# 15  

   .  .  .  and beyond

Drama  

My ongoing communication with a representative of TSA has me thinking optimistic thoughts.  The woman on the other end of the 1-800 number provided by a clerk in Syracuse, sounds sympathetic to my story and sends me forms to fill out to start a claim. The only thing I want them to be responsible for is our camera.  It's wasn't new, but it was our digital camera.  She sounds supportive and I decide to proceed.

When I said forms to fill out, I really meant plenty of forms.  I think there were 8 or 9 pages of information I had to scan and e-mail.  I had to make copies of our boarding passes, our tickets, our itinerary,  .  .  .  there was such a list of details needed, that I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to fulfill their requirements.  I did.  The information was received, and my pictures of the damage were added to the claim.  It would take several weeks for processing.   She wasn't kidding.  I did a follow up e-mail after about 8 weeks, and she said it was still under review.  Red tape galore.

# 14

  .  .  .  and beyond  

Back Home

Our flight from Newark to Syracuse was lumpy and bumpy and not very comfortable at all.  Sitting right at the back of the plane, we felt every quiver, bump and bit of turbulence.  We got back to Syracuse some time after 11 p.m. and collected our bags.  Right away I felt the weird drag of my larger bag.  The wheel housing was broken off.  You've got to be kidding me.   This is ridiculous!

We stopped to examine our luggage and when we opened the one with the liqueur, I felt sick.  The plastic bag had been sliced open by a sharp object and everything was sticky.  The T.S.A. (Transportation Safety Authority) had opened the bottle of Sheridan.  I didn't mind that so much as the fact that they had NOT opened the screw cap, but had instead forced the whole top section off the double bottle, and it hadn't been put back on tightly.  There was a sticky mess all over our luggage, over Mike's suit and over our digital camera.  I was just lucky that most of our clothes were in plastic zipper packing bags, so the mess was localized.

It's amazing how far a couple of ounces of sticky syrup can  spread all over everything.  This pic shows the way the bag was sliced open and how the little dots of liqueur had spread out. Next to it is the other bottle that wasn't touched, thank goodness,  I was not impressed with how TSA had handled this.  I understand they have a job to do, but do they have to cause damage while performing their duties?  Because it was so late, there was no one to complain to, not that it would do any good.

The airline said they weren't responsible for the broken wheels on the suitcase either, so that meant we were S O L  (hope you know what that means, lol)  Unfortunately we had a pretty rotten end to a really nice vacation, but the drama wasn't over, not by a long shot!

#13   .  .  .   and beyond   .  .  .

Heading Home  

I'm not one to be superstitious, but I find it odd that our journey home should be #13 .  .  . the dreaded unlucky #13 . . .  maybe there's a reason that day 8 of our cruise would end up being page #13 in this blog.  Very curious, indeed!

Getting off the ship was actually easier than getting on and we found our luggage and the shuttle service without too much ado. The trip back to Orlando was thankfully uneventful, but it brought us back to the airport several hours before our flight.  There really isn't that much to do in an airport for that long, but we managed to find a place to get a snack and a coffee.  We were so early that they wouldn't let us check our luggage yet, so we hauled them around with us for another hour.

There were shops and boutiques lining the promenade deck of the ship and we had purchased two bottles of Sheridan liqueur.  The double bottle design poured dark coffee flavoured liqueur and a light cream concoction at the same time.  It's a neat looking bottle and the taste wasn't bad either.

To protect them from damage I packed each bottle in a re usable plastic zipper bag stuffed in the middle of the checked luggage.  Everyone knows you can't bring bottles of liquids on the plane unless they are in duty free sealed packages, so I thought they were safe and sound in the plastic bags, in the luggage, surrounded by our clothes and shoes.


Our flight had a layover at Newark N.J. and we finally had the call to board our tiny plane.  It was an Embraer jet that had two seats on one side and one on the other.  Regular carry on wouldn't fit in the tiny over head bins located on the double seat side only, so everything had to go in cargo.  Our seats were right across the very back of the cabin and our backs were continually pummeled as the airport workers threw luggage into the back of our seats.  After a long day of travel, this is NOT a good thing to go through.  I can't imagine it was very good for the luggage either!

 #12

 .  .  .  and beyond
  At sea

This was our second full day at sea, which meant the trip was soon coming to an end.  It also meant the second formal dinner night and another day of trying to find a vacant lounger away from the kids and the smoking.   One of the most pleasant spots on the ship had been locked for the last couple of days. There was a great protected area with coloured glass on the bottom of the wall and open ribs on the top.  It was right near the front of the ship.  As a matter of fact there were two similar places, one on each side of the hull. The gym was at the very front on this deck and these two corridor areas were access points.  They had seating, foot rests and solid glass doors that provided a quiet, relaxing place to read or rest or just sit and chat with friends.  Wish they were still available.

Today we attended a pasta making class that included lunch in one of the little restaurants on board and a tour of the galley.  Now you're talking.  We love to see the "behind the scenes" stuff so this is right up our alley.  The pasta class was okay, (I mean, really?  We're Italian , well 3 out of 4 of us were born there! ) The tour of the ships food prep area was really cool.  I've never seen so much stainless steel in one place.

       

                                   

This is our last evening on board, and in the theater that night the stage featured the captain and staff smiling and waving a big farewell.  We even managed to slow down our busy dining room staff for a quick pic.

Thank you Freedom of the Seas.  This has been a great cruise but we probably won't go on another ship this big again.  I can't imagine how it would feel on the Oasis with even more people on board. Too many bodies, a lot of activity, tons of small kids and not enough lounge chairs to go around. Tomorrow morning we have to leave and head back to Orlando and our flight back to Syracuse.  It's going to be a long, lethargic, late drive home.

# 11

   .  .  .    and beyond


  Cozumel, Mexico

This island is mostly a tourist town along the coast, with hardly any development through the interior. One of the more interesting features of Cozumel is the Mayan ruins.  We rented a car with our friends and travelling companions, so the cost was minimal.  It took us a couple of tries to find the right road to the ruins, but eventually we figured it out.  I'm so glad the car had air conditioning as it was super hot that day and I tend to make enough heat all by myself.

Our sister ship, Navigator of the Seas, ended up right beside us.  Interesting view when you're walking between the two behemoths.

That night the sunset was so beautiful, I just had to take pictures from our dining room table.  We watched as the sun sank into the horizon.  Just fabulous.  Yup, we like cruising in the Caribbean.

Tonight our cabin steward was totally out of control.  I couldn't stop laughing when we came back from dinner to find someone feeling "flushed" in our bathroom.   This has been so much fun.

# 10

  .  .  .  and beyond

Grand Cayman Island

This was our first time visiting Grand Cayman Island.  What a gorgeous place!  There are tons of pics on line, so my idea is to post something a bit different . . . something that is uniquely my picture.

This port couldn't accommodate our large vessel, so we had to load into smaller boats and take the short 3 minute ride to the pier.  This pirate ship was on display along the path of our tender.

One of the beautiful fixtures in our dining room on board Freedom of the Seas.  They really know how to do it right.  Tonight is the first formal night, so we came back to the ship a bit early so we could shower and get all dolled up for the theater and dinner.

#9

 .  .  .   and beyond

Falmouth Jamaica

We have stopped at Jamaica on a few different cruises, and Falmouth was one of the nicer ports of call.  The area was developed as a tourist region, but everything was clean and tidy and the people were all polite and most spoke English very well.
This pic shows the size of our ship against the village at the pier.
One of the features available here was Segway touring.  I wish we had gone ahead with that.  I'm really interested in how that works, and I;ve often wondered if I could stay upright.   lol

The cabin steward looking after our room was very imaginative and every other night we were treated to one of his towel creations.  

Our after dinner surprise was this fellow watching our tv.  We were stunned to hear the tv working as we unlocked our door.  We blamed each other for leaving it running when we went to the theater.  Both of us burst into fits of laughter when we saw who had the remote control.  Too cool!

#8

  .  .  .  and beyond

The first stop was at Labadee, Haiti.  This rustic tourist oriented area is owned by Royal Caribbean and they support the local people by hiring them to work in the shops, make items for sale, and do grounds maintenance.  We were served a huge b-b-q buffet and then, any leftover food from the lunch served to cruisers was given out to the inhabitants.  Well, that's what I was told by one of the stewards.  Good for them, if they are doing right by the locals.

We spent the better part of the day here, and then walked back to the ship to shower and get ready for dinner.  We had opted for the second seating, which meant there was no rush to leave any excursion as our dinner was served at 8:30.  By the time we cleaned up we were still able to see the theater production each night before dinner.  Have I told you that we really like cruising?   Yup, we do.

#7

. . . and beyond

This was sunrise on our first full day of cruising, April 13th.  I had told myself that I'd be up on the top track, doing laps every day of the cruise.  Well we all know that didn't happen. That first morning was just gorgeous!  As a matter of fact, every morning, NO every day was superb.  You couldn't ask for nicer temperatures or calmer seas.  I won't go into wordy details, but yup, nice weather for a cruise.  Spring seas are calmer than the fall, just in case you were planning something soon. *grin*

Our cabin was neat and clean and had a nice balcony,  We don't spend much time inside, so it was just fine for sleeping.  We were in the back third of the starboard side (right) of the ship.

We came back from dinner the first night to find this little fellow on our bed, reading the program for the next day.   Really cute.

#6

. . . and beyond !

How can so many kids be on this cruise ship in the middle of April?   This isn't Disney.

Don't get me wrong, I love our 3 grown up kids and all 5 of our little grand kids, but I really didn't expect to see so many in the Caribbean during regular school days!  Half of the pool and open deck area is catering to little people and the little people are enjoying it . . .  a LOT . . .  and with gusto. ( this just means noise, and lots of it! )  This really wasn't what we had in mind when we booked this relaxing, peaceful cruise.

There is an area toward the front of the ship that has a little more adult flavour, but with one side of the ship dedicated to smokers, there aren't enough lounges or enough room on the other side for the non smokers.  I fail to understand how half of the two upper decks have been designated as smoking areas, when less than 20 % of the guests on board actually smoke!  The math just doesn't work.   Frustrating ! ! !  We literally walked into clouds of smoke on the top deck track every time we did the port side.  There were usually only a handful of smokers, but they were there, right along the running/walking track. I think there was a bit of a design flaw in that setup.

#5
. . . and beyond !

The shuttle to Port Canaveral was to pick us up right in front of our hotel mid morning so we had time to have a nice breakfast before we headed off to the ship.  The trip took almost an hour and a half by the time we picked up from some other hotels and stopped at three separate terminals to drop people off at their respective cruise lines.  Not to worry, we arrived at our ship in plenty of time and went through the boarding process without too many hassles.  One glitch was that we weren't allowed to use our pre-paid U.S. currency card for our on board account.  For some reason, the shipping company didn't recognize the prepaid Master Card, so we opted for cash only, for the time being.

Royal Caribbean has been our cruise line of choice for a few years now, but we won't rule out others until we've tried them.  Let's face it, if you're going to pay out for a one week vacation, it might as well be the vacation that you want.  Cruising seems to be that vacation for Mike and I.  See . . .

This ship is BIG ! 

                                       The interior promenade full of shops and cafes etc.

                                                       
                                             The H2O zone kid's splash pad and pool area.

                                                       The theater at the front of the ship.
                                           

#4
. . .  and beyond

The day for our departure FINALLY  arrives.  Our friends drive by our place at 9 a.m. and we start out for Syracuse airport.  One regular suitcase and a carry on.  That's more than enough luggage for a one week Caribbean cruise.  Sandles, swimsuits, a couple of outfits for dinner, what more do you need?  I fit enough clothes, and shoes, for the week into this 21 inch carry on.  The dressy clothes for the formal dinner had to go into Mike's suitcase, but I usually find that I need about half the clothes and twice the money for any holiday.

Check in was a breeze and we boarded the plane on time for our 2:30 takeoff.  We had a short stop over and plane change at Washington D.C. but were scheduled to be in Orlando before 8:30 that night.  The operative word here is "scheduled" because it wasn't the fact.   We hit heavy turbulence with thunder storms and lightning about an hour out of Orlando.  Our pilot announced that we would be in a holding pattern until further notice.

We landed late, but we were all alive,  What more could you ask.  By the time we got our luggage and took the shuttle to our hotel, it was almost 10:30 and we hadn't had much food that day with all our travel.  How about dumb luck . . . there was an Italian restaurant right across the road from our hotel, and it was still open.  We dined a little late that night, but the pasta was more than delicious.

#3
. . .  and beyond?

After our plans were set and the cruise was booked, it turned out that our friend wasn't able to get the time off work to accommodate the drive both ways.  Thus we had to really scramble to get

    - parking in Syracuse while we're on the cruise
    - flight tickets from Syracuse to Orlando and back
    - hotel accommodations in Orlando
    - shuttle bus from Orlando to Port Canaveral and back

Whew, I don't know how she managed, but everything just seemed to fall into place, and in a hurry. Well done, Mrs. G.  You could be a travel agent with those talents.

It turned out that there weren't any direct flights from Toronto that would get us to Orlando at the right time.   We had to coordinate a shuttle ride to Port Canaveral so we would be there before the ship's loading cut off which was about 2 p.m.  Things were getting a bit too complicated and if we have to do this another time, my choice would be to simply fly into Fort Lauderdale, take the 5 minutes taxi ride to the port, and be done with it!

Oh yes, everyone is more than ready to have a relaxing, soothing, tranquil holiday in the Caribbean.
 

#2

 . . . and beyond?


Several months ago, (maybe even a year ago, now) close friends had come to visit and play some cards.  During the evening conversation the topic of travel came up.  Yup!  We were all at the age that we wanted to do MORE travel and LESS work, so we planned a couple of excursions, both of which involved cruise lines.

After weeks of reviewing itineraries and comparing prices, we decided on a Caribbean cruise on the Freedom of the Seas, a rather large, but not gigantic, Royal Caribbean ship.  In fact the ship was larger than any other we had been on . . . yet.  It could hold 3600 passengers and 1300 staff and crew. WOW indeed!  Mid April was the timeline and we could hardly wait.

Mike and I thought that it might be interesting to drive to Florida, hop on the ship and then take our time to drive back after the cruise.  So we opted for a 7 day cruise that left from Port Canaveral, did a few stops on the western side of the sea, and then back to Canaveral.  That wasn't a great decision!

#1 .  .  .  To Infinity and Beyond !

Now that the cancer scare seems to be over for us, (hopefully for ever!) we have decided to travel a lot more and live our lives as though we actually want to explore the items on our bucket lists.
This year alone, we have taken on three journeys,

In April we went on a Caribbean Cruise, in August we drove to the east coast, and in September and October we tried a Mediterranean Cruise.

Like any well rounded travelers, we have taken our fair share of pics and I plan to bore everyone to distraction with breath taking views and silly selfies.  Be warned that this will be a fairly typical blog about travel, but maybe, just maybe, there'll be some fun involved too.

I plan to write a page a day for the next few weeks, but that could change without notice.  Life gets in the way of things from time to time.   Enough said!