CARIBBEAN CRUISE 2011

Let me warn anyone who is going to read this...it is going to be long and probably boring. We just came back from a cruise to the Caribbean and I want to document it as detailed as possible. I don't want to ever forget how much fun we had and with my brain, those memories are already beginning to fade. I love to cruise....LOVE TO CRUISE. I am so glad that we took that big step in 2005 and decided to give it a try. Our original cruise started with 14 people and I think that on this cruise there were 42 people. Anyone who says that they don't like cruising have either not been on one, or they are flat out crazy. What is not to like about being pampered, eating like kings and queens, fun entertainment, exciting and fun adventures, seeing parts of the world I have earlier only dreamed about, night time dancing, hanging out with friends, and did I mention eating really good food???? I LOVE creme brulee, lobster, steak, new york cheesecake, crab, scallops, really most seafoods. This first picture is on here because when I asked him to let me take a picture of him to make sure the sim card was working the night before the cruise, this is his pose....so typical. I just noticed the commercial on the tv in the background though....hmmmmm.

After a three hour long bus ride to San Francisco, we finally arrived at the airport. We were tired but excited. Most of us had worked Friday and we were ready for the vacation. We usually take a red eye to the cruise port because we are all too cheap to fly there a day early and get a motel. So we suffer with the red eye....but it works.
We were excited that this year some of the Palermo staff decided to join us. Here we have three administrators and a teacher...Kathy, Andee, Carol, and Marlene. At first I thought it might be awkward traveling with my boss, but no worries, it was great.
Here we are all boarded for the first leg of our journey. We flew from S.F. to Charlotte, North Carolina. I hate to fly but I managed it well, but I have to say that I like flying with a lot of friends much better than alone, because I figure that if we go down, at least we will all go down together. I wanted to sit by Dennis and Keith since they are in the stake presidency. I figure if anyone on the plane would be safe, it would be them. If the plane did go down, I figure that some of us could end up on an island like in Lost, so I wanted to be next to the ones I figured might be spared. But fortunately, we were all safe and we never ended up on a deserted, unknown island with a scary smoke monster on it.
We were right across the aisle from Keith and the Jagodas.
Who is this, you might ask? This is the cute obgyn doctor who helped Maree. No, she did not deliver a baby. She merely passed out and she was sitting right next to me. Everyone was asleep and I looked over and she was hanging over the arm rest. At first I thought she was looking for something on the floor and then we hit a little turbulence and her body bounced up and then straight back down and I realized that something was wrong. I tried to get her to wake up but to no avail. She was OUT. I kept shaking her and trying to pull her back upright in her seat, but she woudn't wake up and now I know what the expression, "dead weight" means. I started calling to Keith across the aisle but he was sound asleep. I kept thinking, "Where are the stewardesses? Am I the only one who notices that she is hanging out in the aisle, totally out of it?" I kept calling for Keith and he finally woke up and just stared at me all confused. Finally he realized what was happening and helped me push her upright. Her head hit the headrest and her mouth dropped open. We continued to shake her, but she wouldn't wake up. We put some air on her and she finally started to stir. She was as white as a ghost. The stewardesses came and called for a doctor and this cute guy showed up. There was also a nurse on board who helped. She was still kind of out of it until the stewardesses started talking about turning the plane around and heading back for land and a hospital, since we had just started out over the ocean. This plane was filled to the max with people and I would imagine that most of them were headed to San Juan for the same reason we were....the cruise. Maree, even in her state of "stupor" was able to realize that heading back would make a lot of people just a little bit upset. So she rallied enough to convince the stewardesses and the doctor that she was okay and we continued on....thus saving Maree's life from the wrath of the cruisers.
Maree..... right after the color returned to her face and after convincing everyone that she really was okay. The funny thing is, right after it happened she commented that she didn't want anyone to really know about it. Well Louie had already texted Angelee and we were sure that someone had already posted pictures of it on facebook. We saw a t-shirt on St. Croix that I wish we had gotten Maree. It said, "What happens on St. Croix, stays on Facebook." And now here I am, blogging about it!! Technology....no secret is ever safe for even a minute!
We finally made it to the ship and we were all ready for it. Some of us ate some lunch and some of just explored the ship and some of us just relaxed while we waited for our luggage to arrive in our rooms. We were so thankful for that. We had been in the same clothes since Friday morning, had flown all night Friday night, and now it was Saturday evening. We were so thankful to shower and change. Here are the school people again plus Heather's friend, Darcy. She was so much fun. She reminded me a lot of Walt's cousin, Kathy. She was just fun and outgoing and friendly and kind.
Another fun addition to the cruise were these two. I grew up with Joann in Orland and they decided to come with us. We don't hang out much anymore so it was fun re-connecting with her and Dave. I hope they will come again and that now we can start hanging out more with them.
The first night's dinner....the first of seven nights of stuffing ourselves with unreal amounts of really rich food. The menu on this boat had a left side and a right side. The left side stayed the same every night and the right side changed each night. The left side included things like creme brulee (that's right, I had it every night), and a really good New York steak, and New York cheesecake (I had a few bites of it almost every night too), some salads, salmon and escargot...which I am sure is probably not spelled right. Who would eat that every night? I can't even try them because I see them on my back porch every night of the summer and think they are disgusting. The other side of the menu was different each night and provided a variety of food. Tom and I were talking about the food and we almost think that the food was "above" our taste buds. Some of it just sounded plain gross. I was almost going to get this baked potato soup one night. Sounds good right? Then I read that it has frog legs and squid in it. What a way to ruin a good thing. I did try frog legs when Walt had them one night and I have to say, I was not impressed. They were too slimy after you got through the breading on the outside. They didn't taste that bad, the texture was just gross and really....why eat a frog's legs? So I didn't try them again.
We love to dance and this cruise was great for that. We haven't had very good luck with dancing since our first cruise but this cruise made up for that. The band was fantastic and could play and sing everything from island music, to 50's, to 60's, and disco (Walt was a happy boy), and up through fairly current songs. They were fun and played fast dances, as well as slow. We loved them. The girl was a great singer and seemed to love what she was doing. Their name was Fusion.
Tom and Annette ... the real swingers in the crowd.
I was pleasantly surprised about these two. We have lived in the ward for 27 years and we don't really know Val and Angie that well. This was a fun time to get to know them. I didn't know that they danced. They were there almost every night. I have always admired Angie from afar because she reminds me of my sister, so it was great to spend a little time with them. She is so pretty.
Pat and Martin were another fun addition to the group. They danced a lot and I think a couple of nights they even closed down the place. They were so much fun. Martin was always willing to loan me money when we were on the islands if I had run out I or couldn't find Walt.
Crazy Keith and Susan. She just gets more and more wild the more tired she gets, and Keith is just always crazy.
Pam and Dennis. Dennis hates to dance but is always (well not always, but most of the time), willing to do it because Pam enjoys it. Dennis took some crazy pictures on the cruise...he would just make stupid faces, even when the professional people were taking the pictures. I am glad that I have a few, like this one, where he is just looking normal.
So that was the beginning of our cruise. I will post more, in fact, a lot more. I am so thankful that we were able to go on this. I am grateful for the fun and for the memories. I do love cruising.