Wednesday, September 20, 2006
Cruise Part I
I was working for Congressman Regula in the summer of 1991 when my neighbor got married and went on a cruise for her honeymoon. She booked it through a cruise agency in my building and I stopped down there one day to talk to Dan, who owned the place. His excitement for cruising convinced me that it would be a fun vacation and I convinced two friends, Kevin and Tony, to attend a meeting of a singles group that was going on a group rate. We went, the price was right and we joined in with the group to get their rate. We would be sailing on the Ecstasy in November out of Miami.
Our cruise left on a Sunday but I flew down on Friday to see an old friend. Kevin and Tony would be joining me Saturday morning and we were going to attend the Miami v. West Virginia football game. I never hooked up with my friend and the guys were late getting in but we eventually made it to the game and it was a blast. I'm not so sure the Miami fans cared that much about football but they did care about having fun. They served beer at the game and we had a good time. Afterwards, we headed to Coconut Grove via cab (our second cab, the first guy got mad at us and ended up driving us back to the stadium and dropping us off), a suburb of Miami and continued the party. Eventually, we made our way back to the hotel and crashed. The next morning we went to the market next door and each of us made an important purchase, an insulated water bottle for the trip.
The ship left at 3:00 or so but we were allowed to board at noon. We weren't much interested in the boarding photo of us but we did make a beeline for the pool deck. We grabbed our chairs and prepared for the cruise the best way we knew how. By opening up a tab and having a few cold ones. We decided to tip our waiter $10 right out of the gate. It seemed like a big tip and a good idea back then but we would never see the guy on the pool deck again but it paid off for us later that day. So we drank a bit, watched the crowd filter in. There were a lot of younger people on the ship but there was also some older people. It was by no means a singles cruise but the mix seemed all right. The ship's blasts told us we were leaving but we just sat there. The ship's staff told us there was a fire drill but we just sat there. We were having fun.
On big ships like the Ecstasy they have an early and a late dinner seating. We were scheduled for the late so had the late captain's reception the first night. But we were thirsty so we went to the early reception, in our swim trunks and t-shirts. Not a good thing when people were dressed up but it was held in the theatre and we went in at the top instead of the stage area. The waiters didn't care that we were there and they were bustling back and forth, serving little glasses of whiskey sours. The guy we had given $10 to was one of them and he pretty much gave us a full tray of drinks to enjoy. We were eventually told to leave and we went to our room for the first time to make sure our luggage was there. I don't even remember if we went to "our" captain's reception but who cared at that point. Our room was small, on the interior of the ship with a bunk bed and a single bed. We wouldn't spend a lot of time in it.
The Ecstasy was a big ship, I think we had 2000 people on it. It was one of the first superships that cruise lines started building like crazy in the 1990s. The atrium was beautiful, probably 6 stories of open space in the middle of a ship. We had probably four bars to choose from and a variety of stuff to do. Only one time on our cruise would I actually feel the ocean movement and that's pretty good.
We made our way down to the dining area and joined our group that we would be sharing a table with our week. Those poor guys. They were with our "group" and may have been the nerdiest people in the world but we would try to show them a good time that week. Dinners on cruise ships are pretty nice, you can order whatever and however you want. And we did. We were off and cruising, first destination was Cozumel, Mexico.
I was working for Congressman Regula in the summer of 1991 when my neighbor got married and went on a cruise for her honeymoon. She booked it through a cruise agency in my building and I stopped down there one day to talk to Dan, who owned the place. His excitement for cruising convinced me that it would be a fun vacation and I convinced two friends, Kevin and Tony, to attend a meeting of a singles group that was going on a group rate. We went, the price was right and we joined in with the group to get their rate. We would be sailing on the Ecstasy in November out of Miami.
Our cruise left on a Sunday but I flew down on Friday to see an old friend. Kevin and Tony would be joining me Saturday morning and we were going to attend the Miami v. West Virginia football game. I never hooked up with my friend and the guys were late getting in but we eventually made it to the game and it was a blast. I'm not so sure the Miami fans cared that much about football but they did care about having fun. They served beer at the game and we had a good time. Afterwards, we headed to Coconut Grove via cab (our second cab, the first guy got mad at us and ended up driving us back to the stadium and dropping us off), a suburb of Miami and continued the party. Eventually, we made our way back to the hotel and crashed. The next morning we went to the market next door and each of us made an important purchase, an insulated water bottle for the trip.
The ship left at 3:00 or so but we were allowed to board at noon. We weren't much interested in the boarding photo of us but we did make a beeline for the pool deck. We grabbed our chairs and prepared for the cruise the best way we knew how. By opening up a tab and having a few cold ones. We decided to tip our waiter $10 right out of the gate. It seemed like a big tip and a good idea back then but we would never see the guy on the pool deck again but it paid off for us later that day. So we drank a bit, watched the crowd filter in. There were a lot of younger people on the ship but there was also some older people. It was by no means a singles cruise but the mix seemed all right. The ship's blasts told us we were leaving but we just sat there. The ship's staff told us there was a fire drill but we just sat there. We were having fun.
On big ships like the Ecstasy they have an early and a late dinner seating. We were scheduled for the late so had the late captain's reception the first night. But we were thirsty so we went to the early reception, in our swim trunks and t-shirts. Not a good thing when people were dressed up but it was held in the theatre and we went in at the top instead of the stage area. The waiters didn't care that we were there and they were bustling back and forth, serving little glasses of whiskey sours. The guy we had given $10 to was one of them and he pretty much gave us a full tray of drinks to enjoy. We were eventually told to leave and we went to our room for the first time to make sure our luggage was there. I don't even remember if we went to "our" captain's reception but who cared at that point. Our room was small, on the interior of the ship with a bunk bed and a single bed. We wouldn't spend a lot of time in it.
The Ecstasy was a big ship, I think we had 2000 people on it. It was one of the first superships that cruise lines started building like crazy in the 1990s. The atrium was beautiful, probably 6 stories of open space in the middle of a ship. We had probably four bars to choose from and a variety of stuff to do. Only one time on our cruise would I actually feel the ocean movement and that's pretty good.
We made our way down to the dining area and joined our group that we would be sharing a table with our week. Those poor guys. They were with our "group" and may have been the nerdiest people in the world but we would try to show them a good time that week. Dinners on cruise ships are pretty nice, you can order whatever and however you want. And we did. We were off and cruising, first destination was Cozumel, Mexico.
