CRUISING THE CARIBBEAN
LETTER #1
LETTER #2
LETTER #1
Hey all!
Well, it's been 5 months since my last conf-- last mass email
boring you all to death with the details of my trip. I'm now
somewhere between the Grand Caymans and Cozumel. This great ship,
the m/s Sensation, has an Internet Cafe so I'm lucky enough to be
able to use up some electrons and get this out before I get back and
I'm a total blank.
So, as usual, if I've missed anyone - and I think I have - please
pass this on to whomever seems in any way interested. :)
THE FLIGHT TO THE CRUISE - SAN JOSE to ST. LOUIS
It was another of those, "Get your ass up at 4:00 a.m." kind of
flights. Just the night before, the carpet cleaners were
by with heaters, yanking off our doors and pulling up carpets. So
you can imagine the Costello-esq image of Ron and I bumping around
like pinballs into each other and the heating equipment at 3:30 in
the morning. Luckily, we managed to remember all those important
things like toothbrushes and passports--though I seem to be
dangerously low on t-shirts!!! (It's always something)
We took a cab to San Jose International Airport, which was barely
10 minutes away, so that was nice. The trip to the San Francisco
Airport is fodder for nightmares, so I'm glad we were spared the
ordeal! So we went through Customs and sat down and within
half an hour, we were on the flight, waiting to take off. Ron's a
smart cookie, he always books the bulkhead when he flies so a) we're
very close to the front of the plane and b) we have plenty of
leg-room.
No real story to report about the flight other than I was fully
dolled up in a travel pillow, ear plugs, and eye mask. Maybe I
drooled. Not sure and Ron won't tell me. I dozed on and off for the
three-hour flight.
ST. LOUIS to TAMPA, FLORIDA:
Basically, we arrived. And it was DICEY. The Captain didn't do us
the honour of letting us know that the weather was pretty choppy
outside so the only assumption I had to run on was he was a LAME
captain and couldn't get the plane straight! I thought for sure we
were going to land on two wheels, flip, and slide in on our heads
the rest of the way. Thank GOD his actual landing was better than
his paltry approach. (I found out later, as we were taking off on
our flight to Tampa that it was pretty windy outside - - at least
THAT Captain was nice) So after we staggered off the plane and
I kissed the ground a few times (ptooey ptooey), we cashed in on
Ron's karma and ended up walking to the OTHER side of the airport
(all seemingly dedicated to TWA flights) for our next (and
immediate) flight. It seemed like a mile long! All I can say is:
THANK GOD FOR LUGGAGE ON WHEELS!!! (I have LEARNED since my first
trip to London!!!)
So we got to our gate, turned around, grabbed a sandwich, turned
around and they were already boarding. I snarfed down half of the
sandwich and on we went.
This flight wasn't anything special. It wasn't less than two
hours long and I dozed again while Ron read his book. Maybe his
finished his book and started another. He's been reading up a storm
lately. (Oops. Cruise ship. Don't say "storm".) As we arrived
in Tampa, two things struck me (no, not some metal object or piece
of luggage): one was the beautiful ocean view - the water was so
green and clear you could see the BOTTOM from way in the sky. The
second thing I noticed was this absolutely HUGE bridge that spanned
over the water - absolutely incredible!
Oh! I almost forgot to mention this. As usual, there's always
some moron who pitches a fit and gives me fodder for my "If I Had a
Rocket Launcher" page. This guy got my vote. Somehow, his ticket had
been screwed up and he was on the wrong seat. As a lady tried to sit
in HER seat (which he was occupying), the steward clarified
pleasantly that he would need to be re-seated as his boarding pass
was wrong. He pitched a huge fit, which we all got to see and
comment on, and finally stormed off from Seat #6 to the BACK of the
plane to Seat #37 (ha ha!). He made some loud announcement that
SOMEBODY better be grabbing his carry-on because he wasn't going to.
And a few minutes later, we was back at the front of the plane
(still muttering) grabbing two of his FIVE pieces of carry-on
luggage. Yes, all of us indignantly complained that he was toting
well beyond the suggested amount of luggage. Hmph!
TAMPA, FLORIDA:
We weren't able to go directly to the ship so we ended up
sleeping over in the Marriott for the night. We hung out, ate at
TGIF's, wandered the airport, since the hotel is RIGHT in the
airport, and found sanctuary in our air conditioned room. (Ahhhhh....)
Now, I can honestly say I've visited, what, 5 U.S. States now? Not
too shabby. That's three more states than I've visited provinces.
Bad Canadian. Bad Canadian. The next morning, we lazed about,
went to breakfast and then boarded our bus to the cruise ship. Ron
had warned me all about the chaos of customs and boarding all
passengers so I was prepared for the worst.
THE CRUISE SHIP:
Thankfully, my karma was in full swing and we not only managed to
get on the first bus, but we were also very close to being the first
passengers on the ship.
The absolutely FIRST thing we did was whip over to our cabin,
check it out, and make our way to the sign-up area so we could sign
up for our diving tours.
As the SCUBA tours fill up REALLY fast, we were concerned we
might not get them and had to pick second choices -- but as luck
(and my funky little karma doing it's thing again) would have it, we
got our first choices:
Certified SCUBA in the Grand Caymans, Certified SCUBA in Cozumel,
and the New Orleans Walking Tour.
The ship's gorgeous and huge. It figures that we're on one side
of the ship and our dining room is on the other. We've been
inadvertently doing the Stairmaster several times a day. Don't worry
though, we're making up for it by snarfing on the fantastic food
they keep serving us here. Did you know you can eat ALL DAY
LONG HERE?
6:30 - 11:00 a.m. - - casual or formal breakfast dining
11:30 - 3:30 p.m. - - casual or formal lunch dining
3:30 - 5:30 p.m. - - casual dining or pizza from the 24-hour
pizzeria 5:30 - 8:45 p.m. - - formal dining 8:45 - midnight - -
casual dining or 24-hour room service 12:00 - 1:00 a.m. - - midnight
buffet 1:00 - 2:00 a.m. - - crepe buffet 2:00 - 6:30 a.m. - - room
service or the 24-hour pizzeria
Basically I expect every passenger to walk (or roll off the ship)
looking like Veruca Salt from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.
At least, that's my plan. :) They've got some of the most
incredible food here on the ship in the formal dining room. Last
night it was lobster (ha ha, Angie!!), the night before it was
roasted lamb, and the night before that it was something really good
which I can't remember.
There is ALWAYS a party going on at this place. There are more
lounges than there are people and there's even a CASINO on board,
not to mention an arcade and Virtual Reality section (with
smell-o-vision!). I haven't dabbled in the gambling (I'm too cheap),
but we did check out the Virtual Reality and maybe tonight we'll
play some video games. We've chosen a late dinner time (8:45 p.m.)
so we're pretty much able to do whatever the heck we want. Mostly,
we just vegetate, read, and enjoy the warm weather and pretty BLUE
sea (not green, blue!)
GRAND CAYMANS:
Today, we were up at the disgusting hour of 6:00 a.m. -- no wait,
5:00 a.m. because Ron forgot to reset his watch - so we had a bit of
a cat nap until we had to go to the lounge and meet up for our dive
trip. If any of you have read my report on the SCUBA Diving
lessons I took a few weeks ago, you know how nervous I've been about
diving. Monterey was heck so I was fully freaking myself out for
THIS dive.
HOWEVER...
Not to worry. Rather than load me up with TONS of weight to
combat the buoyancy of neoprene, all I had to put on was this skimpy
little weight belt and my BCD (Buoyancy Control Device), along with
the fins, mask, snorkel and tank. The water was clear blue and you
could actually SEE the bottom from the boat, 50 feet up. We
did two dives today: 1) The Wreck of the Oro Verde and 2) Hammerhead
Hole, a reef dive Both dives were absolutely awesome and it was
SWEEEEEET to be swimming around WITHOUT full gear on, no neoprene,
and balmy and clear water. We saw tons of fish, too many to name,
and the wreck dive was incredible. Ron was quite proud of me. We
even saw a stingray which was coooool. Oh, and lots of HUGE lobster.
So now my sum-total dives are 6. Woo hoo! I'll rack up those 1,000
dives yet!
That's it for now. This costs .75 cents a minute and I've been
typing for a WHILE so I better run. Tomorrow we dive Cozumel but
I'll probably hang on to my stories until a few days have passed and
send out another big email.
Take care everyone. See you soon!
Love Melissa
LETTER #2
hecko once again!
The last time I left you, we'd
just gotten back from our first dive trip in the Grand Caymans.
GRAND CAYMANS PART II:
The diving itself was AWESOME,
but the captain of the ship was a bit militant and not at ALL
chatty or sympathetic, which I (as a novice diver and utterly
dependent on praise and cajoling) wasn't overly thrilled with.
Our equipment was essentially
sitting in Rubbermaid containers and it was up to us to filter out
which equipment fit the best and put it on. Not much of a big
deal, really, except that the dive DID cost us upwards of 85 bucks
U.S. per person. Hmph. When it came to giving us the spiel about
the dive site, he was delivering those funny lines but he had the
expression of someone who'd just taken a whiff of something
unpleasant, so I'm sure he wasn't getting the effect from his
jokes he was expecting.
HOWEVER, that said, the
videographer and other divemaster were fabulous. Two really nice
girls who helped us out when we needed it and answered any
questions we may have had. (Needless to say, I was glommed on to
them like a cheap suit) The dive itself was incredible and, like
I said, we now have the video to prove it (always nice) so that's
cool.
Oh! I almost forgot. There was
ONE guy on our trip who was absolutely priceless so I can't forget
about him. We was hilarious, although not intentionally. This
man and his partner (a really nice guy, to be honest) were gabbing
on an on about how they'd been to the Great Barrier reef and he
had 50 dives under his belt, and.... (yadda yadda yadda) Anyway,
Mr. High Maintenance had some problems with his BCD. He'd be
halfway to the bottom and it would auto-inflate on him. It did it
several times so finally he had to surface. He was NOT pleased.
How not pleased? He told his story to everyone on the boat --
TWICE. Of course, in ear shot of Captain Cranky, whose reply was
a low mumble of "Sorry..." and then he promptly tossed Mr. High
Maintenance's BCD BACK in the pile with all of the other useable
equipment.
Oh my GOD did he carry on. He
carried on until we were at the next dive site, he carried on
while we put on our equipment, he probably even carried on
underwater but - thank the stars - no one could understand him.
Then he carried on with anyone who would listen, striking up chit
chat with various fish.
COZUMEL:
Quite the party town,
Cozumel (I pronounce it "'cause YOU Mel" - I dunno, I just had to
personalize it, I guess), but we weren't there for the booze,
karaoke, or witty bartering sessions with local merchants [don't
get me started]. We were there for the DIVING. (I'm so glad I
got certified)
Aside from the fact that Julio,
our divemaster, looked no more than 12 years old -- he was an
incredible divemaster. Where Captain Cranky from the Caymans
basically tossed us in and said, "Be back in 30 minutes." this guy
was all about giving us a very comprehensive briefing session and
location orientation. For our two dives, we were going to do an
80-foot reef dive (we stop at 80 feet, the reef goes down to about
3000 feet) and some cave dives (yikes!). After that, we'd hop out
for a 45-minute surface interval and then dive at about 40 feet
for maybe 45 minutes or so.
It's all very detailed. The
lower you go, the less time you can be underwater so they
considered our first dive to be a multi-level dive (the caves were
at a higher elevation than the reef dive so that's all taken into
account into the actual bottom time of the dive -- it's all Greek
and Latin and Seaspeak to me, though, yes I do understand it.)
I was, needless to say, freaking
out as he described the cave dives and the 80-foot reef dive. I'd
only been about 40 feet below before so this was scary stuff! And
CAVES?! Was he NUTS?! I was thinking along the lines of
you-go-in-but-you-don't-come-out. However, he assured us (well,
me) that yes you CAN see the other side and the caves aren't that
long. Oh. Well ok then. (Whew)
************* You may want to go
for a coffee or pop and stretch your legs for a few minutes - it's
ok, I'll wait **************
This dive was a little different
from the first dive. Captain Cranky had anchored so I just
followed his rope down to the bottom. Julio, however, made us
flip off backwards from the boat (ewwwwwwwwwww!) and then it would
drive off and pick us up later so that was something new for me.
Believe me, I was NOT graceful (I have the video to prove it), but
I made it to the bottom without drifting off to Aruba. Ron and I
went down together and just kept an eye on our dive computers
checking our depth (you're not supposed to descend any faster than
60 feet per minute) and slowly drifting to the bottom.
I'm not even going to LIST the
tons of fish we saw because there were so damn many. It was TRULY
nothing like I've ever seen before. The water was aquamarine and
clear for as far as the eye could see. The fish were anything
from sunshine yellow to electric blue and every shade you
can imagine. We even saw a barracuda and a stingray, and some
really scrumptious looking lobster. I missed the eel, but it was
around. Oh, turtles too, but I was busy looking at coral and
missed it.
Did you know that if you scare a
turtle it'll exhale and drown? I didn't know that. So needless
to say, I wasn't going to get into any games of "BOO!" with
sleeping hardbacks. They deliberately prevent you from wearing
gloves so the "ick factor" will kick in and people will be less
likely to chip off live coral or grab poisonous sea anemones.
Makes sense. Some people were really hugging the coral, but I'd
SEEN the National Geographic's UNDERSEA ASSASSINS and there was
no way in heck I was getting close to anything. Don't even get me
STARTED on the Great Barrier Reef in Australia!! (massive
shudder)
So no freak-out attacks from me,
I zipped through the caves effortlessly, made it to 80 feet
without losing my cool (or my lunch) and didn't kick up much
dust. Some new divers have a tendency to let their dive
computers or their fins drag along the ocean bottom, which doesn't
bode well with any of the wildlife there. I'm glad to say I
wasn't one of them. I did, however, bang my shin into something
hard and sharp and gave myself quite the boo-boo, but I only did
that ONCE. Hopefully I didn't kill off an entire coral reef.
The diving outfit we went with
was Sand Dollar Diving Company, or something like that and not
ONLY did they hook you up with NEW equipment (not stuff that was
over 10 years old last Captain Cranky's equipment), but they put
it ON you for you. Wasn't that nice?! Talk about service. We
tipped well.
Even on day number TWO Mr. High
Maintenance was talking about the day before to our NEW divemaster
who nodded sympathetically and probably wanted to be anyplace but
listening to this wildly animated man with one hand drawing
pictures in the air while the other rested on his hip talking a
mile a minute. Ron and I looked at each other and did a
collective eye-roll. Even his partner said, "He's a great guy.
You just have to ignore him when he does this." We took his word
for it.
The second day was great because
we had a MUCH smaller group. There were maybe a total of 6 of us
for the second trip so a lot less people to worry about. (Yay!)
The water in the Grand Caymans was a beautiful green. The water
in Cozumel, like I said, was an incredible blue that I can't
describe. Diving ROCKS! Anyway, we met some great people on the
cruise ship and effused SO MUCH about how great SCUBA diving was
we basically told them to get certified so we can do a dive in
Aruba next year - - we hear it's amazingly beautiful there.
***************** Need another
break? Go ahead... **************************
Once we returned from the dive,
bought our cute t-shirts, and ordered our video (which he had
ready to go for us by the time the cruise ship left), we decided
to get changed, then wander around the pier for a while. There
was a whole lotta partying going on at Fat Tuesdays and since
neither of us felt like a) getting our hair braided b) getting
drunk or c) haggling with vendors [who practically HAUL you into
their shops, by the way] - we made a beeline for a few things we
definitely knew we wanted and got OUT of there as quickly and
painlessly as possible.
The weather was staggering. It
was hot and wet. One minute we're walking along and it's
beautiful and sunny and the next minute we're walking through a
torrential rainstorm! This is why underwater sports are so cool,
you barely notice the weather ;)
Finally, after a second
last-minute trip back to the pier so I could pick up some things I
forgot and KNEW I'd kick myself for if I didn't pick up, we were
back on the boat resting and carrying on at dinner about how
incredible the dives were. Our table consisted of two other
couples and ourselves. They had gone snorkeling and, after our
discussion about the dives, they were pretty much determined they
were going to learn to dive as well. (We'll just SEE about that)
:)
Before I sign off talking about
Cozumel, let me just add this. I bought the CUTEST necklace at
the pier. My name was written on a strand of RICE, placed in a
small vial, a beautiful blue dyed liquid [which matched the water
perfectly so I don't forget] was added, a lid sealed on, and
placed on a chain. It was incredible to watch this woman work.
Although, I bet she was saying to herself, "Thank GOD her name
wasn't AnnaMariaCinderellaRapunzel. (I guess she'd have to use
the long grain rice for that one)
CRUISE SHIP LIFE:
The cool thing about a cruise
ship is the free entertainment. No, not the Vegas-style dancers
(more on them in a minute), I'm talking about the cruisers. There
was so much drinking and partying going on that it gave me ample
opportunity to watch people (and not just young people) make utter
fools out of themselves. HYSTERICAL! You just can't PAY to see
that.
THE SHOWS:
Each night there was some kind of
"show" going on in the Fantasia Lounge. One night it was
Caribbean theme dancing with the vocal stylings of Ms. LaSalla.
Let me just briefly talk about the Sensation Dancers (our cruise
ship was called the Sensation). After watching their first
performance, I was utterly convinced that this is where you go if
a) you have no talent b) you were an extra or principal in the
movie "Showgirls" or c) you're desperate for a job. These women
danced like they were saving their energy for a party later on.
And the costumes... I have to take a moment here. The
costumes.... How can I describe them? Well, they were like the
scraps that the television show "Fame" didn't want anymore. I'm
pretty sure some of the outfits were identical. Then these poor
women were subjected to the ugliest headdresses ever created. I
wondered how they manage to do their routines without busting up
laughing or weeping from humiliation.
Believe me when I say, I'm not
exaggerating. That was, however, the Caribbean theme. Luckily,
they did a more "American" theme later on in the week and dressed
MUCH better. (My confidence was restored) HOWEVER, the poor lead
singer GUY from that show had to put on this incredibly
embarrassing Yankee Doodle/Pilgrim costume which looked like a
cross between Oliver and a recreation of the outfits from the
first Thanksgiving. No I'm not kidding. He even had on those
big buckle shoes and those pants which go to the knees with shiny
grey socks! I can't go on.... I simply can't.
There was a juggler from France
who juggled with his feet. He was cool. Getting a little long in
the tooth, however, and I thought he was going to have "an
episode" right there on stage while he was chatting with the
audience after the show.
There was a magician who was
quite incredible and even though I've seen those shows on Fox
where they demystify the illusions and EVEN THOUGH I was sitting
to the top and left of the stage, I STILL couldn't pick out how he
did it. It was all very frustrating! I KNEW how the trick worked
and I STILL couldn't see him slip up from the floor or what have
you.
We had an audience-participation
Talent Show (no I didn't perform, I'm dim, but not insane). Many
singers. The whole show was piled with singers...and one dancer.
The singers chose standards like "Makin' Whoopee" (ew), "My
Way" etc. -- not ONE person did Brittney Spears or N'Sync -- I
guess that's good, too. One man, this old black man who was
about 65 years old gets on stage and starts dancing to a song done
by The Jackson 5. What REALLY ticked me off was the fact that he
had more rhythm in his toe pinky than I have in my entire body!!!
Needless to say, he WOWED the crowd and our usually jaded audience
was clapping and hooting him along.
They had contests like Mr. and
Mrs. Contests (kind of like a Newlywed Game scenario), the
Hairiest Back Contest (unfortunately, women were not allowed to
participate), etc. Lots of fun stuff going on at every waking
moment on the ship. And if you didn't feel like listening to
someone singing at any lounge on the ship you could go to the
Casino, lay down your money and start gambling. If you wanted to
really save time, you could just hand them you hundred bucks as
you passed by and be done with it.
NEW ORLEANS:
Now from what my sister said
about New Orleans, I was expecting the next Nirvana. Now, I have
come to consider the source. She likes to partyyyyyyyyyyyyy and
drink and all sorts of things. And I don't. So needless to say,
this was not the town for me. But I can see why she likes it.
Ron and I STUPIDLY went for the French Quarter Walking Tour.
Did we take the nice air
conditioned bus on the City tour? Nooooooooooo. Did we take
the boated swamp tour? Noooooooooooo. Did we take the Plantation
Tour? Nooooooooooooooo. We took the WALKING TOUR. Did I mention
walking around New Orleans is like walking in an outdoor sauna?
Too true. It's hot. It's smelly. It's sticky. I'm cranky in
less than seven seconds. Great. 1 hour, 59 minutes, and 53
seconds to go.
Our tour guide was an incredibly
flamboyant chap who gave us the dish on the French Quarter and
it's inhabitants. When it came to gossip he said, "I don't like
to gossip, so I'll tell you once and you'll have to pass it on for
me." He was a RIOT. Very informative guy and really quite
hilarious.
DID YOU KNOW...that every single
bar and nightclub in the French Quarter has to be entirely
restocked every 12 hours because they completely run out of
liquor?! How can people drink that much!? Don't even get me
STARTED on what happens once it gets dark!
However, as rundown and ho-hum as
SOME of the storefronts are (some are quite remarkable and have
been standing since before the Civil War -- or "The Northern
Aggression" as they like to call it, seems they forgot that THEY
attacked Fort Sumter FIRST and started the Civil War but that's
neither here nor there so I'll not get into it), if you go to the
BACK of the store, you'll see a marvelously kept garden and most
places have them. So while the streets are nothing special to
look at, the gardens are worth digging for.
After we finished our walking
tour, Ron and I wandered through the French Market marveling at
the delicacies available then we went over to Jimmy Buffet's
Margaritaville cafe for some lunch. I ordered Jerk Chicken and he
ordered barbeque shrimp. Neither of our meals were ANYTHING like
we had expected. However, both of them tasted good. Poor Ron had
to maneuver the shrimp meat out of it's entire sheck -- it even
had it's head still attached. EW! I succumbed and bought a Cajun
Cookbook (had to, especially since I'd bought a Caribbean cookbook
in the Grand Caymans). After more wandering around for what
seemed FOREVER, we headed back to the ship, staggered to our
cabin, and crashed for three hours.
THE CABIN:
Now the beauty of these cabins
with no windows is that you can nap at any time of the day and
once you close that door and turn off the lights it is, I kid you
not, PITCH BLACK. Heaven....I'm in Heaven....
They give you a little window
with a covering, but anyone who has even the slightest ounce of
curiosity knows that once you pull back the curtain, you have a
wonderful view of...the wall. It's kind of cute that they give
you the IDEA that you're in a room with a window, though, you
know?
The shower, however, I have a few
bones to pick with. A few rules about cruise ship showers. A)
Turn the COLD on first or you will scald the heck out of yourself
(live and learn I always say) B) Don't turn the water up too
high or the handy dandy shower massage unit they have becomes
possessed and water goes flying all over the place [no lie, I
thought I'd broken a pipe!] and C) BEWARE THE SHOWER curtain once
you turn the water on...between the air conditioning and the
flimsy material, once that water is running it's like you're the
fly and the curtain is the sticky strip. I swore it attacked me.
For some people, being on a
cruise ship is a little daunting, especially if you're prone to
seasickness. Personally, I thought the gentle rocking was kind of
neat and I sunk like a stone into a deep sleep every night. For
others, however, they were forced to wear the little circular
patches that looked like Band-Aids and gave them a steady stream of
Dramamine so they wouldn't lose their buffet all over the Lido
deck. At first, I thought those patches were the result of
someone nicking themselves shaving. But then I saw more and more
people with patches on their necks and I began to worry. Kind of
one of those "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" sort of worries.
Then, of course, Glen (our Julie McCoy of the Sensation) explained
it all to us.
THE FOOD - PART II:
The food was sensational. It was
like walking into a five-star restaurant and ordering a plate of
food worth 30 dollars. They had everything from Chateaubriand to
Lobster Tail to Baked Alaska. And the kicker is, if you want
more, you just ask for it! I think we made up for the cost of the
cruise three times over simply by frequenting all the dinners and
buffets they had to offer. One thing we rarely could do, however,
was make it for breakfast. We never seemed to be able to get up
in time.
THE STAFF:
Are entirely underpaid. They
cleaned our room TWICE a day and made really adorable towel animal
creations for our viewing pleasure every night before bed when
they pulled the sheets back for us. We tried to be RELATIVELY
clean for the cruise but I happened to get a gander of SOME of the
rooms of my fellow cruisers and they were cyclone-messy. Our
waiter was the same waiter for every single meal, which meant that
he got roughly 5 hours of sleep (just above the ship engines) each
night and had maybe 1 hour off each day to himself. AND...as we
were disembarking, there was ANOTHER set of passengers loading on
so you KNOW they don't get any time off! I believe the contract
lasts for six months with an option to renew. The pay, I
imagine, isn't great, so that's probably why there were no North
American employees working in the waitressing or cleaning jobs.
However, almost every OTHER nationality was on board. Almost the
entire waiter staff was Croatian. It was incredible.
*************
fingers....cramping....must....sign....off....soon...
*************
THE HEAVE-HO, OUT WITH THE OLD
AND IN WITH THE NEW:
After the horror stories Ron had
told me about LEAVING the cruise ship. Once they've got their
tips it's "buh-bye and get your own damn bags". However, this
time round, it was pretty organized. We were asked to be out of
our rooms by 8:15 and in our waiting area (designated by cabin
group colour) by 8:45 a.m. Our luggage (that we weren't carrying
on the flight) was supposed to be outside our doors the night
before by 1:00 a.m. at the latest. So we went and ate, then
headed to our designated waiting area. The Disembarkation Process
took perhaps an hour and a half and it wasn't too bad. We managed
to get one of the first buses.
Unfortunately, however, as we
left the bus and everyone grabbed their carry-on, we noticed ours
wasn't with it. Somehow our luggage and some woman's bag had gone
poof! The man-in-charge said, "Not to worry, it'll be on
the next bus. They probably just didn't have room." Okay then.
So we waited. The next bus came and went. No luggage. And then
the next bus after that. And then every bus from the entire
ship. No luggage. Ron's karma was back in full swing. So I had
to fill out a Lost Luggage form and off we went to check in with
TWA - which has now been bought by American Airlines and
everyone's getting a raise.
Sorry, had to throw that in
there. The stewardess would NOT stop yapping about that on the
flight back.
Anyway, my luck must have won out
because not 20 minutes later, there was a page and we were
summoned to floor #2 to pick up our magically materialized
luggage. Apparently the guy who UNLOADS the bags (and tosses
them, yes tosses them, to the curb) wasn't looking very hard and
didn't notice our bags so basically the bus traveled all the way
back to the depot to pick up new passengers and lo and behold,
there were some bags. I shake my head. BUT...I'm happy we got
them back. So a small cheer or relief from me.
THE FLIGHT BACK:
The first flight back wasn't too
bad. A wee bit bumpy on the descent but no too bad. The SECOND
flight, from St. Louis to San Jose was a nightmare of epic
proportions. Ron and I were BOTH stuck in the middle seat in
different rows and we had MAJOR turbulence for a longgggggggggggg
time. The woman to my left was beginning to lose it and it took
every fiber of my being not to say, "Lady....don't lose it. Just
do NOT lose it. If you freak, I'm gonna freak. If I freak, this
whole plane is going to be in a major grip of chaos." The
turbulence lasted for approximately 20 minutes and then it was
over...although, I have to say, it felt like 20 HOURS!!!!!!!!!
So, all in all, from point A to
point B, I think we were either getting ready to travel or were
traveling for about 15 hours straight. Ew. BUT....we survived
and we have about 250 digital pictures to wade through so I can
post these letters on my site and figure out which ones are worth
posting.
WEBSITE UPDATE:
When I DO finally get off my arse
and update the site, it'll be in the "Melissa's World" section:
For those of you who I'll see
soon, I'll be sure to force you to sit through BOTH dive videos
(which are excellent, they added titles and music and the shots of
the undersea wildlife are clear and BEAUTIFUL - like National
Geographic!), and the cruise Compilation Video, which should
arrive in a few weeks.
I hope to have this stuff done in
the next week or so.
FINAL WORDS:
So for those of you who I haven't
seen in a while, write me back and let me know what's up with
you! For those who had Square Eye Syndrome, my apologies, I had
to write about it before I forgot about it. You ARE free to read
this novel in chunks, you know. :) And for those of you who I
haven't talked to (or written to) in AGES....well here you go, a
nice LONG email for you....now WRITE ME BACK!
Big hugs and lots of love from
me,
Melissa
I'm cruisin'!:
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