IF THIS IS WEDNESDAY IT MUST BE BARBADOS
Before we begin I must let you know that this blog is a description of a vacation taken by six friends. A cruise, actually, in the southern Caribbean. If you think you might not be interested in a fairly detailed account of that trip, please walk away now. I might not give you the chance later.
You have been warned.
Let’s get started, shall we?
Prologue.
Upon the completion of a cruise two years ago, my wife and I promised ourselves that, since we loved cruising, we would sail again as soon as was possible. Due to a bonus she received at work, we were able to schedule another one without any long delay. Our partners in the last cruise, Dan and Alice heard about our plans and asked if they could be included. We said, “Of course! The more the merrier!” We then asked several other folks if they’d be interested. I got a lot of We’d love to, but… and one firm sure!
So we were six for this trip.
Since I personally like to make plans, to do research and to try finding the best of the best and, most importantly the most economical, the main task of setting up this adventure fell to me. I griped, of course, but was secretly pleased to be able to do it. I ended up selecting the cruise, the pre-cruise hotel, booked the airline tickets, booked some tours on a couple of the islands, figured out a prospective itinerary for all the days and made sure all my shipmates were “in the loop” as to what, when, where, etc. and did all this sound OK? I appreciated my shipmate’s confidence in me and hoped I helped make this trip a success.
So, without further ado, let’s take a cruise!
Saturday.
We went to bed Friday night around 11 p.m. and got up around 2 a.m. Saturday morning. That’s right, for the mathematically challenged that’s three hours sleep. I think the idea was to fool our bodies into thinking they got more sleep than they really did by going through the rituals of actually “going to bed” at around the normal time and then sneaking in a VERY early awakening. We needed to do this to meet the timetable of a 6 a.m. flight out of Columbus, Ohio. We live about 90 minutes north of the airport, so a 2:30 am departure time from home seemed about right.
After grabbing some orange juice from home and a couple McMuffins from you-know-where for the road, we were southbound and on our way.
We met our four traveling companions at the airport around 4 a.m. It might interest you to know a bit about them before we set off on our April Adventure, so let’s take a gander at who these folks were. There were two couples, Dan and Alice and Chuck and Pam. Dan and Alice were work companions of mine. Dan is supervisor of a crew that takes care of a county water system. I met him when I started working there over a decade ago. He’s an even-tempered fellow who enjoys seeing new places and things. He would be our muscle man for some of the trip for reasons I’ll go into in a minute. His wife, Alice, also used to work at the water department before she retired with a disability several years ago. She also enjoys traveling and going on cruises. My wife and I had a great cruise with Dan and Alice two years ago on the Carnival Glory.
Of the other couple, Chuck has been a friend of mine since grade school. I could write a book on what he’s done and what we’ve done together. This cruise would only be a small chapter in that document. Chuck has had some heart problems over the years and, as a scary counterpoint to the planning of this adventure, he suffered another heart attack about two weeks before our planned departure. I figured that would more than likely preclude them being able to join us and was beginning to figure out how they would get their money back from the advance payments, when I found out that they were still planning on making the trip! I was concerned and quite happy, all at the same time. Is this wise I thought? Should I try to talk them out of it? I concluded that if his doctor said it was OK, then who was I to argue? So Chuck was going. We all decided that we’d make sure he took it easy and any lifting or toting would be handled by one of the rest of us, preferably our “muscle man” Dan. His wife Pam is Chuck’s third wife and is a sweetheart! She’s originally from Kentucky and brings with her some of that state’s well-known country wisdom. She is likeable, friendly and would literally give you the shirt off her back. She is always giving of herself to her extended family and her many, many friends.
So along with my wife and I, the circle was complete and we were off to see the Southern Caribbean.
TSA security at Columbus airport was about par for the system. A couple of us qualified for the “minimal” security check – I’m not sure exactly how we qualified, but we were grateful. The rest got the whole shebang with shoes off, belts off, everything out of the pockets, x-rays and pat-downs. Airport fun, USA, post-9/11-style for sure.
We flew Southwest for this journey and were quite pleased with the choice. Their “pick your own seat” rules and “bags fly free” were definitely crowd pleasers along with the decent fares. We were also pleased during the flight by watching the dawn break from 8 miles high and it truly was a glorious sight, surely a good-luck omen for the voyage.
Landing in San Juan, Puerto Rico was a shock to our northern-Ohio, winter-weary bodies – seeing the green grass, green trees, blue sky and blue water of the ocean and feeling the silky warmth of the tropics on our bodies.
We were, at last, decisively on our way!
I’d booked a hotel in the Miramar district of San Juan about halfway between the airport and the ship’s dock. We’d flown down a day early primarily to make sure we made the ship! I’d heard too many horror stories of cruisers flying down the day of the cruise and having weather delays and airline snafus. Being within a mile or two of the dock a day early took a big load off my mind. We would definitely make this cruise!
Our day in San Juan was pleasant. The hotel was fine and there was shopping and restaurants within a block or so. The food was hit-and-miss for us. Some of what we ate was fine, other dishes were maybe not as great, at least to our non-Puerto Rican taste buds. We got enough nourishment to keep body and soul together, however, and that was enough, at least for me. After all, this was only a rest stop on our way to the actual cruise.
A true high point of our sojourn in San Juan, both metaphorically and physically, was the rooftop terrace at the hotel. They had tables and chairs available up there and the roof had marvelous views of our area of San Juan including the ocean to the north. Very pretty and we spent some time up there that afternoon admiring the view, grabbing some sun and yakking amongst ourselves about the upcoming cruise. We adjourned there again later that night and relaxed on the chairs, enjoying the balmy breezes and the twinkling lights of the Miramar district of the city. It was a very nice ending to our first day.
Sunday.
We wandered up the block near the hotel that morning to one of the restaurants we’d been to the day before and got our breakfasts. It was a “locals” kind of place and the tempo, at least on that day, was quite slow compared to our quicker American expectations. Was it indicative of the island’s mañana culture or just a slower-than-usual day? It was hard to say, but we were sure our dining experiences would be much better on the ship.
We taxied to the dock around noon and it was the expected mad scene there with dozens and dozens of busses, taxis and cars dropping off passengers bound for the ship and their upcoming cruise and carrying off the ones who’d just finished their voyages that morning. After spending our required time in lines and checkpoints we were finally aboard the good ship Carnival Valor. After eating our first meal at the buffet, called Rosie’s on this ship, and since we didn’t sail until 10 p.m., we decided on a shore visit to pass the time. The ladies went one direction and the guys another. The women opted to shop at a store near the docks then take a trolley around Old San Juan and the guys were going to go to the Bacardi distillery across the harbor and take the rum tour. Us guys only had to leave the ship, walk out the long dock; turn left and go to the next dock to catch the water shuttle across the bay to where the distillery was. It was hot and Chuck was still somewhat weak from his recent heart problem. Partway to the next dock he told us to go on without him as he was already tuckered out from the heat and the longish walk. We stopped at a nearby bar then to give him a bit of a rest and we all had a cold beer to help us cool off. We then walked with Chuck back to the ship, told him to rest in the air conditioning and Dan and I returned to the dock where the ferry was. We were unlucky insofar as the last ferry had already departed, the next wasn't until another half an hour and the Bacardi tours were shortened that day, as it was a Sunday. No rum tour for us! Oh well… We decided to go wander around Old San Juan instead and check out a few shops. We found a couple stores we’d visited on our stop there two years ago, bought some souvenirs and some island coffee, then wandered some more. We found a store that specialized in art created exclusively on Puerto Rico. Saw some beautiful things and spent a little money. Soon after we split up, Dan to shop some more and I to wander back to the ship.
When I got to the dock and entered the shopping area, I found “our “ women spending a little money there! I returned to the ship with them. Judy and I ended up in the atrium of the ship enjoying our first Valor cocktail; a frozen concoction called a “Miami Vice”. It consisted of ½ piña colada and 1/2 strawberry daiquiri. Very refreshing after a hot day!
Our luggage arrived at our cabin around 6:45 and we all went to dinner in the Main Dining Room a bit after that. The supper was very good and the wait staff was, as we’d expected after two previous Carnival cruises, wonderful. We noticed that the maitre d was the same one that Dan and Alice and Judy and I had when we’d sailed on the Glory two years previously. He noticed us and came over to chat a while. Very nice man whose nickname was “007”.
The lifeboat drill was later that evening. As was usual for lifeboat drill, it was hot and miserable on the boat deck with all the passengers crammed into 6 lines the whole length of the ship. Fortunately it was only about a half-hour long and then we were on the Lido Deck for the sail-away party and enjoying another adult beverage. Soon the long day, the heat and the long walks took their toll and we were snug in our cabins around 11 p.m.
Monday.
I slept quite comfortably on the ship, as I would the entire trip, rocking gently with the motion of the sea. I was excited about the upcoming ports, however, and woke early, looking out our cabin window at the mountains of St. Thomas appearing out of the sea mists at dawn.
We all met for breakfast at Rosie’s, then exited the ship at our first stop, St. Thomas, U. S. Virgin Islands. Chuck was still a bit wobbly-legged and we stopped pretty quickly to give him a rest. This was probably a good thing as the island gentlemen who were selling tours of the island got a crack at us and we agreed, as Chuck and Pam had never been there, to take advantage of one of those offers. Our guide began threading his way through the busy traffic of the port area and, after squeezing through areas with his open-air jitney, finally cleared the dock area and began the tour. We stopped at Megan’s Bay beach, dropped off a couple and took some pictures. Megan’s Bay has been voted one of the top ten beaches in the world and it showed! Our eyes drank in the beauty there as our cameras clicked and clicked. We then drove to Mountaintop to again marvel in the beauty of this island, to drink one of their signature banana daiquiris and peruse the gift shop. Our next stop was a flea market down in the capital city of Charlotte Amalie where the tour driver’s sister had a booth. Amazing coincidence, that.
Then it was back to the ship for a quick nap and not long after, supper in the Lincoln Dining Room, our “home port” for dinners for the rest of the week. As usual the supper was quite good and the service impeccable.
We then caught a comedy club performance and after that, the cruise director’s welcome aboard presentation in the main showroom, the Ivanhoe Theater. When that was over we watched the big screen on the Lido deck and caught the last five minutes of one of the final four basketball games. Then back to the room and pleasant dreams.
Tuesday.
This was our ONE sea day – no new islands to visit.
The gang went to a brunch this morning – a tradition of sea days on a cruise. There was a more varied menu that morning including steak and eggs and macaroni and cheese. Quite a choice. Since my wife and I were return cruisers and had received free drink coupons for this achievement, we both had mimosas with our breakfasts. Pretty decadent for this fellow!
The day was postcard beautiful with Crayola blue seas and cornflower blue skies. The Caribbean was smiling on us today! We all stood on a deck at the bow of the ship for over an hour, idly chatting and watching the ocean slide under the bow of the ship on our way south toward Barbados. A really invigorating morning. Very few cruise passengers know about this part of the ship and we were virtually alone up there.
A bit later we adjourned to the Lido deck to watch the ice carving, the mixed drink contest and the hairy chest contest, all of which we’d seen on previous cruises. They were always interesting and fun to watch. We wandered the ship a bit afterward, seeing the differences between the Valor, our present ship, and the Glory, which we’d sailed on two years ago. Except for the décor they are identical.
That night was formal in the dining room, so we all gussied up and headed off for supper. Lobster, prime rib and other delicacies were on the menu and were ordered as each of us wished. We strolled the Promenade deck afterward having pictures taken of us in our fancy duds. After changing into something more comfortable, we went again to the comedy club for another comedian – one much funnier than the first time. Then it was on to the Ivanhoe Theater for a major Broadway-style production of singing and dancing. We called it a night after that and toddled off to dreamland in our snug cabins.
Wednesday.
I was again unable to sleep late, so I arose and watched the sight of another island country rising out of the dawn-lit seas. It was Barbados this time. We’d planned a beach day for this stop, so we donned our bathing suits and were off soon after breakfast. I was a little concerned, as there were three cruise ships in port that day and I wondered about the congestion at the beach and the possible unavailability of umbrellas and chairs/recliners. I shouldn’t have worried – there were plenty. Alice passed on today’s adventure as she was a bit under the weather, but the rest of us crammed into a tiny taxi and soon were being unloaded at Harbor Lights. This establishment was a one-stop at the beach and provided the aforementioned umbrellas and chairs along with a bar, changing rooms, snack bar, souvenir shop and other facilities. After arriving, Dan and I took a walk and attempted to find a geocache for Barbados. According to my maps and GPS it was supposed to be about .8 miles that-a-ways. We walked down the beach for a bit then cut over to Highway 7, which we followed for about a half-mile. Soon the GPS was indicating we were there and we started searching. Thankfully I’d brought Dan along as he sighted the little bugger in about 10 seconds! I signed the log and we were preparing to hike back to the beach and the rest of the party when we met a couple from Pennsylvania and struck up a conversation. We exchanged pleasantries for a few minutes then I asked the question that I had thought of when we first saw them. I said, “Could we catch a ride with you all down to the beach?” I wasn’t looking forward to the hot walk back. They said they’d love to, but didn’t have a car! They, too, were walking. Well, I guess that put the kibosh on that plan, so after our pleasant return hike (?!?!) we at last arrived back at the beach. The water could not have looked any more inviting, so I immediately stripped down to my bathing trunks and went in. I won’t even try to describe the beauty of the water there. It was a translucent turquoise, of course. You can see that in the pictures. But pictures don’t do it justice. It was picture-postcard beautiful and I took advantage of it for almost 2 hours, bobbing around and chatting with the other folks also enjoying the day. One fellow I talked to from California said he’d been around the Caribbean a lot and thought Carlisle Bay was the nicest beach there! I wasn’t quite as much traveled, but readily concurred with his assessment. I looked toward the beach and sighed. I was the only one of our group who was enjoying the water. My wife is a non-swimmer and does not go into the sea and Dan also isn’t fond of salt water. Pam apparently tried going in while I was on my quest for the geocache, but was knocked down by the waves and decided that the shore was her place. Chuck was obviously watching his exertions and stayed under the umbrella. So you’ll have to take my word for it as to how great it felt!
We decided by 2:45 or thereabouts that we’d had enough of the tropical sun that day and cabbed back to the harbor. We did a little souvenir shopping there and returned to the ship. Judy took a nap and I, after my long hike and swim decided I needed some fortification, so I got a burrito at Rosie’s and hungrily ate it. Jerk pork was on the menu that night for supper, along with French onion soup and date/cinnamon cake with ice cream. Very nice!
The ship left the harbor late that day. Some sort of ship traffic snafu, a problem with which cruise ship was supposed to leave first, second, third, etc. We set sail about 1-½ hours late but were assured that we’d make our next port on time. The show in Ivanhoe Theater that night was a comedian/juggler named Dana Tison. He was very funny and an amazingly good juggler.
Another day done and another country visited. This is fun!
Thursday.
Today was to be the first of our booked tours on an island, in this case St. Lucia. We met up with Spencer Ambrose, the tour provider, a bit after 8 am and he assigned us a small bus along with a few other people. His son Small (real name) was our guide and he was fun and smart and very capable. We stopped at several spots to take photos and to listen to Small tell us all about what we were seeing. An old church, several fishing villages and a banana plantation were among the high points. The bananas they grow on St. Lucia are exclusively sent to Great Britain. Chiquita seems to have a monopoly on bananas for America and that’s a shame as we had one of the St. Lucia ones and they are very much superior to what we get here. Sweet and creamy and quite delicious! Lunch was provided for us in a small restaurant near the town of Soufriere – jerk chicken and lots of local sides along with a cold Piton beer – their best seller on the island.
We left the lunch stop and our next venture was a volcano. There is still an active one in St. Lucia. It’s actually not too much to see to be truthful – an area that looks like a landslide with steam vents blowing smoke and some small bubbling pools of water. The smell is sulfuric – rotten eggs – but it wasn’t too bad that day. All went well on that stop until our friend Chuck missed a step coming down from a gazebo rest area and took a tumble. He got a good scrape on his arm, knee and hand. Since he was on blood-thinners, he bled, as the old saying goes, like a stuck pig! Luckily, one of our fellow members of the tour is a nurse and she took charge, helping stop the bleeding and getting him bandaged up. I believe Chuck was more embarrassed than actually in pain. After some minutes getting him stabilized, we returned to the tour. We boarded a speedboat in Soufriere and rode to Jalousie Beach at the foot of the Piton Mountains. The Pitons are one of the pictorial must-sees of the Caribbean. Two sharp, green peaks rising almost vertically out of the dazzling blue sea with a beautiful, palm-bedecked beach at their feet. This iconic spot was our beach-break stop on the tour. We took shelter from the sun in a tree-shaded area of the beach and relaxed. The tour provided drinks for all and we all participated in them including an eye-popping rum punch. The tour assistants stated that it was part rum, part fruit juice and part rocket fuel. Probably close to the truth!
After this break we boarded two speedboats and proceeded back along the coast toward Castries where the Valor was docked. The boat stopped several times on the way back to allow us to take pictures of this and that. It was exhilarating and refreshing to go careening across the blue Caribbean in these fast boats, waving to the folks on shore and letting the wind blow through our hair. Very, very nice!
After returning to the cruise dock, I found the geocache that had been hidden very close by. Another country in the books!
After some obligatory souvenir shopping we returned to the ship and had supper at Rosie’s instead of the Lincoln Dining Room as we had been doing all cruise. This was the second “formal” night for dinner and we just didn’t feel like dressing up. The entertainment that night was an ‘80’s tribute in song and dance and we enjoyed it a lot. Since our day started about 90 hours ago (at least it felt that way) we retired early and were soon asleep in our home on the waves.
Friday.
Today was intended to be a quieter day for our stop at the island of St. Kitts. Nothing formally planned. Judy and I intended to just shop a little near the docks and relax on the ship afterward. But before doing anything with her, I had to get another geocache! This one would require a bit more travel, as it was located several miles from the docks. The description of the cache had recommendations on how to travel and get it. It said to “find one of the island busses (they are identified by green license plates with an HA on them) and ride it to the Ross Veterinary University, check at the gate-house there and the guard would give you the cache to sign. Then just flag down another bus for the ride back!” And believe it or not, it actually worked that way! Sort of. I left Judy still sleeping and exited the ship. The walk up the dock was long, then you had to walk past all the shops selling stuff to the tourists and that was a long way also. When I finally exited the dock area and got into the town of Basseterre itself I was already a bit tuckered. I found a green license plate and asked the driver if he was going my way. He pointed up the street and said to go to the bus terminal. Thankfully it was only another block further along. I went to one of the busses (actually they are about 11 passenger Toyota or Nissan vans) and asked about going to Ross. The young man driver answered in the island Creole accent we were getting used to hearing in the Caribbean, “Sure, mon. Jump in. We go soon!” So I climbed in and waited while the driver blew his horn and waved to person after person seeing if they needed a ride. After about 10 minutes of this he had his load and started up. Riding in the Caribbean, on a lot of the islands, is a bit disconcerting as they drive on the left. Most of the islands were under British control at one time or another, so that’s attributable to that influence. My guy zoomed around Basseterre and then was out on the highway. Soon he stopped and said, “There the gate, mon!” I thanked him and paid him the one-dollar fare! Soon I had the cache in hand, signed it and returned to the highway to flag down another “bus”. After another zippy ride through town I was again back at the bus terminal. I walked the 83 miles back to the ship (not really) and joined my wife for breakfast. A new country in the books and an adventure to boot!
After breakfast we again shopped. After shopping we stopped at an umbrella-shaded kiosk and enjoyed a cold Caribe beer – a staple in these parts I believe. Made and distributed right there in St. Kitts. Mighty tasty on a hot day!
Back onto the ship by 1 p.m. and took a short nap in our cool cabin. Then it was some ship’s pizza (actually pretty good) and a dip in the Prometheus Pool. After that we were in the cabin looking out our window and started watching the pier runners. They call cruise ship passengers who are late getting back to the boat and have to run to make the gangplank “pier runners”. We even saw one a prime example of the critters – a dude running for the ship and still holding his beer as it sloshed over his hand. A grand sport, watching pier runners!
Supper again in the Lincoln Dining Room and then to the casino to play slots a little while. We listened to the band outside the casino for a bit and then hit the hay. Ho-hum, another day in the islands.
Saturday.
Today is St. Maarten/St. Martin, the last island on our itinerary. The cruise is rapidly drawing to a close and this is definitely a melancholy thought for we six amigos. We arose early and were soon off the boat to meet Noel, the provider of our last tour. He was a friendly guy and had an 8-passenger van for our tour. This island is divided into two parts, a Dutch side to the south and a French side to the north. Since we docked in Phillipsburg on the Dutch side, that’s were the tour started. We drove around a bit and Noel described what we were seeing. He also pointed out the gobs of iguanas that peppered all the sunny spots adjoining the road. There were oodles of them. He stopped at the seaside and had a fellow who was there show us some of the sea animals that lived in the tidal pools. He first pulled out two sea urchins, one with short grayish spines, which he handed me, and another one with long sharp black spines that he called “the bad boy”. He wouldn’t let us hold that one because, he said, if it started fall and you tried to grab it, it’d stick ya bad! He also pulled out starfish and some other less identifiable creatures for us to look at. Quite interesting. At that stop Noel pulled out a bottle of the local guavaberry rum for us to try. It was quite tasty and invigorating!
Our beach stop on St. Martin was on the French side at Orient Beach. This beach is a “clothing optional” beach and that fact was very apparent. He stopped the van in one location to show the totally nude side of the beach. Two dudes were walking around there and demonstrating this option! Holy cow! He then drove us to “our” part of the beach, which was not totally nude but was “tops optional”. That also was quite apparent! Holy cow, again! He explained that the practice could be attributed to the Gallic (French) influence on that side of the island and that what was legal there was definitely not legal on the south side!
I popped in to the beautiful turquoise water for about a half an hour and it was very, very nice. People were parasailing and jetskiing all around me. Everyone seemed to be having a wonderful time at Orient Beach in the St. Martin sunshine.
After leaving the beach Noel asked if anyone was hungry. We all replied in the affirmative, but I was wondering what this was all about. The description of the tour I read did not include any lunch. Noel said that his taxi union was having their annual barbecue that day and he wondered if we might like to join them for lunch. I thought it was quite gracious of him to include us in their get together. We dined on barbecue chicken and ribs, rice/beans, salads, noodle dishes and pop. We paid just what the union members paid. And, to make it even more memorable, one of the island’s most well known singers was belting out island tunes from the front porch while we ate! Noel really served us “above and beyond” for that tour.
We stopped for about 40 minutes at Maho Beach after that to watch the jets come in. Maho Beach sits directly at the end of the runway for Princess Juliana International Airport at St. Maarten and all the jets come in real low over the beach to land. It is definitely a one-of-a-kind sort of place and watching the big jets come in seemingly almost touchable above your head was quite memorable if a bit unnerving.
It was then back to the boat and fist-bump good-byes to a unique individual – Noel of St. Maarten!
I then walked a hot half-mile back up the road toward Phillipsburg to grab the geocache on this island and end up four-for-four on this trip. (Bill pats himself on the back.)
Back on the boat everyone is starting to prepare for debarkation the next morning – packing, setting bags outside the door for pickup and delivery at the dock, getting the last-minute souvenirs from the ship stores. We ate in the Lincoln Dining Room for the last time – prime rib and Gran Marnier soufflé went down the hatch for this guy. Said our sad good-byes to our excellent wait staff. The rum we’d bought in St. Thomas was delivered to the room and packed in dirty clothes for padding. We went to the Legends show in the Ivanhoe Theater that evening. This is the one where people on the ship portray famous stars and sing one of the star’s songs. It’s funny and amazing how talented some of your fellow cruisers are. I highlight the word “some”, as some of them were… well… maybe not as talented as others? The last to perform is the cruise director. He is traditionally dressed like a woman (Dolly Parton for this cruise) and imitates her abysmally. It’s always funny as hell!
After that it was a slow crawl through the ship, looking at this and that and enjoying some of the last hours aboard.
At the end of the day and the end of the cruise, I pondered some thoughts...
Your fellow cruisers come in all shapes, sizes, colors and nationalities. They’ll range from the hideous (and I’m being gentle in this description) to the movie star beautiful and from the stick-thin to the horrendously obese. There is no reason to be concerned about your looks on a cruise. There will always be some less fortunate and others way more blessed in the looks department. Just enjoy. Cruising is very egalitarian. All the cruise lines are concerned with is making you happy and pocketing the bills in your pocket.
The water in the Caribbean is truly indescribable. It varies somewhat due to the angle of the sunlight and the brightness of the sun. It can change from a good blue to a marvelous shade of turquoise or aquamarine. Or even a fluorescent sapphire as the day progresses. It’s something I never tire of.
I don’t begrudge the islanders who are a bit persistent in their efforts to sell you something. We are their lifeblood and it behooves them to be energetic or else the cupboard becomes bare at home quite rapidly. I try to be as polite as possible when I’m not interested and to take advantages of their services when able.
A cruising week is a fast week! It is slow coming but goes by in the virtual blink of an eye. I told one of Valor’s crew in the elevator the other day that we have only one more day to cruise and I have fifty things I haven’t done yet. Holy shit!
Afterthought.
I’d like to dedicate this blog to the four friends and my wife who believed in me when I said that this cruise would be one for the books, who put up a non-trivial amount of money and who trusted that I knew what I was talking about. I worked very hard researching where to go, what to do and how to do it. I researched a lot! I hope I have not disappointed you. I wanted this vacation to be one of the best not only for you, but also for my wife and me. So for Chuck and Pam and Alice and Dan – thanks for your friendship, thanks for your trust and thanks for helping make this one of the best weeks of my life.
