Royal Caribbean is All Knowing and All Seeing!

 I have no idea what time B came to the room last night. I fell asleep around midnight and the first inkling that I wasn't alone was 3:30am when one of the girls was talking to B at normal volume about her toenail at the foot of my bed. 

I think that was the start of RC unraveling what has been going on, which was (in diplomatic terms) a situational grey area. 

We were called into the Head of Security's office around noon. Turns out the girls had coerced alcoholic drinks out of new friends last night. Upon returning to their room, discovered one had a bleeding and damaged toe and went in search of nail cutter - finding herself lost and disorientated in crew quarters and in violation of a handful of ship rules. Security escorted her "home" to her state room where upon they found her friend dazed, confused and intoxicated in the hallway outside it too. 

"The Mothers" were called to the equivalent of the Principle's Office for a chat - it was immediately assumed I was the mother of one of them. Don't worry, I quickly cleared that up!

This is the part where we figure out darn fast how monitored we are. I was asked if I knew where the girls got alcohol last night. I said no and that my card was not authorized with "all you can drink" privileges because honestly, all I can drink is 1 glass of wine per day.  The Chief of Security (wearing a bodycam) said "I can see that" as he glanced at my file on his computer!

So yeah, every purchase is in your file. All the jewelry, drinks, excursions... on record. And connected via our Sea Pass/room card, which is attached to a credit card and brings up your picture when it's swiped. Safe to assume there are video cameras operating on every inch of the ship too.

At this time, everyone knew B's card was loaded with "all you can drink" privileges and it was her daughter who was in trouble.  They released me and called in the daughter.

I guess warnings were given and after a brief hold, privileges were also restored to B's card. But ok, it did get a bit weirder; Today B's daughter returned her Sea Pass to her and confirmed she had borrowed it at 3:30am after once again locking herself out last night. B had no recollection of that visit AND had no idea she she now had TWO Sea Passes with her name on it. We had one deactivated and handed in at Customer Service then carried on with the day. Did anyone feel the need to alert security and risk being invited in for another sit down behind closed doors? (I think it goes without saying the only person who could get another - replacement - card with B's name on it was B. They would never have issued a card with drinking privileges on it, to the 19 year olds and I certainly didnt go asking for it! Plus now we have a record of memory issues last night too.)

Onward!

Highlights of my day? The ice-skating show = funny, colorful, upbeat, fast-moving. Really talented performers in the most creative costumes I've ever seen.

Then before dinner we hit the comedy show. Fabulous. Hilarious. 30 minutes well spent. 

Today I wore white jeans and a purple silk blouse. Dinner was less formal. I had an early night - with a belly full of mushroom risotto and crème brulee. 

Side Note: I put on a Scopalamine patch Tuesday in preparation for my Haiti Labadee Bay boat ride. It did the trick. After 36 hours of wearing it, I could honestly say I felt fine - no motion sickness. However, it appears to have a side effect and my near vision was very blurry.  I couldn't focus at all within 2' of my face. I couldn't even read the journal I had just written, not to mention menu's, emails, brochures - Nada! I took the patch off at 7pm Thursday and concluded Saturday that 36 hours of patch wearing = 36 hours to recover vision.  

One thing I had wanted to get out of this trip was answers to my questions and experiments related to motion sickness remedies. As we stand today: 

1. Stemetil Pills - Need to be able to take before feeling nauseous or they will come right back up.

2. Scopalamine Patches - works great and such but comes with major vision issues that are incompatible with photography so I'd need to factor in the half life or time to recover if using this. 

3. ReliefBand - Yay! No issues except that it needs charging and that "gap" would also need covering. Plus in rougher conditions I'm pretty sure I'd need to partner it with meds to be sure. 

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!