Gangplank
We got up early, checked out of the motel, had breakfast at a pancake house, returned the rental car, took a shuttle to the cruise terminal, and checked in. Taking a cruise these days is, in many ways, like taking a flight. You go to the terminal and go through a checkin procedure, which is similar to the checkin procedure at an airport - including the metal detector.
It was while we were checking in that we had our first taste of what was to be a constant theme through the entire cruise - hand sanitizers. Cruise lines these days have gotten very health conscious. Nearly every day, we were reminded how important it was to wash our hands. And every time we went to a meal on the ship, and every time we boarded the ship, we had to put our hands under a hand sanitizer dispenser, and get some sanitizer squirted on our hands.
But even with all the precautions, some people still got sick. Three members of our party - Betty, David and Rhonda (who you'll meet later) - were sick at one point during the cruise, and were confined to their cabins. I can understand why the cruise line would confine them while they were sick, but it made me think that if I were sick, I'd hide it as long as I could.
Here's a picture of the gangplank we used to board the ship:
Gangplank
After boarding the ship, we met up with the other people in the group. I started referring to the group, collectively, as the "View International People," or VIPs. We met in the Champagne Bar, one of several passenger lounges on the ship, where we were entertained by a piano player.
Piano Man
I'll pause here to make a few comments about the ship itself. Our ship was called the Legend of the Seas. Here's a link to information about the ship.
A modern cruise ship is, essentialy, a floating luxury hotel. The ship had 1948 passengers, and 720 crew members. That's about a three to one ratio, or one crew member for every three passengers. When you're on a cruise, you get pampered.
Yes, it's true what you've heard about the food. It's free (well, it's included in the fare, which isn't quite the same thing), and it's plentiful. On this ship, we had the Romeo and Juliet Dining Room, for formal dining, and the Windjammer Cafe, for informal buffet style meals. There was also a coffee bar, where you could get free pastries, and a snack bar where you could get burgers, hot dogs and pizza. And of course, we can't forget the famous (or infamous) midnight buffets, about which more later.
But if the food is (sort of) free, the drinks aren't. They're expensive. For six bucks a day, you can get a drinks package, which gets you unlimited fountain sodas and juice. If you drink as much soda as I do, it's worth it. But for canned sodas, bottled water, and especially alcohol, you pay. And get this - there are six bars on board!
So anyway, the other members of the group arrived in ones and twos, and eventually, we were all gathered in the bar. So I'll stop here and introduce the gang. First, there were...
Sue Yanaros, the travel agent,
and her sister, Julie Arnett
Sue is from Austin, Texas, and Julie... I forget where Julie's from. Sorry, Julie.
Then there were the instigators of the trip...
 Robert Jaquiss |
 and his wife Laurie |
...from West Monroe, Louisiana. (The name is pronounced JAY-kwiss.) Laurie was one of the three sighted spouses.
I'll present the rest in alphabetical order:
Rob and Lee Bender
...from Canada. They were loving the tropical weather in January! Lee's actually from New York, but has lived in Canada most of her adult life. Her full name is Malia. The name is Hawaiian, even though she's not.
 Betty Gasparovic |
 Midge Hall |
Betty is from Seattle, and Midge is from Cincinnatti. Midge was travelling with her guide dog Shamrock, a Standard Poodle.
Don Horn
...from New Yawk.
David and Rhonda Hornbacher
...from Charlotte, North Carolina. David was the second of the three sighted spouses (I, of course, was the third). Rhonda also has a guide dog, a Golden Retriever / Yellow Lab cross named Jessie.
Mark and Lina Jones
...from Mississippi.
 Shirley Keller |
 Esther Levegnale |
Shirley is from New York, and Esther is from Connecticut. Shirley is the person I referred to earlier, who is neither blind nor a sighted spouse. She is, however, very involved in the blind community, having founded Creative Adaptations for Learning, a company that produces tactile graphics.
 Vicki Ratcliffe |
 Ellen Rubin |
Vicki is from Alexandria, Virginia, and Ellen is also from New York.
And so, hail, hail, the gang was all there. After we all got introduced, and Sue gave us some general information, we adjourned for lunch, and then went to our cabins.
Our cabin was small. Like the old joke about the small hotel room: "Every time I tried to smile, my teeth would touch the wall. But I'm staying... I don't have room to change my mind." Oh, well. The way I figure it, on a cruise, if you spend very much time in your cabin, you're doing it wrong. We mostly only went there to change clothes, and to sleep. I must say, though, they've mastered the art of efficient space utilization. I was able to completely unpack all our luggage, and still had shelf and drawer space left over.
After we got settled in, the VIPs got together for a tour of the ship. I won't go into details here; the link I included above contains detailed deck plans, for those who care. I'll just briefly mention the various ship amenities. In addition to the restaurants and bars mentioned above, there were a disco, a theater, a casino, a gym and spa, two swimming pools (with several hot tubs), and believe it or not, a rock climbing wall and miniature golf course! They also had several shops and boutiques, an internet center (which I avoided - I was on vacation), and a children's activity center. Truly, something for everyone.
There was also a walking/jogging track on one of the decks. Four times around the ship equals one mile. Terry and I did the deck walk about twice a day. Gotta walk off that food...
On every one of the stateroom decks, in the elevator lobbies, there was a model of the ship:
Ship Model
...showing what was where. The part on top showed all the decks, and the part on the bottom showed the layout of the deck you were currently on. Terry found it helpful in orienting herself; she'd find the model, find the end without the point, and that's how she could tell which to go to get to our cabin. (Give credit where it's due - Robert pointed that out.)
Our next adventure had to do with finding a place to take the dog out. And let me say right here that if I had been able to collect a fee for every time I had to answer the question, "Where does the dog go to the bathroom?" I could have darn near paid for the cruise!
The last time we took a cruise (about 15 years ago), we had a great arrangement. They let us go to a part of the ship that was normally off limits to passengers. This area had no fancy flooring or carpeting; just a plain metal deck. We, of course, referred to it as "the poop deck." Robbie (Terry's dog at the time) did his business right there on the deck, we picked up the stuff and threw it away, and the crew just hosed down the deck after we left.
Alas, it wasn't so easy this time. We tried to get the same arrangement, but couldn't. Here's what we had:
Dog Accomodations
Not too bad, except for two things. In the first place, North (Terry's current dog) is used to going on pavement. He didn't like going on mulch. For the first couple of days, he strongly resisted getting in the box. By the end of the week, though, he stopped fighting.
But the real problem was that there was only one box for three dogs! Which was probably part of the reason for North's reluctance. We complained, but there was nothing they could do - they only had the one box, and didn't have the materials to make more. In fairness, though, they did a good job of keeping the box clean.
Why do they think dogs are cats?
To continue with the theme of griping about the accomodations (and to get it out of the way) - the restaurant menus were in Braille, as were the daily ship's "newspapers" (brochures left in our room each night, describing the events and activities available on the following day). However, the Braille translation was apparently poor quality - Terry found several errors. Also, the printouts were on continuous feed paper, instead of separate sheets, and Terry finds that very difficult to read (although she got the hang of it after a couple of days).
Yeah, I know... bitch, bitch, bitch. Still, I've gotta give them credit for making a sincere effort. And all in all, these were minor glitches in what was an otherwise terrific trip.
Anyway, after the tour, there was a mandatory safety drill. Get your life vest from your cabin, assemble at your assigned station on deck, and listen to the lecture. Kind of like what you get on planes. Here are a couple of pictures of the lifeboats:
Lifeboats
More Lifeboats
They say each one of those lifeboats holds 150 people. I think that many people on one of those things would be an exercise in extreme togetherness. But I guess that beats drowning.
The ship set sail about 5 in the afternoon. The VIPs gathered in the Viking Crown Lounge, a bar on the uppermost deck of the ship, to have a drink (Sue's treat... thanks, Sue!) and watch the Florida coast slip away behind us. We were on our way.
Then we went to dinner. Most of the week, we had dinner in the main dining room, and had breakfast at the buffet. Lunch was either at the buffet, or on shore. The Romeo and Juliet Dining Room was a large, open area, two decks high. The upper level was a balcony, with an open area in the middle, through which the lower lever could be seen. In the center of the lower level, clearly visible from above, was a grand piano; on several nights, we had music while we dined. More about that later. The decor was a lot of glass and chrome, and murals on the walls depicting scenes from (of course) Romeo and Juliet
Here's a picture of the dining room...
The Dining Room
Not a very good one, I'm afraid. The lighting was actually much brighter than it appears here.
Terry and Me at dinner
Terry took the picture of me, by the way.
Our waiter introduced himself as "Cappucino." Later, I looked at his name badge, and discovered that his name was Marcos Capocino, from Brazil. (I called him "coffee man.") We also met Yasa, our headwaiter, from Indonesia, and Rommel, our assistant waiter, from the Phillipines.
Rommel, Capocino, Yasa
I don't remember, and I didn't take notes, about what we had for dinner each night. Suffice to say that the food, almost without exception, was superb.
After dinner, we went to see the show. There was a show of some kind in the theater every night, and we saw them all. This night, it was an introductory show, where we met Gavin Brown, the cruise director.
Gavin is British. Now, the last time we took a cruise, the cruise director was also British. But the resemblance ends there. The guy on the last cruise was a tall, gray-haired, distinguished, British gentleman with an upper class voice. Gavin is a short, roly-poly, bouncy guy with a voice hinting of a working class background. He was quite a character. He was a speed-talker - for example, "ladies and gentleman" always came out "lazengemmun" (say it out loud and it makes sense). He also had a habit of kicking up a heel and exclaiming "Woo-hoo!" I never did get a picture of him - I wish I had.
This was primarily an introductory show. Gavin introduced the various cruise staff members. We were introduced to the Royal Caribbean Singers and Dancers (eight dancers who also sang, and four singers who also danced), and the Legend of the Seas Orchestra (guitar, bass, drums, keyboard, two winds and three horns). Then we were entertained by Martin Lewis, a comedian / magician.
After the show, we played the slots in the casino for a little while, took a walk on the deck, went back to our cabin, unpacked, and went to bed.