4-Wheeling Fun in Mexico!

Okay, I'm so out of practice writing blogs that I totally forgot yesterday.  Of course it doesn't help that I had tile guys in my house all day long.  They are back here this morning.  But today they are only grouting and should be gone again within 30 minutes giving my kitchen back to me with all new granite and tile.  So, it's all good.

When last we visited, we went over the beginning of the Meyers Girls Cruise last week.  Just to catch you up in case you missed that post, me, two cousins, my sister-in-law and 3 aunts all sailed out of Galveston on Navigator of the Seas for a 7 night cruise to Cozumel, Grand Cayman and Falmouth, Jamaica. Generally, I travel with one other person, my travel buddy Jenny.  But I've also done cruises with nephews and my niece, my parents and our family friends Doris and Don Bailey.  However, I've never been on a cruise traveling with 6 other people all at once.  I have to say I was a little intimidated by the possibilities prior to the trip.  It's hard to say if the trip will become more work than fun when you are talking about trying to make sure all 7 of the travelers including yourself are pleased most of the time. I must say that it was, perhaps, the most fun I have had on a cruise.... ever! I only hope that they had as much fun as I did. I feel like there was a perfect mixture of family time as well as just plain old fun. Maybe it was the company we were keeping. After all, most Meyers' are pretty laid back people.

So our first stop was Cozumel.  I have been to Cozumel 13 times now.  I am done with it.  There is nothing wrong with Cozumel.  They have more excursions to choose from than just about any other port you can visit in the Caribbean.  The only problem is that all Western Caribbean cruises go there and almost every cruise I have ever been on was a Western Caribbean cruise. Basically, I've just been there so many times that it is no longer a novelty to me. However, if you haven't been there, it is a wonderful stop for fun and adventure or just a terrific place to relax on a beach.

My sister-in-law and I decided to do the ATV excursion while we were there.  It was about the only one left in Cozumel that I was interested in that I hadn't already been on.  So, it was time.  Many times in the past, I have seen people getting back on the ship covered in filth and smiling from ear to ear to discover that they had just returned from an ATV excursion.  They always talked about how much fun it was and I thought, this is something I should try.  One other detail, Eileen and I are both Parrotheads, so we had decided months ago that we were going to have to visit Margaritaville in each of the ports that we visited.  So, when we arrived in Cozumel, we disembarked from the ship immediately following breakfast to head to Margaritaville first before our excursion which was not set to begin until 11:00 a.m.  We had roughly an hour and forty-five minutes to get to Margaritaville, shop there, have a drink and then get back to the dock where we were supposed to meet for the excursion.

Now, I've only been to the Margaritaville in Cozumel one other time and it was about 3 years ago.  When I went there previously, we were at the other dock that is located closer to downtown.  Margaritaville was within walking distance from that dock.  As it turns out, it wasn't within walking distance from the dock we were at on this particular occasion.  But Eileen and I persevered.... as long as we could.  After walking a couple of miles and still being unsure of how much further we had to go, we gave up and flagged down a taxi.  As it turned out we only had about another mile to go.  But I am not ashamed to tell you, the taxi was totally worth the price for that one mile. After arriving at Margaritaville, we shopped a little.  Eileen was able to find a cap for my brother Robbie that she thought he would really like.  Of course, we'll never know if he would have liked it since it got lost somewhere between Margaritaville and the ship.  But I think he would have liked it. Before leaving we got on their free WIFI network, posted a few photos on Facebook, caught up on texts, and I called to check in with my mother to see how dad was doing.  Then we finished our shopping and caught a taxi back to the dock.  In the taxi, the trip from the Royal Caribbean dock is about 5 minutes long.  It is considerably longer by foot especially if two of the feet in question are mine.

Back at the dock we caught up with our excursion group and were taken by bus to a place about 15 minutes from town where they had built trails through the jungle.  Some of the trails were paved with rocks while others were nothing but a little creek bed or sometimes a flowing creek to drive the ATV through.  Before we got on the 4-wheelers, there was a short lesson on driving them.  They apparently had both fully automatic ATV's and manual ones.  We thought we were getting automatic ones, but as it turned out we didn't. Shifting the gears while driving through foreign terrain and using a thumb throttle rather than a hand grip throttle proved to be quite the challenge.  But again, we persevered. My poor thumb may never recover. But I had a great time.  As you can see from the photos, it was rough and wild at least for this girl.

The photo above is the only action shot I got and it was purely accidental. While I was driving I left my handy dandy underwater camera dangling from my wrist and as luck would have it, it took a picture of Eileen behind me while I drove without my knowledge! There were also numerous other photos of my legs at close range and one very questionable one of I don't even know what.... Those have all since been deleted. But I really like the blurred action photo of Eileen.

After an hour and a half or so on the trails, we were taken to a beach for another hour to relax.  By the time we got to the beach, I just wanted to go back to the ship, take a shower and eat.  So, I didn't really do much other than walk in the water to get the mud off of my legs and then lay on a chase lounge under an umbrella.

From under the umbrella on the beach in Cozumel

Back at the ship we stood in line for about 20 minutes waiting to get on the ship and then went straight to the Windjammer for a late lunch when we were on board.  It was a totally great day and I would definitely recommend the ATV excursion to anyone who wants a little adventure on their trip.  It is limited to people between the ages of 16 and 70 and there is a weight limit.  Otherwise, it's a great excursion for the family.

Next time I'll tell you all about our day in Grand Cayman where I don't think I could ever spend too much time.  Have a great weekend!

Meyers Girls Cruise - Part 1

Hi!  Remember me?  I'm the one who used to post blogs almost daily about inane travel observations, places you could go, places I've been, old family vacations gone awry and any number of other topics travel related. Then in April, I went to a cruise convention, came home got busy and the blogs have become more and more infrequent since. In fact, I don't remember the last time I wrote a blog. Now you may have been congratulating yourself about getting out from under those constant reminders to check my blog but I have bad news. My writing fire has been reignited and I am ready to get back to it.

I spent last week on a cruise. You might recall that last Oct, Nov, Dec and so on, I was mentioning - I don't know, perhaps hourly - that I had 8 rooms blocked on a cruise ship leaving Galveston on a 7 night Caribbean cruise. Then in December, sadly my uncle whose health had been deteriorating for several years passed away. While at the funeral, my mom mentioned that we should all go on a cruise and take my aunt who had just become a widow along. You should know that when my mom gets an idea, she is sort of like Mickey Rooney, Judy Garland and the gang in one of those 1940's movies where somebody says "Hey! Let's have a party!"  and suddenly all of the characters are on ladders decorating a barn to the point that it becomes some elaborate ballroom in the next scene. Well in this case, my mom's "barn" was Navigator of the Seas and a group of us just returned from a 7 night long party in which we had a terrific time visiting with cousins and aunts that I personally haven't spent time with in years!

As it turned out my mom did not get to go with us.  About 5 weeks ago, my dad had back surgery to repair some disks in his back.  I'm no surgeon and I've slept since then, but I'm pretty sure that's what they did. Mom spent the next several weeks after his surgery trying to get him to be self sufficient.  Less than a week before we were to leave, we even went to CVS and got him one of those "grabbers" so that he wouldn't have to bend over to pick things up. We thought as long as my brothers checked on him daily, that he would be able to get through a week without her only weeks after the surgery.  But then, just days before we were to leave, he developed a serious infection.  His condition required additional surgery and hospitalization for nearly a week.  So, mom stayed home and I was down one "Judy Garland".

Now, I don't mind telling you that it's sort of hard to keep up with Mickey and Judy anyway, what with all the stardust and dreams that float around when they are in the vicinity.  But they can organize a great time if you don't get tired of people telling you about all the things you need to do to keep up your end of the bargain. You see, I like for things to just happen.  I don't like to be forced to make them happen.  And that's where Judy and Mickey come in.  They thrive on making things happen. So we never had a Mickey on this project in the first place since it was a "Meyers Girls Cruise" and now we were down a Judy to boot.

But the good news is that our "barn" - The Navigator of the Seas just underwent an extensive revitalization in January and it was in tip top condition for our party. There was really nothing to be done except to show up and have a great time.  So, that's what we did.

First I should tell you about everyone who came along.  In the first room, 7240 were Aunt Dorothy and Aunt Vera.  They are my dad's sisters. Aunt Dorothy has 5 sons and is now working on great grandchildren.  Aunt Vera has 3 sons and a daughter and some great grandchildren, as well.  Her daughter, Terry was traveling with us.  Their cabin was the only one we had on the starboard side of the ship.  Their room was just steps from the forward elevator bank.  If you walked through the elevator bank, our other 3 cabins were right there.  Aunt Miggie had a room alone 7540.  She was supposed to room with Mom, but when she had to cancel that left Aunt Miggie with a room of her own. She's my dad's youngest surviving sister (which makes her Aunt Dorothy and Aunt Vera's kid sister) and she was the recent widow.  Aunt Miggie has one son. Three doors down from Aunt Miggie were my cousins Terry and Cindy in cabin 7546.  Terry is Aunt Vera's daughter and one of only two female cousins I have in the Meyers family.  Cindy is the daughter of my dad's sister Nina who passed away a few years ago after a long battle with cancer and the other female cousin.  Finally, my sister-in-law, Eileen and I were in the cabin next door to Terry and Cindy's - 7548. Eileen is a special ed teacher and has been saying for years that she wanted to go on a cruise with us but since we always go during the school year, she always got left out.  When Mom and I mentioned this one, Eileen jumped on it.  Despite her lapse in judgement of marrying my brother, I still consider her to be one of my closest friends.  Just kidding... Rob is about the best big brother a girl could have.

Aunt Dorothy, Aunt Miggie and Eileen waiting for the shuttle to take us to the cruise ship.

 So, now you are acquainted with our traveling party. Terry had originally not planned to go since she has always had problems with sea sickness.  But as the trip grew near, she decided that she was going to have to risk it since she didn't want to miss out on the trip.  Eileen also had sea sickness concerns.  She decided to use a patch for her motion sickness.  I'm not sure what route Terry took in making sure it was not a problem. But I will report that there was absolutely no motion sickness during our cruise at all. So whatever everybody did worked.

Cindy, Terry and Eileen on the Promenade deck during 70's night!

We all met up in the cruise ship terminal in Galveston.  Eileen, Aunt Miggie, Aunt Dorothy and I arrived together while Cindy, Terry and Aunt Vera got there slightly ahead of us.  Since I had been on a number of Royal Caribbean cruises previously, I had achieved Platinum status in the Crown and Anchor Society which meant that we got to get in a shorter line for boarding.  So our wait time to get on the ship was practically non-existent.  Once on board, we all went straight to our rooms and dropped off our carry on bags then headed to the Windjammer for lunch.  This was one of only a handful of trips to the Windjammer for us during this cruise.  In the past I have almost always eaten breakfast in the Windjammer and on sea days, most of my lunches are spent there, as well.  However, I have never been a fan of buffets and it's my least favorite part of sailing.  Wait, I take that back....  Since they quit allowing you to take drinks to muster and quit letting you take pictures during muster, it has become my least favorite part of sailing.  But it is closely followed by buffets.  Seriously!!!!  A handful of people in Europe die due to the lack of a muster drill at the beginning of their cruise and suddenly, this potentially life saving drill is the most important thing going.... Okay, maybe it is kind of important.  But at least let me take pictures!!!

Following muster we went back to our rooms to unpack and Eileen's luggage still had not arrived.  Eileen became very alarmed.  I was less so.... perhaps because it wasn't my luggage.  Our cabin steward asked if perhaps there was liquid in the piece of luggage.... (like, other than the bottle of wine???)  We couldn't think of anything.  Finally, around 7 that evening Eileen had to go to a conference room on deck 2 and retrieve her luggage after a guy in charge opened and smelled her bottle of Downy Wrinkle Release to insure that she wasn't smuggling scotch in her wrinkle release bottle.  By the way, he didn't care about the bottle of wine. That was fine since it was sealed.  Royal Caribbean now allows one bottle of wine to come on board on embarkation day with each adult.  Just don't put any booze in your wrinkle release bottle and all is good.

So finally, we could get ready for our 8 PM dinner.  We were all seated at table 428.  But for some reason Aunt Miggie's seapass card stated that she was at table 428 on deck 5 while the rest of us were at table 428 on deck 4.  So, while Eileen had been trying to track down her luggage and apparently drinking a beer without me, I was trying to get that situation straightened out.  It turns out that there is only one table 428 and it is on deck 4.  Apparently, the folks in the dining room just thought Aunt Miggie would appreciate taking the scenic route to our table.

From left to right: Me, Aunt Dorothy, Eileen, Terry, Conroy, Aunt Vera, Cindy and Jorge.  Aunt Miggie took the final night off from dinner so she isn't pictured here.

Dinners turned out to be one of the highlights of each day during our cruise.  For one thing, it was one of the few times each day that we were all together.  In addition, we had perhaps the best waiter/assistant waiter combination I have ever had during a cruise.  Jorge and Conroy were fabulous!  Conroy was Jamaican and an absolute delight!  He smiled all the time and continually worked at doing whatever was necessary to make sure we were constantly surprised and pleased.  Jorge was just as accommodating.  In addition, he did tricks for us each night as we finished our desserts.  So in addition to being served amazing food we were thoroughly entertained each evening.  I really can't say enough about either Jorge or Conroy.  Our table was for 8 diners and since mom wasn't there, we had an empty seat each night.  After the first few nights Jorge mentioned removing the place setting.  But then instead, we developed a running joke about what mom was eating each night and we began getting entrees and desserts for mom.  I'm pretty sure that mom gained about as much weight on this cruise as I did!  I think they brought her 3 or 4 desserts one night. She was unstoppable!

Tomorrow we'll continue on about the cruise.  But for now, I have granite guys who are about to arrive to start work on my kitchen!  Woohoo!!!!

Mother's Day Weekend On Board Navigator

So, yesterday I mentioned that I was having trouble deciding between two blog topics that were floating around in my head.  But I was sort of hamstrung and had to write about the No Socks Day topic since that highly anticipated holiday only comes around once a year.  Since today is only Lost Sock Memorial Day and much more solemnly celebrated, I now have time to cover the other topic I was considering.  So today let me tell you about my weekend plans.  I know.... You're riveted!  Right??!?!?!

You may recall that a few months ago, I was very excited about the possibility of going to Galveston and boarding Royal Caribbean's Navigator of the Seas for a ship inspection. I had planned a big weekend around it driving to Nacogodoches first to pick up my parents and then going to my Aunt Lou's house in Texas City to visit her and my cousin Jan. Aunt Lou even invited some of my other aunts and uncles over to visit while we were down.  It was all very exciting.  On the day before we were supposed to go visit the ship, we were invited to attend an educational event with our Royal Caribbean Business Development Manager near the Galleria in Houston.  I went to that and then went back over to my aunts house where everyone was visiting. After I got there, my cousin Jan told me that there had been a collision near the Texas City Dike between a barge and a ship and there was an oil spill resulting in a closing of the ship channel. The end result was that the ship channel remained closed all day Sunday and we didn't get to board the Navigator at all.

I know what you're thinking... poor Susan!  How do these things always happen to her???!?!?!   Now realizing that the 3,000 passengers on the ship were all late in returning and many probably missed flights and perhaps even a day of work and the 3,000 who had planned on boarding Sunday didn't get to until the next day and then the ship didn't leave Galveston until Wednesday only going to one port instead of the 3 that had been scheduled, you can see how this was really a tragedy for ME in particular. This affected ME very dramatically. It was actually very hard to go on.

An email went out the following week saying that perhaps we would try to do the ship inspection again some other time. But I, quite frankly, didn't expect that to happen. I did find out that the passengers who were supposed to have gone out on Sunday were refunded the price of their cruise, given a discount on their next cruise and were invited to spend the week on board anyway free of charge which was, I thought, very well done of RCCL.

Then a few weeks ago, while I was out of town, I got an email saying that Royal Caribbean was inviting travel agents to board Navigator on Saturday May 10th along with their families for a one night stay free of charge.  I didn't see the email for several days and assumed that it would be too late to react when I finally did.  So, I did nothing.  Then last week I got another email saying that there were still openings available and that I could take myself and 3 other people on board.  They are providing 2 cabins per travel agent and we'll be spending Saturday night on board and disembarking on Sunday morning. So, I decided to take my parents for Mother's Day.  I also invited my niece to share my room.

I can hardly wait to spend a free night on board with plenty of time to see all the updates to Navigator.  I'm hoping to be able to talk my niece into doing the FloRider so that I can have a photo of someone I know on it to share with you all instead of photos of strangers.  I'll finally get to see for myself if the Virtual Balconies are as amazing as they are hyped to be. Plus there will be new photos of more amazing food to upload!!!! I'll naturally have a drink or two.  So you could see a few photos of those floating around on Facebook as well.

The only issue will be to keep all ships from colliding near Galveston for the next 48 hours or so.  It'll also be imperative that they keep all the passengers who are currently on board covered in Purrell so that no one contaminates the ship between now and then resulting in a fumigation that lasts for 12 hours and keeps us from boarding.  If you are on board Navigator right now and reading this, I have two things to say to you.....

1. Really?  You're paying $1 a minute to read my sweet little ol' blog??!!?!?!  How flattering!
2. COVER YOUR MOUTH WHEN YOU COUGH AND DON'T DOUBLE DIP IN WINDJAMMER!!!!!

I swear if anybody jumps overboard as that ship is coming back into Galveston on Saturday morning in an attempt to ruin my weekend, I will HUNT THEM DOWN!  I've worked hard for this weekend and I won't let anyone ruin it. My dad had to cancel because he is having back problems.  He'll be having back surgery next week after we return.  He feels that he won't be able to sleep on the ship and will have trouble moving around.  I totally understand and don't want him to be in pain.  So, I am letting him off the hook. But I'm forcing my Mom and my niece to go anyway.  There is no way I'm letting either of them out of this.  If I have to tie them up, gag them and drag them on board the ship kicking and screaming, they will go with me and we will all have a Happy Mother's Day damn it!

So have a great weekend.  If all goes well, perhaps this weekend or Monday at the latest, I'll have photos of Navigator to share with you all.  Happy Mother's Day!

Happy No Socks Day, America!

I know, I know, I know....  I haven't written a blog in nearly a month.  I hear about it every time I talk to someone.  Some of the people who have mentioned it seem to be a little too happy for my taste. (Hint - it's not nice to come across as giddy when you bring up the fact that you haven't seen a blog from me in a while.) But nevertheless, I feel missed.  The fact is, I was having trouble coming up with topics.  When you do this everyday, it's hard to continue to be as original and wildly entertaining as I have tried to be.

So now that I have finally decided to wade back into the blogging waters, as it were, I have two topics to choose from and I find myself having a little trouble deciding between them.  The first is that it's No Socks Day.  And I suppose since there is only one No Socks Day a year, it's more urgent than my other choice. I'm not able to confirm if this is an international holiday or simply a national holiday but it's exciting anyway. After all, it means that the rest of you are perhaps joining me in my daily choice of footwear.  At the very least, the knowledge that it is officially No Socks Day may turn your attention to the really important matters of our day to day existence like the planning of your next vacation.

I'm not going to lie, in my line of work, No Socks Day is just another day like the other 364.  But if everyday you put on sturdy work boots to spend your day in construction, working on a farm or doing other hard labor, you're just asking for trouble if you don't wear socks with them.  That means, this should be at the very least a national holiday.  One in which EVERYONE in the labor force gets the day off.... paid. After all, I'm sure that the creators of No Socks Day weren't pushing for people to end up with horrific blisters on their tootsies each May 9th.  If so, May 9th would be called Blisters Day and we all know that May 9th is in fact, Lost Sock Memorial Day. No sir, the No Socks Day founders thought, in their infinite wisdom, that if you didn't wear socks on May 8th, you would be forced to stay home from work. And if you are forced to stay home from work either barefoot or in flip flops, your thoughts naturally turn to other times when your feet might be similarly clad.  Hence, it's time to think about a Caribbean vacation.

Of course there are other places besides the Caribbean where you can be barefoot or wear flip flops all the time, but being in Texas, the Caribbean is so convenient... and blue!!!!  And most importantly NOBODY wears socks there!  It is the perfect place to consider visiting if you have a violent opposition to socks.  Once when I worked at the former employer who shall not be named, while I was working in stores, a customer approached me in the boys department. She was desperately in search of socks for her son that did not have a seam at the toe... anywhere near the toe. She explained that her child was autistic and for some reason the seam near his toe was completely intolerable for him. We didn't have any socks that would work for the boy, but it left me thinking what a horrible thing to have a compulsive aversion to.

How would you get through life if you couldn't stand having a seam near your toes?  You'd have to live every day as No Socks Day! I'm thinking that this might require a move to some place like Antigua or St. Kitts.  I bet there are a lot of people there who don't even own socks.  Can you imagine going through life with no sock drawer?  Never again standing in front of the dryer wondering where the other sock that matches the one you are holding disappeared to?  That would be a wonderful life indeed! I doubt that there is a single sign in Antigua that reads No Shirt, No Shoes, No Service.  It's like heaven for people with compulsive aversions to socks.  Another place that would be wonderful to visit if you don't like socks is Roatan, Honduras.  After all, I've never seen a place with a sign like this one in Dallas.

They are probably partying "like it's 1999" at the Barefeet Restaurant and Bar in Roatan today. I like going into an establishment where you are discouraged from wearing shoes.  It's my kind of place.

Maybe that's why I'm such a big Parrothead.  Jimmy Buffett hardly ever wears shoes on stage and when he does they're flip flops.  I bet Jimmy doesn't have a sock drawer.  I think he, like me, probably celebrates No Socks Day almost 365 days a year. It's just how we roll.... Jimmy and I.

Anyway, I hope this is your best No Socks Day ever!  While you enjoy it, think about how much more pleasant it would be if next year you enjoyed No Socks Day with an ice cold Corona in your hand as your toes wiggled around in the sand of a beach in the Caribbean and give me a call if you want to make it happen.

A Little Water Taxi Talk

I enjoy the Water Taxi when I am in Ft. Lauderdale.  Maybe it's because I just like being on any kind of boat.  But I find it to be kind of fun.  On Sunday following my Royal Princess ship inspection I had time on my hands and knew that I didn't want to spend the entire day at my hotel.  As much as I enjoyed the location of the hotel and my balcony, I was growing tired of it after nearly a week.  So, during the week when I attended a Hello Sunny seminar a few ladies from the Water Taxi office also were there and they gave me a pass to spend a day on the Water Taxi.  So, I decided to take advantage of it.  By the way, in case you were wondering Hello Sunny is the Ft. Lauderdale tourism website and has a wealth of information if you are planning to visit the area.

One of the really nice things about the Ft. Lauderdale Hilton Marina is it's location.  It is within walking distance to the Broward County Convention Center where Cruise3Sixty took place.  You can stand in the parking lot and see which ships are in port and just steps from the parking lot is Stop 5 for the Water Taxi service.  Stop 5 also happens to be the place where you go if you are interested in taking the Water Taxi to Hollywood.  It's a handy stop to be near.  It turned out that I could leave my room and walk down the sidewalk along the water and not even have to go through the lobby or walk across the parking lot to get to the Water Taxi stop.  This is a pretty handy thing.

There was a charter for Cruise3Sixty participants.  But I didn't get signed up for it since I initially had a conflict on my schedule.  I was really kind of glad about that since after a week, I was getting kind of tired of having all of my time so structured.  In the last couple of years, I have become accustomed to working according to my own schedule and being on someone elses schedule for a week was starting to get to me. So, as I arrived at Stop 5 to get on the Water Taxi, all the Cruise3Sixty people were also arriving for their charter.  They were given beer and wine along with Hello Sunny beach bags as they boarded.  I don't know where they were taken but I know that they were gone for about 3 hours since I saw them later that day as they returned to Stop 5.  At the time, I was just enjoying my ride watching all the other passengers, listening to the commentary and enjoying the sun and the breeze.  I think I made the entire circuit 3 times.  I didn't go to Hollywood since again, you have to change boats to do that and it's about two and a half hours round trip.  I just stayed in Ft. Lauderdale.

Either it is acceptable to carry beer with you and drink on the Water Taxi or there were some very bold passengers on my boat.  Because several of them drank the whole time they were on board.  One lady was actually carrying a cooler and when she finished a beer, she opened the cooler, got another one out and started drinking it.  It certainly seems to be acceptable for the other boaters to drink and drive their boats since boats were pulling out in front of our Water Taxi constantly.  The driver of our boat was sort of like I am when people pull out in front of me in Dallas traffic. He would throw both of his hands up in the air and say something like "Why don't ya enjoy another beer, buddy!"

I had been on the Water Taxi once before, but it wasn't a warm and sunny day.  It was a little overcast and cool and I think it might have been a Friday.  But let me tell you that you see some interesting things on an 85 degree sunny Sunday afternoon.  First of all, the most fascinating thing I saw was the "Redneck Riviera" that our tour guide pointed out each time we went by.  This is an area in the river where there is a sandbar so the water is very shallow.  On pretty weekends, lots of local people with boats go to this spot and anchor and spend the day partying.

Redneck Riviera

So, it looked a little something like that on Sunday afternoon.  I think that was where a lot of the boaters who were indulging were either headed to or coming from.  Shortly after I got on the Water Taxi, both my camera battery and my cell phone battery died.  So, I have very few pictures to show you of my day spent on this most relaxing mode of transportation.  But this is what I got.  As you ride around on the Water Taxi, your tour guide tells you what various properties are worth, what properties recently sold for and who owns what.  He does the same with the yachts that you pass.  So, by the end of your journey, you are either impressed or disgusted with the excess of money being thrown away in Ft. Lauderdale.  Usually, if you ask who owns a specific yacht he can tell you.

However, the blue one pictured below, The Mytique, was a mystery to him.  It had just sailed in that morning and he had no idea who it belonged to.  As you can see in the photo the uniformed crew were just getting her settled into port when I took the picture.  She was docked at my hotel.  So I decided to see if I could dig up any information on the old tub.  Here's what I found out.  She is a charter, so you're in luck.  You can charter this little beauty for the week.  She runs out of the The Bahamas and for a mere $125,000 a week, you can spend your vacation yachting like the rich and the famous.

The Mystique

She was built in 1988 and refit in 2013 and the inside is just as beautiful as the outside according to the photos on the website.  She cruises at 22 knots and has 5 cabins sleeping 10 individuals.  So, maybe you and 9 of your closest friends can chip in together and pay $12,500 each to charter her for the week. Of course, it is customary to tip your crew when your week is over..... and 20% of $125,000 is going to come to $25,000, so then your portion of the tip will come to about $2,500.  So for a measly $15,000 you could spend a week on this beauty experiencing all that she has to offer.  I think, I'll just stick with the Water Taxi, but thanks.

The ships above are some of the cruise ships that were in port last Sunday as I was boarding the Water Taxi.  They cram a lot of ships into port here on just about any given day.  You can spend a week on one of those ships considerably cheaper than on The Mystique or on Pegasus V whose name is pictured below the photo of the Water Taxi below.  Sorry, I didn't get a picture of the entire Pegasus V but this was just about the time that both my camera battery and my cell phone battery died simultaneously.  I can tell you that Pegasus V is owned by a construction guy.  I'm thinking that he probably builds something slightly pricier than a 3bdrm/2bth/wbfp in the suburbs.

The yacht cost $200,000,000.  No that's not a typo there really are 8 zeros in that price.  He charters her for a little extra money on the side.  So, for a mere $600,000 a week you and 11 of your closest friends could charter this little beauty in the winter in the Caribbean.  But if you want to charter her in the Mediterranean in the summer, you're looking at a $1,250,000 price tag for the week.  She carries a crew of 26.  That's almost 2.2 crew members per passenger.  Talk about having your every need met....

It just makes me wonder who has a million dollars to charter a boat for a week and why aren't they my friend?  And if you have a million dollars to spend on something like this for a single week, do you think to yourself, Wow, that's kinda steep! or are you just like, Eh, what else am I going to do with that money?
Because I could think of a LOT better ways to spend a million bucks!

Sorry, I kind of got off track.  Probably if you are reading my blog about the Water Taxi, you aren't really in the market for chartering a yacht in the Mediterranean this summer anyway.  I hope you have had a productive week.  Have a terrific weekend and think of me as I finish up my taxes. Ugh!

Holland America is All Class!

Good morning Travelers! Today we are going to go over the Zuiderdam ship inspection.  I must say that this was the absolute BEST ship inspection of my week.  I loved everything about this ship.  Currently, I am just thinking about how I can get my parents to do a Panama Canal cruise on this ship.  Mom and Dad want to do a Panama Canal cruise and Dad doesn't want to go from coast to coast, but he wants to experience the locks.  So after talking to the wonderful Holland America business development manager (BDM) who shared lunch with us, I think the cruise that Holland America does to the Panama Canal but not going all the way through is what they want.  Also, I know that Mom and Dad will totally enjoy the amenities that HAL has to offer.

First, I'll have to tell you that I only made it out onto the Lido deck for just a few minutes and only got to see the pool.  However, I am quite certain that you'll find all the necessities that any worthy Lido deck must offer, but on a less ostentatious scale.  Holland America or as they like to call themselves HAL, is a much more refined and sophisticated cruise line.  You won't see any ziplines or rock climbing walls on board because that's simply not who they are.  What you will see is luxury at it's finest.  Imagine being Kate Winslet in The Titanic and that is what you will get on HAL... minus the big iceberg.

Even while we waited for the ship to clear, we didn't do so in some dirty room full of people waiting to board the ship for the sailing that was leaving that afternoon.  We were taken to a quiet clean waiting area where the local BDM explained the process of clearing the ship and told us about what we could expect to see and do once we were on board.  As soon as someone gave us the all clear signal, Barbara and the other BDM's who joined her, quickly passed out lists of cabins that we were invited to visit so that we could see the different types of cabins HAL had to offer.  I was particularly excited about this since I have clients booked on this ship in August for an Alaskan cruise.

Before I go any further, I should say that the two previous ships that I inspected while in Ft. Lauderdale carried significantly more passengers that the Zuiderdam and I think that really effects the ship inspection experience.  So, while I sing the praises of this ship, keep in mind that in the case of Oasis, RCI was turning around roughly 5,000 passengers and on Royal Princess they were turning around 3,000 passengers.  This ship only had to disembark 1,800 guests prior to our arrival.  They only had to clean up after 1,800 people and they only had another 1,800 set to board and with a 2:1 guest to crew ratio, they were ahead of the game.  Generally with such a low guest to crew ratio, you are getting into true luxury cruising territory with prices that match.  But I can tell you that HAL is very well priced especially when you consider the product. So without further ado, let's tour the ship, shall we?

Since we had a list of cabins to visit and guests would be boarding by the time we completed our lunch we all rushed to the cabins to get a look around before they were closed to us.  The first few cabins that we visited were suites and they had all the amenities that you would expect a suite to have including bathtubs rather than postage stamp sized showers and nice large balconies that you could move around on.  I was particularly interested in this ships balconies since she spends part of her year in Alaska and Holland America is the authority on Alaskan cruising.  I will say that their balconies do not disappoint.  They were in good repair and well furnished, I am happy to say.  Nothing bothers me more than to go to my room on a cruise ship and find that the furniture on my balcony is old plastic outdoor furniture that is coming apart and is rusting in the parts that are metal.  When you see that you just wonder how well the rest of the ship was taken care of.

The room pictured here is a small suite with a very nice

Suite balcony

 balcony.  It was hard to get photos of all the nooks and crannies of the rooms since there were usually 4 or 5 other travel agents in the room at the same time. If you've ever spent much time on a cruise ship, you know that there are no cabins big enough to accommodate that many people who are all in a hurry and have a purpose in mind. So I did the best I could. They seemed to have a red theme going on the ship, with lots of red furnishings and carpet which dates it a little in my opinion. But otherwise, it was all very tasteful and by far the most well kept 12 year old ship I have been on.

 While the suites were nice to see, I don't currently have any clients booked in one and I do have clients booked in a balcony on this very ship, so I was anxious to see one for myself rather than just relying on someone else's photos.  So, after snapping a few shots in a couple of different suites, I was off to see the balcony cabin they had listed for us.

Another suite balcony... and it is sweet!  You knew I had to say it, right?

The room that we got to see was a few floors above the one where my guests are booked, but should be identical otherwise.  It, like all cruise ship cabins, was short on space but is adequate for a couple of people who get along well.  And getting along well with your travel partner is always key when cruising.  After all, who wants to be stuck in a 150 square foot space for a week or so with someone you can barely tolerate? On an Alaskan cruise this becomes even more important since it might be too cold at times to just go up on deck to get away.

Bathtub in balcony room

This cabin, like the suites had a bathtub which was a very nice surprise to me. I've heard tales of cruise ship cabins with bathtubs but I must say that until now I thought they were nothing but myths since I had never seen one myself except in high priced suites. A girl could actually shave her legs in this bathroom with no need to head down to the medical facilities afterward for stitches!

The small but very adequate Veranda cabin on board Zuiderdam.

Sorry, I couldn't get a better shot of the balcony, but I will tell you that there are two chairs out there and there is a little bit of room to move around.  It will be a very pleasant way to watch the glaciers and mountains go by in Alaska.  Additionally, it looks to be well protected from the wind, so that with a light jacket it will make for some excellent glacier viewing.

Our next stop on the cabin tour was a very pleasant surprise for me. We were given access to a wheel chair accessible cabin and I was thrilled to be able to get several photos of the amenities provided.  The first thing you'll notice is the awkward picture below of the big door.  But I had a reason for posting this photo.  It shows how big the bathroom door is on this cabin which enables a wheel chair to roll into the bathroom. Also, there is no step up into the bathroom on this cabin like other cruise ship cabins have.  Again, this allows wheel chair accessibility.  But the best thing is the rails in the bathroom and the roll in shower with a seat.  Since this is the only ship in which I have seen an accessible room, I can't tell you if it is typical of all cruise ships.  But I was very impressed with this.

The large photo below shows the space in the cabin itself which allows for a wheel chair to move around.  These beds are separated simply because that is what the guest who has reserved this room requested.  But this room could just as easily have had 1 large bed, as well.

Following the wheel chair accessible room, we made our way to the final category of cabin we were scheduled to see which was an inside cabin.  Once again, I was impressed.  How could I possibly be impressed by an inside cabin, you might ask.  Well, my reaction was based on the size of the cabin.  Now granted this was a quad, but still, it had more room in it than the balconies.

All in all, I was very impressed with the cabins on this ship.  Perhaps the suites weren't as opulent as suites I've seen on Royal Caribbean, but the balconies, oceanview and inside cabins were much more well appointed than what I am accustomed to seeing on a cruise ship and in reality, those are the ones most people are going to experience anyway.  So, in my opinion, they are the most important ones.

You can see above the bed in the photo of the inside quad cabin a big metal box.  That is actually a sleeping berth that the cabin steward would lower each evening when he turns down the beds.  Additionally, the seating area in this cabin nicely accommodates four so that people don't have to sit on the bed when in the cabin. Of course there is no bathtub in the bathroom, but you can't have everything, right?

Wheel Chair accessible cabin

Inside Quad Cabin

Following the tour of cabins, we went to the dining room where we were scheduled to have lunch.  The dining room was nice because it wasn't just a big open room, but there were walls and large columns that allowed the room to be sectioned off so that it felt like a lot of smaller dining rooms.  I liked that.  The ceilings had the huge brass flowers on them that looked like some sort of sunflower.  It was all kind of quirky and I liked it.  On the other ships that we visited during the week, we were sort of left on our own while we ate.  So, we all talked about what we had seen so far, but there was no one available to really answer our questions.  HAL, however, had a representative sitting at each table during our lunch.  I was fortunate enough to sit at a table with Barbara Farenwald, the BDM who had greeted us before our ship inspection began earlier in the day. Barbara was gracious, knowledgeable and as helpful as she could be in answering all of our questions and ensuring that we had a fabulous dining experience.

The ceiling in the dining room

 For my appetizer, I chose scallops. I am a sucker for lamb and since they had rack of lamb there was never any question as to what I would have for my entree.  Finally, for dessert, they served a crunchy fruit Napolean. The crunch part was the hard white chocolate that topped it along with the dark chocolate spear that laid over top of it.  Someone on my Facebook page commented that the portions looked kind of skimpy to which I will say that it was lunch, so the portion sizes were kind of perfect for the time of day in my opinion.  Also, if you want more, it is a cruise ship, so all you ever have to do is say so and they will bring you another complete meal if you want it.

I once sat across from a table on a ship where a very large man was seated each evening.  I don't mean he was overweight, he was just a large man. He looked like a former offensive lineman or something.  Each night at dinner, he looked through his menu and then ordered two complete meals. Two appetizers, two entrees and two desserts.  One night during the cruise, he enjoyed his selection so much that he actually had them bring out even more of it.  The waiter never blinked an eye.  He just kept bringing food to the man.  You've gotta love that about a cruise ship.

If you've been following my blog all week, you have seen some great looking meals pictured but I guarantee that you haven't seen a finer looking table service. The china was beautiful and the silver wear was actually SILVER wear and not just stainless steel.  Barbara pointed out to us that if you order room service, you will get the same china and silver wear sent to your room.  At Holland America, they apparently don't skimp.

Following lunch we still had time left so we were turned loose again and told what time to disembark.  So, I went out on my own and took as many photos as I could.  There are lots of really cool places on board this ship in which I think you could probably get away from everybody.  They also had lots of meeting rooms available.  In one, they had sewing machines set up. I'm pretty sure that they had a sewing group coming on board and the sewing machines were sent there ahead of time so that they could use them.  I doubt that there is a meeting room full of sewing machines on board during each cruise. But I could be wrong....

This is their internet room. As you can see, they have a lot of computers on board so that the wait time for a desktop is minimal.  I've been on ships that carried over 3,000 people and not seen this many computers in their internet room.

 If you are looking for experiences, look no further than Holland America.  They have an entire venue dedicated to culinary demonstrations which in some cases can even include passenger participation.  I think a cooking demonstration in the room pictured below would be about 1 million times better than the one I experienced on my last cruise that was in the theater and could only be seen on the movie screen because you were so far away from the stage.

 Of course there is a nice casino and bars for every mood.  The bar below is a piano bar that looked like my kind of place.  I don't think I got a photo of it, but I also found a screening room where they run movies daily.  The seats in there looked very comfy. The ships theater also had some comfortable looking chairs. I sat in one of them just to be sure they were as comfy as they looked and you'll be happy to know that they were.  Never let it be said that I wasn't willing to go the extra mile for you.

 Finally, my last stop was up on the Lido deck where I only had a minute or two to walk past the pool and snap a few photos before I ran back down stairs to disembark.  I must say that the pool bar, was very nice and the Polar Bear statue in the pool area will be a nice touch during an Alaskan cruise.

I'm so happy that I was able to end my ship inspections with the Zuiderdam.  It was just a lovely ship and I feel like a cruise with Holland America would be an amazing experience.

 If you are interested in learning about Holland America's itineraries, call or email me.  I'd love to get you on board this beautiful ship! Have a terrific pre-Friday!

Royal Princess Ship Inspection

Good morning travelers....  I'm baaaaa-aaack!!!!  Ft. Lauderdale was amazing.  Okay, I have to admit.  I'm actually writing this blog in Ft. Lauderdale sitting at the pool bar of my hotel while waiting for my ride to the airport.  Here's a photo of what I am forced to endure while working.  Hey, it's a tough life but these are the sacrifices I make for you guys. Someone's got to do this, right?  So, since I finished my last ship inspection on Monday at 1:45 pm and my flight didn't leave until 8:15 pm, there was no point in suffering or just sitting around doing nothing.  So, I wrote a weeks worth of blogs for you, my faithful follower, while I waited.

In case you missed yesterday's blog, (which I finished writing a few minutes ago) we discussed my rushed ship inspection on Royal Caribbean's Oasis of the Seas. Again, I will say that the rushed inspection was not the fault of Royal Caribbean, but my inspection mate who only sells high end luxury cruises and therefore, had no interest in spending time on a moderately priced cruise ship. Also, I don't fault her at all, if I could make a living only selling high end luxury cruises, I wouldn't want to waste my time else where either.

With all of that said, on Saturday once I had a ship inspection under my belt, I felt that I could go out on my own for my Princess ship inspection.  This particular tour was on board Royal Princess the newest and most luxurious ship in the Princess fleet.  You might recognize the name of this ship simply because The Duchess of Cambridge, Kate Middleton is the godmother and christened the ship as her last official act prior to the birth of Prince George last fall.  On board they have this beautiful display case containing the dress she wore for the event and the broken champagne bottle.  In case you were wondering the dress seems to have been linen from what I could tell through the glass display case. Also, it is TINY.  Based on that dress if she weighed more than 85 lbs at 8 months pregnant,  I would be amazed. I'm pretty sure that my left thigh weighed more than she did at the end of her pregnancy.

Travel agents waiting for the ship to clear.

Anyway, we were on board the Royal Princess.  We had to wait about 30 minutes to allow the ship to clear. Federal law does not allow anyone to board a cruise ship (even visitors or workers) until all passengers from the previous cruise have disembarked.  So, if you are a cruise ship straggler, be aware that you are probably being cussed each time you finally manage to leave a ship. If that doesn't bother you, then good for you.  But I would like to think that those people holding things up just didn't know that they were affecting others.  When we finally got on board, they turned us loose and just told us what time to meet in the dining room for lunch. We had almost an hour before lunch, so I decided to start on the Lido deck and work from there to see all that I could in the time I had.

Before we go any further, I feel that I should tell you that Carnival owns the following:  Carnival, Princess, Costa, Holland America, Cunard, Seabourn and they go in that order from least luxurious and expensive to most luxurious and expensive. I would equate Princess along the lines of Royal Caribbean in price and luxury level. As far as Princess goes, this is their finest ship currently.  They have a new ship coming out soon, the Regal Princess the sister ship of Royal which will be close to identical to Royal.  This was a lovely ship with some amazing features that anyone who enjoys luxury and being pampered would find wonderful.

Believe it or not this is a pool bar on the Lido Deck. Sweet, huh?

As with all Princess ships, they feature Movies Under the Stars, but the movie screen on this particular ship is apparently bigger and better than the others.  The pools are nice and about what you would expect.  I think that in the upper decks the thing I found the most wonderful was Horizons, which is the Princess name for the buffet. Hot and cold food areas were sectioned off.  Deserts and salads were away from other buffet items.  Many things were under glass. After having been on a Princess ship recently the week following a minor norovirus outbreak I think this is probably Princess' answer to concerns over germs.

The cruising industry is continually faced with publicity concerning norovirus outbreaks when the reality is that norovirus occurs everywhere in day to day life and no one pays attention to it.  However, if it occurs on a ship, it is treated as though the plague has broken out. So cruiselines are taking more and more action to insure that passengers are protected in every way possible.  After all, the last thing you want to have happen while you are on a vacation of a lifetime is to come down with a stomach bug.

The big Movie Under The Stars screen in the pool area.

The sports deck is very nice and has lots of outdoor running and walking space for my marathon friends. I can tell you from experience that running on board a ship is harder than running around White Rock.  I don't know why, but it is.  So this might help you in your post cruse workouts.  Here's my theory regarding that, you run in an oval.  So during half the run you are running the same way the ship is sailing. During that time, with each step you take, you are going further than a step taken on land. I mean, seriously, if you are traveling at 20 knots and you are running, then you're probably running at 22 knots (that's 25 mph!!!). That's some serious running, my friends! (Okay, I don't want to hear from any of you scientific types.  I know my theory has flaws, but I'm still working on it.) Anyway, on that sports deck you will also find this state of the art fitness center with a studio for pilates, zumba and such.  There's something for everyone.

One of the things I visited on the Lido deck was the Seawalk.  I'm not generally afraid of heights.  But I must say that it freaked me out a little.  It goes out over the water and the floor is glass.  So, the net affect is that you feel like you are walking on air a few hundred feet above the waters surface.  This photo was taken while the ship was docked obviously, so you can see the cement dock below me which I think screwed with my mind more than walking above water.  After all, water would be softer than cement if the glass suddenly broke, right?  The photo below is what it looks like as you are walking through if you don't look down.

Between running to the public venues I was able to sneak into a few cabins.  We weren't invited to visit the cabins, but the doors were open while the cabin stewards were preparing them so I snuck in and took a few photos.  I think you will agree that while small, they are pretty darn nice. Most of the cabin stewards were very friendly and helpful even though I was interrupting their work as they prepared for passengers. One of the cabin stewards did grumble a little bit when I got in his way, but I just acted like I didn't hear him.  And then smiled and thanked him as I left the cabin.  The cabin below looks very much like the one I had on board Caribbean Princess except that the TV was above the fridge rather than mounted on the wall.

This is a normal balcony room.  Very small with no real room to sit.  The only chair blocks the balcony

To the left is the bathroom for that balcony room.  The shower is the size of a postage stamp and you can ALMOST turn around in it without injury to yourself. Below you will see the much more comfortable Deluxe Balcony. That sofa folds out into another bed. So if you are going to have three people or more in the room and you wanted a balcony you would need this.  Also, if you would like to be able to turn around in your room, this one would probably be a little more up your alley.  I was pleasantly surprised to find that this room also had a bathtub (pictured above on the right) in the bathroom.  Talk about luxury!!!!

After all of that, I started working my way down to the dining room we had been told to meet in for lunch.  But on my way, I ran into a few other areas of interest.  I came across some seating areas and bars including the Crown Grill and Wheelhouse Bar.  In the Wheelhouse Bar, I found the most amazing wine tasting area pictured below.  I had to post a photo on Facebook while I stood there to show my travel buddy what she and I might consider a cruising mecca of sorts. She said it brought a tear to her eye.  That's me in the tasting room down to the right.

When I finally made it to lunch, I must say that I was very impressed by the dining room and the meal.  First of all, there are several dining rooms and although I didn't get to the others, this one was fairly small. Not the huge dining rooms that I have grown accustomed to on ships.  It was more like a dining room in a large restaurant.  On most ships the dining room can be 2 or 3 stories tall and hold hundreds of tables. This one was one level and probably had 30 or 40 tables.  But again there were several dining rooms on the ship where you could have assigned dining.  We were seated at tables surrounding a beautiful table which was set apart.  We were later told that it was the Chef's Table.  Guests who wish to, can dine at this table for a fee where they will be joined by the Chef who will go over each course of the meal with them and the maitre 'd.  I have seen a chef's table on a Royal Caribbean ship before and it was in a separate room so that others couldn't observe and listen to what was going on.  So I was surprised that this one was in the middle of the room.  Then the maitre 'd came around and told us that they were about to close the curtain and sure enough a beautiful beaded curtain enclosed the entire table.  Apparently once all the diners are seated, they close it off to the rest of the dining room so that the chef can address the diners who have paid to sit there.  It was really amazing.  If you chose to pay for this experience, your wine is included in the price as well as a cookbook autographed by the chef.  It was a little over $100 and I think it would be totally worth the price.

On board the Royal Princess my meal consisted of Cold Smoked Salmon and Sauteed Crawfish Tails followed by Chateaubriand of Beef Tenderloin with Milky Chocolate-Hazelnut Souffle for dessert.  It was all delicious.  Princess served wine with our meal which was very nice and the entire dining experience was wonderful.








Following lunch there was a little time left to visit a few other areas.  One interesting note, I went to the ladies room after lunch and was pleasantly surprised by the public wheel chair accessible area.  Basically, behind an automated door within the ladies room was a separate self contained wheel chair accessible restroom that a lot of businesses on land would do well to emulate.  Those photos are below all the food photos.

I would really love to sail on this ship.  I think that if you are into any sort of luxury you would enjoy being on board this ship. Best of all, you can cruise this ship at a very affordable price. I took so many more photos of other public areas of the ship that I'm just going to post them randomly below.  If you have questions about what you are looking at, just let me know.

On board wedding chapel

Inside Sabatini's a specialty dining option.

Looking up at the Seawalk from the dock