We’d gotten up at what had become our usual time, that
being 7:30 AM, and decided that we wanted to have breakfast on the lido
deck. The buffet line for breakfast that
morning wasn’t particularly busy, which would seem to have indicated that
either we were up too early or everyone else was sleeping in (although it
could’ve possibly been due to a combination of both factors). Since it isn’t often that I get sausage,
bacon, scrambled eggs, and the like in the mornings I helped myself to a
portion of each that was way more than any reasonable person would’ve
considered. Gluttony is not only
acceptable on cruises, it’s encouraged.
Since it was our last day we had no plans of what we’d be
doing from one hour to the next, which was a first for us on this vacation
seeing as how we’d had scheduled events going each day prior. Jill and I have something of a tradition
built around miniature golf – putt-putt, if you will – with our Annual
Truesdale Myrtle Beach Putt-Putt Challenge Championship (the ATMBPPCC, for
short), a truly epic yearly competition where my wife and I do battle to see
who is the best of the best (out of the two of us) at mini golf. Seeing as how the Dream features an 18-hole
course, we could think of nothing better to do than play a few rounds.
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| Attempting to line up a shot - not that it helped |
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| Jill strikes a pose on the Dream's putt-putt course |
If you’ve never played mini golf on the top deck of a
cruise ship sailing through the Atlantic Ocean, let me be the first to tell you
that it gets a bit windy up there. The
gusts we encountered while playing putt-putt that day were the strongest I’ve
ever felt. Add to that the fact that the
ship is in a constant state of motion and you can easily see how the difficulty
level for playing on this course was quite high. The course itself was not all that
challenging; the holes there featured a fairly basic set of obstacles, nothing
near that of the absurdly configured holes we’re accustomed to playing during
the ATMBPPCC. Conditions being what they
were, I think either of us would’ve been lucky to have scored a round even
close to par. As it were, Jill bested me
both rounds – 47-48 the first and 43-46 the second. I blame my poor performance on the
environmental conditions as well as the fact that I was distracted by the
shenanigans of a group of older men playing behind us (they were hilarious and
I’m fairly certain they had a betting pool going). She may have beaten me but the ATMBPPCC
trophy is still mine, at least for a few more months!
As I mentioned in an earlier part of this series, Jill
and I had decided to use a portion the extra spending money we gained by way of
our excursion in Isla Roatan having been cancelled to purchase some of the
pictures we’d had taken during formal nights.
We went to the photo display walls after we were done with our putt-putt
match and decided to buy four more pictures, bringing our total to six – I
won’t tell you exactly how much they cost us but I will say that it was worth
the expense to have them. They really
are excellent pictures and the ones featuring the staircase in the Dream’s
atrium are especially nice considering the uniqueness and ornate nature of the
surroundings.
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| Looking down the shaft of the Dream's atrium |
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| Looking across the atrium at the Fun Shops and photo walls |
By the time we finished up browsing through the photo
walls and shops, it was – you guessed it – time for lunch! There was a barbeque on the lanai deck that
day and an assortment of tasty vittles were being prepared by chefs cooking on
honest-to-goodness grills. The selection
was a combination of traditional grilling fare like slider hamburgers and
hotdogs but also things like quesadillas.
I had a couple of hotdogs and I can honestly say that they were some of
the best hotdogs I’ve ever had. Say what
you will about the process of making them or the meat that goes into those
casings, these were great. Jill picked
us up a plate of deserts, almost all of them involving chocolate which should
come as no surprise to anyone who knows my wife. I learned of her affection for chocolate
early on in our relationship as there was an occasion where we were out at
dinner and wanted to get a desert to share.
Jill said that I could choose what our desert would be, and so it was
that I picked the one item on the menu that didn’t involve chocolate. Her disappointment at my selection was more
comical than it was resentful, but suffice it to say that her point was made
that night.
There was an event in the Encore Theater in the afternoon
called Love & Marriage hosted by our cruise director Jaime. It’s a take on the Newlywed’s Game where
several couples (three, to be exact) are involved and each participant is asked
a series of questions about their spouse with the winning couple being whoever
gets the most similar answers to each question.
The contestants for this event were a young couple who’d just gotten
hitched, a couple who’d been together for a while, and an older couple who’d
been married for 64 years. It turned out
that the husband of the young couple was the grandson of the older couple;
considering the nature of some of the questions, I think Sonny learned a few
things about his Pappy and Maw that he might not have wanted to but it was all
in good fun as we laughed the entire time.
One of the questions posed (which was aimed at the wives but had to be
answered by the husbands as well) was “When is your husband most macho?” with
possible responses being: A) In bed, B) Out of bed, or C) In his dreams. The husband from the older couple – whose
name was Bud and who happened to be hard of hearing – had come up with his own
answer: Boobs! And I have to agree with
him because boobs are awesome and I think they’re as good an inspiration as any
for us men to be macho. Jaime got closer
to Bud and explained the answer choices which lead Bud to change his response
to “in bed with boobs”. Bud, I don’t
know where you are today but let me applaud you for being a shining example of
all that is man.
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| Our cruise director Jamie coaching Bud during the Love & Marriage game |
Part of the process of concluding any vacation is getting
your stuff packed, and so it was that after the Love & Marriage game we had
to return to our stateroom to begin the process of wrangling our clothes, gear,
and other accessories. Much like how
your luggage is delivered to your stateroom sometime during the first day of
your voyage, your luggage will be picked up by the crew from outside your
stateroom during the evening of your final day aboard the ship and you’ll
retrieve it from a processing area similar to those seen in airports once you’ve
disembarked. It’s an efficient method of
handling what amounts to literally tons of baggage, and it is so at least
partially due to it running on a schedule (like everything else associated with
the cruise experience, it seems).
Passengers have to have their luggage ready for pick-up by a certain
time and we certainly weren’t going to miss it.
The festivities onboard that evening were very low key as
it seemed like everyone from the passengers to the wait staff knew that the
voyage was all but done. No more
neckties or evening gowns in the dining rooms – if I had to guess, I’d say most
of the passengers were just wearing whatever remaining clothing they had that
was clean. We bid adieu to our
tablemates at supper and wished them well.
After the meal we returned to the Encore Theater for one more show.
I should point out that throughout the entire cruise we
noticed our dining room was often rattled by what we assumed to be the churning
of the ship’s propellers since the Scarlet Restaurant is located at the stern
of the ship. It wasn’t too bothersome
until this final evening when we began to feel a much more intense shimmy, so
intense that we and other passengers were wondering what might be causing it.
The rattling was even more pronounced in the Encore
Theater as we watched several members of the entertainment staff performing an
edition of the Liars Club, a show driven by audience-participation where
passengers are asked to pick who amongst the entertainers is telling a fake
story and who’s telling the truth. The
Encore Theater is equipped with a wide assortment of lighting rigs and other
audio/visual equipment, all of which could be seen shaking or swaying to and
fro. It reminded me of shows I’ve seen
at amusement parks like Universal Studios Florida where parts of the theater
have been gimmicked to give you the sensation of calamity. There were no gimmicks here, though.
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| Members of the Dream's entertainment staff in an edition of the Liars Club |
We returned to our stateroom after the Liars Club to set
out our luggage and get ready for bed.
We also took the time to fill out our customs forms as passengers are required
to declare everything purchased while abroad as it could pan out that you own
Uncle Sam some money, if you catch my meaning.
Around that same time, our cruise director Jaime made an announcement
over the ship’s public address system that we may have noticed the boat
traveling at a higher rate of speed than normal. “Huh, here I thought we were just sailing
downhill!” the smart aleck in me replied.
Jaime continued, saying that the reason for this was a medical emergency
involving one of our fellow passengers.
My thoughts immediately went back to the passenger I’d seen being taken
away in an ambulance the day prior in Costa Maya. We never found out what the specifics of the
situation were, but I certainly hope that whatever the matter was that the
passenger in question is alright now.
I think we both had issues sleeping that night which
wasn’t a good thing seeing as how we’d be hitting the road in the morning,
making the long drive back to South Carolina (and reality). I guess we should’ve expected some drama
considering our surroundings – too bad it had to happen on our final night
aboard the Dream.
11-19-11 (Saturday): Once again we were up bright and
early, only this time what we had to look forward to were long lines, customs
procedures, and our re-integration into the United States.
We rounded up our carry-on (carry-off would be a more
appropriate term in this instance) luggage, said our goodbyes to the stateroom
that had been our home-away-from-home for the past week, and made one final
trip to the Encore Theater which would again serve as a staging area for guests
before disembarkation. To keep things
orderly, guests are allowed to disembark according to zoning designations. We were supposed to have been off the ship by
8:30 AM but our zone wasn’t called until almost 10 AM – breakfast would’ve been
nice to have had that morning but room service doesn’t deliver to passengers whose
voyage is over, I’m sad to say. While
the lines for passengers to pass through customs were long they were at least
moving somewhat steadily. Our customs
experience this go-round was entertaining as the agent working at the station
we passed through was working with several teenagers who were job shadowing
that day. We were recognized as citizens
of this great country, found our luggage and were able to get to our car in near
record time. Our egress out of the port
area was slowed when we got to the parking attendant stations where we’d pay
our due for the week; there was either a mechanical issue or some sort of
confusion among the staff there. It was
resolved, though, and once we were paid up ($120…FOR PARKING!?!?!?!?!?!?!) we
were on our way.
I usually handle the driving duties whenever we’re on the
road and Jill usually sleeps 93% of the trip.
I’m kidding – she’s awake at least 30% of the time. As we got to Jacksonville the lack of sleep
the night before caught up to me as I was very close to dozing off while
driving. Trust me when I say that
Jacksonville is not a town you should drive through if your head isn’t exactly
clear as there are more lane changes and overpasses to navigate there than I’ve
experienced anywhere else. The fact that
the gentle jostling sensation you get from riding in a car has always been a
relaxing feeling for me didn’t help matters (my parents would take me for a drive
around the neighborhood when I was a child if they couldn’t get me to sleep
otherwise). Jill helped out as best she
could by trying to have a conversation but she was tired too. It felt like it took forever for us to get
into Georgia but once we were there in the Peach State we stopped at the
welcome center where Jill and I swapped places so that I could get some rest.
I don’t recall which Georgian town we were in when we got
lunch but I do remember the occasion as we stopped at a Krystal Burger restaurant
where I had my first ever Krystal burger.
We don’t have Krystal’s in South Carolina (if we do I’ve never seen it)
and consequently I’d never thought to visit one when we’ve passed them in our
travels. Jill had become a fan of theirs
thanks to her having lived in North Carolina for some time after college and
she felt it was high time I sampled their food.
I have to say that it’s a good thing there isn’t a Krystal Burger
anywhere near where we live, else I’d probably be there every other day. Their burgers are proof that something doesn’t
have to be intricate in order to be tasty.
We got back home late in the afternoon, unloaded the car
then sorted our laundry. There were
mountains of clothes in our living room, some of them smellier than others but
all ripe with reminders of the week that had been our cruise to the Western
Caribbean.
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