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 9th 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".
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| The corridor on our deck went the entire length of the ship |
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| 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.
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| Not a very good photo, but you get the idea. They were all 'asleep"! |
Wednesday April 26,
2017 - Nick and Lyn’s 20th 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.
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| 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.
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| Roatan from the ship |
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| Monkey on her shoulder |
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| Flower with butterflys |
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| The ship as seen from the island |
Friday April 28, 2017
– “Belize” – Harvest Caye
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.
