21 October, Sunday
First, getting to the ship. Breakfast at the Fairfield/Marriott was filling; the room is well laid out. Then we got in line and purchased our shuttle tickets for transportation to & from Nieuw Amsterdam at terminal 26. I moved the car to long-term parking. We grabbed coffee and returned to our room (adjacent to lobby) to loaf until time to leave.
The shuttle took us to the terminal in a real round-about manner, but we got there. Then it was citizenship check, security, ship checkin, and USSVI checkin. Along the way we got various enticements, several goodie-bags and some useful stuff like a $50 bar credit. In the security line I ran into Tom Salisbury, with whom I served in New London. Then we boarded straight to our cabin. Our luggage came along soon so we unpacked.
Then we toured some of this ship, which is larger than the other HA ships we've taken. We attended the "what's where" lecture in the big stage room, then got caught up in the required pre-underway lifeboat drill. On the way to the boat an old friend (TC) greeted me, nice to see him again.
The lifeboat drill went fairly well, but the evacuation path from our cabin to our boat is needlessly long and goes out onto a narrow area of the deck. There, people bunch up so progress is very slow. Nonetheless, our boat was the first where everyone checked in with the crew of their boat. If there's a real emergency, we're going the other way.
The ship got underway a few minutes late, trailing a Carnival, a Princess, and a Royal Caribbean out the channel.
We wound our way to the Crow's Nest for a libation. Teters, Phillips, and Warners were there; Bing stopped by briefly. Then things got all confused as people went off in several directions to dine, or prepare to dine, or (us) get something light in the Lido. As we left the Lido we ran into Ann Henkel whom we saw a couple of weeks ago in St Augustine.
Back in the cabin, we started reviewing activity things. The cabin stewards, Dendi & Wayan, came in to do what would be the normal turn-down service. While they worked they showed us a few things and chatted with us. Very nice service, complete with evening chocolate. Now we're just going to settle, read, and go to bed early for an early wakeup tomorrow.
Half Moon Cay:
Half Moon Cay is the premier private-island experience in the Caribbean. Uninhabited and unspoiled, it combines the unparalleled natural beauty of a protected preserve with access to a wide range of amenities and activities.
Half Moon Cay is the premier private-island experience in the Caribbean. Uninhabited and unspoiled, it combines the unparalleled natural beauty of a protected preserve with access to a wide range of amenities and activities.
22 October, Monday
At wake-up time, D said she'd had a bad night with lots of coughing, so we rolled over and rested more rather than go ashore here.
Later we did breakfast in the Lido with Bing & Saidia, and Sandy & Tom. Others dropped by to say hi. Ran into Beetle & Carol in passing.
We returned to the cabin for a bit, then decided to find a book and read. We went to the Crow's Nest, where there is a tiny library of travel books, and nothing else. It looks like the age of digital books has struck cruise ship design.
But I found a book and D had one, so we sat there where we had the view in the photo. We read and watched the shuttles go back and forth carrying folks to the on-shore activities. Tom chatted with us for a while. Later, Sandy came by twice looking for him.
Somewhere in there we had our Bloody Mary (me) and Mimosa (D). After a bit we returned to the cabin to drop off the books.
Then we toured the shops (closed) level and the USSVI hospitality suite + vendor area. Since it had just opened, the place was jammed. We did a deck walk on level three until we came to a blockage, then returned to our origin side. Back to the cabin to do chores and change for the 1630 AAA-hosted cocktail party, after which we'll go to dinner.
The cocktail party turned out well. We saw a bunch of our sonar people and many others. D did red wine and I did margaritas. We left there to go to the dining room and joined many of the same folks at table 199 for 10. All the guys at this table are retired E9 Sonar Techs of the same period. We ate and talked and told "sea stories" about others and ourselves to a lot of laughter. The food was good, the service a bit slow.
Then D & I retired to cabin for an hour, after which we rose to the Crow's Nest to see who might be there. We met Michael and Mariann and chatted with them. Kenny joined us and found common friends with Michael.
As the crew was beginning to shut down for the night we returned to the cabin to read and rest. A good day.
Link to photos thru today
Clocks turned back to Central Daylight Time. At sea all day today, in transit to Jamaica. We'll pass between Haiti & Cuba, then turn west.
Beautiful weather today. We loafed and ate. D attended the American Kitchen presentation. I went to the cabin to get a book to take to the Crow's Nest, then locked the door with the key inside. So I attended the American Kitchen presentation, met D and retrieved the key.
We wound up in the Crow's Nest, reading and watching the ocean. Soon we saw distant hills of Cuba as we entered the Windward Passage. Two merchant ships coming the other way passed by us at a distance.
I attended the memorial service for lost submariners while D did the second show of AK. We met Ken & Sylvia for a glass, then Russ & Ann joined us so we chatted a bit.
We went to the Sip & Savor where we received a delicious little savory and a glass of good shiraz for $5. Best bargain on the ship. We met an elderly surface officer and wife who had lived in Jax Beach back when. Nice couple, but has a pic line installed to serve him several chemicals for heart problems. We later saw him using a walker, sad to see.
We dressed for gala night and joined our table. The food was very good again, and once again the service was slow especially for the entree and dessert. A floor overseer commented that the kitchen was "backed up". I suggest they fix the kitchen.
Richard & Ann celebrated their 53rd anniversary. The wait staff sang the usual song and gave them a nice little cake. We all applauded, of course. Russ & Ann stopped at the table and chatted for a moment, since he'd worked with all of us at some time. Ken & Sylvia also stopped for a minute.
We met Ken & Sylvia outside as we were leaving; they headed to the show and we headed for the cabin. At the cabin, Dendi was finishing the turndown so we watched him make the bed animal of the day - a peacock. We took his picture and applauded.
Then we got organized and read and rested. A fine day at sea.
Photo Link to Jamaica pictures
We watched the ship approach the pier and moor while eating breakfast. On the other side of the pier is the former bauxite loading facility - closed because the price went below cost to mine it. The ship was cleared and the gangway was opened, so we went to the pier and got in line for our Konoko Falls tour. Nineteen of us were escorted into a Mercedes bus where we watched Jamaican organization and coordination at it's best.
Finally things were sorted out to the point that all 8 supervisors and most of the on-lookers said we could depart. The gate was opened and we departed. To show us some of the local history of St Ann's Parish, the bus took us all around the town. Many churches, one statue of Columbus, one statue of Marcus Garvey the famous philosopher & organizer of the black population. The flag is yellow for the sun, green for the lush growth, and black for the people.
We stopped in a shopping plaza that had gates on it to keep out non-tourists. Poverty is rampant here; tourism is the major source of cash. We bought a few things.
We also saw schools and had the education system explained. There are two Universities on the Island - one is the U of Western Indies, here. School children wear uniforms.
D had a couple of creatures on her at one time, a macaw and an iguana.
After the falls Alvin drove us back to the dock gate. A guard looked at everyone's ship card and finally let us through. We went to our cabin to drop the bag of goodies. Then up to the Lido for lunch; I had spaghetti & marinara with a selection of added ingredients.
We ran into Russ & Ann again, also Tom Salisbury, and the regular herd of ours. After food, we returned to the cabin. D took a good nap while I did the notes of the day.
I took off at 1600 to get a drink at happy hour in the Ocean Bar. I ran into Beak & Tom T and ladies. Sat and talked with them for a while, then moved to Ken & Sylvia's table. He described his day. I told him what we're up to with Sip 'N Savor and later Pinnacle Grill. At 1630 the ship got underway for Georgetown, Cayman Islands.
We did Sip 'N Savor at 1700 with our "friends" of yesterday and enjoyed it. The tuna savory went well with the Pinot Noir. We even had a second glass since we were engaged in conversation. Their kids and ours are the same age and we were all in Virginia (suburban DC) at the same time. We had many things in common.
We prepared for dinner then wandered through the art gallery. There were some very good works but we have no place to hang another one. We went then to the Pinnacle Grill for dinner. The dinner there wasn't what we've had in the past on longer cruises, where there was perfect service in one sitting as well as fine food. This one was good service in two sittings with people wandering around, and fine food. I won't describe the dishes, but we ate well and had a good tawny port at the end. Then we retired to read and rest.