Gallivanting Grandma

Sunday December 18, 2016  Easterly Wind: Force 9 – Strong Gale; 80 degrees

The ship rocked and shook and shuddered all night long as she crossed the Caribbean Sea from Aruba to Florida.  I awoke to see heavy rain, wind, and spuming whitecaps on the water.  It was difficult to calculate the height of the waves from above but from a lower deck, we saw that they were impressive.  It was a weird experience taking a shower in a moving box this morning.

There were too many shopping scams on the ship posing as activities so the list of events today weren’t thrilling.  Jeff found a good table by the front window in the Horizon Court, so we watched the frothing waves as we ate a leisurely breakfast.  The stabilizers keep the ship from rolling in heavy seas, but they cause the ship to shudder and shake.

We went to the theater to hear a presentation given by one of the junior officers about the workings of the ship. His talk was very interesting and we learned a lot about how the ship runs, the navigation system, and how to become a seaman.  Unlike airline pilots who advance from the US military, the captain and higher level crew are graduates of merchant marine colleges and have years of experience on big ships.  This 3rd Officer, Junior Officer of the Watch (his title) was from Saskatchewan, Canada!

Later, the sun came out but the wind continued to blow.  We were heading northwest for most of the morning and about 2:30 we changed course to North.  We could see Haiti to starboard and then the ship passed through the channel between Cuba and Haiti.  

We decided not to participate in the third and final “formal night” although the other two were fun.  We opted instead for a simple dinner and watched “The Girl With the Pearl Earring” movie.

Monday December 19 – Last Day at Sea: Easterly wind Force 8 – Gale

The ship’s clocks were turned back one hour last night.  We’re finally on Eastern Time!  Yay!!  There were still white caps on the dark blue sea and the air is warm and humid.  But we’re heading home.

We went to the theater to watch a funny and entertaining presentation given by the  executive chef, Dirk Daumichen, and the Maitre d’Hotel, Ignazio D’Agostino.  

They talked about their jobs, gave a comical cooking demonstration, then took 600 people through the main galley for a tour of the ship’s huge kitchen.  

We entered the Bordeaux restaurant and went through the service door and down an escalator into a clean, shiny, stainless steel world.

At the end of the tour, Ignazio and Dirk signed their cookbook which was offered for sale.  

We spent our final day on the ship keeping busy and relaxing: listened to jazz in the Wheelhouse; saw a presentation of Hollywood Christmas movies; lounged on blue deck chairs while listening to recorded books; and walked around the promenade deck.

We had a delicious comfort food dinner – turkey for me and meatloaf for Jeff – in the Bordeaux Dining Room.  We shared a table and good conversation with a father and son from Ohio and a couple from Los Angeles.

The waiters were dressed up in red, white, and blue vests and near dessert, they performed a “Baked Alaska Parade” singing and dancing around the dining room.  It was a wonderful celebration and a great finale to a fun cruise.  

Tuesday – December 20 – Welcome to Port Everglades – Fort Lauderdale, Florida

I awoke before the alarm at 6:30.  The Island Princess was docked at the commercial harbor.  We received Disembarkation directions and were ready to go by 7:30.  We had a leisurely breakfast in the Horizon Court, watched the ships moving across the harbor, and waited for our time to disembark.  We had an afternoon flight back to New York City.  It was good to be home.

Saturday December 17, 2016   Mostly sunny, breezy – 82 Degrees

The ship’s clocks were advanced another hour last night, so Aruba must be on ‘Atlantic Time.’  We relaxed on deck in the morning as the Island Princess maintained an easterly course across the Caribbean Sea.  The first signs of land were white birds flying alongside the ship.

We saw the island of Aruba grow on the horizon as we approached by mid-day.  It’s one of the Dutch Caribbean islands and, with Bonaire and Curacao, are known as the ABC islands.  Aruba is 20 miles long, six miles wide and is located just 18 miles north of the coast of Venezuela.

I had read Aruba has a dry climate with an arid landscape of cactus plants growing wild all over the island.  As is evident in theses photos, Aruba a very flat island.  In the distance we saw huge resorts towering over scant trees.  The ship approached the dock of Oranjestad, the capital city. Photo below:

I went up to the top deck to watch the ship pull into the harbor.  There was just a narrow channel: the city to port and a long submerged sandbar to starboard.  The channel looked barely wide enough for the ship.

The wind was blowing offshore, so although the Island Princess applied her starboard thrusters, she needed assistance from two harbor tugs/Pilot boats to nudge her toward the dock.  The ship’s log said the wind was “Easterly Force 5 – Fresh Breeze” keeping her offshore.

Here’s a picture of a small tree growing on the sandbar on our starboard side.  We could swim to the sandbar!

Jeff and I watched people disembark and when the crowds thinned, we walked down the ramp to see Oranjestad.  It means ‘orange city’ and was pronounced “o-ron-nya-shtahd.”  The “nya” was like the Spanish ‘ny’ with an accent over it as in ‘nino.’  

Oranjestad looked like a small town so we wondered where everyone had been rushing off to.  We walked through the terminal filled with stalls selling souvenirs.  The main street was similarly lined with small tourist shops and high end stores selling watches and jewelry.  The yellow building in the photo below was a mall with American stores, including a Starbucks!  

We walked through the mall to the back street which turned out to be a shopping mecca of stores selling European and American goods of every imaginable brand name.  Oranjestad was just a tourist trap filled with high and low end shops.

Christmas entertainment at the mall:

Much to my disappointment, there was no trace of Dutch colonial architecture or culture. Unfortunately, there was no Caribbean flavor or atmosphere either. Just shopping opportunities similar to any mall in the United States.

We walked a few blocks and found a free trolley car which drove around the “downtown” area.  It was fun passing stores, restaurants, bars, shoppers, tourists, and buskers playing loud music providing a carnival atmosphere.

I’m glad I saw Oranjestad because now I won’t have to return.  Aruba is off my ‘ bucket list.’  I’ve loved all the other Caribbean islands I’ve visited in the past and have great memories of them.  Aruba was very disappointing. 

We made one circuit on the trolley and got off near the ship’s terminal.  Jeff noticed a Cuban restaurant called Mojito with a sign outside which read: “Free Wifi and Air Conditioned.”  We climbed the stairs to the second floor and went inside.  The only other customers were an elderly couple from the ship who were attempting to download movies on their devices.  They told us the internet was very slow.

The owner of the restaurant gave us his personal password and all my mail quickly appeared on my phone.  I wrote emails to my family telling them were we were and sent a couple of photos.  We didn’t want to pay for the slow internet on the ship, so this week was internet-deprivation for me.

The temperature was in the 80s and the wind had decreased as the sun set, so we felt the heat of the island.  It was good to return to the air conditioning of our floating home away from home.

By about six-thirty everyone was back on the ship and the Island Princess was ready to go.  She brought in her lines, left the dock, and we were finally heading north on our way home.