Cruisin' 2014

The Polar Vortex has us in its grip. Fortunately, we've made it our practice to escape to the sunshine every February so that we don't succumb to the winter blues. This year, Rick booked us on a 7-day cruise aboard The Norwegian Dawn that took us from Tampa down to Central America and back again.

For us, the excursions made this trip particularly memorable. We wanted to try new things and be active throughout the week, unlike the more "seasoned" cruisers who made up 90% of the ship's guest population. Here's the Reader's Digest version of our week, with some pictures mixed in:

Sunday

After staying up until 1:30 a.m. packing and cleaning, we rose at 3:00 a.m. to drive through a snowstorm. We carefully made our way to Detroit, and from there flew to Atlanta, and finally Tampa. We were shocked by the warmth and sunshine we found in Florida. I couldn't stop grinning during our taxi ride to the port. Getting on board was a breeze, and we quickly found the food and the hot tub. Ahhhhhhh

Monday

We spent the day at sea. Our number one priority was to catch up on our lost sleep and UV rays. We slept, we ate, we soaked, we read. It was totally relaxing and totally necessary!

Tuesday

Roatán! We had to rise early for our very first scuba diving experience in the second largest barrier reef in the world. We spent and hour in class, then some time in the shallows mastering the gear. We only went down 40 feet, but it was incredible! Among other things, we saw a manta ray and several sea turtles.

 

 

Roatán is a tiny, poor island. It was our smallest port, so we didn't do much else after our scuba adventure other than wander around the tiny shopping center next to where we docked.

Wednesday

Belize was our next stop. Our ship had to park 5 miles off the shore because of the coral reef and shallow waters. We took a tender to shore and sat next to one of The Second City actors who performed the evening before (think: a young John Lovitz). He took this picture:

Once we reached shore we met the most wonderful guide named Edgar. He taught us about the local economy, the landscapes, the wildlife, etc. while we took a 45 minute bus ride. He took us to the western part of the little country and led us on a journey through some of the limestone caves of the area. We had to hike a little ways, carrying our tubes and wearing hard hats.

Once we reached the river, Edgar had our group make a human chain so he could pull us through the caves. He took us to a waterfall and pointed out bats along the ceiling. Lucky for us, the water wasn't too cold!

 

After the tubing, we enjoyed a delicious buffet of local dishes. I got to try star fruit for the first time - yum! We also took the opportunity to buy handmade jewelry for Emma made from seeds that grow there in Belize. Rick also made a friend in the restroom!

Edgar's last adventure for us was the zipline through the jungle. It was especially beautiful flying over the very river we just tubed. 

 

Now for the unexpected part of our day...while waiting in line for our tender, who should we meet but LDS speaker/author, John Bytheway! We discovered he was on our cruise, leading a group of 90 to various Book of Mormon lands. He was so nice and talked with us for quite awhile.

Thursday

Our day in Costa Maya started out a little grey, but things soon brightened and warmed up. We were bussed to a little day resort/play area that was cleaned up for tourists. Rick and I went on an ATV ride that took us along some less than tidy beaches. That made us sad to see so much trash in such a beautiful place. The water was still clear blue though! And, when we went out on the sea kayak, we could see clear down to the bottom.

 

 

 

Friday

What's more romantic than being on a cruise for Valentine's Day?! I'm such a lucky, spoiled rotten girl! Cozumel was our last port, and by far the biggest. There were so many things to do and see, but we chose to rent a speed boat. I had never "captained" a boat before and it was a total blast! We also snuck in some snorkeling in that amazing blue water!

 

 

 

We spent the afternoon shopping for souvenirs and searching for an internet signal. It was strange (and liberating) being so disconnected throughout the week. For our Valentine's dinner, we dressed in our fancy duds and got our pictures taken. It was like prom all over again!

Saturday

 

On our way back to the states, we reflected over our experience with Norwegian. We decided that we prefer Royal Caribbean when it comes to food, service, entertainment, and demographic. However, we had a fabulous time relaxing and being together, and we had no regrets about our excursions. It was a perfect get away that we'll remember forever!

Bahamas Cruise Day 2 - Nasseau

Tuesday we woke up and got ready fairly early (for a cruise). We arranged to go to Atlantis for the day. When we were in Nasseau last time, we went on a personal sub trip but heard everyone talking about how much fun they had at Atlantis. We even had some friends in Perrysburg tell us how much they enjoyed Atlantis when they went. So we decided we had to see it. I looked into various wats to buy tickets and arrange transportation, but ultimately decided to push the easy button and buy our passes through the cruise line. That night was the formal night and to really live it up, Audrey and I scheduled some spa services on the ship before dinner. We wanted to make sure that we were back on the boat on time.The weather couldn’t have been better. It was warm but not hot. The humidity was ideal. We caught the shuttle to Atlantis and arrived in no time.















After a brief orientation tour, we set out on our adventure. Atlantis is a large resort/casino operation with a LARGE water park. It is themed with, you guessed it, Atlantis ruins and lots of sea life.















There are waterslides and a “lazy” river that is 1 mile long and has incorporated slides and rapids. We had arrived 15 minutes before the park opened so we had time to get situated. We started on the river. It took about 45 minutes to make it around. One of the lifts that takes floaters up to a slide was broken so we had to walk up the incline. I was pretty winded by the top. It must have been the altitude. After the river, we explored The Dig. The Dig is a collection of huge aquariums and tunnels that are elaborately constructed in keeping with the overall resort theme. The fish ranged from the teeny tiny to the enormous. Somehow, we endedup wandering into the resort. The lobby was very impressive. They definitely went BIG with their vision. It was a bit chilly for some people though.















I liked the hammerhead shark tank.

After getting back outside, it was time for a quick lunch and then off to the slides. There were not many lines and those that were there moved quickly. There were slides in inner tubes, slides on your backs, and some slides where you didn’t really ever touch then slide. 2 of the slides end with clear sections that pass through a shark tank so that you are surrounded by sharks.

After getting our fill, we made it to the shopping district for some souvenir hunting. I am always impressed with the amount of obscene junk that shops try to hawk. Who buys that stuff?

After a brief shopping excursion, We eventually made our way back to the ship to start getting ready for the formal night. Audrey has been trying to get me to go to a spa so I thought that this would be a good opportunity. I signed up for a “time out for men”treatment and Audrey signed up for some cafeteria type package. Mine included a facial, shave, scalp, head and neck massage. It also included a collagen eye treatment. Apparently, I’m old and have bags under my eyes. We arrived and my Philippino fella took me into a room and went to work. It was nice. Audrey’s Serbian gal, Svetlana, however, was 20 minutes late. We had scheduled so that we would have plenty of time to not be rushed. So much for that. By the time she was done, we had 10 minutes to get dressed and all formalized. Back in the spacious (aka tiny) room, limbs were flying. It looked like a tornado went through. But somehow, we ended up in the right clothes and headed to dinner. We got there, yep, 20 minutes late. I was surprised but there were only 4 men that I could see in tuxes, including me. There were also few women that were what I’d consider formal. Oh well, at least WE looked good!

After dinner, we went to the nighttime show. It was the Singing/Dancing show. It was not my favorite music, but wasperformed well. Then, to our room to sleep.

For those who have not been on a cruise ship since the advent of text messaging, most cell phone companies have coverage on ships. However, it has been my experience that it doesn’t work as intended. Every text we received was received about 6 times over a 4 hour period. We wanted to keep the phones on in case of an emergency, but we received redundant text messages throughout the cruise. Verizon needs to work on that one. It makes for less than restful sleep.

Bahamas Cruise Days 0 and 1 - Ft Lauderdale and Embarking

As is becoming the annual tradition, the adult folks in the Saunders house fled the cold Ohio winter for warmer shores on a big boat. This year, I (Rick) found a last minute cruise for a too good to pass up price.

We were not thrilled with the destination as we were there last year, but the Bahamas would certainly be warmer than Toledo.

My schedule had been quite busy leading up to the trip and Audrey had also been stretched extra thin. The result was that we did not get to start packing until about 11:00 pm Saturday night with a 12:00 noon flight the next day. After a flurry of clothes, toiletries and suitcases, 4 bags were miraculously situated in the hallway.

Emma had already been dropped off with some friends that would be watching and playing family for the week. Jacob was to be picked up by another surrogate family before church on Sunday.

After actually getting up at our planned time (I know, right???) we still ended up running late getting out of the house. We made good time to the airport and scrapped our offsite parking plans in exchange for actually making our flight. We flew through Chicago en route to Ft Lauderdale. So far, our plans seemed to be going well. Then came the hotel transfer…

Apparently the shuttle service our particular hotel for the night offered only ran hourly. Of course that is not advertised. We watched shuttle after shuttle come and go but had to continue waiting in the frigid 70 degree Florida weather. We powered through it and eventually ended up at our hotel. Since this was the beginning of our cruise vacation, we had food on our minds. We called a recommended Chinese restaurant and had it delivered to our hotel room. It wasn’t half bad.

In the morning, we walked to Chipotle and had lunch. A different shuttle came to the hotel and took us to the Port of Miami here we boarded our ship. It was uneventful.

Royal Caribbean has the process down to a science and it was smooth. Once on board, we unpacked. We like to get inside cabins midship to limit motion and allow for a VERY dark room. Our cabin was quite small but adequate. Of the criticisms that I’d read of this particular cruise, cabin size seemed to be the most often cited.

While I continued to unpack, Audrey graciously offered to try out the bed. Apparently, it was adequate because she was out like a light.

This was the first time we have selected the earlier dining option. It ended up suiting us well. We were fashionably late for our first dinner. It took a little longer getting ready because Audrey received a special gift that she’ll have to tell about.

We were seated with 2 other female couples. They were both mother/daughter pairs. The sea was angry, my friend. It got to Audrey a bit. I had brought some phenergan and she took 1. It made her stomach feel better, but she was high as a kite. She made it through dinner fine but kept saying how weird she felt. Pretty cheap date……

Then, it was off to the show. It was kind of an intro” show with a variety of the performers doing a few minutes. After the show, Audrey was still feeling pretty tired and “off” so we headed off to bed. Day 1 was deemed a success.