Tag: Royal Caribbean

Cruising, Gardens, International, Shopping, Shore Excursions, TRAVEL

RC, That’s More Like It

Jane Sadek

MEMORY MAKING: THE BETTER SHORE EXCURSIONS

Having Fun in Spite of the Challenges

After the Shore Excursion FAIL in Tulum, we didn’t have much in the way of expectations when it came to Roatan, but it turned into a pretty wonderful day. The same with Costa Maya. We’d had the awful Jaguar Paw Debacle, but our bike ride and kayaking in Costa Maya, though not wonderful, was fine. Come along and enjoy these days with us.

Happy in Honduras

From the moment our ship pulled into port at Roatan, it looked as if we might be having a better day than we did in Tulum. The area around the port was very inviting and fresh, as if they’d had their gala grand opening the day before. Not at all the gloomy ferry docks of Cozumel.

We hurried through the inviting port area and found our shore excursion bus. A very short, scenic, tropical drive took us to Carambola Gardens and we were greeted by festively dressed employees who heartily welcomed us. They led us to a covered pavilion where in the shade of towering trees we participated in a very informative demonstration. Cacao beans were turned into chocolate the old fashioned way and we even got to try it out ourselves and make some dessert.

As the chocolate hardened, we were taken on a tour of the gardens. It was surprising to me, because there were no flowers. That’s what I think of when someone tells me we’re going to take a garden tour. Instead we were introduced to a wide variety of tropical trees and plants. A very sweet guide told us the fruit produced by each plant or tree and how the fruit and other various parts were used. I wished for some flowers, but was pleased by what was presented.

We returned to the collection of buildings and pavilions for a delicious lunch, topped off by the chocolate we had made ourselves. On the way out there was a shopping opportunity and I found this really cute bag I couldn’t live without!

Back in the port area, we had even more shopping opportunities and if we’d wanted to, we could have spent the afternoon hanging out at their pool. It was really a very nice place. Were I to go back today, I’d plan to spend my day there perhaps and not even take a shore excursion – it was that good.

Puerto Costa Maya, Mexico

When it comes to shore excursions, I try to mix it up. We’d done a historical/archeological tour to Tulum, chocolate making in Roatan and cave floating in Belize. A nice coastal bike ride and kayaking sounded like a great way to round out our activities – especially since for some reason Royal Caribbean thought anyone over 65 was too old for four wheeling. I hold that against them, too. I’m sure I’m more fit and able to drive an ATV that some of the 20 and 30 something passengers who were cruising with us. Not to worry though, I will not ever cruise Royal Caribbean again – even if it were free!

Though it was not as awful as the Jaguar Paw Experience, our Bike & Clear Kayak Adventure didn’t turn out exactly as I had imagined. We found our shore excursion group in the meeting area and followed our guide to our bikes. They’d seen better days, but they worked, so we jumped on and rode away in a line behind the guide.

I’d imagined biking through gorgeous tropical and/or beach scenes. For the first half of the ride we rode through what looked like one abandoned construction site after another. It was disheartening and disappointing. Eventually, we did come to a sort of beach boardwalk, but there were no boards, only bricks. It was early enough in the morning that vendors were setting up their wares and few people were enjoying the beach. Our guide led us to a fenced-in cafe where we were told to park our bikes and go to the patio.

We were given bottles of water and told to get ready for kayaking. We put on our water shoes eagerly, claimed our craft and headed out into the water. These were clear bottomed kayaks, but there was nothing to see except water, sand and some grasses growing in the water. It was great to be out on the water, but I’d hoped to see something exciting as I paddled along. Entirely too soon, they were rounding us up for the ride back to the port.

While I’d hoped for more, they’d delivered everything they promised. So, while it will not go down as my favorite shore excursion ever, it was a grand event compared to some of the other excursions I’d suffered through on this cruise.

The next day was a day at sea and talk about suffering, we were SO tired of the disappointing routine on Vision of the Seas. The food is perhaps the thing that discouraged us the most. On most cruises, the food is an important part of the entertainment, but there was nothing entertaining about this cruises’ food.

We loved our dinner mates and our server really did try to show us a good time, but the food was subpar. In fact, no matter which dining venue we went to for a meal, Bill ended up at the snack bar getting another piece of pizza or a sandwich. I would have joined him were it not for my gluten free issues. At least there WAS a snack bar, but that’s a sad way to nourish yourself for a week!

On Day 8 we disembarked, flew back to Dallas and were never so happy to be home. I’d been toying with the idea of using a vacation club deal to go to Florida, but this experience was so bad I decided if I want to go on vacation, by golly, I was just going to pay for it! Of course, that didn’t keep us from accepting a $1200 voucher for getting bumped from a flight. And we did decide to go to Florida, but not to the vacation club. Come back next week and travel with us to Pensacola and Navarre Beach.

Architecture, ART, Cruising, DESTINATIONS, International, Shore Excursions, TRAVEL

Shore Excursion Hell

Jane Sadek

MAKING MEMORIES: MAKING THE BEST OF BAD SITUATIONS

On this cruise we took four shore excursions and two of them featured the worst tour guides we ever had, one was pleasant and the fourth was merely disappointing. But look at those happy faces we have. We truly made the best of it wherever we were.

I Don’t CARE About Modern Day Mayans, What is this Building?

Our first shore excursion was to Tulum, a place I’d longed to see for a long, long time. The day started on a ferry ride so rough, I got seasick for one of the few times in my life. I didn’t need the barf bag, but almost.

We meet up with a chubby, jovial fellow who took us on a quick trot through Playa del Carmen. I usually enjoy walking, but the day was miserably hot and I was still a little woozy from the churning sea.

We climbed onto a bus for the hour long drive to Tulum. The tour guide almost immediately jumped into a lecture about Modern Day Mayans, of which he was one, and that remained his subject for the rest of the day. I was having deja vu all over again. I thought I was on St. Martin with Josay.

At Tulum, he guided us through a marketplace, warning us only to shop at his recommended shops and then drug us at top speed through the Archeological Park. If you hesitated to take a photo, good luck catching up to him. His commentary still focused on Modern Day Mayas and if you dared to ask him a question about the ruins, then he’d just be quiet while you asked and then go on talking about Modern Day Mayans. Then he abandoned us to find our way back to the bus at the given hour.

Tulum is beautiful. Bill and I strolled around taking photos, but without a guide, we were a little lost, especially since there were no signs bearing any explanation in any language. We had no idea what we were looking at and we gave up guessing. We strolled back to the bar our guide had recommended for cheap margaritas.

Eventually the guide showed up and allowed us back on the bus. He was blissfully silent for the return trip. In Playa del Carmen he dumped us in shopping district and disappeared again. We fought off aggressive vendors and found the beach, but mostly we just hung around until we could catch the ferry back to the boat. That’s how sad the tour was. We preferred being on the boat. This guide got to hold the title of worst guide ever for two whole days and then we had a worse one.

Un-Belize-Able

I’ll skip right to the worst guide EVER!! I’d heard from many people that Belize is heaven on earth. For us it was hell. The whole day was so bad, I didn’t take a single photo. You tell me! Doesn’t Jaguar Paw Cave Tubing & Jungle Trek with Lunch sound amazing? NOT!! It was like Eternal Ride on a Bad Bus with the Worst Guide EVER!

The tour began in a jewelry store and we were there forever. At least it was air conditioned. I think they kept us there until someone finally broke down and bought something. As we climbed on the bus, we realized it wasn’t exactly state of the art. If we’d realized how far away Jaguar Paw Cave was, I might have balked.

Trying to warm up his patrons, within the first mile the guide made a joke. He pointed out some site and said, “Can you Belize it? Un-Belize-Able! You better Belize it!” That was just the first time he made the quip, which was repeated over and over and over and over and over and over and…well I think you get the picture.

The road to the interior was a yawn. Nothing to see on the dusty backroads than what I see on the dusty backroads of Texas. I was so done with buses by the time we arrived at Jaguar Paw. Once we pulled into their entrance we were given our orders: pay for a locker, put your stuff there, wait to be called, go into the jungle.

I get they need to make money, but $12 for a tiny locker which you only need during the very brief cave tour. Now that was Un-Belize-Able, but we were a captive audience with no other options.

When our number was called we were excited to be going on a jungle trek. NOT! The “trek” was about as long as half a city block with a well worn trail. Entering the cave and climbing aboard the innertube was the most excitement we experienced that day. The water was chilly but not miserable.

As I climbed aboard I looked around and wondered where this float was going to go. I could see the end of the cave just ahead. We floated pleasantly for a few minutes and then were instructed to get out and walk about on the shore. Not sure why. Nothing to see.

Back in the tube and back to the entrance. There was a deeper section near the entrance and we were invited to swim, but it was such a short distance you could have almost hopped from your tube to the exit area, so everyone just enjoyed the last few moments of the float.

Then we were sent back on the “jungle trek” and our free meal. I’ll say this. It was better than what they were feeding us on the cruise, but not by much. We killed time until everyone had their float and feed, then climbed back on the awful bus. Thankfully the guide didn’t have much to say, which was good, one more UN-Belize-Able and I would have been contemplating murder.

As we neared the port, the guide did hit us with a few more repetitions of his signature line, but I was numb by then, so his life was never actually in danger. We filed off the bus and through the shopping opportunity, anxious for some reason to get back on the boat.

One thing that made this cruise tolerable was marvelous dinner companions. We were lucky enough to be a part of the cool kids table and they made our evenings very pleasant. From there we’d always head to the auditorium for whatever was being offered for entertainment that evening – always a disappointment. Used to be cruise ship entertainers were among the best of the best, but something has happened since used to be. They’re tired, the costumes are cheap and the scenery is minimal. Yawn.

This was the worst of it. Our other two shore excursions weren’t bad. In fact one of them was downright pleasant. Come back next week for a better time!

ART, Cruising, DESTINATIONS, International, Performing Arts, Restaurants & Bars, TRAVEL

Formal Night on Vision of the Seas

Jane Sadek

TRAVEL THERE: PUTTING ON THE RITZ

I love dressing for dinner.  It’s not required on most cruises anymore.  They discourage you from wearing flip flops and tank tops, but pretty much anything else goes.  Even on formal night dressing up is optional, but I dress up every evening and on formal night I pull out the stops.   

Free Champagne!

The Captain’s Greeting

I can only imagine how much the captain hates formal night.  He has to get all dressed up, spend an hour or so shaking hands and taking pictures with skads of people he has no interest in and then he has to get up and make a big welcoming speech.  It was probably fun the first hundred or so time, but he does this week after week after week!  He probably realizes that most of the people are just there to get the free champagne.

Then after he makes his speech he has to introduce his management staff and let them make their own speeches.  How would you like to take the top management out of your organization to entertain a crowd that just wants free champagne?  Yeah, who’s running the boat – right?  It was almost impossible to hear what they said, but as long as the trays of champagne wandered around the room, they had an audience.

Happy Birthday, Anniversary and Everything Else

Since this cruise was to celebrate Bill’s birthday, our travel agent asked which evening we’d like commemorate the occasion.  I chose Formal Night.  Bill’s birthday wasn’t the only celebration at the table.  The Youth Pastor and his wife also got feted for their anniversary.

Our table mates were a blast, so we were grateful for the delightful company.  The food continued in it’s mediocrity.  This was the night of the lousy lobster bisque and I followed it up with a steak.  Nothing to write home about.  One more meal down.

Another Show, Another Disappointment

For formal night the entertainment was Boogie Woogie Wonderland, which was supposed to highlight the music of the seventies.  They were a little loose about hitting their target.  The seventies were my boogie woogie wonderland, but I have no idea what inspired some of the costumes they wore.

The songs they chose to highlight were among some of my favorites, but the voices just weren’t up to the challenge of the music.  Overall, it was an entertaining show, but it just came up short in the quality department.

Awkward!

To top off our night, after the show we headed to the Some Enchanted Evening Lounge for The Perfect Couple Game Show.  We were expecting a “Newlyweds Game” knock-off, but instead got the Embarrassment Olympics.

When we arrived Adult Karaoke was still going on.  There was a group of drunken bridesmaids dominating the room whether they were on stage or not.  I was glad when the spectacle was over.

Instead of a Q&A of martial habits, The Perfect Couple was a series of party games designed to embarrass people who were unwitting enough to volunteer to be contestants.  Why pay entertainers when you can get passengers to entertain everyone with karaoke and awkward feats of skill.  We made it through a few rounds, but when they started with tennis balls in men’s jeans, we decided it was time for bed.

Come back next week for sure, because we arrive in the Yucatan and enjoy a marvelous shore excursion.o

ART, Cruising, DESTINATIONS, International, Restaurants & Bars, Shopping, TRAVEL

Our First Day at Sea

Jane Sadek

Photo Won at the Art Auction

TRAVEL THERE: ENJOYING THE BOAT

There she is!  Royal Caribbean’s Vision of the Seas.  On our day at sea, we explored many of her charms and suffered a few of her deficiencies.  Come along and see how it went.

Up & At ‘Em

First up, the gym!  I’m an early riser, so I take advantage of it to get in an hour on a stationary bike.  The gym on Vision of the Seas is nice, but quite small.  On this morning, pretty much every spot on the equipment was filled.

I got my hour in and headed back to the room via the the buffet.  I filled up my soda cup, got Bill some ice water and picked up a few pastries in case Mr. Bill was ravenous.

More Like Eggs Benedict Arnold

Breaking Our Fast

We enjoy the luxury of sit down service and convivial company, so we returned to the Aquarius Dining Room for our morning repast.  There is no assigned seating, so you get the luck of the draw in table mates. The luck of the draw in food was pretty marginal, especially their sorry excuse for Eggs Benedict.

We ended up at a table with a bunch of round dancers, who were nice, but only interested in their dancing, so we were relieved when a mother and her daughter arrived.  After a little chatting we discovered they’d been caught in all the flooding from Harvey and it was interesting to hear about their experiences.  They became our new cruise buddies and we enjoyed seeing them several other times during the week.

We went back to the room so Bill could wrangle with his computer and the market.  I took a shower and got ready for the day, in part by perusing the Cruise Compass and picking out the good stuff, like the Art Auction

My Free Gift

Champagne Art Auction

One of my favorite things at sea are the Park West art auctions. How can you lose if you’re spending your morning looking at art and hearing tidbits about artists and the art world, while you sip free champagne?  I’m probably not ever going to be bidding, but it’s relaxing, fun and interesting.  Bill doesn’t exactly feel the same way.  He’ll attend, probably more for the champagne than the art, but he sits there, giving me a running commentary on the dangers of buying art at sea, just in case I get the urge to lift my bidding card.

Were I to actually bid on something, it would be because I thought it was a pretty picture and I’d enjoy looking at it.  Occasionally I’ll say something complimentary about a painting and Bill reacts as if I’m considering purchasing a fake Mona Lisa and he demands to know which wall we’d hang it on.  It sort of takes the fun out of the dreaming, but I just shake my head in amusement and have another sip of champagne.

Beyond the champagne, there’s always a free gift of art.  This time a 7×7 seriolithograph by Yuval Wolfson.  If I had any space on our walls, I could frame it and hang it.  Instead it will end up in my scrapbook.  There was an extra bonus this time which will also find its way to my scrapbook.  To hold the audience’s attention, they also have drawings for Royal Caribbean chotkies, like t-shirts and water bottles.  To my amazement I won one of the drawings and I got two lovely 8×10 photos of the ship – one of which is shown above – and which will kick off my scrapbook of this adventure.

Winding Up the Day and Gearing Up for the Night

The auction lasted past the sit down lunch, so we were forced to go back to the Windjammer for a buffet lunch.  It was marginally better than the Embarkation Buffet, but that’s not saying much.

Usually we would have explored more of the boat, but on this trip, Bill had to keep an eye on the market, so we went back to our room.  I really can’t complain about the relaxation.  The room was comfortable, the sea was just outside our window and after catching up on my travel journal I did a little reading.

Come back next week and I’ll tell you about formal night.

Accommodations, Cruising, DESTINATIONS, International, TRAVEL

While I Was Sleeping

Jane Sadek

TRAVEL HERE: VOOM DID NOT ZOOM

My first day at sea was ending, but Bill was unfortunately just getting started.  Not the best way to spend a cruise.

The Trading Day

Many people think that folks who trade stocks are sitting at their computers all day long, buying and selling, and there are traders who do that, but that’s not Bill.  He only makes a few trades a day, if any, at very specific times, mostly at the opening of the market.  What he does the rest of the day is research, testing systems and writing code.  In fact it’s what he does when the markets are closed that is the most important.

At the end of the day, when he knows whether it’s been a good day or a bad day, then Bill has to get ready for the next morning.  His systems will tell him whether there are any potential trades coming up, but he has to decide to whether to execute them or not.  He also has to be sure there is plenty of money in the accounts to make his purchases and he has to be very careful about his orders.  A careless click on the computer or the wrong wording in the order could cost him thousands.

Trading on the Boat

So, as I changed into my pajamas, Bill was firing up the computer to get ready for his morning trades.  Even sitting at his desk at home, this can take hours, according to what’s happening in the market.  On this particular Monday, the market had been taking a nosedive since the Friday before and Bill had both of his hands tied behind his back.  All he had was a laptop and a bad internet connection.  Usually he has multiple computers streaming information onto two huge screens and a rocket-face internet connection which he pays a premium for.

While our cabin was plenty big for sleeping, relaxing, grooming and changing clothes, it did not offer Bill  a perfect work space.  There was a desk-like area for putting on make-up, but it was not ideal for his purposes.  He was hyper-aware that he was just a few feet away from his sleeping wife, so he was trying to keep his movements and noises to a minimum.  He also had very poor internet connection and was suffering from the speed of the computer and the small screen.

Electricity everywhere and not a plug to plug into!

Somewhere in the wee hours of the morning he decided he might have more luck with all of it out in the public areas.  He’d find a comfy chair somewhere near an electrical outlet, prop his laptop on his lap and finish up his work.  What he found was that comfy chairs were easy to come by, but electrical outlets were not.  He tried a little bit of everything, but as soon as he would find something that might work, one of the other twelve people wandering around the ship after the bars closed would come sit next to him and do something distracting – like argue with their girlfriend or clip their toenails or listen to music so loudly that even though they were using headphones, Bill could hear it.

Eventually, he was able to discern there were no trades that had to made in the morning, but that was only half the battle.  He needed desperately to do some more research, but it just wasn’t going to happen.  He crawled in bed for an hour or two, but no sleep was to be had.

Come back next week for our day at sea.

 

 

Cruising, DESTINATIONS, International, Restaurants & Bars, TRAVEL

Off to Dinner

Jane Sadek

Not Pear Chocolate Crisp

TRAVEL HERE: NICE TO MEET YOU!

Even though the Embarkation Buffet on Royal Caribbean’s Vision of the Seas was a disaster, it was still early in the cruise, so  I gave them a pass.  I blamed us for being so last minute and hoped better meals were ahead.  I was also interested in who we’d end up with for table mates.

Matches Made in Heaven

When it comes to our table assignments, so far we’ve been pretty lucky and thankfully, for this cruise, our luck held.  I’m not much on names, but Couple #1 was a youth pastor and his stay-at-home wife.  Couple #2 was a pair of coffee shop/truck entrepreneurs.  Couple #1 was on their first cruise to celebrate an anniversary.  Couple #2 seemed to be frequent cruisers.  He liked to gamble.

I happen to enjoy formal dining arrangements, a holdover from traditional cruising.  One of the big reasons is because I don’t like training a new waitperson for each meal, but I also like the opportunity to get to meet new people, even if though no one may become my new best friend.

We’ve been through a variety of seating arrangements, from formal, timed meals with assigned seating, to Norwegian’s Freestyle.  My least favorite was Freestyle.  We were traveling with friends, so we really didn’t miss the chance to meet people, but having a new waitperson every night was not so much fun.

Not Exactly Heavenly Food

I was looking forward to our first meal, because first nights at sea are traditionally lobster night.  Not on this cruise.  You could get lobster, but it was over there on the part of the menu where you had to pay a surcharge.  I like lobster, but not enough to pay extra for it.  Instead I had escargot for an appetizer, lamb shanks for my entree and a pear concoction for dessert.  It was a decent meal. 

The escargot was off the charts.  Not even the hint of a complaint in that department.  The entree was OK.  I would have preferred lobster, but nothing wrong with what I had.  Dessert was a disaster. If you ordered a Pear Chocolate Crisp, what would you think you were getting?  Well, probably not what I got – a row of mousse-y squirts with puree’ed pear in the middle of each squirt and a hardened chocolate decoration stuck in the center of the plate.

They really liked mousse-y, pudding-y desserts on this cruise.  Like the Chocolate Sensation they always had in the buffet.  It was kind of a chocolate fluff with a chocolate crumb crust.  If you saw my face while I typed that, you’d know how bad it was.  The Pear Chocolate Crisp was in the same category.  With their penchant for mousse and pudding you might think their Creme Brulee would have been good.  Well, it wasn’t.  It was better than the Pear Chocolate Crisp, but so runny that I would have been embarrassed to call it Creme Brulee.

Instead of beating you up day after day with how bad the meals were, I’ll do some summarizing here.  The Lobster Bisque was awful.  No cream was used in the making of that soup!  Campbell’s cream of tomato soup is thicker and at least as tasty, if not more flavorful.  Two guys at our table would order steaks cooked exactly alike, but only one of the steaks would come out with grill marks on it.  How did they even do that?  The carrot cake was so dry that you could have choked on it.  Each meal was an exercise in how not to cook!  What a disappointment!

As bad as what we were eating was, one of the ladies at our table required  a gluten-free menu and she was having a very hard time.  This was no fad thing.  Gluten made her sick and caused her hair to fall out.  She was not the kind to make a big deal out of it, the way I see some people do.  She was very gracious and appreciative of the efforts expended to accommodate her, but I noticed she would look hopefully at every dish delivered, give it a taste and then quietly push it away.

It was time for bed, at least for me.  Come back next week for the next chapter of our adventure.

ART, Cruising, DESTINATIONS, International, Performing Arts, TRAVEL

Dinner & a Show, But Not in That Order

Jane Sadek

The Masquerade Theater

TRAVEL HERE: WELCOME ABOARD SHOWTIME

Though he was still fighting the internet, my sweet husband put a good face on it and headed to the Masquerade Theater with me for the Welcome Aboard Showtime.  Live entertainment is something we really enjoy, but don’t often splurge on it.  It’s usually one of the highlights of our cruise.  Follow me to the 5th deck.

Getting There is Not Half the Fun

 Our least favorite space on any cruise boat is the casino.  The area is usually loud, and it also has lots of lights blinking, garish decorations and second hand smoke.  For some reason, the people who design ships think it’s cool to direct traffic through there.  We disagree with them, but apparently that doesn’t make any difference.

On Vision of the Seas going through the casino was just about the only way to get to the theater without going outside and when you’re all dolled up, outside is not preferable.  Those romantic shows you’ve seen, where a couple stands at the railing of a ship at the end of the evening, are lies.  Most evenings, unless you’re on a protected deck, the wind is enough to blow you and your carefully coiffed hair into the sea.

Bill probably didn’t even realize what kind of expression he had on his face as we walked through the casino, but I saw it.  It definitely said, “What have I gotten myself into?”  I was hoping the show would be good.

The Royal Caribbean Singers & Dancers

For fun lets call them the RCSD for really-can’t-sing-or-dance.  Well, there was one guy who was a pretty good dancer, but I’m not sure whether he was all that good or they were all that bad.  When he’d do a high kick, he’d almost smash his nose, but none of the others were anywhere in his league, so even that was distracting rather than entertaining.  The singers were consistently weak.  I know there are all kinds of really talented people out there dying for an opportunity of any sort.  Where were they all when it was time for Royal Caribbean auditions?

 The Comedy of Nery Saenz

The best part of that evening’s entertainment was that the RCSD were not the whole show.  The bulk of the time was devoted to a really funny comedian.  I’m not all that crazy about comedy routines, because usually they cuss too much, use foul language, depend on sexual innuendo and insult people.  This comedian managed to be funny without resorting to any of that.

The comedian’s primary shtick focused on how un-glamorous it is to be a comedian on a cruise ship.  He poked fun at himself and his husbanding skills.  You got the idea that while being away from home all the time was difficult, he really loved his wife and family.  He also had a show later that evening, so he’s probably well-versed in cussing, foul language, sexual innuendo and insults, but I didn’t go to that show and I’m glad I didn’t.  If only people 18 and older are allowed, I’m probably not going to enjoy it.

After the show it was time for dinner.  You won’t want to miss that, so come back next week.

 

Cruising, DESTINATIONS, International, Road Trips, TRAVEL

Welcome to the Galveston Cruise Terminal

Jane Sadek

Not Galveston!

TRAVEL HERE: CLIMBING ABOARD OUR CRUISE

After all the difficulties Bill had faced trying to get out of town, our actual departure was fairly smooth.  We left within 15 minutes of our targeted ETD.  We miscalculated where the HOV lane would dump us, but even going out of our way in downtown Dallas, the traffic was so bad on I-30 we made time with our mistake.  About 11, we exited at a rest stop to use the facilities and change drivers.  By 2, we were at the cruise terminal, but so were a whole lot of other people.

Not Exactly a Tourist Destination

I want you to know that Galveston is a wonderful place to visit, but you wouldn’t know that from a picture of their port.  It is an industrial port with a couple of cruise ships thrown in for good measure.  What can I say?  It’s ugly!

We dropped our bag off at the terminal and made our way to the parking lot. (Yes, that was a singular bag!  I got everything in one suitcase!)  We’d saved $5 by booking online (Thank you, Sherry!)  We needed to be on board by 3:30 and I hadn’t been worried when we got to the terminal, but the parking lot made me nervous.  I don’t even think a hurricane would have lit a fire under these people, but we did make the deadline.

Going Through Security

I understand the need for security measures, but I hate it.  You’re passing around important documentation and taking valuable items out of your carry-on, not to mention dressing and undressing.  When I’m flying, I try to dress around the metal detectors, but to tell you the truth, I didn’t even think about going through a metal detector to get on board the cruise.  Maybe that’s why I had on a metal belt and shoes with metal decorations on them.  I took off the offending accessories and tried again.  That time my sunglasses set it off.

I went through all the rigmarole of getting dressed again and headed for check-in.  Suddenly, I needed my glasses and I couldn’t find them.  This would cause a panic in any situation, but if you read my blog last week, then you know why the disappearance of my glasses made me absolutely frantic.  I ran through the terminal back to the place where I re-dressed.  I made the people at the metal detector and x-ray machine prove my sunglasses weren’t there.  I felt tears brimming in my eyes.

I ran back to the pile I’d left next to Bill and started rifling through my backpack again.  Bill wasn’t happy.  At the moment he was more interested in checking in, but if I had lost my new prescription sunglasses, he was going to be even more unhappy.  Sitting in the floor, dumping everything out of the backpack I did find the glasses, but by then I was already suffering heart palpitations.  It would take me awhile to get back to normal and before that could happen, I would misplace another pair of glasses.

But enough about my glasses, lets go have lunch.