CUL-DE-SAC

We found the cruise ship along a pier at the Port of Miami. It was going to be our home for a week, and people boarded with great fuss and a jumble of luggage. Swimsuits. Sun glasses and evening wear.

It’s my first cruise. I’m pretty much tagging behind my girlfriend Linda who has done many cruises. She knows the ropes.

Our room is narrow with two single beds on either side and a bathroom near the door. I knew we were on deck ten but that’s about all. My orientation to the rest of the ship is pretty bad. The entire week I never quite got it straight which ways were fore and aft.

I guess I imagined the open deck of the ship would be right at hand. Just a step outside my door. But on a cruise you’re contained inside most of the time without outdoor elements to give you direction.

So I spent a lot of time walking in circles. But hey, it was all there for us. Restaurants. A swimming pool and a jacuzzi. A gym. Three waterslides. Ping pong tables and a theater where you could see musicals, magic and comic shows.

There were shops where you could buy stuff duty free.

And, of course, there was food. There was a the white tablecloth restaurant for dinner where we always ordered three courses. The food was excellent, though Linda spent some time saying how the food wasn’t quite as a good as, you know, Royal Caribbean.

Like I said, she’s been on lots of cruises.

We had five thousand passengers and a crew of 160. Our ship was considered small, by the way. It was owned by an Italian company and you heard almost as much Italian on board as you hear English and Spanish.

We were signed up for two snorkeling excursions but both were canceled due to choppy waters. The Caribbean is a lot warmer than the Pacific along the California coast.

In the end I thought the cruise was a great value and it got me a lot of time with Linda. But the destinations were not that great. If I do another cruise I’d like to see Asia.

Surrounded by thousands of people as you are, a cruise ship is a great place to catch something. Thankfully I didn’t until the day I was headed home. It was a cold but it was a doozy. I’ll spare the details.

This entry was posted on January 23, 2025 at 5:42 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments.

Tags: cruise, cruises, cruising, holland-america, travel