Labadee 10/25

Musical Cue:  The Beatles, "Here Comes the Sun"

It's our day to visit Labadee, Royal Caribbean's private island, and I have visions of lounging on the beach.   It was ssunny and warm as we headed to the Windjammer for breakfast.

And then...

Musical Cue: Gene Kelly, "Singin' In the Rain"

The rain began before we arrived in Hati.  We had booked a shore excursion, a cosastal cruise around the island, and so we wnet ashore to find out what was happening with that excursion.

What the smart set wore to Labadee:

Our 9:00 excursion was cancelled, and we were told to come back at 11:00. We waked around the island in the rain for awhile.

The weather had improved by 11:00, so we were able to enjoy the costal cruise.  We saw fishermen, beach houses, the village of Labadee.

After the cruise, we walked around the island for awhile.  the artisans can be very aggressive in their sales tactics, but we can hande that.

A view of the ship:

Musical Cue:   Eurythmics, "Here Comes The Rain Again"

And then it started to rain again, so instead of lounging on the beach, we went back to the ship.  We had lunch in the Windjammer.  He took a nap and played trivia, while I headed back to the Fitness Center and another workout.

We stopped at the Schooner to play more trivial before dinner.  Dinner that night was summer fruit, linguini pomodoro, and chocolate ice cream.

Musical Cue:  Barry Manilow, "Could It Be Magic?" segues into "Razzle Dazzle" from the Broadway musical Chicago.

The entertainment this evening was Drew Thomas, a magician made famous by his appearances on America' Got Talent.  I enjoyed the show...but...there was a lot of singing and dancing and not nearly as much magic and illusion as I would have liked.

We grabbed some snacks on the Promenade on our way back to our cabin.  No stargazing that night because of the rain.

Sea Day 10/24

The first of our two sea days, so much to do and so little time to do everything.

Musical Cue:  "Go, You Chicken Fat, Go"

I was up early, headed to the Fitness Center.  I am by no means the athletic type, but I've recently discovered a love of physical activity.  Yes, I will admit it, I  am a "Planet Fitness" member. The ship's gym uses "Life Fitness" equipment, just like my gym -- except for the fact that everything was batttleship gray instead of garish purple, and the view from my treadmill made me think I was "king of the world", I could have been at home and in my Planet Fitness club.

Afterwards the Pirate King and I wanted to have breakfast in the main dining room, but the line was way too long.  The only time we couldn't do something because of crowds.  We wound up in Windjammer instead.

Musical Cue:  Vanilla Ice, "Ice, Ice Baby"

Unique to Royal Caribbean is the ice rink located on deck 3.  We decided to take in the ice show,  FYI, when they tell you to bundle up, believe them -- it's cold down there.  I'm a casual fan of competitive figure skating, and I really enjoyed the show.  I was especially interested in the Japanese skater, he was very graceful -- though he made two or three errors coming out of his jumps.

Musical Cue: R.E.M., "Nightswimming"

Or rather, afternoon in the Solarium.  The Pirate King headed straight for the hot tub.  I chose the pool.  And though several people were sitting on the side, with their feet in the water, I was the only one actually swimming.  So even though the pool is small, I was able to do laps.  (And play with my new Fitbit, the Flex 2, their only waterproof model.)  Pity that this was the only time I got to swim during the cruise.

Musical Cue:  Duke Ellington, "Cocktails for Two"

Why does Formal Night always make me feel so sophisticated?  Yes, we dress for dinner.  Made it our business to be on the Promenade to be presented to the Captain and to hear his welcome speech.

Great dinner -- we both had lobster bisque.  The Pirate King ordered a steak, I had roasted chicken, and we finished with cheesecake.

Great entertainment that evening.  We saw the Broadway show, featuring a live orchestra, singers and dancers.  We're both Broadeay fans, and knew all of the music in tonight's shoow.  Later, the comedian, John Knight, did his "adult" show Other than some adlt language, his late night show wasn't much different that his family-friendly show.  both were enjoyable.




Musical cue:  Madonna, "Lucky Star"

We ended out evening stargazing on our balcony.  And yes...those lihts on the horizon....that was another ship...

Embarkation day 10/23

Musical Cue:  Cat Stevens," Morning Has Broken"

It was still dark when I got up, so I grabbed a sweatshirt and my camera and headed over to the beach.

It was too cold to breakfast at Mambo's, so we headed over to The Breakfast Spot for an all-you-can-eat breakfast buffet.    This is a popular spot with local senior citizens as well as hotel guests, and we had an unpleasant encounter with one of the locals -- she wanted to join her two friends, who were seated at a table for two,  so she took the Pirate King's chair, just as he was about to sit down. Without asking, of course.  So rude!

We collected our luggage and checked out of the hotel.  Our shuttle picked us up around 10:45, as requested.  the bus stopped at several hotels, which took longer than expected because of the road race being conducted that morning.

Musical Cue:  Frankie Ford, "Sea Cruise"

The porters at the pier are definitely not shy about asking for tips for taking your luggage aboard ship. And the whole security process is dehumanizing -- the Pirate King felt we were being treated like cattle, he even began to moo... (yes, he has a warped sense of humor).

Musical Cue:  Bobby "Boris" Picket, "The Monster Mash"

We were aboard ship well before 1:00.  The cabins were not ready (I would have loved something similar to Carnival's "Faster to the Fun"), so we decided to explore the ship. The Promenade was decorated for Halloween, and we spent much of the cruise taking pictures of the decorations.

A few examples:

A word about drink packages is in order here.  We did not purchase any drink packages on our prior cruises.  On those cruises we found ourselves buying a cocktail or a glass of wine at dinner, and a lot of Coke and Diet Coke during the day.  Consequently the Pirate King chose to buy a soda package when we were planning our cruise.  I did not, but when I saw the Freestyle Coke machines on the Promenade, I opted in, and purchased a soda package on the Promenade.  (Yes, the package changed our habits.  We drank more soda and less alcohol on this cruise than on our prior cruises)

By now it was after 1:00, so we headed towards our cabin -- a portside balcony on deck six.  We'd had an ocean view on the Valor and a balcony on the Breeze.  We loved our balcony,  so when we booked this cruise we insisted on a balcony.  We were not disappointed.

So we took our drink cups up to Windjammer for lunch.  Windjammer was very busy, as expected.  We were able to find a table fairly easily, though.  In fact, we only had difficulty finding a table once, during the breakfast rush.  The food in Windjammer is decent, we would have liked more variety but we were never disappointed with our meals.

After lunch we continued to explore the ship.  We went up to the pool deck and watched a guy on a surfboard play in the Flowrider.  The Pirate King wanted to check out the rock climbing wall, he planned to use it during the cruise -- too bad the weather didn't cooperate.

Muster drill time.  Our frame of reference is Carnival -- on the Valor 6 years ago, we had to bring our life jackets to our muster station.  On the Breeze 3 years ago we reported to one of the dining rooms for safety instructions.  On this ship, we reported to our muster station, but didn't need to bring life jackets.  I think this is the best solution, I want to know where to go in an actual emergency.

Musical Cue:  Styx, "Come Sail Away"


We headed up to the sun deck for sail away.  Very windy up there,

Back to the cabin, and we relaxed on the balcony until it was time for dinner.  We'd chosen My Time Dining for the flexibility, and we were very satisfied with the system.  Never had to wait for a table.  He ordered a steak, I had a pork chop.  Both were well prepared.  I loved the bread at dinner, especially the cheese rolls.  Desserts were a bit blah.

Musical Cue:  "Gonna Fly (theme from Rocky)

The nightly entertainment is where Royal Caribbean truly shines.  I love a live orchestra!  Our first night's entertainment was comedian John Knight.  Loved his show.

Musical Cue:  Crosby, Stills and Nash, "Southern Cross"

Our cruise tradition is to do some stargazing every night.  Nothing makes you feel so small, and yet so part of everything, as stargazing on the vastness of the ocean.

We headed up to the sun deck, but it was cloudy, overcast.  No stars.

But then later, from our balcony, we not only saw stars...but a meteor.

The journey begins 10/22

In 1987, the Pirate King and I booked a package with Premier Cruise Lines.  Remember the Big Red Boat?  At the time, Premier was the official cruise line of Walt Disney World.  Our package included a four day cruise with Mickey Mouse, making port at Nassau and at Premier's private island; tickets to the Kennedy Space Center,; and three days at Disney, which in those days  meant Magic Kingdom and EPCOT.

Since then, we've taken two other cruises, both out of Miami, and we've been back to Disney, but we hadn't returned to Port Canaveral.  then we booked the 10/23/16 cruise on Freedom of the Seas, making port in Labadee, Haiti; Falsmouth Jamaica; Georgetown, Grand Cayman; and Cozumel, Meexico.

Our trip actually began on the 22nd, as we left our home on Long Island and headed to sunny Florida.

Musical cue:  Frank Sinatra, "Blue Skies"

We were up at the crack of dawn, and a friend drove us to JFK in the pouring rain.  I took a fall in the parking lot while trying to move my luggage (yes, I over pack), but no harm done -- except my jeans were wet from knee to ankle.  We checked in with Jet Blue, quickly cleared the TSA, and picked up breakfast at Dunkin' Donuts on our way to the gate. And before long, we were on a plane and headed towards Orlando.

Musical cue:  Jimmy Buffett, "Changes in Latitude, Changes in Attitude"

Can I just say I love Jet Blue?  Fly Fi, Direct TV.  Sirius Radio.  A full hour of Jimmy Buffett songs on Radio Margaritaville and I was in vacation mode.

I've been to Disneyworld more times than I can count, so arriving at Orlando International Airport felt so familiar.  On the monorail travelling from one terminal to the other I overheard some newbies marveling that they could see palm trees.  What else would you expect in Orlando?

We'd booked a package through Go Port Canaveral that included a hotel in Cocoa Beach and shuttle service from the airport to the hotel, from the hotel to the port, and back to the airport after the cruise. We were met at the appointed time, picked up in a van with a trailer attached for the luggage.

As we arrived in Port Canaveral, I could see ships -- the Carnival Valor, the Carnival Magic and the Disney Fantasy.  Yes, this cruise was really going to happen!

Musical Cue:  TV theme song, "I Dream of Jeannie"

To those of us who are a certain age, the Space Coast is not only home to NASA and rockets and etc., it is also the home of fictional astronaut Tony Nelson and his eventual wife Jeannie.  And yes, Cocoa Beach has a street named I Dream of Jeannie Boulevard.

We were booked at the International Palms Resort.  This turned out to be a pleasant but somewhat  dated resort located on the beach, with easy access to shopping and local restaurants.  I'd recommend it for an overnight stay or a short family vacation.    There's a nice pool with a pool bar,   a themed kiddie pool, tennis courts, volleyball, basketball and I think I even saw a shuffleboard court.  At night we saw people sitting around fire pits, making s'mores.  There are kitschy tiki poles all over the resort.  The employees are all friendly and helpful.

There are no interior corridors, rooms are accessed from external walkways.  Our room was clean and comfortable, and included a TV,  refrigerator, microwave, coffeemaker, hair dryer and even an iron and ironing board. Air conditioning worked well.  My chief complaint?  The gap between the door and the door frame; w could see daylight even when we closed the door.

We arrived in mid afternoon.  The Pirate King broke the zipper on his duffel bag and needed to go shopping to replace it.  I decided to explore the resort.  That's when I met with my first disappointment of the vacation -- the cheap, plastic camera I bought on Amazon (because it was waterproof) didn't work.  So I had to use my older point and shoot.  Not terrible, but aggravating.

Eventually we found ourselves on the beach.  The sand was smooth, the surf rough.  And we could see the three cruise ships that had been in port earlier that day.   I got a nice picture of the Disney ship:

We wanted to eat dinner at Mambo's, the resort's beach bar, but it was too chilly to sit outside. Pity, because Mambo's had live music until 11:00.  We went to Stefan & Aniston's, the resort's sports bar, instead.    Decent burgers, hefty portions, not a bad meal.  And on the TV, numerous reminders that we were in a battleground state just weeks before Election Day.

After dinner we went back to our room and called it a night.

songbird's rules for preserving my sanity...an addition

wear a watch and keep it set to ship's time.  phones and tablets are unreliable when connected to intternet services.

this time tomorrow

we will be on a plane

confirming....

transport to JFK  -- done
flight JFK to MCO -- done
transport from MCO to Cocoa Beach -- done
hotel -- done
cruise -- done
rental car -- done
flight home -- done
transport home -- done
travel insurance -- done