My Mother's 60th Birthday

I am close to my mother. This year, she turns 60. She is throwing herself a birthday party and I am throwing her a cruise.

Perhaps, not me exactly, but it worked out that way.

After my last cruise, which was also my first cruise, I was hooked. My husband and I signed up for another in January.

As I have stated, my goal is to travel occasionally. More often would be better. However, I need to get away from work and home with some type of regularity. I'm tired of living my life in an endless cycle of work and home and work and home. My goal was one vacation a year with plans for at least two. Maybe, I would start to take an occasional weekend trip as well.

Well, my big vacation for this year was a trip to Hong Kong. Last week, that was canceled. I was upset but not devastated. I didn't want to go to Hong Kong with the passion that I wanted to go to Japan. However, I wanted to go. I'd been reading and watching shows about it.

The time that I had taken off of work started the week after my mother's birthday. With enough money to travel to Asia in my pocket, I decided to see if my mother wanted to take a birthday cruise with me instead.

She said she did.

So I wound up booking us on a cruise. Two months after my last one and two months before my one with my husband. It is both rediculious and exillerating at the same time. I can't make this to much of a habit or I will be in the poor house. However, the next four months will be filled with a lot of personal activities.

Immigration and Goodby Sensation

It turns out that it is good to get to immigration early. I think they did a beautiful job of flowing people into the theater, into seats, and then onto the stage to get checked. Originally, I dropped off my husband and went and got my knife. That took me about eight minutes. I went and found him, about to go inside and went and sat with him. We waited about twenty minutes before he got checked and off we went to breakfast.

Ahhh... breakfast... so divine. My last meal as well, so with my faithful hot chocolate in hand, I ate, I enjoyed, and said goodbye.

Disembarkation was taking a little bit so we were back in our room for about an hour. I watched them unpack baggage. I watched them drop baggage. I watched them almost wreck forklifts into each other and then get into a verbal altercation. I was thankful that we use hard luggage. I have a Hawaiian blue case that I got in Japan that we love. All of our other luggage is hard and its a good thing. The amount that they load in each cage and the way they throw it around is incredible. Later, at the hotel that night I found deep fresh scratches and gouges everywhere. I felt bad for people with soft luggage and anything delicate. All of my mugs made it just fine.

We were in group 4 so we were the first group to get off that had luggage collected. The entire disembarkation process was nice and simple. We got off the ship, followed the pathways, and collected our bag. At one point, on an escalator that is an enormous sign on the wall that says, “The Porters are paid a salary. Do not tip.” That reminded me of endless tip wars on Cruise Critic. I could only chuckle.

Our bags were easy to spot. Because we have hard cases, with bright luggage straps (red and green) and odd colors it took less then 5 minutes to find our bags. We were through customs in a moment since I had nothing to declare, and out the door. Since we had a Hertz car back we saw a Hertz shuttle arrive just as we reached the passenger area. We chased it down and off we went, sad to go but having thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

Goodbye Sensation...

From Bahamas - 2011

Hello Irene...

From Bahamas - 2011

Sea Evening

It was to close to the end.

We started packing. We had spread out over the cabin. The towel animal was a heart today. That made me roll my eyes. However, I wrote a note and put it on top of a wad of money and put that in the heart which I placed at the top of the bed.

We also watched a bit of television. We found out there had been an earth quake where we lived. Also, the hurricane was chasing us with some energy. The Miami news channels made me roll my eyes. The weather man is going “To all my friends in the Bahamas, its time to secure your windows and prepare for the storm!”

“They were doing that a day ago,” I said to him.

“I know they are watching us.” He continues. “So I’m sending the warning. We have a loyal following in the Bahamas.”

“Uh huh,” I said to the television. “Sure.” I think its dumb to talk to the television. However, this situation warranted it. I’m sure the residents of the Bahamas know how to prepare for a hurricane without him.

We packed until dinner and then we headed out early. Seven is our time now. Right between the two scheduled seating, the dining room was low key at that time.

Tonight, we managed not to sit by Jeans Guy and Grumpy Girl. We did get to sit next to another interesting couple. I find everything interesting perhaps. This time we were not at a booth. We were at a table for two that kind of floated, three out from the window. It was fine if a bit busy. We made sure to go around 1900 hours so that we had plenty of time to get to the comedy show.

The table next to us was a couple who turned out to be from the same area we are from. What caught our attention was that he ordered for her. When we sat down they were discussing what they were going to get. However, when the server appeared he goes, “She will have...” and rattles off her order.

That is just weird for me. However, it prompted my husband to offer (quitly and once they had left) to order for me in the future. He said he’d make sure to order me well done meat (I eat rare) and lots of extra mayo (I won’t touch the stuff) with plenty of coffee (I don’t drink it). Sarcastic and all. I’m sure that it works for some people but I am an adult and capable of ordering my own food. There is something to controlling about someone ordering for me while I’m sitting there staring at him. They also didn’t have desert. I felt bad for them. I drowned my sorrow for their neglected desert in my delicious hot chocolate.

Crab Something Appetizer

From Bahamas - 2011

Sushi Appetizer

From Bahamas - 2011

Tasteless Pasta Dish

From Bahamas - 2011

Overcooked Meat Thing

From Bahamas - 2011

Ice Cream and Cake mix with Fruit On it

From Bahamas - 2011

Amazing Hot Chocolate

From Bahamas - 2011

Not the best meal we've had

From Bahamas - 2011

We got to the comedy show about forty minutes early. We settled down and talked. We also decided to buy drinks. In the end, we got one for each show. I had a Virgin Strawberry Daiquiri and a Virgin Pina coloda. The husband had alcoholic versions of each. My virgin drinks cost just over four dollars. A steal for something that tasty. The husband had never had a Pina colada before and he really enjoyed it.

From Bahamas - 2011

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The shows were very entertaining. I have a horrible sense of humor but they kept me amused. One comment that really tickled me was when the comedian screamed and mimicked people going, “My sail and sign card was what?” I’m sure some people had a nasty shock there.

We then went back to our room to finish packing. We discovered that the husband would have to go to immigration at six in the morning. That sucked. We were not expecting that at all. We put our bags out into the hallway and by the time we were done we found out that we were in Port Canaveral.

We were there early. The Disney Dream was there ahead of us. The storm was smashing into the Bahamas behind us. We watched the ship sale into port and then we went to bed.

Lunch and High Tea

This was the only day of our trip that the main dining room was open for lunch. The food was pretty good although I was wasteful and not with a lot of intention to be wasteful. I just ordered a dish without thinking it through and I couldn’t get past the fact that it was made with mayo.

We had salad.

From Bahamas - 2011

From Bahamas - 2011

We each had the beef dish.

From Bahamas - 2011

The chocolate cake out chocolated me.

From Bahamas - 2011

The Strawberry thing I wanted to try but it was Strawberry Banana and I don't do banana.

From Bahamas - 2011

We then went to check out the chocolate selection at the Lido Buffet.

From Bahamas - 2011

Tea Time

I find the thought of tea time to be bit romantic. Or, at least, as romantic as I get. Perhaps elegant is a better description. That, I am sure, comes from reading to many books. I have a thing for authors from other countries. The differences in dialect and cultural points add a little something to the story for me. The husband is also British so he enjoys a good tea.

When I learned on some forums that the ships tended to have tea time on one of the sea days I was vastly excited. When our sea day came about, I read my daily schedule and sure enough, it was Tea Time in the lounge named a ‘Touch of Class’.

I was excited. I wondered what lounge was a ‘Touch of Class’. We went out walking to find out. I was horrified to learn that it was what I called the creepy hands lounge. The entire place was decorated in hands. The booths were formed by gigantic black and white hands. The tables were held up by hands. There was a hand over the piano bar. There were hands on the walls and hands on the floor.

From Bahamas - 2011

From Bahamas - 2011

From Bahamas - 2011

Ugh.

Thank god the tea and cakes and sandwiches were amazing. We drank tea, ate snacks, and listened to some pretty good piano music. There were only three other groups there so it was very quiet.

From Bahamas - 2011

From Bahamas - 2011

I want tea time every day.

Breakfast and a Ship Tour

You really do start to recognize people after a while. In the dining room, across from us were two ladies at breakfast. A man walked up to them and said, “Mind if I sit with you two ladies?” The two of them go, “Not at all!” and he plunks down next to them. Now, we recognized him from when we had checked in. He was checking in with another male. He was highly recognizable becuase of several large facial piercings. It did not seem that he knew the ladies. My comment to Tim was that he might be a male looking for older women to prey on.

I have a suspicious mind.

I enjoyed this. Due to all of our early excursions we only got to eat breakfast in the main dining room on the last day. That was the only day it was open. The food was succulent and the omelets light and fluffy. I also had french toast. Nothing was oily and it was a lovely start to the morning.

From Bahamas - 2011

From Bahamas - 2011

From Bahamas - 2011

I made sure to have fruit and hot chocolate as well. Hot chocolate at every meal will be my mantra for the next cruise.

Tim had signed up for the ships tour. We had a nice breakfast desert of sherbet and I went to drop him off at the Oak Room. As we left the dining room the man who had infringed on the two women goes, “What is wrong with your staff?” to the receptionists at the doorway. “Are they drunk or high or what? Everything came out cold, wrong, and ridiculous. The food was inedible. I am going to file a complaint!” The two girls looked at him with wild eyes as he ranted at them. I stood there, worried he was going to lose his temper completely. Work mode kicked in for a moment and I eyed him up and down pretty sure I could take him down in one or two moves when he ran out of steam and left.

I said, “I can’t say what his problem was. Our meal and service were fantastic! Thanks!” They smiled at me and I sailed by to watch him say goodbye to the two ladies at the elevators. Tim and I took a walk around the pictures, marveling at how many there were and all of the special carnival extra... stuff... you could buy to make your photos extra special until it was time for him to go to his tour.

Tim takes a Trip

Tim got to go on his tour of the ship and I spent some time sunbathing on the balcony. I loved the extended Balcony and maneuvered a lounge chair into the sunlight. The sky was clear and cloudy, clear and cloudy. Hurricane Irene was chasing us and the sky and sea reflected that.

From Bahamas - 2011

Tim appeared a few hours later glowing from his trip. He had seen the function of the ship, met the captain, had his photo taken, gotten chocolate covered strawberries and thoroughly enjoyed himself. He had also received the recipe for the warm chocolate melting cake and he was determined to try to make it when we got home. He does not really cook but we figured with some supervision from me, he could muddle through.

We did learn that the ship was only running about 2000 passengers. It can hold about 2600.

He told me how they had gone down to the training room where they have the Rosetta Stone to work on their English skills. Carnival it seems has a retirement program for its employees and also promotes up the ranks quite heavily.

He got to see the galley and walk through the spinning doors between the dining rooms and the galley. They went to the engine rooms and the bridge as well as through crew areas and passage ways. They went into the alcohol cabinets and he learned that at 3am the bartenders make their inventory updates to the guy in charge of all alcohol. Crates and crates and crates of alcohol.

He met the head Chef as well. Later we saw him checking the running of the Lido buffet.

The chief engineer was very personable. He was told that the officers were mostly Italian.

The crew dining areas and recreation decks. We learned that they carry their own fork lifts for when they are at port and cages that they load and unload with belong to the ship and are collapsible.

He really enjoyed it and I will join him next time.

Jeans Guy and Grumpy girl were on his tour. Their cabin was directly above ours as well. You do see the same people over and over.

No cameras allowed.

From Bahamas - 2011