Our First Cruise
We left on our journey Friday afternoon after dropping our dogs at Pet Camp. We headed up to the airport and checked in at the Southwest Terminal. Our first adventure was to find that SW Airlines has more restrictive luggage weight limits than American. We had spent hours that morning carefully packing our clothes for all occasions. So there we were opening and redistributing between the checked and the carry-on, right outside in the middle of a crowded terminal. From there, we made our way through the security checkpoint and had lunch/dinner at Chili’s Too, enjoying our usual pre-flight margarita.
We arrived in Florida around 11 PM and it was very hot and humid. We called for a Ramada van to pick us up. The Ramada desk clerk was very friendly for someone working at midnight and suggested a pizza place that would deliver. We had the most amazing garlic flavored artichoke dip and plan to order again, next time we are in Ft. Lauderdale. It was Big C’s Downtown Pizzeria. We ate our late night snack out in the hotel courtyard which was full of lush tropical plants and we knew at that moment that our vacation had truly begun.
Ft. Lauderdale-Ramada Cruise Port
http://ramadainnairport.com/
The next morning, we hit the hotel breakfast buffet. As we repacked our carry-on luggage, we discussed one quirky thing that happened on our flight. Both pieces of checked luggage had left St. Louis with rainbow name tags attached. We did that to identify our luggage more easily. We thought that was a little odd and wondered if there was any meaning there? Before we knew it, we were on a bus headed for the cruise ship. The check-in at the cruise line was much like airport security merging with a hotel experience. As we passed that stage and headed up the escalator, we were suddenly boarding the ship. Within minutes, we were lunching at the Lido buffet on the ninth deck.
We enjoyed our first day of sushi rolls and ordered a nice Shiraz to kick off our journey.
Soon after, they announced that all cabins were ready and we made our way to the fourth deck where we found home for the next week. We had an obstructed ocean view room, with the obstruction being a lifeboat. It was no problem, we loved it.We soon discovered one more challenge, one piece of our luggage had the zipper damaged and it could not be opened. This gave us the chance to see what excellent service is provided on a cruise ship. Our cabin steward Anton took the luggage to get it opened while we were at the lifeboat drill. As we stood out there by our boat, an amazing downpour occurred; it was the only rain we were to experience the whole week. But we got completely drenched. As we made our way back to the room, dripping, we were pleased to find the luggage had been returned and was now opened. We found the TV had channels describing all of our ports of call, the potential shore excursions, a tour of the ship, information about the ship, and a view off the bow as well as view from the aft.
We left port around 5 PM and it was an awesome experience. Because we regularly go to Ft. Lauderdale, it was great to see the shoreline as we sailed out of the port. We were able to pick out the Pelican Hotel and other familiar sights. Before long it, it was time for our first dinner. We met our table mates and I will share more about them later. We had mussels that were very tender and done in a light cream sauce, cold peach ginger soup, a spinach salad with eggs, blue cheese, red onion and tomato. For dessert, we started off light and had fresh fruit. By the end of the week, I (more than Carol) had slid into dessert decadence. We ordered the Holland America special labeled wine, from the Wendt Winery, which was an excellent value. After leaving the dining room, we started our tradition of enjoying at least one special after dinner drink. That night, it was Armagnac and port.
That first evening, we began traditions that carried us through the entire cruise. First, we felt so lucky to have our other four dinner companions. The couple that we bonded with the most was from New Jersey. He is a part time private investigator and musician. She worked with developmentally disabled folks. They have two kids, one who is currently at Rutgers. But they also loved dogs and he really enjoyed finding out that Carol is a K-9 police officer. The other couple was from Tampa and also dog lovers, they have Jack Russell terriers. Every day, we would all go our separate ways and then come back together and share dinner each night. We had the late seating which was perfect.
The other thing we did nearly every night before dinner was to enjoy a jazz/America standards band called Portofino. They played in one of the lounges and we watched some amazing older couples swing dance, tango and just generally show off. They have inspired us to take dance lessons. After dinner, we made a habit of stopping into the explorer’s lounge and enjoying the string quartet that played every night. They were from Romania and played some of the most haunting classical melodies.
We sailed on Holland America's Zuiderdam
http://www.hollandamerica.com/
A site where we got lots of good tips
http://www.cruisecritic.com/
Sunday was our first full day on the ship and it was spent at sea. We were still trying to be careful and not overeat so we ate a light breakfast and then headed for the gym. There we rode the exercise bikes, looking out over the ocean as we sailed toward our first port of call. We had a very active morning, playing ping-pong and basketball. We followed it up with breakfast part two and enjoyed the banana waffles, crepes, fresh fruit, juice, and cream of wheat.
At noon, we had our first Friends of Dorothy meet and greet. I had read on cruise critic, prior to our departure that most cruise ship schedules included these gatherings on their published schedules and we were pleased to see that was the case. We had no expectations but thought it might be interesting to meet a few other gay folks to help us feel a little less alone. We had no idea what fun would come from this.
Our host was Randall Powell, the ship’s piano player and a wonderfully gregarious welcoming guy. He is from Texas and at one time, played the piano for Jerry Falwell. We were also joined by two other couples, Warren and Jim from Ft. Lauderdale as well as Ben and Brad from Louisville. I loved Ben’s southern accent, it made me feel like I was in a scene from “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.” We were having a nice chat and sharing where we all work. After telling everyone that I worked at Enterprise in IT, Warren asked me if I knew Ralph. Well Ralph is the name of a computer system at Enterprise and as it turns out; Warren was sort of the original programmer (now there are hundreds) and named the system. He came back in the late nineties and wrote a good chunk of the legacy application where I work. I have seen his name in dozens of RPG programs that he wrote or worked one. I recognized his name immediately.
For lunch, we had an excellent chilled pear soup and tilapia. Randall bought everyone a round of drinks on uncle HAL (Holland America Line). We were in the dining room where you could actually enjoy all of your meals, or of course the Lido buffet was always an option as well.
On the way out of the dining room, our wine steward pointed out the Navigator wine tasting and so we decided to join. The ships sommelier taught us lots of great wine tips and we tasted a nice variety. You could buy a package at a discount so we did, knowing that it would be nice to have a known wine for some of the dinners. We were seated at a table with a couple from Columbus, Ohio. They were a lot of fun and we ended up staying to chat for another hour after the tasting. They had a leftover bottle from their dinner the night before which they shared with us. They lived in the historic district of Columbus and so we swapped stories about our respective cities’ downtown comebacks.
Before long it was time to dress for dinner. Sunday was the first formal night and we were set with our Winter Event outfits (my annual work Christmas party). We had lamb chops with mint jelly as the entrée and it was nothing special. This was the night that I discovered the Caesar salad was really good and a staple on the menu. The dressing had a real anchovy kick. We enjoyed the Kiara Cabernet that we had just tasted as part of our package. Kicking off the cruise, the Captain offered a champagne toast at the end of the meal.
On Monday, we made our first port of call, Grand Turk of the Turks and Caicos Islands. We had already scheduled our main shore excursion for this port. Once we were off the ship, we walked around the shopping area that had been very recently built for the cruise ships. Everything was colorful and appropriately providing the expected island ambience. We met our group and headed out in a mini-bus for our destination, a small ranch where we would ride horses. It had been years since I had ridden without wearing long pants but this time, it just didn't make sense. So off we went, I had Chelsea and Carol rode Frenzy along the beach. The ocean was a beautiful aqua/blue color. Most of the wranglers were from Jamaica and seemed to be comfortable with the horses. At this time the horses had saddles that were an interesting mix of English/western styles and they moved as typical trail horses do. As we rode over sand dunes and along the beach, one of the young horses freely roamed in our midst. After a bit, we all went back into the corral area and the saddles were pulled off. In their place, were foam pads with a little handle if you really needed to hang on. We got back on different horses this time, I rode Jiggy and Carol had Oscar. We split into two group and rode right into the ocean. We rode in as sort of a mob, to keep the horses going I guess, so pretty soon, we were galloping. We would run them about a hundred yards and then turn and gallop back. We rode for about ten minutes like this and it was amazing. We were in water up to our chests and the horses only had their heads above water. We had on some sort of life vest but there was no chance to fall off because we stayed in such a close knit group. The ride to and from the horses was just a bonus as it gave us a chance to see a lot of the island sites. Grand Turk is in the early stages of development so a lot of the island is still very pristine and private. It is flat and more of a desert island with some vegetation but not a lush jungle by any means. They told us they have a very unique weather pattern and not a lot of rain. They have also luckily avoided hurricanes for many years.
http://www.turksandcaicos.tc/grandturk/index.htm
We had a little time before returning to the ship so we stopped off at Jimmy Buffet’s Margaritaville. We met up with Randall there and watched the bikini contest (not so much Randall) and found another lesbian couple who ended up joining our Friends of Dorothy group after that.
After a few brief hours on Grand Turk, we went back to the ship and were underway by 2 PM. So it was a late afternoon at the pool with a mojito in hand. We had a Friends of Dorothy gathering at 6 pm up in the Crow’s Nest (on the top deck with incredible views). This time, there were 15 people there and we were already really starting to have fun together. We talked some more with the women. They were from a small town in Indiana where they were doing lots of courageous things (like being out) and Kathy was active in her employer LGBT resource group so we swapped stories and I shared some of the triumphs and hurdles at my workplace.
Dinner was “smart casual” and by now, we were really getting to know our dining steward, Bass. He is apparently famous in the cruise world, known as the “Yum, Yum Man”, which is what he says every time he serves something special. We found that all the dining stewards are from Indonesia and the wine stewards are from the Philippines.
We also met another steward, Noor, who showed us a magic trick. The cold soup theme continued with a wonderful apple soup. Carol had the watermelon with fresh mint syrup. We both had grouper with yellow squash and corn relish. This time we picked from our wine package, a Merlot from Chile. For dessert, Carol had the low fat frozen yogurt and I had a baked berry cobbler with raspberries, ligonberries, and more. I also had the chocolate cake with fudge sauce which was amazing. I had discovered you could order multiple entrées or multiple desserts by then (which is why I gained 5 pounds).
Tuesday, our stop was in the British Virgin Islands. We were up on one of top decks as we came into Tortola and it was love at first sight. This island has lush greenery, pristine water, and sloping hillsides nestling protected beaches. A sprinkling of hillside buildings indicated it was not crowded. We walked around the port area and shopping district. The roadways were narrow while chickens, roosters, and cows roamed freely. Every building was a different color and the pace felt very laid back. We decided to take a taxi over to the other side of the island and spend the afternoon at the "best Tortola beach," Cane Garden Bay. It was beautiful and the crowds were just thinning out as we arrived. We paid $10 for two chairs and stayed until the sun was starting to set. We enjoyed the swimming, watching the pelicans dive for their lunch, the oceanside bar, and the relaxation. The cruise ship made some lousy mixed drinks but here, we found a top-notch bartender. She made an amazing margarita as well as a pina coloda. Our taxi driver was young with a Rastafarian style. He played Jamaican music with a political theme while he drove. He was friendly and shared a bit of island life with us. We almost hit a calf but our driver swerved just in time.
Tuesday Tortola British Virgin Islands
http://www.britishvirginislands.com/
We made it back in time for our 8:30 dinner and found a fabulous spread of Indonesian style food. There was a show that night performed by all the Indonesia stewards but we stayed late, chatting with our table mates from New Jersey and accidentally made Bass miss the show. We felt bad and we missed the show as well but they showed it on one of the ship’s television channels so we did get to see it.
Our third port of call was St. Thomas, in the U.S. Virgin Islands and we had our second planned excursion there. A few mishaps made it less than perfect, however. We took an open air bus to Coral World and they didn't seem to be ready for us. Eventually, we had a chance to do our undersea boat trip. We only went down about 10 feet and looked at a less than healthy coral reef. We also got a chance to look at the displays there. But our snorkeling opportunity was cut short and that was disappointing. In the end, we ended up with a credit for the cost of most of the excursion so all in all, we couldn't complain. Another bonus on this trip was meeting John and Ken, who were from Reno, Nevada. They have been together for 40 + years and had some interesting stories. They did the same excursion, to Coral World and were traveling with some relatives.
http://www.usvi.net/
So we ended up with quite a social calendar. We were invited to have champagne with Ken and John at 5 pm, there was a Friends of Dorothy in the Crow’s Nest at 6 pm, and then a social hour hosted by Jim, Warren, and Warren’s HS friend, Pickle. It had turned out that Warren and Pickle went to school together in St. Louis at Affton. This was Pickle’s sixtieth birthday bash. They served up quite a spread. We all then headed out to our respective dinner tables.
We had duck as our main entrée this evening and it was very good. We had more soup and appetizers, brie cheese and lobster bisque.
After three days in three ports, Thursday was another sea day. We had a very big breakfast up on the Lido deck that included Scottish eggs with hollandaise sauce. We did some exploring and found an excellent view from the bow on the fourth deck. We had lunch in the dining room with Randall, Brad and Ben, Jim and Warren. Carol had a fantastic spinach salad that contained avocado, strawberries, and blue cheese. The cold soup was cantaloupe. I had the blackened steak wrap with French fries which was just average. From there, we went to the premium wine tasting where we learned even more about wines and did pairings with salmon, grapes, chocolate, raspberry, strawberry, blackberry, shrimp, and blue cheese. We shared a table with a mother and her two daughers. One lived in Chicago and the other Austin, Texas. From there, we found time for a quick nap at the Lido pool.
We had made plans to do photographs with the Friends of Dorothy group this night since it was the second formal night. So before dinner, we gathered and shared some drinks, listening to Portofino, then on to some picture taking. We were at sea so it was challenging to get really good photographs. It seems that we were rocking just a bit. Tonight’s featured entrée was surf and turf.
On Friday, we were to stop at the cruise ship private island, Half Moon Cay but the waves were pretty high and they couldn’t get the tenders matched with the ship to transport everyone in so the day in port was cancelled. We later realized that the hurricane, Noel was just brewing up. Oh well, another day at sea is not a bad thing either. They had a special barbecue lunch, probably the same thing planned for the island. We enjoyed ribs, pork steaks, mahi-mahi and this fantastic raisin slaw. There was also the always excellent Caesar salad, corn on the cob, and potatoes. It was laid out on the Lido deck and we spent all afternoon up there.
Dinner that night was smart casual again. We had bacon cheddar soup, a proscuitto appetizer and escargot. Scallops were the feature of the evening and we had Bass bring extra for the whole table. It was done in a mango coconut sauce and was amazing. Both of us had the crème brullee dessert as it was done with Grand Marnier. We actually went to the show that night but it was amateur talent night and it was “really bad” as someone attempted to sing “Delta Dawn”. We saw a little of the magician and pianist earlier and honestly, the shows were just not that good. Pickle joined us to go see the much loved string quartet. From there we went into the piano bar were the other player (not Randall), Dan was playing and did a happy birthday for Pickle. Apparently, this was his hangout place.
Next, we went up to the tenth deck and a group of our friends gathered. We had met a couple from Atlanta, another from somewhere in Texas, both guys. We also met Rob, who is an administrative judge in NYC. He was on the cruise for his parents’ sixtieth wedding anniversary. The night was cloudy so star gazing was limited but it always amazed me how quiet and peaceful were some of the spots on the ship, like this night.
As we left the ship, early Saturday morning, we knew that we had found a great way to travel, meet nice people but also have lots of time to ourselves. We could unpack one time and see three or more ports of call. We could eat but also exercise, lay out at the pool or play basketball. All in all, we found something special.
We arrived in Florida around 11 PM and it was very hot and humid. We called for a Ramada van to pick us up. The Ramada desk clerk was very friendly for someone working at midnight and suggested a pizza place that would deliver. We had the most amazing garlic flavored artichoke dip and plan to order again, next time we are in Ft. Lauderdale. It was Big C’s Downtown Pizzeria. We ate our late night snack out in the hotel courtyard which was full of lush tropical plants and we knew at that moment that our vacation had truly begun.
Ft. Lauderdale-Ramada Cruise Port
http://ramadainnairport.com/
The next morning, we hit the hotel breakfast buffet. As we repacked our carry-on luggage, we discussed one quirky thing that happened on our flight. Both pieces of checked luggage had left St. Louis with rainbow name tags attached. We did that to identify our luggage more easily. We thought that was a little odd and wondered if there was any meaning there? Before we knew it, we were on a bus headed for the cruise ship. The check-in at the cruise line was much like airport security merging with a hotel experience. As we passed that stage and headed up the escalator, we were suddenly boarding the ship. Within minutes, we were lunching at the Lido buffet on the ninth deck.
We enjoyed our first day of sushi rolls and ordered a nice Shiraz to kick off our journey.
Soon after, they announced that all cabins were ready and we made our way to the fourth deck where we found home for the next week. We had an obstructed ocean view room, with the obstruction being a lifeboat. It was no problem, we loved it.We soon discovered one more challenge, one piece of our luggage had the zipper damaged and it could not be opened. This gave us the chance to see what excellent service is provided on a cruise ship. Our cabin steward Anton took the luggage to get it opened while we were at the lifeboat drill. As we stood out there by our boat, an amazing downpour occurred; it was the only rain we were to experience the whole week. But we got completely drenched. As we made our way back to the room, dripping, we were pleased to find the luggage had been returned and was now opened. We found the TV had channels describing all of our ports of call, the potential shore excursions, a tour of the ship, information about the ship, and a view off the bow as well as view from the aft.
We left port around 5 PM and it was an awesome experience. Because we regularly go to Ft. Lauderdale, it was great to see the shoreline as we sailed out of the port. We were able to pick out the Pelican Hotel and other familiar sights. Before long it, it was time for our first dinner. We met our table mates and I will share more about them later. We had mussels that were very tender and done in a light cream sauce, cold peach ginger soup, a spinach salad with eggs, blue cheese, red onion and tomato. For dessert, we started off light and had fresh fruit. By the end of the week, I (more than Carol) had slid into dessert decadence. We ordered the Holland America special labeled wine, from the Wendt Winery, which was an excellent value. After leaving the dining room, we started our tradition of enjoying at least one special after dinner drink. That night, it was Armagnac and port.
That first evening, we began traditions that carried us through the entire cruise. First, we felt so lucky to have our other four dinner companions. The couple that we bonded with the most was from New Jersey. He is a part time private investigator and musician. She worked with developmentally disabled folks. They have two kids, one who is currently at Rutgers. But they also loved dogs and he really enjoyed finding out that Carol is a K-9 police officer. The other couple was from Tampa and also dog lovers, they have Jack Russell terriers. Every day, we would all go our separate ways and then come back together and share dinner each night. We had the late seating which was perfect.
The other thing we did nearly every night before dinner was to enjoy a jazz/America standards band called Portofino. They played in one of the lounges and we watched some amazing older couples swing dance, tango and just generally show off. They have inspired us to take dance lessons. After dinner, we made a habit of stopping into the explorer’s lounge and enjoying the string quartet that played every night. They were from Romania and played some of the most haunting classical melodies.
We sailed on Holland America's Zuiderdam
http://www.hollandamerica.com/
A site where we got lots of good tips
http://www.cruisecritic.com/
Sunday was our first full day on the ship and it was spent at sea. We were still trying to be careful and not overeat so we ate a light breakfast and then headed for the gym. There we rode the exercise bikes, looking out over the ocean as we sailed toward our first port of call. We had a very active morning, playing ping-pong and basketball. We followed it up with breakfast part two and enjoyed the banana waffles, crepes, fresh fruit, juice, and cream of wheat.
At noon, we had our first Friends of Dorothy meet and greet. I had read on cruise critic, prior to our departure that most cruise ship schedules included these gatherings on their published schedules and we were pleased to see that was the case. We had no expectations but thought it might be interesting to meet a few other gay folks to help us feel a little less alone. We had no idea what fun would come from this.
Our host was Randall Powell, the ship’s piano player and a wonderfully gregarious welcoming guy. He is from Texas and at one time, played the piano for Jerry Falwell. We were also joined by two other couples, Warren and Jim from Ft. Lauderdale as well as Ben and Brad from Louisville. I loved Ben’s southern accent, it made me feel like I was in a scene from “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.” We were having a nice chat and sharing where we all work. After telling everyone that I worked at Enterprise in IT, Warren asked me if I knew Ralph. Well Ralph is the name of a computer system at Enterprise and as it turns out; Warren was sort of the original programmer (now there are hundreds) and named the system. He came back in the late nineties and wrote a good chunk of the legacy application where I work. I have seen his name in dozens of RPG programs that he wrote or worked one. I recognized his name immediately.
For lunch, we had an excellent chilled pear soup and tilapia. Randall bought everyone a round of drinks on uncle HAL (Holland America Line). We were in the dining room where you could actually enjoy all of your meals, or of course the Lido buffet was always an option as well.
On the way out of the dining room, our wine steward pointed out the Navigator wine tasting and so we decided to join. The ships sommelier taught us lots of great wine tips and we tasted a nice variety. You could buy a package at a discount so we did, knowing that it would be nice to have a known wine for some of the dinners. We were seated at a table with a couple from Columbus, Ohio. They were a lot of fun and we ended up staying to chat for another hour after the tasting. They had a leftover bottle from their dinner the night before which they shared with us. They lived in the historic district of Columbus and so we swapped stories about our respective cities’ downtown comebacks.
Before long it was time to dress for dinner. Sunday was the first formal night and we were set with our Winter Event outfits (my annual work Christmas party). We had lamb chops with mint jelly as the entrée and it was nothing special. This was the night that I discovered the Caesar salad was really good and a staple on the menu. The dressing had a real anchovy kick. We enjoyed the Kiara Cabernet that we had just tasted as part of our package. Kicking off the cruise, the Captain offered a champagne toast at the end of the meal.
On Monday, we made our first port of call, Grand Turk of the Turks and Caicos Islands. We had already scheduled our main shore excursion for this port. Once we were off the ship, we walked around the shopping area that had been very recently built for the cruise ships. Everything was colorful and appropriately providing the expected island ambience. We met our group and headed out in a mini-bus for our destination, a small ranch where we would ride horses. It had been years since I had ridden without wearing long pants but this time, it just didn't make sense. So off we went, I had Chelsea and Carol rode Frenzy along the beach. The ocean was a beautiful aqua/blue color. Most of the wranglers were from Jamaica and seemed to be comfortable with the horses. At this time the horses had saddles that were an interesting mix of English/western styles and they moved as typical trail horses do. As we rode over sand dunes and along the beach, one of the young horses freely roamed in our midst. After a bit, we all went back into the corral area and the saddles were pulled off. In their place, were foam pads with a little handle if you really needed to hang on. We got back on different horses this time, I rode Jiggy and Carol had Oscar. We split into two group and rode right into the ocean. We rode in as sort of a mob, to keep the horses going I guess, so pretty soon, we were galloping. We would run them about a hundred yards and then turn and gallop back. We rode for about ten minutes like this and it was amazing. We were in water up to our chests and the horses only had their heads above water. We had on some sort of life vest but there was no chance to fall off because we stayed in such a close knit group. The ride to and from the horses was just a bonus as it gave us a chance to see a lot of the island sites. Grand Turk is in the early stages of development so a lot of the island is still very pristine and private. It is flat and more of a desert island with some vegetation but not a lush jungle by any means. They told us they have a very unique weather pattern and not a lot of rain. They have also luckily avoided hurricanes for many years.
http://www.turksandcaicos.tc/grandturk/index.htm
We had a little time before returning to the ship so we stopped off at Jimmy Buffet’s Margaritaville. We met up with Randall there and watched the bikini contest (not so much Randall) and found another lesbian couple who ended up joining our Friends of Dorothy group after that.
After a few brief hours on Grand Turk, we went back to the ship and were underway by 2 PM. So it was a late afternoon at the pool with a mojito in hand. We had a Friends of Dorothy gathering at 6 pm up in the Crow’s Nest (on the top deck with incredible views). This time, there were 15 people there and we were already really starting to have fun together. We talked some more with the women. They were from a small town in Indiana where they were doing lots of courageous things (like being out) and Kathy was active in her employer LGBT resource group so we swapped stories and I shared some of the triumphs and hurdles at my workplace.
Dinner was “smart casual” and by now, we were really getting to know our dining steward, Bass. He is apparently famous in the cruise world, known as the “Yum, Yum Man”, which is what he says every time he serves something special. We found that all the dining stewards are from Indonesia and the wine stewards are from the Philippines.
We also met another steward, Noor, who showed us a magic trick. The cold soup theme continued with a wonderful apple soup. Carol had the watermelon with fresh mint syrup. We both had grouper with yellow squash and corn relish. This time we picked from our wine package, a Merlot from Chile. For dessert, Carol had the low fat frozen yogurt and I had a baked berry cobbler with raspberries, ligonberries, and more. I also had the chocolate cake with fudge sauce which was amazing. I had discovered you could order multiple entrées or multiple desserts by then (which is why I gained 5 pounds).
Tuesday, our stop was in the British Virgin Islands. We were up on one of top decks as we came into Tortola and it was love at first sight. This island has lush greenery, pristine water, and sloping hillsides nestling protected beaches. A sprinkling of hillside buildings indicated it was not crowded. We walked around the port area and shopping district. The roadways were narrow while chickens, roosters, and cows roamed freely. Every building was a different color and the pace felt very laid back. We decided to take a taxi over to the other side of the island and spend the afternoon at the "best Tortola beach," Cane Garden Bay. It was beautiful and the crowds were just thinning out as we arrived. We paid $10 for two chairs and stayed until the sun was starting to set. We enjoyed the swimming, watching the pelicans dive for their lunch, the oceanside bar, and the relaxation. The cruise ship made some lousy mixed drinks but here, we found a top-notch bartender. She made an amazing margarita as well as a pina coloda. Our taxi driver was young with a Rastafarian style. He played Jamaican music with a political theme while he drove. He was friendly and shared a bit of island life with us. We almost hit a calf but our driver swerved just in time.
Tuesday Tortola British Virgin Islands
http://www.britishvirginislands.com/
We made it back in time for our 8:30 dinner and found a fabulous spread of Indonesian style food. There was a show that night performed by all the Indonesia stewards but we stayed late, chatting with our table mates from New Jersey and accidentally made Bass miss the show. We felt bad and we missed the show as well but they showed it on one of the ship’s television channels so we did get to see it.
Our third port of call was St. Thomas, in the U.S. Virgin Islands and we had our second planned excursion there. A few mishaps made it less than perfect, however. We took an open air bus to Coral World and they didn't seem to be ready for us. Eventually, we had a chance to do our undersea boat trip. We only went down about 10 feet and looked at a less than healthy coral reef. We also got a chance to look at the displays there. But our snorkeling opportunity was cut short and that was disappointing. In the end, we ended up with a credit for the cost of most of the excursion so all in all, we couldn't complain. Another bonus on this trip was meeting John and Ken, who were from Reno, Nevada. They have been together for 40 + years and had some interesting stories. They did the same excursion, to Coral World and were traveling with some relatives.
http://www.usvi.net/
So we ended up with quite a social calendar. We were invited to have champagne with Ken and John at 5 pm, there was a Friends of Dorothy in the Crow’s Nest at 6 pm, and then a social hour hosted by Jim, Warren, and Warren’s HS friend, Pickle. It had turned out that Warren and Pickle went to school together in St. Louis at Affton. This was Pickle’s sixtieth birthday bash. They served up quite a spread. We all then headed out to our respective dinner tables.
We had duck as our main entrée this evening and it was very good. We had more soup and appetizers, brie cheese and lobster bisque.
After three days in three ports, Thursday was another sea day. We had a very big breakfast up on the Lido deck that included Scottish eggs with hollandaise sauce. We did some exploring and found an excellent view from the bow on the fourth deck. We had lunch in the dining room with Randall, Brad and Ben, Jim and Warren. Carol had a fantastic spinach salad that contained avocado, strawberries, and blue cheese. The cold soup was cantaloupe. I had the blackened steak wrap with French fries which was just average. From there, we went to the premium wine tasting where we learned even more about wines and did pairings with salmon, grapes, chocolate, raspberry, strawberry, blackberry, shrimp, and blue cheese. We shared a table with a mother and her two daughers. One lived in Chicago and the other Austin, Texas. From there, we found time for a quick nap at the Lido pool.
We had made plans to do photographs with the Friends of Dorothy group this night since it was the second formal night. So before dinner, we gathered and shared some drinks, listening to Portofino, then on to some picture taking. We were at sea so it was challenging to get really good photographs. It seems that we were rocking just a bit. Tonight’s featured entrée was surf and turf.
On Friday, we were to stop at the cruise ship private island, Half Moon Cay but the waves were pretty high and they couldn’t get the tenders matched with the ship to transport everyone in so the day in port was cancelled. We later realized that the hurricane, Noel was just brewing up. Oh well, another day at sea is not a bad thing either. They had a special barbecue lunch, probably the same thing planned for the island. We enjoyed ribs, pork steaks, mahi-mahi and this fantastic raisin slaw. There was also the always excellent Caesar salad, corn on the cob, and potatoes. It was laid out on the Lido deck and we spent all afternoon up there.
Dinner that night was smart casual again. We had bacon cheddar soup, a proscuitto appetizer and escargot. Scallops were the feature of the evening and we had Bass bring extra for the whole table. It was done in a mango coconut sauce and was amazing. Both of us had the crème brullee dessert as it was done with Grand Marnier. We actually went to the show that night but it was amateur talent night and it was “really bad” as someone attempted to sing “Delta Dawn”. We saw a little of the magician and pianist earlier and honestly, the shows were just not that good. Pickle joined us to go see the much loved string quartet. From there we went into the piano bar were the other player (not Randall), Dan was playing and did a happy birthday for Pickle. Apparently, this was his hangout place.
Next, we went up to the tenth deck and a group of our friends gathered. We had met a couple from Atlanta, another from somewhere in Texas, both guys. We also met Rob, who is an administrative judge in NYC. He was on the cruise for his parents’ sixtieth wedding anniversary. The night was cloudy so star gazing was limited but it always amazed me how quiet and peaceful were some of the spots on the ship, like this night.
As we left the ship, early Saturday morning, we knew that we had found a great way to travel, meet nice people but also have lots of time to ourselves. We could unpack one time and see three or more ports of call. We could eat but also exercise, lay out at the pool or play basketball. All in all, we found something special.
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