Thanks giving 2010 was spent sailing the seas of the Caribbean with one of our close family friend Venkat, Swapna and Samika. The Itinerary for the journey is published below.
Day 1: MiamiWe flew into Miami the morning of Nov 21st on a direct flight from St. Louis and were on-board the ship by 12 PM. Since the day began early and breakfast was light the first thing on the agenda was food. We went into the Garden Cafe and had a great feast. It was food, food all over the place.
Everything from Indian to Italian to Mexican to Soups and Sandwiches was there and making a choice was the issue. This was just one of many restaurants in the Ship. Some of the fancier ones had a cover charge but there were plenty of good ones besides that as well.
After satisfying our palates we decided to explore the ship and went to the topmost deck that has the sports court, climbing walls, pools and jogging trail. On other decks there were 2 clubs, a bowling alley, a Lounge bars and restaurants. All through the ship was full of life with dancing and singing and various activities in the different locations. That evening we watched out first show in the Star Dust Theater.
Kids had their own club called Aqua Club.
We signed them up for it and were provided with a list of activities for them for entire 7 days. It was a drop off place and they were looked after well and entertained. We were skeptical initially but after the first visit the kids were yearning for more.
While all of the food was included in the trip cost, alcohol was not. I did miss it some but not enough to use my "very convenient" room key card that now doubled as a credit card. I think that resulted in an overall decent behavior among the cruisers.
As we walked into the ship there would be
greeters with a hand sanitizer spray and they would call out "washy, washy, happy, happy, smiley smiley" to grab our attention and squirt some of it on our hands.
You'd also see them in the entrance to restaurants and it did not matter if you were going in to get some coffee or just walking through the restaurant to the other side of the ship you'd get a smiley squirt.
This became the signature trademark rant of the cruisers every one from adults to kids could occasionally be heard going "washy washy".
Pictures: We spot familiar faces from outside our balcony.
Our Room with the bunk bed.
Nishanth making it to the top in rock climbing.
Miami Beach as we sailed out.
View from out balcony as we sailed out.
Posing for a picture with a popular "washy washy" person.
Day 2: SailingThe day began with a visit to the gym at 5:30 AM. Ever wondered what it is like to run on a
thread mill watching the waves and water as far as eyes can see with sun light gradually increasing in intensity as it reflects from the water? Well go on a cruise..! The time just flies by.
You can also choose to run on the jogging track in the open deck for another experience.
We had a grand breakfast at the Summer Palace which is a more formal dining restaurant after which we spent some time rock climbing. The kids spent some time in the pool more rock climbing.
Nishanth
played a game of soccer with the kids and I joined for the adults match-up.Later that afternoon while the kids enjoyed the time at aqua club we went for a line dancing workshop.
Here is Venkat and me doing our best.
That evening we dressed up went for another show at the theater and dined at Indigo.
Day 3 : Roatan, Honduras
The first thing on the agenda after breakfast was a tour of
the island. The guide was not very impressive and we did not feel it was money well spent. As part of the tour we paid a visit to a Iguana farm a beach and in general some sights of the island on the way.
The evening was free with kids at the club and the show at the theater not one of our kind. We walked around took some pictures and went to the garden cafe for dinner.
There was also live music at the pool and some of the staff were encouraging the hesitant ladies to join in and dance. Veena jumped in and made an attempt.
Dress up evenings and the ladies practicing their line dance.
We set sail that evening to the next destination.
Day 4 : Belize City, BelizeThis port was different, unlike the previous one where the ship was docked and we walked out to land, here we were ferried to land in a speed boat that took about 15 minutes.
Once there we met our tour guide. The person was a native Belizeian and we talked a little bit. He was a young 26 year old guy with knowledge and sense of humor. He was a devotee of Matha Amritanandamayi and had a book about her that he read.
He wanted me to pronounce a sentence that went "Ohm something something Namaha" and wrote down the broken pronunciation so he can say it correctly.
We toured the
Mayan Ruins of Altun Ha. It was a good hours drive from Belize city where we were docked. The guide did a pretty thorough job of describing the various structures. Some of the structures were really high and the climb to the top was not as easy as it seemed. We headed back down and towards the bus only to realize Neetu was neither with Venkat or us.
We did a frantic run back to the ruins and poor thing had descended and ascended the tomb twice in her search for us. We chilled of with some coconut water and purchased a memorabilia and headed back to the ship.
Once at the port we decided that we wanted to try the local food and had lunch at a restaurant within the tourist building.
The place is pretty much within secure gates with guards deciding who gets in and out of the facility.
Once on-board kids caught up on much needed rest. They were then feed and sent of the the club while treated ourselves to some Margaretta's and spent some time at the theater and Lounge chatting and watching some of the activities. We then dined with the kids at the formal dining place.
Bunny waiting for us on return to our rooms that evening.
Day 5 : Costa Maya, MexicoMy day began as usual with a visit to the gym. Nishanth had different plans for Veena's however.
His day began with throwing up from his bunk bed to our bed a
nd he had all kinds of fire works from every orifice in his body. It eventually subsided and fixed itself. He has been feasting on Sausages ever since the trip started this put an end to that indulgence and it was his own decision.
We did not have any trips planned and so we took our time at breakfast and went out to the tourist resort just off
the pier.
Spent some time watching dolphins do various things and let the kids play in the sand and the pool. The ladies went shopping and it was just a relaxed day under a hut.
That evening we dined at the cafe and went to the theater for more shows and just did stuff around the ship like playing shuffle board/pictionary and cards.
Day 6: Sailing all day
The sense that all the fun was coming to an end was slowly setting in although we had another 2 nights on board.
Visiting the gym was always on the menu for both of us as the first order of the day. After breakfast at the cafe we spent some time around the ship indulging in various activities like playing soccer and basketball. Dropped the kids of at the club as they had some Pirate's game on the agenda. We went to the game room and played pictionary for a while until we were booted out for some fitness seminar that we chose not to attend (we were fit already !).
It had been 2 hours since we had lunch and we were starving so we grabbed some fries and went by the pool.
The event to Identify Mr. Norwegian Pear was getting started and candidates were being screened. I intentionally walked up to the cruise director who was hosting the event and he blares into the microphone "Do you think he is a good candidate?" pointing to me, the crowd cheered and I was in.
There was going to be 3 rounds and a set of ladies form various age group was selected to be the judge. At the end of each round they were supposed to push the ones they don't like into the pool. The first round was to gyrate your hips and do a round of lap dance without touching the lady judges to impress them. The rule was they can touch us if they wanted to. Game on..the music started, I took of my shirt and gyrated my hips as best I knew and whirled my shirt around and slowly made my way across the ladies. I was pretty sure I would be pushed and cleared all my pocket of stuff, as it turned out I was still standing. Although I should be celebrating, In my mind I go.. "ooh no! I have another round".
The next round you were supposed to roll up your shorts, dance again, do push-ups and at the end strike a pose to show your muscles to the judges and then the audience. I did feeling silly and this round I got pushed into the water.
The final round seemed to be the easiest where you had to answer the question about why you should be Mr. Pearl. It was fun and something the trip will be remembered by.
We took the kids to make your own
pizza and they subsequently took a nice afternoon nap.
That evening the girls and ladies dressed up with their purchases form Costa Maya and we went for the show at the Stardust Theater. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.
At the end of the show the crew and staff got on stage and all of us cheered them. They have done an outstanding job of making the trip memorable.
Day 7: Key West, Florida
The day started with completing the immigration formalities before we could get out of the ship. Once that was out of the way we disembarked and walked around the town, kids played in a toy store and posed for pictures with some statues.
We than walked across town to a beach and spent a couple of hours there.
Since we walked to the beach we had to pay more to enter it. Can you believe that..! They charged a per person rate that ended up being more than if you drove in a van full of people. Crazy Floridians..! Its the law, that what the lady at the counter said when I questioned it.
Another funny thing happened after that, on the beach there were many umbrella's and beach chairs, so we helped ourselves to them thinking we paid a fee already. We quickly packed up and used the park benches near by when we found the umbrella's cost $30 to use. No wonder, not a single one was taken.
Spot the difference in the picture above....
NO.. Silly...! one is wearing a pretty cool sun glasses her daddy just bought for her.The ship was scheduled to depart from this port by 2:30 PM. It was our shortest port stop.
We then sailed over night to be at Miami the next morning. Once on-board we spent some time at the library and played games in the card room and also attended the final show at the Stardust theater.
All of us retired into our rooms that night with a sigh, alas the 7 days went by quickly. We resolved to do it again in a few years and that time it will be in Europe and so saying we consoled ourselves.
Day 8: Miami, FloridaThat morning when we woke up the view outside our balcony was that of the dock with containers and cranes and vehicles beeping, however the dining was not over just yet, we went for our last breakfast at the garden cafe and had a feast. Finally we headed out of the ship with our baggage, finished customs and boarded a rental car shuttle.
The trip was now history and will we remembered as an awesome one.
This is how we looked. I remember deliberately bringing my hand forward so my watch is seen. It represented being a big boy. That was some old watch that never did work. How our perspectives change, I now hate to have any objects on myself including my wedding ring.
