When we picked up Shirley we couldn't get the SUV to stay parked on her dive. It kept starting to slide down the hill. Soon we had things loaded and were on our way to Judy's, and then before long, we were headed to Florida. About 20 miles south, there was no snow, so Joe picked up the pace.
We got to our hotel, the Hilton Garden Inn, south of Jacksonville, after 6:30 (8 hours in the car plus over an hour of stop time and losing an hour with the time change). We had dinner at Cracker-Barrel and then it was fairly early to bed.
Saturday morning we were on the road at 6:30 and grabbed a bite of McDonnald's breakfast at 8:30 for a road break. We stopped for gas when we arrived in Ft. Lauderdale, and then we went to the port. Excitement was palpable when we saw our ship (in the background of this photo, with Joe and Judy in front.)
Joe dropped us off at the docks right at boarding time (noon). It was fairly easy getting our luggage into these carts (seen right) that would be loaded onto the ship.
However, it was a bit chaotic getting through the lines and checked in.
With our carry on luggage, we went straight to the Windjammer (the main dining room that has tons of buffet lines) and we had lunch.
Judy began with desserts, a great way to start.
Basically we hung out at the restaurant until our state room was ready (about 1:30). We also met our first new friend, Wanda, who was looking for female companion(s) to go to the shows with because her husband didn't care to go out.
Finally we were able to get in to our state room. I am sitting on Judy's bed and my bed (a top bunk) folded down from the ceiling.
It was nice to off-load our carry on bags, freshen up, and get organized. We had troubles with the safe but finally figured out the trick to it. Also, our suitcases hadn't arrived yet, so we couldn't change. Note to self, put swimsuit in carry on next time.
We did a little walking tour of the 4th and 5th floors of the boat, going down the Royal Promenade and checking out the amenities, bars, shops, restaurants, etc.
In the upper left photo, the reggae band "One Love" was playing up on a bridge going over the street. It was such a festive feeling with the music playing.
Then we headed up to the top decks.
Deck # 11 is were the Windjammer was, and all the pools and hot tubs. #12 was the main top deck where there was a bar, tons of lounge chairs and an almost 1/4 mike walking or jogging track. The right photo was taken from #13, a small sun deck.
We could look out a long ways, all around the boat. We were docked in a channel but you can see the ocean wasn't far off. We had to go to the mandatory muster drill, (seen below) required to be done before we could get our suitcases and could leave the port.
The drill took extra long because we had to wait for 90% of the 4000 passengers to get to their stations. Ugh.
Back up on the top deck, we watched harbor boats come and go, and finally got to observe our ship (Independence of the Sea) set sail.
Seen left, Judy is watching the small boat which came to pick up the harbor pilot who steers the ship out away from the dock. Then the boat captain does the driving and off we went.
We were now "at sea" and it was time to celebrate. The bar was hopping, as seen in the lower photo, six bartenders.
We started enjoying our first drinks of the trip.
The reggae band, One Love, struck up the music and I soon started dancing. Can't help myself. (All trip videos are on Facebook because I can't get this Blog site to let me post or link to them.)
The photo on the right was taken from Jeremy's spot. He (18 years of age) and his parents always sat here. They were our next friends to meet. Kenny, the dad, would save seats for his group and watch my stuff when I was up walking in the early morning.
As the sun went down, we went to get unpacked and dressed for dinner.
And what to our wondering eyes did appear? A delivery of chocolate covered strawberries and champagne. A deal Shirley got. We couldn't get the bottle open (shows what we know) but ate all the strawberries and stowed the bubbly in our room fridge for another time.
We had time to kill before our 8:30 dinner seating, so wandered around and found a free taste of champagne at the art studio. We kind of pretended to be shopping for a painting.
Then it was to our dining room on the 4th floor, where we ate four different nights in the more formal (business casual) dining. I think we were about the first to get there for our seating. This photo was taken from where our table was.
We met our two waiters and soon our three lovely, lady tablemates, (the girls- Sarah, Lindsey, and Amy) who taught together in an elementary school in MA. We enjoyed a great dinner, of which I can't specifically remember what it was, but all our meals were good.
After dinner, we went to the Boleros (a Latino bar) where we listened to some lively music and then headed to the theater for the adult comedy show. Wanda met us and we all enjoyed a very funny show.
We knew it was after midnight when we went back to our room because the section of carpet in the elevator was now reading Sunday.
Seen right, is one of two adult only hot tubs that cantilevered over the side of the ship and gave you fantastic views. You entered them from deck 11, which we did regularly when sitting out on deck 12.
This is the morning fuzzy greeter just outside the Windjammer buffet. Each morning a different critter greeted us, and I usually gave them their daily hug.
Judy and Shirley went to a jewelry buying seminar which turned out being longer than expected and was more of a sales pitch. But they were happy to get some tips and coupons. I had gone up to the top deck to sit in the sun and watch the people and festivities. The belly flop contest (seen right) was hilarious, and the island music so festive.
After a buffet lunch at the Windjammer, we all went back up by the pools to sun and swim. The pool water was too cold for our liking, but the hot tubs were great.I showered quickly and then while the girls got cleaned up for our earlier, informal buffet dinner, I went up to the sports center on deck's 13 and 14.
This is the wave simulator that the young and daring played on.
This is the mini golf course. There was also an out door basketball/soccer court and a climbing wall.
Then I went down to decks 4 and 5 to take a little walking tour of the outside of them. The ice skating rink was down here somewhere also.
Below is a view looking straight off the back of the boat.
I wasn't able to watch the rest of this pretty sunset because I needed to get back up to the room where the girls were about ready to go to dinner.
The ladies made a small contribution to the casino and then we went on to dinner. We ate earlier than usual, going to the buffet, because the formal dining room attire was very dressy for Valentine's Day.
We went to a fast moving and enjoyable dance show at 9:00, where Wanda joined us once again (seen below). But this was to be her last night with us, I think we were a little too wild and crazy for her.
The three ladies stayed for an audience participation marriage game show that they reported was quite hilarious, but I chose to go back up to the Boleros lounge for more dancing.
The four fun couples (ladies in red) were back and dancing up a storm as usual. I sat with them.
We headed back to our room sometime after midnight, as the elevator carpet reminded us it was now Monday. Fredrick, who kept our stateroom clean, had folded us this cute towel. It was sometime after 1 am when we finally went to bed.
We were anchored near Belize when I woke up at 6 am. My walk was shorter than usual because it was raining lightly so I went out on deck 4. The girls were up early since we had a shore excursion to get to. With the rain coming down (seen right on windows of windjammer during breakfast) and forecasted to do so all day, some people were canceling their excursions.
We boarded the tender and took a 20 minute boat ride to Belize. As you can see, it was still raining lightly.
We arrived at Old Belize Museum, Restaurant, and Cucumber Beach, located some four miles west of Belize City.
We had a very informative tour, learning about the colonization of Belize.
This was a neat old pack saddle for transporting goods.
At one point, I volunteered to dance the Punta, a native dance where you basically just shake your booty... one of my signature moves.
We enjoyed the two hours (far too short) of fun in the sun. There were all sorts of "toys" including the giant floating trampoline, water slide, rope swing (my favorite), and inner tubes.
For some reason, Judy and I had great difficulties getting in the inner tubes. We cracked ourselves up.
The trampoline was not tight enough for me to get the needed height to do a flip, but was fun and a great leg workout. The water slide was thrilling to say the least.
We bought lunch at the beach side restaurant. I enhanced my meal with a local beer, Belikin.
We took our food back to a covered beach table, where we shared a giant bowl of nachos, while taking a break from the sun. Island music was playing and once again a little dancing occurred.
This is a view of our ship from the beach. Our unBelizeable stay at the beach ended much too soon and we boarded the bus to go back to town. The tour guide did a lot more joking around with the fellow passengers, some who were rather inebriated.
It had ended up being a beautiful afternoon of sunshine, for which we were so thankful. We sat on the top deck of the tender for a much more pleasant ride back to the ship.
Once back on the ship we went pool side and enjoyed soaking in the hot tub. My arms and abs were sore from all the rope swinging I had done and my legs from the trampoline and stairs up to the top of the waterslide.
After lounging in the sun, where we also took a good nap, we got ready for another formal dinner. Our waiter Raymond took our picture.
From dinner we went to the Boleros, again, where we spent the bulk of the evening dancing to the band, One Love, from Kingston Jamaica. They sang reggae and were tons of fun. The lead singer, Peter Carter, was very good.
Tuesday morning I woke up still feeling quite sore. It had rained overnight and our boat had been moved from Belize to Cozumel. It was a drizzly, gloomy morning so my walk was short, and again on deck four. After a somewhat leisurely morning, we headed ashore.
We were docked right next to another Royal Caribean ship. In fact, once we got on shore, we could see four ships "parked" here in Cozumel.
We started out shopping just at the port. This life size iron donkey caught the eye of all three of us.
Judy was brave enough to get her photo taken with these guys, dressed like native warriors.
It was nice to see the Humane Society at work down here and made us think of Terry. Judy made a donation on her behalf.
After I did a little shopping I bought one artifact, a small, native, wood wall hanging... which I will show you once I have it hung somewhere here around the house.
Judy & Shirley caught a cab to go downtown shopping. I went back to the Senior Frog (that we had walked by earlier) to get on the Internet. To sit there, I needed to be eating (or drinking) so I had a beer, since I was full from breakfast and you can't drink the water.
Wi-Fi. I still had issues so really only did stuff on Facebook after sending a few e-mails.
This was a neat bar and grill. They served free popcorn in plastic dog dishes and made guacamole for people right at their tables.
It was such a happening place that I was pretty distracted by all the craziness. A conga line went by, you could get a free shot of To-Kill-Ya if you joined in.
In this second photo, the waitress is standing on a table and pouring shots into each mouth as the person dances by.
Each waiter and waitress had a drinking slogan on the back of their t-shirt. This one pretty well sums up the state of affairs.
After two hours and a second beer, I was ready to get up and dance and join in the festivities. I had also lost my internet connection so gave up on that and just enjoyed the music and fun. I did stand at the bar and dance there a little bit, and chatted with a man whose wife was shopping.
Fearing my cabin mates would get back before me, and seeing the clouds moving in, I left the fun and got back on the boat. No girls, so I went to get a late lunch. This was the view of Cozumel from my table.
The back of the boat was tied to this dock thing.
I went down to deck 3 to check on ice skating, but that was closed also. I did run across the audio/visual tech support area for the whole boat. I though it quite amazing. You can see reflections of painting's in the window.
Below is a little diagram, provided by Royal Caribbean, that gives you a general overview of the layout of our ship.
This photo, taken earlier, shows a whimsical dog. It was on deck six by the elevator and helped us remember which way to turn to get to our state room.
We all got cleaned up for dinner as the ship headed out to sea, for home.
The evening ended as usual, having a drink and dancing at the Boleros.
I don't have any photos from the night, so have included this one taken at the simulated rain forest on Belize that I forgot to include earlier.
The grills were going on deck 11, so we had barbecue for lunch. After naps in the lounge chairs, we moved to seats overlooking the dance floor. The One Love band was playing and the crowd was feeling quite festive. There was a guy down with the band, dancing by himself, who was from the group right next to us. They were from Wisconsin and his shirt read "Drink Wisconsibly." He was having a great time and I later joined him so he wasn't by himself, and others also joined in, including Bree.
During a band break, there was a line dance lesson. I got up for that, and never sat down until One Love did their last song at 5:00.
Shirley and Judy went back to our cabin early so they could start packing and get ready for dinner.
I squeezed in a shower at some point, and then it was back to the Boleros bar and lounge. I had a cocktail and danced until the band took a break. I went to our room, got all my stuff packed up, and then we went to dinner, taking our champagne for Raymond (our waiter) to open. We shared it with the girls and had a lovely last dinner together.
Lobster was on the menu, but I opted for leg of lamb. Raymond took this photo of the six of us. It was so nice to have met Sarah, Lindsey, and Amy. Conversation was never lacking at our table.
After our fine dining, we went to the Royal Promenade where they were having a Dancing In The Street party. 
It was crowded, but fun. We all hated to see the cruise come to an end.
Once the street party was over we went back to our room. Shirley and Judy changed, we set our large suitcases in the hallway, and then were off to the Boleros. We danced till the band, Latin Waves played their last song.
This is Jenny with me. We met her the first night and saw her almost every night. She was a great dancer, had been a dance instructor, and was very willing to help us learn some Latin moves (more videos on Facebook). I was not the easiest to instruct, but it was fun (for me) trying.
This other good dancer guy (with Jenny below) was also at the Boleros nightly and danced with many of the ladies. When we danced, I stepped on his toes twice. Ugh.
I also danced with Bree during part of a song. He sat with our group for awhile and was very nice. Such a lovely smile... no wonder he won the Sexiest Man contest. We met so many fun and wonderful people. Taking a cruise is definitely an experience I will want to repeat.
While my tea was steeping, I went back to our cabin to tell Shirley where we were seated, and to get my backpack.
Things were already bustling on the dock and the mass exodus lines of self carry luggage people was already blocking stairways.
Can you imagine the groceries needed for 4000 people for a week? Look at all the containers of fruits and vegetables. And where's the beef ? Ha ha ha.
I jumped the gun on going to our holding area, thinking we needed to be there at 8:30 (but it wasn't until 9:30), so we got down there a little after 8 am. I guess I was a little anxious to get off the ship ASAP and to Joe who was waiting for us in the SUV.
To prevent long lines, each cabin was assigned a departure number. We were 34. I knew it was going to be awhile, so went up to deck 4 and walked around up there. By 9:30, they hadn't even called the 8:15 group yet. I tried to convince Shirley and Judy to join me out in the sun, but they wanted to stay put.
Getting myself another breakfast, I found a seat, and continued to wait. Sometime before 11:00 I went down to the holding area. The photo below is the two lines, going half the length of the boat, that were still in the progress of shuffling off. It is uncertain as to the exact cause of the hold up, but we were assured that this was highly unusual.
It became apparent that groups were "skipping line" so to speak, and getting in line before their number was called. I told the girls I had gotten in line behind a #44, and to come join me. Eventually they made their way and caught up with me on deck 2.
Once off the boat, the line continued down the dock and then a whole series of zig/zags had to be done in the building till we picked up our suitcases and went through customs!
We finally got to where Joe was parked at noon. We were so glad to see him. He had been communicating with Mom, who was expecting us for lunch around 1 pm. Needless to say, with a three hour drive, we were going to be very late.
Mom put lunch on hold, and when we got there, stuck the chicken Alfredo back in the oven. She had also made a beautiful seven layer salad that I especially enjoyed.We couldn't stay long, because we were also late getting to Jim and Carmina's. They were so nice to put us up for the night, amidst their very busy schedules.
Friday's final seven hour trek home went pretty fast, but still seemed to take forever. We talked about the cruise as I tried to make notes for this blog post. I should have been writing stuff down all along. With all said and done, I want to add that I have definitely taken a liking to Latino and Reggae music... or a combination of the two.
Latino and (Reggae) Songs I recognized:Macarena, Guantanamera, La Bamba, Livin la Vida Loca, Me Odio, quiero salsa, and Conga.
(Jammin', Don't Worry Be Happy, and Red Red Wine)
And some new ones I picked up on:
Danza Kuduro, La Gota Fria, La Rebelion, Bailando, Oye Como Va, and Cali Pachanguero.
(Get Up Stand Up, Buffalo Soldier, and One Love)
I really miss the festivities, sun, food and people. But I especially miss the music and the dancing.
No comments:
Post a Comment