Haiti for the Cruiser

 7:30am and off to breakfast!

From the dining room and ALL the other windows, Haiti was now visible. Beautiful rising and falling shoreline, steep hills and valleys meeting the rocky shore.

And by 8am we were docked.  Everyone began to disembark around 9am. 

We (B and I) had plans for an historic educational tour involving Labadee traditions, dancing, art and a wee bit of voodoo. 

I was sporting a Scopalamine patch now, just in case that short Haitian boat ride was to mess with me. The afternoon was spent perusing craft markets, lazing the afternoon away on a beach lounger and taking a satisfying nap. Well... kinda satisfying... until I woke to the sound of "ma'am, ma'am! It's time to go back to the ship".  A handsome security guard in a starched uniform was hovering over my lounger. B and I were bleary-eyed and just a touch confused. I was somewhere between dreamland and reality.

Just like that, Day 3 beginning to wind down. We were still pretty cruise-naive and I didn't get a dinner reservation before 8pm but figured we'd get a snack first and catch the ice-skating show at 7pm - until discovering that theater was also full to overflowing.

Plan B - Another quiet bite to eat then go to dinner per the reservation but just for the dessert! LOL

Back at Schooner Bar we sang along to Lionel Richie, Ed Sheeran, Queen and more. 

Days "at sea"

 The itinerary was as follows: 

1. All aboard

2. At sea - headed south toward Haiti

3. Labadee, Haiti

4. At sea - headed north toward the Bahamas

5. Cococay, the Bahamas

I slept long and hard, dreaming that I took my dog on a boat with me! Our room was pitch black and with no natural light, one's brain assumes it's still dark o'clock and it's easy to sleep in.  I was SHOCKED to sleep past 10:30am this morning but quick to flee the room quietly in pursuit of breakfast while B slept in.  

On deck 3 I entered the Main Dining room... filled with pretty tables of white table clothes and nicely set. I guess most people don't dine alone because after telling the maitre d I was a party of one, he handed me off to a waiter who lead me through the dining room calling "Single lady. Single lady coming through" before seating me at a tiny table near a porthole window. OMG! I can't be the only person to ever dine alone here?!

82 degrees Fahrenheit. Wind 29 mph. Sea swell 6'.  The ship had a gentle rock to it. I felt like I had had a glass of wine as I wandered, in an uncoordinated fashion, down the halls in search of photos to document life on the Mariner of the Seas. 

Today we were at sea all day. By noon, reunited with B, we had planned our day for tomorrow in Haiti, I had been given a pen by the liquor store guy who was super sweet and journaling had commenced. 

I was slowly compiling a list of things you should pack for a cruise:

1. A pen - they are surprisingly difficult to buy and you need one to sign up for things.

2. Cash. Both for tipping musicians on the boat and performing groups on and off the boat and for buying off-boat souvenirs. 

3. Whiteboard to stick on the door of the state room for receiving and leaving messages from fellow cruisers.

4. A waterproof lanyard for the ever-present Sea Pass.

We rounded out Tuesday afternoon wallowing in a hot tub, meeting interesting people, relaxing. 

Dinner was "dress to impress" and we did. Dresses, heels, makeup. We headed to the main dining room and one 3-course meal later, were released  back into general population to find interesting and entertaining ways to pass the evening. My choice was Schooner Bar where we found Natan Franco and his enviable piano skills. The evening was spent sipping wine, singing along to Neil Diamond, Elton John, Billy Joel and the like. 

Once back in the room, I slightly succumbed to seasickness, however.  My experiment with anti-nausea meds was now in full swing. Admittedly I left it a bit late before downing a pill and it therefore didn't stay down. I'm not saying the boat was even really rocking - more like how a little movement while reading a book in the back seat of a moving car can go really wrong and it can be hard to recover from. 

Plan B was my ReliefBand. I quickly fitted it to my wrist, squeezed in some contact gel and dialed it up. A with a decent buzz the nausea abated in about 30 seconds  - No kidding!

Caribbean Cruising - All aboard!

I'm a cruise-virgin. Type A all the way through. Which means prior to packing and way prior to embarking on this new experience, I had watched an appropriate (IMHO) number of YouTube videos and familiarized myself with ship attire and what to expect from certain destinations and excursions.

My flight from Denver to Orlando left on time at darn close to midnight. By 5:30am I was sticky with Florida humidity, enjoying 80+ degrees and watching lush palm trees sway in the breeze as I waited for the hotel shuttle. Facebook had already begun their "Dallice is in Orlando" marketing campaign:

By 6:30am I was beginning my 90 minute nap on my friend B's bed at the Marriott - feeling very grateful she got to Florida 2 days ago with the girls and had room for me to recover briefly before we departed for Port Canaveral. 

Need a bit more of an intro? Sure!

B is a long time dear friend. She is organized, smart and practical. Her daughter is the reason for this adventure. Almost 20 now, M chose this ship as her birthday bucket list item. M invited her friend, C. B invited me. The 4 of us were bound for the Mariner of the Sea - a Royal Caribbean cruise ship featuring a surf pool (the Flowrider), regular pool offerings, casino, theater, nightclub, shopping promenade, dining options of all descriptions and tons of other things to keep 3800 passengers fed, watered, entertained and happy. The trip was for 5 nights and made stops at Haiti and the Bahamas.

Getting going... 

So here's some background. Cruise ships regulate alcohol onboard. It's not included in the price but you are able to bring a couple of bottles of wine and some soda with you. We stopped at the liquor store near the hotel - a place that I'm sure made most of it's money selling to departing cruise passengers! Two bottles of wine later, we were ready to Uber to the cruise terminal.

Getting aboard was easy. Passports and vax certificates were checked by the lovely Paul and we made the "muster station" safety briefing as our first stop. Then lunch. It was noon, Monday.

The girls did their thing, B and I got acquainted with the ship and by late afternoon we had State Room access plus luggage has arrived. 

Things were going swimmingly and I think we got a bit over-confident about our ability to understand how cruise-life worked. 

Dinner. It appeared via the app that there were 3  main dining rooms with seatings at 5:30 and 8pm, then something called My Time too. 

B and I rocked up to Main Dining Room on Level 5 at 5:30 and were subsequently told we were assigned to Level 3 - "See it on your Sea Pass?"  (A Sea Pass is the ID card, room charge card, state room door key.)  At Level 3 we were then told we didn't have a reservation and to come back at 6:45 for My Time dining.

Unable to figure out where all this info was or how to reserve dinner, we asked... And must have looked lost, pathetic or both because they just found us a table instead!

Dinner was lovely. Staff were attentive and kind, tables were nicely set and the ambiance was good too. I'd say nicer than most restaurants but not anything close to Frasca or Jill's - (Boulder CO references, sorry.)

Now lets talk drinks "packages". Our naivety starts to accumulate here! Included in the trip is coffee, juice and water at meals. For sodas you buy a soda package. $13.99/day/person gets you a refillable cup and can dispense all the Coke and Minute Maid products you like all day long.  

For the non-drinker who wants to feel a bit more like a drinker, there is the mocktail package at $36/per person/day. And if you really want to celebrate all day long there is the alcohol package. Only $105 per day PLUS a mandatory 18% gratuity.  That's like $620 for the cruise.  (It's a $350 cruise!)

At the bar outside, B opted to buy the alcohol package for herself and 2 soda packages for the girls. But here is where it got iffy. Really iffy! The barman informed her that if 1 person in the room buys the alc package, the other automatically is charged for the non-alcoholic package and if one gets the soda package, so does the other.  Technically since one girl was under each of our room reservations (under 21 years old) that meant all of us would need to purchase, or none of us. Seems wrong, right?! A manager was called and that manager confirmed the "policy". We left the bar, disgruntled.

The girls had already completely consumed their smuggled-in liquor (that's a story best told in-person rather than blogged) and they were looking for/itching for more alcohol before hitting the night club with new friends at 11:30pm.

With just about 3 hours sleep total last night, it came as no surprise to anyone that I took an early night while B headed to the comedy club with them. Preloading was underway. LOL

 

Kids are complicated. Do you say No and understand they'll find other ways to get it, or do you insert yourself and attempt to monitor the situation? Don't know. Luckily it's none of my business!