Since Karis has not been able to visit her family in Indiana for several years, and Tanya had not yet met anyone outside of the immediate family, we wanted to make sure we visited them for Christmas. We had an excellent time. Tanya got to meet a lot of really important people in Karis's life - friends she's known since childhood, her aunt and uncle and cousins and cousins' kids, and the city in which she grew up. We had so much fun. Everyone was great, and Karis's family is awesome and welcomed Tanya with open arms.
If you ever make it to Indianapolis, though it is considered a mostly boring city built primarily for conventions and the Colts (and the Pacers, back in the day), there are a few places worth visiting. For one, The Children's Museum of Indianapolis is the largest in the world, and it isn't just for children. Well, it mostly is, but if you have kids, it is a great excuse to go and check out some of the awesome things they have. And your youngsters will surely thank you. The Indianapolis Zoo is also a pretty nice place, and pretty dedication to conservation and education, as well. We went to our annual Christmas at the Zoo, which is just them putting up a bunch of lights you get to see the animals in the evening hours.
We also got to spend a day in Chicago with Karis's brother. We saw Blue Man Group, we went to a supposed gay bar (although most gay bars are mostly men, even ones with "chicks" in the title...), checked out the Chicago Art Institute, and walked through the beautiful Millennium Park.
After a beautiful visit with family, we flew south to Ft. Lauderdale where we would board the ship we would call home for seven nights.
Now, as we stated in the last post, cruising doesn't seem the most eco friendly, but we did choose Holland America based on reviews on most earth friendly lines. Plus, it was way more relaxing (no hostel hopping, no restaurant seeking, no unpacking and repacking), and it's kind of an efficient way to see lots of different places. We went to four islands in the Caribbean, and we had two days at sea. It was pretty awesome.
So here it is:
Shuttle to check-in to waiting to escalator to boarding. We headed straight to our stateroom, of course, where they would later deliver our luggage, and wow. Cruise rooms are known for being tiny,
right? And ours wasn’t big. But we did something that her parents
suggested, and it really made all the difference in the world, and we will
never take a cruise differently – we got a verandah. So the room was a tad bit bigger, and we had
our own personal deck. It was really
terrific. Tanya was really sweet, too,
and got us Bon Voyage champagne.
Bahamas
The next morning, Saturday, we were in the Bahamas. Crazy!
We landed in Half Moon Cay early in the morning. We had an excursion planned, so we got an
early tender. The port was too shallow
for large boats, so we had to take a smaller boat to shore. They just used the lifeboats. When you first get off, there’s just a
tourist area where they have everyone meet for their tours. We signed up for a nature and history
walk. We decided it was the tour that
had the least impact and we got to learn about the Bahamas. We were really glad, too, because when we
stopped by the stingray place where you can swim with them, it turns out they
imported these stingrays, and they are enclosed in this 20 by 40 net. So we’re glad that we didn’t put money into
that. Anyway, the nature walk was really
lovely.
There were two ships at port, and combined they had a buffet
lunch. Now, the food on the cruise was
altogether really good, partly because we didn’t have to cook or purchase
it. But that day, the grilled rib cuts,
they were mouth-watering, melting off the bone, perfectly cut, and perfectly
cooked. It was kind of hard to stop
eating them.
We then made our way over to the beach. It was crowded, but for good reason. The sand was white and silky. The water was so blue and so clear, it was
kind of unbelievable. We brought our
snorkel gear, so we spent our time on the edge of the beach near the
rocks. There weren’t a ton of fish, but
it was still fun just to be in the water.
We laid on the beach and just let the water wash over us. There was really nothing bad about it. Except we got sand all in our hair, but that was worth it.
Jamaica
On our third day we landed in Falmouth, Jamaica. We made it a point to practice saying it
using a Jamaican accent. We got pretty
good at it. Anyway, we heard from lots
of people and read it all over the place that Falmouth isn’t safe for travelers
outside of the tourist area. When we got
there, we could see the port fenced off from the outside city. There are excursions with the ship that are
safe, but they are kind of pricey, and they are really crowded. We decided to take it easy and just get some souvenir shopping done. We ended up at a place that lets you do free rum tasting so you know which you want to buy. We figured it out pretty quick. And of course, the more stuff we purchased, the more they dropped the prices. Most places we went to, we would ask the price of something, and they would say something like, "Well, nomally it's ten dollas, but fah you, my friend, I can give it to you fah eight." And then we may or may not buy it. Most of our stuff, though, we ended up getting from the one rum store, because they kept dropping the price because we kept getting stuff. Mostly lots of rum. And we always get something slightly vulgar wherever we travel, too, so then they got even more happy to work with us. Pretty funny people, those Jamaicans. Oh, and there were these guys doing this amazing wood carving work. It was so beautiful! We bought a few of those, and then we watched them carve "Jamaica" into the wood. So cool. So talented!
The rest of the day time, we hung out on the boat. More on boat activities later.
Grand Cayman
Grand Cayman was definitely one of our favorite places, and we would totally go back just to go here. It was so awesome! Tanya had bought a tour to Sting Ray City, but it didn't leave until 12 something. But we looked around right at port, and there was a company selling the same tour for less money, and it was leaving earlier. Since we hadn't paid for the other, we just went ahead and went with this other one. It was totally worth it. They drove us over to the dock, then we took a boat ride out to this natural underwater sand bar where the sting rays can come and go as they please. Of course, though, they are used to people, so when the handlers pick them up, they are pretty calm. And they know they get fed. Sometimes they don't like it, and the handlers just let them go again. But the rays were massive!! There were some probably four feet wide. Just huge! Tanya and I got to take turns holding them, and they even let us kiss them. It was awesome. Such cool animals! And they are related to sharks, so it's kind of like we held a shark.
Side Story: We had met this nice family from our ship who was also going to the Sting Ray City tour with us. They were an older couple raising their grandson, pretty cool people, and he had a GoPro, which we didn't think much about because tons of people have a GoPro. Later, while swimming with the sting rays, Karis found a GoPro camera just lying on the floor of the ocean. We did not make the connection; we just thought we'd found a free camera. Sweet, right? Well... we get back on the boat, and we noticed our friend looking around outside the boat. We're nice, so we asked what they were looking for, and yes, it was their camera they had dropped when jumping out of the boat. So we gave it back, earned a little karma, and made some new friends. We don't need a GoPro anyway.
Side Story: We had met this nice family from our ship who was also going to the Sting Ray City tour with us. They were an older couple raising their grandson, pretty cool people, and he had a GoPro, which we didn't think much about because tons of people have a GoPro. Later, while swimming with the sting rays, Karis found a GoPro camera just lying on the floor of the ocean. We did not make the connection; we just thought we'd found a free camera. Sweet, right? Well... we get back on the boat, and we noticed our friend looking around outside the boat. We're nice, so we asked what they were looking for, and yes, it was their camera they had dropped when jumping out of the boat. So we gave it back, earned a little karma, and made some new friends. We don't need a GoPro anyway.
After the rays, they took us over to a barrier reef where we did some snorkeling. We love snorkeling, so of course any chance we get we enjoy. Although no place is going to offer what Galapagos did, every place is different and beautiful and awesome in its own way.
When we returned the right side of the island, we went over to Margaritaville for some a snack - we got volcano nachos. The restaurant is on the second floor, and we found seats under a little cabana there, which was right next to the little kid pool. It was pretty cute, all the kiddos running around, going down the slide. The weather was perfect, and the island is so clean, and the water is so clear. This was a great place. We walked around a bit before going back to the ship, visited the Harley store, got some pretty pictures of the area. This is definitely a Caribbean island worth visiting.
Key West
One great thing about Key West is that it is in the United States, so we didn't have to worry about currency or what we were allowed to bring back to the states. We did have to go through mandatory customs on the boat, but that was really easy. They just checked everyone's passports and asked us a few questions.
This is also a really beautiful island. It's kind of no wonder billionaires hang out here. At the very least, they keep it clean. We booked a snorkeling tour as soon as we got there, but it didn't leave until later. So we walked over to Nancy Forrester's Secret Garden, which is a bird sanctuary. Basically what she does is rescue birds who either are given away because the owners can't take care of them, sometimes the owner dies (parrots can live a long time), or sometimes the birds are mistreated and need to find a new home. She works really hard to make sure they find a nice home and feel safe when they are with her. We learned a lot about parrots and large cockatoos, and not that I ever wanted a bird, but at least now I know that I probably shouldn't have a bird. They are pretty needy animals. In fact, most people shouldn't have a bird as a pet. But anyway, we got to hold this awesome large cockatoo. He was really awesome. It was really interesting, a great learning experience, for sure.
We took a tour with Fury, which seems like a pretty rad local company. They are all about conservation and enjoying the wildlife without disturbing it. They do not have dolphin swimming tours, as this human interaction can be really stressful on wild dolphins (it can lead to stress-related health problems for them), but they do have dolphin viewing, a more responsible way to enjoy these awesome creatures in their natural habitat. We went ahead and did a snorkeling tour, and they took us to two barrier reefs. These were both really beautiful. The fish are so colorful, and we even saw barracudas! Sometimes I like to dive down to see the fish closer. I did not dive down to see the barracudas. They are a nice fish to admire from afar. Even from how deep the water was, we could see how huge they were, and their big mouths, and their teeth. So, that was cool.
We arrived back to the island with about enough time to catch a bus back to the boat. Where our ship had to take port was on active military property, so they had to bus us in and out, as civilians aren't allowed to just walk about freely on military grounds. But it was cool, because the trolley drivers gave us small tours to and from the ship.
Days At Sea
We had two days of traveling that we were just at sea. These were times that we were going around Cuba. So we saw Cuba, and we were technically in Cuban waters. From what we could see, it looks like a really beautiful place. Maybe someday we will get to go there, too. (We want to see everything!)
These days were largely spent gambling. Blackjack turned out to not be that great of a game for us. Although Karis did buy a ticket to play in the Blackjack tournament (only $20) because we had a coupon for a buy one get one free, and she did pretty well, but the last hand of each (only seven hands), she lost everything. Really, the goal was to end with more money than everyone else. So it was kind of an all or nothing game. But it was fun, and she would do it again. The game that paid out more than anything was Roulette. This is our game.
We also spent the days drinking, since we had that sweet beverage card.
We also spent the days relaxing. At the very front of the ship on the very top floor (right below the captain's deck) there is a library/cafe area with chairs that show a lovely view of everything in front of the ship. We also spent a lot of time hanging out on the verandah. This was one of our favorite places. And again, we will never do a cruise without one, ever. They are so necessary. Or maybe we're just spoiled now.
They have lots of activities during those days, though. We went to a cooking show. We attempted for about 30 seconds the Dancing with the Stars thing, but when we realized we had to participate, we left. We also watched a lot of the live piano and violin duet, which was really lovely.
And then we gambled some more.
Evenings
Every evening they had a dress code and a show. The two days at sea were "formal" nights, which was kind of exciting for us, because we don't really do formal very often. We don't really have a reason to do formal very often. It was kind of frustrating, because there was a fair number of people who did not get the "formal" memo, and wore like, shorts and a Hawaiian button down. Ugh. But we looked fantastic. And really, even on the "smart casual" evenings, we tried to look nice. We were among the few who did try to dress up. I was really glad we did, though. Anyway, we went to almost every show.
There was a duet singing show, which was pretty cool. The singers and dancers were really good. There was a comedian, but he wasn't funny. There was a juggler/comedian, though, and he was hilarious! Barry John. Really funny guy. There was another dancing show, but it was just okay, so we left. And then there was the Marriage Game Show, which was so funny! They got three couples - between 0-20 years, 20-40 years, and over 40 years. The over 40 years guy was hilarious. That was a pretty funny one. Then we did this other team game show where we hooked up with this other two gay guys, and to get points the host would yell out something to show him - like a real tattoo, or a baby picture, or a bra - and you had to take up your number and that item to get points. We did pretty good for only having four people on our team, but we did not win.
The last show of the week was the Dancing with the Stars: At Sea. Basically, the crew dancers danced with a passenger who signed up and was good enough, and they put on a show, and we voted for the best one. They were pretty good. It was a fun show.
Overall, the cruise was way, way better than what I had anticipated. You can be as involved or as hermit-like as you want. And there is so much good food. Even room service was 24/7. It was awesome. Our room was in the very back of the ship, so it provided us some pretty awesome views. And since we were right above the engines, it was kind of nice to leave the door to the verandah open and have the white noise of the water to fall asleep to. It wasn't a rumbling sound at all - just water. This is such a beautiful part of the planet. We're so glad we got to go!
When we returned the right side of the island, we went over to Margaritaville for some a snack - we got volcano nachos. The restaurant is on the second floor, and we found seats under a little cabana there, which was right next to the little kid pool. It was pretty cute, all the kiddos running around, going down the slide. The weather was perfect, and the island is so clean, and the water is so clear. This was a great place. We walked around a bit before going back to the ship, visited the Harley store, got some pretty pictures of the area. This is definitely a Caribbean island worth visiting.
Key West
One great thing about Key West is that it is in the United States, so we didn't have to worry about currency or what we were allowed to bring back to the states. We did have to go through mandatory customs on the boat, but that was really easy. They just checked everyone's passports and asked us a few questions.
This is also a really beautiful island. It's kind of no wonder billionaires hang out here. At the very least, they keep it clean. We booked a snorkeling tour as soon as we got there, but it didn't leave until later. So we walked over to Nancy Forrester's Secret Garden, which is a bird sanctuary. Basically what she does is rescue birds who either are given away because the owners can't take care of them, sometimes the owner dies (parrots can live a long time), or sometimes the birds are mistreated and need to find a new home. She works really hard to make sure they find a nice home and feel safe when they are with her. We learned a lot about parrots and large cockatoos, and not that I ever wanted a bird, but at least now I know that I probably shouldn't have a bird. They are pretty needy animals. In fact, most people shouldn't have a bird as a pet. But anyway, we got to hold this awesome large cockatoo. He was really awesome. It was really interesting, a great learning experience, for sure.
We took a tour with Fury, which seems like a pretty rad local company. They are all about conservation and enjoying the wildlife without disturbing it. They do not have dolphin swimming tours, as this human interaction can be really stressful on wild dolphins (it can lead to stress-related health problems for them), but they do have dolphin viewing, a more responsible way to enjoy these awesome creatures in their natural habitat. We went ahead and did a snorkeling tour, and they took us to two barrier reefs. These were both really beautiful. The fish are so colorful, and we even saw barracudas! Sometimes I like to dive down to see the fish closer. I did not dive down to see the barracudas. They are a nice fish to admire from afar. Even from how deep the water was, we could see how huge they were, and their big mouths, and their teeth. So, that was cool.
We arrived back to the island with about enough time to catch a bus back to the boat. Where our ship had to take port was on active military property, so they had to bus us in and out, as civilians aren't allowed to just walk about freely on military grounds. But it was cool, because the trolley drivers gave us small tours to and from the ship.
Days At Sea
We had two days of traveling that we were just at sea. These were times that we were going around Cuba. So we saw Cuba, and we were technically in Cuban waters. From what we could see, it looks like a really beautiful place. Maybe someday we will get to go there, too. (We want to see everything!)
These days were largely spent gambling. Blackjack turned out to not be that great of a game for us. Although Karis did buy a ticket to play in the Blackjack tournament (only $20) because we had a coupon for a buy one get one free, and she did pretty well, but the last hand of each (only seven hands), she lost everything. Really, the goal was to end with more money than everyone else. So it was kind of an all or nothing game. But it was fun, and she would do it again. The game that paid out more than anything was Roulette. This is our game.
We also spent the days drinking, since we had that sweet beverage card.
We also spent the days relaxing. At the very front of the ship on the very top floor (right below the captain's deck) there is a library/cafe area with chairs that show a lovely view of everything in front of the ship. We also spent a lot of time hanging out on the verandah. This was one of our favorite places. And again, we will never do a cruise without one, ever. They are so necessary. Or maybe we're just spoiled now.
They have lots of activities during those days, though. We went to a cooking show. We attempted for about 30 seconds the Dancing with the Stars thing, but when we realized we had to participate, we left. We also watched a lot of the live piano and violin duet, which was really lovely.
And then we gambled some more.
Evenings
Every evening they had a dress code and a show. The two days at sea were "formal" nights, which was kind of exciting for us, because we don't really do formal very often. We don't really have a reason to do formal very often. It was kind of frustrating, because there was a fair number of people who did not get the "formal" memo, and wore like, shorts and a Hawaiian button down. Ugh. But we looked fantastic. And really, even on the "smart casual" evenings, we tried to look nice. We were among the few who did try to dress up. I was really glad we did, though. Anyway, we went to almost every show.
There was a duet singing show, which was pretty cool. The singers and dancers were really good. There was a comedian, but he wasn't funny. There was a juggler/comedian, though, and he was hilarious! Barry John. Really funny guy. There was another dancing show, but it was just okay, so we left. And then there was the Marriage Game Show, which was so funny! They got three couples - between 0-20 years, 20-40 years, and over 40 years. The over 40 years guy was hilarious. That was a pretty funny one. Then we did this other team game show where we hooked up with this other two gay guys, and to get points the host would yell out something to show him - like a real tattoo, or a baby picture, or a bra - and you had to take up your number and that item to get points. We did pretty good for only having four people on our team, but we did not win.
The last show of the week was the Dancing with the Stars: At Sea. Basically, the crew dancers danced with a passenger who signed up and was good enough, and they put on a show, and we voted for the best one. They were pretty good. It was a fun show.
Overall, the cruise was way, way better than what I had anticipated. You can be as involved or as hermit-like as you want. And there is so much good food. Even room service was 24/7. It was awesome. Our room was in the very back of the ship, so it provided us some pretty awesome views. And since we were right above the engines, it was kind of nice to leave the door to the verandah open and have the white noise of the water to fall asleep to. It wasn't a rumbling sound at all - just water. This is such a beautiful part of the planet. We're so glad we got to go!
