We arrived in Cozumel at 8:00 am. Boy, these guys know how to park a boat. Had I not watched them do it, I would have never known that we had arrived. They parallel parked this massive ship next to the pier and we never felt it stop, bump,or shudder. A couple days later I watch a documentary on the ships engines and thrusters and understood why. More on that later.

Here are a couple shots taken from the pool deck 14 stories up and also from the pier.

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A bit of trivia: You see where the lifeboats are on that other ship? The smoke stacks of the Titanic only reached that high. On my ship, that's the promenade deck. Deck 5! There were 14 decks on my boat. The Titanic was only about two-thirds as long and only half as wide.

I did a little shopping on the pier and didn't sign up for any activities so I went back around noon and hit the pool deck to eat, drink, read, and gawk at the lovelies. We left Cozumel at around 6:00. Next port of call- George Town, Grand Cayman. It's New Year's Eve. Calm seas, warm breeze, and you can just feel the great vibes of everyone on the ship. Time to get sexy...

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The dancers from the theater shows put on a wild show on the pool deck and got everybody pretty fired up. Party hats and horns. Great music and lighting. The Captain came up to the stage with his family and did the countdown. Booze was readily available. I fell in love at least three times. I ended up smooching with a woman I didn't know. And went to sleep at around 3:00am pretty tipsy.

I slept in that morning. That means I woke up around 8:00 feeling great. No hangover. I went to the buffet for breakfast and the place was a mausoleum. Nobody eating or sitting around the pool. Only about seven people doing Zumba on the pool deck. We weren't due to arrive in George Town until around 10:00 so I kicked back and did a little reading until we anchored.
There are many coral reefs around Grand Caymen and the water is too shallow to tie to a pier and we have to be tendered in on smaller boats. So my family and I went ashore to go snorkeling and swimming with the stingrays.

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More trivia:
Grand Cayman has the worlds largest lagoon. It's about five mile wide and only about twenty feet at its deepest. We first went out to the reef to do some snorkeling. On the lagoon side of the reef the water is a light blue. As I looked beyond the reef the water turned a dark purple. The guide said that that was the edge of the Cayman Wall. A sheer cliff that plunges 6000 feet into the depths.
I've snorkeled before and if you've seen one reef, you've seen them all. So I splashed around for about half an hour and got back in the tour boat for a refreshment. Then we went about 500 yards to the sandbar where we swam with and fed the stingrays. Now, living in South Florida, I know to keep away from stingrays. You shuffle your feet in the sand to prevent stepping on them and getting a nasty sting. I'm told the pain is intense and long lasting. But these guys know where their bread is buttered and they are quite comfortable around so many feet and legs. I was on a boat with about 30 people. There were other boats there with well over 100 people and the sandbar has a lot of activity. These stingrays swim right up to you and let you hold them and pet them. I have to say that I thought it was pretty cool. After about 45 minutes of that we headed back to shore and to the ship.

All in all, a great way to spend New Year's Day.

We got back to the ship and had probably the best meal of the week: Shrimp cocktail, Caesar Salad and a perfect lamb shank that just fell off the bone, followed by cheesecake and cappuccino. I was kinda knocked out from the day in the sun so I went to my stateroom pretty early and went to sleep.

That's all for today my friends. I hope I'm not boring anybody. Check in tomorrow for part three.



Michael

To Recap:
A few months ago I got an incredible offer to go on a New Year's cruise by my BIL. The normal price for the trip was around $1400.00 but I only had to pay the taxes for the stateroom which came to about $320.00. I'm crazy, not stupid so I jumped at the offer. The ports of call were Cozumel, Mexico; George Town, Grand Cayman; Falmouth(?), Jamaica and the cruise lines private resort at Labadee, Haiti.

We set sail from Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale, Fl. on Dec. 29th. The weather was kind of gray and breezy.
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It was still early and my stateroom wasn't ready yet so I decided to do a little exploring on the ship.

The pool area:
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The theater where they had several variety shows:
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The one unique feature of this ship:
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with real grass

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notice the HUGE lawn chairs. They had picnics and would have bocce ball tournaments here.


My BIL is basically a travel agent for wealthy gamblers and that's how I got the free stateroom.
Here is the Casino:
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The first hour out of port, they opened the Casino and, being from Las Vegas, I felt right at home there. I went down and sat at a video poker machine and ten minutes and $20.00 later I hit a Royal Flush for $1000.00! Cha-Ching! Trip just paid for itself! Woo-Hoo this was gonna be a great adventure.
Throughout the week I kept revisiting the casino and was able to hold my own. New Year's Eve I couldn't lose.

So I finally get to my stateroom and unpack.

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I go to a cocktail party for my BIL's clients and I'm chatting a few people up and more than a few take real shine to me. I make it a point to remember people's names because if you call someone by their name 10 minutes after you meet them they feel important and welcome. Plus they tend to ask your name again and remember it. We had a fantastic 5 course dinner, gambled a bit, and I went to sleep around 11:00.
Here's the pool lit up at night:

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No matter what. Vacation or not, I wake up at around 5:30 every day. I get up, shower, and go up on deck to see the sunrise:

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And I say to myself again, "This is gonna be a great week."
I have breakfast on the fantail:

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and go see what's going on.
The first day, we were at sea heading for Cozumel so I went to the pool deck and find a bunch of people, mostly women, doing Zumba (aerobics).
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and others enjoying the pool. It is now 8:00am... I grab a deck chair and order a cocktail.
The weather that day was mostly cloudy and there was rain nearby, but not on the ship. I spotted three waterspouts that day. The closest one about 500 yards from the ship. The Captain announced that we were traveling at 18 knots in three foot seas and the ocean depth was over 8000 feet. I made it a point to keep my phone/camera away from the rails so as not to drop it.
The rest of the day involved meeting new people around the pool, a 60 minute massage (wow) and laying around the pool drinkin' booze and taking the occasional walk down to the casino to try my luck.

I'll be telling Y'all more about the trip in future OP's of the Callmecrazy cruise. Stay tuned.

Why during winter do we keep our house as warm as it was when we complained about the heat?

How come you never hear father in law jokes?

How do those dead bugs get into enclosed light fixtures?

Why do people keep returning to the refrigerator in the hope that something new will have materialized?

Can you cry underwater?

If you have sex with a prostitute and don't pay her is it considered rape or shoplifting?

Is there ever a day when mattresses aren't on sale?

Why does a round pizza come in a square box?

Once you're in heaven, are you stuck wearing the same clothes you were buried in?

Why do Kamikaze pilots wear helmets?

Why does a dog get mad when you blow in his face but when he goes for a ride he sticks his head out the window?

If humans evolved from apes, why are there still apes?




I invite your answers and other questions.

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I live in Tamarac. McNab and Nob Hill.
I left on Dec. 29 and returned last Sunday morning.
Howdy neighbor.

I just got my Photobucket account and wanted to try it out. This is me getting ready to party on the cruise ship. I'll be posting more pics of my trip soon.
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Rather dashing, wouldn't you say ladies?