A DREAM VACATION
To all of my faithful readers out there, I’d like to share a few facts with you if you would allow me. I find them interesting and so might you. They’re also apropos to the travelogue you’re about to read.
The Carnival Cruise Line has 27 ships sailing the world at this point in time consisting of 8 classes. These are: Fantasy – 70,000 gross tons, Triumph – 101,000 gross tons, Spirit – 88,000 tons, Conquest – 110,000 tons, Splendor – 113,000 tons, Dream – 130,000 tons, Sunshine – 102,000 tons and Vista – 133,000 tons. Those are the weights of those ships devoid of passengers or crew.
We have sailed on one Fantasy class, two Conquest classes and just last week on one of the biggest ones, a Dream class – actually the first of that class, the Carnival Dream. Our ship, our home-away-from-home was built in 2008, has a passenger capacity of 4,600 and has over 1,400 crew. On our particular sailing the passenger load was around 4,000 with over 400 children.
What’s really remarkable about being on a ship with that many people on board is that you usually don’t notice it as being too crowded. Occasionally there are lines of course, here and there. But they are usually not too long and move fairly quickly. I’ll give you some examples later on.
So with that being said, the rest of this blog concerns our vacation around the end of April and the beginning of May. Some might consider the blog fascinating, others interesting and the rest maybe ho-hum. In any event, for those wanting to come along, welcome!
This particular odyssey began in a cold Ohio drizzle on a Wednesday morning in late April about two weeks ago. We had decided to drive to the port for this cruise for several reasons. It would be a bit cheaper than flying, we actually enjoy road trips and the departure port was New Orleans – a two-day drive we had done before. There were two other couples joining us for the road trip part, and one of them would also be joining us on the cruise. We all were friends and co-workers and were looking forward to a nice trip. Their names were Chuck and Pam and Dan and Alice.
The road trip went fairly well until we encountered a traffic jam between Cincinnati and Louisville, Kentucky. A MASSIVE traffic jam. It took almost two hours before we were able to inch off at an exit. Then we had to detour around what ended up being a very bad accident on the interstate. Imagine thousands of trucks with a scattering of cars slowly making their way up and down small Kentucky roads for miles and miles to bypass this accident. By the time we returned to the interstate at the next exit we’d lost two to three hours driving time. Being slowed down in this spot meant we were to be rewarded by going through Nashville, Tennessee in the middle of a Wednesday rush hour. This is not a recommended thing to do. Judy and I finally got to the hotel we’d booked in northern Alabama much later than we’d planned. Our friends were even further behind. We finally met up with them at a restaurant near our hotels and told each other our individual traffic jam horror stories. After a decent meal it was off to our hotel beds and soon we were asleep.
On Thursday we again hit the road in a dreary rain which dogged us until we were in the state of Mississippi. A funny story: While passing through that state, Judy said that she’d seen an armadillo next to the highway. A live one. Now my wife has excellent eyes and can see things that most other folks can’t, but… an armadillo? In Mississippi? I kidded her about it for a while, but then, who knows? Maybe?
We enjoyed watching the countryside come alive as spring showed her green leaves and colorful flowers to our thankful eyes, more so with each mile southward we traveled. Ohio was definitely a week or two behind these latitudes in the springtime department.
Our GPS routed us to the big causeway across Lake Pontchartrain north of New Orleans. It’s an interesting stretch of highway with the big lake all around you. And there was an odd thing about our GPS routing that day too. When we were within a mile or so of our hotel, the GPS routed us INTO the New Orleans airport, PAST the departure drop-off area and then BACK out onto the highway. When I mentioned that odd thing to the hotel desk clerk, she said that she’d heard that story before. Just an odd thing about the roads in that area I guess. Oh yes, we also hit New Orleans rush hour traffic on I-10 during this leg of the journey. We seemed to never get a break. Again our travel companions were way behind us, so my wife and I ate supper alone at a restaurant across the street from the hotel. It was called the Voodoo Barbecue and Grill and had very good Nawlin’s type food. Judy ordered a shrimp dish that was just simply outstanding. This was in a suburb of New Orleans named Kenner where our hotel was, but the food was downtown NOLA good! We returned to the hotel around 8:30 and the other couples arrived a little after that. We mentioned a couple restaurants in the area and, if I’m not mistaken, they selected Wendy’s. In other words, on their first night in Creole-Cajun Country they ate fast food. I’m sure Paul Prudhomme, somewhere, was rolling in his grave. Judy and I were soon off to bed again with visions of heavy traffic and Cajun-flavored shrimp dancing in our heads.
On Friday, my wife and I were going to be tour guides for a while. Our friends had never been to NOLA, so we were going to show them a few things, orient them a bit as to where everything we knew about in the French Quarter was and then turn them loose.
We ate breakfast at the hotel then drove all three cars into town. After a few detours through the Quarter, we arrived at our parking lot near the old Jax brewery on Decatur. As is the case in most big cities and especially in tourist areas, parking is expensive. $30 for five hours in this case. The other two couples had brought electric scooters to help the ladies get around as the women have some mobility issues. I led this merry procession to one of Judy’s and my favorite stops in the French Quarter, the Café du Monde. We had to have our friends taste beignets and café au lait. The perfect way to start the day in the Crescent City! They were busy there, but they always are, seems like. We savored the tasty French pastries and the creamy coffee, then walked (and scooted) across the street to where carriage rides were available. We all bought passage on a carriage pulled by a mule named Freckles, whose spotted hide gave credence to his name. By the way, they use mules in NOLA instead of horses because the mules are stronger, smarter and don’t mind the heat as much as horses would. At least that’s what our driver told us.
Our carriage ride went through the French Quarter, while our driver (muleskinner?) described what we were seeing and told us a lot of the history of the area, all of which was fascinating. We stopped at the St. Louis No. 1 cemetery halfway through the tour and did a walking tour of it. Judy and I had seen it before, but it was still an interesting hour or so. As a note: Nicholas Cage has a new tomb in there, pyramid-shaped, prepared for his eventual demise. Very odd. Another fact: the tombs there are all above ground due to the high water table. Because of the heat in NOLA, a body in a tomb will turn to dust in about a year – a slow cremation. Then, when another body needs to be entombed, they just brush the dust off from the previous occupant and slide in the new wooden coffin. Thus a whole family can utilize a smallish tomb. Then back to Freckles and the carriage and the ride back to Jackson Square where we had started.
After that we moved to Aunt Sally’s praline shop nearby to purchase some of New Orleans best confections– pralines! Then we split up, letting the other two couples visit and tour the area as they wanted.
Judy and I walked further east down Decatur Street to a bar called Tahyo. Some backstory about that if I may. We had become fond of a TV show on the Animal Planet channel called “Pit Bulls and Parolees”. It was about a lady, Tia Torres and her family, who ran a dog rescue facility called Villalobos and who had ended up in New Orleans rescuing Pit Bull dogs. She also liked to hire parolees so they could have a chance on the outside. I believe Tia’s husband is in prison, so her preference for parolees is understandable. Anyhow, they always need more money to support their dogs, so they’d opened up a bar and a shop in the Quarter. All profits from them went to support the rescue center. Judy and I had a drink there, bought a t-shirt and helped the cause!
We then returned to our car (the five hour limit was almost up) and headed out to the Villalobos Rescue Center itself on Claiborne Street to take some pictures of the place. Unfortunately, on the way there, while I was negotiating a merge into traffic, someone banged into our car from the rear. By the time I pulled over, the offender had driven away. Just another hit-and-run in good ol’ Nawlins. The damage was ugly, but the car was driveable, the trunk was ok and all the lights worked. So… We drove on to Villalobos and took some pictures of the buildings and of people walking some of the rescued dogs. This was probably the low point of the vacation for me. We then drove back to the hotel, about 15 miles, again through quitting time traffic.
Kinda getting used to it by then.
Supper was back at the Voodoo barbecue place with our friends and then back to the hotel, the air conditioning, a little TV and then the comfortable bed.
Saturday was another sunny day in southern Louisiana. We decided not to go back downtown today. We had been there a number of times and actually couldn’t think of anything we particularly wanted to do there that we hadn’t done before. We encouraged our friends to do so however. We decided to do some laundry. (How boring was that?) The hotel’s laundry room was right across the hallway from our room so it was easy. Judy had even brought some detergent with us from home for that very reason! I ran out and grabbed a geocache while Judy starting the clothes and she was about done when I returned. I got one, too, which adds another state to our tally. Did some research on where to eat supper that night as it would be the last night for all six of us and I hoped to make it a memorable place. Decided on a local favorite, The Kenner Fish Restaurant. We drove down there that evening and, even though they were quite busy, were seated in less than 10 minutes. They had a very extensive menu, many of the items seafood, obviously. We saw a lot of locals sitting around us devouring boiled crawfish – mudbugs as they call them down there. Looked interesting, but decided to pass that evening on the “bugs”. Ended up with stuffed catfish, sides and a local beer, Abita Amber. Very large portions all around. Sadly I’m not sure my friends were all that into seafood, but they seemed OK with what they ordered and everything seemed to be right with the world that evening.
Next day, Sunday, was finally embarkation day! Yippee! We were up early and finished packing. I had several hurdles to overcome last week before I was totally sure I’d be able to make the trip – a couple of medical procedures – but they’d been completed satisfactorily and at last we were going.
We had a hotel breakfast with our friends and wished the couple who were heading off on their own, Chuck and Pam, good luck and fun on their travels. We talked to the other couple who were going with us and made plans for our drive down to the pier. We left a bit early as NOLA was having Jazz Fest that week and I was a little concerned about the traffic. Actually the drive was fast and easy. We encountered a line of cars waiting to enter the parking garage – cruisers obviously – but were in and parked fairly quickly. Checking in to the ship was mostly quick and painless. Lines of course, but all moving steadily. Soon we were on the ship! Carnival Dream, like all the other Carnival ships we’ve sailed on, is a beauty. Some say they’re “too gaudy” or “too over the top” in decor. Maybe we’re just simple folk, but we like it! We got our “sail and sign” cards before boarding – the card you use to “purchase” anything onboard – and they were gold this time! We’ve accrued 25 or more days sailing with Carnival and had achieved this level. It was a little exciting to be on the third tier of cruisers. The colors of the tiers are: blue, red, gold, platinum and diamond, each level attained by the number of days you have sailed with the Line. We ate our lunch at the Gathering buffet on the Lido deck and soon were in our stateroom. This was our first balcony cabin on a Carnival ship, so we were really enjoying being able to sit outside and watch the world from there. Our luggage was delivered quickly and soon we were all unpacked and snug in our little home away from home for the week.
I sat on the balcony as the ship left port and snapped away with my camera, recording how the Mississippi looked from a ship sailing down it. Saw lots of refineries, docks, tugboats and barges. We heard a knock on our balcony door and saw it was our room steward Arnold. He was setting up how many times we wanted our room made up and if we had any other requirements. He learned our names immediately and anytime we saw him in the halls during the cruise he called us by them. Good guy! Later in the day as we left most of civilization upriver, it was mostly trees and swamps. And lots and lots of brown Mississippi River water heading down toward the Gulf just as we were.
We had supper in the MDR (main dining room) that evening – the four of us – Dan, Alice, Judy and I. This ship had two main dining rooms, Scarlet and Crimson. I had trouble remembering which was ours. I remembered red, but that wasn’t good enough. (Why did they name them both synonyms of red?) Lots of fun during the week. We had good food and good conversation that meal. Our assigned dining room waiters were wonderful and knew our names after only hearing them once. Our head waiter, Sherwin, a Philipino, was perfect in his job and we loved him almost immediately. We could not remember ever having an issue with any of Carnival’s crew on any ship we’ve sailed on. Hard working, polite, friendly, good at their positions and always, always with a smile on their faces.
Judy and I went to the Welcome Aboard show in the main theater after supper to see what our Cruise Director was like. A good CD can make a good cruise into a great cruise and we lucked out on ours. His name was Lee, a 31-year-old Brit, and as full of energy as anyone you’ve ever met. A truly nice man and a natural born CD. He was MC of the show, talked about the ship and this and that, then introduced the singers and dancers we’d see during the week and they did a number. He then led them (and another 500 merrymakers) the length of the ship in a big conga line. They really push having fun on these ships! Finally we adjourned back to the cabin, poked our heads out to watch the blackness of the Mississippi as it neared its mouth, and then hit the hay.
Monday would be our first full day on the cruise. It was a sea day, meaning we would not hit a port that day. I awoke before Judy, around 7, and I slipped out onto our balcony to see what I could see. The sun was directly in front of me and it was forming a gleaming silver river of light across the blue water leading right to our cabin. At least it seemed like that. It was warm – mid 70’s – with a slight breeze from the motion of the ship. A couple small fair-weather cumulus clouds dotted the sky and there was not a sign of land or ship anywhere, just a straight line where the light blue sky met the gentle sea. I sat there a while contemplating my good fortune at being at this place at this time. The ship gently swayed beneath me and I closed my eyes and, as the hippies used to say, dug it all!
Finally I left the paradise of our balcony, cleaned up and grabbed a coffee from the Lido and again enjoyed the sunny morning on the balcony. We met Alice and Dan in the dining room for a sea-day brunch – a special meal they just served just on sea days. I had an omelet with bacon and cheese grits. We chatted with several couples at nearby tables and enjoyed the ambiance. The four of us then adjourned to the theater to watch our high energy CD Lee in the Fun Ashore, Fun Aboard show. I bailed out early, walked around the ship a bit and took some pictures, then went back to the cabin. I may have napped.
That night was formal night in the MDR, where folks could dress up as fancy as they wanted. We put on our good duds and joined Alice and Dan and the rest of the well-dressed crowd. Lobster and prime rib were showcased for that meal and we all ate very well. It was amazing how snazzy we could all clean up! There was a Motown theme to the theatrical show that night and we attended after a quick visit back to the room where we put back on our comfy clothes. After the main show we went to the aft lounge for the late R-rated comedy show which was quite funny. Then back to the cabin to crash. Tomorrow would be Mexico!
Tuesday was another bright sunny day. This would be the rule for our trip that week. We were so lucky. We were done with breakfast around 10:30 and hit the gangway down to Costa Maya on Mexican soil around 12:30. I had booked us a day at a beach club called Tropicante just down the shore from the docks. If you’re familiar on how the ports for Carnival work, here’s the scoop. You generally dock at a long, long pier from which you have to walk to the port itself. Then you generally go through some sort of building where the local vendors get their first crack at you. Then you exit that area to another open air shopping area where there are many shops where you can buy all kinds of things. After walking through that you reach the entrance to the port itself. On land it was very hot and it was affecting Judy a lot. It crossed her mind to turn back to the ship and the a/c, but she pushed onwards and made it to the taxi stand (where we almost stepped on an iguana). We selected one (cab not iguana) and were driven to the resort.
Tropicante is on the beach with shaded and open sun seatings, a restaurant and bar, and many vendors walking by with items for sale. They weren’t pushy at all, so we just shook our heads no and continued enjoying our day as they passed by. We had beach loungers under coconut palm trees and a friendly waiter who came around often to ask if we needed anything – food, a drink, etc. It was a very pleasant place. I went out in the water for about an hour. It was warm, clear and very inviting. Our lunches were yummy – I had fish tacos and Judy fried fish and fries. Prices were quite reasonable and they didn’t charge for anything other than the food and drinks. Nice! I used sun block, but ended up getting a bit burned on my face and head anyway. Typical situation for me in the tropics. We enjoyed ourselves for the afternoon and then taxied back to the ship around 5:15. Dinner was again with our shipmates in the Scarlet. Or was it the Crimson? Damn. Anyway, I had a seafood-in-penne-pasta dish. It was OK, but I wouldn’t order it again. The drink waiter came around with shots and I purchased one. Kind of a Fireball-based concoction. Creamy yellow, quite hot and I got to keep the glass! Alice had stayed on the ship that day – not feeling well and her scooter was kaput – wouldn’t charge – and Dan had exited and done some shopping. We parted after talking a bit about the next day, which would be Mahogany Bay in Honduras.
On Wednesday we were up earlier as we would port around 8 am. I watched the trees and houses of Roatan Island drift by as the ship was maneuvering toward the dock, again glad for the front-row seat from our balcony. Alice and Dan had booked an island tour with us earlier, so they were raring to go. Due to her scooter dying, Alice had a Carnival employee push her in a wheelchair out of the ship, up the dock and through the shopping area to where there were cabs available to take us to where our independent tour was to depart. The independents were not allowed to be on the Carnival property to pick up business, so we had to go to them outside the gates. We got on a 10-seater van and started our tour of Roatan Island. We learned a lot of the history and geography of the island and of Honduras itself. Our driver warned us to not go to the mainland, as it was quite a dangerous place. He said that most of the drugs used in this hemisphere came through the Nicaragua/Honduran border. All politicians were corrupt also he said, even on the island. He also said that there were quite a few ex-pats living on the island – Americans, Brits and Italians. Their areas of the island are pretty nice and well kept, the rest not so much. After a while we stopped at their private “zoo” and were able to hold and interact with monkeys, macaws and sloths. Afterward we traveled to the West End beach where we were let off at the Bananarama beach resort for a 2-hour beach break. It was another beautiful place with palms and sand and clear Caribbean water. I took another dip and the water was a bit cooler than it was in Costa Maya but still pleasant after the heat of the day. After a half-hour and more sun, I went back to the shade with the other three. Pizza and a great mixed drink called a bananarama (go figure) made our lunch. Alice got her hair braided (also go figure). Then the van picked us up and, after a bumpy ride back (the roads are pretty miserable there), deposited us at the pier.
Supper that night was on the Lido deck at the buffet as none of us wanted a formal setting. Food was so-so. Judy and I stopped at the casino for a few minutes and dropped $20. We’re SUCH big spenders! We sat together on our balcony and watched the shopping area on the island after the cruisers had all left and gone back to their ships. It looked so empty and sad in the afternoon sunshine. We waved goodbye to Honduras as our ship pulled from the dock and headed north away from the island. We took in another show in the theater – 80’s theme this time with many cool affects – pyrotechnics, lasers, moving treadmills and rising/falling stages. Pretty cool!
Thursday would consist of several firsts for us. A new country – Belize. Our first tender port – where the ship anchored five miles from the port and we were ferried in and out by smaller boats. Our first Mayan ruins. I was really looking forward to it – Judy not so much. Tendering ended up being very easy. They extended a gangway from the ship to the smaller boat and we walked over. Easy-peasy. Of course the sea was pretty calm. Wouldn’t have been that simple if we had some 10-footers around! We got on busses at the port and started off on our exploration of Belize City. Our travel guide was a pretty Belizian lady who spoke perfect English with just a touch of the island patois. She told us LOTS of facts about her country. A few: it’s the only Central American country whose official language is English. It used to be British Honduras until the 70’s when it gained its independence and its new name. They have poisonous snakes, crocodiles and the largest population of manatees in the world. It used to be a big-time mahogany producer – used to log them in the mountains and float ‘em down the river to the sea. She even taught us some Creole words that the locals use among themselves. After seeing the city we rode about 45 minutes out to the Altun Ha Mayan ruins site. She turned us over to an Altun Ha guide who led us back to the site itself. Again we got lots of facts. Altun Ha was the only Mayan site where they did NO human sacrifices. They think it was because this site was a major religious place. There were several structures that had been excavated there, among them two pyramids that could be climbed.
I climbed the shorter of the two.
To experience how this procedure felt, go to the staircase in your home right now. Climb it, two steps at a time WITHOUT touching the railing. Make sure you climb 27 or more steps doing this. Then come down the same way, 2 steps at a time, no railing. Yes, not a whole lot of fun, eh? This 71-year-old was sure huffing and puffing after this adventure. You betcha! But finally this box was ticked off on my bucket list and I had a smile on my face after the feat even though I was knackered. I took a bunch of pictures and still had enough energy to walk back to the bus. I did end up dozing a bit on the ride back to the port though. Another fact passed on to us from the guide around then: ocelots, jaguars, pumas and other big cats were VERY common in the backcountry – like where we were near the ruins. The people living there would very often see them at night. Very often. Sometimes they’d even eat the livestock and the dogs. Really gave me a shudder thinking that those cats might even THEN be watching us from the encroaching jungle passing by our bus and licking their spiny whiskers. Brrr…!
The tender back to the ship was non-eventful. Judy and I celebrated the hot day by again getting an ice cream cone on the Lido. As we were beginning to be hungry, we had a Guy’s burger for lunch. Guy Fieri, a famous chef on the Food Channel, was chosen to put his name and his burger recipe to burger shops on Carnival ships. They are VERY good burgers! We enjoyed our all-American feasts to the last morsel. We returned to our balcony and watched the last tender boat pull away from the Dream and then watched us follow a Royal Caribbean ship leaving the docking area. We skipped out of the second formal night in the MDR (Scarlet?) and went to the Deli for a later supper. We weren’t too hungry after the Guy’s burger, so didn’t do much justice to our deli sandwiches. Walked to the theater then to watch that night’s production. It was called “Flick” and paid tribute to songs from movies. It was the best of the week! Very dramatic, exciting and entertaining. Quite tired afterward. Received word that Alice and Dan would not be joining us for our day at Nachi Cocum on Cozumel the next day, so we would be on our own. Then it was off to bed.
On Friday we were back in Mexico. Aiii cucaracha! Cozumel would be a repeat for us. We’d been there before about a decade ago, and were going back to the same beach resort we’d been to before – Nachi Cocum. This is an all-inclusive resort about 15 miles south of the port. It limits its customers to 100 or less per day, so it’s usually pretty quiet compared to some of the other resorts around. I exited the boat early by myself. I wanted to get a geocache and return for breakfast with Judy. I walked the long hot pier and into the hot shopping area before turning on my GPS. When I did I saw that the nearest geocache was 2 ½ miles away downtown. (We’d docked at the Puerto Maya pier, some ways from downtown.) Jeepers! I wasn’t walking 5 miles round trip to get a geocache or paying a cab to take me, so I returned to the ship and called it a no-go on the caching there. After breakfast we walked the pier, Judy for the first time that day and me the second. We went through the entrance building and into the shopping area. My lovely wife was again saying how hot it was, and yadda-yadda-yadda. I calmly (!?!?) told her that gee whiz, woman. It’s Mexico in the springtime. It’s supposed to be hot! Wait until July and August! Perhaps I could have been more understanding, but… Ya gotta tough some things out for the reward at the end. Gee whiz.
We cabbed out to the resort and yes, it’s still as nice as it was before – perhaps even nicer. Soft sandy beach, thatched palapas (big umbrellas) for shade, beach recliners, restaurant, bars, new restrooms and showers/changing rooms, a pool and hot tub. And to our delight, it was only about half full. Bad for them I suppose, but nice for us. We were led to our palapa and had our first drink of the day. I once again went into the water and enjoyed myself for a while. It was cooler than I would have liked, but after a few minutes it was quite OK. Then back to the lounger, another drink and a lovely lunch of broiled grouper with sides of rice and veggies. VERY good. Also had a shrimp cocktail and it was absolutely wonderful! The cocktail sauce in which the shrimp were immersed was truly something to write home about. Judy had chips and salsa with her lunch and I tried the salsa. I immediately warned her about it after one bite. It was HOT! Of course I had to eat most of it and suffered for a while from the ol’ tongue burn! After I ate I went to the swimming pool then the hot tub. The latter really hit the spot and I ended up spending some real quality time in there. It was a quiet and peaceful day.
We were back on the ship by 2 p.m. after making a few purchases in the shopping area at the dock. Vanilla was a priority, of course, this time for Judy’s sister and my brother Chuck – we still had a big bottle from a previous trip. I asked Judy if she wanted to shop for some silver jewelry then as Cozumel is the place to get it. She declined. I guess I’m lucky she’s not that into jewelry. Back on the ship we enjoyed the a/c and another ice cream cone. Not good for me, really, but this indulgence all stops in a day or two. The ship pulled away from the dock around 5 and we offloaded the pilot about 15 minutes later. We ate again in the MDR (some sort of red) and caught up with Dan and Alice. I had Veal Parmesan with spaghetti and Judy a pork chop. Dan had been ashore that day and done some shopping, Alice had not. We found out that there had been a flood on the ship the other day. We didn’t know about it. It was on deck 9, port side. We were on deck 8, port side and were oblivious. It was a broken water line that flooded a hallway and a number of cabins. It was soon fixed and the clean-up was mostly done in about a day or day-and-a-half. They even replaced most of the carpeting in the damp areas. Two passengers decided to go home early because of the water, but the rest stayed on and were rewarded by having their cruises paid for and half of their next one. Carnival’s real good about stuff like that.
The ship was rocking a bit that evening and that made for a great night for sleeping. Obviously I have no problem with seasickness. PS. I take Bonine just in case!
Saturday was our last full day of the cruise. It was inherently sad, of course, but I believe Judy and I were about ready for land and the trip home. I was VERY tired last night. We went to the theater for the performance about Rock music. It was loud, but even with the volume I still kept nodding. We had planned on going to the comedy club again, but I begged off and dropped like a rock.
The ship was still bouncing around a little that morning, but we’d become quite used to the motion by then. To add a big punctuation mark to the cruise, the sun was again shining down on us as we sailed through the Gulf of Mexico again, this time homeward bound. As we worked our way through packing our luggage for the next day’s departure, I gave some thought about our week’s adventure. Had the preceding days been worth it? Did they matter in the big picture? I of course answered myself with a big SURE! Of course there had been some down times to go along with the ups. Damaging the car was a bummer of course. Toughing our way through numerous traffic jams wasn’t fun in any respect nor was the brutal heat in various places. It was also sad Alice’s buggy died and she wasn’t able to quite do all she wanted, but she did get a fair amount done anyway. On the flip side, we saw some exceedingly lovely tropical places, met some great people, ate very, very well and lived what many would consider la dolce vita - “the good life” for a while. We again saw how some of the other folks in the world lived and a lot of that again made us thankful for all our blessings.
All in all, it was a nice vacation.
By the way, that sunny day sailing the Gulf of Mexico was Cinco de Mayo and that meant party time on the Dream. Seems like there were a LOT of reasons for parties on Carnival.
We attended the debarkation talk with Lee the CD. He seemed to be everywhere this trip! We needed to be out of our stateroom by 8 am the next morning to give the steward time to freshen it up for the next guest. We’d wait in the aft lounge until our debarkation group number was called then proceed to the gangway and onward through customs and back to our car in the garage.
We had lunch that day up on the Lido deck again. I told Judy that I was having Indian food and what did she want to get? She answered, “Not Indian!” I laughed. (She’s not a fan) We noshed our lunches and also grabbed a selection from the chocolate buffet. That was a selection of chocolate baked goodies they present the last day on the ship. After chocolotizing ourselves, we wandered back to the theater where Lee (remember him?) along with the hotel director and the entertainment director were available for a q & a session. Lots of interesting questions were asked and answered along with a detailed explanation on the flooding of deck 9 several days before. We heard the TRUE story, not the fantasy you saw on some social media. We then stuck around for the $5,000 bingo game. We played and guess what? We didn’t win! Surprise! Oh well. Judy and I had Miami Vice cocktails about then and they were mmmmm good! We got back to the room soon after and saw a box on our table and it had three full bottles of whiskey in it! Three full bottles of the good stuff. Obviously delivered to the wrong cabin. We called our steward and had it whisked away (and hopefully delivered to the correct recipient this time). I am constantly amazed by my honesty!
Supper was prime rib tonight (for me) and other goodies for my shipmates. Baked Alaska was our dessert and it was quite good. We tipped extra to our room steward and to our restaurant guys. At the end of the meal the whole dining room staff sang the “Leaving on a Fun Ship” song (to the tune of Leaving on a Jet Plane) and it was so sad as it always is. We’d had such a good time and it was now drawing to a close.
We returned to our room, finished packing the bags that would be carried off the ship that night for us and put them in the hallway. Then we sat on our much-beloved balcony and watched the sun go down. That evening we walked to the casino and played slots a little more. I ended up about $60 to the good, making up for the $20 from before and the $20 for that night. It’s always nice to be on the plus side in the casino. Then we took in the last comedy show of the trip and one more drink – this one on the house for us as GOLD card folks. The comedian was quite a funny man, but the bed was calling our names and soon we were snoozing.
Sunday we debarked from our fun ship. Out of the room by 8 am. Waited in the lounge for our number to be called. Off the ship by 9:15 and in our car by 9:30. An excellent debarkation.
I could sit here and talk about the next two days also, but be assured it was long stretches of driving, short rest stops and a nice hotel near Nashville at the halfway home point. We eventually arrived home in the early evening of Monday, tired but happy to be home where our son and our dog were waiting.
If you’ve followed along this far, gentle reader, what do you think? Sound like fun? If so, I’ll give you the phone number of Eric, our Carnival PVP, Personal Vacation Planner, and he’ll get ya all set up. If you haven’t done this before, give ‘er a try.
I always seem to get a bit emotional and have deep thoughts after a good time like this. Was it worth it? Did I enjoy it? Will I do it again? And the one that’s the biggest of all now days: How many more of these do I have left? Will I be around to cruise some more? Do I have one more in me? Five more? Or more? I’m no longer a youngster you know and the health issues of mine, my wife and our friends have become more and more relevant in selecting vacations. I guess, when all is said and done, all I can do is be thankful for what I’ve had and be hopeful for what’s ahead. As we like to say around these parts, “If the Lord’s willin’ and the creek don’t rise.” And if that’s the case my friend, maybe I’ll see you on a Lido deck sometime in the near future. I’ll buy you a drink, you’ll buy me one and we can both watch the blue, blue water of some tropical ocean flow by the sleek hull of our wonderful fun ship.
