fine with my Timex and it works better than any other semi-expensive watch I have owned)
We were a little tired and hot and not in the market for a diamond just yet and discovered the restaurants were few and far between in this particular district. There was one diamond store after the other on all the streets in this area. We were supposed to go across the street at a specific time and get on a specific boat which would take us across the harbor to our ship. We finally found a little restaurant right on the street overlooking the spot we were supposed to go to board the boat back to the ship. We really just wanted to sit down and have something cool to drink, but we felt we should order something if we were going to take up their space, so we did and left most of it there – except the beer. I did force myself (because I always try to be polite) to drink all of the beer. Our timing was pretty good, we finished up just about the time the boat pulled up across the street and went over and got on. It was an old boat with a worn paint job in kind of a faded green. It had lots of bench seats and plenty of room for all who came to get on. I think the name of the boat was “The Maryland”, or “Indiana” or something like that.
On some of the tours the driver or guide wants to educate you on what is going on in their town or on their island and this boat pilot was one of them. I think he had some kind of axe to grind, but he immediately started telling us what was going on politically on St. Thomas. St Thomas is approximately 32 square miles and has a population of around 155,000. According to our boat pilot, the State of California has the highest paid State Legislature and St Thomas has the second highest paid, just a few dollars under the California scale. He was very upset about this and said they only worked a few days per month, got free car, free food plus this salary of close to $100,000. He spent the entire trip talking about this problem until the very end of the trip. After his political speech, at the end of the trip he was very open about asking everyone to leave him a tip. He probably makes as much as the lawmakers on this island.
As we left the harbor boat and made our away around the end of the harbor to the dock we walked by some large rocks next to the sidewalk. There on the rocks, soaking up the sun, were three huge iguanas. They are ugly, but I understand they are harmless. They look like they could tear a leg off or at least take a big chunk out of you. However on one of the islands later in the trip I was told they are vegetarians and are useful in keeping other insects, especially mosquitoes away. We did see iguana on a couple of menus at restaurants later on. They do say they taste like chicken – now that I think about it, the chicken on the ship did have a little bit of an unusual taste. Not really, the food they gave us was of the highest quality, I am sure.
At 4:44 pm the gangways were shipped and shortly afterwards all shell doors were secured for sea. At 4:54 pm we commenced to thrust off the berth and swing the bow to starboard. At 5:11 pm the local pilot disembarked and once the ship was clear of the Channel, we set various Southeasterly courses en route to the port of Roseau, located on the west coast of Dominica’s island. (How is that for nautical talk?) The above came directly from the message of the Captain in the daily report that is given to all passengers in their cabins through a daily guide to sea called the “Princess Patter”.
After dinner we went to the auditorium and watched a comedian, Rollin Moore from South Carolina, who was really good and very funny. Later in the week he had another show that was an X-rated show but they said children would not be allowed to go. Therefore, I was not able to see this show.
FRIDAY – JANUARY 21st
At 7:59 am the local pilot was ready to board as we approached the island of Dominica at Roseau. Dominica is another small island of about 300 square miles and with a population of approximately 135,000. English is the official language of this island and US dollars, travelers checks and credit cards are widely accepted.
This is a unique island and became one of my favorites, partly because of the lush tropical scenery but mostly because of the people. The island is right in the path of the hurricane pattern and has been hit hard several times. The island gained independence in 1978, and as an independent country, it was devastated by Hurricane David in 1980. The following year the island’s first Prime Minister, Patrick John, was forced to resign and Mary Eugenia Charles stepped into his position. She worked with the people and for the people to bolster their agricultural economy, which is their primary industry, and at the same time protected the islands untamed beauty.
They have had plenty of setbacks because of hurricanes, unemployment and other issues, but they don’t seem to complain. They roll up their sleeves and get to work and make repairs and go on. They don’t have an unending source of government funds to bail them out like we do in America. (Of course most people in America forget they are bailing themselves out with their own money plus a substantial fee to the government for administering this giveaway program.)
We toured several beautiful gardens and saw many beautiful flowers and other forms of vegetation. Our primary stop on this tour was the Trafalger Falls. Two beautiful waterfalls next to each other appear to be just pouring over the top of the mountain which is otherwise solid with green lush foliage. These are huge waterfalls with a tremendous flow of water. In order to get there, you do the same thing you do on the other islands, you go up and down hills on a skinny two lane road through twists and turns until you get there. The one major difference is that, without any notice, the sky opens up and it is raining on you. It is a soft and gentle rain but it comes down in a continuous flow. Then, again without warning, the rain stops.
On the final leg of the trip before we reached the falls, it started to rain again. It was coming down pretty steady as they parked the tour bus. I was so impressed when I stepped off the bus to be greeted by a woman who had an armful of umbrellas and she handed me one. They looked like they were used, in fact some of them had some kind of logo on them like a business name or sports logo, but they looked like they were clean and it was raining – so I was grateful. As she handed me the umbrella and I accepted it, she said; “Three dollars.” I suddenly realized she was not loaning me the umbrella but she was selling it to me. Wrong again! She was renting it to me. She instructed me to bring it back to her when I came back from the falls.
Once again, there was a little building you had to go through where you could buy souvenirs and other valuable merchandise. As we exited the other side of the building we were on a trail that led up the hill to a viewing platform where you could see the falls. It was a little dirt, or on this day muddy, trail about four feet wide with a step about ever two feet. As you climbed from one step to the next you were constantly going up. I surprised myself but I was almost trotting up the hill as the steps were perfectly spaced so I could just step from one step to the next. I was amazed, but the fact that we were almost at sea level as opposed to being a mile high might have made some difference.
About half way up I was starting to pant and was a little short of breath so decided to stop for a moment to catch my breath. Mary had found herself stuck behind some little old lady who was cautiously taking about five steps for every step on the trail. This was fortunate for me as I was able to just tell Mary I was holding up to wait for her instead of admitting I was out of shape.
As we progressed up the trail it got steeper and steeper and harder to go at the pace I had been going when I started. Pretty soon I was walking very deliberately. At the end of the trail there was an observation platform. There were three or four wooden steps twelve to fifteen feet long leading up to the platform and the platform itself was a large area perhaps twenty feet square with a floor made of wooden boards, probably 2 X 12, and a wooden railing all the way around it about four feet high. Thankfully it did have a roof which kept the rain off for awhile. The platform was pretty crowded and you had to kind of work your way up to the railing where you could see these two beautiful waterfalls. The guide had told us that one of them which was taller and thinner was called the “papa” waterfall. The other which was shorter and wider (she didn’t say fatter) was called the “mama” water fall.
As I was at the rail snapping pictures the platform became more crowded as more and more tourists were arriving. All of a sudden there was a commotion in the back and I thought someone had a heart attack or something. People were bending over and it was obvious that someone was on the floor. As I watched, a girl perhaps in her twenties or early thirties, was being helped up and she had shorts on and one leg was almost all black, probably from the mud. One of the boards on the floor and broken and her leg went down between the jagged edges of the broken board. She was crying but it appeared she was all right as people helped her off the stand. A guy standing at the entrance of the viewing platform, who I assume was her husband, said; “I did the most important thing – I saved the camera”, as he stood there holding up a camera. They immediately ordered all of us off the viewing stand and had us walk around the edge to get off. As we neared the entrance you could see that other boards were weakened and sagging as you walked across them in single file.
We were lucky as we did make it to the top and got to the edge and were able to take some pictures of these beautiful waterfalls. As we got off the stand there was a line of people halfway back to the starting point that were not allowed to go on the stand. We were the last people to be able to see the falls. It was obvious that it was not going to be an easy job making the necessary repairs as the only way to get materials up there would be by hand on that little trail with it raining off and on all the time. But this tour was closed to all after we left and this is one of the major tourist attractions on this island. It was a little spooky to think back on it. The extreme outer portion of the stand is out over a pretty substantial drop right down the canyon. It is supported by beams that come up from the hill below. When we got back on the tour bus our guide said they had been telling “them” they needed to make some repairs on the stand and no one would do anything about it. Forget about lawsuits. They give you a little green ticket (I still have mine) that states on the back; “The government of Dominica SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR:” and there are several paragraphs of what they won’t be liable for which includes anything you could think of. But the first paragraph says it all; “Any personal injury loss or damage whatsoever, howsoever occasioned by visitors – etc.”
In America we have professional gossips that get paid a lot of money. They are called newscasters and they work for the media. They pick up some little piece of information or gossip and blow it all out of proportion and start screeching this message out to the world. It is funny, but I guess this activity is not restricted to these newscasters. On this tiny island in the Caribbean I guess it happens too. When we got back to the ship at dinner, and several other times around the ship, people would say things like; “Did you hear about the accident at the falls. The platform collapsed and seven or eight people fell down the canyon and there were a number of people who were injured, etc., etc.”
During the evening hours we would have dinner at one of the many fine restaurants. We were assigned for the first seating every night at Botticelli Dining Room. Our seating was at 6:00 and we were always at the same table with a group from the Albuquerque tour. Actually this group included a couple from Baytown, Texas and a lady from Houston, but they were all part of the Albuquerque group. If we got in late or just didn’t want to go to this dining room, we could go to any one of the fine dining rooms. We went to Michelangelo and Da Vinci a couple of times and these were very nice and you would usually have four or five couples, who were strangers, sitting with you. This could be a lot of fun. One night we sat with two couples from Columbus, Ohio who lived almost in the same neighborhood and did not know each other before this time at dinner together. We sat with a couple from Buffalo, New York and a couple from Minnesota. The man from Minnesota was an actuary for an insurance company and when I mentioned the names of people I had worked with in Minnesota forty five years ago, this man knew these people. One guy from Edmonton, Canada started in on me right away wanting to know what I did and if I could help him with the new Governor in New Mexico as he was interested in doing something with uranium over around Grants. It was a lot of fun meeting these strangers. There were a couple of buffet style restaurants that had unbelievable selections of everything from soups and sandwiches to prime rib and fish, all kinds of salads, desserts, cheeses, and anything and everything else you might want. You could go to the International Café any time for something light. They had salads, sandwiches and pastries , and then you could get hot dogs, hamburgers, pizza and ice cream up by one of the swimming pools. One thing Mary enjoyed was afternoon tea at Da Vinci’s. They served tea, finger sandwiches and pastries and a wide variety of each. I even broke down and went once. I had to look around and make sure no one I knew was there. Old farm boys aren’t real adept at sipping tea with their little finger sticking up in the air. I thought I would never hear the end of what Emily Post would say about my eating habits and table manners from my wife.
In the evening there was always something to do. We saw a fantastic juggler one night, a comedian on another night and heard a great fifties type band one night. They had a beautiful auditorium that didn’t have a bad seat and we saw a couple of dance reviews there. We also saw couple of movies and a ventriloquist there. We left dinner a little early one night to go down to a lounge called “The Wheelhouse Bar” to watch the NFL playoff games on a big screen TV. Then there was shopping, sitting in the very nice public area in the center of the ship, strolling the deck, the swimming pool and just sightseeing on the ship. Some people we met never left the ship. They stayed on all the time we were in port.
We arrived in Dominica early in the morning and took our tour which included the Trafalger Falls and were back to the ship in plenty of time for our departure at approximately 6:00 pm. The ship set a southerly course along the Windward Islands.
SATURDAY, JANUARY 22ND
During the night we passed the islands of Martinique, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, and the Grenadines on approaching their capital, St. Georges. At 6:36 am the Captain took the vessel safely along our berth with the first line on pier.
Christopher Columbus sighted Grenada on his way to America on his third trip in 1498. The French settled the island initially and it was held alternately by the French and England until 1783 when it was ceded to England in the Treaty of Versailles. In 1974 the three island nation consisting of Grenada, Carriacou and Petite Martinique achieved independence, becoming one of the smallest independent countries in the Western Hemisphere.
The people of Granada love America and are very loyal to our country. Shortly after gaining the status of independence the people of Granada were suffering under a dictator who was amassing tremendous wealth for himself while the people were suffering and had nothing. They had several elections, and even though this dictator lost, he always retained his role of ruler. A lawyer whom the people loved and who also loved the people and the Country won another election and finally was able to be seated as the President of the Country. According to our guide he did much for the country, and the people and the country started to progress.
The President had a Vice-President, who was also Minister of Finance. The President had to leave the Country – I believe because of illness, and in his absence the Vice President started to take over. As Minister of Finance, in addition to being Vice President, he gave each of the soldiers an increase in pay among other things. When the President returned to Granada in a fragile physical condition, the Vice President ordered the army to put him under house arrest. He was taken to his home under the guard of army personnel and others. According to our guide, food was delivered to the President and the guards would eat it and give him the scraps. They also tortured him and he had burns all over his body from cigarette burns.
The people took to the streets and demanded to see the President. To appease the people, they had the President brought to the Capital, where in a much weakened condition, the people were finally able to see him. As soon as he had made his appearance, he was taken out the back door of the capital and he was assassinated. The people rebelled and took to the streets ready to riot. (Sounds much like Egypt today except not nearly as many people)
Even though Granada had been under British control for many years until very recently, Britain was very slow to respond. However Ronald Reagan and the United States of America responded immediately. He said that battle ships and air craft carriers and jets showed up immediately and he said that seven American soldiers gave their lives on their soil for the citizens of Granada. America helped them organize real elections and monitored them and helped them create a democratic form of government. In addition, the guide indicated that America has been there for them when they were victims of hurricanes and other disasters. They love America.
From my point of view, it was really nice to hear that there is someone who America has helped that appreciates it. How many zillions of dollars have we spent for the benefit of people who hate us?
Grenada was a favorite stop for me, partly because of beauty and partly because of the attitude of the people and their friendliness. This is known as the isle of Spice because it is the largest spice-producing island in the Western Hemisphere. They are the second largest producers of nutmeg in the world, producing about one third of all nutmeg that is consumed. One of their current problems is that the last hurricane wiped out about 50% of their nutmeg trees. It takes approximately ten years for a nutmeg tree to start producing, so they will have at least a ten year period before they can get their production up to the levels they were – assuming they don’t get wiped out by another hurricane. They have added light manufacturing and tourism to their economic base and have a national parks system and first rate facilities for diving excursions.
I mentioned we had to advance our clocks as we passed into a new time zone. During the winter they are on the Atlantic Standard Time and during Daylight Savings Time they are on Eastern Standard Time.
We toured a number of gardens and had all the different plants and spices explained to us and went to a small factory where they turn the plants into various spices. It was more modern than I expected but on a very small scale. We were able to sample several different spices and jams and Mary purchased some different spices.
We then went to a plantation that dated back to the seventeen hundreds. There are still some old stone buildings that date back to the original plantation. They have modernized the basement of one of the old buildings where they used to manufacture rum and they still make rum there. They had a little patio area where you could sample some of the different rums and I took it upon myself to continue to enhance the good image of America by sampling their different types of rum. After all, Mary sampled the spices and jams. Sometimes I even amaze myself at the sacrifices I make just to be a good citizen.
I am the person who is afraid to be late. I still like to leave for the airport at least 3 hours before flight time – just in case we have a flat tire, are slowed down because of an accident or some other unforeseen event. My good wife doesn’t tolerate this behavior and we usually leave the house a couple of hours before flight time and I am a nervous wreck the whole time.
At the beginning of the tour, our local tour director emphasized that we needed to be sure to be back at the ship when it was time for it to leave because they wouldn’t wait for us. That message got my attention. I just couldn’t see myself hitchhiking across the ocean. During our tours on the various islands I found myself constantly checking my Timex and getting a little nervous when our anticipated arrival back at the ship was near the time the ship was to depart. In Grenada I begin to feel like we were moving along a little too slow and was getting a little antsy when people started passing our bus and pointing down at the ground. Sure enough – we had a flat tire on the right front wheel. Now this isn’t a huge city. There is not a Big O tire store on every corner or even a filling station. We did have some luck though. There was a tire store down the street a few blocks and we pulled right into the bay and got our tire changed. I think we got back to the ship within about 30 minutes of departure time. I was a nervous wreck.
At about 3:00 pm the thrusters (get that – no tug boat or engine, it is like big jet engines I guess, that can move the whole ship sideways, frontwards or backwards) pushed the ship off the berth and then the engines took over to clear the swing from the berth and we were headed in a Westerly direction. We had the rest of the afternoon and evening to cruise the ship and dine in fine style. I guess I forgot to mention that one thing I liked the most is that almost every afternoon I could go back to the cabin and while Mary would sit out on our deck patio and read her electronic book – I would take a nap. And the very best part is that my cell phone never rang once. Of course I had it turned off and in my suitcase, but it wouldn’t have mattered – no one could reach me anyway. I just wasn’t used to such strenuous activities, and God only knows I needed to catch up on my beauty sleep.
SUNDAY, JANUARY 23rd
Once again we sailed all night for approximately 20 hours. We sailed along the coasts of South America and reached Isla de Sotavento and headed Southwest and rounded the southern tip of the Dutch Island of Bonaire at approximately 11:00 am, about 21 hours after leaving Granada.
Bonaire is totally different than any of the other islands we had visited. It is a very small island, approximately 16 miles long and around 4 miles wide. While the other islands had been lush and green with lots of rainfall, Bonaire was hot and dry and the predominant plant on the island is cactus. They have lots of cactus in all different shapes and forms. In fact they have one marvelous idea that I thought could go over big here. In Albuquerque most of the houses have a cinder block wall surrounding the yard. In Bonaire they have a lot of cactus fences. They have a cactus plant that is tall and skinny, about the form of a large plastic pipe, called the candle cactus. They weave these together along with some bamboo shoots and make a solid fence that no one is going to try to climb over. They have very little agriculture as they have very little rain fall and a very short growing season. This year has been a little bit of an exception. By mid January they have had rainfall equal to what they normally get all year long. In fact there were several sites we didn’t get to see, including a huge group of flamingos, because the road to these sites was under water. They have a couple of grocery stores and the food is very expensive because of the cost of getting it there. The guide said that you don’t go to the grocery store with the intention of getting anything specific, but you go to get whatever they may have. There are a lot of goats on the island, some of them are wild, and that is their main source of meat. And some do eat iguanas.
I had a special interest in Bonaire as our youngest son, Andrew in Florida, had been down there scuba diving several years ago. Of course it freaked me out when he called one day and announced that he had taken up scuba diving in Florida. This is after he had already freaked me out when he called and said he had taken up sky diving in Texas and later in Florida. In my mind I could just see him out in the ocean surrounded by sharks and other sea monsters. When he called and said he was going to Bonaire to scuba dive I had these visions of him going into a jungle where there was no humanity, living in a grass hut and jumping into this strange ocean where there had to be lots of sharks. I was relieved to find that there is in fact a town there, even though it isn’t too much more than I had envisioned.
There are only approximately 15,000 people living on this island. Our ship contained people equal to about 1/3 their total population. The island is considered one of the premiere diving locations in the world I guess, and according to our guide about 98% of the tourist trade is there to go diving. On the south side of the island, where our ship docked, the water is beautiful with some islands surrounded by beautiful white sand beaches. According to our guide there are no sharks in this water and this is where all but the professional divers dive. (Why couldn’t have Andrew told me that instead of letting me worry for five years or so.) The north side of the island does have sharks and rougher water and some of the professional divers go there. About 85% of the island is National Park land and in addition to the attraction for divers they have a sanctuary for wild mules and an abundance of flamingos.
This island has been under the control of the Dutch and just this year, after petitioning the Dutch government, they were granted statehood by the Dutch. So they are now an official state of the Dutch. This has immediately given them many benefits which they like. They now get free medical and dental coverage, the Dutch have developed a desalinization plant and all of their water is that which comes from the sea. I don’t know how they got along before as they have almost no rainfall. Education is free and if they want to go to college they can go to Holland and go to school for free. The Dutch have developed a wind generation plant for them and have a row of the windmills (not like the ones in Holland) to generate power for the island. You don’t need to be a citizen of Bonaire to get these free benefits, you only need to be a resident. Our tour guide is from Wisconsin and she loves it in Bonaire.
It is a nice and interesting island and the people are nice but there isn’t much to see there. It would be like trying to create a tourist event with a tour between Grants and Gallup. What is there to see other than some unusual and sometimes pretty country side? In fact, the points of interest were so limited that they would stop the bus to point out a bird in a tree. The highlight of the trip was when the bus driver took us past his house to show us where he lived. Not too much else to talk about.
As mentioned, the ship does have a medical facility and I guess they monitor everything that goes on over the entire ship constantly. They make note of anyone who falls overboard, or is thrown overboard, anyone bitten or eaten by a shark, anyone who has a heart attack, etc. There was an announcement from the Captain of the ship followed by a memo that was delivered to every cabin that a serious condition of some kind of gastrointestinal problem had developed and the records in the medical department showed an immediate and sharp increase in passengers with this problem.
As a result, the ship immediately put into effect procedures to try to help minimize this problem which caused each employee on the ship to work an additional six to eight hours per day. They constantly started walking up and down all the halls with disinfectant cloths wiping everything that people touch. This included all hand rails, and they are everywhere on both sides of each hall, all the railings on the ship, every door knob, every elevator button – anything and everything that people could touch. In addition, at the fine dining rooms we visited, there was always a nice silver tray with rolls for dinner, each setting had a nice dish for the butter, there were salt and pepper shakers on each table, and now all of these were gone. The servers now had to come around with the bread in a basket and when you pointed – not touched – at the roll you wanted, they would remove it with tongs and put in on your plate. They would issue the butter the same way and they would ask if you wanted salt and pepper and come over and they would sprinkle this on your food. This took some getting used to but they didn’t let this affect their level of service.
They pretty much hovered over you so that if you needed something they were right there. They were great! You could easily notice they were also dead tired, but they kept on smiling and giving the best service you could ask for. When you went into one of the pubs or buffets for lunch, they had a hand sanitizing machine at the entrance and you were not allowed to enter until you had sanitized your hands. There was some talk about the ship having to be quarantined, but I guess these actions reduced or stabilized the problem as it was never quarantined. This would have been a major problem for the ship as once it returned to Florida it was scheduled to go right back out again. People had paid to go on a cruise plus make their way to Florida to do this. Can you imagine taking time off from work or planning your vacation around a cruise, the expense to get to Florida, and the expensive cost of the cruise – only to be told that the cruise had been canceled.
At sunset we started a new journey as we left port and sailed off to Aruba. I did get some beautiful shots of the sun going down on the ocean during this time.
MONDAY JANUARY 24TH
After sailing through the night once again, we passed north of Curacao then rounded the northern most tip of Aruba and began the approach to the pilot station where the local pilot boarded the ship at 6:15 am. Shortly afterwards the ship slowly maneuvered towards our berth and made fast portside at 6:45 am.
Aruba, in my opinion, is the most beautiful of the stops. It is very Americanized and very commercialized and is a very lush and green island. As beautiful as it is, this is the only stop we made where we did not have a tour planned, and it is a good thing I think. We simply stepped off the ship and there were two huge very nice metal buildings, one for each gang plank, that you stepped into and immediately you had vendors of every sort of merchandise. The difference was that these all looked like quality people and their merchandise was quality. In fact that was pretty true of all the vendors out on the main streets of Aruba. It was more like going to a craft show as opposed to going to a flea market, which many of the other vendors on the other islands more closely resembled.
The main street in Aruba was just about a block from the end of the pier and there were very nice stores, shopping centers and a very nice luxury hotel with high end stores right within a few blocks of us. With the exception of this nice hotel, it appears that most of the high end hotels, and I am sure some shopping areas, are on the north end of the island. You could see the cluster of high end hotels clear across the island, but then it wasn’t all that far.
We only walked about a block and found The Hard Rock Café outlet. The Hard Rock Café is actually located in one of the big hotels on the north side of the island, but just a month or so ago, they opened an outlet just for shirts and pins on the main street because so many tourists wanted their merchandise but didn’t want to have to go across the island to get it. Our son Scott and his wife Sheri in Albuquerque collect Hard Rock shirts and pins every place they go and Mary had brought them some from Egypt, so we wanted to get them some from Aruba to add to their collection.
Across the street there was a very large two story building – similar to a strip mall shopping center I guess, and it was a pink color that you couldn’t ignore. We went in and wandered around the shops and then went on down the street to the nice hotel, back across the street to the open air market vendors and then we found a Baskin Robbins and went in and had some ice cream. It was a very casual and laid back morning and I enjoyed that for a change.
From the time we got on the ship, on a daily basis, they were promoting diamonds and encouraging people to shop for diamonds on the islands. From what I saw and heard this was probably good advice. Mary said she had a customer in Albuquerque who purchased a diamond on one of these cruises and I think she said he paid $4,000. I guess he was concerned about what he did and had it appraised by a reputable jeweler when he got home who said it was worth much more than that.
According to the promotions on the ship, Diamonds International is the top diamond company in the world and has exclusive access to many of the top diamond mining companies and cutters in the world. Diamonds International only has agreements with 74 very selective retailers in the world and many of these are in the Caribbean. I think there were four or five on the tiny island of St. Thomas and nine or ten in Aruba. Mary has been interested in an alexandrite ring as this is her birth stone, and it is very pretty. I have inquired at a couple of the top national jewelry stores in the States, and haven’t found any. I believe most if not all alexandrite comes from Russia and for some reason is not readily available to the United States. We went into Milano Diamond Gallery and found several pieces of alexandrite jewelry. This is a first class establishment not unlike any of the top jewelry stores in America. The people are dressed very well, very professional, knowledgeable and helpful. However they are almost like used car salesmen when it comes to the selling process and I can’t blame them for that. They have people coming off the ship and they have one shot at them. Within a few hours that potential customer will be gone forever. We looked at a small alexandrite ring with diamonds and the salesman said it was $1,450.00 but immediately he said he would take $1,200.00 for it. When we didn’t respond right away, he got me a stool (I must have looked bored or disinterested) and he asked if he could get me a drink. When I said I didn’t want a drink, he offered to get me a beer. I thought it was a pretty ring and I could tell we could get the price down a little lower and was ready to buy it, but Mary already has a number of rings including a new very nice diamond. In addition, she does not make snap decisions. They could offer it for $100 and she would still think it over. On the other hand I walk into the store and see something and buy it. Many times I get home and what I bought doesn’t even fit. I don’t want to mess around with trying things on – “Okay – I’ll take it” is my mode of operation. I am grateful that she has more sense than I do.
I mentioned that they promote the diamond shopping on the ship. We went into the Milano Diamond Gallery and there was a female cruise director from our ship standing behind the counter with her Princess Cruise Line badge on talking to customers about the different jewelry. In fact they had some promotion on the ship whereby if you came to this store you would get a charm bracelet and your name would be entered for a drawing for a nice watch. So, as I said, there is some obvious connection between the ship and the diamond stores on the islands, which is okay. I think you still probably get a pretty good deal regardless of who is involved.
You could buy liquor on the ship at a much lower cost than you would at home, and name brand cigarettes were about half the price per cartoon that they are here. You are limited on how much you can bring back custom free, whether it is diamonds, cigarettes, liquor or whatever. They have two kinds of cigars, a Cuban cigar and another which is supposed to be almost identical to the Cuban cigar but it is not made in Cuba. One of the items you can’t bring back to America at all is the Cuban cigar. I guess we are still mad at Fidel.
At approximately 5:00 pm we cleared our berth and headed on a northwesterly course across the Caribbean Sea towards Port Everglades, Florida.
TUESDAY JANUARY 25TH
We spent the night at sea as we were going to do for all of this day and tonight and tomorrow and the next night. This gave us more opportunity to explore the ship and take advantage of some of the entertainment on the ship. It was very enjoyable time and not boring at all.
In the afternoon we went to an event up at the main swimming pool. They brought two 300 pound blocks of ice up on the edge of the swimming pool and two chefs came out with hammers and chisels and within about fifteen minutes each carved a beautiful ice sculpture. One did a fish and the other did a bird and they were perfect. On the Carnival Line there were a lot fewer people, but as I recall they had one large dining room where everyone ate in shifts at different times. Each night they had a new beautiful ice sculpture to decorate the dining area. This was the first and the only ice sculpture we saw on the Emerald Princess.
WEDNESDAY JANUARY 26TH
(From the Captains daily report) Upon clearing the Windward Passage, Emerald Princess altered course to the northwest and set various courses to sail along the Cuban coastline at a distance of 15 nautical miles off our portside. Throughout the morning we maintained this heading following the various Traffic Separation Schemes (I guess this is somewhat like Air Traffic Control in the sky) which are frequent in they are due to the increased amount of traffic travelling from the Panama Canal to the Eastern Seaboard of the United States. We entered the Old Bahamas Channel, which lies between the northeastern shores of Cuba and the Great Bahamas Bank, continued to follow this route until early evening. Once clear, we entered into the Santaren Channel and the Florida straits before setting a direct course for Port Everglades.
It would seem that just floating across the ocean for an entire day would be boring, but I enjoyed it a lot. First just looking at the water and the changes in the patterns and color because of sun and clouds is very interesting. I am afraid that I took way too many pictures of this type of scenery which you would never see except on the ocean. Then, because of the traffic mentioned in the Captain’s report, we started seeing a number of other ships. There were cruise ships, tankers, cargo, and container ships, which also made a new kind of picture taking for me. As large as our ship was, sometimes the water was rough enough that you would notice the “rocking of the boat” and during one of these periods I looked out and there was a lone little sail boat out there miles from any land. The roughness of the sea was much more evident as you watched this little sail boat. The bow of the little sail boat would appear to go straight up in the air as it rolled over a wave and then it would pitch down and you would think it was going straight down to the bottom of the ocean.
It was scary and uncomfortable just watching this little boat. You couldn’t help but imagine that someone was out there all alone and battling the sea and certainly going to capsize at any moment. I am sure they must have known what they were doing, and I am sure if there was any sign of potential danger the Captain would have lowered a tender and rescued whoever was out there. It was just something this old farm boy doesn’t see every day. Another interesting sight was a lighthouse. We hadn’t seen any form of land for hours, which made me think the nearest land must be a hundred miles or so away, and all of a sudden there is this little mound of land way out there with a light house on it. The land area was very small and didn’t extend much beyond the base of the light house. Another weird thought entered my mind. How much dirt did they have to haul out there in the middle of the ocean to build a pillar of dirt to support that light house. I can visualize someone with a wheelbarrow (of course I know you can’t push a wheelbarrow across the ocean – I’m not stupid, you know) but using some kind of vessel to take a little load of dirt and dump it in the ocean and another on top of that, then another and so on. It was strange to say the least. Obviously there was some kind of land formation where the lighthouse stood, but it was small. It appeared to just barely accommodate the base of the lighthouse.
On this day Mary, for the first time, had a chance to go up and test out the swimming pool and relax on the lounge chair soaking up a little Caribbean sun, and of course - read. Meanwhile, I was snapping shots of every wave, every cloud, and every ship that passed and having the time of my life.
On this, our last day on the ship, our tour director called a meeting for all of us in her group to go over disembarkation details. We were to meet in the Skywalkers Night Club. This was early in the afternoon and no one but us was there as we got instructions about putting our luggage out for them to take down to the hold, going through customs, retrieving our luggage, finding the bus, etc. It was very helpful, and this is just one small thing which causes me to think going with a group on a tour is better than going it alone. She has been there and done that and you don’t even have to think for yourself.
Tonight we were supposed to have our suitcases packed and outside the door to our cabin and during the night the stewards would come and get them and take them down to the hold. Can you imagine that if every person took an average of just two suitcases the stewards would be moving 7,000 suitcases that night. They did it and did it very quietly. It was like the tooth fairy – you didn’t even know they had come. The big trick was that you couldn’t pack anything you were going to need to wear or use the next day. They were not going to go down and dig through all those suitcases so you could open yours up to get your toothbrush.
THURSDAY JANUARY 27TH
When I got up it was still dark outside but we were in the process of getting close to and entering the docks at Port Everglades, Florida. At this point you couldn’t see anything except the outlines created by lights around the dock, on the bridges and on the buildings. The local Pilot boarded the ship at 6:15 am (we had to turn the clocks back again as we traveled in from Aruba) and soon after we were tied up at our designated berth.
We got dressed, made sure we weren’t leaving anything behind and said “goodbye” to our lovely cabin, #731, and went up to deck 15 The Crown Grill and had a little nourishment and proceeded to disembark.
I was expecting mass confusion with 3,500 people on board disembarking at the same time, but it really was very smooth. They are set up to deal with this. We were funneled into a huge room where all of the suitcases were set out and we had to go and find ours. This was really very easy because of the big green tags. We got our bags and got in a fast moving line and started to go through customs. I had visions of having to open all the suitcases and wait as the ruffled through everything, but it was very easy. I showed them my passport, he asked if I had bought anything, I responded I had bought 4 T-shirts, he looked at me and said “go on”. I don’t want to make a big deal out of it, but it is obvious that the honesty that naturally shows on my face was the key factor in causing the Customs Agent to let me slip right through.
The cruise was over! All gone! Now back to the start of the real world. We got our suitcases and located George’s bus and headed for the airport. This time he didn’t stop at a liquor store. We got to the airport, dragged our bags to the Southwest Airlines counter and got checked in very quickly and headed up to the gate. I think we had an hour and a half or something like that to wait so I got some good Dunkin Donuts coffee and sat down. (Everything on the ship was just great, but I didn’t enjoy their coffee. I am used to Dunkin Donuts, Starbucks and Costco)
We finally boarded the plane and the same thing happened on every flight. My boarding pass was group “A” and Mary’s was group “B”. If I wasn’t such a genuine gentleman, I could have ditched her 4 times without any problem. But because I am such a gentleman, I always saved her a seat. She never liked the location of the seats I selected, but I did save her a seat.
From Ft. Lauderdale to Houston Hobby I was in the middle seat, which I never do and which I hate. There was a guy sitting by the window and there were two seats beside him so I slipped in and saved the outside seat for Mary. It was a good move on my part because I thoroughly enjoyed my visit with this guy. He was a real nice guy and very much down to earth and he is a professional race car driver. I loved listening to this guy and learned a lot about car racing. It is very scientific and very technical. Later in the flight I learned that he not only races cars but is a Mechanical Engineer. Then as we were about to land in Houston, I found out that he has a Masters in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Kansas. His sister sat right behind us and she is a professional comedian.
We had several hours layover at Houston Hobby, an airport I have become very familiar with over the past three or four years. We got something to eat and just relaxed until it was time to board, me again with an “A” boarding pass and Mary with a “B” (at least Southwest Airlines knows who wears the pants in this house – if they only knew!) We had a bit of a bumpy ride into Albuquerque and we discovered as soon as we started down the ramp that the weather in Albuquerque hadn’t changed. It was as lousy as it was when we left. However, we anticipated this and packed the winter coats that we had needed to wear to get to the airport in one suitcase right on top. As soon as we dragged the suitcase off the carousel we opened it and grabbed our coats and were so grateful to have them.
A punctuation mark to the whole trip! We got on the bus, by now it was around 7:30 pm, went to the Park and Shuttle lot, got our bags off the bus, got in the van – and it was dead as a doornail! We had just put a brand new battery in less than six months ago and it had a 72 month warranty – but that wasn’t going to do us any good now. Fortunately, the Park and Shuttle van driver noticed we were having trouble and came back and jump started the car and we were finally on her way home. It was tough to leave the beautiful sunshine and the poolside deck chairs in any event, but to come back to this – WOW! We just may have to go back to the Caribbean real soon!!
WE HAVE LOADS OF PICTURES – MAYBE AROUND 300 ON FACEBOOK AND A FEW OF THEM ARE PRETTY GOOD. JUST GET ON FACEBOOK AND YOU CAN SEE ANY AND ALL OF THEM. If you are not on face book, don’t worry about it. You don’t have to let anyone know who you are and no one will bother you and you can only read those things you want to read, and there is no cost.
