This would all not be possible and smooth without the
help of our friends housesitting. The
dogs love them and they experienced a blended family. Lol. It
was such a relief. There can not be
enough thank you for their loving service.
We spent the afternoon and night with Leo and Ev, in Langley, going out
to the cranberry fields, and gearing up for the cruise early the next morning.
Getting on to the ship, orienting ourselves (took half
the cruise to figure out what deck, what way to turn off the elevators, and got
The Bee Man settled in the crow’s nest.
Our favorite place to be on a cruise.
Holland America did it up fine
for 21 days of sailing, with stops at San Francisco and San Diego, in the
States. Then down the Eastern Coast we
went with stops at Cabo San Lucas, Puerto Vallarta, and Huatulco, and Puerto Chiapas
Mexican ports. Down we went. with the
heat rising, to Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala.
Puntarenas, Costa Rica. Down further to spend a day traveling through
the locks of the Panama Canal. East and
down to Oranjestad, Aruba, then a wild few days in the Atlantic to Fort
Lauderdale, Florida. We went from Bunny hugs to the airiest, lightest Central
America dresses, panting as the heat rose, grateful for the Lido Market dining
area where there was constant air-conditioning.
There were not many times we all
went out onto the back deck to stay longer than half hour or so. I went often because…well, because. It was an absolute adventure I wish everyone
could experience. Yes, there were highs
and lows but I was determined to enjoy the adventure. If this creates a bucket list idea, you will
never be sorry.
It took me, and most others, many days to orient
ourselves as to what floor and where room.
I kept track of most of my footsteps on board and I average 8700 –
11,000 steps a day from bow to port, when I bothered to take my phone with
me. A Sail-Away party was held on the
back pool deck area and it was freeing.
I thought I would not need anything but I bought a couple of bunny hugs
to keep us warm, not knowing that would just be extra luggage for the rest of
the trip. But, traveling the decks and
getting to know our room was awesome.
Our room was an extra-large room with a larger deck because of Larry’s
Scooter and disabilities. Our bathroom
was a full shower and tiled bathroom that really helped. There was a stool and handles (which
eventually became weapons to The Bee Man’s thin skin. He eventually hung his swimming shorts over
them because they were placed lower inside of the bathroom door.) It took us forever to figure out how to turn
lights and air-conditioning on. In fact,
later on the cruise, he hit the wrong switch.
More on that later.) The whole
Lido market buffet had every kind of food you can imagine, and treats and
sweets, and the sweetest staff that became our favorites, whatever station they
were at. That night, the dinner menu
included steaks, mussels, and every trimming you could imagine. Every station had different kinds of ethnic
foods and the sweet stations always had some kind of special treats every
day. That night, the entertainment areas
had everything from Motown Love songs and Ports of call information. As well, there was a dive-in fast food place
midship for hotdogs and hamburgers, fries, of every kind. And, at the back pool area, there was homemade
pizzas made with whatever you choose on them.
At nights, for a late-night snack, they always had buns and munchies at
a couple of stations, and, of course, the ever ice-cream and sweet treats on
both side of the Lido market. One would
have to walk around all sides of the market to choose what you wanted to eat.
We were grateful that the ship was bigger than the Volendam Cruiser (circa 1450
cruisers) and smaller than some of the big cruise ships that flowed us and/or
were docked in the ports we stopped at.
There were circa 2100 cruisers and 930 crew.
I met some fabulous people out back and we spent hours
in the fresh air , as long as it was not a steam bath, and had many great
laughs and really learned to like each other and hanging out together. I actually met a woman whose father had the
band we danced to in late 60’s and early 70s, out of Lethbridge. We found out we have some common Scandinavian
last names and she was drawn to me because I looked, spoke and had gestures
that were so much like her mother’s. I
became fast friends with a couple from Kelowna and Vancouver. One of our group was from Ontario,
originally, and is a private chef on a yacht where she travels all over the
world with them. This was her
holiday. There was a table of four men,
all drawn together, we later learned, because all four of them had stage 4m or
worse, cancer. We disembarked with the
couple from Kelowna and flew on the same plane from Lauderdale and
Montreal. Funny story I will share
later. We have arranged to meet again in
the spring.
I made some fabulous friends. I met the daughter of the man who had a band
in Lethbridge who played at our dances in the late 60s and 70s and happens we have
similar paternal last names in our ancestry.
Fast fast friends. They made the
cruise all the more enjoyable. Much
laughter and commonalities. We,
certainly, will keep in touch.
I can say that, once we hit the Atlantic Ocean,
skirted the edge of a hurricane, I became wicked seasick and could not eat for
three days. It made the end of the trip
not so enjoyable. It has taken me a few
days to get back to some semblance of normal... for me. Many of us, mainly wives, had sunken to
eye-rolling and it was noticeable that 21 days might have been too long a
trip. We were all anxious about disembarkation
and what might go wrong with connections to the flight home because the
Northwest coasts were fraught with an atmospheric rain storm that would delay
us, on top of those incidents of things not going smoothly. As
expected, things did not go smoothly.
Carol Desjarlais 9.29.24
