Author Topic: I'm going on a cruise! (Read 3139 times)

ScaryTooth · « **on:** Wednesday, February 25, 2009, 02:08:35 PM »

I just got tickets. On April 11th, I will be in Florida boarding a Celebrity Cruise ship headed to Ocho Rios, Jamaica, and The Cayman Islands. It's a five night cruise of the Western Caribbean. Originally we were going to go to Washing D.C. just to check out the Smithsonian and hang out, but we decided a beach and warm weather sounded better. We are pretty excited about this. I haven't been on an actual vacation in about 10 years now. And I've never been on a cruise. I've been out of town, but not actually vacationing. Just kind of getting away for a day or something.

Cobra951 · « **Reply #1 on:** Wednesday, February 25, 2009, 02:26:23 PM »

I am green with envy. Congrats! Have a great time. Careful in Jamaica. And think 3X the speed of sunburn compared to Florida. It can be dangerous.

Pugnate · « **Reply #2 on:** Wednesday, February 25, 2009, 03:16:40 PM »

Smoke some pot in Jamaica, and then open a secret bank account in the Cayman Islands.

If I can come up with more stereotyping, I will let you know.

edit:

England is playing some test cricket in the Caribbean! You will see a lot interest in that in the pubs. If you hit the beaches, you can play some beach cricket with the kids. Plus, read up on the Allen Stanford thing. His corruption stuff has given the area some grief.

If you like spicy food, then try roast Jamaican spicy beef. It is to die for. Also, Jamaican curry, with the thick Jamaican rice is really great. They also make some great lamb, roasted over the rice, with all the juices flowing down....mmmmmmmm. And have some Jerk chicken! And if you like Bob Marley, my friend says they have a great museum.

edit 2:

Good luck! Have fun!

idolminds · « **Reply #3 on:** Wednesday, February 25, 2009, 04:18:16 PM »

Obvious link is obvious.

Cobra951 · « **Reply #4 on:** Wednesday, February 25, 2009, 05:07:12 PM »

My tab closing when the "music" started is equally obvious.

idolminds · « **Reply #5 on:** Wednesday, February 25, 2009, 05:17:29 PM »

Its a joke song, just so you know. A parody.

W7RE · « **Reply #6 on:** Wednesday, February 25, 2009, 05:36:22 PM »

Yea the first time a friend linked that song to me I thought, "wtf, he knows I don't want to hear this shit." Then I realized how ridiculous it was and thought it was pretty funny.

Quemaqua · « **Reply #7 on:** Wednesday, February 25, 2009, 07:10:11 PM »

Likewise.

You know, my aunt was a cruise director for years, and was even married to the captain of a ship, but I don't see the appeal at all. I don't know why, I guess it just isn't my kind of thing. I absolutely love water, and boats are great, but a cruise just sounds so dull. Although I guess a lot of that is because I'm not into tropics. I'd much rather go somewhere cold and wet. Ireland, Scotland, England, whatever.

W7RE · « **Reply #8 on:** Wednesday, February 25, 2009, 07:32:38 PM »

I hate warm sunny weather. I'd rather it rain and be overcast, maybe even snow.

Quemaqua · « **Reply #9 on:** Wednesday, February 25, 2009, 07:41:33 PM »

Any Celtic heritage? Maybe German? I swear it has to do with ancestry. I live in California and I fecking hate it, and when I visited Ireland I literally felt like I was coming home after having spent my entire life in a foreign place. I've never been more comfortable anywhere in my life as I was there.

ScaryTooth · « **Reply #10 on:** Wednesday, February 25, 2009, 08:00:29 PM »

See I'm the opposite, I hate gray, cold, snowy weather. I do like the occasional rain storm in the summer, or spring, but I hate freezing rain, snow, ice, freezing my ass off. Dry skin, chapped, and cracked lips, It's the worst. I LOVE the ocean, and warm weather. I like walking around in sandals, shorts, and a comfy t-shirt. It's so nice.

The cruise should be nice. There are casinos(although I hate gambling), free food(love food), movie theater playing first run movies, gym with the coolest view, spa, bars, and then there is excursions. In Ocho Rios we are going to climb Dunns River Falls, and then chill on the beach. In Cayman, we are doing stingray city, where we can swim with stingrays and feed them. Then we are going Kayaking. then we are chilling on the beach for a while. Like I said, I'm pretty excited. I haven't seen the ocean in so long.

scottws · « **Reply #11 on:** Wednesday, February 25, 2009, 08:00:46 PM »

I'm going on a cruise too, also in early April. Key West, some place in the Domincan Republic, some place in Mexico, and I don't know... another island down there. (Can you tell I didn't plan it?) It's going to be crazy. It's some big family vacation thing with Jennie's family. They are renting 40 cabins. I'm the only just-plain-white-American guy. Everyone else is some sort of Hispanic. Mostly Cuban, but some Venezuelan and Costa Rican. The Spanish and Spanglish will be in full effect.

I keep thinking back on a recent episode of 30 Rock. Jack is dating Salma Hayek's character, and her mom hates him. A quick clip in the show is Salma's character's mom saying "I hate you" in Spanish. Jack responds "Yo soy Jack." I crack up every time I think of it. Anyway, yeah, that's going to be me. Luckily I've met many of them so I'll be alright.

Cobra951 · « **Reply #12 on:** Wednesday, February 25, 2009, 08:24:33 PM »

I probably talked to some of us here about the cruise we took, over 10 years ago now (though not at OW, for sure). Grand Princess, the largest cruise ship in the world at that time. It was very new. We didn't sail to the tropics, but Que, you would have hated it anyway. Sunshine and heat everywhere we went. It was over 100 in the shade in Turkey, with no shade at all in Ephesus. 90s everywhere else. August in the Mediterranean and "vicinity". Is started in Istanbul and finished in Barcelona. In between, we went to Athens, Rome, Venice, Florence, Monte Carlo, and probably somewhere else I'm forgetting. Don't remember the order, though I'm sure looking at a good map would set that straight.

The whole thing was so overwhelming that I remember it in short slices of time. It's like fantasy time for adults. I would have preferred 3 days in Monte Carlo and never setting foot in Turkey. Everything else was about right. Well, maybe a couple of days along the Greek coastline, anywhere along. What a gorgeous place.

sirean_syan · « **Reply #13 on:** Wednesday, February 25, 2009, 08:33:14 PM »

The idea of the floating playground that most cruise ships seem to be doesn't appeal to me too much. I will say, however, a "functional" cruise across the Atlantic in something more akin to the old liners could be interesting. I suppose the major thing doing that now is the new Queen Mary. That may be a bit posh for my taste, but at least it doesn't have a stupid golf course on it.

Quemaqua · « **Reply #14 on:** Wednesday, February 25, 2009, 11:58:37 PM »

Actually Cobra, I've always really wanted to see that part of the world, and some other dryish and hot places. I'd love to hit Greece, Italy, Turkey, Jerusalem, etc. Mostly for the historical sites. I have no interest in rich people's idea of sipping overpriced drinks while watching the sun set on Rome, but if I had a great guide showing me the most historic sites and had a few good books to pour over back at the hotel room or whatever, I'd love that. I'd totally hate the heat, but it's hard to avoid that in certain parts.

Pugnate · « **Reply #15 on:** Thursday, February 26, 2009, 01:52:25 AM »

Quote from: Quemaqua on Wednesday, February 25, 2009, 07:41:33 PM

Any Celtic heritage? Maybe German? I swear it has to do with ancestry. I live in California and I fecking hate it, and when I visited Ireland I literally felt like I was coming home after having spent my entire life in a foreign place. I've never been more comfortable anywhere in my life as I was there.

Yea I love overcast conditions as well, and I have no doubt that I have no European blood

I enjoy sunny days as well, but something about a grey cloudy day makes me feel content.

edit:

This has happened a few times when I have woken up extremely depressed, looked outside to see an overcast day, and had my mood suddenly transformed to... I don't know... relieved?

Quemaqua · « **Reply #16 on:** Thursday, February 26, 2009, 07:44:11 AM »

See, that's funny, because that happens to me all the time. Everyone here thinks I'm nuts, but that feeling of relief at a nice mild, overcast day (or a rainy one, for me) is actually a great way to describe it. I just sigh and suddenly feel like a weight has been taken off my shoulders, and I usually have to take a moment to thank God for the respite.

Pugnate · « **Reply #17 on:** Thursday, February 26, 2009, 07:54:13 AM »

What the hell is up with that? Where does that feeling of relief come from?

scottws · « **Reply #18 on:** Thursday, February 26, 2009, 04:47:41 PM »

Yeah, I'm the opposite. On a nice sunny day, I always think to myself: "How can anyone be in a bad mood on a day like this?" Overcast and especially rainy days make me depressed.

ScaryTooth · « **Reply #19 on:** Tuesday, March 03, 2009, 07:09:33 PM »

I'm really hoping it's nice all 5 days. I just kind of want to lay around on the ship and look at the sea. I bet you can see so many stars at night too.

Cobra951 · « **Reply #20 on:** Wednesday, March 04, 2009, 01:01:23 AM »

If it's clear, out to sea, yes, you see loads of stars.

ScaryTooth · « **Reply #21 on:** Thursday, April 09, 2009, 08:17:39 PM »

Leaving tomorrow morning! Plane takes off at 9:50 to Miami, FL. And we are boarding our ship on Saturday around noon. Oh man, this is gonna be sweet.

You guys take care. I may drop you guys a line while I'm on the cruise in the computer lounge. Peace out!

Quemaqua · « **Reply #22 on:** Thursday, April 09, 2009, 09:00:58 PM »

Let us know how it goes! Enjoy the luxury, and make sure to team up with some dolphins to save the world at some point.

Cobra951 · « **Reply #23 on:** Monday, April 13, 2009, 02:26:12 PM »

Outstanding. Have a great time. Don't get too sunburnt.

scottws · « **Reply #24 on:** Monday, April 13, 2009, 05:59:42 PM »

I got back from my cruise on Saturday, but didn't return to Cincinnati until late yesterday. We went to Key West, Cozumel, Grand Cayman, and Cayo Levantado (in the Dominican Republic). It was awesome.

Key West was the lamest of the bunch, just a bunch of cutesy houses and the standard tourist-type stores.

I was surprisingly let down by Cozumel. We went to this beach park called Playa Mia which looked awesome online but in reality was this shitty beach on a rocky strip of land with some inflatable trampolines and climbing things in the water. And man do I hate Mexicans now. I swear if we were there another minute someone would have put a shirt on me and made me buy it. They are so pushy it's ridiculous.

Grand Cayman seemed really nice but a storm came in and we only had a few hours there before we had to get out of the bay.

Cayo Levantado was amazing. It's a small island in a bay near Samana, Dominican Republic. The weather and water was perfect, with all kinds of people snorkeling near the short and finding neat sea life. It also had everything. Near the beach was a big thatch hut that was a bar and behind that was a pretty big area full of tons of little shops. Lots of necklaces and bracelets but they also had a lot of really unique paintings. Some of those people really have some great talent. One thing I found kind of interesting is they had a lot of rosaries. Every stand had these sort of dark gray metal necklaces among other things, but one also had rosaries made out of it, and it was quite striking... a modern interperetation. There was also a hotel there called the Gran Bahia Principe that I since checked out, finding it to be ridiculously expensive ($4,000 for 8 days, all inclusive except for airfare, and that is the cheapest room type). The Dominican is also home to a new favorite beer: Presidente.

Other than the destinations, the cruise ship sucked. It was only a two-year old boat, but it's this Italian company called MSC Crociere and they clearly aren't used to North American culture and expectations. The wait and bar staff would just walk around aimlessly and you had to flag them down for anything at all. It's almost like they didn't want to make money. We played bingo one time and there were like 90 people in this lounge playing, but not only was there no wait staff at all, but the bar was closed! Also they had a daycare but treated the kids extremely poorly and their excuse was that they don't get Saturday and Sunday off and aren't used to doing daycare because Mediterrean families (and I quote) "don't dump their kids on vacation like Americans." Whether or not that's true is irrelevant, it's a pretty rude-ass thing for the cruise director to say to someone who has come to let them know about the deficiencies of their care staff.

For the love of God stay away from a MSC Crociere cruise ship.

Oh, and I got engaged.

Xessive · « **Reply #25 on:** Monday, April 13, 2009, 06:11:10 PM »

Welcome back and congrats man! Wish you all the best with the fiancée!

Quemaqua · « **Reply #26 on:** Monday, April 13, 2009, 06:22:02 PM »

Congrats!

idolminds · « **Reply #27 on:** Monday, April 13, 2009, 06:36:43 PM »

Either I'm invited or I show up drunk and eat all the shrimp.

Cobra951 · « **Reply #28 on:** Monday, April 13, 2009, 09:47:03 PM »

Congratulations! You two were already practically married, so it's good to make it official.

Pugnate · « **Reply #29 on:** Tuesday, April 14, 2009, 12:33:18 AM »

Congrats!

And this made me laugh:

Quote

And man do I hate Mexicans now.

scottws · « **Reply #30 on:** Tuesday, April 14, 2009, 04:50:41 AM »

Thanks everyone. Cobra pretty much nailed it. Lots of people have been asking me if I feel different now and the truth is I really don't. I feel like I should though because Jennie has been spending all of her free time buried in bridal magazines and websites.

And about the Mexicans... well they just suck. I know they are trying to make a buck, but they surround you like vultures and won't leave you alone. You can't just enjoy yourself.

Pugnate · « **Reply #31 on:** Tuesday, April 14, 2009, 05:38:22 AM »

Quote

And about the Mexicans... well they just suck. I know they are trying to make a buck, but they surround you like vultures and won't leave you alone. You can't just enjoy yourself.

hahaha...

I won't get into the details now, but I was shocked by the beggar culture in the third world, and initially showed a lot of sympathy till I realized most of them were con artists, who would never respect your privacy if there was chance for them to make a buck.

I'll share some stories later, but I feel your pain dude. It is worse when you are out with someone trying to have a good private time and they keep breaking the boundaries of what is decent. It really pisses me off.

I just realized that I might as well have been describing the paparazzi.

Cobra951 · « **Reply #32 on:** Tuesday, April 14, 2009, 10:17:16 AM »

Quote from: scottws on Tuesday, April 14, 2009, 04:50:41 AM

Thanks everyone. Cobra pretty much nailed it. Lots of people have been asking me if I feel different now and the truth is I really don't. I feel like I should though because Jennie has been spending all of her free time buried in bridal magazines and websites.

And about the Mexicans... well they just suck. I know they are trying to make a buck, but they surround you like vultures and won't leave you alone. You can't just enjoy yourself.

My sister, her husband and their 4 kids go to Cancun every year for Spring break. They have a great time there, with no such complaints. (We're white and her husband is of German ancestry, so don't think Mexicans will be treating them like long-lost cousins. Only my sister speaks Spanish anyway.) I know what the locals are like in Mexico. Istanbul is worse. Once I was in Mexico City on a job, and while walking outside I collected a shoeshine man who would bend down to my shoes whenever I stopped walking. He was gentle, never forcing or intimidating, and had a constant humble smile on his face. Eventually, I stopped walking and let him do it. I think I gave him a dollar. He was old and gray, and it just got to me.

I imagine the difference between Cancun and Cozumel is that Cancun is set up a lot better for American tourism. I've never been to either place.

Edit: If you stopped at the Dominican Republic, you came very close to Puerto Rico. My father's sister and her family lived there for a long time. The culture and people are nearly the same, with the lousy politics being the big, big difference. Puerto Rico is very lucky to have gotten the interest of the US last century.

ScaryTooth · « **Reply #33 on:** Saturday, April 18, 2009, 07:16:54 PM »

Welcome back man, and congrats!

I got back from mine on Thursday night.

Jamaica was cool, but it's like how you describe Mexico. There are people everywhere, and they won't leave you alone, they're always trying to sell you something, and they are so freaking pushy. I know it's their lively hood, but eh. Dunn's River Fall was absolutely amazing though. It was so beautiful. But other than that I was underwhelmed.

Grand Cayman was amazing. All of that was great. People were cool, very chill nice people. And the island was awesome. There was so much to do and see. Stingray City was sweet.

And my Boat was dope!

Sorry that some things on your trip were shady dude. I hope you had a good time overall.

Pics coming soon.

scottws · « **Reply #34 on:** Saturday, April 18, 2009, 08:24:13 PM »

I wanted to do Stingray City on Grand Cayman, but the excursion sold out before we booked. We got to swim with wild stingrays on the snorkel tour we did do though, which was pretty cool.

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Author Topic: I'm going on a cruise! (Read 3139 times)