All at sea

Saturday April 22, 2017

We had a “showing” this morning. A retired couple looking for a DeFever trawler. They were on board for 90 minutes and seemed to be impressed but when we left town Sunday afternoon on Norwegian Jade we had not heard a peep from them, not even a “Thank you for showing us your beautiful boat” email.  

We picked up Darrel Bass and his SO at their hotel just before lunch and brought then to Tide Hiker for the day. Darrel helped me launch the dink and we ferried over to a water front restaurant for lunch. Most of the rest of the afternoon involved preparations for our “pre cruise” party.

Nick and Lyn arrived about 4 PM. Dick and Betty about 6 PM and finally Jay and Lovie about 7 PM. Deidre had a huge supply of hot and cold snacks and we partied on till about 10 PM when all these “oldies” started to waver. Not like the old days. But I thought it was a huge success.

Sunday April 23, 2017

Sunday morning (nursing a fuzzy brain) we cleaned up the remnants on the party and prepared Tide Hiker for her week alone. By 11:30 we were Ubering to the ship and all settled on board by about 1 PM.

The ship is impressive – just under 100,000 tons, 1,000 feet long and carrying 2,600 passengers. It was recently renovated and seems in perfect condition. We left the dock right on time at 4 PM and headed down the bay. There is virtually no sensation of movement and no vibration from engines.

Our group of 10 are all on the 9^th deck. Jay and Lovie have a real suite and a grand balcony overlooking the bow, and so that will be our meeting room each evening before dinner. The rest of the group have balcony rooms - except the Blackmans who have an inside room on the same deck. Our theory is simple - we would prefer to do two cruises with inside rooms rather than one cruise with a balcony room.

Tonight we went to the Asian restaurant and it was fine.

Monday April 24, 2017

All day at sea. Breakfast in the Grand Pacific dining room – good. The rest of the day we spent swapping between sun and shade, reading books. We did not venture into the pool. It seems that the ship is mostly populated by overweight people that have selected the “all you can eat” and the “all that you can drink” packages.  We have decided to keep out of the two pools for "health reasons".

The corridor on our deck went the entire length of the ship

Our room - after Tide Hiker it was 'spacious"

Tuesday April 25, 2017 – ANZAC DAY

We arrived at our first port sometime this morning – COZUMEL. Just enjoyed a light breakfast on the stern deck, level 12. Very fine way to start the day.

We have not booked any excursions thru the ship. Mainly because I think I can do better independently on shore and also because Deidre’s sciatica is really bothering her, and we will not be doing much walking. So I went ashore and spec’ed out what was available, and decided upon a horse and buggy tour of the “city”.  Mexico is Mexico, and not much has changed that reality in poor old Cozumel.

Tonight we went to our first 'show" - it was a hypnotist and he was amazing. He put a dozen people to sleep on the stage and had them do all sorts of strange and funny things.

Not a very good photo, but you get the idea. They were all 'asleep"!

Wednesday April 26, 2017 - Nick and Lyn’s 20^th anniversary - Costa Maya

Terrible place – Mexican effort at Disney world. In the middle of nowhere. Jay and I rented a golf card and we rode around with the girls and had a couple of beers and lunch in town. Town was a very shabby place and there was no way I would put a toe in the water.

Jay and I selected the place with the "$1 beers" but Lovie selected a mixed drink and it was $12! 

Tonight was our first "Special Dinner"for Nick and Lyn’s anniversary followed by another show – "Blazing Boots" and it was excellent!.

Thursday April 27, 2017 – Roatan

This morning we woke up docked in Roatan, a small island 40 miles off the coast of Honduras. The place looked encouraging – water was blue, the dock looked festive and there were hills. Once again, we had not booked any ship excursions, preferring to proceed independently.

I headed to the dock and found a place that would rent us a car at a reasonable price. While on the dock I ran into Dick and Betty and invited them to accompany us. We picked up Deidre and we were on our way. Guides were available “for a tip” and we ended up with a nice young lady who spoke excellent English. There was only one “main” road on the island.         

The island was still in the “poor” category but significantly cleaner and better maintained than Mexico. There was really not much to see, but our guide took us to an animal sanctuary and that turned out to be fun. After an hour or so at the sanctuary we picked up the guides daughter from school and dropped them both off in town and headed for the beach.

Roatan from the ship

Monkey on her shoulder

Flower with butterflys

The ship as seen from the island

Friday April 28, 2017 – “Belize” – Harvest Caye

This island is 100% transplanted USA. But we went ashore like good tourists and had a swim in the ocean and the pool. It was amazingly hot so we were back on the boat early.

WOW! Now I can say I have been to Belize!!!

Belize seems to be densely populated with very well fed people.

Belize is very well organized country

We departed Harvest Cay about 1 PM. Now will be running continuously to Tampa, arriving AM Sunday. The wind has built steadily since them and is now about 45 knots with “mounting seas”! The last wave measurement we saw at about 6 PM was 14’. later in the evening the waves were averaging 21' The starboard deck has been closed because the apparent wind there is over 50 mph. This huge ship is just pounding thru the weather. Fun!

Dinner in the French restaurant – OK but ordinary. Back in our cabin we read that the wind is still about 50 knots and the waves have built to over 20’. The ship is just blasting thru the weather and doing 25 knots. Every now and again we hit a larger wave and the boat shudders. Fun! Glad we are not riding in Tide Hiker in these conditions.

The wifi on the boat is expensive and unreliable which I find most frustrating.

My strongest and most positive feeling about the cruise is the staff - just great. Apparently from over 60 countries, never a grumble and always a smile and a greeting.