Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Cruise Control: Shipboard, May 23-30, 2010

NOTE: THERE ARE 7 DIFFERENT BATCHES OF PHOTOS OF MY CRUISE POSTED UNDER THE TITLE "CRUISE CONTROL." THIS IS THE FINAL BATCH #7.























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Last Batch #7- Scenes Aboard Ship

Cruise Control: Port of Call-Cozumel, May 2010
















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Batch 6-Landing, Shore, Beach

Cruise Control: Port of Call-Belize, May 2010
















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Batch 5- Landing, Street Scenes

Cruise Control: Port of Call, May-2010, Grand Cayman Island
















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Batch 4- Landing & Beach Views

Cruise Control: Ocean Views from the Ship





















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Batch 3-Sea & Clouds, Sunrise

Cruise Control: Leaving Miami & Returning (May 23 &30, 2010)

NOTE: THERE ARE 7 DIFFERENT BATCHES OF PHOTOS OF MY CRUISE POSTED. THIS IS BATCH #1.












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Batch 2- Miami, from the Ship

Cruise Control: My Cruise Ship (May 23- 30, 2010)







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Photo Batch Number 1: The Ship



Monday, June 28, 2010

The Book of Days VII: Cruising: Looking at Pros & Cons







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In May, I took my first cruise. The plan was to be aboard for 7 nights, going to ports in the Western Caribbean. It was an experience that fell somewhere between uncomfortable and unpleasant. For various reasons. Thinking about cruising—the experience has made me examine what I expected, wanted, and what I got. Here are some pros and cons from my point of view.

Pros:
The balcony room was a nice, smart choice. The balcony was great. Made me feel like I was in the lap of luxury. Until I went inside to the room. The room could have been a bit LARGER.
Even that wasn’t so bad, but my room’s location was VERY BAD.

Cons:
If your room is located or positioned right over the dance club, you won’t get much rest. I didn’t because, of course, the d.j. had the bass up as high as it could go and it reverberated through the ceiling and into my room every night from 11 pm to 3 am. Even the television set couldn’t distract me from the steady, monotonous BOOM-BOOM-BOOM of the bass. It wasn’t soothing, believe me. Nor was it a rhythmic delight. It was just plain horrible. I got an average of 4 to 5 hours of sleep a night. Which is just not enough for me. Especially when I went on the cruise expecting to get some rest in luxurious (NOT!) surroundings.

Pros:
I love the ocean and it’s wonderful just to be able to gaze at it morning, noon, and night. It’s peaceful; it’s beautiful. But…

Cons:
You’re stuck on the ocean. Can’t go anywhere until the boat docks. Well, obviously, you might say. And so what? If you don’t like to feel confined, limited in moving around… if the option to get up and go here and there as you can on dry land is important to you, you better think again before you book passage.

Yes, there are tours, but you have to go and come back at certain times. Shore visits range from 4 hours to 6 hours. We missed the tour we booked because I got sick (but more on that later). You’d be wise to book a tour for certain shore destinations because it’s likely that the places you visit are not American cities where you might drift around safely. The inhabitants and where they live probably will not look like Beverly Hills or the residents of New York’s Central Park West. One place where I disembarked showed me its real face of poverty when I wandered beyond the touristy marketplace. The streets, if you can call them that, and people were so poor that it was scary and depressing.

Yes, there are activities. They keep you busy. But I didn’t really pay attention to the kinds of activities that were offered until I got onboard. Most of the people were there to party. That’s what they were there for. The emphasis seems to be on sound like you’ll have lots to do and they range from…
--- eating and eating and eating from morning to night
--- gambling at the casino whenever you like or playing bingo before the nighttime shows
--- drinking at the pool, in the pool, around the pool, in the lounges, in the halls, in your room—wherever you like morning, noon and night
--- going to the spa for massages or going to exercise on your own or to join fitness classes
--- lounging in one of the 2 Jacuzzis and/or standing in one of the 2 pools (swimming is out because people stand in it and talk)
--- shopping at the three ship stores
--- nighttime partying at the piano bar, karaoke lounge, dance club, or casino
--- going to the nightly comedy or musical shows or to a movie at poolside

If you’re not planning to party the whole time, you might want to rethink the whole idea. From what I could see, that’s what most people were there for.

Pros:
Cruising is a way to go places without having to worry about hotel rooms, food and local transportation. The cruise line will get you where you’re going. Excursions are planned for you. With one room, you don’t have to pack and unpack continuously. On board, no worries about finding a place to eat. Food is plentiful.

Cons:
Expect to shell out for the tour excursions. They ain’t cheap. I didn’t properly budget for them, thinking I could probably pick up a tour on my own once I disembarked. Cozumel was the only place where I saw enterprising cabbies waiting to take you various places at a price under the tours offered by the ship. Didn’t see anyone at Belize or Grand Cayman. Don’t know about Roatan Island. I was sick.

Which brings me to shipboard sickness. On the second day aboard, I came down with a gastrointestinal illness. The symptoms are vomiting, diarrhea, headache, weakness. I had’em all. At first, I thought it was seasickness. It wasn’t, I found out when I went to Medical where they quarantined me for 24 hours, gave me a shot in the behind, and a few pills to get rid of the diarrhea. Medical called it a stomach virus. There’s a more accurate, scientific name for it, I found out later, and it is not uncommon to come down with it onboard ship. Evidently when you’re in a “closed environment” like a ship, it’s easier for the virus to travel from person to person, via hands, water, food, etc. Although I saw many “Clean Your Hands” dispensers onboard, people don’t always do that. Also found out that this particular cruise line is notorious for being getting sick on it. Would that I had known!!! Anyway, there are some things you can do, I learned later on the internet, to possibly prevent catching this cruise-virus. Once I went to Medical and got the medication, it exited my body in twenty four hours. Problem was that my companion came down with it after me. Companion didn’t want to be confined by Medical, so companion toughed it out.

The Bottom Line:
Decide if you really want a cruise. Why are you going? What’s the advantage to you? Is your cruise line the best one for you? What about its reputation? (Ours didn’t have a good reputation with past cruisers I found out AFTER the cruise was over. I kept hearing bad things from people’s conversations, from folks on the street, from the internet.) Where is your room located? (Look up a deck plan for your ship via the ship’s website or thru the internet.) What kind of activities are offered onboard? Will you do shore tour excursions? If so, make sure you’ve allowed enough money for it. What can you do to try not to get sick? (Research the names of over-the-counter medications you can bring and take to keep the nasty virus away.)

Last, know this: The best laid plans of mice and men often go astray. Mine did.