This all began on March 7th when Kathy’s clan came down from Hendersonville, NC to spend the night with us before the drive down to Port Canaveral on the 8th. What a visit we had that Thursday night…lots of family stories and laughs to be sure. The trip really started Friday morning as we headed out for Port Canaveral with two cars and more luggage than 6 people could use in a month. We arrived safe and sound at the Country Inn & Suites in Port Canaveral late that Friday afternoon and visited one of the local seafood restaurants that evening for a wonderful meal. Before leaving that restaurant I stopped and thanked the girl at the reception desk for a wonderful meal which prompted her to ask where I was from….go figure. She was from Maggie Valley, NC and thought it was neat to be speaking to someone from that area and it really made her homesick.
The big day arrived Saturday morning and we had a good breakfast at the motel and everyone except me wanted to go shopping for various items they figured they did not bring and would need on the cruise. While everyone else was shopping I was tuned into the local news and when the forecast came up it was not what one who is going on a cruise would want to hear. There was a large storm in the North Atlantic and it was creating rough surf all along the Florida coast and the weather guy said it would not be a good day to go sailing off the coast of Florida.
Day 1 March 9, 2013: Being the fearsome six we indeed boarded the ship and set sail at 4:00pm that Saturday March 9th maybe not to be heard from again. When we got out of port to open sea I understood what the weatherman was talking about … the ship started moving from left to right - front to back. When you walked down the halls you were bouncing from one wall to the other. This did not bother me as it just brought back memories of past staggering events without rough seas.
Day 2 March 10, 2013: The next morning at 8:30 am we reached our first port of call which was Nassau. We had paid for a beach excursion at the Atlantis which was going to be a great day. When we exited the ship to get up with our fellow happy excursion people we found out that it had been cancel due to high surf. However, while standing in line I was complaining to Kathy about it being chilly and not bringing a jacket. A lady in front of us turned around and said you “poor baby”….anyway we got to talking with her and she was also from Hendersonville NC, and they all knew someone that someone knew. We would not be deterred from having a great time so we went to the Atlantis…found the casino and lost all the money we were going to be credited with for the cancelation of the excursion…not really, but we did loose it later.
Day 3 March 11, 2013: We had a great time at sea the next day with the ship still pitching in all directions. It was Lynda’s birthday and we had a great time that night celebrating this milestone while she was in her cabin sea sick. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!
Day 4 March 12. 2013: We arrived in beautiful St Thomas and was looking forward to a day of exploring the island plus going on our already paid for excursion of visiting the island of St John. Go ahead and guess….what do you think happened? You are probably correct the excursion was canceled due to high surf. However, that did not deter us from having a good time. We went on a island tour in a open type transportation vehicle and had a ball getting to see some of the most beautiful beaches in the world plus Kathy and I got to have a good kiss over an ass.
The donkeys name was Monica Lewinsky. We also got to celebrate Lynda’s birthday that night when she was present….those waiters can really sing.
Day 5 March 13, 2013: We arrive in beautiful St Maarten and this being our last port we were very excited about the possibilities of having a fantastic time. It all started with a sail and snorkel on a great catamaran in the Caribbean. Everyone was told to raise their hand if they got in trouble while snorkeling and they would pick you up in a motorized dingy. The snorkel part did not go good with Robert as he got in trouble and kept raising his hand and everyone on the boat thought he was waving and we were all waving back. He almost drowned…well maybe not, but he did get picked up in the dingy.
This was a great party boat and everyone had a great time doing the electric slide and socializing. We are back on board the Dream and waiting to depart from St Maarten when and announcement came across the whatever it is stating that the crew was having to perform some maintenance checks and the elevators, commodes and some air conditioning would be disabled for approximately 15 minutes .. anyway shortly everything was working OK and we were waiting further word about what is going on.
Day 6 March 14, 2013: We now know that we are going to be transported back to Orlando by charter flight sometime in the next day or two. During the mean time we are to suffer on St. Maarten enjoying anything that is available in that paradise.
Day 7 March 15, 2013: We are still suffering in the warm temperatures in the Caribbean and just found out that we had a flight out to Orlando tomorrow night at 9:30 which means we will have to leave the ship about 6:00pm. In the mean time all of us went downtown St Maarten to do a little shopping…what a neat place. Charleston could take some pointers from here. We took a cab ride back to the Dream with a cab driver that was drinking beer all the way back. Must be different laws there.
Day 8 March 16, 2013: Another lazy day on the ship other than packing and getting ready for our departure at 6:00pm. During all of this time Carnival has flown in from corporate headquarters bunches of professionals to help with scheduling of the evacuation of the ship…and I must say that they did a fantastic job. In addition Carnival flew in Jon Secada and one other entertainer that I don’t remember the name of to entertain the people that were having to suffer through such a great tragedy. We exited the ship at approximately 6:00 pm and boarded a caravan of buses that was to take us to the airport. Ladies and gentlemen I have never been on a bus ride like this in my life...there was a local police truck leading the caravan with blue lights flashing and siren blasting plus several police motorcycles with flashing lights and sirens blasting. Kathy said that this ride to the airport was something that should have been in a movie…and I had to agree with her. They stopped all traffic coming and going to let us go through…WOW what service. We got to the airport to find Carnival employees stationed every 30 feet or so making sure we were getting on the correct flight. After boarding this Delta 767 charter flight to Orlando we were treated like most air travelers are with a pack of dry raisins and a soda for the 3 ½ hour flight.
Day 8-9 March 16-17: The flight was good other than my knees pressing into my brother-in-laws back…and me telling him I would kill him if he leaned his seat back. It really was a good flight and we arrived in Orlando around 12:00pm. Now we have to go through customs to make sure we have not done whatever it is that you are not suppose to do. I am telling you that there was maybe fifty counters available an only 5 open…sounds like Wal-Mart to me. After getting through customs we had to ride a tram to the main terminal to wait on a bus to take us to our hotel.
We eventually got to our hotel…maybe we should call it a resort…Caribe Royale Resort. I have never stayed in such a upscale room in my life ( I might add that Carnival paid for all of this and all of the meals involved.) However, we were only there from 4:00am till 11:00am. And then we got in a van to take us back to Port Canaveral to fetch our cars.
One last note…when we got to Port Carnival our almost new car would not start.
Love it….What a great time!!
