Seattle
This cruise was my idea. I just needed to get away and since
our travel agent had gotten us such a great deal, I didn’t see any reason not
to go. My wife on the other hand was a little more dubious and took some
convincing. In the end insanity won out and we booked it.
The ship was Navigator of the Seas with a Western Caribbean
cruise out of Galveston, Texas with stops in Jamaica, Grand Cayman and Cozumel.
It sounded perfect.
So the thought was we would drive down to the hotel we found
online and spend the night and they would keep the car until we got back. We
checked the reviews and prices and we thought we got a good hotel for a good
price. Since we had the whole day to get there, we headed out mid afternoon.
The drive down went fine, we ran into very little traffic.
This is never true when we are in a hurry, so it was nice that we could take
our time.
The wife was the navigator and when we got in the area she
picked up the paper she had the instructions printed out on and she read,
“Okay, we need to take exit 158, so be looking for it.”
The funny thing was I already saw exit 158, it was about
sixty feet away and there were twenty cars between it and us, because I was in
the outside lane at the time and the exit was on the inside lane and we were going
a little over the speed limit. It didn’t happen.
Not knowing the area we broke out the navigation system.
Okay, if you read my previous posts you know my navigations system hates me.
This day was no exception. It had us driving past schools with all the children
coming out and school busses stopping every fifty feet. It took us down vague
side streets and though residential areas only to deposit us, finally, at the
wrong motel.
The only plus was that it was on the right road, so after
only one u-turn, we found the right motel, Travel Lodge. We drove in the
parking lot and Deb immediately hated it. We decided to give it a go since we
had not even looked at the room so we checked in.
The room was clean except of the mold in the upper corner of
the bathroom and the moss growing on the upper level walkway. It had two by
fours holding up the towel rack and the walls had been patched, but not well,
in several places. Another worry was the chain link fence with concertina wire.
Why would they need that?
The parking lot where we would be leaving our car didn’t
look too secure. Deb even asked if it was safe and the lady replied, “as long
as you don’t leave any valuables where people can see them in the car.” Wrong
answer.
We decided to think about it while we went out to dinner at
Thirteen Coins. I had a friend recommend a place to eat and he recommended that
one. So we headed down the street to the restaurant. The restaurant was pricey,
but we thought it was good. I have had better though for a whole lot less
money. I don’t mind spending a little more for good food, but if the food is
the same quality as Denny’s, then I mind.
It was noisy too. The staff had been called in for a meeting
and after the meeting they sat around and talked loudly right outside our
booth. I now know about half of the waiter’s relationship problems. I won’t be
back but I don’t see that impacting their business because I don’t get down
that direction very often.
On the way back we passed Ramada Inn and it had a stay and
park package. Deb says, “Let’s stay
there.” Okay, I know that she doesn’t like the other place so I agreed and we
checked out, repacked the car and drove away. It was funny that when I told
them we were leaving, they didn’t even ask why. On our way out we noticed that
there was a strip club next door. They just don’t put those in the best part of
town.
We were just a few doors from Denny’s and we had skipped eating
the expensive desert at Thirteen Coins, so we made our way there. Deb comes up
with a great idea of a peanut butter jelly sandwich for me in the morning
because I’m not supposed to be skipping any meals. So we ate our dessert and
the whole time we were there I was thinking, ‘why didn’t we just eat here?’
Deb felt safer at the Ramada so we had a relaxing night and
slept well.
Galveston
In the morning we got up at around 2 am. I was already up as
I don’t sleep well. I ate my peanut butter and jelly sandwich I had bought at
Denny’s. We took the shuttle over to the airport. It was only five minutes away
so that was nice.
Deb had TSA pre check so she went to the quick line. I didn’t, so she had to wait for me. The plane
was late boarding by half an hour, but
that didn’t matter because the limo driver on the other end was monitoring the
plane so he would know if we were late.
We didn’t have assigned seats and all of the economy seats
had been taken, but that worked in our favor because they upgraded us to
economy plus, which gave us a lot more leg room. It was funny, I wanted to be
the first in line to get some seat assignments, but there was no one there at
the counter so I wandered a little around the airport. When I got back this man
with a wife and two kids was in line ahead of me so I was kicking myself for
not waiting. I just knew he was going to get the good seats.
When the desk agent got there the first thing they did was
to call my name, so I got ahead of him anyway.
We met a guy in line whose flight had been cancelled. He
must have been complaining too much because the agent for American Airlines
just told him, “I don’t want to talk to you.” He was told to call a number and
when he did, he was on hold for four and a half hours. He showed me his phone
to prove it. He just gave up and came and got in the United line that we were
in. He had to purchase more tickets, but he said it was worth it.
The flight was good as there were no kids kicking the back
of my seat. We sat in the exit row so we could not put our seats back. I don’t
like to do that anyway as I know it crowds the person behind me. I slept as
much as I could.
When we got to Houston there was an announcement at the
airport that I’ve never heard before, “all those of you who checked their guns
before boarding a plane, those are available at the luggage counter.” Only in
Texas.
Our driver had a sign with my name on it and was waiting for
us at the bottom of the escalator. He walked with us to baggage claim and then
walked our bags over to the limo and put them in. Yes we hired a limo, it was
only $5 more than a cab so I figured, ‘why not?’
It was cold in Texas, even colder than it was in Seattle. We
were both very surprised by that. I was hoping to spend one beach day in
Galveston before we got on the cruise ship, but that didn’t happen.
When we arrived at our hotel we noticed that it was just a
half block from the shore, Country Inn and Suites. Our room wasn’t ready so we
left our bags at the hotel and went exploring. Down the beach on a pier was an
amusement park, Pleasure Pier. It had a Bubba’s Shrimp Company right in front
of it.
We seemed to be in the middle of everything, but since
everything was so spread out we still had a five block walk to get to anywhere
except a nice, but noisy, restaurant called The Spot. We managed to get a seat
right in the front window. On nicer days it would have been wonderful looking
at the calm blue water, but it was fun watching the storm tossed waves crash
against the shore. The restaurant even had outside dining but it wasn’t the day
for that.
We arrived back at the hotel and our room was still not
ready, so they upgraded us to a fifth floor ocean view room. I don’t know what
type of room we had before, but an upgrade is always nice.
We rested at the hotel for a few hours, enjoying the balcony
and watching the world go by.
The place we chose to have dinner was a long ways away. We
took the recommendation of the desk. I didn’t want to walk it as we had done a
lot of walking already so we called a cab. Dinner was at Landry’s next to the
Hilton. We had walked to Bubba Shrimp Company to check out the menu earlier and
decided that the prices were just too high. The Landry had similar prices, but
the food was really good. I don’t mind spending a little more for really good
food. I had the veal parmesan, I’ve had better at a lot less expensive restaurants.
That night we watched the waves crashing against the shore
and the lights from the Pleasure Pier from our hotel balcony. We even got in a
little time on the internet before it crashed.
Boarding the Ship
When I woke up I tried to get onto the internet, but it was
down still and remained down the rest of our visit. I waited for Deb to wake up
and then we went down to the breakfast bar together. I really liked the
breakfast at the hotel. It wasn’t gourmet but it was good grub with a nice
selection.
We had been told by the hotel that a taxi to the ship would
be impossible. To get there, we needed
to take their shuttle. It was $50.00 per person, or $10.00 a person depending
on who was quoting you a price. The good news was that the $50.00 was round
trip and included parking for the week.
We didn’t have a car and didn’t need a round trip ride as we
were not coming back to the hotel. The girl during the day quoted us $10.00 a
person one way. The guy at night quoted us $50.00 a person no matter what. When
we told him we had been quoted a lower rate, he gave in.
It still left us wondering if we could do better. We met
another couple at breakfast who were taking the cruise and they were going to
pay the $50.00 for a one way ride. Deb told them that it didn’t sound right so
they went to verify. We gave them the number to the cab company just in case.
It’s true that the cruise terminal was on the other side of the island, but
when you consider that the island is only four miles wide at its widest and
that you can see the cruise ships from the hotel, it just didn’t make sense that
it would cost so much.
In the end we cancelled the shuttle and took a taxi. It cost
us $12.00, only because we stopped to shop at a drug store to pick up a couple
of last minute things and the driver left the meter running. So we were money
ahead even over the $20.00 we would have spent. We told the cab driver what
they were charging to get to the ship and he laughed and laughed. It would have
been around $5.00 if we would have headed straight to the pier.
I heard the other couple decided on a cab ride also.
The pier is right next to the old part of Galveston so we
checked our bags and since they were not boarding yet anyway, we took a walk
through town. We found this amazing candy store that also had a malt shop in
it. One of my favorite drinks is a vanilla malt, so I ordered me up one while
Deb was buying candy. I saw real gas street lights for the first time. That was
cool.
The embarkation onto the ship was a breeze. We had to wait a
few minutes in the terminal after getting through security and getting our room
key. I thought with that many people it was going to take until late that
afternoon to get on the ship. When they started calling the Pinnacle members my
heart sank. However it wasn’t five minutes later that we were in the fast
moving line getting onto the ship.
The thing that I don’t like about cruising and probably the
only thing is the blasted life boat drill. This one was particularly bad. We
had to stand on the boat deck for a half an hour while we waited for the
stragglers to show up. Some of the other cruise lines have you meet in the
public areas where you can sit down at least. The people behind me standing on
the deck had started the party early and were loud and obnoxious, not to
mention rude. I saw some people check in with the lady and promptly walk
away. One lady said, “We are Pinnacle,
we don’t have to do this”, before she walked away.
Right after sail away we hung over the rail while we waited
for the crowd to clear and saw some dolphins swimming around the bay. It was a
nice change from the drill.
It was really foggy in the channel and I wondered if it was
going to be a problem getting out, but we left on time and made it into open
waters before the fog got any worse
The ship was amazing, it had a three story dining room and
promenade straight down the middle of it. They even had a parade on the
promenade. We sat on the side and watched. The promenade was full of shops and
it had a 24 hour café in it that served pastries in the morning and sandwiches
in the afternoon. It went up four stories at least and had staterooms that have
windows that look out on to it where you can sit and watch all of the
activities on the promenade from.
There are two large atriums on either end of it too. I loved
the design of the ship.
When we went to dinner, we had early seating and there were
two older ladies at our table. One was from Washington even. We also had
another couple but I could not tell you who they were because they never showed
up for dinner once the whole trip. The assistant waiter, JingJing from China,
gave up on me because I was drinking too much water. I guess ten glasses full
was a little much, so she put two glasses of water in front of me the rest of
the week so she would not have to refill it as often. Even with two glasses I
still managed to run out a time or two.
After dinner Deb was tired so we went to the stateroom. I
wasn’t as tired so I went to the comedy show. He wasn’t the best comedian I’ve
seen on a ship. As a matter of fact, he wasn’t even close. I laughed in a few
parts so it wasn’t a disaster. After that I went to bed.
Sea Day 1
In the morning Deb woke up with a back ache. The mattress
didn’t agree with her. Luckily we had a great room steward. He put a mattress
pad on it for her and it helped a lot.
We went to play miniature golf on the upper deck but the
wind was blowing so bad it made it hard. Later on we attended trivia and our
group one. In fact through the week our trivia team won all but once, netting
us 4 key chains, six pens, two highlighters, two travel wallets and two
baseball caps, all with the Royal Caribbean logo on it.
At breakfast we were seated with a couple from England, and for
the rest of the day we kept running into them. They were at the meet and mingle
and trivia. When we went to lunch they were seated with us again and we saw
them later on at the show. At least they were friendly.
A lot of the ship’s officers attended the meet and mingle
including the captain. This is put on through Cruise Critic. They did an ice
breaker game and we got to know a little about our fellow cruisers. At least
Deb did, I held our places while she was going around and doing that.
Bubba Feathers was the featured band on the ship and as you
can imagine they played the classics. Well, classical country songs, that is.
Deb gritted her teeth every time she walked by but I enjoyed them mightily. We
even had a lady with a cane dancing to Bubba. She would plant her cane and then
wiggle her hips, turn around, plant her cane and then wiggle her hips. I almost
took a video of her because it was so hilarious, but I thought it would be rude
to do it so I didn’t.
We went up and played majority rules, but lost miserably.
Then the show that night was, well I don’t know what the show was. I was there
but promptly fell asleep. Deb elbowed me and we left early.
Sea Day 2
I had breakfast alone in the buffet because Deb was trying
to sleep in. When she got up we played around the ship for a while then I went
up to play a crossword game in the schooner bar. In fact between trivia and
other games, we were in the schooner bar quite a bit. There was a crosswords
game going on and there were only two people at it so I mentioned we should all
join the same team that way we were guaranteed to win. That worked well until a
few other groups showed up late. One of those groups managed to beat us even
though we had a head start. As a reward for coming in second, I got yet another
key chain.
When trivia time came around some of our teammates told us
that there was a medical emergency during the night. The captain toyed with the
idea of going to Cozumel first and dropping off the person, but sailed close to
Mexico instead and had the person medi-vaced off. The map on the tv tracked our
progress and we definitely took a major detour. That explained why we were cruising
at around 21 knots that morning.
At lunch we were seated last at a table for six, but the
other four people stood up and left as we sat down. The maître ‘d was furious
and had his people reset the table then they sat down four Spanish speaking people
with us. Deb and I were worried that we would not be able to communicate, but
most of them spoke English and the group was delightful. We had such a good
conversation.
We watched people on the Flow Rider in the afternoon. It
only takes one wipeout to realize that it was probably not for me. The water is
going so fast that when you fall it sweeps you up and slams you against the
backstop. Kinda like flushing a toilet. I enjoyed the wipeouts which were
plentiful.
We had a progressive trivia challenge to name as many
countries as possible. We had two high school geography teachers in our group.
I think we got them all, if not we only missed a couple.
At dinner the two older ladies were there but not the other
couple. I thought that the food on the ship was great. I didn’t have a meal I
didn’t like. Of course I am the type of person that thinks a chili cheese dog
is a gourmet meal. My wife thought the food was bland and some other people
said it was just okay.
We played mini golf again and the wind was even worse than
the first time we played. I started using this to my advantage; I would put the
ball on the windward side of the hole and let the wind blow the ball in. The
wind was devastating those on the Flow Rider. Even the ones that had managed to
stay up the day before were getting flushed after just a few seconds of being
up.
Jamaica
I had breakfast alone again. There were no free tables so I invited myself to sit with the
ladies that we had dinner with. They seemed to be on the same schedule as I
was. They didn’t seem to mind. If they did, they were polite enough not to say
anything.
We pulled up to the dock and then backed into the berth when
we arrived in Jamaica. The Freedom of the Seas came into port a few minutes
later and did the same thing. We talked to our fellow passengers before we
arrived, especially the ones that had been there before, to figure out what to
do while we were there. Most of them said the same thing. “We are getting off
the ship but not going outside the fence.”
When the pier first opened in Jamaica several enterprising
locals set up shop. They were offering everything from drugs to prostitutes.
Royal Caribbean got so many complaints that they built a fence around the
complex and only let the approved vendors inside.
Outside the fence was a shanty town and a rundown city that
looked scary but inside the fence was a modern complex with shops and open air
markets selling local handicrafts. Deb and I figured that we would follow suit
since we had no tour booked. We shopped around the pier but stayed inside the
fence.
That night we went to a spectacular ice show that I highly
recommend. Since the venue is small you have to stand in line to get tickets.
They don’t cost anything, but the tickets are hard to get.
We went to the Crown and Anchor get together after the ice
show. It is Royal Caribbean’s loyalty program. Royal has so many returning
cruisers that they held it in the main theater.
Grand Cayman
We had a buffet breakfast again. This time Deb joined me.
Then we headed to the main theater where we were supposed to wait for our tour.
Grand Cayman has a shallow port so you have to tender into it. There are no
docks. Deb wasn’t feeling well so we got delayed. They put the rest of the
group on a second tender. The tour left after the first tender arrived so we
missed out on our tour. Luckily we weren’t the only ones that they left behind and
we were able to get a full refund. We then went with the guy with a sign saying
‘Seven Mile Beach.’ We piled into a van that had two seats on one side and one
seat on the other. It had a large arm rest on the two seat side. Only it wasn’t
an arm rest. When the van started to get full the armrest suddenly became a
seat that folded down into the aisle way so you sat four across. When one of
the passengers looked confused the driver just said, “It’s Japanese.”
It was a bit of a racket. I figured out that they were
making $175 for the five mile trip to Seven Mile Beach, then they would turn
around and take another group back and make another $175 for a total of a half
hours driving with every passenger paying five bucks.
When we got to the beach there was a changing area. It was
like one of the changing areas that you see in a store where you are not really
all that safe from someone determined to peek over the door. Except this one
was open to the beach and the lock didn’t work, so you had to hold the door
shut with one hand and get dressed with the other. That didn’t work so good. I
figured that nobody wants to see me naked anyway so I just got dressed after
wedging the door shut as best as I could.
We rented a couple of beach chairs with an umbrella. I spent
most of the time in the water. I swam out to the buoy that said ‘Swimming
Area,’ and then swam back. Then I spent a few hours just floating in the water.
It was hot that day and I got cooked despite applying a liberal amount of
sunscreen on two different occasions. It wasn’t a bad sunburn luckily. We got
back to the pier and did a little shopping before getting back on board the
ship.
They had a battle of the sexes that night. Its men competing
against the women in some challenges. Some of them were a little risqué, but
you didn’t know what you would be doing until you got up there. I did
participate, but luckily the challenge I was in was very benign.
That night the show was a magician. I thought he was good
but he had a bit of a potty mouth. Not real bad but he could have left a lot of
that stuff out and still have been funny.
Cozumel
I had breakfast alone again. I guess Deb didn’t want to
chance the buffet after getting sick the day before. This time we had docks and
lot of them. There were at least six ships in port. We mainly walked around
town and bought stuff. Everything seemed to be negotiable. Every time we looked
at something and decided against it, suddenly the price dropped and then
dropped again.
Deb wanted some vanilla so we went to this one store that
had them for $25.00 a bottle. When we went to walk away, it went down to twenty
and then to fifteen, we settled on a final price of $12.00. The funny thing was
down the road they were selling similar size bottles for $9.00. All of the
prices were in American dollars too.
We walked around town and then we found this back alley
bazaar that we walked around. A lot of times when you would come out of one of
the shops the guy next door would say, “Okay, it’s my turn.” Wait, we are not
taking turns here.
After you bought a few things the other vendors suddenly
became even more interested in you. The more stuff you bought the more eager
they were to talk to you. Some of the items seemed so reasonable that we bought
them without haggling. One item in one shop was $30.00 but the lady in the next
shop had the same item and only wanted $12.00 for it. It pays to look around.
I did learn a few new terms from the vendors. One man said
“I’ll be back in a Mexican Minute.”
I asked, “How long is that?”
His answer was, “As long as I want it to be.”
I didn’t time him, but it was way over a minute.
Another term I learned was Mexican Computer. One of the guys
said he would add up our purchases on his Mexican Computer and then got out a
calculator. I noticed they all used calculators; even when the shops had
registers, they pulled the calculators out.
Another guy begged us to come to his second story shop using
his Mexican Elevator. He then took us up the stairs.
All in all they were all more pleasant than the ones
merchants in Turkey were so we didn’t mind.
We had lobster in the main dining room that night. One of
the ladies at our table had been waiting all week for this so she ordered two
lobsters. I just had a regular dinner. I like lobster but after eating it in
New England just a few months before, I was kinda spoiled with cold water
lobster. The stuff they serve on ships is usually the warm water variety.
The Flight Home
It’s always sad when a cruise ends and this one was no
different. Deb figured out that it was cheaper to take a tour through the NASA
Space Center with an airport drop off than it was to hire a limo or even take a
cab for that fact, so we toured NASA.
We all met in the Star Bar on deck five and after getting a
‘36’ sticker to put on we then followed the guy with the ‘follow me,’ sign out
to the luggage pick up area. I don’t know what thirty six meant but it felt
like first grade when the teacher would safety pin notes to your parents on
your clothes.
When we got past Customs and into the main luggage area
several problems occurred at this point. He told us that he would be right
there and to go get our luggage and come back. We went to pick up the luggage
and when we turned around there was no one there. The guy and his sign had
disappeared into thin air. Fearing that we had been left behind like we had in
Grand Cayman, we rushed to where we thought he might be.
We found him at the side of the building flirting with one
of the luggage agents. He seemed no longer wanting to lead the group but he
still had his sign held high up in the air. A group of people must of thought
that we looked lost so they motioned us to follow them. Thinking that our group
had taken pity on us and was keeping us from getting lost, we followed, only to
find out later that it wasn’t our group that we were following.
It was about that time that I noticed that Deb didn’t have
her suitcase. She thought that I had picked it up and I thought that she had
picked it up which meant that no one had picked it up. I had to go running back
into the terminal with slim hope of finding it.
After much searching I found it right where we had left it.
No, I don’t know why I didn’t look there first, it had been a long week and I
had not slept well. At this point I went running back, but it was too late. We
had lost the group that wasn’t our group anyway.
When another group, that wasn’t our group, saw our plight
they motioned us to follow them. There were a lot of friendly people on this
cruise trying to get us lost. After realizing that we were following the wrong
group, we managed to catch a glimpse of the NASA Space Center sign on a bus and
went over there. We apparently had the right sticker on our shirts because we
were told to get on. To our amazement, we were the third and fourth person on
the bus.
I have no idea how that happened because we got turned
around twice, had to go back for luggage and still beat 90% of our group. The
only thing I could figure is that they all congregated around the guy with the
‘follow me’ sign and waited until he finished flirting before heading out to
the busses.
Our tour guide was interesting. She would start a sentence
and then think of a better way to word it and then restart the sentence and
again think of a better way to word it. She started every paragraph like that.
She did point out interesting things like the wonderfully
large houses with great architecture, well, you can’t see them from here but we
will pass them by later on. She then forgot to point them out when we did pass
them. She also pointed out the local topless club. It seemed important to her
though I don’t have a guess as to why. Then she pointed out where a ship
normally berths, but of course it’s not there on Sundays, but it’s a great
ship.
An hour later we arrived at NASA. The Space Center is
wonderful and totally enjoyable, but we were told not to leave the main
building for the side buildings because if we did we were going to make
everyone late for their flights. So we stayed in the main building and it was
just the perfect amount to see for the time we had.
They had a Saturn rocket there, and a mock up of the
international space station and the space shuttle. They also had all sorts of
space memorabilia including some moon rocks. It was well worth the time.
We were able to catch our flight without any more episodes.
We were both TSA pre check on the way back so it made that a breeze also.
My overview of the trip is the ship was amazing, I loved the
layout and the décor. The entertainment was lacking however. I was surprised by
that being on a ship that big. I think they rely heavily on their Flo Rider and
rock climbing wall to entertain, but don’t really have things for those
passengers in their late fifties or beyond. I did love the ice show, but the
rest of the shows were just so so.
Would I go on Royal Caribbean again? Yes, if the price and itinerary
matched my wants.
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