Subject: Weekend Update: The Cruise Date: Mon 5/10/99 1:48pm "Summer's here. I'm for that! I got my rubber sandals; got my straw hat... It's my favorite time of the year and I'm glad that it's here." -- James Taylor We were completely cut off from reality for an entire week and came back to long grass, leaves on the trees, and the news that our Associate Pastor John Reilly has accepted the senior pastorate at the Keene church. Wow, we have some catching up to do. But for the moment, if you don't want to read a long update on our second honeymoon, delete now. Otherwise, print this out, get your Pina Colada and put on your shorts before you read on. --------------------- The Trip and the Ship --------------------- We arranged transportation to and from the airport with my father. He brought grandma up to Pepperell to spend time with the children and brought us back to Quincy on Saturday night in preparation for our 7:00am flight the next morning. Arising before 5:00am, we got to the airport in plenty of time to catch our flight to San Juan, Puerto Rico. We boarded the plane and stowed the luggage when the pilot announced that one of the engines failed an FAA safety test. Everybody off! The problem was traced to a few wires but the ordeal lasted and lasted and lasted. They announced that we expected to reboard at 10:00; then 10:30. Then at about 11:30 a State Trooper casually arrived to mill about the terminal gate. We knew then that trouble was worse than originally thought. We finally got off the ground at 1:30pm after a six and one half hour delay over wires and additional repairs that were needed because of things broken during the original repairs. This meant missing our walking tour of Old San Juan. (Argh!) We arrived at the ship at around 6:00pm, embarked and did our embarkation paperwork. Our luggage was not waiting for us in our cabin as we had expected. It didn't arrive until 15 minutes before sailing (9:45pm) so we went to the late dinner (8:00pm) in our street clothes after a quick shower. I washed my hair with soap that evening because they do not provide shampoo for guests. We decided not to bring our own because "every luxury hotel provides shampoo. Also, our video camera went on the fritz. I should have checked it out before we left, but it always worked for us so I didn't. We got no video of the trip. :-( x 100. We did take 6 rolls of film, however, and perhaps if some of them come out well, I'll make them available over the internet. After 10:00pm we had a safety drill where we donned life jackets and assembled in designated areas to rehearse what we should do in case of collision with ice bergs. By the end of the first day, I was too tired and too miffed to deal with anything else so we went to bed. Things DID get better - a LOT better - a whole lot better! The ship was enormous! Joy and I still feel as if it moves beneath our feet after a week of almost imperceptable swaying. It is nearly three football fields long and 12 stories high (with two of them under water). We dwarfed many of the luxury hotels we passed on the islands. Our cabin, way down on deck 4 was very nice. In fact, it was far away from the "thud, thud, thud" of music coming through the walls and floors in the many lounges they had around the ship to all hours of the morning. And since we were on the inside, we had no window to wake us early. The accomodations were very adequate (except for the lack of shampoo) and we had no trouble navigating our way around the ship, except for remember which way to turn for dinner versus the pool or debarkation. Dinner was on deck 8, the pool on deck 10, and the track on deck 12. They also had a topless sunbathing area that Joy and I went up to see... after dark. The ship had several pools and a water slide, a casino, shops, and many, many lounges. (The Paris Lounge probably sat 800-1000 people.) ----------- The Islands ----------- St. Thomas According to the [tape-recorded] cruise director, St. Thomas was the place to shop on the cruise. I learned later that this was more of an advertising pitch than anything else because there are hawkers on every island. We didn't book any excursions because of our late arrival on the previous day (so in a way, our 6-hour delay lost us two islands!). Joy wanted to do some shopping so we made this our priority activity of the day. St. Thomas *was* the place to shop for jewelry and liquor, if you are so inclined. Joy tried on an emerald bracelet. When I asked how much it was, the attendant replied "seventy nine ninety five." I thought, "Wow, that is cheap," then asked out loud, "Wait a minute. Where's the decimal point in that price?" Oh yes, Joy had an $8000.00 bracelet on her wrist for just a few minutes. The one she liked was only $3250.00 (asking price). We did shop until I was about to drop - included a run to the "Pueblo" supermarket for shampoo (paying $3 instead of $6). The shops were just inside the pier area so we didn't have far to wander. The downside of this is that we didn't see much of St. Thomas! :-( However, after we returned to the ship, we sat by and in the pool which is when I we really began to feel our vacation unwind us. From this point on, we could have been abducted by aliens and had the same effect. In a manner of speaking, we were with aliens the whole time. But we shut off the news and spent the week in unreality. Guadeloupe We booked an excursion on Guadeloupe called the "Floral Park and Island" tour which took us to a mountain stream and waterfall and then to a cultivated park. Our bus driver made Massachusetts drivers seem temperate and cautious. I was amazed at the places he dared to pass through and back into. The tours are well-timed to keep things moving and get us back to the ship in plenty of time. Joy and I walked through an open air market where we had our first non-purchase regret. Joy saw a bamboo basket (large enough to carry many vegetables from our garden) that we turned down and thought we'd have liked later on, but the other islands didn't have one like it. St. Lucia We skipped the pre-packaged excur$ions and hooked up with some others to rent a taxi to Pigeon Point National Park and Beach. We walked around the ruins of an old fort and climbed to the top of a small peak to survey much of the island before spending the rest of the day on the beach. The park would not accept our traveler's cheque (at first) asking us to break it with a purchase in the gift shop or restaurant and then return later to pay the park entrance fee. We found nothing in those places that we wanted and brought only enough cash for the taxi ride there and back. In the end, they did indeed cash our traveler's cheque but not before mightily attempting to siphon off more of our tourist dollars. Grenada In my opinion, our best day was spent on Grenada. The port is too shallow for the ship to dock so people were ferried in where dozens of water taxis awaited to take us to a large beach a mile or so away. The water taxis were our least expensive conveyance of the trip at just $2/pp each way! Grenada had the most hawkers we'd seen, too. At least half a dozen people asked me if I wanted my hair braided; oh, they asked Joy too. Joy bought a palm-weaved basket from one man, bartering him down to $5 from his starting price of $12, which means that the palm-weave basket she purchased was probably worth $2. Grenada is also known as the spice island, and we did pick up some spices before reboarding the ship. We learned to snorkel on Grenada (thanks to the mask and snorkel loans of Dave and Paula Bickom and Elery Shaw) and although we were not near a coral reef with colorful fish, we did swim among schools of small silver fish (and others!) and enjoyed ourselves so much that we burned our backs and the backs of our legs that day. Oops. Should have used more of the sun screen! St. Lucia and Grenada were the most picturesque islands on our tour. Our Day at Sea On our way to our last port, we spent an entire day at sea, hiding from the sun (because of our burn on the prior day). There was a line of two blues everywhere you looked from the ship of sea and sky. We played cards and went down the water slide and into the pool for a while before dinner and a show. Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic After a day at sea, we docked in Santo Domingo in what was a great contrast to the rest of the islands. The water was very polluted and brown with refuse (old shoes, plastic bags, etc.) floating by the ship. The nation is dirt poor and the stories that people told us related to them by their tour guides said that the people despise their government and blame them for the poverty-stricken conditions. We only debarked for a short time to shop in the port terminal, doing no excursions that day. San Juan, Puerto Rico As I mentioned, we missed Old San Juan on the first day and hoped to see it on the last day. However, the ship docked on the wrong side of the port (on the other side, one can walk into Old San Juan in minutes). We opted not to get a taxi but instead took our bus to the airport to await our flight home. By the last day, we were eager to get the traveling behind us, although Joy wanted to pack our waiter, bus boy, and cabin steward. She wondered who would make our bed, fill our water glasses, and serve us dinner. -------------------- Food! Glorious Food! -------------------- Everything you have heard about cruise food is absolutely true. There is food, food, and more food. But I want to tell you about the dining experience. Never before have I taken almost two hours to eat any dinner. Dinner time was eaten in a formal dining room. Each place setting had linens and over ten pieces of silverware per person. Cirilo, our Honduran waiter, would place the linen napkins on our laps before each meal and present us with a different leather-bound menu each evening. I once offered my half empty glass as he came to refill it but he reached past me and waited with the pitcher atilt until I placed the glass on the table where it should be so he could fill it. I was not to lift a finger! They also removed silverware from our places after each course. I thought perhaps they were punishing me for not eating salad but later learned that it was just another culture shock wave that hit me. My food experience for the week included (but not complete) was the following: Three peppercorn steak Apple Pie Beef Wellington Ice cream Prime Rib au Jus Chocolate Truffle Beef Berginon Pumpkin Custard Pie NY Sirloin Chocolate [something-or-other] Jerked pork loin Hazelnut Creme Broulez Escargot Chocolate Mouse Veal Stroganoff Chocolate cake and ice cream Fillet Mignon Strawberry cheesecake (Joy) Chateuabriand in Bearnais sauce Cheesecake (Joy) Smoked Atlantic Salmon Ice cream cones Louisiana Prawns Over Roasted Turkey (Joy's salads and fruits, etc.) Calzone al forno Pizza Spaghetti Chicken with some spinach (Joy) And on the second night we had... (just kidding!). Coke was $2.50 for a 20 oz. bottle so I abstained for the week, subsiding on apple juice, tea, and water. That was nothing compared to the liquor prices. We overheard that one person's bar tab by Wednesday exceeded $600.00! There were plenty of waiters and waitresses out on deck asking if you wanted a drink or refill from the bar. I am sure we frustrated several of them with our persistent declines. ----------------- The Entertainment ----------------- Every night there was a show. Some nights there was a magic show, or juggler, or some other performer followed by a singer, most of whom were very good and entertaining. On two nights, there were broadway-style revues (one of which might have had a parental guidance rating, but all other shows were suited for family consumption). After midnight, they also had an R-rated show for adults only. Joy and I were in bed and fast asleep on every night before midnight so we can't tell you how these shows stacked up. Our waiters entertained us also - beside their impeccable service - by dancing down the aisles to the strains of "Hot, Hot, Hot" and "La Macarena". Seemingly ubiquitous was the "Happy Birthday" and "Happy Anniversary" renditions each night at various tables. A couple at our table tipped off the waiters to our anniversary, so we were also serenaded as well. The food was also entertaining, especially on the penultimate night when one dining room was open at 11:30pm for pictures only of the food and ice sculptures (until 1:30AM when it could be consumed). A similar banquet was open at 11:30pm for consuption at the other main dining room. Each night, the table napkins and the towels in our room were sculpted into something new - like orgami for cloth. ---------- The People ---------- So who goes on a cruise? There were people in their 80s and a few children had come with their families. There was NO dominant age group that I could see but if I had to pin it down, I'd say the under-30 and over-50 crowd were about evenly populated; many anniversaries, birthdays, shack-up couples, singles, from every corner of the country and the world, too. We were the youngest couple at our dinner table. There was a cuple (near 60) who lived in Tewksbury, Massachusetts. (They did not know Jan or Meredith.) Another couple (mid-50s) were from Texas. They looked to me as if he was the football star and she was the cheerleader of sometime in the 50s. She gambled and won about $1400 playing the slot machines; opn top of that, her company paid for her cruise for 15 years of service. The final couple (mid- to late-40s) at our table lived in San Juan but were from the Southern USA; he worked in construction; she talked. -------------- Things Learned -------------- We learned that even if you don't drink or gamble, there are many other ways you and your money can be parted. The cruise lines have business agreements with tour operators in every port and you can sign up to go on exciting and exotic excursions. We found that talking and listening to fellow passengers is the way to find information about doing what you really want to do without getting taken to the cleaners. One couple went on a submarine ride at $90.00 per person. Sounds great, except that the fish decided not to show up for the show. The Rum Runner tour was for people who didn't mind not remembering that they had been on tour. They had snorkeling and scuba diving adventures, horseback riding, tours of country, rain forest, volcano, and black sand beaches, all billed as the safest and surest way to see the Island; and the tours fill up. However, there are alternatives for travel-savvy tourists. On Guadeloupe, it would cost $25.00 per person each way to get to and from the nearest beach (30 minutes from port). One man asked at the visitor's center and discovered a public transportation bus to the beach for about $2 each way. We learned that although we thoroughly enjoyed being alone and on our own, we would enjoy the company of other couples. We met lots of nice, friendly people, but some of our experiences would have been that much nicer if friends went along. If we do it again, we hope friends will go with us and we'll try to employ some of the travel tips we've discovered. There's more, of course, but I'll send this report out. I would have gotten it out earlier but work intervened. Work... I suppose that's what some people would call what I do. See you around! Mark /\ /\ /\ / /\\ /\ /\ oOo |\- ^ /|\ === |\ /| \ === === === ==== <@ ==== ... .. /\//| === .:.. .:::::::::::::.... ./ ._/ \ = ...::::: __.::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::. -------_______ _______ _______ ---------- --------- ---------