SHIP LIFE...
To fill you in a bit on what ship life seems to be like - the crowd is fairly mixed, we being a young family with a toddler are in the vast minority. Not a lot of families in general, so not a lot of kids, which means those on board have full reign of the activities meant for them.
They did a kids scavenger hunt one night where they all went and made pirate costumes and then stormed the bingo lounges and other public places searching for the right booty.
Meanwhile, up at the pool or in the disco - the young jet set were clad in the finest bikinis, speedos, or dapper wear all in search of booty as well. Just younger, firmer booty.
Then you have the blue hairs - oh do they fill their evenings with bingo, casino time, and whatever shows the boat will put on. We really did not hit any of the shows. I sat in on a crappy comedian named LeVent - who couldnt invent a joke to save his life. He did play some magic tricks, but overall his jokes were more canned than tuna. The blue hairs loved it though. Anytime you mention Ed Sullivan and Danny Kay as prime talents, you're in with the blues.
I tried to sneak about and get a lot of photos of ship life. The boats are nice, and we've been reminded it seems by everyone that this is one of the older ships. I'm sure the new ones are nice and great, but this boat was fun for us. Lots of interesting art work - a library with books and games - plenty of different lounges and bars all with different themes and rightfully different clientele. Then there are the open decks, with views galore, pools, hot tubs, and the food areas. At the aft of the boat is the basketball court, ping pong tables, shuffle board area, and some nice secluded areas to watch the waves drift away.
One night, I left the room to go on my evening jaunt after Alyssa went to sleep and Jule had come back from her evening jaunt. The minute I opened my stateroom door, I was immediately immersed in the oddest noise. So much so that it made me dart back in the room and grab the video camera. You see, we were probably located about mid-ship, but not that far from the large Paint Your Wagon Lounge. Tonight in the PYW Lounge - Karaoke!! Oh boy.
The noise I heard was a lady trying to sing - darn it, I forget the song - but it was so bad, that cats fart with more harmony. But little did I know that the headliner was still to come. I mosied into the back of the loung, cracking up and video taping the first lady - along with a few other cruisers. Suddenly, the next song was up. Live from Korea - it is Britney Spears-Kim. No kidding, this girl was introduced as being from S. Korea and she belted out here best heavy asian accented "Ooops, I did it again!". I had so much trouble composing myself this was the funniest thing I had seen in a while - even more than "Protect Ya Tings, Mon!" And oh yes, I got it all on video.
Like I said, our cabins were located about mid ship, although we felt slightly more to the aft than to the front. This meant we were convenient to the lounges, or right over the 7th deck lounge - the Blue Skies Lounge - which doubled as our muster station (or where we evacuated to in case of an emergency). They played Samba music there on two of the nights, very loud and very late, but we all managed to fall asleep.
Of course, in the middle of the ship from the 3rd to the 7th decks is the large centrum where you first board, where all the pictures are taken, where the ship's business is run such as the pursers desk (remember Gopher from Love Boat?) and the ship excursion desk is located. Also they have shops (over priced goods that seemingly get cheaper every night until they have a last night blow out). Up on deck 11 is the pool and the Windjammer cafe. ON deck 12 is the next level of the cafe, a view deck for viewing, and the pizzeria. Above that is a smaller observation deck to the front of the ship and finally, towards the aft, towering over the ship is the famous Viking Lounge - a feature on every Royal Carib. ship. On our Alaska cruise, it served as the disco. On this cruise, it served as the old farts nap lounge. I went up there once to check out the evening party and nearly got into a bridge game.
So such is ship life. I cannot explain it all, but there is a lot to do. After our cancellation on Coco Cay, however, the entire ship load of people were stir crazy and ready to pounce on Key West.
Considering we were supposed to leave Coco Cay at 5pm to get to Key West by 10am the next day, and in actuality we left Coco Cay at 9:30am - after the Capt'n got us clear of the storms, we crept along the sea at what seemed 2 mph. I think off in the distance I could see the illuminated towers of Kennedy Space Center - but it was tough to tell where exactly we were. All I know is that we were probably 50 miles off the eastern coast of Florida and heading south.
Off to Key West...
To fill you in a bit on what ship life seems to be like - the crowd is fairly mixed, we being a young family with a toddler are in the vast minority. Not a lot of families in general, so not a lot of kids, which means those on board have full reign of the activities meant for them.
They did a kids scavenger hunt one night where they all went and made pirate costumes and then stormed the bingo lounges and other public places searching for the right booty.
Meanwhile, up at the pool or in the disco - the young jet set were clad in the finest bikinis, speedos, or dapper wear all in search of booty as well. Just younger, firmer booty.
Then you have the blue hairs - oh do they fill their evenings with bingo, casino time, and whatever shows the boat will put on. We really did not hit any of the shows. I sat in on a crappy comedian named LeVent - who couldnt invent a joke to save his life. He did play some magic tricks, but overall his jokes were more canned than tuna. The blue hairs loved it though. Anytime you mention Ed Sullivan and Danny Kay as prime talents, you're in with the blues.
I tried to sneak about and get a lot of photos of ship life. The boats are nice, and we've been reminded it seems by everyone that this is one of the older ships. I'm sure the new ones are nice and great, but this boat was fun for us. Lots of interesting art work - a library with books and games - plenty of different lounges and bars all with different themes and rightfully different clientele. Then there are the open decks, with views galore, pools, hot tubs, and the food areas. At the aft of the boat is the basketball court, ping pong tables, shuffle board area, and some nice secluded areas to watch the waves drift away.
One night, I left the room to go on my evening jaunt after Alyssa went to sleep and Jule had come back from her evening jaunt. The minute I opened my stateroom door, I was immediately immersed in the oddest noise. So much so that it made me dart back in the room and grab the video camera. You see, we were probably located about mid-ship, but not that far from the large Paint Your Wagon Lounge. Tonight in the PYW Lounge - Karaoke!! Oh boy.
The noise I heard was a lady trying to sing - darn it, I forget the song - but it was so bad, that cats fart with more harmony. But little did I know that the headliner was still to come. I mosied into the back of the loung, cracking up and video taping the first lady - along with a few other cruisers. Suddenly, the next song was up. Live from Korea - it is Britney Spears-Kim. No kidding, this girl was introduced as being from S. Korea and she belted out here best heavy asian accented "Ooops, I did it again!". I had so much trouble composing myself this was the funniest thing I had seen in a while - even more than "Protect Ya Tings, Mon!" And oh yes, I got it all on video.
Like I said, our cabins were located about mid ship, although we felt slightly more to the aft than to the front. This meant we were convenient to the lounges, or right over the 7th deck lounge - the Blue Skies Lounge - which doubled as our muster station (or where we evacuated to in case of an emergency). They played Samba music there on two of the nights, very loud and very late, but we all managed to fall asleep.
Of course, in the middle of the ship from the 3rd to the 7th decks is the large centrum where you first board, where all the pictures are taken, where the ship's business is run such as the pursers desk (remember Gopher from Love Boat?) and the ship excursion desk is located. Also they have shops (over priced goods that seemingly get cheaper every night until they have a last night blow out). Up on deck 11 is the pool and the Windjammer cafe. ON deck 12 is the next level of the cafe, a view deck for viewing, and the pizzeria. Above that is a smaller observation deck to the front of the ship and finally, towards the aft, towering over the ship is the famous Viking Lounge - a feature on every Royal Carib. ship. On our Alaska cruise, it served as the disco. On this cruise, it served as the old farts nap lounge. I went up there once to check out the evening party and nearly got into a bridge game.
So such is ship life. I cannot explain it all, but there is a lot to do. After our cancellation on Coco Cay, however, the entire ship load of people were stir crazy and ready to pounce on Key West.
Considering we were supposed to leave Coco Cay at 5pm to get to Key West by 10am the next day, and in actuality we left Coco Cay at 9:30am - after the Capt'n got us clear of the storms, we crept along the sea at what seemed 2 mph. I think off in the distance I could see the illuminated towers of Kennedy Space Center - but it was tough to tell where exactly we were. All I know is that we were probably 50 miles off the eastern coast of Florida and heading south.
Off to Key West...
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