Skirting the Bermuda Triangle . . . or Hawaiian Style in the Caribbean!

I’m on vacation but my body had no problem waking up ready to head into the new day. I quietly dressed and left the room for my quiet walk around the ship. I could usually do about four to six laps walking in just over thirty minutes depending if I stopped to look at anything. Four laps was a mile and on every cruise I have ever sailed the early morning ‘lap crew’ would be out jogging or walking like robots heading into the unknown.

They worked hard with their routines dividing time between the gym and the track. I am amazed how many people will spend time in the well equipped facilities onboard ship. It has everything you would find at your home health spa but without the ‘crowds’.

It was not too long before people started milling around the ship with most heading for the breakfast buffet. I enjoy taking my time drinking coffee and usually find a nice spot to observe people and their early morning oddities. Some are still half asleep fumbling around trying to get the bowl of cereal forgetting the milk or spoon and feeling frustrated having to go back to the line to retrieve what they had forgotten.

Others seem like they function great bouncing around from serving table to table gathering food like chip monks preparing for winter. I guess it is a mentality that cruisers develop with the abundance of food seemingly at every turn. The sweet rolls here . . . a huge slab of bacon there . . . balanced with the yogurt and fruit on another large spread waiting for the masses to grab to eat now or stash for a later . . . more private time.

Today is a full day at sea . . . we sail southeast around Cuba to our west and skirting the Bermuda Triangle to our east. No strange sightings other than a few men in ‘Speedos’ that rose an eyebrow or two. I enjoy having the first day at sea making it mandatory for everyone on the ship to slow down and release themselves of their schedule and pace from home . . . I for one was ready to just let the phones and faxes stop for awhile. Today would be a twenty mile per hour day . . . in the (hot) sunshine with the balmy breezes blowing across the midship deck where we could be found lounging in the sun.

Our group seemed to find ourselves parked at one end of the H20 Zone. This is the on ship water park for children.

We had plenty of time to swim or just relax baking in the sun overhead. I made the mistake of trying to get some much needed sun as my pasty white body could use a little coloring. I was instructed to put on SPF 50 sun block but was handed the SPF 15 which meant that if I would have rotated myself every 20 minutes there was a chance I would have somewhat an even tan or burn. What I did get after lying on my back for about forty five minutes and another 20 on my stomach was this burning of my stomach at the belt line . . . another burn across my chest below my nipples about 4 inches wide and the top of my head sunburned. I looked a mess after that night. Bright red stripes on an almost white body but it did not keep me from having fun in the sun. After all I was on vacation.

After a morning in the sun on deck I made my way back to the cabin where I found Matthew had switched our deck chairs out for the lounge chairs I had asked for when booking.

Finally someone saying “YES” and making things happen. Things are looking up so I think while everyone is still by the pool I’ll head down to the Royal Promenade to guest relations to see if there are any tickets to the Ice show left after the massive crowds earlier this morning. I found out that all of the shows tickets had been given out but that we could show up about tem minutes prior to be seated as usually about 50 – 100 people are no shows after securing tickets.

Back at the pool we had our server Doctor Joe (Joseph) bringing the buckets of brew and he kept us with cold drinks all morning.

Doctor Joe was one of the drink runners around the pool and once he understood what each person wanted spent time making sure everyone including the kids had something cold waiting for them as they came out of the pool or water park. Another “Yes Mon” who was funny and witty and we enjoyed the time he spent with us making sure everyone had a great time.

Scott’s girls stayed in the pools every minute they could. They seemed like little Jacques Cousteau’s in the water all day playing and using their swim masks.

They only wanted to come out long enough to eat or go on an excursion ashore and those usually had some form of swimming or snorkeling involved. Scott’s son on the other hand had that itch . . . to spend his time in the Arcade . . . your sea pass card is calling and it did not take too long before he was looking for his dad to refill the card so he could continue to play. It took us a while but he finally started going to the Flow Rider or other activities but his favorite place was the arcade.

For Scott and me it was time to try our surfing skills . . . Big boy toys . . . The Flow Rider with thousands of gallons of water being pushed up and over a hill about 15 feet higher than the bottom where the water was forced out. We each went to different sides so we could have our back leg being the one to give us the best balance. The person who was instructing would have you put your feet at the appropriate points on the board then push you out into the massive flow. They would balance you for a bit allowing you to get the feel of the board before releasing you to surf unassisted. Most people could stay on until the board turned the slightest bit sideways where the water swept you off balance dumping you into the water flow and pushing you up and over the hill. It was quite the ‘ride’ in itself.

Our first attempt went fine as both of us were able to stand up and ride the water for a short time before falling. I must admit I fell quicker than Scott the first time but we had a great time. It was not long before they closed down the surfing lines and switched over to the boogie board where you would ride on your stomach lying down.

We headed for the 40 foot tall rock wall next but the lines were long so we took in a round of golf . . . well, min-golf at least. The aft area of the ship had the most activities with the basketball court, Flow Rider, climbing wall, mini-golf, and ping pong giving everyone many options for fun.

We stayed longer than expected so we had to hurry to shower and dress for dinner, our first ‘formal’ night. Everyone looks really nice but we decided to make our formal dinner # 1 a little different than the traditional tuxedo and dresses. We had decided before we left Alaska that everyone would dress in a nice colorful Hawaiian style.

We looked great with nice shirts for the men and bright dresses for the girls. We had taken some casual pictures on a previous cruise with a white background and thought that a colorful collection of photos would look great.

Our dinner was great and it was fun watching the girls being served by Rochelle who took care of us all week . . .

We decided to walk off the extra pounds from the food we had eaten by walking the deck. It was warm but with the tropical breeze did not seem too bad to everyone. Alaska’s summer time temperatures are around seventy degrees so having to endure some high eighties or low nineties temperatures was hard at times without any wind. While we sailed it was pleasant so we headed to the upper deck to watch the lightning shows of several thunderstorms that were around us . . . it’s nice to see them again.

The kids wanted to watch a movie so we headed back to the cabins so we could get them situated with room service and the movie. Pirates of the Caribbean (how fitting) was playing on pay per view so we tried to order them the movie. The problem we had was each time the movie started . . . it was in Spanish so we kept trying to make it play and tried to rent it 7 times before finally giving up as the ships staff had no idea how to make things work right.

It was nice out so we decided again to do the ‘walking to nowhere’ thing . . . around and around the deck before we headed to the upper bar called Oliver Twist to sit and relax. The view from there was spectacular with the ships lights and nature’s lightshow in the distance being played out.

The music being played was two ladies playing their violin which was nice but all the songs seemed to be from the scenes of the sinking of the Titanic. It was kind of creepy so we left after our drink and headed back to the cabin for the girls to get some sleep.

After the girls headed off to bed it was time for Scott and me to head down to the casino for another try at the craps table. We also did a small time on the roulette table where Scott seemed to have better luck with his numbers than I was having but we again walked away with a little extra money. Our strategy was to use the winnings to pay for the different excursions we wanted to do. If we won we may add to our activities so we wanted to quit each session ahead if possible.

The casino closed down at two o’clock each day so we wandered around looking for a late night snack before going back to the cabins for some sleep. My balcony door was open so I enjoyed sitting there in the darkness listening to the wake waves down below before I got into bed. It did not take me any time to drift into a restful sleep as the constant rhythm of the waves breaking lulled me off to dreamland.

Ice