Thursday, July 15, 2010

Cruisin' to Coz



Cruisin' to Coz


Bill and Judy’s Cruise Log 2010
Aboard the good ship Carnival Inspiration

7/7/10 Wednesday

We got up at home around 1:15 a.m., ate a little something and hit the road by 2:00 a.m. We ended up getting to the Columbus airport WAY too early, but that’s a lot better than getting there too late. We noticed a TSA agent (Transportation Security Agency) riding in to work in the parking shuttle bus with us and ended up seeing LOTS more of the “blueshirts” at the airport. At times it looked like the TSA guys were outnumbering the travelers. We checked our bags in and they ran through the x-ray machines before being put on the belt. We went through the security checkpoint later when the time was closer to our departure time. For the security check, any metal went into the baskets to be put on the conveyor belt along with your shoes and your carry-on luggage. As an aside, I didn’t wear a belt to make the security check quicker. Bad idea. I’ve lost a little weight and my pants were continually trying to fall off! You were then in the “secure” area of the airport on the concourse. You thought you were done with security, eh? But no. Uh-uh. No way. When we lined up to enter the airplane, some of our carry-on’s were selected for further hand inspection by the TSA and some of us lucky travelers were selected for pat downs. And yes, I was one of the ones selected for the pat-down. Lucky, lucky me. And it was a VERY thorough patdown, too. The agent was friendly though even if I did feel like I was on “Cops”.

We drank some coffee and shared a muffin before leaving Columbus and eventually flew a Boeing 737 to Atlanta and a Boeing 717 from there to Tampa. Had a mix-up when we got to Tampa and the free shuttle to the hotel we were staying at couldn’t find us. (More likely we were standing in the wrong area.) We ended up taking a taxi to Howard Johnson’s on Dale Mabry Street. After checking in and stowing our bags we went to a Thai restaurant right next door to the motel and had lunch. We both had Pat Thai. Very good and excellent service! Later in the day we had supper at the Longhorn’s on the other side of the hotel and had a decent steak there. We walked to the K-mart up the road during the day to buy some fingernail clippers as I had forgotten to pack any and had torn a nail somewhere on our journey south. We stopped at a Sonic drive-in (they have outdoor tables, too) when walking back to the hotel and drank a Cherry Limeade. Mmmm…good! I think we stop at a Sonic on every vacation, so this just continued the string. Pretty hot out, too. Typical Florida in the summer, I guess. We signed up for a ride to the docks at the hotel desk when we arrived. When the transport came the next day we paid for the trip out to the docks and also the one back to the airport after the cruise. We napped at the hotel after our walk and were asleep by 10 p.m. It had been a LONG travel day!

Some impressions:

Both flights down were pretty smooth – mostly clear skies all day.
A stewardess (flight attendant nowadays) on the second flight had a “III” tattooed on the back of her neck. Spent some time trying to figure out why. Should have probably asked her. Probably none of my business.
The Atlanta airport is HUGE. Found out it was the largest and busiest one in the WORLD! It’s the hub for AirTran and Delta and there were LOTS of those planes around. To get from one concourse to another you went WAY down on an escalator and got on a FAST underground train that stopped at each one.
Had a really big dude sitting across from me on the second flight. Not only big-big but so tall he brushed the top of the airplane cabin when he walked. He was miserable sitting there in his too-small seat and looked it.

7/8/10 Thursday. Embarkation Day.

We sail today! After over 130 days waiting, today was the day!
Up at the motel at 7 a.m. and breakfast at Denny’s across the street as the continental breakfast at the hotel was about gone when we got there. Dale Mabry is eight lanes wide at that spot, so we had to hustle even at the light to get across. At 11:30 the shuttle for the docks arrived and we took the ride out there. To get to the docks in Tampa you have go to through downtown Tampa. The ship looked HUGE as we approached the docks. Very, very impressive! The embarkation went super smoothly. Everything is choreographed so your travel from station to station and finally onto the boat was quick and painless. The cabins weren’t ready until 1:30 down on the lower decks (still being cleaned from the previous occupants who arrived earlier that morning) so we were sequestered generally on Lido and Promenade decks. We ate lunch at the Brasserie Buffet while waiting for our cabins. The food seemed pretty good. We were finally allowed on our cabin deck – Riviera – at 1:30 as promised. The cabin was cool! Small as advertised, but quite functional and not claustrophobic at all. And clean as a whistle! The luggage was delivered outside the cabin between 4 and 5 p.m. We wandered around the ship and settled on the Lido deck near the pool for a bit and ordered one of the “Drinks of the Day”. Fruity concoction (with the proverbial umbrella) of this, that and rum. Tasty. Soon took a walk-around tour of the boat with a friendly young female crewmember. Saw what was where and forgot where it was about as quick. Took some pictures.
Ate supper in our assigned dining room, the Carnivale. We sat at a table for eight, as we wanted to meet some of our shipmates. One couple was from Georgia and one was from North Carolina. The S.C. ones were Judy and our ages and the other couple from Georgia was older. They had been friends for many, many years, but this was their first cruise together. The other couple at the table was younger and from Florida. Ate shrimp cocktail and lasagna that first meal with melting chocolate cake for dessert. All fairly good – the cake exceptional. Our table had two stewards handling us, both I believe from Indonesia. The female of the pair was very cute! Our tablemates seemed quite simpatico and we looked forward to seeing them for the rest of the dinners on the cruise.
When we returned to the cabin it had been turned down. On the bed were our two chocolates and a towel seal! We went to the Paris Lounge (we’d go there a LOT during the cruise) then. They put on a lot of activities there. We watched Speed Trivia, Bingo, Cha-cha Dance class, Game Show Star and, for the evening capper, the Welcome Aboard Show with our Cruise Director Paul. Lots of singing and dancing and fun!


7/9/10 Friday. At Sea Day.

We got up around 8:30 a.m. Breakfast was at the Buffet – normal buffet breakfast food. Went to “Fun Ashore and Fun Aboard” briefing with our Cruise Director Paul. Funny and informative. Watched the ice carving on the Lido stage for a while and saw it was going to be an American Indian head in full headdress. Went to the talk “Do’s and Don’ts of Port Shopping”. Both talks were mostly sales pitches to buy at certain stores on Cozumel. I went to the gym today and did a half-hour on the treadmill and some back extensions. The gym on the ship was of medium size and seemed to get a lot of business. It was attached to the spa whose choices were, of course, for an extra charge. The water of the Gulf was smooth today and we didn’t have much ship motion to contend with. I slept quite well last night, the bed was very comfortable and what sea motion there was made good sleeping – like rocking gently in a cradle. Most of the time so far you’d hardly know you were on a boat! This was “Elegant Night” in the dining rooms so we cleaned up and dressed up before dinner. I had lobster tail and shrimp (two servings!) and Judy had prime rib. Had a nice conversation with the three other couples. It’s been hot and sunny so far and the water of the Gulf is a pretty blue color – a bit hard to describe – a deeper blue shading to a darker aqua? Something like that? Sapphire? Closer, maybe. Saw the captain and his executive officers on the Promenade Deck all decked out in their dress uniforms with the gold stripes on the sleeves. Judy and I had formal pictures taken of us with various backdrops on Promenade Deck. Had cherries Jubilee for dessert at supper. Good. Also ate cold Strawberry Compote and stuffed mushrooms for appetizers. Also good. Wanted to try new and different stuff and got the chance.
We stopped in the casino for a few minutes later on so Judy could get a free lanyard to wear her sail-and-sign card around her neck. While there we threw a few dollars into the slots. Lo and behold I hit a jackpot on a Haywire machine and banked $100!
We then went to the show “Shout” at the Paris Theater. Very energetic! Lots of singing and dancing. The boat was noticeably a bit “bouncy” tonight during the performance. I later noticed that the Paris Lounge, being in the bow of the ship, was always a bit bouncy. We walked around the outer deck a bit later in the dark. It was cloudy and no stars were visible. It was so nice to stand there and feel the breeze in your face and hear the sea hissing by the hull down in the dark. Then we went to an “R” rated comedy show at 10:45 at the Candlelight Lounge in the stern of the ship. It was good, but I’ve seen better. We felt like the oldest couple in the room. Back to the cabin around midnight – long day coming tomorrow.

Impressions from today:

It’s a LONG climb from R (Riviera – 4) deck where our cabin is to L (Lido – 10) deck. We used the elevators a LOT (shame on us!).
People on the ship: Cruisers - @ 2600, Crew - @ 900. LOTS of folks on this tub.
Everything onboard is geared towards generating more money.
Turndown service is VERY nice – towel animals and chocolates every night. Excellent work and excellent staff. I can’t stress that enough.
Staff and crew are cleaning the ship all the time. We notice and we appreciate their efforts.

7/10/10 Saturday. Cozumel.

We got up at 7:30 as we were approaching Cozumel, Mexico, and watched a bit of the docking procedure. We had breakfast, again, at the Brasserie Buffet, then went back to the cabin to put on our swimwear. We got off the ship around 9 a.m. We shopped at the Costa Brava shops near the dock for a while then grabbed a cab and were off to Nachi Cocom Beach Resort. Nachi is a very nice place! Immediately upon arrival we were given two lounges under our own palapa (thatched roof umbrella-shaped shelter from the sun) and our drink orders were taken. I ended up drinking two Margaritas fairly quickly. (A side note: I’m not much of a drinker. The Margaritas were really, really strong, the sun was really hot, it was early in the day and I got wasted really quickly. Then a bit ill for a day or so. Have to remember that on future trips!) Judy and I shared some nachos and salsa before lunch, which was quite good. We then ordered our lunches and I got grilled grouper which was outstanding! Judy got mixed fajitas, which she enjoyed with the exception of a very hot pepper that was lurking in her meal.
The water in front of us was gorgeous! Clear as glass and a beautiful aqua color shading to a darker blue a bit further out where the reef started. I got into the water a few times. Its temperature was perfect (I’m running out of superlatives here) and I bobbed around out there for a while. The salt sea allowed me to float effortlessly and that was fun. Next trip I’ll definitely go snorkeling! Judy’s not much for beaches so she stayed under the palapa most of the time we were there. There were only about 50 people at the resort, so it was NOT crowded at all. They stop their reservations at 100. The sand is grittier than the powdery stuff we’ve seen on other beaches and is a bit hard to walk on. Or was that another effect of the Margaritas? After lunch the staff guy returned to ask if we wanted any dessert. Judy declined and I, still being more than a bit drunk, ordered mine in Spanish by saying, “Uno helados de coconut, por favor”. The waiter looked at my wife then back at me and said, “Uno?” I said, “Si. No helados por mi espousa” and he smiled and went for my coconut ice cream. Which, incidentally, was GREAT!
We left Nachi around 3 p.m. and taxied to downtown San Miguel, the city where the cruise ships dock on Cozumel. We bought some t-shirts and stopped into Carlos and Charlies. This is a bar/restaurant that’s quite notorious as a party place. The music was VERY loud and, for early afternoon, the party was in full swing. Most of the people in there were young and drinking like crazy. We enjoyed watching the antics of the wait staff and the college-age kids bouncing around the bar. Guy came to our table and stuck balloon hats on us (for a tip, of course). Others cruised by wanting to take pictures of you and other stuff for tips. We had 7-ups, since we didn’t want any more alcohol. They serve the drinks in 2-foot-tall glasses. The décor there was lots of primal colors, old license plates, posters and all kinds of this-and-that on the walls and ceilings. While we were leaving they’d built a conga line from all the drunken kids in the bar and the dancers, as they danced out the door into the sun and then back inside, were given shots of tequila squirted from a bottle as they passed a point. The kids were having a ball! I was a bit concerned about going in there as a female friend of ours had her daughter’s money stolen by a pickpocket while there a couple months earlier, but we escaped with what we came in with and were happy about that. We grabbed a cab back to the dock where the Inspiration was docked and bought a few more souvenirs. We returned to the ship around 5-ish as we didn’t want to miss the departure and were iffy on the time difference between ship time and Cozumel time.
We had supper in the Carnivale Dining room again. One of our tablemates, Bill, was celebrating his 75th birthday that night and we congratulated him and ate some of his birthday cake! I didn’t eat much of the dinner as my stomach was still in rebellion from the Murderous Mexican Margaritas. We then went back to the cabin to rest a bit from our outing.
Later that day we went to the Paris Lounge again for the show. That night it was a magician and a comic. Both were pretty good and the comic was a lot better than the previous one we’d seen. Back to the cabin at 11:30 and to sleep. We were now heading home.

Impressions:

The other tablemates across from us were also born in ’46 and ’47.
Mexican vendor sayings: “Cheaper than Walmart!” “Almost free!”
Most of the Mexicans we ran into seemed fine. All the ones we saw were working hard at their jobs to make a living. Most of them looked like they had a LOT of Mayan blood in their heritage.


7/11/10 Last At Sea Day.

Up at 8 a.m. Felt a BIT better but not near 100%. Shower and dressed and we went to the Mardi Gras dining room (the other big dining room on the ship) and had a sit-down breakfast for a change. We sat with seven other new people at a big round table. One of the girls sitting there was from Ohio and we had a good conversation with her, her husband and most of the other tablemates. Had Eggs Benedict and they were very good. We left there and stopped at the casino to play about $25 between us on the slots (we lost) and to cash out my bank from the previous trip. Got counted out $100.25 in cash! We then picked through all the photographs we’d had taken of us and bought four of them. Then it was back to the Paris Lounge for our disembarkation talk from the Cruise Director Paul, which was funny and informative. We then stopped at the Ship Shops (stuff is always cheaper the last day!) and bought a couple more T-shirts and a refrigerator magnet. Then we returned to the cabin and did most of our packing, along with filling out our duty form. We stopped and watched a towel-folding demo then at the Paris Lounge (of course) and took a quick tour of the galley at 4 p.m. It was HUGE! It sits between the two main dining rooms (logical), the Mardi Gras and the Carnivale. We ate our final dinner with our tablemates and the food was unfortunately so-so. Took a picture of our cute little table steward. She said that most of the crew worked 6 months on the ship (7-days-a-week), then 4 months at home. Went back to the cabin to finish packing and placed our luggage outside our door for overnight pickup. Went walking around the ship then on the outside and watched some flying fish pop out of the sea and fly away near the bow of the ship. They are quite small, minnow-sized. But they really do fly!
We went to the Paris Lounge that night for the last time to see that evening’s show. It was Latin-themed and had lots of feathered costumes and Latin music – Ricky Ricardo stuff. Still oodles of energy from the singers/dancers. As an aside, I’d only grade the performers as high-end amateurs, though. But they did try really, really hard and that made it OK. Then it was off to the Candlelight Lounge for the last “R” rated comedy show. This was the second comedian we’d seen at the Paris Lounge the previous day and he was in his element now. Funny as hell! Back to the cabin around 11:30 and asleep by midnight.


7/12/10 Disembarkation Day.

The ship docked back in Tampa around 6:30 a.m. this morning. Judy had been popping up out of the bed since 3 or 4, peeking out the window and watching the lights of Tampa Bay slide past, listening to the changing sound of the ship’s engines as it approached her dock. Breakfast, again, at Brasserie. Sat on an outside deck and admired the Coast Guard tall ship, The Eagle, that was docked right next to us off the stern. Then we grabbed our carry-on stuff and went to the Promenade deck to wait for our disembarkation number to be called. They called it around 10:30 and we went down to deck 7 and left the ship. We found our luggage quickly and proceeding through customs was no problem at all, just had to wait a bit on the lines. We walked across the street to the ground transportation place and got our van to the airport.

Then we waited.

(The following is an account on how things can go wrong, even on a great vacation. We suffered some but we’ll remember this trip for a LONG time. Read on if you dare.)

We’d anticipated a long wait at the Tampa airport. Our flight wasn’t due to leave Tampa for Atlanta until 5:45 p.m. with an arrival time of 7:18. Then the connection to Columbus would be at 10:15. So we were prepared for a long wait. We’d gotten to the airport around 11:00 a.m. We sat around and read in the main terminal for a while, then ate lunch at an airport Burger King. We then went through security and arrived at our concourse a bit later and settled down to wait some more. We had supper there (Pizza Hut mini’s) around 5 p.m. and waited some more.
That’s when our flight was postponed the FIRST time due to thunderstorms in Atlanta. Then it was postponed AGAIN. We boarded the airplane around 8 p.m., sat there a bit and were ordered off as it was STILL storming in Atlanta and we STILL didn’t have permission to take off. It looked as if we were going to miss our connection in Atlanta to Columbus, so I talked to the booking agent at that time and he said he couldn’t get us into Columbus until Wednesday… and that was just a maybe. He checked his computer some more, then said he could get me into Dayton from Atlanta the next morning (Tuesday) if I was interested. So we RE-boarded the same airplane we were in before and finally got off the runway around 9:30 p.m. The flight was fine and we got to see some of the nearby thunderstorms from the air, which had been tormenting Atlanta. It was spooky seeing lightning at night from an altitude. We landed at 10:44 p.m. and taxied to a spot at one of the gates at a terminal. We arrived at that spot at 11:00. Then we waited. The captain came on the p.a. and said they were having "some trouble” with the skyway (the extensible tunnel they attach to the plane’s door). Still trouble at 11:15. More at 11:30. Still no-go at 11:45. We’d been sitting at that gate for 45 minutes waiting to get off the plane! Us passengers were about ready to revolt and the crew was looking like they were willing to join us! Finally they decided that they couldn’t fix the skyway and we taxied to a new gate. We deplaned at 12:00 midnight! One hour and 16 minutes after we’d landed. The pilot said on the p.a. that he’d never seen such a screwup in his 29 years of flying. So… We’d missed our flight to Columbus and our assigned flight to Dayton from Atlanta was at 8:55 in the morning. It was midnight. Too late to really go find a room somewhere. So I found a comfortable (?!?!) spot on the floor, Judy tried to curl up on a couple seats and we attempted to spend Monday night at the Atlanta airport. Please note that there are a LOT of hours to spend from midnight to 9 in the morning. It was cold, noisy, uncomfortable, bright and as far from a good place to sleep as I’ve ever seen. Judy got about 15 minutes of sleep and I may have got an hour in 5 to 10 minute increments. Horrible, horrible night. We got up (?!?!) around 6 a.m. and got some coffee and a Danish when the coffee shops opened. Off to our new departure gate around 8:00 (on another concourse, of course) and on the airplane around 9:15. We took off on time and got to Dayton as planned. We then had to rent a car, one-way, from Dayton to Columbus. Then we retrieved our luggage (which had flown on to Columbus without us earlier that morning), retrieve our car and drove home.

We arrived there around 3 p.m.

And thus ends the odyssey of Bill and Judy’s first cruise.

Impressions, thoughts and conclusions.

So how was it really? Was it worth it? Was it fun? Would you do it the same way again?

I’d say it was definitely a good vacation, maybe even a great vacation. Was it worth it? I wondered about that around 3 a.m. while sleeping on the floor at Hartsfield-Jackson Airport in Atlanta, the biggest and busiest airport in the world. But I’d still have to say yes, definitely worth it. I mean, how many times would our luck be that bad on another cruise? Fun? Yes, for sure. Lots of good times. Would we do it again? Sure! Not a doubt in my mind. In fact, it’s about time to start thinking about the next one!!

High points:
New friends. Wonderful ship’s staff and crew. Very nice accommodations. A beautiful ship. The nice weather was a plus.

Low points:
The food was OK for the most part but nothing extraordinary. The entertainment was a touch amateurish. The horror of missing a connection and its consequences.

Final conclusion:

Start booking our next one soon!!!!!