The Adventure Begins

Okay Dear Readers – sorry that we haven’t posted sooner but we have been very busy. The flight from Appleton to Minneapolis was delayed but luckily we had a 3.5 hour connection. We had a lovely dinner at the airport in Minneapolis and boarded our flight to Miami. I had a terrible headache so I took a little white pill and then slept most of the way. Amy did something; I’ll have to ask her how the flight was. We landed in Miami where local time was 11:30 pm and the temperature was ….drum roll please….77 degrees. Hotel was conveniently located and they give you cookies. Small glitch, even though I confirmed on Thursday our room, they stuck us in a smoking room with one king size bed. This is how rumors start. We slept in, enjoying our time away from animals. We spent part of the morning lost in the Miami International Market. It was adjacent to our hotel and I was looking for a swim cover-up. What we found was store after store after store of bling. We could never live in Miami, we are too bland.

We then checked out and took a lovely taxi ride to the Port. Our taxi driver knew a few shortcuts and didn’t believe in lane markers. We arrived safely (phew!) and quickly made our way through security, picked up our cabin keys and ditched the omnipresent photographers. We quickly made our way to our first buffet – ITALIAN!!! We enjoyed a lovely eggplant tart and miscellaneous salads with pesto, etc…..did I mention I had ice cream first? It was then followed by my first pina colada. Amy enjoyed lemonade and huddled in her sweatshirt. Amy’s new name is Huhnuk Hunukaa Clucknauka which translates to “girl who wears sweatshirt on cruise”. We then found our closet, I mean cabin, and unpacked. Then we took part in the mandatory life boat drill. We looked fab in our safety gear and in the event of an emergency we are set. We then explored the ship and after a few hours were able to find our cabin again. The shops have a delightful combination of tanzanite and pirate paraphernalia. Guess what I am buying? Amy will be purchasing the sweatshirt, sweatpants and windbreaker. Hopefully she won’t be wearing her winter coat, which she packed.

We had dinner reservations at 8:15 and decided to try a pre-dinner martini. It was a wonderful chocolate martini but as Amy and I soon discovered, we are “frugal” drunks. It only takes one drink and we are swaying on our feet and unfortunately it wasn’t because we were on a cruise ship. One good thing about the drink is that it warmed us up quite quickly. We made it to the dining room where we managed to stay awake and between us we may have said 20 words. It is Valentine’s Day, a Saturday night, we are on a cruise and what are we doing? Yawning and holding our heads so they don’t drop and hit the table. Shrimp cocktail was our appetizer and then we had an Indian Vegetarian dinner and Pan Seared Tilapia. Guess who had the vegetarian dinner? Yes it was me. Amy had the fish. Doesn’t she know that fish swim around in their own giant toilet? I learned that as a child and it has served me well since. Dessert was a chocolate decadence creation with hearts galore. They even gave all the women a red carnation. We then stumbled back to the cabin where we foolishly attempted to blog. Needless to say it didn’t work and we quickly went to bed. Oh I forgot, Amy was still cold so we turned the AC off, the heat up, put an extra blanket on her bed and she even put on her robe provided by the cruise ship to warm up. Funny! If only I wasn’t tipsy I would have taken a picture. Day 1 of Amy & Lori’s cruise is complete.

Day 2.
Amy awakes early and explores the ship in jeans and a sweatshirt. She strategically saves 2 chairs for us near the pool with a perfect view for the hairy chest contest at 1:30. Too bad I shaved for the cruise, I might have been a contender. I was awoken by kids stomping and screaming in the hallway. We had a lovely breakfast on the deck. The croissants aren’t as buttery as past cruises. We are currently reading, and enjoying the sun. Amy actually went back to the cabin and changed into shorts. The sun is warm, the skies clear and the water a deep blue. Like is good.

We continued baking in the sun. Amy actually warmed up enough to change into her bikini. Our stomachs alerted us to the fact it had been 3 hours since our last meal. Quelle horror!!! We quickly scampered to the buffet, and as they were just opening, we were first in line. Today’s buffet was a Caribbean theme. Yumo!!! Fried plantains, fritters with squid (yucko but Amy ate one), fabulous salads with wasabi, pickled squash, noodles with mung paste, fried dumplings, etc…….we are sampling quite the variety of foods on this cruise. Don’t worry, for the non-adventurous foodies out there, you can always get a hamburger or pizza. Dessert was fabulous, some sort of cheesecake and a strawberry thingy. Stomachs happy, we return to the oven (deck) to continue our baking. Amy has a lovely mocha shade going on. I am as pink as a lobster, even with 50 SPF sunscreen. We then watched part of the Hairiest Chest contest but soon realized it was an indication that the moral fabric of our society was unraveling before our very eyes. I feel asleep and Amy continued to bake, she is almost thawed out. A few more days and she will be room temperature.

We then decided to book our excursion for Cozumel. After much discussion and research, we are going on the Deluxe Sail, Swim & Beach Party. We board a catamaran, snorkel in the Gulf somewhere off Cozumel, we then go to “one of the finest beaches on the Yucatan peninsula” where we will enjoy complimentary cold beers and margaritas. Dos Coronas por favor!!! We then will return to the dock, where we will visit local shops and purchase much needed prate paraphernalia for Jimmy Buffett and of course, 3 foot sombreros to match our 3 foot pina coladas. We hope to be on board when the ship sails at 10 pm for Grand Cayman. We returned to the deck to continue the thawing process and it was so warm we ordered our first lava flow. They didn’t know what a lava flow was but they improvised quite nicely. One ice cream headache later, we were relaxed and enjoying the waning sun. They also had the Daytona 500 on the jumbotron. Go Jeff!!!! The sun disappeared from our location, and in the shade Amy began to stiffen with cold.

We are now in our cabin, blogging obviously, but we will be preparing for the Captain’s Dinner. Apparently it is a big deal. My question is, who is driving during the party? We have been on board for a little over 24 hours and we have had more fun and done more stuff than we do in months on the mainland. Stay tuned readers for our next blog. It won’t be until Tuesday because Monday is booked solid with sun, water, fish, beach, alcohol, shopping, pirates (ARRRRGHH), sombreros, sunburn, salty hair and strange people staring at us. Like they never saw a Godzilla and a hobbit covered in sand, wearing sombreros, saying ‘arrrgh mateys” as they stumble to a cruise ship. It happens every week in the Caribbean. Enjoy the photos, we are sure there will be plenty more of this quality. Adios from Dos Amigos somewhere in the Gulf of Mexico!!