Tuesday, May 22, 2012
May 1 – Canton Ohio to Atlanta Georgia to Somewhere over the ocean!
I started out worrying about this trip when late last night I was charging the company international cell phone so I have a way to call the office, tour manager, etc. I plugged in the phone in my kitchen and sat down to relax with my wife. About 30 or 40 minutes into charging the phone my kitchen lights go out. The breaker is fine yet I have no lights at all in the kitchen or the outside porch! I have 2 left thumbs when it comes to electrical work and I have to get up in about 6 hours to catch my flight…yeah, I am not going to work on this tonight. I left for my trip and texted my dad asking him to come and repair my lights so my wife and kids could see while I am gone!! I was hoping that the power problem would not be a sign of things to come!!!
5:45 am
I very rarely sleep real well before a flight as I am always concerned about sleeping in and missing the flight. Still when that alarm goes off, I feel like throwing it out the window even more than every other day of the week. Once I get my eyes open, I am starting to get excited about the trip and have no real problem getting motivated.
Our flight does not depart until 10:30 am however I need to be dropped off at the airport before 7:30 am so my wife and kids can get my daughter to school by 8 am and my son to Grandpa & Grandma’s by 8:30 am and my wife to work before 8:45 am. (This is just the beginning of a busy 2 weeks for both me and especially my wife!!)
7:20 am
We arrive at the airport a good hour before we expect the group to start arriving. My 3 year old son, Drew, is fascinated by airplanes and wants to come inside with me. I bring both him and my 7 year old daughter, Grace, in for a look around. To my surprise, there are 2 of my group members already sitting inside waiting too. I introduce them to my kids and then have to say goodbye so they can get on their way too. Drew starts crying, not because he misses daddy but because he wanted to ride on the airplane. Maybe next time little buddy!
8:00 am
While we told the group 8:30 am, most of the members start arriving and some have only met once during our pre-departure meeting 2 weeks ago so they are reintroducing themselves. Delta Airlines are still about 20 minutes away from beginning to check us in so we just visit and wait.
8:30 am
Check-in begins. Mustafa Saraclar from our office, who planned and orchestrated this trip, has arrived to bid everyone farewell. It was nice to have his help as we worked together to get everyone ready. Kudos to Delta Airlines agent, Pablo, as he was very helpful in making the process a smooth and problem free experience.
9:00 am
Everyone is checked in and most have made it through security already. Mustafa and I discuss a few last minute things and then we say goodbye and I make my way to security as well. I notice that one of our group members is still being evaluated in security so I wait for her to make sure everything is ok. It turns out that she had a sweater on with metallic stripes and that set off the sensors like crazy. Finally they cleared her and we are ready to go.
Our flight schedule to Rome is departing from Canton-Akron Airport with a short flight to Atlanta Georgia before we board our plane for the 10 hour flight to Rome Italy.
10:35 am
Up, up and away. We are on our way just about on schedule. Flight is very smooth and arrives on time.
12:05 pm
We have about a 3-1/2 hour layover before our next flight. I am very happy with that as I am still getting to know how fast everyone can walk and how the group functions with directions and so forth. I would not want to have a very quick turnaround and be missing half of my group!
In Atlanta, we need to go to the center of the concourse and go down the escalator to the tram area. We arrive in Concourse C and we need to make our way over to Concourse E which is the International Concourse. There is a walkway with a people mover or a tram and we decide to take the tram. We arrive at Concourse E and head back up the escalator to the main area. We still have plenty of time so I show everyone where the gate is located and then let them go find some lunch. There is a big food court area and I decide on Arby’s and enjoy my lunch sitting with Chuck and Barb Kiko along with his sister Pat and her husband Henry Schwerzler.
3:15 pm
After lunch, in anticipation of the long 10 hour flight over to Rome I decide to walk the concourse to stretch. We are supposed to be boarding our flight now but it was late arriving to Atlanta so they are still prepping it for our flight. We just hang out watching them unload cargo and load on the new food.
4:30 pm
We are on board and about 45 minutes late departing but no worries. We are wheels up and just settling in for the long night ahead. The Airbus A330 that we are on has 8 seats across with 2 aisles and holds about 300 passengers. They have built-in TV monitors in the headrests in front of you so each person has their own entertainment center. Movies, games, flight route info, etc with most of it complimentary.
6:00 pm
Our first in-flight meal! They are getting us ready for all of the pasta we are going to consume in Italy as they serve tortellini, salad, bread and cheese. Not bad for microwave airplane food but I am anticipating much better pasta in Italy!
9:30 pm
Here comes a late night snack!! Turkey & cheese sandwich. Yummy. After my snack, we still have about 5 hours of flight left so I decide to check out the entertainment system. I play a couple games of some jewel matching game but my eyes go crossed eventually so I switch to movies. I first watch Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol and really enjoyed it a lot. Then I switch to a comedy and watch Tower Heist and enjoyed that as well.
11:30 pm
This is the last time I remember seeing the clock as I begin to doze off a little. I don’t sleep real well on flights. Guess I must think that I will sleep through landing and everyone will let me sleep and I will miss my next flight or my transportation at my destination. Duh! Anyways, I don’t fight the sleep as I want to rest before our first long day in Rome!
Goodnight for now….
Italy 2012
PrimeTime Seniors Group Trip to Italy
Palmer Vacations provides group planning and travel services for Aultman Hospital’s seniors group called PrimeTime Seniors. Exclusive and one-of-a-kind trips are planned and escorted by Palmer Vacations and for the 12-day trip to Italy, I had the honor of escorting the group. While I had yet to travel to Italy I have had international travel experience and have planned and escorted groups in the USA. Therefore I felt confident leading this group of 23 around the beautiful country of Italy.
This tour visits most of the major highlights of Italy all in a mere 12 days of travel. An ambitious itinerary but once completed you have enjoyed a true taste of Italy. We will begin our journey with an overnight flight to Rome with 2 nights there, 2 nights in Florence with a stop in Orvieto along the way, 2 nights in Venice with a stop in Pisa along the way, 1 night in Assisi, a stop in Pompeii on the way to the Island of Capri for 2 nights, a quick stop in Sorrento before returning to Rome for 1 night to prepare for our flight back to Canton. Wow…are you still with me?!
Again, it sounds like a lot and while it is a lot, the nice thing is that it is a private tour for just our 23 people and therefore a wonderful way to experience everything this tour has to offer. We became a close family for almost 2 weeks and enjoyed each other’s company along the journey.
I certainly hope you enjoy reading about our adventures and enjoy the journey too. I will be posting a day by day itinerary of the trip so you can experience everything right along with me/us. I will post a few photos too on here but I have uploaded a couple dozen on our Facebook page…www.facebook.com/palmertravel
Ciao!
Todd Langenek, CTA.
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
No seats, load your own luggage and porn. Just another day at the office for Ryanair.
Would you be willing to load your own luggage on an airplane just to save a few bucks on an airline ticket? What about standing up because they removed all the seats? Those are a couple of the crazy ideas that the CEO of Ireland's Ryanair has considered so he can make an extra buck.
Ryanair is a super economy priced airline based out of Ireland. They offer very low fares but charge fees for everything from seat assignments, boarding passes and paying with a credit card. Their CEO is Michael O'Leary and has some outrageous ideas on ways to cut costs and make more money. I remember a few years back he wanted to install coin-operated restrooms.
I recently came across an article online from a publication called The Week that highlighted 7 of his most crazy ideas. This list was too hilarious not to share with everyone so I hope you enjoy it!
1. Urging flight attendants to lose weight
With fuel costs rising, Ryanair is taking steps to lighten its load. In-flight magazines will feature thinner paper, while the amount of ice onboard will be reduced. But those marginal changes are benign compared to Ryanair's more offensive weight-reducing proposal: Encouraging flight attendants to shed excess pounds. Lucky flight attendants who successfully slim down will be featured in Ryanair's lad-mag-like calendar.
2. Removing toilets from planes
Ryanair wanted to remove two of the three toilets installed in its Boeing 737-800 jets, and replace them with another six seats. "We very rarely use all three toilets on board our aircraft anyway," O'Leary asserted. This proposal came a year after the airline contemplated plans to install coin-operated bathrooms.
3. Offering porn onboard
In addition to selling downloadable movies and television shows, Ryanair proposed offering porn as well. "Hotels around the world have it, so why wouldn't we?" asked O'Leary. Probably because it would be weird to sit "next to some horny man watching people copulate on a little screen," says Brian Moylan at Gawker.
4. Eliminating the co-pilot
For the executive of an airline, O'Leary doesn't seem too concerned about air safety, suggesting that the standard allotment of two pilots per plane is one too many. "Let's take out the second pilot. Let the bloody computer fly it," he's said. Alternatively, he suggested that the flight attendants be trained to fly, so that they could step up to the plate in cases of emergency.
5. Having passengers load their own luggage
Luggage adds a lot of pounds to an aircraft, and many airlines have begun charging fees to discourage check-in bags. Ryanair took it one step further by suggesting that passengers haul their check-in luggage to the plane's belly, to save the airline the costs of paying baggage handlers and check-in personnel.
6. Removing all the seats
Spending a couple of hours in an airplane seat is no one's idea of fun, but what about having no seat at all? Ryanair has proposed ditching seats in favor of standing-only "berths." Instead of seat belts, passengers would use "handrails and straps" to secure themselves, O'Leary explained.
7. Charging for everything
Forget that complimentary bag of honey-roasted peanuts. On Ryanair you get charged for everything, including printing boarding passes at the airport, paying with your credit card, changing the name on a reservation, and in-flight food. Ryanair even considered charging overweight passengers a "fat tax."
I might tolerate only 1 toilet on a short flight, making sure I travel with only a carry-on so I don't have to load luggage and I could probably even bear the extra charges but no way would I want them to remove the co-pilot! How would you like to be stuck in the middle seat with two people on either side who have decided to order the porn package?!
I hope you enjoyed this list as much as I did. I laughed out loud when I first read it and had to share it with everyone in the office. The real funny thing is that O'Leary is just crazy enough to actually implement some of those ideas. Guess we will have to wait and see what he does.
Read the full article here: http://theweek.com/article/index/226524/ryanairs-7-most-ridiculous-cost-saving-ventures
Ryanair is a super economy priced airline based out of Ireland. They offer very low fares but charge fees for everything from seat assignments, boarding passes and paying with a credit card. Their CEO is Michael O'Leary and has some outrageous ideas on ways to cut costs and make more money. I remember a few years back he wanted to install coin-operated restrooms.
I recently came across an article online from a publication called The Week that highlighted 7 of his most crazy ideas. This list was too hilarious not to share with everyone so I hope you enjoy it!
1. Urging flight attendants to lose weight
With fuel costs rising, Ryanair is taking steps to lighten its load. In-flight magazines will feature thinner paper, while the amount of ice onboard will be reduced. But those marginal changes are benign compared to Ryanair's more offensive weight-reducing proposal: Encouraging flight attendants to shed excess pounds. Lucky flight attendants who successfully slim down will be featured in Ryanair's lad-mag-like calendar.
2. Removing toilets from planes
Ryanair wanted to remove two of the three toilets installed in its Boeing 737-800 jets, and replace them with another six seats. "We very rarely use all three toilets on board our aircraft anyway," O'Leary asserted. This proposal came a year after the airline contemplated plans to install coin-operated bathrooms.
3. Offering porn onboard
In addition to selling downloadable movies and television shows, Ryanair proposed offering porn as well. "Hotels around the world have it, so why wouldn't we?" asked O'Leary. Probably because it would be weird to sit "next to some horny man watching people copulate on a little screen," says Brian Moylan at Gawker.
4. Eliminating the co-pilot
For the executive of an airline, O'Leary doesn't seem too concerned about air safety, suggesting that the standard allotment of two pilots per plane is one too many. "Let's take out the second pilot. Let the bloody computer fly it," he's said. Alternatively, he suggested that the flight attendants be trained to fly, so that they could step up to the plate in cases of emergency.
5. Having passengers load their own luggage
Luggage adds a lot of pounds to an aircraft, and many airlines have begun charging fees to discourage check-in bags. Ryanair took it one step further by suggesting that passengers haul their check-in luggage to the plane's belly, to save the airline the costs of paying baggage handlers and check-in personnel.
6. Removing all the seats
Spending a couple of hours in an airplane seat is no one's idea of fun, but what about having no seat at all? Ryanair has proposed ditching seats in favor of standing-only "berths." Instead of seat belts, passengers would use "handrails and straps" to secure themselves, O'Leary explained.
7. Charging for everything
Forget that complimentary bag of honey-roasted peanuts. On Ryanair you get charged for everything, including printing boarding passes at the airport, paying with your credit card, changing the name on a reservation, and in-flight food. Ryanair even considered charging overweight passengers a "fat tax."
I might tolerate only 1 toilet on a short flight, making sure I travel with only a carry-on so I don't have to load luggage and I could probably even bear the extra charges but no way would I want them to remove the co-pilot! How would you like to be stuck in the middle seat with two people on either side who have decided to order the porn package?!
I hope you enjoyed this list as much as I did. I laughed out loud when I first read it and had to share it with everyone in the office. The real funny thing is that O'Leary is just crazy enough to actually implement some of those ideas. Guess we will have to wait and see what he does.
Read the full article here: http://theweek.com/article/index/226524/ryanairs-7-most-ridiculous-cost-saving-ventures
Saturday, December 24, 2011
Virtual Cruise; Day 9, Friday, December 10
Today is the day we arrive back into New Orleans and disembark.
5:30 am
Up and at it. Pretty cool to see the ship make it's final turn on the Mississippi River before reaching the dock.
6:00 am
Up stairs to the Windjammer Cafe for the buffet one last time. Normally you have the option of the buffet in the Windjammer, room service or the main dining room for breakfast. However on the last morning both room service and the main dining room are closed and everyone uses the buffet. Don't worry about a limited selection of food today. It is a full spread of food just as it was any other day this week. Since the main dining room is closed, seats are a little more scarce but not real bad still since we are very early.
As a side note, we have never really felt crowded on this trip. The ship sailed with a near capacity crowd close to 3,000 passengers. I expected to have to fight crowds for deck chairs, on the steps, at the buffet, etc. but the opposite was actually true. I had told Horse that the buffet would be packed on the very first day as people boarded the ship. To my surprise there was plenty of seats and it did not feel crowded at all. By the pool, there was always an abundance of deck chairs available.
Back to breakfast...I probably don't have to tel you that I enjoyed scrambled eggs, corned beef hash and french toast. Mmmm, again! Not one food item could be complained about on this trip. Just amazing food in both selection and taste.
6:50 am
Time to grab our bags and go to our meeting point for disembarkation, La Scala Theater on deck #4. Again, normally you put your bags outside your stateroom on the last night and they are collected to be removed from the ship. Once you disembark the ship, you proceed to your designated color coded area and pick up your bags. There is a newer process that we used called Unassisted Walk-off where we keep our bags with us and carry off our own bags. You have to have only 1 suitcase (I had a backpack as a carry-on too) to use this service and you have to be able to carry the bag a pretty good distance.
This process went very smooth. We were supposed to meet at 7:00 am but we got there about 6:55 am and just as we meet the rest of our group, the ship's personnel started us walking off the ship. We had our customs forms all filled out last night and handed them to the officer with our passport. Then we went right outside to grab a taxi to the airport.
7:30 am
We arrive at the New Orleans Airport and get in line for Airtran Airways to check-in. We did the Unassisted Walk-off process because we had an 11:30 am flight and I had heard that traffic has been horrible around the pier. I was afraid with an 8 or 8:30 am departure off the ship that we would miss our flight if traffic was really bad. The whole process of disembarking and getting to the airport took about 35 minutes and 25 minutes of that was driving to the airport!
7:50 am
Airtran opens their counter and we get checked in just fine. Security is pretty long but still not real bad and we are through and at our gate by 8:15 am. Our flight is for 11:30 am so we have 3 hours yet so we watch a few planes leave and arrive.
9:00 am
Boarding begins for the flight at 9:30 am. After all passengers are on board, the Airtran staff member asks us if we are on the 11:30 am flight. He says that they believe that flight might be delayed and they have space for us on this flight if we would like. We jump on it as we don't want to be late getting in to Atlanta and miss our flight to Canton.
12:15 pm
We get into Atlanta just fine. We get of f the plane and instead of going straight to our next gate and waiting for 4 hours, I checked the board for the next earlier flight to Canton. It turns out that the plane we just took from New Orleans is actually going on to Canton.
I ask if there is space available for us to get on the earlier flight at 1:15 pm to Canton. After a couple minutes of checking to see if they can catch our bags before they are moved off the flight, we are issued boarding passes and seats for the 1:15 pm flight!!
1:15 pm
On our way home to Canton Akron Airport!!
3:25 pm
We arrive and make our way to baggage claim. We are met by our families there and it was so good to see Jackie and the kids again. It was a very fun trip but hard to be away from them. The kids were very excited to see us but they may have been more excited to see the luggage come in on the belt.
It was a wonderful trip and Royal Caribbean did an awesome job in every aspect on this trip. This was the first cruise for Horse and I am happy to report that he is now addicted to cruising. He just cannot wait to go again and have another wonderful cruise vacation. A lot was learned on this trip and a lot of great experiences were enjoyed.
I hope you all have enjoyed reading this and experiencing the cruise right along with us. I hope this blog provided some insight as to what it is like to cruise on Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines and cruising in general. Thanks for coming along with us and we hope to see you on the high seas soon.
Happy Sailing,
Todd Langenek
Friday, December 23, 2011
Virtual Cruise; Day 8, Friday, December 9
Today is our last day on the ship and it is a full day at sea. One final day to relax and enjoy all of the wonderful things this floating resort has to offer. One of the “attractions” on board this ship is the men's room on deck #11 just outside of the Windjammer Cafe. The urinal in this restroom is a long structure that has a waterfall as a rinsing mechanism. The backdrop behind the waterfall urinal is the ocean as the wall is nothing but glass. This is such an attraction that women will wait until all men are out and then run in and snap a photo. To save you women from having to do that, here is a photo of it.
11:15 am
Rise and shine!! Wow! Do not take Nyquil before going to bed on vacation or you will miss half of your day. Horse worked on some Sudoku puzzles while listening to the rhythmic snoring I provide.
11:30 am
Breakfast time. Gasp! I enjoy something healthy as a banana is added to the diet today. I just could not resist more french toast with strawberry topping, corned beef hash (surprise!) and a croissant.
12:15 pm
We attempt to play shuffleboard to work off breakfast. My story (and I am sticking to it) is that it was too windy to play. Horse's story goes something like he was winning by 40+ points when the game was called off due to his opponents lack of skill at shuffleboard. Hopefully you believe my version as I am the author of this blog. I have not mislead you yet so let's just follow my version. Thanks.
1:00 pm
Found my twin!!! While browsing the photo gallery a nice couple asks me if any photos of other people have made it into our groupings of pictures. Apparently a gentleman in their party looks very similar to me. The facial recognition software used to sort pictures ended up putting some photos of me into this other couples photo groupings. I can't believe it so they show me some of his photos and sure enough if I added 40 pounds (give me another week at a cruise buffet) and had a little longer hair, we could look like twins. It is pretty funny too that the computer was fooled.
1:30 pm
Even though my quest to break my own ice cream cone record is officially over, I decide to enjoy a cone anyways. This time it is a strawberry and vanilla swirl.
2:00 pm
We browse the last minute specials in the ship's shops in the Promenade. I score a nice opal and diamond ring for my wife as a wedding anniversary present. 12 years as of December 18; happy anniversary Jackie!!
3:00 pm
Let's add a chocolate cone just for good measure!
3:15 pm
We relax in the Viking Crown Lounge area called High Notes. This is a music themed lounge and they have different musical entertainment periodically. It is pretty windy outside and the temperatures are steadily dropping as we get closer and closer to the Mississippi River. Thus the reason for us moving inside for a little while. We visit with one of the travel agents from our group and play some cards too.
4:00 pm
Time to eat again!! BBQ ribs are on the buffet today so I definitely have to sample them. Let's add in some seafood alfredo over rigatoni and some fried chicken. Mmmm.
Eating at the Windjammer Cafe. What a view!
5:00 pm
We are not huge trivia buffs but we go down to the Schooner Bar on deck #4 to test our trivia knowledge. We miss the beginning of it so we don't get involved with an official score sheet. We decide to listen anyways and we surprise ourselves with the number of questions we get right.
5:30 pm
Since today is our last day, we need to pack our suitcases at some time so might as well be now. Normally you set your luggage outside your door for the ship staff to collect and take them off the ship the next morning. However we are doing something new called unassisted walk-off. Basically we carry our own luggage off the ship tomorrow and will be in the first group off of the ship. So we leave our bags in our room but it is packed and ready to go.
6:30 pm
Tonight's show is the grand finale show and they add a juggler to the show. He was very, very good and had the crowd laughing with his humor too. The finale had a video showing clips from the cruise and guests having a great time. Then a final number from the singers and dancers is performed. At the end, some of the ship's officers, chefs, housekeepers, waiters, etc all come on stage to thank us for sailing Royal Caribbean. We in turn get to thank them for their outstanding service with a standing ovation.
7:30 pm
We have a few minutes before dinner so we pull up a chair in the Promenade and just people watch. I love to people watch as they can be very entertaining without even knowing it!
8:00 pm
My favorite time of the day, dinner time! I start with a shrimp cocktail and then move on to the fried shrimp and fried mahi mahi entree. I could not decide between the banana custard or the chocolate brownie cookie so I order both!!
10:15 pm
Matt Yee is performing his wildly popular adult comedy sing-along show in the Schooner Bar for the last time this cruise. We have been watching most of his shows from the distance but tonight we decide to go into the lounge and have a sit. Matt does a great job of getting his audience involved and I am chosen to help out. It is a simple task of leading the crowd in his famous OY chant while he gets the next part of the show ready. The show is a blast and we have a wonderful time at our last function. It is kind of cool sitting there enjoying the show and looking out the windows to watch the lights of the oil rigs and other ships floating by as we cruise up the Mississippi River.
12:00 midnight
Good night all for the final time on this voyage. One more report left on how the disembarkation process goes.
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
Virtual Cruise; Day 7, Thursday, December 8
Today is our 3rd and final port day of the cruise with our destination being Cozumel, Mexico.
6:15 am
Rise and shine. OK, so I am not so sure about the shine part of that as 6:15 is early! I bet my kids are not even awake yet!
6:40 am
We make our way to deck #12 to watch us pull into port. We are running side by side with a Carnival ship as we approach the pier. They have a separate pier than the one that we will be using so the pier area does not feel crowded at all.
7:00 am
Down one deck to the Windjammer Cafe for breakfast. Today’s choices are scrambled eggs, bacon, french toast with strawberry topping and a bowl of Corn Pops for good measure! I also have finally discovered that they have chocolate milk! How did it take me 5 morning meals to realize that they had choc milk? I love apple juice and I have been fine drinking juice but choc milk is awesome!
8:00 am
Time to get ready to go ashore and meet our tour guide for our island tour.
8:45 am
Did I mention that our tour today is on a Segway?!
I have been looking forward to this tour for a while. We do get some slightly disappointing news in that our tour was to have time for snorkeling too but the water is too rough and the snorkel portion has been canceled. The good news is that we get more time on the Segway instead. Several guests cancel (and get a full refund) as they really wanted to snorkel but the snorkel was just a bonus to us.
I was not real worried about hurting myself on the Segway but once we meet our guide and he has a bandage wrap on his left knee, I begin to worry!
9:00 am
We take a van ride to a parking lot a couple miles away and this is where we will learn how to ride our Segway before heading out on the open roads. Our guide gives us a demonstration and some pointers but this looks very easy. If you have never seen a Segway, first thing you realize is that there is no gas or brake controls other than your body controlling the machine. You lean forward to move forward, lean backwards to slow to a stop, continue to lean backwards to begin moving in reverse. The steering control does not turn but you just lean it left or right to move that direction. Piece of cake.
I turn on my Segway and with the help of the guide I step on the platform. Now as I am getting on, I lean forward and begin to accelerate forward. I quickly lean backwards to stop but I lean too far backward and begin to move in reverse. I quickly lean forward to stop but lean too far forward and begin to move forward. Again, I quickly lean backward to stop but I lean too far backward and begin to move in reverse again! A vicious cycle that I cannot control at this point and I might as well just be riding a bull in a rodeo. Finally, after what seems like a half hour but was just 20 seconds or less, the guide grabs my Segway to stop me. I now wonder whether or not this little plastic helmet is really going to help me.
I gather myself and give it another try and am able to get the hang of the controls. We practice riding around in the parking lot for several minutes before we begin our journey on the roads. Horse seems to have gotten the hang of it too without the bull in a rodeo effect as he was riding around before I was. Show-off!
9:15 am
Let’s roll! We begin by riding on a bike path so traffic is not a concern at this point. We make a stop to learn about some history of the island and plants that are native to Cozumel.
We get to learn a new trick that the parking lot dwas unable to teach us, how to drive over a speed bump. The trick to theis is that you have to lean forward to go up the front side of the bump but need to lean backwards just enough to slow you down as you descend on the other side of the bump. Otherwise you will just fly over too fast, go air born and crash & burn. The first bump, the guide stands and offers assistance as we go over it. The next one, he stays on his Segway but goes slow and looks back with caution to watch us. By the third bump he does not even look back at us. I guess we are doing pretty good then!
Now we venture out on the roads and drive along the coastline with the ocean to our right. Absolutely gorgeous.
We make a stop at a beach club, where we were supposed to snorkel, so we can rest our feet. Since you just stand in one place, your feet fall asleep and start to really burn. The trick is to keep rocking on your feet but you have to be careful because if you move too much you will cause the Segway to go too fast or stop. This is why they don’t tell you to do that but we learned from just watching the feet of the tour guide. We did this on the way back from the beach club and our feet were much better but still fell asleep. We just sit and relax at the club watching the ocean.
We get back on our Segways and the guide snaps a few photos of us riding around. We keep riding up the coast for a mile or two. The guide stops us and has us turn around to see our cruise ship off in the distance. It was very cool and surprising to see how far we have come on these 2-wheeled cycles! Snap a few more photos and then we begin our journey back.
Our guide tells us that we are doing very well and that instead of going back to the parking lot and riding a van back to the pier, we are going to ride the Segways back! We now will get to deal with traffic, sidewalk entrance ramps and people! None of their groups have ever gone back to the pier as their are either too many riders or the riders do not have enough control of the Segways to maneuver in town safely. Guess we are doing really good! We have a blast riding these “toys” all the way back.
The best part comes when we stop and get off the machines. We are supposed to get down, turn off the machine and then lean it up against the wall. No problem for me. Horse gets down but forgets to turn his off before leaning it up against the wall. As he tries to lean it on the wall, he steps in front of the tire and then leans the handle forward. Keep in mind that it is still on and leaning the handle forward makes it move forward. The tires start turning and runs right up the back of his leg and keeps spinning trying to move forward. His calf muscle is now getting a nice massage from the tire and has black rubber burns on it. Awesome! Wish I would have video taped that nice trick!
What an absolutely wonderful experience that was! One of the coolest things I have ever done. Let’s take that to mean that riding a Segway was ultra cool and not to mean that I have not done many cool things in my life.
11:30 am
We are back on board the Voyager of the Seas and looking for some food. We are at the very end of breakfast and a lot of food is being taken off of the buffet but still too early for lunch. I settle for some fresh pineapple, cheese and croissants and some corned beef hash. (You thought I forgot to have some today, huh?)
11:50 am
Grab a chocolate and vanilla swirl ice cream cone as we make our way back to the bottom deck of the ship to go ashore again for some shopping.
12:00 noon
We meander through all kinds of stores just browsing. We find the keychains, errr...Christmas tree ornaments, for my kids but keep looking just to see what is there. We come to some pretty aggressive sales people that keep wanting us to go upstairs to their stores. Not sure what is up there but we pass and the sales person moves to someone else. Some people are not so lucky as they are followed and continually asked to go upstairs. Hate to se what they are like once they get you in their store!
Another chap sees my New Orleans Saints hat and shows me a wooden plaque that he has airbrushed a nice Saints logo. Starts the price at $35, then I say no thanks and he lowers to $25 and I tell him I will think about it and turn to walk away. Now he lowers the price to $20. I wonder if I went back just before the ship departs and offer him $10 if he would have taken it? It was very nice but just not on my shopping list.
1:30 pm
We make our way back on board the ship for….more food!!!! Lunch time!!
2:00 pm
Lunch today in the Windjammer Cafe in the Island Grill section. A mixture of several things today with some fried chicken, pizza, spaghetti and cheese-stuffed pasta shells. I probably should have stopped about halfway through that menu! I am stuffed!
2:45 pm
Stuffed or not, I need to eat ice cream cones to break my record. I grab my 2nd cone of the day with a chocolate cone.
3:00 pm
We walk around the pool deck for a little bit to walk off lunch. We find a couple deck chairs in the sun and decide to rest a bit. Now we are in a group of chairs with room for about 20 people but there are about 8 or 10 of us. Horse and I alternate sleeping and snoring loud enough to wake ourselves up. I fall asleep soundly enough and snore loud enough that I cleared the people out around us. I wake up some time later and the chairs are now empty around us! Hope those people did not want a nice quiet place to relax!
5:00 pm
Anchors away!! Well, technically we are tied to the dock and not anchored but you get the idea. We watch as we turn 180 degrees and start our journey back to New Orleans.
Every now and again we read about some dope who falls overboard and is lost at sea. You wonder how someone can fall over a railing that is pretty tall. I am about 6’2” and most railings are middle of my stomach and up to chest high for me. Well, we got to see how this could happen. This not so smart girl decides to stand on a deck chair and hoist herself up on the railing to sit on it for a picture that will have Cozumel in the background. Not so smart boyfriend encourages her and snaps pictures. Thankfully, the photo session ends and she gets down unharmed but one nice jolt of the ship and this girl at least falls one deck down to the pool deck or right overboard to the water down below. Smart people don’t fall overboard, dumb ones do. This dumb one was just lucky.
6:30 pm
Tonight’s show in the theater is a voice impressionist named Paul Boland. He is called the man of 1,000 voices and is pretty good. Some I have never heard of but most I do know. He switches in and out of voices even while singing songs. I would say that he was good at most voices and really great at some. Enjoyable show.
7:30 pm
We make our way to the sports bar to watch the beginning of the Browns and Steelers game. I think we might be the only Browns fans in the bar and for sure the only non-smokers!
7:50 pm
This is our 2nd and last formal night on the cruise. We look rather dapper tonight so we decide to have our pictures taken again. Our last pictures looked like Horse couldn’t find the camera and had a stroke so we did not buy them. It’s always awkward to pose for a formal portrait and you end up with goofy looking smiles. We made our way through 2 awkward pictures when this little old lady who was all of 4 feet tall comes barreling through the picture area. Not sure how she missed all of the big flash umbrellas and other camera equipment but she did and walked right between us and the camera man as he was ready to snap the picture. She screams this little yelp and we bust up laughing just as the picture was taken. They ended up cropping her out of the picture and we had a photo from the chest up but it was the best picture of the bunch.
8:00 pm
Oh boy oh boy! It is lobster night in the main dining room! I order a puff pastry filled with mushrooms for an appetizer and then a cup of double duck consomme is brought to me too. I do not remember ordering but gave it a try anyways. It is a dark colored broth with shoestring sliced veggies in it. I have never had duck before so I have no idea if it tasted like duck but it was good. Now comes the good part, the entree! Even though I knew I wanted the lobster tail and shrimp, I also wanted the prime rib. The waiter brings the lobster dinner that I ordered but also brings a prime rib dinner too! Horse and I share the prime rib as he ordered lobster too. While we are munching away, the waiter brings me another lobster and shrimp dinner! I end up eating 2 lobster and shrimp dinners and half of a prime rib dinner! I follow that with a chocolate cake sampler dessert that has 3 different kinds of chocolate cake. Oh, wow. I can hardly think about eating ever again but it was the most awesome dinner of the week!
9:30 pm
We make our way all the way up to deck #14 to find a place to watch the rest of the Browns game where there is no smoking. We watch the Browns fight a good game but lose, as usual.
11:00 pm
Some how we decide that we are hungry!! We go to the Promenade on deck #5 and get a couple fresh baked cookies from the cafe to enjoy while we watch people passing by.
12:30 pm
Take a couple Nyquil tablets to help get a good nights sleep and get rid of this nagging headache.
Good night all!
Ice Cream Cone-a-thon update: Ah, who cares? I am no where close to the total and will not even reach double digits this week. Amateur!
6:15 am
Rise and shine. OK, so I am not so sure about the shine part of that as 6:15 is early! I bet my kids are not even awake yet!
6:40 am
We make our way to deck #12 to watch us pull into port. We are running side by side with a Carnival ship as we approach the pier. They have a separate pier than the one that we will be using so the pier area does not feel crowded at all.
Cozumel pier area
Down one deck to the Windjammer Cafe for breakfast. Today’s choices are scrambled eggs, bacon, french toast with strawberry topping and a bowl of Corn Pops for good measure! I also have finally discovered that they have chocolate milk! How did it take me 5 morning meals to realize that they had choc milk? I love apple juice and I have been fine drinking juice but choc milk is awesome!
8:00 am
Time to get ready to go ashore and meet our tour guide for our island tour.
8:45 am
Did I mention that our tour today is on a Segway?!
Segway - our wheels for our tour
I have been looking forward to this tour for a while. We do get some slightly disappointing news in that our tour was to have time for snorkeling too but the water is too rough and the snorkel portion has been canceled. The good news is that we get more time on the Segway instead. Several guests cancel (and get a full refund) as they really wanted to snorkel but the snorkel was just a bonus to us.
I was not real worried about hurting myself on the Segway but once we meet our guide and he has a bandage wrap on his left knee, I begin to worry!
9:00 am
We take a van ride to a parking lot a couple miles away and this is where we will learn how to ride our Segway before heading out on the open roads. Our guide gives us a demonstration and some pointers but this looks very easy. If you have never seen a Segway, first thing you realize is that there is no gas or brake controls other than your body controlling the machine. You lean forward to move forward, lean backwards to slow to a stop, continue to lean backwards to begin moving in reverse. The steering control does not turn but you just lean it left or right to move that direction. Piece of cake.
I turn on my Segway and with the help of the guide I step on the platform. Now as I am getting on, I lean forward and begin to accelerate forward. I quickly lean backwards to stop but I lean too far backward and begin to move in reverse. I quickly lean forward to stop but lean too far forward and begin to move forward. Again, I quickly lean backward to stop but I lean too far backward and begin to move in reverse again! A vicious cycle that I cannot control at this point and I might as well just be riding a bull in a rodeo. Finally, after what seems like a half hour but was just 20 seconds or less, the guide grabs my Segway to stop me. I now wonder whether or not this little plastic helmet is really going to help me.
I gather myself and give it another try and am able to get the hang of the controls. We practice riding around in the parking lot for several minutes before we begin our journey on the roads. Horse seems to have gotten the hang of it too without the bull in a rodeo effect as he was riding around before I was. Show-off!
9:15 am
Let’s roll! We begin by riding on a bike path so traffic is not a concern at this point. We make a stop to learn about some history of the island and plants that are native to Cozumel.
Paul Blart: Mall Cop....I mean here is Horse on his Segway!
We get to learn a new trick that the parking lot dwas unable to teach us, how to drive over a speed bump. The trick to theis is that you have to lean forward to go up the front side of the bump but need to lean backwards just enough to slow you down as you descend on the other side of the bump. Otherwise you will just fly over too fast, go air born and crash & burn. The first bump, the guide stands and offers assistance as we go over it. The next one, he stays on his Segway but goes slow and looks back with caution to watch us. By the third bump he does not even look back at us. I guess we are doing pretty good then!
Stud muffin on wheels
Now we venture out on the roads and drive along the coastline with the ocean to our right. Absolutely gorgeous.
We make a stop at a beach club, where we were supposed to snorkel, so we can rest our feet. Since you just stand in one place, your feet fall asleep and start to really burn. The trick is to keep rocking on your feet but you have to be careful because if you move too much you will cause the Segway to go too fast or stop. This is why they don’t tell you to do that but we learned from just watching the feet of the tour guide. We did this on the way back from the beach club and our feet were much better but still fell asleep. We just sit and relax at the club watching the ocean.
We get back on our Segways and the guide snaps a few photos of us riding around. We keep riding up the coast for a mile or two. The guide stops us and has us turn around to see our cruise ship off in the distance. It was very cool and surprising to see how far we have come on these 2-wheeled cycles! Snap a few more photos and then we begin our journey back.
Studs on wheels in paradise
The best part comes when we stop and get off the machines. We are supposed to get down, turn off the machine and then lean it up against the wall. No problem for me. Horse gets down but forgets to turn his off before leaning it up against the wall. As he tries to lean it on the wall, he steps in front of the tire and then leans the handle forward. Keep in mind that it is still on and leaning the handle forward makes it move forward. The tires start turning and runs right up the back of his leg and keeps spinning trying to move forward. His calf muscle is now getting a nice massage from the tire and has black rubber burns on it. Awesome! Wish I would have video taped that nice trick!
What an absolutely wonderful experience that was! One of the coolest things I have ever done. Let’s take that to mean that riding a Segway was ultra cool and not to mean that I have not done many cool things in my life.
11:30 am
We are back on board the Voyager of the Seas and looking for some food. We are at the very end of breakfast and a lot of food is being taken off of the buffet but still too early for lunch. I settle for some fresh pineapple, cheese and croissants and some corned beef hash. (You thought I forgot to have some today, huh?)
11:50 am
Grab a chocolate and vanilla swirl ice cream cone as we make our way back to the bottom deck of the ship to go ashore again for some shopping.
12:00 noon
We meander through all kinds of stores just browsing. We find the keychains, errr...Christmas tree ornaments, for my kids but keep looking just to see what is there. We come to some pretty aggressive sales people that keep wanting us to go upstairs to their stores. Not sure what is up there but we pass and the sales person moves to someone else. Some people are not so lucky as they are followed and continually asked to go upstairs. Hate to se what they are like once they get you in their store!
Another chap sees my New Orleans Saints hat and shows me a wooden plaque that he has airbrushed a nice Saints logo. Starts the price at $35, then I say no thanks and he lowers to $25 and I tell him I will think about it and turn to walk away. Now he lowers the price to $20. I wonder if I went back just before the ship departs and offer him $10 if he would have taken it? It was very nice but just not on my shopping list.
On the dock in Cozumel
1:30 pm
We make our way back on board the ship for….more food!!!! Lunch time!!
2:00 pm
Lunch today in the Windjammer Cafe in the Island Grill section. A mixture of several things today with some fried chicken, pizza, spaghetti and cheese-stuffed pasta shells. I probably should have stopped about halfway through that menu! I am stuffed!
2:45 pm
Stuffed or not, I need to eat ice cream cones to break my record. I grab my 2nd cone of the day with a chocolate cone.
3:00 pm
We walk around the pool deck for a little bit to walk off lunch. We find a couple deck chairs in the sun and decide to rest a bit. Now we are in a group of chairs with room for about 20 people but there are about 8 or 10 of us. Horse and I alternate sleeping and snoring loud enough to wake ourselves up. I fall asleep soundly enough and snore loud enough that I cleared the people out around us. I wake up some time later and the chairs are now empty around us! Hope those people did not want a nice quiet place to relax!
5:00 pm
Anchors away!! Well, technically we are tied to the dock and not anchored but you get the idea. We watch as we turn 180 degrees and start our journey back to New Orleans.
Every now and again we read about some dope who falls overboard and is lost at sea. You wonder how someone can fall over a railing that is pretty tall. I am about 6’2” and most railings are middle of my stomach and up to chest high for me. Well, we got to see how this could happen. This not so smart girl decides to stand on a deck chair and hoist herself up on the railing to sit on it for a picture that will have Cozumel in the background. Not so smart boyfriend encourages her and snaps pictures. Thankfully, the photo session ends and she gets down unharmed but one nice jolt of the ship and this girl at least falls one deck down to the pool deck or right overboard to the water down below. Smart people don’t fall overboard, dumb ones do. This dumb one was just lucky.
6:30 pm
Tonight’s show in the theater is a voice impressionist named Paul Boland. He is called the man of 1,000 voices and is pretty good. Some I have never heard of but most I do know. He switches in and out of voices even while singing songs. I would say that he was good at most voices and really great at some. Enjoyable show.
7:30 pm
We make our way to the sports bar to watch the beginning of the Browns and Steelers game. I think we might be the only Browns fans in the bar and for sure the only non-smokers!
7:50 pm
This is our 2nd and last formal night on the cruise. We look rather dapper tonight so we decide to have our pictures taken again. Our last pictures looked like Horse couldn’t find the camera and had a stroke so we did not buy them. It’s always awkward to pose for a formal portrait and you end up with goofy looking smiles. We made our way through 2 awkward pictures when this little old lady who was all of 4 feet tall comes barreling through the picture area. Not sure how she missed all of the big flash umbrellas and other camera equipment but she did and walked right between us and the camera man as he was ready to snap the picture. She screams this little yelp and we bust up laughing just as the picture was taken. They ended up cropping her out of the picture and we had a photo from the chest up but it was the best picture of the bunch.
8:00 pm
Oh boy oh boy! It is lobster night in the main dining room! I order a puff pastry filled with mushrooms for an appetizer and then a cup of double duck consomme is brought to me too. I do not remember ordering but gave it a try anyways. It is a dark colored broth with shoestring sliced veggies in it. I have never had duck before so I have no idea if it tasted like duck but it was good. Now comes the good part, the entree! Even though I knew I wanted the lobster tail and shrimp, I also wanted the prime rib. The waiter brings the lobster dinner that I ordered but also brings a prime rib dinner too! Horse and I share the prime rib as he ordered lobster too. While we are munching away, the waiter brings me another lobster and shrimp dinner! I end up eating 2 lobster and shrimp dinners and half of a prime rib dinner! I follow that with a chocolate cake sampler dessert that has 3 different kinds of chocolate cake. Oh, wow. I can hardly think about eating ever again but it was the most awesome dinner of the week!
Mmmm, lobster, shrimp and prime rib!
9:30 pm
We make our way all the way up to deck #14 to find a place to watch the rest of the Browns game where there is no smoking. We watch the Browns fight a good game but lose, as usual.
11:00 pm
Some how we decide that we are hungry!! We go to the Promenade on deck #5 and get a couple fresh baked cookies from the cafe to enjoy while we watch people passing by.
12:30 pm
Take a couple Nyquil tablets to help get a good nights sleep and get rid of this nagging headache.
Good night all!
Ice Cream Cone-a-thon update: Ah, who cares? I am no where close to the total and will not even reach double digits this week. Amateur!
Monday, December 19, 2011
Virtual Cruise; Day 6, Wednesday, December 7
Today is another port day as we visit Georgetown, Grand Cayman. In Grand Cayman, because of the coral formations and shallow waters, the cruise ships need to stop a distance out from the shore and anchor there. Then they use boats, called tenders, that hold anywhere from 150 to 250 people to get everyone off the cruise ship and get them to the pier. The tender process takes a little longer than normal since you have to fill up the boats and then go ashore and unload the tender. You just have to make sure you allow yourself enough time to get off the cruise ship before you need to meet your shore excursion at the pier.
7:30 am
Rise and shine! We do have a shore excursion booked today but we don't have to meet them until about 11:15 am so we have a little bit more time to wait out the rush for the tenders.
8:00 am
To this point we have only had breakfast in the Windjammer Café for the buffet. Since we don't have to go ashore real early we decide to have a sit down breakfast in the main dining room. There are 3 main dining rooms on this ship and all 3 are in the rear of the ship and stacked on top of each other. The Carmen dining room is on deck #3, the La Boheme dining room is on deck #4 (this is where we eat our dinners) and then The Magic Flute dining room is on deck #5. There is a very impressive staircase (reminds you of the staircase on Titanic) that connects all 3 levels but the main entrance to each dining room is on their appropriate deck.
Breakfast and lunch are only served in the Carmen dining room on Deck #3 so we make our way down there. The seating is not assigned so they seat you on a first come, first served basis. They will seat you at a table with other guests unless you specifically request otherwise. We joined a table with 8 other guests who had already begun their meal just a couple of minutes ahead of us. Today I decide to try the omellete since I have been wanting one all week and too lazy or impatient to wait in line in the buffet. I order a ham, cheese and mushroom omellete with some wheat toast. This omellete is one of the best that I have ever ordered, anywhere! Light, fluffy and just superb. Horse actually orders more like his normal health conscious self and enjoys scrambled eggs made with Egg Beaters and some turkey sausage links. Eh, go bad and take an extra cholesterol pill is my theory this week!!!
9:00 am
Pop up on deck real quick to see how the tenders are going and this are running very smooth. We watch for a few minutes before we have to get ready ourselves.
9:30 am
We start making our way down to deck #1 to the tender stations. There is one in the front and one in the back of the ship. They are using tenders that hold about 250 passengers and are mostly full when they leave the ship so they are not creating unnecessary wait times by leaving half full.
10:00 am
The whole process goes very smooth and we are on land at the pier pretty quick. We don't have to meet our guide until 11:15 am so we have plenty of time to look around and shop a little bit. I decided that I was going to buy Christmas tree ornaments for my kids at each port. Well, that lasted about 10 seconds when we first got to Jamaica as most stores did not have them or they were $20 U.S. dollars. OK, so plan B is now to buy them a $2 keychain and call that a Christmas tree ornament. I found a couple and we add them to our collection and keep browsing.
11:00 am
We find the meeting point after looking for several minutes as it is not clearly marked where we should be. The tour operator is running tours for multiple excursions including Royal Caribbean and Carnival cruise lines. Some better communication and organization is needed as it was difficult to find meeting point and we left about 30 minutes late even though we were all there. Even though the delays, this tour is outstanding and I highly recommend this wonderful excursion. What tour is it you ask? We are embarking on a bicycle tour of the island complete with a rum cake tasting and a rum sample.
The tour begins by van as we ride a couple miles to our meeting point. We are introduced to our 2 tour guides, issued safety gear and bicycles. After a brief instruction on the equipment and the rules of the road, we are off and riding.
Our first ride is through a more residential area as we ride over to the famous 7-mile beach. We ride along the beach for a short distance and then we stop for a drink break. While we stop the tour guide tells us of a couple interesting facts about the islands history and it's current economic reliance. We are treated to a view of a crab that happened to by walking nearby and the guide picked him up to show him off to us.
We continue a few miles to the Dolphin Discovery center where you can swim with the dolphins. We are not swimming with them but just watching the guests that are swimming with them (sold as seperate excursion). We have the option to wait and have our picture taken with one but none of us want to wait or pay to do so. We rest our legs a bit, grab a drink and then we are back on the bikes.
My favorite part of the bike ride comes on this leg of the trip. Horse is 2nd behind the tour leader and I am 3rd. We are riding at a comfortable pace and Horse seems to be enjoying himself with sightseeing the island. Next thing I see is Horse riding off the side of the road and half in the bushes as he rides. Bushes are just smacking him in the chest and arms as he rides off the side of the road and then he regains full control and calmly glides back on the road. I about wreck my bike from laughter watching him ride through the bushes. Oh my, what a hilarious sight!!
We ride a short distance to a store that sells rum and rum cake. We are able to sample some of each at this stop. Hey, let's get liquored up and ride a bicycle on the street! Wahoo! Eh, the amount of alcohol that you actually sample should not hinder anyone from the bicycle portion. Unless you act like the passengers from the other cruise line (no names please -- but they have a red, white and blue smoke stack) that treated the samples as a buffet. Our tour guide had to ask the other groups guide to step aside and let our group have a few samples too. Very small place and very crowded but some very, very good rum cake and rum. We head out back of the store to the water and look at the coral formations that are ABOVE water and have turned black. Little crabs are running every and sunning themselves and someone believes they saw an iguana but we cannot locate it though.
Time to mount up and ride on. We now enter one of the longer stretches of the ride as we make our way up the island to a town called Hell. Blink and you miss it but it is a tourist trap as a motor coach full of guests arrive as we are preparing to depart. Basically it consists of a small gift shop, post office and bar. Behind the building is a large mass of more black coral formations. The coral turns black without the salt water and then actually turns white from the heat of the sun. Some interesting stories are told as to how and why they are there and how the town got it's name. We do find some birds eating in the shallow water below the coral formations and an iguana sunning himself on top of one group of coral. We all visit the gift shop and purchase postcards to mail home so they are postmarked with the town of Hell postage. My postcard to my kids has not arrived after almost 10 days so I am guessing it must have gotten lost in Hell.
After our sightseeing break, we hop on the bikes for one final ride back to the starting point. This is the longest leg of the Tour de Cayman as we travel probably 4 miles in one stretch. I believe the whole tour covers about 8-10 miles so it was just right for a leisure day of riding. I am the youngest person of the 6 on the tour and we had a wonderful lady who was probably in her mid to late 70's on the tour. She lags back every now and again but there is a Jeep that trails the group to offer assistance and stays with her so the rest of the group can pace on. The Jeep also carries our belongings, has water coolers and a first aid kit aboard so that is nice to have offering peace of mind.
After we reach the starting point we all park the bikes, return the safety equipment and talk about our favorite parts of the ride. The tour guide gives us some more interesting facts about the island and we thank him for his assistance on a great tour. We board the van back to the cruise ship and get in line for our tender back to the Voyager of the Seas.
3:00 pm
We get in the short line to board the tender and then grab a seat on the top deck for some extra sun on our ride back to the ship. Very organized process overall.
3:45 pm
We are back on board and get cleaned up before we go in search of some lunch! We worked up a big appetite riding bikes to Hell and back! Ha ha, sorry, could not resist! We make our way to the Windjammer Café and just have to try the steak and pepper burrito station. Piled them nice and high with steak & peppers, cheese and sour cream. Oh so good!!!
4:15 pm
Time to grab an ice cold Coca-cola and sit poolside to relax a little while. I might have dosed off a little bit but people did not scatter so I must not have been sleeping to the point of snoring. We hang out and just relax our tired legs.
6:30 pm
Tonight's show is a tribute show to the music of Broadway shows. We are entertained with all sorts of music from great musicals and Broadway shows. Very enjoyable.
7:30 pm
We have about a half hour until our dinner seating so we decide to visit the Aquarium Bar on deck #4 which is just outside of our dining room. We partake in our first cocktail of the week as Horse enjoys a Rum and Coke and I have my new favorite Tequila Sunrise. Drinks are about $7 each including tip so we don't plan to have too many as I don't need alcohol that bad to spend that kind of money for several drinks each day. You do get your moneys worth though as they do not go lightly on the alcohol content of the beverage. Very, very good drink.
8:00 pm
Dinner time!!! (have you sensed that this is our favorite time of the day?) Dinner ends up truthfully being very enjoyable as we all gather to discuss our excursions and our days in general. Also, Horse has become the entertainment at dinner as he is not afraid to try different things, multiple dishes and then cleans up after everyone is done with their meals and does not want certain items. I am convinced that they are ordering too much just to have leftovers to see what he will eat and how many plates he will try things from. It is really funny to me knowing that at home he is really strict on what he eats and here he is letting his diet go and just eating everything in sight.
Tonight I decide to go with the scallops for starters and the tiger shrimp for the entrée. My seafood meal is so good that I completely forgot what I had for dessert. (Or Horse must have snagged mine off my plate before I got a chance to eat it!)
9:45 pm
Time to go for our nightly stroll on the deck to walk off dinner. We really like looking out at the dark horizon and trying to see if we can find any ships or land. Most nights we cannot but every now and again we see some lights in the far off distance.
10:45 pm
Good night all! A busy day today and with all of the bike riding we are tired and ready for a good nights rest. We will be in Cozumel, Mexico tomorrow and we have another excursion so we better be rested.
Ice cream cone-a-thon update: ZERO cones today!!! I believe the quest is mathematically over as far as reaching my 25 cones in 7 days as I have only had 3 and we only have 2 days left on the ship!
View of pier - small boats are the tenders used by cruise lines
7:30 am
Rise and shine! We do have a shore excursion booked today but we don't have to meet them until about 11:15 am so we have a little bit more time to wait out the rush for the tenders.
8:00 am
To this point we have only had breakfast in the Windjammer Café for the buffet. Since we don't have to go ashore real early we decide to have a sit down breakfast in the main dining room. There are 3 main dining rooms on this ship and all 3 are in the rear of the ship and stacked on top of each other. The Carmen dining room is on deck #3, the La Boheme dining room is on deck #4 (this is where we eat our dinners) and then The Magic Flute dining room is on deck #5. There is a very impressive staircase (reminds you of the staircase on Titanic) that connects all 3 levels but the main entrance to each dining room is on their appropriate deck.
Breakfast and lunch are only served in the Carmen dining room on Deck #3 so we make our way down there. The seating is not assigned so they seat you on a first come, first served basis. They will seat you at a table with other guests unless you specifically request otherwise. We joined a table with 8 other guests who had already begun their meal just a couple of minutes ahead of us. Today I decide to try the omellete since I have been wanting one all week and too lazy or impatient to wait in line in the buffet. I order a ham, cheese and mushroom omellete with some wheat toast. This omellete is one of the best that I have ever ordered, anywhere! Light, fluffy and just superb. Horse actually orders more like his normal health conscious self and enjoys scrambled eggs made with Egg Beaters and some turkey sausage links. Eh, go bad and take an extra cholesterol pill is my theory this week!!!
9:00 am
Pop up on deck real quick to see how the tenders are going and this are running very smooth. We watch for a few minutes before we have to get ready ourselves.
9:30 am
We start making our way down to deck #1 to the tender stations. There is one in the front and one in the back of the ship. They are using tenders that hold about 250 passengers and are mostly full when they leave the ship so they are not creating unnecessary wait times by leaving half full.
View of the ship as we tender to shore
(notice the 2 tenders loading people)
The whole process goes very smooth and we are on land at the pier pretty quick. We don't have to meet our guide until 11:15 am so we have plenty of time to look around and shop a little bit. I decided that I was going to buy Christmas tree ornaments for my kids at each port. Well, that lasted about 10 seconds when we first got to Jamaica as most stores did not have them or they were $20 U.S. dollars. OK, so plan B is now to buy them a $2 keychain and call that a Christmas tree ornament. I found a couple and we add them to our collection and keep browsing.
Pier area full of shopping and excursion meeting points
11:00 am
We find the meeting point after looking for several minutes as it is not clearly marked where we should be. The tour operator is running tours for multiple excursions including Royal Caribbean and Carnival cruise lines. Some better communication and organization is needed as it was difficult to find meeting point and we left about 30 minutes late even though we were all there. Even though the delays, this tour is outstanding and I highly recommend this wonderful excursion. What tour is it you ask? We are embarking on a bicycle tour of the island complete with a rum cake tasting and a rum sample.
The tour begins by van as we ride a couple miles to our meeting point. We are introduced to our 2 tour guides, issued safety gear and bicycles. After a brief instruction on the equipment and the rules of the road, we are off and riding.
Our first ride is through a more residential area as we ride over to the famous 7-mile beach. We ride along the beach for a short distance and then we stop for a drink break. While we stop the tour guide tells us of a couple interesting facts about the islands history and it's current economic reliance. We are treated to a view of a crab that happened to by walking nearby and the guide picked him up to show him off to us.
7-mile beach -- notice our ship really small in the background, just left of center!
We continue a few miles to the Dolphin Discovery center where you can swim with the dolphins. We are not swimming with them but just watching the guests that are swimming with them (sold as seperate excursion). We have the option to wait and have our picture taken with one but none of us want to wait or pay to do so. We rest our legs a bit, grab a drink and then we are back on the bikes.
Guests enjoying the swim with dolphins excursion
My favorite part of the bike ride comes on this leg of the trip. Horse is 2nd behind the tour leader and I am 3rd. We are riding at a comfortable pace and Horse seems to be enjoying himself with sightseeing the island. Next thing I see is Horse riding off the side of the road and half in the bushes as he rides. Bushes are just smacking him in the chest and arms as he rides off the side of the road and then he regains full control and calmly glides back on the road. I about wreck my bike from laughter watching him ride through the bushes. Oh my, what a hilarious sight!!
I think they are considering adding training wheels after his off road bushes adventure!
We ride a short distance to a store that sells rum and rum cake. We are able to sample some of each at this stop. Hey, let's get liquored up and ride a bicycle on the street! Wahoo! Eh, the amount of alcohol that you actually sample should not hinder anyone from the bicycle portion. Unless you act like the passengers from the other cruise line (no names please -- but they have a red, white and blue smoke stack) that treated the samples as a buffet. Our tour guide had to ask the other groups guide to step aside and let our group have a few samples too. Very small place and very crowded but some very, very good rum cake and rum. We head out back of the store to the water and look at the coral formations that are ABOVE water and have turned black. Little crabs are running every and sunning themselves and someone believes they saw an iguana but we cannot locate it though.
Time to mount up and ride on. We now enter one of the longer stretches of the ride as we make our way up the island to a town called Hell. Blink and you miss it but it is a tourist trap as a motor coach full of guests arrive as we are preparing to depart. Basically it consists of a small gift shop, post office and bar. Behind the building is a large mass of more black coral formations. The coral turns black without the salt water and then actually turns white from the heat of the sun. Some interesting stories are told as to how and why they are there and how the town got it's name. We do find some birds eating in the shallow water below the coral formations and an iguana sunning himself on top of one group of coral. We all visit the gift shop and purchase postcards to mail home so they are postmarked with the town of Hell postage. My postcard to my kids has not arrived after almost 10 days so I am guessing it must have gotten lost in Hell.
The main attraction in the town of Hell - black coral formations
Our little iguana friend resting in the sun
After we reach the starting point we all park the bikes, return the safety equipment and talk about our favorite parts of the ride. The tour guide gives us some more interesting facts about the island and we thank him for his assistance on a great tour. We board the van back to the cruise ship and get in line for our tender back to the Voyager of the Seas.
3:00 pm
We get in the short line to board the tender and then grab a seat on the top deck for some extra sun on our ride back to the ship. Very organized process overall.
3:45 pm
We are back on board and get cleaned up before we go in search of some lunch! We worked up a big appetite riding bikes to Hell and back! Ha ha, sorry, could not resist! We make our way to the Windjammer Café and just have to try the steak and pepper burrito station. Piled them nice and high with steak & peppers, cheese and sour cream. Oh so good!!!
4:15 pm
Time to grab an ice cold Coca-cola and sit poolside to relax a little while. I might have dosed off a little bit but people did not scatter so I must not have been sleeping to the point of snoring. We hang out and just relax our tired legs.
6:30 pm
Tonight's show is a tribute show to the music of Broadway shows. We are entertained with all sorts of music from great musicals and Broadway shows. Very enjoyable.
Broadway Rhythm and Rhymes show
7:30 pm
We have about a half hour until our dinner seating so we decide to visit the Aquarium Bar on deck #4 which is just outside of our dining room. We partake in our first cocktail of the week as Horse enjoys a Rum and Coke and I have my new favorite Tequila Sunrise. Drinks are about $7 each including tip so we don't plan to have too many as I don't need alcohol that bad to spend that kind of money for several drinks each day. You do get your moneys worth though as they do not go lightly on the alcohol content of the beverage. Very, very good drink.
8:00 pm
Dinner time!!! (have you sensed that this is our favorite time of the day?) Dinner ends up truthfully being very enjoyable as we all gather to discuss our excursions and our days in general. Also, Horse has become the entertainment at dinner as he is not afraid to try different things, multiple dishes and then cleans up after everyone is done with their meals and does not want certain items. I am convinced that they are ordering too much just to have leftovers to see what he will eat and how many plates he will try things from. It is really funny to me knowing that at home he is really strict on what he eats and here he is letting his diet go and just eating everything in sight.
Tonight I decide to go with the scallops for starters and the tiger shrimp for the entrée. My seafood meal is so good that I completely forgot what I had for dessert. (Or Horse must have snagged mine off my plate before I got a chance to eat it!)
9:45 pm
Time to go for our nightly stroll on the deck to walk off dinner. We really like looking out at the dark horizon and trying to see if we can find any ships or land. Most nights we cannot but every now and again we see some lights in the far off distance.
10:45 pm
Good night all! A busy day today and with all of the bike riding we are tired and ready for a good nights rest. We will be in Cozumel, Mexico tomorrow and we have another excursion so we better be rested.
Ice cream cone-a-thon update: ZERO cones today!!! I believe the quest is mathematically over as far as reaching my 25 cones in 7 days as I have only had 3 and we only have 2 days left on the ship!
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