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I finally put my wonderful cruise experience to words... there are a few pictures too, although I couldn't put them all here as my web page has finally reached it's maximum space capacity. Eventually, I'll remove other pics so that I can continue adding new ones.
DAY 1 (4 Jan 01)
Jonathan and I departed the house at 9ish and arrived at the port terminal in Cape Canaveral shortly after 1:30. We had no problems getting there and the check in process was fast and efficient. Our room was upgraded from a 5th floor ocean view cabin to a 9th floor ocean view cabin. Same setup yet a lot more floor space... very nice addition considering my son is sharing the room with me and as you may know he is 6'3" and weighs close to 300 pounds ;-)
We decided our first order of business was to explore the ship to see what every deck had to offer. From top to bottom we went sometimes using the stairs and other times using the elevators. There was almost everything imaginable to offer… from two pools to two movie theaters, a casino, boutiques, fitness center and spa, lots of bars and lounges, and even a section where you can check your email and surf the Internet. No, my withdrawals didn't get so severe that I had to resort to getting online… I had my little Palm device to ease that addiction ;-)
Next order of business was to decide on which shore excursions to sign up for… we decided on two… one in Nassau and one for CocoCay Island. For Nassau, it was the Yellowbird Tour… See Nassau and island of New Providence aboard the 85-foot catamaran "Yellowbird". Sip a refreshing rum punch (they're unlimited) and listen to the music of a live island band as you cruise through the harbor between Nassau and Paradise Island. The highlight of the tour comes when Yellowbird arrives at a beautiful beach where you'll enjoy a refreshing swim in some of the bluest waters in the Caribbean. On the return trip, the Yellowbird becomes a party boat with dancing to island music, some calypso antics and a limbo demonstration and contest. ($24 per person)
For CocoCay, it was the SeaTrek Snorkeling… Our SeaTrek snorkeling offers a perfect opportunity to discover the beautiful underwater scenery at CocoCay. If you've never snorkeled before, we'll show you how! Even if you can't swim, you can safely float on the water's surface and enjoy the view below. Spend a wonderful day exploring the living beauty of colorful tropical fish, exotic coral and abundant plant life in calm, crystalline waters. All equipment is included in the price. ($26 per person)
We ended up doing neither… read on to find out why.
After we successfully booked our excursions (Deck 4) and picked up our "daily planner" schedule, we heard on the loud speaker that they were serving an embarkation lunch in the Windjammer Café on Deck 11 (there were 12 decks in all). We headed straight up there and had our first enjoyable experience with the ship's advertised heavenly cuisine. It was a buffet with choices ranging from pizza and pasta to salads, soups, sandwiches, and desserts. The only bummer was soft drinks weren't included in the all inclusive food fest and for those that know me, I'm a Diet Sprite fanatic… Next time, I'll bring my own stash ;-) We ate outside in the cool sunshine and talked about what we were going to do next. We searched the daily planner which lists all the activities offered during each day with times and locations of each. You wouldn't believe all that they have to offer. We decided on the Bon Voyage Party on the Pool Deck (4:45 pm - 6 pm) then the Welcome Aboard Pre-dinner Show, Rock on Broadway, in the Follies Lounge at 7:15 pm, with dinner at 8:30 which was our scheduled time for the main dining room. But first, we had to find our suitcases.
Like I said at the beginning, we were upgraded to our larger stateroom upon check-in. Our luggage tags were made out for our original stateroom number so we were concerned about the change. The guy at the check-in said "no problem", the luggage guys will see the change, and the bags will be delivered to the right room. Wrong! After asking a few of the ship attendants, we ended up having to search for them ourselves which rather pissed me off… we found them sitting outside the original room number and had to take drag them from the 5th floor to the 9th by ourselves. I thought about going down to the Purser's Desk to complain, but that would waste precious time so I got over it and left my feelings known when we filled out our customer survey form at the end of the cruise. The cruise line should have notified us of the upgrade prior to departing from our home, especially when we had left emergency contact numbers with work and our loved ones. Note to Helen: You might want to suggest that to the cruise line ;-)
Anyway, we unpacked and headed to the Pool Deck to enjoy the Bon Voyage Party. And boy did we enjoy… We started out drinking beer and ended up trying a few other tropical cocktails too. The drinks averaged $4 each, but with the cruise line's SuperCharge system, we just handed them a card and it was automatically billed to my credit card. Too easy! Once we got underway, we went to change for the pre-dinner show and dinner. The attire for that night's dinner was "casual" which was basically described as "no jeans" without really saying it. No problem, I put on a sundress and Jonathan wore his khaki's. The broadway show was enjoyable and we had our last cocktail of the evening… a banana dacqarri (sp?) Dinner, itself, was an experience. We had a pre-seating booking at a 4-person table. Our dinner table companions were nice enough, but a little strange so it wasn't a very comfortable arrangement especially since they were seated first and they chose to sit across from each other instead of side-by-side which made conversation between Jonathan and I a little awkward. The conversation with them was fine… he was a eye doctor and his wife a stay at home mother. They were cruise ship veterans so they were able to give us a few tips that we wouldn't have otherwise known. For example, dinner consisted of a formal 5-course presentation… one course at a time… where you have the choice to choose from a menu what you wanted for each course. The tip was… if you wanted something more you could get it. In other words, Jonathan and the doctor had two main entrees ;-) Like I said, it was an experience… not good, not bad, but one that was more of a learning one. All the different waiters (head, main, and assistant) were very attentive and clearly earned their respective tips that night… $3.50 a night per person for the head waiter, $3.50 for the main, and $2.00 for the assistant. We didn't eat there again though, but we now know how it's done.
After dinner we headed to the casino. Jonathan had never been in one before so playing the slots was on the "must do" list. I had allotted a certain amount of $$ each for us to play with and he knew that if he wanted to play more than one night then he was going to have to learn restraint. He did and we had a great time. I showed him how the video poker worked and of course the slots were self-explanatory. Some time later, I opted to go back to the room to relax and he stayed a couple hours longer ;-)
Oh yeah, if anyone wants to know whether you can feel the ship moving, you can at first and then you get used to it. I heard the term "sea-legs" once and now I know what is meant by that. It took me about 6 hours to get mine. I never got sick, but my head and stomach were a little uncomfortable... could have been all the cocktails though ;-)
DAY 2 (5 Jan 01)
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!! I made it to my 41st birthday against the 40 percent odds that were given me 5 years ago. Tis a real celebration for sure… I'm officially "cured" from my fight with cancer and I couldn't be happier.
I woke up from a comfortable night's sleep and peered out the window to see the new day begin. I hurried to take my shower so that I could go out in search of coffee and watch the sunrise. I missed the sunrise, but found the coffee and settled down outside to have my morning cigarette and enjoy the moment.
Jonathan joined me a short time later and we talked about the day's activities to come while we enjoyed a scrumptious breakfast. It was then that we decided that the Yellowbird Tour probably wasn't a good idea for two reasons… 1) because the weather wasn't quite what we were hoping for. It was still on the cool side and the thought of swimming or sunning on the beach wasn't particularly comforting and 2) because we thought we might get too intoxicated and waste a perfectly good evening upon our return… besides that we talked and realized that neither of us are the dancing type especially with each other. So we perused our options and decided on the Historic Harbor Cruise & Discover Atlantis excursion. While Jonathan went down to exchange the tickets, I opted to stay on deck and enjoy the scenery. Land was in sight and people were starting to gather.
The approach to the Bahama Islands and the city of Nassau was pretty exciting. We took pictures and discussed our itinerary. We were to dock at 11:30 and the tour wasn't scheduled until 1:30 so when we were able to depart the ship, we went cruising the shops of downtown and started our souvenir shopping until it was time to head back to the ship.
The Historic Harbor Cruise was relaxing and informative and allowed us a great opportunity to view Nassau from the water while our Bahamian host explained sites and the history of the island. Along the way we saw historical forts, privately owned cays, pirate lookouts, famous private homes and more. The weather was near perfect at 72 degrees… partly cloudy skies with a soft breeze. Paradise? Pretty darn close ;-) We then arrived at the Atlantis Resort where we were taken on a 60-minute narrated tour of the beautiful resort. Most of the tour took us underground where we could view sharks, barracuda, eels, and other creatures from the deep. We saw a replica of an underwater archeological excavation site and the sunken streets of mythical Atlantis. We toured the casino and saw some beautiful sculptures where I took a picture of one of my favorites… After the tour we were left on our own to return to the ship by ferry whenever we wanted. We were scheduled to depart from Nassau at 3 AM. We did a little more walking and then caught the crowded ferry back about 4 pm. Ask me if our legs were tired from all the walking… Yep, they were, but we chose to go back downtown and finish our souvenir shopping. We got a lot of neat things for a pretty good price… I got some t-shirts, a sweatshirt, a shot-glass, a beautiful sarong, some wind-chimes, and some post-cards. Jonathan bought several things too and even bought me a pretty cool picture frame for my birthday.
We were plum tuckered out by the time we boarded the ship so after we deposited all our shopping bags, we headed to the pool deck for some relaxation. We ordered the drink of the day which was a Bahama Mama rum drink and they were pretty good. We hung out for awhile listening to the music and then headed back to our room where we decided to order room service instead of going down to the main dining room for the "formal" dining experience. We weren't feeling very formal by then, but that's okay, we had a great time laughing and joking and being downright silly right in the privacy of our own room. And we'll never ever forget the "man on the deck" episode. Our sides were aching from all the laughter from that. What happened was I was sitting up on the window ledge talking about this and that when all of a sudden I thought I saw a man lying on the deck peering up at me… in mid-sentence I exclaimed that there was a man looking at me... it was Jonathan's reflection from across the room. I know… you had to be there to see the real humor ;-)
We ordered all the finest from the room service menu to include escargot for our appetizer. Neither of us had ever had it before so we were looking forward to the experience. They were actually delicious! After dinner we took a stroll on the promenade deck and we were both lost in our thoughts of what it would be like to be with a significant other instead of each other as we strolled in the moonlight… sigh… there will be a next time though… We went to the casino again and on the way we passed a huge watch sale in progress so I bought myself a birthday present… I got a $250 watch for 70 bucks. I needed one so it wasn't a waste of money, or so I told myself.
When we retired for the night in our room Jonathan ordered more room service… cookies and milk. He's so cute ;-)
DAY 3 (6 Jan 01)
Awoke this morning with anticipation of the day's activities on the island of CocoCay… I looked out our window and I could see land in the distance so I hurried with my morning shower and hit the upper deck for coffee and my morning cigarette. We had arrived already and were just standing still out in the middle of the water with the island in the distance. The wind was blowing pretty hard and it was a little cool, but not as cool as the morning before. A few of us early birds were watching a ferry type boat approach us… I later learned the craft was called a tender. It's main function in life was to ferry us all back and forth to the island throughout the day. We were supposed to be there til 5 pm.
As Jonathan and I were eating breakfast, inside this time, we were discussing the idea of turning in our snorkeling tickets and just enjoying the day doing whatever on the island. He said he still wanted to snorkel even if it were cold and before I could reply, the loud speaker came on and it was the captain speaking… The day at CocoCay was being canceled due to the rough seas and we were to spend the day "at sea" instead. Well, that solved the dilemma for us. It's funny how things work out sometimes.
A day at sea… I was wondering how a day at sea would feel like so I wasn't that disappointed. I did want to walk along the beach, hear the crashing waves, and just relax, but I'll do that next time. We spent most of the day on the pool deck… relaxing … it was a little on the chilly side, but when the sun poked its head out from behind the big puffy clouds, it was warmer. Some people were daring enough to wear nothing but their bathing suits… they must have been from the North. They started serving complimentary cocktails from 11 to noon… bloody mary's, rum punch, and screwdrivers. Of course we couldn't pass up free stuff so we indulged in a few. They weren't strong at all so it wasn't like we got tipsy before noon ;-)
I went back to the room at one point and got involved in watching the movie "The Perfect Storm" and when it was over, I went in search of my son. He had mentioned a few times about going to the art auction, so I meandered down to the 4th deck and lo and behold that's where he was. I didn't let on that I was there as I wanted to observe him from a distance. They had just announced a 5 minute break so that people could make one last go through of the available art. They were told that if there was something that interested them and they wanted to put it on the block that now was the time to do so. And that's when I saw Jonathan walking with a purpose over to a piece and bringing it back to the auctioneer. I couldn't see what it was so I had to guess when the bids started again. I was thinking to myself that he had no business buying a piece of art since he doesn't have a job… which meant that if he did purchase one that I would be indirectly paying for it. I thought about it for a minute and decided that I wanted him to have this experience regardless of the price. I trusted him enough that he wouldn't go overboard. And he didn't. Piece after piece came up and bids were made and pieces sold. Since I couldn't directly see him, I wasn't quite sure what he was going to bid on and then there it was… a painting of two football players… yep, he bid and he bought it. After it was over and he was standing in line to conduct the actual business transaction, he looked up and saw me standing there. I could tell that he was high on the adrenaline of experiencing his first real life art auction transaction. It was worth the $103 it cost me to see the pride in his eyes of his accomplishment. I said an early "Happy Birthday" to him and he just smiled.
We went back to the pool deck then and spent the next couple hours watching the various activities… belly flop contest, pool competitions, etc. A calypso band was playing at times too. And then I made a fatal mistake… I started drinking Bahama Mama's again and the rest of the night is pretty much a blur. We had a blast, but I paid for it later. We were able to catch the beautiful sunset though as you can see in the pictures I posted to my web site. We made one last trip to the casino too and basically blew the rest of the money I had set aside for that purpose. Jonathan learned real quick on this trip that if you don't have money to blow then don't go into the casino because sometimes the money just disappears in a blink of an eye.
Later, as I was praying to the porcelain goddess, Jonathan packed our suitcases and ordered room service. Thank goodness he hadn't overdone it too. I was able to get a few bites of food in my stomach before I "passed out" for the night.
DEPARTURE DAY (7 Jan 01)
We were slowly making our way through the final channel when I woke the next morning. Thankfully I didn't have a bad hangover… in fact, I felt pretty decent considering how I felt before I went to bed. We had already filled the appropriate envelopes they had left in the room the day before with the tip money. The suitcases were already picked up too. We had breakfast and then waited in our room until it was time to depart the ship. The departure was smooth and easy too and the trip home uneventful.
All in all it was a wonderful experience and I would do it again in a heartbeat; however, Jonathan and I discussed this at length and we decided that even though the two of us had fun together, that it would be more fun to take a cruise either with a group of family and/or friends, or with your significant other.
I'd like to thank Helen from Cruise Planners for helping make all the arrangements for this wonderful celebration cruise and I'd like to thank my son for going along with me. Thank you!
19 JANUARY 2001
No rest for the wicked... I have to take an unexpected and unplanned trip to Biloxi to see my oncologist. I'm due for my 6 month checkup anyway so no big deal, but the trip is really provoked by a visit to my local doctor. Actually, the local doctor is a stand in and I don't like him at all. I made an appointment because I've been in A LOT of pain this past week with my upper back problems. Feels like a possible pulled muscle; however, it never completely heals. Been going on now for 4 months off and on. This last episode being the worst and the longest. Anyway, the doctor saw that I have had cancer and he quickly jumped to the conclusion that my back has something to do with my Hodgkins and strongly recommended I go to Keesler and get checked out. He didn't even bother to take xrays... just gave me some pain medication and sent me on my way. Ask me if I left there a little concerned? I called Keesler and the nurse made an appointment for me for next week, but she told me not to worry because doctors have a bad habit of blaming every ailment on a possible reoccurence of past cancer. She said that my ailment didn't sound like it had anything to do with Hodgkins. That made me feel better, however, I won't rest easy until next week. STUPID DOCTOR for making me even think about such a thing!!!
27 JANUARY 2001
Good news and bad news... the good news is that my back pain has NOTHING to do with my history of cancer, and I'm now officially cured!! The bad news is I'm still in A LOT of pain. Even the muscle relaxer my oncologist prescribed is not working :-( I will keep a journal of my pain and make a follow up appointment at the end of next month. In the meantime, I will try different things to ease the pain including exercise.
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