A Decade of Marital Bliss :)

An anniversary is a time to celebrate the joys of today, the memories of yesterday, and the hopes of tomorrow. 

Ten years! Where has time gone? Our life together has been wonderful with all of its ups & downs, but that’s what makes life more interesting. Don’t you agree? Just like any other relationship, no thing great is created suddenly... there must be time... let it bloom, bear fruit and then ripen. I love celebrating every landmark or milestone that happened in my life... in my marriage. We live only once, so I'm thankful for everything that comes our way. For the bad to make us stronger and for the good to keep us going and appreciate how life truly is wonderful...

To celebrate this special occasion, my husband and I decided to treat us to a 6-day cruise to the Caribbean. We have taken cruises before and we always love it. I guess you could say that we are fans of cruising. Even our daughter who’s still a toddler at the time loves the sea voyage, except one time. This was my husband’s sixth cruise, fifth for me & third for our daughter. We have been cruising with The Royal Caribbean International and love everything about them! We have never been disappointed. This time, we sailed on The Navigator of the Seas. It is considered a work of art. The ship is huge and a marvel...it just sails effortlessly through the waters of the Caribbean. The ship has so many amazing features like: a rock-climbing wall, a basketball court, an ice-skating rink and an in-line skating track, a five-story theater, a casino, a miniature golf course and a spectacular three-story dining room! Describing it is one thing and seeing it in person is another.

First day of the cruise, so exciting! We arrived at Fort Lauderdale, Florida. We drove for three hours from our house in Cocoa Beach, which beats the airport madness. $70 a week for the covered parking wasn’t too bad either. Getting on board was pretty efficient and fast. Royal Caribbean crew is wonderful at checking us in and taking us to wherever we need to go. In half an hour or less, we are already inside the ship, checking the view and watching the other cruise ships getting ready to head towards the Caribbean. The Everglades Port in Fort Lauderdale is so beautiful! The homes along the channel are probably worth multi-million dollar with a yacht parked in every backyard. As we were passing by, some of the people waved at us, so friendly... I thought. I wonder if they ever get tired of waving to strangers in ships. Reminds me of our neighborhood, only in a much smaller scale. When we are boating around the canals, our neighbors would wave at us and we wave back. We also heard that apparently, Fort Lauderdale is the Ferrari Capital of the world. I wonder if it still is after the economy came tumbling down. Anyway, watching the ships leave one at a time looked like a parade. There must have been 5 or more, different cruise ships heading for the Caribbean. It’s comforting to know that we won’t be all alone out there in the Atlantic Ocean. Not too long after leaving the port, the fire drill started and we have done this before, the fifth time actually. Bill hated this part, but it’s good to know what you are supposed to do and where you are suppose to assemble in case of emergency. After all the excitement of the drill, we stroll along the amazing Promenade. The shops are enticing; I just couldn’t wait to check them out when they open. After the window-shopping, off we go to check our room and get ready for our first dinner, meeting with the other groups in our table. We decided on a first setting, since the second dinning is at 8:30, which is late for us. We wanted to see a show after dinner and relax at our room to watch a movie before midnight. The first time we arrive at the main dinning room, we were escorted to where our table is. After sitting down, we introduced ourselves and everybody gave his or her names. Everybody seemed nice. Off to a good start until we started with appetizers. One of the passengers, a lady accompanied by her husband and son has an acid reflux! Oh God... she was throwing up the whole time. She couldn’t keep anything in. From the looks of everybody’s face, it was bad. She used up her napkins and then her husband’s and our waiter gave her more to throw up in. Now, I don’t know anybody with acid reflux, but it was not a good dinner scene. I felt like throwing up myself. You can hear it coming! I feel sorry for the poor lady, but Bill couldn’t take anymore of that. So the following night, we asked the dinning room director to assign us to another table. It turned out to be a good change. We were moved to a different floor and the table only had a family of three, a couple with a nine-year old son. They were originally from Japan, the husband got a job in Michigan and so they moved there. I think he was an engineer. Very nice family, of course Alayna was excited having another kid in our table. Dinnertime from then on was pleasant and we loved every one of them. The food is always detectable. No matter how full you are there is always room for dessert! We have forgotten the first night, like it never happened.

The second day of the cruise, at sea...

“Travel has a way of stretching the mind. The stretch comes not from travel’s immediate rewards, the inevitable myriad new sights, smells and sounds, but with experiencing firsthand how others do differently what we believed to be the right and only way.”
 
Third day, our first destination: Ocho Rios Jamaica, which translates to eight rivers. Supposedly, this part of Jamaica has plenty of rivers and waterfalls and greener compared to Montego Bay, I think and not as congested. After getting off the ship, we hired a van to take a land tour. We didn’t really know where to go; so let our driver took us wherever the interesting parts of Ocho Rios are. First off... we drove to the rainforest, it appears that it is popular among tourists. The drive was quite beautiful, so green and serene. Reminds me of the mountainous area in Camiguin, the island where I was born. So green and lush! As we were driving by, some tourists tasted some island delicacies along the way. I wasn’t sure about it so we just posed and took pictures. After a relaxing drive in the rain forest, our driver took us to one of the many waterfalls in the area. We didn’t stay very long though, just looked around and we couldn’t wait to see more of Ocho Rios. Driving along the coast was so beautiful! Too bad we didn’t bring swimsuits and towels with us or we could have swim in the beach. We saw children having so much fun in the beach that Alayna wanted to join in. Instead, we went for souvenir shopping: some postcards, t-shirts, photo frames, caps like we always do in every port. The tour was about few hours, but it seemed like we saw a great deal of Ocho Rios. All those sight seeing, we had to stop at a restaurant by the port and have some drinks before proceeding to the ship. What a fun day it has been!

1. “Experience, travel – these are as education in themselves” – Euripides

“You do not travel if you are afraid of the unknown, you travel for the unknown, that reveals you with yourself.”

The fourth day, Georgetown, Grand Cayman! This was our second visit to the island. A lot of construction at the port at this time, they were expanding the areas for the boats to tender and adding more shops. Apparently Hurricane Ivan hit the island in 2004 and over 80% of the buildings were either damaged or completely destroyed. Ivan was the worst hurricane to hit the island in 86 years. I wonder if some of the construction was part of the cleanup. Anyway, my family didn’t take a tour of any kind. We just roamed outside the port shops, bought some souvenirs, and watched people at the beach, rocky beach that is and dangerous looking. We did a lot of walking and resting, shopping and people watching, posing and taking pictures. Georgetown has a population of 30,000, but the tourists that hit the island every time cruise ships arrive is estimated at 4,000 to 22,000 depending on the number of ships in port. It’s also interesting that there are just as many banks as shops in the island. The Cayman Islands is widely known to be one of the world's leading offshore financial services centers. Still, tourism is about 70% or more of the islands annual GDP. Thanks to the famous beaches like Seven Mile Beach, Stingray City and the Cayman Islands is considered as one of the World’s best scuba diving destinations. Bill have scuba dived in the island many years back. He said that the water is crystal clear and you could see under water for a long ways. They feed stingrays at the Stingray City. He did a lot of scuba diving before we met. I’m not very good at swimming, so the thought of scuba diving creeps me out. Maybe someday... somewhere :))

Back at the ship, we headed to the pool area and did some relaxation, getting some more sun tanning and pina-Colada while Alayna is having enjoyment of her own at the children’s' lounge. After an hour, we headed back to our room and got ready for dinner. We love the services and choices in the Main dinning room more than the buffet in the Windjammer Cafe. Who can resist those delicious shrimp cocktail or escargot, lobster tail or maybe filet mignon and don’t forget the yummy selection of dessert after dinner. After all the socializing and supper, off we go to see a nightly entertainment... a stroll at the Promenade... some shopping... then after all that, we are totally ready to hit the sack. It has been a long and enjoyable day.

“Certainly, travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living.”

Fifth and Sixth Day... at Sea heading back to Fort Lauderdale...

What to do for two days at sea. Well, how about hitting golf balls in the mini golf, table tennis, shooting hops, rock climbing, in line skating, or just simply hang around the pool and swim or if you are feeling lucky, how about a poker game or a roulette at the Casino Royale. Kids can have their own fun at the kids’ lounge playing with other kids, making crafts or join a parade with the activity cruise director. Lots & lots of things to do! We have been spending most of our time at every port destination that we didn’t really get to see or do everything there is to do in the ship, so this is the best time to catch-up! And also more time for relaxing and playing and eating. Don’t worry about gaining a lot on this trip, so much walking involved even in the ship that whatever you think you’ll gain would just burn off from all of the activities and walking involved. Staying fit is not hard either, the ship has many exercise equipment on board that anybody can use whenever you felt like it. The Spa is wonderful if you’d like a massage.

It’s also time to say goodbye to everybody... the other family in our table. Our waiters and room attendant had been outstanding! The crew deserves a standing O for all their excellent efforts, for keeping us all happy and content the whole week!

    “We must go beyond textbooks, go out into the bypaths and untrodden depths of the wilderness and travel and explore and tell the world the glories of our journey.”