Trudy Myers's Blog, page 13

Last Day at Sea & Getting Off the Ship

 

Thursday, 11/17 - Last Day at Sea

We got up about 7:30 and went to breakfast. John wasn't feeling quite right. I didn't feel like biking in the morning, thought I might do it later on, but never got around to it. John went to deck 8 to read. I went to the Atrium bar on deck 6 to write. Late in the morning, we got in line to settle our account with the ship and went to lunch.

I was hoping we could go to the hot tub, but John wanted to get packing done, and we didn't want to pack wet swimsuits and water shoes, so we went back to the cabin and packed. Despite our 'souvenirs' (4 bottles of rum, a towel and a dress), we still had room in the suitcases. Afterwards, we both went to deck 8 for the rest of the afternoon. John was feeling better by 4:00 and had a mojito, then did some walking.

I don't remember where we had supper, but since we were getting off with our luggage (supposedly at 7:30 AM), we went to bed a little earlier than we usually did.

 

Friday, 11/18 - Getting Off the Ship

Note: Friday, 11/18 - Getting Home has already been ranted about in the blog titled A Rude Return Home, posted on 11/24. I won't repeat the getting home part of the day, but the Getting off the Ship was also an adventure in frustration, so I'll go through that here.

We decided to get off the ship with our luggage with us. We thought we would save some time that way, as well as avoiding the frustration of waiting until our color of luggage tags was called. Little did we know...

We got up at 6 and went to breakfast. We had wanted to go to O'Sheehan's for our last breakfast, but for some reason, it wasn't open that morning. So we probably had breakfast at the buffet.

According to the instructions handed out the night before, those of us carrying our own luggage off got to start leaving the ship at 7:30. What none of the passengers knew was that the ship was late getting into the port, and didn't yet have approval to unload passengers at 7:30. So we—and a whole bunch of other people with their luggage—got caught in a traffic jam that had previously been known as the forward elevator lobby. None of the elevators would go to deck 7, which was where the gangplank was at. The stairs were roped off, so you couldn't walk to deck 7. All the forward elevators were stuffed with people and their luggage, plus (we heard) all the forward elevator lobbies were just as stuffed. Wall to wall people and luggage, and all the crew members were doing were telling us to leave a walkway so people could get through. How? Are we supposed to climb on top of each other until there's room for a walkway? And who's going to use the walkway, when nobody can get anywhere anyway?

Frustration simmered. It might have been easier to wait if SOMEbody had made an announcement that they had hit a snag (pulling into port late) and nobody could get off yet. But nobody had the guts to make that announcement, so frustration simmered, getting hotter and hotter.

Then random crew members started to arrange us in a long line leading away from the elevator lobby, heading aft. Before too long, we met a long line heading our way from the other direction. Now what?

Finally, and still with no announcement as to who was allowed to get off at that time, a crew member removed several chairs that were blocking the entrance to O'Sheehan's and started urging the line to go in there. I thought they were just corraling us up for some reason, but they led the line through the side door to the restaurant, into the theater lobby, and from there we could go out on deck, move a bit to the right, and get on the gangplank to leave. There were at least 3 levels of gangplank before we entered the building. It was kind of like being in the middle of a stampede. John and I got separated, and didn't see each other again until I pulled over to the side as I entered the building, and waited for him.

Not everybody who was getting off with us had their luggage with them, so others must have joined the fray when it was 'time' for them to get off. Again, it might have been more orderly, if somebody had made any timely announcements about that.

When we finally got to the bottom floor, they were yelling instructions about where to pick up your luggage. You were supposed to go to the opposite end of the building, claim your luggage, and come back and get into line. Thankfully, we had our luggage with us.

Before that day, I had thought our luggage was great. Almost too big, for they were pretty heavy once we got them packed (and we still had more room!) They're the kind that has any-direction rollers, and you 'push' them along by holding onto the handle and keeping the suitcase upright. But on that hurried walk down the gangplank, mine seemed to have a mind of its own, and it kept wanting to veer, either towards me or away from me. It almost tripped me several times. I wonder if we had its load lop-sided, with more weight on one side than the other.

Anyway, we got through the line, through customs, and out of the building. And that's when I start narrating what happened to us in A Rude Return Home on 11/24.

Dominican Republic

 

Wednesday, 11/16 - Dominican Republic

We got up at 6:00 and went to the buffet for breakfast. After that, it was a looooong walk down the pier to find our shore excursion, Puerto Plata Culture, History and Heritage. Puerto Plata is either a city, or an area that has a city in it, I'm not sure which.

I had read the tickets wrong, and we arrived at the duty-free shops about an hour early. I remembered being at this particular group of shops at least twice before, but we have been on several Caribbean cruises, so it wasn't that surprising. John looked around at the shops while I sat in what shade I could find to gather my energy after yesterday's 'forced march'.

Thank goodness it was a bus tour, but I think most all the shore excursions here were, since the port was some 25 miles from the city.

The first stop on the tour was a rum factory, where we got to taste several versions of rum. I still think 9:30 AM is too early in the day for rum tasting. The tour started with a room full of rum casks. It was totally dark, except for small lines of lights outlining the path to follow to get to the exit. Then a small theater that could only seat about half the people who were on the tour. (I think there were 2 buses there at the same time.) After a movie about the history of this rum company, we were taken to another room, where they had some historical artifacts having to do with the rum-making process. It was here that they passed out little sample glasses, and gave us samples of about 8 tastes of their rum. The factory store was across the street. But we had already bought 4 bottles of rum during this cruise, so we decided we didn't need any more.

Next we were taken to a jewelry shop that specialized in amber and larimer jewelry. Larimer is only found on this island. We were sent inside for a chance to buy jewelry, but learning the price of one piece was enough to dissuade me from buying anything. I had a lot of trouble persuading the sales person I really wasn't interested in anything. When we came back out and got on the bus, we almost left behind a couple who had been paying for their purchase!

Somebody asked why there had been police there to steer us into and out of the store, and the tour guide said it was to make sure the pan-handlers and peddlers didn't bother us. The police presence left us with a strange, 'you are watched' kind of feeling.

Next, we went to the amber museum, which also has a permanent display on the art of making cigars. Of course there was a gift shop, and John bought... a pound of coffee!

Back on the street, I was wearing down, so I climbed back on the bus with a couple other people to wait. The rest of the group walked a few blocks to see 'Umbrella Street. After about 20 minutes, the bus went to pick up the others, and we started back for the pier. I caught a brief glimpse of Umbrella Street, and they had dozens of open umbrellas suspended over the street.

The Dominican Republic is the only port I remember where as we approached the gate to the port, a guard came aboard the bus and had to see everybody's ship-board card. To prove we had a reason for coming to the port, I suppose.

We reached the duty-free shops with about 37 minutes before we had to be on the ship. John wanted to buy me a Caribbean shirt that would fit me. He knew exactly what store had them. I didn't want another shirt, but to his surprise, I chose a Caribbean-style dress. (He was surprised. I was shocked! I swore off dresses decades ago!) Then we had that loooong walk back to the ship, which took us 7-8 minutes (I timed it). It was a very long pier.

We went to O'Sheehan's for a late lunch, then spent some time in the hot tub. About 7, we went to the theater for a dance show. This was our 'big night' on the ship, so I wore my new dress. The show was okay, the dancing was good, but I had trouble with the plot. I'm not sure it had one.

We left a few minutes before the end of the show to go to the other end of the ship, to the restaurant Cagney's, where we had dinner reservations. John was dragging on the way there, and had a little trouble understanding the menu. (It was past his usual bed time.) Since we were dining on a package plan, certain items on the menu were not available to us. We had a very nice dinner, and as we were walking out, we came across a couple who had been on the kayaking shore excursion with us, so we exchanged a few pleasantries with them. Then off to the cabin for the night.

Puerto Rico

Tuesday, 11/15 - Puerto Rico

It was raining when we went to deck 15 for breakfast. We had to try to run between the raindrops to get to the buffet. Of course that didn't work very well, so we got somewhat wet. And again when we went back to our cabin. But the rain didn't last long.

Our excursion today was the Mofongo and Mojito Experience. The group was large, so it got broken into 2 groups, and our group had to wait around for 15 minutes to let the first group get ahead of us. I was disappointed to learn it was a walking tour of the city, but I bravely set out with them, and was able to keep up for a while. Just as I (and John) were thinking we couldn't possibly keep up the pace much longer, we were led up to the 2nd floor of a 'cultural lounge', where we were seated around tables. Among talking about the history of their rum-making, they gave us appetizers and a mojito (which we hadn't liked on the ship, but these were good). Then they passed out big wooden mortars to everybody. Each had some cassava and a plantain chip in it. They gave us each a pestle and taught us how to grind the cassava and plantain chip into mush. Then they added a small ladle of chicken stew to the mush, and a fork to eat with. This was the mofongo, and it was quite tasty and very filling.

After lunch, they expected us to continue walking! I wanted a siesta. But I tried to keep up with the others. At one point we had to walk 2 blocks up a steep hill. I had to stop 3 times to catch my breath before I caught up to the others, who had stopped to wait for me.

Eventually, we came out on a hilltop near the bay, and we could see our ship sitting at the dock. It looked very far away. I was really dragging, but had no choice but to keep walking. The tour guide was worried about the time, so every time I caught up to the group, she immediately started off again. I didn't have a chance to catch my breath again. The closer we got to the ship, the further ahead the group got, and I didn't care. I didn't stop walking, even though my stomach got to feeling a little sick.

We finally made it to the dock, and John even had time to stop at the duty-free shop and buy a souvenir towel he had noticed earlier. I was wiped, and went to our cabin to lay down. After an hour, we went to deck 6 for cokes, then John went to deck 8 to read, while I returned to the cabin to lay down again.

About 5, we went to the main dining room for supper. Afterwards, we went to the mojito bar on deck 8 to try a couple flavored mojitos. We liked the spicy passion fruit mojito, but not so much the raspberry guava one, which seemed a little heavy on the alcohol.

Then we went to the theater for a comedy show. I thought there would be 2 comedians again, but there was only one. Back to our cabin for the night. I found I had walked 10,522 steps on this day. We went to bed at 8:30, but at 9:30, I got up to plug in my phone to recharge. At 10:00, I got up to take a tylenol, my legs were aching so much. Then up at 10:45 for another tylenol, and I could finally fall asleep.

Rum Factory Tour & St Maarteen's

Sunday, 11/13 - Rum Factory Tour and Tasting

We went to the Savor for breakfast, which was good, but not great. I went back to our cabin and laid down for about 1/2 an hour, and got up feeling much more awake. Meanwhile, John went off to do some walking. Our excursion started at 9:30. I don't remember what island this was, but the roads were the pits.

First, we went to a famous woodcarver's workshop and store. It was beautiful work, but I'm not into abstract or primitive artwork, so we didn't buy anything.

On to see Marigot Bay, which is only accessible by water taxi. We got to 'see' it from a wide spot in the road at the top of a hill. Surprisingly, it looked amazingly like a beach.

Then we were on to a rum factory for a tour and some taste testing. The factory tour consisted of a 2-minute audio tape, an 8-minute video tape, and then a walk to an open room in the factory, where we got a 10-to-15-minute lecture on their process of making rum. Unfortunately, the tour guide did not have a microphone, and they had combined 2 busloads into one tour, so it was very hard to hear her. Then our busload was sent through a labyrinth of colorful carnival characters and into the tasting room. They had about a dozen different varieties out, and we could taste as many of them as we wanted. Those of us who wanted to buy some were shunted off to the factory store, where, unfortunately, the card reader wasn't working. Since we don't carry much cash, we couldn't buy anything. Back to the bus to return to the ship.

The driver and tour guide wanted to show off their new way into town, called the Millennium Hiway. It seemed in even worse shape than the regular roads, until we got into the tunnel, where it smoothed out a bit.

The bus dropped us off at the duty-free shops at the pier. John wanted a pair of water shoes, but he got distracted by a liquor store, where he bought the 2 bottles of flavored rum he'd wanted to get at the factory. I went on to other stores to look for water shoes in his size, and when he finally caught up to me, he approved of the pair I'd found, and we bought those. The only pair I'd found in his size.

We dropped things off at the cabin, then went to a bar on deck 8 to get cokes. John finished his walking for the day. Then we hung out for a while, him reading and me writing. We had dinner in the main dining room. It had very few customers when we got there. It filled up some as we ate, but was still not full when we left about 6:30.

Our excursion for the next day had been cancelled, due to technical difficulties with the boat we would have been using. We went to see if some other excursion appealed to us. Nothing did, so we decided to stay on the ship.

 

Monday, 11/14 - St Maarteen

We got up and had breakfast as usual, but we didn't have any excursion today, as we'd been informed the day before. Since we aren't big on buying souvenirs, we decided to stay aboard and see what we could find to do. After breakfast, we started with some exercise, John doing his walking, and I going to the gym for a bike ride. John was still walking, so I took my notebook and pen to the deck 6 atrium bar for a coke and to write.

Fairly late in the morning, Arts & Crafts set up a table on the dance floor and handed out journal kits for those who wanted to make them. The instructions came in the form of a 16-page booklet of pictures and text explaining how to 'sew' the journal together. They did warn us that it would take us longer than a half hour, which was all the time allotted for Arts and Crafts. I sat at the bar, sipping my coke, and got it done in about an hour. It was fun and not difficult. It reminded me of lacing leather pieces together, particularly in one of the more challenging designs, like Mexican Basketweave. But I didn't have to worry about the lacing getting twisted, because I was using embroidery thread.

John found me, and we went for a light lunch at O'Sheehans. It wasn't as noisy as usual, because we were in port, and the casino wasn't open. Then we went to deck 8 so John could finish his walking - it takes time to walk 10,000 steps! But the bar I sat at to write didn't open until 3:45 or 4:00, so I couldn't have a coke until then.

We went to the noodle station for supper. This is a complimentary restaurant, only open for lunch and dinner. They have a limited number of seats, and once those are all filled, they turn away everybody else, so you have to get in line for it well before it actually opens. The food was good, but it seemed like a madhouse. People closest to the kitchen were getting their desserts before the ones further from the kitchen were getting their appetizers.

After supper, we went to the comedy club, where we could not get a waiter's attention to get anything to drink. The show was good, although we'd heard pieces of it before, when we attended the comedy show in the theater. And then John was tired, so we called it a night. 

St Thomas & St John's

Friday, 11/11/22 - St Thomas

Our shore excursion for the day was Kayaking, Hiking and Snorkeling. We were a little nervous about it, because neither of us had ever been Kayaking. I was worried the hike might become a forced march for me, since I walk so slowly and don't have much stamina. But the snorkeling would definitely be fun!

The 'bus' was a truck with lots of back seats in it, and no doors on the sides. Also, no seatbelts, so one had to be careful not to fall out. The bus took us to the other side of the island, where we received 10 minutes of instruction on how to kayak. Then we were loaded into the kayaks, usually 2 to a boat. (One family of 3 put their young daughter in the middle, and there may have been one woman in a boat by herself, I'm not sure.) I was nervous getting in, but I managed it with lots of help from a couple of the guides. I was in the front seat. John sounded just as nervous, getting into the back seat. The dock was in a small inlet, and I dutifully paddled around, trying to get a feel for this new mode of traveling. But it seemed like every time I paddled, I bumped into somebody else's boat or some bushes. I didn't feel like I had any control over getting it to turn or stop at all.

Soon everybody was ready, and we took off. I paddled left, right, left, right... but the boat kept turning left. I wondered if it was because John and I were both right handed, and those arms would push harder. Then one of the guides realized John was having problems, and came over to give him a second belt to help hold him upright. That was nerve-wracking for me, since I had no idea what was going on behind me, and couldn't turn enough to look. We took off again, already far behind the others, but the guide stayed with us. John said it was uncomfortable for him to sit in the boat, and if he tried to paddle, he sank down into the seat. So... I was paddling alone.

We caught up with the others, for they had stopped to talk about the local flora and fauna, and I bumped into other boats again, still unable to stop. As soon as a guide started out again, I was right there after him, trying not to fall behind again. But we did, and when we finally reached the end point of the kayaking, everybody else had moved on to the hiking stage. John and the guide did that, trying to catch up, but I was pretty winded, so after 100 feet or so, I decided to turn back and go to the tent, where there was a picknik table and benches for sitting.

Before long, everybody got back, and it was on to the snorkeling. Unfortunately, John didn't have any water shoes, and when he took off his clunky shoes, he couldn't walk on the rocky beach to get in the water. Everybody else was already a quarter mile away, so we decided to pass on the snorkeling and waited for them to get back.

Because we had taken so long to kayak to the finish, they sent us back to the starting point in a motor boat, our kayak tied up along side of us. I kind of wanted to kayak back, but in hind sight, there wasn't enough time for us to move back as slowly as we had moved outward. We would have missed the bus back, and would have missed the ship.

We got back to the ship about 1:30, where we changed out of our wet(!) clothes and went to O'Sheehan's for a late lunch. I guess we didn't get wet enough that morning, because after lunch, we changed again and went to the hot tub. Later, we went to the buffet for supper. There was no show in the theater this night, so we returned to our cabin to watch some tv. I slathered on moisterizer, because I was sun-burnt from my head right down to the tops of my feet.

 

Saturday, 11/12 - St John's

For some reason, I woke up tired this day, getting up at 7. Our shore excursion wasn't until 12:45, so after we had breakfast, I laid down for an hour and felt much better. Then I went to the Atrium bar on deck 6 for a coke and to write, while John went in search of a quiet place to read.

We met at the cabin at noon, and went to find our excursion, titled A Taste of Antigua (the city we were in). They loaded us into 3 extended vans to drive us around a little bit and see some of the sites, then we were dropped off at a night club venue for the tasting bit. We were given a half glass of fruit punch to help refresh us as we found seats around several tables. We listened to some history of the island and were given tastes of 3 different ages of rum. We were also given some sugar cane, some local dishes and a native fruit called a sweet apple (which was not an apple at all. It had a slight similarity to a pomegranate, but with bigger seeds.)

After that, we were loaded back up on the vans and returned to the dock. Did not notice any shopping locations at or near the dock, so we didn't get any souvenirs. We rested a bit and then went to O'Sheehan's for supper.

After that, we went to the theater for a musical play about Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, and Jerry Lee Lewis and the small recording company they all started with. I enjoyed it a great deal, since it was mostly early rock and roll. For that same reason, I don't know how John felt about it. Then back to our cabin to call it a day.

A day at Sea & Another Day at Sea

Wednesday, 11/9/22 - A Day at Sea

We were supposed to dock at Norwegian's private island on this day, but we were still trying to skirt around Hurricane Nichole, so it was a day at sea. We had booked a shore excursion for this day, but obviously, it was cancelled. After breakfast, I went to the gym and spent half an hour on a stationary bike. It had a screen on it, and you could choose one of several courses to 'ride' on. I chose Monument Valley. It was a little disconcerting to have a screen full of desert, and all around the screen was ocean and sky, as the bike faced a glass wall on the side of the ship. But I got half an hour done, and felt good about it.

Back to the stateroom, where I found John watching the election results. He grabbed the laptop to go do some writing, and I grabbed paper and pens to do the same thing. If you know John, you know he needs absolute quiet to write. We hadn't yet found the library, and the 'internet cafe' was a wide spot in the deck 6 atrium, which included a busy bar, a Starbuck's, music from the dance floor, and 6 desks where passengers could ask questions, make restaurant reservations, and so on. So much not a quiet place for him to work.

Later, we ran into each other at the Deck 6 Atrium bar, where I had gone to get a coke. Turns out Microsoft had decided our laptop needed an update, and wouldn't let us use Word until it had gotten the update. So the laptop was useless. He switched gears and started looking for a relatively quiet place to read.

Meanwhile, there wasn't any space for me at the bar to write (I don't need quiet), so I went to the pool area and managed to find a table there, but before long, it started raining on me, my table being in the open. We ran into each other again, and found the library, tucked away in a nook on deck 6. It was small, and doubled as the card room, and all four tables were being used for cards, so it wouldn't do for us. We went back up to the pool area, and then up to deck 16, where we found some chairs set up for people to use. Deck 16 also had the jogging track, so John decided to do some walking, and I worked on my writing.

Sometime after 1, we found each other again and went for lunch, which was not that memorable. After that, the sun had come out, so we changed and went to the hot tub for close to an hour.

About 5:30, we went to The Taste for supper. The Taste and Savor were 2 complimentary restaurants situated directly across from each other on deck 6. They were decorated similarly, and shared the same menu. We never had a problem with Savor, but unfortunately, this night in the Taste, the service was soooo slooow! We missed the 7:00 show in the theater, but we did get to the 7:30 show, where Sioblane Walsh did some fantastic Whitney Houston songs. By the time that got out, John (who is an early riser) was ready to sleep, so our day reached its conclusion.

 

Thursday, 11/10/22 - Another Day at Sea

This was another day at sea, but this one was scheduled as such. We went to the buffet for breakfast, where John got an omelet and lots of other protein. I got a bowl of grits with dried cranberries, pecans and brown sugar. I wanted cream of wheat, but their choices were oatmeal or grits. Afterwards, John went to do his walking, and I went to the gym to bike for half an hour.

We had done it again, separated without deciding when and where to meet. I went to the pool bar to write, and got a coke to drink. Later, I got a vodka and cranberry, which I thought would be a great combination, but... not so much. At 12, I went to try and find John for lunch. I didn't find him, but I wasn't hungry, so I didn't worry about it. We finally found each other and did some errands, had a drink each and listened to the music on deck 6. I think John had a mudslide, and I don't remember what I had. His mudslide looked kind of like a chocolate shake, and kind of tasted like it, too.

Then we went to the main dining room when it opened for dinner. We didn't realize they would have a 20-30 minute dance show in the middle of our meal. Apparently, it was to whet our appetites for the full version of the dance show that would be given several days later in the cruise. Anyway, the show started just as we were served our entrees, and it seemed that all service came to a dead stop when the dancing started. We were wondering if we would have to walk out without any desserts in order to make it to the comedy show being held in the theater. But luckily, we got to have our 'cake' and make it to the theater in time for the show. I even paused for half a minute to tell Ms Walsh how much I had enjoyed her rendition of Whitney Houston songs.

The theater show was late starting due to some kind of technical issues. When it did start, it was fun, and I was glad we had made it in time. There were 2 comedians, each lasting about 20-25 minutes. The first one was pretty typical and even good. The second one was... more on the odd side. He seemed to specialize in extreme movements, if you can imagine what I mean.

Getting to the Port & Getting to the Ship

Monday, 11/7 - Getting to the port

Another cruise! And this time, no long airplane ride to get to and from it, for this was a cruise of the Caribbean, where we've been several times. All we had to do was drive about an hour from our house to Port Carnaval. What could go wrong?

Well, we could wander around the city of Cocoa for about an hour before we found our hotel. Our computer-generated directions suddenly degenerated to nonsensical instructions, such as turn left, go 189 feet, turn right, go 50 feet. No street names, no landmarks... But we did have the address for our hotel, so once we got on the right street, and headed in the correct direction, we eventually found it and got checked in.

Once we got checked in and made arrangements for our car to be parked in a near-by parking lot during the cruise, we went to the ale house next door for supper. John was pretty happy with what he ordered, but the cook put chicken in my cheese quesadilla! I had to send it back for a re-do.

Well, back to the hotel to watch some tv. Not used to cable tv anymore, we managed to find reruns of a comedy we used to watch all the time, and watched about 4 episodes of it. At 8:30, John was ready to go to bed. (He's also an early riser.) Since he needs absolute darkness and absolute quiet to fall sleep, that meant I had to go to bed, too.

At 10:28, my phone went off with a severe warning for possible flooding within 36 hours. I confirmed that I'd gotten it and assumed it was due to Hurricane Nicole, which was headed straight for Florida.

 

Tuesday, 11/8 - Getting to the Ship

We got up about 7 and went to the lobby for our free breakfast. John was disappointed, as the only 'protein' available was yogurt, but we ate and made do. Then we took our car to the parking lot about 2 blocks away and walked back to watch a couple hours of tv.

We got another emergency warning on my phone, this one indicated Nicole was within 36 hours of our location. Then we got a text message from the cruise line that the ship was leaving early, and everybody needed to be aboard by 3:30 pm. We went to the lobby to wait for the next shuttle, which would be leaving at 10:30, an hour before we had booked rides for it, but they had room for us, so we got on.

Once we got to the dock and handed our luggage to the porters, we took a couple steps to get in the end of the line going into the building, which was about a block away. When we entered the building, the line split into 2 lines, and wouldn't you know it, the line they put us in didn't go anywhere very fast. Lots of standing and waiting while the other line passed us by. A woman in the other line fainted, and 2 or 3 husky guys carried her to the sidelines and got her some help.

Eventually, we got to the point where they would give us room keys and let us board the ship. BUT despite all the paperwork we filled out online in the previous 2 weeks, they still had one more form for us to sign. And John, being as cautious as he is, insisted on reading it before he signed it. He is not a fast reader, and it took him a long time to get it read, but finally we were able to get on the ship. It was about 12:30.

We only had 1 carry-on bag with us, but we couldn't get to our cabin to leave it there, as the cabins were not all cleaned yet. So we took it with us to the buffet and got some lunch. As we were finishing our desserts, they announced that the cabins were available now.

About 4:30, the ship started pulling away from the dock. Once we hit the ocean, the ship's motion was very unpredictable. At 5:30, we went to a bar to listen to music. At 7, we went to the theater to see 2 comedians. The first one was pretty normal, and fairly good. The 2nd was... strange. He seemed to specialize in extreme movements, if you can imagine what I mean.

About 8:30, we went to O'Sheehan's, which is an Irish pub located right in the middle of the casino. Since we were definitely out to sea by then, the casino was going full blast. We couldn't hear ourselves think, let alone talk. Then we called it a night, watched a little tv and went to bed.

A Rude Return Home

This week's blog was supposed to be about our recent cruise to the Caribbean (Suddenly, I've become a Travel Blogger?) But something happened when we returned home that I feel is more important. The flu.

We hear about the flu all the time, it's in the news every fall. And we usually just shrug and go about our business; it's something we all have to live with, apparently. It's just a fact of life.

But the flu is nothing to sneeze about.

It put my husband in the hospital for 2 days.

It all started on Friday, Nov 18th. The end of our cruise to the Caribbean. As soon as my hubby stepped off the ship, he started coughing. We thought it was his hay fever, which means his post-nasal drip was causing his coughing. By the time we got home about noon, he was coughing pretty non-stop, so we called the doctor.

They assumed it was his post-nasal drip, for which they had treated him all during October, and ordered a stronger nasal spray and a stronger decongestant.

Hubby coughed all night long, didn't get any sleep. In the morning (Saturday), he complained that the meds weren't working. He needed my help getting off the sofa to go to the bathroom. This was concerning, so I called the doctor's answering service to ask what we should do.

The next I knew, he had fallen onto the sofa, with his head on the seat and his knees on the floor. He wasn't hurt, but he couldn't get up. I couldn't get him up. So I called for an ambulance. The fire truck arrived first, of course, and the 2 men who came helped him get seated on the sofa while I answered questions for the woman who had come. Then the ambulance arrived, and the paramedics evaluated him.

Suddenly, "Okay, we're going to take him in now", and they were wheeling him out the door. I had to ask where they were taking him, hoping it was South Lake Hospital, because I knew where that was. That was the place. I took a deep breath, trying to settle my nerves, gathered what I needed, and headed out.

What I learned in short order when I got to the Emergency Room was that he had a fever of 104, his pulse was rapid, his breathing was rapid, he was dehydrated, his blood oxygen was low and he was low on potassium. I watched as they attached his IV port (which they had put in before I got there) to 2-3 bags of saline, a bag of tylenol and one of potassium. They swabbed his nasals to test for a variety of viruses. They x-rayed his chest. They hooked him up to a bi-pac (similar to but different from a c-pac) to help his breathing. They sent him for a catscan and sent him upstairs to be admitted.

All because of the flu.

Little did I know at the time, but I was fighting the flu, too. When I got up on Sunday, I was feverish, headachy, and coughing. I didn't want to wind up as sick as he was, so I needed to get on that tamiflu you hear about, and do it fast. How to do that? I drove myself to the only urgent care location I knew, and they weren't open on Sundays (which deserves its own rant, but not today). So I drove to the South Lake Emergency Room. They swabbed my nose and took my temperature, gave me some tylenol and confirmed I had the flu. I got prescriptions for tamiflu and a strong decongestant and was sent home. I took my first dosages and climbed into bed, with an alarm set to wake me up when it was time to take more pills.

Thankfully, we are both getting better. Hubby is home, still feeling weak and foggy-headed. I occasionally cough and can't exert myself much, but I've lost the headache and the fever. I ordered Thanksgiving dinner and went to pick it up yesterday, and that was almost too much for me. But at least I won't have to cook.

We are thankful we are managing to get through this illness.

But please, flu is not just a fact of life; it's a dangerous fact of life. Take care of yourselves.

Monday, 8/15 - Getting Home, Part 2

I don't think either of us got any sleep. The benches were made of cold, hard rock, and every time I started to doze off, somebody would walk by, and either their heels clattered on the floor, or the wheels on their suitcases were insanely loud. 

Sometime around 4, we got up and went to find the Canadian TSA place, which opened about 5, so we spent some time standing in line in order to stand in line. We got through that, and found our new gate. Hubby said he would go and try to find something for us to eat. I noticed a restaurant right across the hall was opening, and I asked if they accepted food vouchers, and they said yes. So we got a decent breakfast, although it took more than the $40 in vouchers.

Our first flight of the day was to Boston. I think it was pretty uneventful, but I was trying to doze, so a dozen screaming monkeys probably would have struck me as uneventful.

I don't remember much about the airport in Boston, except we were changing airlines. We had to walk all the way out of one terminal, through another long terminal, and into a 3rd terminal to get to our gate. I felt like we were doing a marathon, except we didn't have to run. Walk fast, yes, but not run.

We finally got on the plane to take us to Orlando. Here, too, I was trying to sleep, or at least relax, so I really don't remember much about it except that it seemed long.

Once we got back to Orlando, and got our luggage, then we had to wait for the shuttle to our parking lot. All this time, I was worried they would try to charge us for another day of parking, because I had said we would pick up our car at 1 am that day, and here it was, late afternoon. But nobody said a word about it, so we got in our car and drove home, picking up some burgers on our way home.

It took me 2 days to recover from this last 'adventure' of this particular cruise. Now, as you read this blog, I am finishing up another cruise. No long-distance flying required this time! The ship starts and ends in Port Canaveral, about 1 1/2 hours from home. Wish us luck.

Sunday, 8/14 - The Long Way Home

It was only a hop across the pond. How exhausting could it be? Unfortunately, it got complicated.

We got up and had a quick breakfast, then went down to claim our luggage and get on the bus to take us to the airport. It was not the slickest conversion from ship to bus that we've ever had; the people herding the passengers onto the buses had to ask us twice what airline we were taking so as to get us on the right bus. Then I think it was a 2 1/2 hr drive from Southampton to Heathrow. The airport is nearly as confusing as the one at Barcelona, and their version of TSA nearly came to loggerheads with hubby, but eventually we got through that and found our gate. For some reason, even though we were sitting next to each other on the plane, hubby and I were in different groups for boarding. So we both had to wait until the latter group was called, because I can't lift my overnight bag into the overhead bins. I'm just too short, and my shoulders no longer will lift that high.

The flight from Heathrow to Montreal was pretty uneventful. I was looking forward to actually getting home that night, even though that meant being up and awake for about 24 hours. Once we got to Montreal, we had to take our overnight bags and go through US customs before we could find our gate for the flight to Orlando. Part of that involved riding up an escalator. Here I was, juggling 3 bottles of water, a cpac case and an overnight bag, and when I lost my balance on the escalator, I just kept tumbling down to the bottom. A nice man in a uniform (not a security uniform) came over and helped me up, made sure I was okay. I had lost a shoe, which had ridden up the escalator without me. Hubby went up the escalator to claim my shoe. The uniformed man showed me where the elevator was, and then rode up with me to make sure I was okay. I was shaken a bit, but not too badly stirred.

Shortly after that, we arrived at the US TSA outpost, and I had to throw out all 3 bottles of water, because you can't take food or drink past that point. Then came US Customs, and that was even more of a madhouse. Everybody had to get in one big line, but as flight times started approaching, the crowd handlers would call out for people with that destination, and they were rushed to the front of the line so they could make their plane. If they had just had 1 or 2 more customs officers working the booths, that probably wouldn't have been such a big problem.

Eventually, we got through that, and then we found our gate for our flight to Orlando. We were just trying to decide if we had any time to grab something—chips or a drink or something—when they announced our flight was cancelled. We were lead down a couple hallways, and told to go downstairs and claim our luggage. No word on which carousel our luggage would be on, so hubby was wandering around this huge stadium-sized room, trying to figure out where our luggage was. I got to sit on a bench with our 2 overnight cases and 2 cpacs.

People were getting notices on their smart phones of what flight they had been shifted to, but our phones don't work outside the US, so we had to find the counter than handled such things. We happened to stumble on the counter we needed and got in line just before they started hollering at people to go upstairs to the ticket booths. An hour or more later, we were given our tickets for the 2 flights it would take on Monday to get us back to Orlando. We were also given $40 in vouchers for food, and a voucher for a hotel, and they told us what door to go out of to find the shuttle.

We stood outside that door for at least another hour, but the shuttle from our hotel never showed up. We noticed a sign that gave telephone numbers of hotels with shuttles, but a) our phones don't work outside the US, and b) there was no telephone number for the hotel we were assigned.

We went back inside. The airport was shutting down. So we found 2 benches next to other, shoved our luggage between them and tried to get some sleep. It was 11 o'clock or later, and we figured we had to be back by 4 am to catch our first flight. Good night, all.