Our Voyage to the Western Caribbean (Part 1)

Well before my wife and I got married but after I'd asked for her hand, I made a promise to her that our life together would be an adventure.  I'd like to think it's lived up to that guarantee thus far.

We began the process of putting our vacation together more than a year ago.  If you didn't know, when booking a cruise it's much better to do so as far in advance as possible seeing as how the cruise lines raise their rates as the date of departure nears.  We wanted to have this trip serve as a follow up to our honeymoon, almost as if we were turning going on a cruise into an annual event, but we knew that we wouldn't be able to take the trip so close to our anniversary (which is in May) seeing as how we'd both be using up a majority of our vacation time for our yearly trek to Myrtle Beach in June.  Our sights were set on sailing to the Western Caribbean but the potential perils of hurricane season weighed heavily on our minds when looking at cruise itineraries in that part of the world, which is why we decided November would be as good a time of year as any.  We'd sailed on the Carnival Sensation for our honeymoon; the Sensation is a great boat and one with a fairly interesting history (it was loaned to the government in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina for use as a refuge for people who'd been displaced by the storm and then put through a complete refit thereafter) but I wanted to experience one of the bigger, more modern vessels in Carnival's fleet.  Our honeymoon was also a fairly short trip, a 4-day jaunt to the Bahamas, and I was desiring something more lengthy.  All factors having been considered, we booked a 7-day cruise on board the Carnival Dream - one of Carnival's newest and largest ships - with stops in port at Cozumel, Belize, Isla Roatan, and Costa Maya.

To say that the weeks and months leading up to the cruise were somewhat agonizing would be an understatement.  Every so often we would remind each other of the fact that our trip was inching its way ever nearer, dangling out in front of us like a carrot - only this wasn't a carrot, this was more like a porterhouse steak cooked to perfection and served with all the trimmings. (It's fitting that I use a food analogy in this context because Jill and I have noticed that when we plot our vacations it invariably turns out that much of them are centered around things we want to eat or visiting restaurants we want to experience.) When we were less than a month away from setting sail, the both of us were just about as giddy as I can ever remember having been.  We normally take a few small trips throughout the year but we hadn't been anywhere this year since our Myrtle Beach trip, which meant we'd essentially been cooped up at home for nearly six months.  Suffice to say that we were chomping at the bit to get out on the road again.

This was the fortune I received from Red Bowl Asian Bistro the night before we left.

As I've detailed previously, packing for this trip was a definite challenge or at least it was for me.  I hadn't considered the logistics of wrangling enough clothes for a 7-day voyage that includes several formal occasions when we were booking this trip.  Fortunately, my bags had enough give to them that I was able to get everything packed but they couldn't save me from a bit of lighthearted ridicule from my wife who managed to only need one suitcase (which should count as at least 2 because her suitcase is only slightly smaller than a Smart Car) whereas I had two suitcases plus a duffel bag and my backpack.  I wound up bringing way more clothes than I would need, but as the old saying goes I'd sooner have had it and not needed it than needed it and not had it.

Our vacation began the morning of November 11, 2011 - Veterans Day.

11-11-11 (Friday): It finally hit me that we were about to leave for a trip to Mexico as I was loading our luggage into the car.  Loading luggage being the point where the rubber meets the road, as it were, when it comes to fantasies of a vacation materializing into something much more substantive.  What would we do, what would we see, who would we meet, and so many other questions danced around in my head, all swirling about each other with excitement over getting the opportunity to do something so unique as this.

When planning for our honeymoon last year, I knew we wouldn't be able to make the entire drive from South Carolina to Florida the day of our wedding as we would be getting married in the afternoon and would most certainly have much revelry to enjoy before departing.  That being the case, I looked for an oasis along the route which would allow us an opportunity to get some rest.  I found such a spot in the form of Kingsland, Georgia - pretty much the last town in the peach state you encounter traveling south on I-95 before entering Florida.

We stopped for lunch at a Cracker Barrel not far from Savannah.  Cracker Barrel might have been an odd choice for a first date, but their location in Orangeburg was where Jill and I first met and for this reason those restaurants will always be special to us.  The meal was quite tasty, however the real treat from our stop there was when I validated my genius-level IQ via the golf tee peg board game featured on each table in every Cracker Barrel.

Straight up skills, yo...

There are many hotels and restaurants around Kingsland as the town has definitely seized the chance to welcome road-weary travelers.  For our honeymoon, we'd stayed at a Best Western and I think I'll always remember the process of checking into that hotel well after midnight while standing in line with many other folks who were closer to being asleep than they were awake (the other resounding memory from that night being Jill's struggle to remove all the make-up and hairspray that had been put on her).  This time through we stayed at a Days Inn which was modestly priced and adequate for our needs but not nearly as nice as the Best Western.

After checking in, we kicked back and relaxed for a few hours.  When dinner-time rolled around I had it in mind that I wanted to try a local restaurant instead of a chain.  I had looked up several potentials before we'd left home; we narrowed down our search by glancing over the local Yellow Pages and had it in mind to try the Bonzai Japanese Steakhouse.  To say that Jill was apprehensive about dining there after we arrived would be selling short her reaction.  Truth be told, it was dark and the decor outside the restaurant wasn't all that inviting but the parking lot was somewhat full (although that could've been attributable to the fact that several other restaurants were adjacent to Bonzai).  We road by a few other restaurants - all chains - and most of them appeared to be near capacity which was no surprise given it was a Friday evening.

Somewhat begrudgingly, Jill agreed to eat at Bonzai after all.  From her hesitance to get out of the car, you'd have thought she was under the impression I was leading her into some kind of den of horrors.  Fortunately, this meal would be one of the more memorable dining experiences (for good reasons) of the entire trip.  The interior of the restaurant was nothing like the outside; very brightly lit and welcoming, albeit somewhat cramped (I'll admit that isn't an unbiased statement seeing as how a space that cramps a person my size would be perfectly comfortable for most people).  The food was quite good and our chef was entertaining with his constant-yet-mostly-unintelligible banter ("Yummy, yummy, woo-hoo!" is about all I could make out).  After the meal we picked up a few more doses of Dramamine as I wasn't sure if we had enough (we did) then returned to our room to get a good night's rest.

11-12-11 (Saturday): I didn't sleep all that well, ironically enough.  Chalk it up to excitement or to my body not being accustomed to the strange bed I'd put it in.  On top of that, when setting the alarm clock the night before I somehow managed to change the time on the device so instead of waking up at 6:30 AM like we'd planned I woke us up at (drum roll, if you will) 5:30 AM!  This wasn't that bad, though, as it gave us plenty of time to gather ourselves and have breakfast (the continental breakfast Days Inn was serving didn't look all that appetizing - besides, there was a Shoney's directly in front of the hotel and their breakfast buffet is too enticing to pass up; the wait staff at this particular location were excellent and amazingly up-beat for being at work so early in the morning) before setting off on the final leg of our drive to Port Canaveral.

Kingsland, GA is around 3 miles from the Florida state line which meant we weren't on the road long before we were stopping, this time at the Florida visitors welcome center.  I have so many fond memories of this welcome center, odd as that may seem.  When I was growing up, my family came to Florida almost every summer and we would always stop at the welcome center to have a cup of fresh orange or grapefruit juice and to pick up a slew of brochures (I kid you not when I say we would easily fill up a grocery bag with those things).  The place hasn't changed much since I was a child - they're still serving juice (I had two cups this time through, one grapefruit and one orange) and the walls of brochures are as vibrantly colored as ever.

Double-fisting juices - grapefruit in one hand, orange in the other

To me, navigating through Jacksonville is the only tricky part about getting to Port Canaveral.  Notice that I said "through" and not "around" as you do have an option since there is a bypass available to those not wanting to take a direct route.  We were on something of a tight schedule which is why we'd be taking the straightest path, right through the center of Jacksonville.  There are so many interchanges, off-ramps, on-ramps, and random other potential bottlenecks to this stretch of road that I would probably decline the chance to live or work there if I had to use it for transportation every day.  From the sky, I'm sure that the highways going through that city have to look like a bundle of serpents writhing around each other.  Thankfully, there is ample signage to assist motorists; between them and our handy GPS, it wasn't too difficult of a segment.

The approach to Port Canaveral is a real treat for me because it's within a stone's throw of Cape Canaveral, site of NASA's Kennedy Space Center.  You can see many of the buildings making up the complex from the road, but it would turn out that we'd have a much better view of them later on in the day.

As we neared the port we could see several cruise ships sitting out on the water like great behemoths of the sea.  It's amazing to see craft as large as these - trust me when I say that they get a whole lot bigger the closer you are to them!  They truly are "nautical cities" and for someone like myself who marvels at feats of engineering it is astounding to consider all that goes into operating and maintaining these vessels.  I'd love to someday see what all goes on behind the scenes as I'm sure it's fascinating.

Our home away from home for the next 7 days, the Carnival Dream

We'd gotten turned around last year when entering the port as our directions weren't as effective as I'd hope they'd be (signage near the port wasn't all that helpful either), however we had no such issues this year.  Of course, the fact that we could very clearly see where our boat was docked helped - the Carnival Dream is one of the larger boats in port at Canaveral, after all, so it wasn't difficult to spot.  We just had to find our way to it, which was easy enough as the route into the parking lot and embarkation area is clearly marked.  After dropping off our luggage with the porters, we were able to park the car less than 50 yards away from the ship, an ideal scenario seeing as how we'd be carrying the luggage we'd just deposited upon our return.

Getting through security checkpoints when entering a cruise ship is not unlike the process of boarding an airplane - well, I take that back because while Homeland Security is present there are no body scanners, no pat-downs, and no limitations on how much shampoo you can bring with you (not that you need to bring any as the stateroom showers on Carnival boats come stocked with plenty of shampoo and shower gel).  It's a tedious process but only because of the shear volume of travelers to be processed.  Similarly, guest check-in can feel like it's taking forever but the truth of it is that patience is the order of the day when it comes to embarkation.  The whole ordeal took less than an hour, all totaled, which is impressive.

An aside to the check-in process is a personal story about Carnival's sign and sail cards.  The sign and sail card is an all-purpose device as it functions as your room key, identification, and is linked to your on-board spending account (you don't use cash or credit/debit cards on these boats, rather you wrack up charges over the course of your trip and are responsible for paying the balance when you return to port).  When we checked in for our honeymoon cruise, I was rather put off by the fact that Jill received a prestigious-looking gold sign and sail card whereas I was issued a card that was powder-blue in color. (The powder-blue, to me, looked like something they should be giving to kids.) It turns out that customers who've sailed previously with Carnival are recognized by different color cards, those being gold and platinum (given to guests who've taken 10 cruises with Carnival).  Jill had sailed with Carnival before, hence why she was ahead of me in the pecking order.  Be that as it may, I was pleased to get my first gold sign and sail card this time around.

Walking across the gantry connecting land to our boat was like leaving reality and entering a completely different realm of existence - one where it's perfectly acceptable to order 4 deserts after having eaten 5 servings of lobster.  Once we were on board, we made our way to the lido deck because we weren't yet allowed into our staterooms.  Lido is an important place because it's where all the buffets are located, and seeing as how it was just past lunchtime seating was at a premium but we were able to get a table without much delay. (This would be the only occasion where we'd have much difficulty in finding a table on lido; in contrast I'd read reviews online that seemed to indicate it was almost impossible 100% of the time.)

The Dream features several stations around its lido deck that offer customized fare, such as a burrito bar which was where I decided to dine this first day (other selections included pasta, salads, omelets, hot dogs & hamburgers, and deli sandwiches).  The food on these boats is impeccable, and the fact that service in some form is available 24 hours a day is remarkable.  Again I'll say that the logistics of running an operation like this are astounding.

Not long after we'd finished our lunch an announcement was made that guests could make their way to their staterooms.  I was very eager to see ours as we'd be occupying a cove balcony stateroom, which is unique in comparison to other balcony rooms in that the balcony does not overhang the side of the boat.  Instead these balconies are tucked into the ships' hull making them more secure as well as more private.  When we opened the door we immediately noticed that this room was larger than what we'd experienced previously on the Carnival Sensation.  Our room featured a king-size bed, a seating area with a couch, ample closet space, a great bathroom, and - of course - the balcony which was spectacular.  An added bonus was that we were on the port side (which is the left-hand side if you're in the boat and facing the front of the ship) meaning that we'd get a great view of each port (not to be redundant) we'd be visiting.

Our stateroom, a cove balcony class - very spacious & comfortable.

At this point in time we hadn't yet received our luggage.  This is another part of cruising that demands patience seeing as how each and every bag has to be delivered to the stateroom it belongs and this can take a fair amount of time on a boat like the Dream since there could be more than 4,000 guests on board.

It's required that all guests participate in an evacuation drill prior to the ship leaving port.  In a nut shell, this is where you learn what you would be doing in the event of an emergency where there might be no other option than to use the ship's lifeboats to escape some level of danger.  It involves everyone reporting to their assigned muster stations then receiving instruction on how to effectively use life preservers.  This is the sort of thing that comes across as being unnecessary, to the point that if you've sat through it once you should receive some kind of lifetime certification, but for a  number of reasons (read, payouts from personal injury lawsuits) it doesn't quite work that way.  Once the muster drill was complete we decided to make our way to the promenade deck to watch as we left port.

We shoved off around 5 PM, close to dusk for this time of year.  On our way out of port, we passed several other boats including a Disney ship and another of Carnival's fleet.  This gave us a much more vivid sense of just how tall the Dream is seeing as how we were standing on one of the middle-upper level decks and we were looking across the tops of those other boats.  The setting sun was a great backdrop for our departure, as was the sight of a shrimp boat following behind us.

On our way out of Port Canaveral

You have many dining options but when it comes to dinner the only way to go for us is to enjoy a meal in one of the main dining rooms.  For this cruise we were assigned to the Scarlet dining room; we realized as the week went on that most of the featured locations inside the boat had monikers that made reference to a shade of red.  We were curious to find out who our table-mates would be as we were looking forward to meeting some of our fellow cruisers.  As it would turn out, we were assigned to a booth instead of one of the larger tables, making for much more quaint dining experiences.  We had the table to ourselves that first night as we later learned that our table-mates had decided to visit the steakhouse this first evening.  I received a special treat at the end of our meal in the form of a heart-shaped chocolate cake Jill had ordered as a surprise; our waiter brought it to our table and sang "Happy Anniversary" to us (and encouraged us to "kissy-kissy").  The cake, like all the food served to us that week, was almost too pretty to eat but of course we ate it anyway and it was delicious - moist, creamy, and chocolatey!

The view from our table in the Scarlet Dining Room

After dinner, we returned to our stateroom and low & behold our luggage had arrived.  We unpacked our bags and bundled up several orders of laundry (there are do-it-yourself laundry stations on board but if you think I'm going to iron something while I'm on vacation you've got another thing coming) and gave them to our steward before venturing back out to peruse the Fun Shops.  Jill and I have developed quite a collection of magnets over our years of traveling together (in my opinion they're the best souvenirs imaginable - I can go to get a cold drink and be reminded of our escapades), and we added to it this first night by picking up a magnet featuring a great image of the Dream.

We capped off our evening by watching several programs in the Encore Theater.  Bingo games - which almost always preceded performances in the Encore (they're as good of a lead-in as any; come for the bingo, stay for the show) - are never hard to find on Carnival's boats and I have to say they aren't exactly bashful when it comes to giving away prizes.  More often than not, winners of these games would receive either a hefty amount of cash or a large amount of credit being applied to their sign and sail account (there were even a few games played later in the week where if you won your entire sign and sail charges would be wiped out; that's a huge opportunity because trust me when I say that over the duration of a 7-day cruise you can wrack up a significant balance).  Trivia games are also commonplace with the game of the evening being centered around material from the 1980s.  The actual performance we saw that night was an introduction to the entertainers who'd be putting their skills on display for us the remainder of the week.  By far my favorite element of this show was a segment arranged by Fun Force who are a group of break dancers.  Quite frankly I don't think the human body was intended to bend or move the way these guys are able to, so the notion that they're able to perform the acrobatic feats they do is out of this world.

The Encore Theater/Lounge

By the end of the show, we were ready to retire to our stateroom.  Between being on the road and all the excitement of the day, we'd thoroughly worn ourselves out.  It had been a great first day and our adventure was definitely only just beginning!

Will It Fit? (A Blog About Packing for Vacation)

As I write this, my wife and I are but mere days away from setting sail on our second cruise - a seven day voyage to the Western Caribbean on the Carnival Dream (our first such adventure having been our honeymoon, a 4 day journey to the Bahamas by way of the Carnival Sensation), so it should come as no surprise that we're going through the process of packing our luggage.

BRING ONLY WHAT YOU NEED TO SURVIVE!

It's never been a particularly tedious process for me as I've always been of the mindset that you bring what you feel like you need and if you forget something necessary, too bad - adaptability is one of the strongest qualities that the human race has ever exhibited, after all, but the trouble these days is a lot of folks mistake necessity for luxury.  This is why every truck stop between here and oblivion is now equipped with wi-fi, so that you can check Facebook status updates as you watch what is almost certainly a three-week-old hotdog tumble down the rollers of the grilling apparatus. (Do those things have a specific name other than just "gas station hot dog cooker"?) Don't get me wrong, I love to have my favorite gadgets nearby but I'm not so attached at the hip to these baubles that I can't let them well enough alone occasionally, especially over the course of a vacation.

The challenge when it comes to packing that has been presented by this particular voyage is the fact that it is what it is; that being a seven day adventure to the western Caribbean (not counting an extra day or two of travel to and from our port of embarkation).  Essentially, my concern isn't so much a matter of agonizing over what to bring but the fact that I'm having to bring a lot of stuff, namely clothing, and I only have so many pieces of luggage to work with.  This being the case, my packing strategy has been to establish levels of priority.

Not surprisingly, I packed every available (read, clean) pair of underwear I have first thing, which immediately presented a logistical challenge seeing as how I have just enough to account for every day of the cruise plus a few spares.  This is in defiance of a technique my Grandmother (who was something of a road warrior in her 60s as she would commonly take lengthy bus tours across the western United States) once told me about whereby you could actually get four wears out of a single pair of shorts, that being to wear them correctly once then reverse them (so that the front is in the back), then turn them inside-out and reverse them again.  I've never had to do that (and I hope I never have to) but it's as valid an option as any when pressed for methods in providing adequate cover to your naughty bits.

Next were other essentials such as socks, pajamas, and handkerchiefs.  I don't know that many people carry handkerchiefs nowadays but I took to carrying them many years ago when I was an avid concert-goer.  The utilitarian nature of something as simple as a square of cloth may escape you.  Have you ever found yourself needing to blow your nose, wipe sweat from your brow, dry off your hands after using a restroom with no paper towels or air dryer, or simply get caught with your lips and fingers covered in wing sauce but there's no napkins to be found?  There are many uses for a hanky, is what I'm getting at, and I keep one with me at all times.

I have an old duffel bag I've used since high school for random occasions; back then it was my backpack of choice - here, it's going to be ferrying my shoes.  Depending on the style and manufacturer, I can typically wear a mens shoe size 14 or 15 wide.  Suffice to say that finding footwear that's comfortable for me is something of a challenge considering most major shoe stores seem to be under the impression that no one has feet as large as mine.  Nevertheless, my point in bringing up my shoes is to say that with large feet come large shoes.  Somewhat unbelievably, I was able to fit a pair of dress shoes, my water shoes, a pair of sandals, my hats and a set of swimming goggles all within this one bag.

In contrast to the old duffel is a new accessory I purchased recently - the Maxpedition Sitka Gearslinger.  The Gearslinger series is described as a shoulder sling tactical messenger bag, and with its ballistic nylon construction it's great for everyday use as well as backpacking.  I plan on breaking in my Sitka during this trip as it will be holding gear such as my raincoat, flashlight, iPod, camera, and an assortment of other items.  I've customized my Sitka with Maxpedition's Janus Extension Pocket, which functions as both an extension of the shoulder strap and a useful front-side pouch.

Toiletries are another no-brainer because Heaven forbid we'd go off on vacation without smelling nice or forgetting basic hygiene practices.  For me, items that wind up in my toiletry bag include toothpaste, toothbrush, floss, band-aids, medication (which includes Zyrtec, daily multivitamins, anti-diarrhea tablets, aspirin and Tylenol), deodorant, cologne, body spray, aftershave, my razor (a Schick Quatro I've had for the better part of a decade; I don't bother with disposables as they tend to chew up my face), and shaving cream.  Additionally, for this trip I've got a fresh tube of SPF 50 sunblock and bug repellent, both of which will be necessary as we'll be hoofing it to a set of remote Mayan ruins whilst in Belize and I don't particularly want to get sunburn and/or bitten by some kind of malaria-toting beastie that doesn't have my best interests in mind when it sets upon me.

Aside from what I mentioned will be getting packed into my duffel and Sitka, the items I've mentioned prior to now account for the contents of my smaller suitcase which, in terms of dimensions, is not as big as a full-sized piece of luggage but not that small either.  It's been more than suitable for me to take with me on 2 or 3 day trips in the past, however it is most certainly an accessory for this vacation.

The remainder of what I have to pack will go into a much larger bag, the limits of which will most certainly be tested over the course of our vacation.  As I mentioned earlier, the difficulty in packing for this trip hasn't been deciding what to bring but more of how to deal with the volume of what I'm bringing in contrast to the amount of luggage space I have to work with.  I've got 100 pounds of crap but only a 50 pound bag, as it were.

My wardrobe is basic and I don't put a lot of effort into trying to match up pants to tops or what have you. (Proof of this is the fact that I apparently I missed out on some kind of basic clothing coordination classes in my formative years because I see nothing wrong with wearing brown shoes and a black belt, a fact that my wife persistently chides me about.) On any other vacation I could've continued with my ways as I'd just throw a bunch of my casual clothing into my bag and be done with it.  Cruising is a different animal in that there are formal nights in the main dining rooms aboard these vessels where dress codes require guests to be rather snazzily put together. (No, you don't have to attend these events as you could just as well eat from the buffet every meal, but you're paying for this experience when you book a cruise so there's no point in not getting the most out of it - besides, the food is amazing!) That being the case, I'll essentially have to bring double the amount of clothing I normally would - one set for roaming about care free and a completely different set for when we need to be gussied up.

I don't own a suit or even a sport jacket, although I do have several button-down dress shirts and ties (which sit in a hermetically sealed box 99% of the time so that they'll be fresh on the rare occasion that I actually need them), which is a perfectly appropriate ensemble for formal nights on board the ship as far as I'm concerned.  Formal wear, to me, is arguably the most dysfunctional clothing imaginable.  There is literally no redeemable or, more importantly, useful aspect to it - then again, that isn't its intention.  I'm sure somewhere out there a tactical clothing manufacturer has developed a suit that doubles as a survival outfit but I have yet to see it.

I've made kind of a big deal out of being able to fit all this stuff into my bags and, truth be told, it's a legitimate concern however I'm fairly certain it will all come together.  I've got enough time between now and when we'll be hitting the road that I should be able to sort through all that I've mentioned in this post, develop a plan of attack, and execute it with much precision.  I may have to use a form of origami on my garments then use one of those space-saving vacuum bags to get them all in, mind you, but it should work out okay.  How well it all fits back into my bags when it's time to come home will be an entirely different issue.