Cruise Virgin No More

Crowded casino, squealing children, queue cutting at buffet lines, tiny pools filled with too many people, trapped on a ship floating on water that is home to sharks and dangerous creatures, and going nowhere interesting.  This is what I used to think about when I think about cruises.  While not all of these are untrue, we had a fantastic week where we reconnected, rejuvenated, and refreshed our spirits and purpose.  Vacation with a big fat “R” the way it should be – rested.  For those who don’t want to wade to the end of this long post, the bottomline is – if you have been contemplating trying cruising, go for it.

So let’s start at the very beginning. 

Several years ago when Leon and I were on our honeymoon a couple of years late in Australia, we went on a whale-watching trip from Sydney.  How is that relevant?  Well, on that half-day tour, even though I ate sensibly before the trip, even though I’ve been on small boats on choppy waters before, and even though I’ve spent a day hosting media on a kelong (fishing farm on stilts in the sea) for a pretty cool story, I was chugging non-stop like the proud Merlion fountain that stands at the head of the Singapore River.  A helpful crew member opened puke bags as fast as she could and laid them in a row in front of me while comfortingly advising “you never know when it’s coming up so it’s good to be prepared.”  Meanwhile, Leon was walking around deck with a cup of coffee in one hand and wafers in the other while peering into the distant with the rest of the tourists for signs of the elusive creatures.  We saw one single baby whale do a tail slap, which I saw through the window, and which if you think about it, a worse experience than watching the same thing on TV.

I was convinced I had sea sickness, and while the idea of a cruise came up over the next decade or so that followed, we never did go on such a vacation because I could not imagine a worse way to spend my annual leave.

Time, as always, did its thing and erased all important details. Determined to go on a spring break because like everyone else we needed to thaw faster than Michigan spring would come, the romance of the idea of cruising came back to seduce us.

Working in my previous issues and crisis communication role meant I was watching the Carnival cruise fiasco – flooding sewage and tortuous journey towed back to port inch by inch on the high seas – rather closely.  One incident could be blamed on bad luck but a second broken down cruise ship meant that this cruise line was first off my list.  Destination and port of departure – the Caribbean islands and Miami respectively – also narrowed options.  And when you’ve decided which cruise line, within each fleet is also a plethora of options each offering different cruise dynamics due to size and program offerings.  We, well I, finally decided on the Norwegian Getaway, the largest and latest addition to the fleet and in its maiden cruise season having just been launched in January 2014.  In my mind was a simple equation, new = clean = good.

Work, as always, did its thing and filled up all available time.  It is going to sound oxymoronic (except to business travelers) but fortunately, I had a long business trip that gave me some time to contemplate shore excursions on days when we docked.  There were three land days in our 7-day cruise – St Maarten, Phillipsburg; St. Thomas; and Nassau, Bahamas.

So other than shore excursions, I didn’t do my usual read-everything-I-can-and-figure-out-everything-I-need-before-I-leave-so-I’ll-know-what-to-do thing.  I’m going to pin this uncharacteristically cavalier attitude on my favorite Brooks Brothers store manager, Terri.  The weekend before we left on our cruise we were at her outlet and somehow in the course of buying Leon’s work shirts, she realized we didn’t know what the different color labels meant and blurted, “you guys are so independent that’s why you never learned anything from us about our shirts!”  Oh I can’t blame her - it’s not her fault.  I blame me.  Why hadn’t I read about label colors?  Maybe because this wasn’t on their website.  I can’t assume that everything I need to know I can self-help and read about.

On cruise day, we handed over our luggage, checked in, and checked out the ship in true cruise virgin fashion – strolling into the safety briefing not realizing it was actually mandatory (but we were not last!), walking past restaurants and realizing that an Ultimate Dining Package covering the non-complimentary dining options is actually very good value (should have purchased pre-cruise but it wasn’t too late), feeling smug that we had the smarts to pack bottled water because drinking water is neither free (except in restaurants) nor cheap, and finding out late that desirable seating times for the special shows on board require reservations (should have booked pre-cruise too but managed to get that sorted).

The first two days of the cruise were sea days.  I was slightly queasy in the beginning but soon found the gentle rocking motion of the ship comforting.  Leon was a man-on-a-mission and we looked in on ALL of the dining options onboard, even stopping by late one night for a coffee and slice of apple pie at the 24-hour complimentary buffet line.  We attended destination presentations hoping to learn more about where we’re stopping at but were disappointed these were all about shopping.  We were awed by Grammy award winning Sugarblue’s harmonica playing and renditions of blues tunes.  And we kept up our exercise regime trotting on treadmills with a gazillion dollar sea view.  Unfortunately, the treadmills were placed at right angle to the direction the ship was traveling and if we were to keep our eyes on the ocean in front of us, we would uncontrollably run towards the direction of motion, which would be most unfortunate.  So we had to either place our gaze on the Technogym logo on the machine, or watch TV with poor reception.  And like my younger sister Lena reminded me of what the great Scott Adams once said, pretending that our running on the treadmill powers the cruise ship made things less boring.

Back-side of the Norwegian Getaway.

Shore Excursion #1: St. Maarten – Americas Cup Regatta

The sport of sailing baffles me.  There’s a bunch of folks on a boat that looks like it shouldn’t be holding that many people, and occasionally a few of them would spring into action and hand-cycle like mad, and the sail would move and something happens.  So when I saw an opportunity to sail and compete in a make-believe regatta as a crew member, I thought it’ll be both fun and educational.  Most of the time, we didn’t know if we were winning or losing.  Our skipper had us all trained with a role – Leon a main grinder and I a winch wincher – and focused on our game.  My partner and I on the back of the boat developed great team work – while he grinded the rope that tightened the sail, I held his beer.

We came in third, out of three boats. Ha!  The booze cruise was an unforgettable experience. Oops, wrong boat.

Onboard the Canada II and taking instructions from Skipper Dan Smith.

Shore Excursion #2: St. Thomas – St. John’s Champagne Catamaran Snorkeling Trip

I have fond memories of my maiden snorkeling experience at the Shangri-La in Cebu, Philippines, several years ago.  On my day of departure from the hotel following a work trip (I swear work trips to such resort locations are rare as dragon’s milk), I had a couple of hours in the morning and the hotel had its own protected reef right on its beach – not difficult to join the dots, rent snorkel gear, and check out the sights that were wonderful (ok, not like on TV but it was my first time) even at waist high waters.  Ever since then, I have wanted Leon to have a similar experience.  This excursion was perfect.

After a 20-minute ride in an oversized jeepney that looked like it fell off the 50’s shelves and never had time to clean up, over treacherous roads with names like “Donkey Hill”, and drivers sitting on the left AND driving on the left side of the road, we reached the marina. 

Another 45-minute ride on the catamaran took us to St. Johns’ Honeymoon beach, which is supposed to be secluded but on this afternoon was visited by at least 60 of us eager snorkelers.  The catamaran was moored maybe 200 meters offshore and being not a strong swimmer and it was Leon’s first try, we hopped on the dinghy to the beach to explore the marine park from that end. 

Enjoying the wind in our hair on the catamaran.

Good thing we did – the masks didn’t quite fit and kept springing leaks, and the fins were awkward for the inexperienced like us.  However, we did see schools upon thousands of tiny fishes darting just beyond our fingers’ reach, some zebra fishes, larger fishes that looked like pomfrets (they aren’t), and a few other creatures.  At some point, I panicked and grabbed at Leon scaring him too when my breathing tube filled with sea water and I needed to get to shore.  Obviously we’re both alive, and it was all good and all fun. 

Shore Stop #3: Nassau, Bahamas

The island tour we booked was cancelled a week before departure and I didn't feel like we wanted to go to the Atlantis resort so we decided to leave this stop free and easy.  We went ashore, and decided we didn't quite like Nassau.  The port area felt like the poverty belt of Nassau and far away into the distance closer to the Atlantis, we spied developments that suggested that was the better part of town.  As it was Good Friday, not many shops were opened and after lunch at MacDonald's we returned to chill on the ship.

Shacks along the pier at Nassau.

We thoroughly, absolutely enjoyed our maiden cruise experience.  It slowed us down, gave us time to read, drink tea/coffee, chit-chat and relax.  

A few other observations:

• Pack some glam clothes – folks on cruises seem to dress up for dinner.  There are also cruise photographers positioned all around the common areas to take glamour shots against the rich backdrops.  Us both fortunately packed collared shirts and dresses and didn’t look too out of place, but definitely didn’t look like we were “with it”.
• Bring a highlighter – to highlight what you want to do on the very long daily list of activities on board.
• Pre-book and pre-purchase whatever you can – to get what you want at the time that you want.
• Bring small notes for tips – while gratuities are pre-paid, small gestures for the professional and more hospitable crew (some are truly grumpy guppies) make everyone happy.
• Expect crowds – you’re not on a private island.  You’re on a ship with thousands of people and hundreds of families.  Enjoy the energy. 
• Participate - there are tons of activities taking place onboard.  The parties looked fun, and I say "looked" because we chose to sleep instead of joining in, and looking at the cruise in review video the crew put together, I think we missed out.