Slept late, too late, lunch. Tried to sit on deck, Way too cold. Picked up luggage tags, used ship internet to check flights. (Ship had an 'end of cruise special: 20 minutes, for $10, I think it was.) It took 38 minutes, their connection was so slow.
Got ready for dinner. Felt tired. Checked blood sugar: 70. OK, I get some juice first thing. Packed after dinner, making sure bags were under 50 pounds.
Shipped picked up it's pilot about 9:45 PM. I was surprised it was so early. If we are not scheduled to dock until 8:00 AM, I hope they took two pilots on board, or is the one guy going to work 11 hours straight through the night? Off in distance I could see 20 to 24 oil platforms, on the port side alone. I did not go to check the starboard side. About 15 minutes later we passed a buoy with a white strobe on it. I was also making regular sounds, like a ship's horn. Then we passed regular marker buoys, green flashing, off the port side. Ahead in the distance, a whole series of green and red marker buoys. How long will it take us to sail up river to the port? Ship has slowed, and is noticeably turning. Off in the distance now, so many lights, I can't, yet, tell if they are more oil platforms, or land. We've passed, been passed by, three other, smaller ships now. Of course, all of our port side, one a large pleasure boat (think multi-million, multi deck, with a working crew), the other two working type boats, maybe headed to oil platforms. They were not large enough to handle the open seas. All three were only about 100 to 150 feet off our side. As I was packing it was the sound of their motors that got my attention. 11:18 PM Passing an island with a small refinery or pumping station. Sprint phone service working.
Friday, Oct 31 we dock at New Orleans, and then home.
Monday, February 9, 2009
Wednesday, Oct 29 (Cozumel, México)
Well, another port that did not work out as planned. Overnight I found a new excursion ticket under my door. My 9:15 depart time had been changed to 11:15. This was for my Segway – Snorkel tour, booked with the ship. We go into port on time. I slept in a little, had breakfast and hit the shore. Once there I found my tour operator explaining to another person that due to high winds and rough seas the tour has been canceled. (And we are now too late to book something else of our choosing, as they have for the most part, already left.) He was kind enough to offer another tour his company was offering, a jeep tour through the forest and beach area, for only $30 more (US dollars) on top of the $69 we already paid. No thanks, I'll get a refund from the ship. So, I walked around, found a Starbucks, with free Wi-Fi, back to ship and got lap top, and here I sit typing now.
Last night was rough. The ship did a lot of bouncing up and down, but not much rolling left to right. Several times I did wonder what it would take to break the ship in half. But we managed to make in to Cozumel in one piece.
Last night was rough. The ship did a lot of bouncing up and down, but not much rolling left to right. Several times I did wonder what it would take to break the ship in half. But we managed to make in to Cozumel in one piece.
Tuesday, Oct 28 (Roatan, Honduras)
We docked a little early in Honduras. I looked out window and saw what looked like steady rain. Everything was wet, and people were walking around with umbrellas. I decided not to do the snorkel tour today. (I had not paid them, nor given any credit card number, I think.) So, I went back to bed. After a while the ship decided it was time for me to get up: "This is an announcement from the bridge. The ship will now be conducting a training exercise for the crew. This is only for the crew. Passengers should kindly disregard announcements and the ships alarm horns." Repeated in Danish. (I have noticed a very large Danish tour group.) Them alarm bells, "Code Bravo" alarms, "Engine Room starboard Code Bravo," Close all watertight doors, Close all fire screen door, man life boats, abandon ship, All clear. All preceded by the announcement to passengers to disregard, in English and Danish, then bells and horns. . . . So I decided it was time to get up, 10:00. Went out on the balcony. It was kind of cool, and windy , but the rain had stopped but everything was wet and I saw just as many passengers getting back on the ship as I saw getting off.
After lunch, I went ashore, for a while. While not as bad as Samana, Dominican Republic, this place did not have much to offer, onshore. Not much more that t-shirt shops and souvenir shops. After walking up and down the shopping street, the winds started to pick up. Some of the corrugated aluminum roofs of some of the buildings began to flap in the wind. Time to head back to the ship. I sat by the pool for a while, but it was too windy and cool.
In early evening I got my stitches removed. All went well. While waiting, I overheard the nurses talking amongst themselves and on the phone. I seems that there is a passenger who is "quite ill" and needs to be disembarked. The hospital wanted a deposit of $3,000 US before they would admit him, and the couple did not have that much cash, nor that high of a credit limit on their one credit card. They did have trip travel insurance that will cover the expenses, but not up front. The ill person has to spend the money and then get it back from the trip travel insurance.
After dinner and a ventriloquist show, I took a walk on deck 7. Windy. Each time the bow of the ship would splash back down into the water, the splash wave would stretch out for a good while. Even though I was up on deck seven, sometimes the water would hit me in the face. Ship's crew was removing all cushions from the deck chairs, and tying the chairs to the inside railing. During dinner, the waiters were using two hands to hold their serving trays, as well as walking side to side trying not to hit various tables. The ship had placed the 'motion sickness' bags all over the place, just in case.
After lunch, I went ashore, for a while. While not as bad as Samana, Dominican Republic, this place did not have much to offer, onshore. Not much more that t-shirt shops and souvenir shops. After walking up and down the shopping street, the winds started to pick up. Some of the corrugated aluminum roofs of some of the buildings began to flap in the wind. Time to head back to the ship. I sat by the pool for a while, but it was too windy and cool.
In early evening I got my stitches removed. All went well. While waiting, I overheard the nurses talking amongst themselves and on the phone. I seems that there is a passenger who is "quite ill" and needs to be disembarked. The hospital wanted a deposit of $3,000 US before they would admit him, and the couple did not have that much cash, nor that high of a credit limit on their one credit card. They did have trip travel insurance that will cover the expenses, but not up front. The ill person has to spend the money and then get it back from the trip travel insurance.
After dinner and a ventriloquist show, I took a walk on deck 7. Windy. Each time the bow of the ship would splash back down into the water, the splash wave would stretch out for a good while. Even though I was up on deck seven, sometimes the water would hit me in the face. Ship's crew was removing all cushions from the deck chairs, and tying the chairs to the inside railing. During dinner, the waiters were using two hands to hold their serving trays, as well as walking side to side trying not to hit various tables. The ship had placed the 'motion sickness' bags all over the place, just in case.
Monday, Oct 27(Belize City, Belize)
Well, had quite a different tour today, to Mayan Ruins. It started with the seven of us getting a tender to shore and getting to the tour operator's booth. No problem so far. Off we went in a mini-van, on the "North Highway." Highway here means a paved road, kind of. It was described by our tour guide as one of the four main highways in the country. It was paved, OK, it also had more pot holes than I could count. I think the mini-van had a suspension system, once upon a time. We had to slow down three or four times, as the road was flooded, nothing but river on both sides of the road. In a few places we saw people walking in the water. The guide said the rains had flooded the tilapia farms, and all the fish got out. The people were looking for fish. We made it to the boat dock for the river ride to the ruins, but it seemed the boat dock area was flooded also. The van just pulled off to the side of the road, and we got into a boat that was used to move us out to where the 'real' boat was docked. We got out of the first boat and walked across a line of cinder blocks across the water, to the dock and the 'real' boat. Then off we went down the river towards the ruins.
How the guide finds his way around we could not tell. There were numerous turns and branches off the river. After lunch, we started off into the forest. The path was either very rocky, with rocks covered with moss, or leaves, or both, or the path was very slick mud. We saw the most unusual mushrooms, at least I think they were mushrooms. They were a bright orange color, and their ‘mushroom’ shape was upside down.
People slid often, but no one fell on the path. One guy did fall later when trying to climb up the moss covered steps at one of the temple ruins. While walking on the path, you had to be careful what you reached out for. Some of the trees were completely covered in thorns, about 1 ½ inch long. The palm trees had nice strong branches, but the leaves had serrated edges (like a bread knife). Everyone's shoes slowly became covered in mud. We saw three different temples. The tallest was about 100 feet tall.
There was a small 'ball court' where the Mayans played a ball game, trying to get a rubber ball into a stone container. This I don't think I fully understand: The captain of the WINNING team was sacrificed. There were numerous flying bugs around. Most of out group had bug repellant with 25% DEET. They were reapplying it several times. My repellant has 98% DEET. It seemed to work quite well. I had to apply some additional spray on one area I seemed to miss the first time.
Then we reversed out travels: 'real' boat, shuttle boat, mini-van, ship tender back to cruise ship. The hole thing was about seven hours. We did not have any rain on us while on the tour, but we could see numerous rain showers in different places around us. As I type (Monday, 9:15 PM Mountain time) heavy rain shower on the ship.
How the guide finds his way around we could not tell. There were numerous turns and branches off the river. After lunch, we started off into the forest. The path was either very rocky, with rocks covered with moss, or leaves, or both, or the path was very slick mud. We saw the most unusual mushrooms, at least I think they were mushrooms. They were a bright orange color, and their ‘mushroom’ shape was upside down.
People slid often, but no one fell on the path. One guy did fall later when trying to climb up the moss covered steps at one of the temple ruins. While walking on the path, you had to be careful what you reached out for. Some of the trees were completely covered in thorns, about 1 ½ inch long. The palm trees had nice strong branches, but the leaves had serrated edges (like a bread knife). Everyone's shoes slowly became covered in mud. We saw three different temples. The tallest was about 100 feet tall.
There was a small 'ball court' where the Mayans played a ball game, trying to get a rubber ball into a stone container. This I don't think I fully understand: The captain of the WINNING team was sacrificed. There were numerous flying bugs around. Most of out group had bug repellant with 25% DEET. They were reapplying it several times. My repellant has 98% DEET. It seemed to work quite well. I had to apply some additional spray on one area I seemed to miss the first time.
Then we reversed out travels: 'real' boat, shuttle boat, mini-van, ship tender back to cruise ship. The hole thing was about seven hours. We did not have any rain on us while on the tour, but we could see numerous rain showers in different places around us. As I type (Monday, 9:15 PM Mountain time) heavy rain shower on the ship.
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Saturday & Sunday, Oct 25 & 26 (at sea)
Saturday
Slept fine, no headache, ship 'reception' called to see how I was. I had them deliver some band-aids, as the strips the doctor placed over the stitches were coming loose. I do think I'm fine. Breakfast & then lunch. Everyone I saw from Cruise Critic seemed to know what had happened, and asked how I was. At least I have two days at sea to rest and recover. Then Belize, and a land excursion to Mayan ruins with a large group of CC people. Overnight ship changed from Eastern Time to Central Time, and tonight we change to Mountain Time. Not sure why Belize is on Mountain Time, but grateful for the two hours extra of sleep.
Sunday
Call from 'Ship's Security Officer' following up on the accident report I filled out in the Medical Center.
A had very nice, lazy day at sea. Brunch, and lunch. Read more of my book, and stopped by the medical center to ask a few questions. The nurse made me see the doctor. He looked at cut – stitches and said things were going well. I asked and he said I did not need to keep it covered. I asked about keeping it dry. He said shower OK, just dry it off after. I asked about Tuesday, when I have a snorkeling trip planned. He said snorkeling OK, no SCUBA. Just try to get a mask that does not fit too tight. (Has he ever gone snorkeling? The idea is to get a mask that does fit tight, to keep water out.)
Sailing today, I looked like either we were very lucky, just missing the scattered showers, or they were altering course slightly to avoid them. In any case we stayed dry all day time. About 5:30 PM I started to see people coming inside who were (rain drop) wet. Not sure what the weather will be for tomorrow, in Belize. I have a land excursion planned to some Mayan ruins. I'm going to bring my rain poncho just in case. Maybe the rain pants too as part of the trip is on an open air boat up some river.
Had dinner with most of the Cruise Critic group. I've found out that one guy is a weather forecaster for the national Weather Service, in Louisiana. He got on the internet during dinner, and got updated maps, and stuff. His forecast: Belize (Monday) – scattered showers, 50% - 75% change. Roatan, Honduras (Tuesday) showers all day, some heavy. Tuesday night heavy seas, 10-14 feet, winds out of the Northeast. Cozumel (Wednesday) widely scattered showers.
Friday, Oct 24 (Aruba)
What a day!
It was good, left on time. We stopped at three different places to snorkel. On the snorkeling in St. Thomas, my mask seemed to not fit just right and water was leaking in. Today I was in the water trying to adjust it, when the 'thing' holding my snorkel to the mask broke and my snorkel sunk to the bottom. I saw it once, but that was all. Back to the tour boat and I got one of theirs (mask & snorkel). It fit better, but still not perfect. We stopped at three different places to snorkel. The second was the site of a German freighter sunk by its crew at the start of WW II. They spent the whole war a 'prisoners' here on Aruba. (Not a bad plan on their part, if you ask me.) After we finished snorkeling, lunch was served, and then we got a chance to swing off a rope from the tour boat's forward mast and jump into the water. Most everyone did it. There was one kid, about seven, who they just could not keep of it. He did pretty well, when he could hold himself on the rope. A few times he was swinging too hard and fell off, but he enjoyed it. . . . (Oh, do not say "Rich, you should have known better.") I did it several times, well about six I think. I would say one time I think I hurt my pectoral muscle, but I don't think I have any. (Oh, might that be the problem?)
From there things got worse.
We arrived in port on time. Had breakfast, real breakfast, and went ashore. I had booked a 'sail, swim, snorkel, swing' excursion in advance, not with the ship. Another lady and her daughter posted on Cruise Critic that they were going to go, but I did not see them offshore. I took a taxi to the beach, and went on the tour.
It was good, left on time. We stopped at three different places to snorkel. On the snorkeling in St. Thomas, my mask seemed to not fit just right and water was leaking in. Today I was in the water trying to adjust it, when the 'thing' holding my snorkel to the mask broke and my snorkel sunk to the bottom. I saw it once, but that was all. Back to the tour boat and I got one of theirs (mask & snorkel). It fit better, but still not perfect. We stopped at three different places to snorkel. The second was the site of a German freighter sunk by its crew at the start of WW II. They spent the whole war a 'prisoners' here on Aruba. (Not a bad plan on their part, if you ask me.) After we finished snorkeling, lunch was served, and then we got a chance to swing off a rope from the tour boat's forward mast and jump into the water. Most everyone did it. There was one kid, about seven, who they just could not keep of it. He did pretty well, when he could hold himself on the rope. A few times he was swinging too hard and fell off, but he enjoyed it. . . . (Oh, do not say "Rich, you should have known better.") I did it several times, well about six I think. I would say one time I think I hurt my pectoral muscle, but I don't think I have any. (Oh, might that be the problem?)
It was good, left on time. We stopped at three different places to snorkel. On the snorkeling in St. Thomas, my mask seemed to not fit just right and water was leaking in. Today I was in the water trying to adjust it, when the 'thing' holding my snorkel to the mask broke and my snorkel sunk to the bottom. I saw it once, but that was all. Back to the tour boat and I got one of theirs (mask & snorkel). It fit better, but still not perfect. We stopped at three different places to snorkel. The second was the site of a German freighter sunk by its crew at the start of WW II. They spent the whole war a 'prisoners' here on Aruba. (Not a bad plan on their part, if you ask me.) After we finished snorkeling, lunch was served, and then we got a chance to swing off a rope from the tour boat's forward mast and jump into the water. Most everyone did it. There was one kid, about seven, who they just could not keep of it. He did pretty well, when he could hold himself on the rope. A few times he was swinging too hard and fell off, but he enjoyed it. . . . (Oh, do not say "Rich, you should have known better.") I did it several times, well about six I think. I would say one time I think I hurt my pectoral muscle, but I don't think I have any. (Oh, might that be the problem?)
From there things got worse.
Took a taxi back to the ship, and typed up the above, and got it ready to send. I still had about 90 minutes until I had to be back on the ship, so I walked back out and into town (just across from the pier). Walked around looking for somewhere with Internet, but could not find any. Back on ship about 4:10, and dropped computer off in room and went to the pool to cool off and rest before dinner. There was a scheduled Murder Mystery Dinner tonight, for Cruise Critic. Swam in pool for a while, and then went into the hot tub, thinking it would help my sore muscle. After a while it was time to go, so I got out, almost. I was half way out, at the top of the hot tub, when I fainted. Just blacked out and fell over. Hit my head on something. I was only out for just one second, but that was enough for me to fall. As I was trying to get up, someone in the hot tub asked me if I was OK, saying it looked like I had fainted. I was able to sit down on the top of the tub and I turned around, going to say I was OK, I just needed to rest. The guy said Oh, you fainted, and cut your head. I stayed sitting there. He went and called for some medical help. After a while, he got me a towel to stop the bleeding. After what seemed like a long while, someone from the ship showed up with a wheelchair. I was able to make my way to it. A waiter went to the other side of the pool and got my stuff. They wheeled me inside and down to the medical center. It took a while there. They checked my blood pressure (it was back up to 108/68). A nurse looked at the cut and said she wanted the doctor to look at it. The doctor did, asked questions about how I was feeling. I was OK, I was able to walk around in the medical center fine, from waiting room, to exam room, to treatment room. Doctor cleaned cut, well, and said I needed stitches. Off to treatment room where I got three stitches. He said come back in five days to have them removed. They checked my blood sugar (95). The cut is about one inch above my left eyebrow. As I type now, after dinner, it is kind of swollen. I made it back to room, and kind of washed hair, and got dressed for dinner. I got to the dinning room a little late. I found the group, one table still had an opening. They had ordered food, but had not yet started the mystery. One guy there was going to take two roles. He gave me one of the roles. Turns out, I was the killer. It went well. After dinner I just went back to room, and put some ice on the cut. After a movie on TV, bed.
Thursday, Oct 23 (at sea)
Bruch at noon, tried to make a meatball sandwich with a hoagie roll, Italian meatballs, and provolone cheese. It did not turn out very good, so I had the stir fry beef for the first time. I was quite good. Could not find a lounge chair in the shade (maybe because I did not look too hard) so I sat on my balcony that was in the shade and read.
Dinner was a very nice port roast. After dinner, I just felt the need for a chocolate chip cookie. I tried the 24 hour restaurant, but all their cookies had nuts, so I made a trip to the buffet restaurant. Same up there, but, hmm what is this? They were making crepes. So, in place of the cookie, I had a strawberry crepe. After dinner I ran into some folks from Cruise Critic. They asked me where I was for dinner. What, seems I had forgotten that we had a group dinner planned for tonight. I have to start writing this stuff down.
Here are a few facts about the ship, and this itinerary for Dad to ponder over:
The ship was launched Sept 1998, is 908 feet long, and 108 feet wide, and 27 feet deep. It displaces 39500 metric tons, and has a max speed of 24 knots.
This is the ship's itinerary, and miles between each stop, and the average speed between each stop:
| From | To | Statute Miles | Travel Time (hours) | MPH |
| New York | Samana, Dominican Republic | 1,549 | 69 (hours) | 22 |
| Samana, Dominican Republic | St. Thomas | 304 | 15 (hours) | 20 |
| St. Thomas | Aruba | 536 | 15 (hours) | 15 |
| Aruba | Belize | 1,293 | 36 (hours) | 21 |
| Belize | Roatan, Honduras | 150 | 63 (hours) | 11 |
| Roatan, Honduras | Cozumel, Mexico | 311 | 14 (hours) | 11 |
| Cozumel, Mexico | New Orleans | 740 | 38 (hours) | 19 |
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)