Dwindling Days
November 17, 2013
Veterans, you would be proud of the way that Carnival recognized you on Veteran’s Day. The main auditorium was filled to capacity and the cruise director encouraged audience participation. And, a lot of participation there was! One WW II vet was onboard. There were 4 or 5 active military servicemen and women onboard, too. Both groups received standing ovations. Many had moving, patriotic stories to share. Made you proud to be an American! One relayed the story of oftentimes being told ‘thank you’ by individuals from other countries for the protection afforded them via the US military.
After six days at sea, the stop in Grand Turk provided, at long last, an opportunity, to once again test our land legs. I reluctantly admit that we didn’t explore as we should have. It appears that Carnival Cruises has jurisdiction over a corner of this island. It is a mini-resort with American restaurants and shops, located just at the pier. The area is over-crowded with beach chairs, umbrellas, and typical resort activities. The sort of place we usually avoid became our only memory of Grand Turk. As one expects in the Caribbean, the water was crystal clear, the beach was pristine, the music was loud, and the locals were there to sell you every imaginable trinket. We watched from Jimmy Buffet’s MargaritaVille and then from Capt. Hook’s place, all the while using the free internet, if your definition of ‘free’ is paying nothing for Wi-fi but paying $15 for a $5 meal. What can you do? We had to put our toes in the water and our butts in the loungers (bet you thought I was going to say ‘sand’) for just a little while.
We returned to the ship a bit early for great views of the REAL Grand Turk from the upper decks and promised ourselves to explore more on our next visit. Meanwhile, we took advantage of the empty pool and hot tub on board and then planted ourselves in the best double-deck chairs available in the adults-only section to watch the beautiful sunset and the sail away party. Ahhhh!
Three more days at sea finally brought us one, but only one, rain day. We did more of the same each day so I won’t bore you with all of that. The comedians were exchanged for jugglers. We decided to stick with Seth in the piano bar.
George and Rey experienced the high ropes course just as we began our transition from the Atlantic to the Mississippi. The swaying of the boat added a degree of difficulty. I must admit I chickened-out at the last minute and missed out. Shelly and I were the photographers. Stay tuned. They looked like circus acrobats racing across the high ropes.
The jaunt into New Orleans was way cool! It took two additional pilots to get us into port. It was about a 10 hour process. One pilot boarded and took us to the mouth of the Mississippi. It looked as though we were going through a channel within the middle of the ocean. Maybe we were. During this phase we saw lots and lots of off-shore drilling. I never expected to see so many. No wonder the oil spills are more frequent. Then, as we began to see marshy land on either side, another pilot boarded and took us into NOLA. Suddenly, we felt as though we were on a river cruise in an ocean liner. I guess we were. Our ship certainly felt too big – even for this big river. Once we entered this phase of the trip, we had to pay state tax for anything we purchased onboard. We anchored there in the river for several hours while the Coast Guard and custom officials came onboard. We learned that, as this is the first time, the Carnival Sunshine must pass rigorous inspections by the US Coast Guard and other government agencies. In fact, she will remain in port an extra day for the big whigs to come down, christen her, and hold exclusive parties before sailing on Monday. It was a high stress time for the staff members on board, it seemed.
We enjoyed a great final evening with our wait staff, (Florrin, Tamara, Andrei). We learned that our singing maître d’ will transfer to the other dining room much to the dismay of those working in our dining area. He must be a truly great leader. We learned a bit about Indonesia from Rio, and spent the last few hours in the piano bar (surprise, surprise) before packing our bags and placing them in the hallway to hopefully, magically reappear in port tomorrow morning in New Orleans. Repacking is a lot easier when you arrive only with a backpack!
Yep, if you like to relax and if you like to find bargains, we’d still say, “Take a repositioning cruise when you can.”
