How a Cruise Set My Resolve in Stone.
I relaxed, I was pampered, I saw the light.
I’m back from my cruise! Nothing bad happened! Everything good happened! I walked my little toes off both onboard and off, I ate sinful foods fit for at least demigods, I wore resort clothes (Thanks to many months of careful thrift shopping. Lovely stuff!), I hobnobbed some, I slept in a bed that moved like a cradle, I ventured into Central America and Mexico, I savored palm trees and beaches and the beauty of the land outside the touristy, overpriced shopping districts. I wandered around the tourist shops and even bought a few souvenirs (of course), and it was FUN!
The weather and the seas were perfect. Sunshine and warmth every day until our last, when it was in the mid-60s at Port Canaveral, our stopping point. A bit hot on shore in Belize and in Costa Maya, but nothing unbearable for us Northerners who reminded each other that it could be worse—it could be ice and snow.
Did I think about my age at all? I did. Our cabin was aft, and all of the action was midship. (I learned new words.) Lots of walking! Lots of waiting for elevators! I marveled that I could do that much walking, even just on the ship, and still get up and do it again the next day. I marveled that, at 87, among the oldest on board, I could do it all upright, albeit with a lovely cane, and not feel more than the usual twitches.
The cane, I have to say, gave me status. You’re pampered on board, sometimes to degrees that get slightly irritating, but try being in a wheelchair or walking with a walker or a cane. They’re all over you. The kindness oozes. It’s a bit unnerving, to say the least. But did I turn it down? Uh uh. 😉
We were on the Princess Caribbean and our stops were in Cozumel, Belize (formerly British Honduras), Roatán (an island 40 miles off the coast of Honduras), and Costa Maya (in Mexico, along with Cozumel). We took one tour and it was on Roatán. We toured botanical gardens, a bird sanctuary, and a chocolate factory in a small, quaint village called West End that reminded us all of old Lahaina as it was in the 1960’s, when we lived on Maui. We would all go back to Roatán if we ever had the chance. The rents are very inexpensive, and it’s safe. Maybe someday…
We fell in love with it and with our tour guide, Joanne, who wasn’t afraid to let us know how the current status of our country was affecting them, even though the American businessman sitting close by, with ties to Cape Canaveral, had just proclaimed his love for Elon Musk.
She talked, probably too much, about how bad their local government was, but she had a captive audience in the four of us, who wanted to know just such things. (A lot of graft and greasing palms. The public hospital burned down and now they’re at the mercy of private interests who aren’t keen on rebuilding, though rebuilding is in progress. And she told us of the sneaky things they do to get around it all. We could take lessons!)
Did Donald Trump loom, you’ll want to know? Only slightly. The four of us, my two daughters and my niece and me, are all of a mind when it comes to Trump, so each of us would read a bit about what was happening in our United States, grumble a bit, swear a bit, and then we would consciously turn it off, knowing it—he—would still be there when we got back.
We worried about how we Americans would be accepted in those countries after the Trump debacle, but tourists are their lifeblood. Sadly, they can’t do without us, and they know it. They’ve learned to live with the cruise ships blocking the beauty in their ports, with the need to try to speak English well enough to satisfy our needs, with pretending to like us, even when some of us are unlikeable. And with having to stoop to begging us to buy their goods.
We had dinner in the same dining room every night, mainly because we had the perfect table for four in the corner with an unobstructed view of the sea, and we had the best waiters ever! Tyrone and Paul were a hoot. They genuinely seemed to love what they do, they’re funny and cute, they remembered our names and our preferences, and if we saw them outside the dining room, they greeted us as if we were old friends. Loved them!
Tyrone is from the Philippines. He told us he works for nine months straight—no days off—and then goes home for three months. They do get breaks between dining hours but still work anywhere from eight to 15 hours a day, depending on what’s going on. He’s been doing it for seven years and he says he really likes it.
Did I write? I kept a journal of our trip, but I kept it short. Just the facts, along with some offhand thoughts. Turned out we could use the internet on just one device unless we wanted to pay an exorbitant amount for multiple devices, and I needed Wi-Fi on my phone in order to do anything on the ship, including ordering food, checking on shipboard events, or keeping track of my cabin mates. So my iPad sat there, lonely and useless. Which turned out to be fine. I needed that break.
So that was great! And now I’m ready to get back to work. More than ready, I’m energized. It was more than I expected, and it was lovely, and now I’m at home with some fine memories. But that wasn’t real life. It was pretend, and it’s over.
And just to prove it, this is what I came back to. Yesterday, driving back from Detroit, it was fine. Woke up this morning to this:
So here I am and here we go. It’s crunch time. Let’s get this mess under control!
Shall we?
So very glad you had a lovely time on the cruise!! You look great. What a HUGE ship that must have been. I haven’t been on a cruise for 15 years, but I always loved them! I am going to be 68 in May, I’m saving up to take a cruise for my 70th. You are an inspiration!
it looks like you had a lovely time! i love the photos! If you give another cruise a go i'd recommend SixStar Cruises https://www.sixstarcruises.co.uk/ They were super helpful and i had a really relaxing trip.