Caribbean Cruise - Day 5 - Georgetown, Grand Cayman

Our 5:45 alarm goes off. I wake up to it and can hear wind outside through our balcony door. I feel the ship rocking for the first time since boarding. Megan tells me that she's been awake for the last hour, anxious that we have to go snorkeling in an obvious storm going on outside. I tell her that it'll be okay, that they do it all the time. I don't tell her that I'm anxious about it too. I have to stay strong if she's going out on this $150 excursion we've paid for. 

We set the alarm this early because we have to meet in the theater at 6:45 to get on the tender boat that will take us to the Cayman Island for our excursion. We apply the most sunscreen we've applied all week. Lotion with spray on top. It might be cloudy, but we're not going to burn! We stop at he 24 hour cafe on the way to the theater to grab some pastry goods for breakfast, and make our way to the theater. 

Inside the theater are all of the people going on the same excursion we are. They talk to each other about their trepidation. We sit in theater seats and wait , each taking Dramamine to stave off any seasickness that may come. Nothing happens for 30 minutes. Finally at 7:15 the captain makes a ship-wide announcement that the Grand Cayman authorities have deemed the weather too bad for anyone to tender to the island. All excursions will be automatically refunded, but no one will see Grand Cayman today. 

We go to the buffet for a real breakfast. I stick with deep fried tater tots and potatoes. You can't mess up deep fried things. Mistakenly I take some eggs and an English muffin too. The scrambled eggs are cold and dry again. The muffin? Hard and stale. I leave it on my plate with a bite attempted. We go the pool deck to check out the weather up there. 

The ship is even rockier here on the 11th deck. Water is sloshing and splashing out of the pools with each tilt. People throughout the ship are holding walls and rails so they don't fall off-balance. We sit in the hot tub for a bit while we discuss our day that will be spent onboard. We decide to go back to our room before anything. 

Back in the room Megan falls asleep pretty quickly. I take my Kindle out to find a secluded place on the ship to read. I find a comfy chair in a bar and read for about 30 minutes. I'm getting drowsy. We did wake up at 5:45. I go back to the buffet to refill my fat belly before going to the room. Since I already had savory stuff, I go with sweet this time. French toast, waffle and chocolate chip pancakes. It was delicious. 

Back in the room, with Megan sawing logs next to me in bed, I read about a page before sleep overcomes me. We wake up around lunch time and go to the main dining room. We're sat with a couple from Houston, Texas. We never got their names, but later named them Kimberly and Steve ourselves. They have five kids between the two of them (at home, not onboard), and Kimberly had been a surrogate for another. Steve looks like a balding Danny McBride. 

Danny McBride
(or Steve's brother?)

We go back to the room and make dinner reservations for the steak restaurant onboard, Chops. We're tired again and and each take a nap. It's uncharacteristic for me to sleep this much. I'm tired a lot of the time, but rarely sleep other than at night. We wake up and get ready for the theater production, Now & Forever. The show features popular broadway songs and dancing. It has decent production value, and is a fun show. 

Orchestra pit in sunken stage

We go to dinner at Chops from the theater. We're 20 minutes early for our reservation, but they seat us right away. Here it's a $35 cover charge each and we can order what, and how much, we want of everything except the steak. One steak per cover charge. We each get appetizers and sides with our steaks. The food is above average. Better than the all-inclusive food, but Sabor last night was better. Around dessert a couple is sat at the table next to us. It's Kimberly and Steve! 

Two desserts, because why not?

We go to a Finish That Song Lyric game show at 21:45. They ask for contestants to run up on stage. I'm the second one up there, out of about 15. They play the first part of a song, and if you know it, you step up to the mic. I realize that they usually stop it right before the part that everyone knows. I advance on Nancy Sinatra's These Boots Are Made For Walkin'. I don't know that song, but I know that part, and that's all I needed to know. 

The best picture Megan snapped of me playing

I take third place, and hit the prize-mother-load. Keychain, pen, highlighter, luggage tags, and a bronze medal (not actually bronze). Being a writer, I love pens. I prefer to write on a keyboard, and try to avoid writing by hand when possible, but appreciate a good pen. This pen is middle of the road at best, but I won it. 2nd and 1st place each got the same prizes, with different color medals. 

Actual retail value: 0.47

We find out tomorrow morning at breakfast that Dramamine makes you sleepy. That's explains a lot. Our room attendant would make up our room twice a day. He must've stopped by while we were sleeping during the day. When we left to go out for the night he was right outside our door and simply asked "who is seasick?" He thought we've must've been since we were in all day. It was just the pills we took at 6:45 that knocked us out. 

A rather uneventful day, but interesting to see how they handle it when they can't make it into a scheduled port.

Up next: Day 6 - Cozumel, Mexico

Caribbean Cruise - Day 4 - Falmouth, Jamaica

We woke up on day four, and it was kinda neat to see land from our balcony for the first time in four days. We had breakfast in the main dining hall. I had my usual omelet and french toast, and I think today was when Megan realized that it would be hard to screw up oatmeal, and got oatmeal for every breakfast here for the rest of the trip. We arrived to the Jamaican port at 9:00 and debarked around 9:30. 

We didn't have an excursion planned in Jamaica, so we just looked in the many souvenir shops in the port. We could check our cell phones for the first time since boarding the ship. I tried to check us in on Facebook, but the service wasn't that good. A lot of the shops sold the same items for the same high USD prices. 

Pot pipes in Jamaica? 

There was a street vendor selling Jamaican meat-stuffed patties for $3. We wanted to try the local cuisine, and got one. It was a delicious snack in the warm Jamaican sun. We bought matching Jamaican shirts for Ozzie and Nerd Dad. There was a trolley trip we could've taken around the town of Falmouth that was $22/person. The next one didn't leave for 40 minutes, so we just got back on the ship to enjoy the near empty pool deck.

Our ship had a basketball court and mini golf course outside on the 14th deck. Since everyone was in Jamaica, we played mini golf. Usually mini golf courses have obstacles, and bumpers to make the game kinda fun. The ship's course didn't offer any of these options. The most we got were a few holes that curved right or left. But hey, it was free. 

We went back to our room to get ready for dinner before the Ice Dancin' show at the ice rink on board. Oh yeah, there was an ice rink on board. We were walking to our room and went by the Mexican restaurant, Sabor. We asked if they had any open reservations, and the only one they had was in 40 minutes. We booked it and ran to our room to shower off the sunscreen. 

We made it back to the restaurant just in time for our reservation. Sabor was a $25 cover charge each, and then we could order whatever and how much we wanted off the menu. Megan had a margarita made table-side. Then they came out and prepared guacamole right at the table too. This was the best food we'd had on the ship so far. Well worth the extra money. After dinner our server brought out a plate with every dessert they offer. We didn't even ask for it (or think to get a picture of the plate). He just brought it, and we just ate them. One was a chocolate crepe that tasted like a wallet. In a good way. In the best possible way that something can taste like a wallet. 

After dinner we saw the Ice Dancin' show. It featured teams of skaters figure skating. I like watching figure skating during the Olympics, but for some reason this show did nothing for me. It was fine (and free), but I didn't care for it. The show in the theater was at 22:00 and it was The Love & Marriage Game Show, hosted by our charming cruise director, Elise from Australia. They had three couples on stage. One newlywed couple, married for 5 days, one couple married for 7 years, and a couple married for 61 years. They had the spouses go into a sound-proof box while they asked the one's who stayed Newlywed Game questions. 

What annoying habit does your husband have that drives you crazy? 

Where's the strangest place you've made whoopee? 

The show was fun, and cute. It may not have been if someone other than Elise had hosted. She made the show what it was. We went to bed at 23:40, setting an alarm to wake up at 5:45 to get ready for our snorkeling and Sting Ray City excursion the next morning in Grand Cayman. 

Another delightful towel animal tonight

Next up: Day 5 - Georgetown, Grand Cayman

Caribbean Cruise - Day 3 - Cruising

I woke up and went out to the balcony to journal about yesterday's events. Coming back into the room I realized that Megan had a touch of the brown-bottle-flu from last night. I let her rest up and went to the buffet for breakfast. I got some cold scrambled eggs, decent breakfast potatoes, and hard, stale toast. Some gems could be found in the buffet if one had the time to try everything, and I had the rest of the week to find them. I'd had to wait for a bartender to get around to me every time I wanted my commemorative cup refilled with soda, but I found a self-serve fountain soda tower in the buffet. Score!

Roaming the ship alone, I checked out the arcade. It cost .95 on your Sea Pass card to play Ms. Pac-Man. You've got to be kidding me. I went through a door in the arcade that took me outside to some secluded deck chairs in the sun at the back of the ship (the stern). The high temperature today was 81 degrees. I went and got Megan and we went to those chairs. 

We sat in the sun and read for 3 hours. We went back to our room and Megan took a nap while I did more exploring of the ship. I looked into bingo. It cost $32 for 36 cards for one (ONE) game. Sure the prize was $300 for the game, but only one person would win that. I saw one lady buy three of the bingo packages for the one game. She paid $96 to possibly win $300. I didn't stick around to see if she won. These prices were disappointing. We love bingo, but never played the whole trip. 

I watched a little more three-card poker, and almost played. Then I looked at the future if I played. I figured I'd either win about ten bucks, break even, or lose all the money I played. I decided it wasn't worth it and moved on. I went to a "digital camera scavenger hunt." I just wanted to see what it was about. The host gave out a list of 20 or so items around the ship, and we had 20-minutes to run around and snap photos of them. The prize? A Royal Caribbean keychain! 

I almost walked. I would've, but there was another lady there by herself who noticed me and asked if I wanted to be a team with her. Twenty minutes out of my life. Why not? I partnered with 50-ish Carolyn and we went around the ship while she snapped the photos with her camera. We didn't win an illustrious keychain, but it was kinda fun. Carolyn took it way too seriously. 

I went back to the room and woke Megan for our dinner reservation at the sushi restaurant onboard: Izumi. She ordered sushi, and I had beef and vegetables on a hot rock. A hot rock is where they bring everything to you uncooked; along with a rock that is 550 degrees. The dish was $15, and I cooked my dinner right there at the table. 

Caribbean Queen

Tempura

Pay to cook your own dinner!

After dinner we went to the theater to see the ventriloquist we happened to have lunch with the day before. His name was Ronn Lucas, and he was exceptional. He sang Row, Row, Row Your Boat in a round with his puppet. It was amazing, and the best show in the theater all week. The audience gave him a standing ovation.

We went back to our room after the show. It was about 22:15. All-inclusive included room service. Megan ordered room service for a late night snack. I asked for one of the desserts, and fell asleep before it arrived. 

Up next: Day 4 - Falmouth, Jamaica

Caribbean Cruise - Day 2 - Cruising

We noticed on Monday that they display the day of the week on the floor of the elevators. This came in handy, as I lost track of what day it was often. Today was our first full day on the ship, and we really got a feel of what cruising was going to be like. We had breakfast in the main dining hall, where meals were all-inclusive. The main dining hall was elegant, and you order off the menu. The menu changed nightly for dinner, but had a lot of the same stuff for breakfast and lunch. 

We were sat with a few old-timers and a mom and son. One of the elderly introduced himself to me as GK. He had been a chaplain in the Army. He was so old that he didn't ask Megan what she did for a living. She's obviously a homemaker. When she told him she's a nurse, he didn't seem interested. He had 1.000 old-man-pun jokes. 

What's the difference between unlawful and illegal? 

Unlawful is not conforming to, or recognized by law or rules. 

Illegal is a sick bird. 

I ordered what I would order every time we had breakfast in the main hall. A ham and cheese omelet and french toast. The french toast was one piece cut in half, so it wasn't as piggish as it sounds. (Maybe it was. I don't know). Megan tried the eggs benedict, which she usually loves, but she said was really bad. I felt bad because I loved my breakfast. 

We went to a Shore Excursion Adventure talk where they highlighted the most popular shore excursions and talked about them. It was really good, because it wasn't trying to sell excursions. It really was informative. In fact we learned that the Sting Ray City excursion we'd bought had no snorkeling. Also that we could cancel and get refunded for any excursions up to 24 hours before. We wanted to snorkel, so we cancelled Sting Ray City, and bought another one with snorkeling and Sting Ray City together. 

We went out on our balcony, and watched the sea go by. I would go out there every morning and journal about what we did the day before. It was a ritual that I loved. We hung out together and watched the sea go by. 

We had lunch in the main dining hall. They sat us at a round table for eight. They would sit other people with you for breakfast and lunch (like GK and his conservative beliefs and puns). They sat the comedian that I saw the night before, Ross Bennett, and another guy next to me. I was genuine when I told Bennett "good show last night." We started talking and he told me that he'll be in Minneapolis at Acme at the end of April. Then he introduced us to the guy he was with as the ventriloquist who's performing tomorrow. He said he's the best he's ever seen, and not to be missed. I told Bennett that we'd see him at his "adult comedy" show later.  

We put on (a lot of) sunscreen and went to the highest deck of the ship where we could sunbathe. The high temperature was only 68 degrees, but we came to sit in the sun, dammit! It was a little chilly with how windy it was up there, but we braved it for a few hours. We're from Minnesota. A little chilly won't stop us. We were already stymied in Wisconsin Dells last summer. We weren't going to let that happen again. 

We went to the show in the theater before formal night dinner in the main dining hall. The show was called Ballroom Fever, and featured ballroom dancing and singing (der). It was fine for a free show. Then we went to dinner. I'd read that since it's all-inclusive to go ahead and order two entrees. I had a fatty, rubbery steak and dry sliders the size of a quarter. Megan had duck that she enjoyed. 

The only picture of us together this night. Sorry. 

We saw Ross Bennett's adult comedy show at 22:30. He was very funny, and not too blue. After his 30 minute show, Megan took advantage of her alcoholic drink package. We bounced from bar to bar, people watching, and mingling a little. The more drinks she had, the more she wanted to talk to people. We settled in at the bar in the casino. She was trying to find friends at the bar, and I looked at the various table games. I was interested in three-card poker. I've never played, but it looked interesting. I lost $10 in a slot and cut my losses there.

On the way back to the room at 2:30 (really 1:30 because we had set our clocks forward an hour) we stopped at the 24-hour cafe where they had deli-type snacks and flavorless desserts, and got a few chicken rolls. The girl gave us three; they were snack-size. Back in the room I ate one, and she ate one. There was one left. 

Side note: My parents often refer to food that doesn't satisfy hunger as "a tidbit to a whale." It's apparently a phrase that the best man in their wedding said all the time. 

I had a big laugh that night thinking about how I could throw that extra chicken roll off our balcony into the ocean, and it would be an actual tidbit to a whale. 

Sometimes our room attendant would make delightful towel animals

Up next: Day 3 - Cruising

Caribbean Cruise - Day 1 - Welcome Aboard

We boarded the ship without incident. We were given our room keys, which doubled as our charge card for everything on the ship. We were on deck 6 (of 15) in room 6306.

The first thing we noticed was that our room with a balcony was bigger than we both expected. We'd read reviews of broom closet sized rooms, but we were pleased with the size. We were in a hurry to start having fun, and immediately went out to explore the ship. We ordered our drink packages. On the ship they have water and juice in dispensers for everyone, but if you want anything else, it costs money. Even soft drinks. 

I ordered the soda package for $5.95/day, and Megan got the alcohol package, which also includes soft drinks, and non-alcoholic cocktails, for $49.95/day. Alcoholic drinks were $7-$12 each, so it actually makes sense to get the package. We went to get our first drinks and noticed the speed of the bartenders. Slow, and stop. Tips are included in the package price, so the bartenders don't need to rush, or make two drinks at once; so they don't. 

We went back to our room to look at our "Cruise Compass." The Compass is a flier that we got every night for the next day that had the schedule of events. There were all kinds of things to do; trivia, karaoke, bingo, shopping events, casino game events, and more. We didn't know what we were doing, and decided to go to a classic rock trivia game show in one of the many bars on board. My suit case arrived before we left for the game, so I hastily unpacked. Megan found the life preservers. 

There was a pretty good turn out for the trivia game. These games are designed to get people to mingle. We had started chatting with a couple from Detroit before the game started. It was their first cruise experience too. Angela and Rod, although Megan says his name was Ron. We never clarified, but I'm sure it was Rod. They announced that we could form teams of up to six, and Rod (Ron) suggested that we make a team. 

The game had the host play a few seconds of a classic rock tune, and we'd have to write down the artist and title of the song. Angela and Megan both wrote answers down, while I spot checked for accuracy. Half way through the host said that the prize for winning was going to be a Royal Caribbean keychain. Megan and I wanted to split after hearing that, but we stayed for Angela and Rod's (Ron's) sake. We got one wrong after Angela wrote the title of the song as SOS for the song Message In A Bottle by The Police. We didn't win a key chain, but already made some friends. 

We had dinner at the buffet. The buffet was enormous. Usually when I get to a buffet, I survey everything first, and then go back with a plate and a game plan. This was so big, with so many options, I finally just grabbed a plate and filled 'er up. It was the only dinner we had at the buffet all week. The food was either bland, or tasted bad, or both. Even the desserts were piss-poor. 

Back to the room, and Megan's suit case arrived. She unpacked her stuff and we were both exhausted. I had had 1:15 of sleep in the last 36 hours. Megan had about three. We laid down in the king size bed, and were both drowsy. She fell asleep with the lights on, but I pushed myself to go to the "Welcome Aboard Show" in the theater at 22:00. I sat in the front row, and enjoyed the orchestra that started. Then the cruise entertainment director Elise came out and welcomed us. She brought out a stand up comic, Ross Bennett. Bennett was squeaky clean, and pretty funny. The show ended at 10:30. I made it to my room by 10:50 and was running on fumes. I was probably asleep before my head hit the pillow. 

Next up: Day 2 - Cruising

Caribbean Cruise - We get to the ship

Megan and I just returned from our week-long Caribbean cruise. I don't want the party to end, so I'll detail our trip here in segments, with pictures. 

Our Royal Caribbean cruise left Galveston, TX at 16:30 on Sunday 2/15/15. Our flight to the ship left MSP airport at 5:10 that morning. We had to catch a connector in Charlotte, NC to get to Texas. My brother, Tony, was gracious enough to give us a ride to and from the airport. He picked us up at our house at 2:30am. I had just seen the Sleater-Kinney concert at 1st Ave and got about an hour of sleep. 

I had lost 20 pounds for this all inclusive cruise. It was our first cruise experience. We had (over)packed two big suit cases to check, and a carry-on each. We set a timer for a light to go on every night, and locked up the house. It was zero degrees. We arrived at 3:10 and bid my brother farewell.

We entered the airport and there were about 20 people standing there with luggage, and no one behind the US Airways counter. I didn't know what to do. It had been about 7 years since I'd flown anywhere. I didn't know 2015 flight protocol. Finally after sweating bullets for 10 minutes, two people came out to take checked bags. 

I had researched on their site that bags over 50 pounds are charged an over-sized bag fee. I hoisted my suit case up on the scale and it was 56 pounds. She told me that I could try to stuff some things into my carry-on back pack, or pay an extra $100 over-sized fee. There were people in line behind me, and my stress was going through the roof. Megan's suit case was only 40-some pounds, so the lady gave us hers to move stuff into. 

After jamming a pair of shoes into my back pack, and moving some other stuff to Megan's suit case, they both came in at around 48 pounds. I basically made $100 right there. 

Then we went through the TSA security with our shoes off. It was my first experience with the X-ray machine where you have to hold your hands up. I had my wallet in my pocket, and a guy had to finger through it after the scan. Then I could lace my shoes back up and continue to our gate. 

As we sat and waited for our boarding, Megan noticed a gal talking to the employee at the desk. She said to me that she looked like our friend Seniz. We could only see her profile, but I thought she did too. Then the girl turned all the way around, and it WAS Seniz. She was on our flight to Charlotte. As a drunk guy at one of the first drinking-parties I ever went to said "it's a small world, but I'd hate to clean it."

Airport selfie

We boarded, and sat for 30 minutes as there was frost that needed to be de-frosted from the plane. The captain didn't turn on the overhead lights, and the guy sitting next to me read a book by the light of the exit sign. I told him that I wouldn't mind if he turned on the reading light. He nodded and went back to the dim, red EXIT light. I'm no airplane expert, but this plane was old. It reminded me of the plane the Cleveland Indians get in Major League.

We transferred to a nicer plane in North Carolina, and I managed to find a comfortable upright position in my seat to fall asleep. I was out for about 15 minutes when Megan nudged me awake for the drink cart. Now I had slept for an hour and 15 minutes total. I thought the flight attendant was Jm J. Bullock. You know, Monroe from Too Close For Comfort? He was also a staple on Hollywood Squares. When was the last time you heard anything about Jm J. Bullock? I don't remember either. That's because he's a flight attendant now. I didn't see a name tag, but if I had it probably would have said Jm. 

We landed in Houston and Royal Caribbean had a shuttle that took us to the port where our ship, Navigator of the Seas, waited. We checked in at the port with our passports that we got for the trip. (My first passport) We got our plastic Sea Pass cards that is your life line on the ship. The only time cash is ever exchanged on board is in the casino. Everything else (excursions, drinks, specialty dining, etc) is charged to the Sea Pass card and charged to a credit card at the end. You don't even need your passport again, but you need your Sea Pass card to get back on board from a port. 

Our ports were Falmouth, Jamaica, Georgetown, Grand Cayman, and Cozumel, Mexico. After 12 hours of travel, we were finally on board, and on VACATION! 

Next I'll detail Day 1.