Day 9 - Home

As is usually the case, I am awake long before the alarm would awake me.

We are secure to the dock and the workers are busy preparing to load provisions for the next cruise while they are unloading thousands of pieces of luggage. Passengers leave in a steady stream.

My back has been hurting for several weeks, so I take no chances and will have wheelchair assistance to leave the ship.

I arrive in the designated lounge a few minutes early, and I am immediately assigned an escort to leave.

Adrienne and Steve are going to help Scott and his sick children, and we will all meet at the cars at the Park N Go lot.

We have to wait a few minutes for our luggage, and as soon as we can get our bags there is a porter ready to help.

A brief pause for verification by facial recognition that I can enter the country, and we are on our way to the car.

Adrienne and Steve arrive about 20 minutes later.  The lot is very congested, but we make it to the turnpike and head North.

We will stop at our usual truck stop and McDonalds for breakfast in Ft Pierce.

We all order from our phone apps. The savings make it worth the hassle. 

Adrienne gets her food and then it happens. All the employees except the cashier walk out. About 15 orders are left in limbo. The gal apologizes many times, but she does not know how to prepare food. All she can do is call her magic helpline.

We ponder just leaving, but are too frugal just to ignore the orders we have paid for.

Within about 30 minutes backup staff arrives and they begin to untangle the mess they were thrown into.

45 minutes later than it should have been, we are back on the road. 

Everyone makes it home safely, the bags are unpacked and the clothes washed.

Ready for another adventure, but not until mid January.

Day 8 - Coco Cay

Coco Cay, Royal's private island in the Bahamas has been very successful for them and they have several others in the works around the world. I elect to stay on the ship, as does everyone else in the family. Scott and his two kids are sick. The temperature is in the low 70's and the wind is blowing at about 20 MPH. Not a very nice day at Coco Cay.

The Allure of the Seas is docked beside us. 12,000 passengers on shore is another reason to remain on board.

Despite the 78 pinnacle and 900 diamond and diamond plus passengers, the lounge was never crowded and we often gathered there after dinner. My son in law, Steve, managed to hide the 100 ducks I brought. He also had brought a special duck from Kevin's son that he gave to Dan our head waiter.

Everything is packed before dinner. I have a 7:30 am departure time usually one of the first passengers to disembark after those that carry all their own luggage.

Despite the cool weather here, it has been much cooler in Florida this past week, with freeze warnings issued for the northern counties.

The alarm is set to ensure an early awakening. Tomorrow it is back to reality.

Day 6 and 7 - Sea Days

The skies remain rain free during the day. A few showers pass during the night. The further north we go, the lower the air temp. Highs will likely be in the mid 70's, low for the Caribbean this time of year.

The little kids swim, slide, and spends time in adventure ocean playing with other's.

We take in a few concerts and lots of quiet time on the balcony or the adults only Solarium. While there are quite a few kids on the ship, in all they have remained well behaved.

The ice show, one of my favorites, came to an abrupt halt about halfway through. After about 15 minutes, the glitch was fixed and the skaters resumed.

It has taken me years to learn and remember, but removing my glasses improves the ships photography substantially. They took some good photos of the entire group. Especially good since it's free.

Tomorrow we will be in Coco Cay, Royal's private island.

Day 5 - Curacao

Lynn is up at 6:30 having breakfast. She, Adrienne, and Steve have a guided walking tour of the city beginning at 8:30. It is probably a half hour walk to the starting point so they are off early.

I again will stay on board.

During the night there was some rain, but by morning the skies are clear. The Carnival Vista is front of us, and an AIDA ship tied up in the channel. Too far away to read her name.

Only 4 people in Chops for breakfast today. Either my timing was good or others wen't elsewhere. Most passengers are off the ship, and the public spaces are pretty empty.

Workers are chipping paint in the kids pool. Maintenance is never ending. For a ship that is 15 years old she has been maintained fairly well, but is showing her age. The balcony doors are very difficult to open, the seals are shot and the handles are loose. Not minor things to fix.

The adjustable shower head holder is no longer adjustable. Maintenance has had to over tighten it just to keep it in place. Some areas of the ship have a musty odor. Probably the result of prior plumbing leaks. The crew is trying to address it, but so far not successfully.

I spend some time in the Solarium until the sun gets too warm.

Eliza has come down with something, and spends most of the day in bed with a fever.

Tiger spends most of the afternoon in the kids splashing area.

The walking tour was a success. The guide was good. All are back on the ship by midafternoon.

Dinner is a spicy pork chop. Eliza remains in the cabin so her father takes dinner back to the room for her.

Entertainment tonight is sparse. We try to listen to Jazz in Central Park, but are quickly driven inside by the rain. Tomorrow is another day.

The next two days will be sea days as we head to Coco Cay, Royal's private island.

Day 4 - Aruba

We arrive in Aruba. The Holland America Rotterdam is already berthed in front of us.  My back has been bothering me for several weeks, and long before I left home I had determined that I would not get off the ship.

Even before breakfast, my first chore is to check on the cluster of trees on the sandbar. Last trip they looked pretty sad. Now they are just a bunch of dead branches. No hope for a come back.

The kids go ashore and head to the beach. Everyone had a good time, so good that they did not make it back to the ship for laser tag.

Elisa returns with a fever, most likely just too much sun. Scott takes dinner to her and her mom in the cabin.

I have a lazy day on the ship.

Entertainment tonight is adult comedy. The usual format, two comedians, 25 minutes each. Definitely above average.

The Rotterdam leaves about noon, and shortly after the Carnival Vista squeezes into the berth in front of us. A big exercise in parallel parking in limited space. It helps significantly that the ship can move sideways into the dock.

All aboard is 10:30 PM. I'm sound asleep before we leave at about 11.

Tomorrow we will be in Curacao.

2 Sea Days

We cruise along at a comfortable 15 knots. The first evening the Miami skyline is visible to our West. Much of the first sea day we cruise off the coast of Cuba. After that, it is just open seas.

The grand children, 4 and 6, have cruised before. When they were told about this cruise on Thanksgiving, Elisa just screamed "donuts"! Her favorite and maybe only memory from when she was on her first cruise. Her aunt would get a donut for her each morning. A few months later her first "use" of her parents credit card was to purchase donuts.

We were assigned a new table in the dining room. The staff from the previous night came over to greet us even though they had lost us as customers. 

The show tonight was "One Sky". I don't remember much as I slept for most of it. Maybe the same fate as the last time I saw it several years ago.

The kids really enjoy the childrens program, giving the adults a break. I had forgotten, but there is no charge for the program before 10 PM. $10 per hour after that. What a bargain.

We have the same waiter in Chops each morning for breakfast, a break from the crowds and noise. Usually cereal and juice, occasionally pancakes or french toast.

I'm really falling behind in my duties. On the fourth day I am still writing about day 2. Nothing has been posted to FB, and I haven't even started on the monthly train club financials. So be it.

The cruise industry is doing very well. Most ships are sailing at capacity. Very apparent this week. Every place is crowded, unlike my last cruise on this ship when we probably sailed at 60% capacity.

The weather remains excellent with temperatures in the upper 70's. Back home in Florida the daily highs are in the low 60's. The Midwest below freezing.

The headliner show was a singer from Vegas. He was good, but the theater was 25% full at most.

I finally set aside 3 hours and do all the monthly train club stuff plus send out the proposed budget for 2025 and a survey to get the head count for our Christmas party. Also a few minor changes were made to the bylaws and member handbook. This is almost like having to work for a living.

Our first port of call will be Aruba.

Day 1 Heading to Curacao and Aruba

Most of my cruises lately have been to new ports in Europe, some on new ships and even new crise lines for me.

This time I return to an old favorite, Oasis of the Seas heading to my favorite destinations, Curacao. I have probably made this trip a dozen times over the years.

Two of my three children and two of my grandchildren will be on board also. 

I was awake at 4:00 despite having my alarm set for 7:00. We are underway on time, and pick up Adrienne and Steve at 8:00.  The plan is to meet Scott, Melinda and the grandkids Eliza and Tiger half way to Ft. Lauderdale in Ft. Pierce. A good place to refuel, both the car and the body.

We arrive within 5 minutes of each other. Grab a bite at the McDonalds, and top off the fuel tank.  Soon we are on our way again.

We arrive at Park N Go. They are busy but efficient. My luggage is loaded on the shuttle bus before I can even turn the car off.  We are a little concerned about Fluffy (Scott) as he wasn't able to make a reservation.  Time to play dumb, he made reservations for a day later, and just showed up. The young attendant didn't know what to do and told him they would figure it out when he returned. Pull forward and get loaded on the bus.

Minutes later we are in the terminal. At security the agent is unable to find gloves before I can get a pat down. Dictated by my pacemaker, I can't go through the normal detectors. Eventually he finds some gloves that are way too small. After a 10 minute delay I am on my way.

The cabins are open, but the cabin steward is still working. He probably finishes a hour late. A very rare occurance.

The first stop is the dining room. Par for course, ICruise didn't link our reservations together properly and we are not assigned dining together. The group behind me had a bigger problem, 7 people that were supposed to be together assigned to 3 tables on 2 decks.

There are hundreds of passengers with similar problems. We are told to arrive at 5:15 and they will have a table for us somewhere. Pinnancle status helps.

By the time I return to the cabin, the luggage has arrived. Everything is quickly stowed away in its temporary home for the week.

We arrive at the dining room and taken to a table way at the back of the room. Half bench seating and half chairs. Our wait staff was excellent, service was quick, and the food good. The bench seating was good for the grand kids.

A little time in the Schooner bar, and it is an early night for me.

The next two days will be sea days.