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Wednesday, March 18, 2009
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George Town, Grand Cayman Island
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By this point in our trip, we had such calm waters and such a large ship that we
never really felt the ship moving. This ship is 142,000 tons, carries 3114
passengers, and has a crew-to-passenger ratio of 1 to 2.6. That's a lot of
attention they are paying to us. Comparing a large ship to a smaller one of 85,000
tons, it takes a lot more motion of the ocean to rock the boat.
Since I was on this trip with a bunch of fuddy-duddies, I couldn't find an
adventurous soul among them for fun shore tours like ziplining or tubing on a
river. Truth be told, I've probably gained too much weight to hike up the
mountains in between zipping platforms. So...we went shopping.
On the first formal night (Monday), there were several people lined up to have
professional photos taken of them in front of this antique car. (I think it
was a replica.) Katie had wanted her photo taken with it, but we didn't want
to wait in line. So on our way off the ship, we stopped to take our own photos.
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| Katie. |
Bonney. |
Our ship anchored at 10:00 AM. In George Town, Grand Cayman Island, passengers
have to tender to the docks. That means the ship anchors in deeper water nearby
and smaller boats shuttle the passengers back and forth all day. The cruise
line give preference to people who have signed up for tours, so we didn't go
ashore until about 11:00 am to shop. While we were waiting for our turn, Bruce
and Page joined us. We tendered to the island together.
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| Bonney, Page, and Bruce. |
We had all agreed that if we got separated, we would meet back on the ship, since
it was to leave at 5:30. We did not see John and Debbie.
John and Debbie had shopped, too, purchasing 23 small rum cakes as gifts and 2 boxes
of fudge, as well as flip flops that change color in the sun and some barrettes.
After that, John and Debbie took a tour of Cayman via a 3-wheel bicycle type buggy
powered by some poor little man. They felt very sorry for him afterward for having
to lug the two of them around.
Each time the passengers get off of the ship, they punch out with their ID cards
and then punch back in when they return so the ship personnel will know if anyone
is missing and to prevent people coming on board who are not supposed to be there.
When returning, liquor purchased must be surrendered and not taken to the rooms.
You get that back when you disembark. Also, the bags are run through an
X-ray machine and each person walks through the metal detector, like we do at an airport.
I had returned at 2:00. Katie was on the 2:30 tender. When she put her bag with
her purchased rum cake on the X-ray belt, her purchases appeared to have
fallen out of her shopping bag, so she scooped it back in and returned to our room
where I was on my way to the pool. Katie said she'd meet me there to sit
in the sun some more.
The pool was relatively empty with most passengers still ashore, so I swam twenty mini-laps.
It was a short pool. When I talked with Katie, she told me she unpacked her
purchases and had TWO rum cakes and a bottle of vanilla...that she hadn't
purchased. She had stolen someone else's rum cake and vanilla from the person behind her when she put the
alleged fallen items at the X-ray machine back in her bag. Fortunately, there
was a charge receipt with the owner's name on it.
Bruce, John, and Debbie tendered back at 3:00. Page, the ultimate shopper must
have been burning up her credit card. She told us half the island lost power at
5:00, so she had to come back before she wanted to.
I planned to leave the pool earlier than Katie so I could be dressed and on time
for a skating show called Ice Odyssey with Alexey Sirota. I left a full hour and
a half early only to find that my door key card would not open our stateroom door,
and me in my wet swimsuit and cover up. Of course this time of day, none of the
room stewards were lingering in the hallway. I eventually found another guest
with her door open and asked her to phone for help. Ten minutes later there was
still no one to help, so I remembered there were phones by the elevators and phoned
for help again. Before the person reached me, our room steward, Edward, appeared
in the hallway. He had his key to the rooms, so he came to unlock the door.
That was when I discovered that when the little light blinks red and green (rather
than red to not open the door or green to open the door) it means the door battery
is dead. So Edward radioed for maintenance to come replace the battery. I sat
my wet self down on the hallway carpet and just started reading my book while I
waited for maintenance.
A few minutes later comes a little guy with a room key to open my door. (The one from the first two requests for
help) I told
him the door battery was dead and I was waiting for the maintenance man with a
new one. So he wandered away. I continued reading, and shortly Katie comes walking down
the hall, wondering why I'm sitting on the floor and we have to leave for the
show in thirty minutes. I told her the story and by the end of it, the maintenance
dude arrived, opened the door with his portable whatever, let us into the room,
and continued working on the door to replace the battery. Successful at last!
We are now definitely going to be late. It was a mad rush taking a shower,
dressing, putting on makeup and trying to make wet hair curl in the right places.
"Katie, please plug in my curling iron!"
The ice show was in progress when we arrived and we spent a couple of minutes
trying to locate members of my family. I thought I saw Debbie on the side
opposite of where we had gone, so we walked over there, but couldn't find them.
There were some empty seats in row three that we went to. As soon as we sat, I
saw John and Debbie two rows in front of us, in row 1. By this time I was huffing
an puffing, but since they had saved seats for us, I went down to tell them we
were there and were sitting behind them. Then I felt it. The cold from the ice
rink was exactly what I needed to cool off and I knew it would be too cold for
Katie, so I just continued to sit there, leaving Katie by herself. Katie said later that she didn't mind
sitting alone, and was too tired to move down with us.
We enjoyed the ice show and realized how challenging it must have been for the skaters
to get enough speed to do jumps and twirls in such a small arena. We later learned that
this was the first time for them to perform on this ship.
I think it was some time after the ice show on this afternoon that I delivered the remaining gift boxes
to John and Debbie. I also think it was sometime around this that Katie returned the stolen rum cake and
vanilla to the information desk. She learned a lady had just been there, checking
to see if anyone had turned in her missing purchases!
We were anxious to be on time for the Murder Mystery dinner that Debbie had signed
everyone up for. We first met in a lounge where champagne and appetizers were served. Since I
don't drink, I know that's why my brother Bruce sits by me. He gets my rejects.
The murder was enacted there and was done as an exaggerated comedy. We were not
allowed to take photos during this part. The murder took place off stage with none of The
actors present, so we
didn't learn who was killed until later when we were seated in the restaurant. We were
tasked as the detectives who would solve the crime over an exquisite multiple
course dinner paired with fine wine and fun for all!
We were led to the elegant Portofino specialty Italian restaurant and seated at
table number two. There were about ten tables with twelve or fourteen people at each.
Red and white wine was served. Yes, Bruce was still sitting beside me, but they
kept coming to refill his glass, so he didn't really need mine. It didn't matter
what he or Katie drank, I was the designated driver to get them back to their
rooms. I told them I was going to leave them in the elevator so they could ride
up and down all night!
For each course served, enough waiters marched out with a plate to set simultaneously
in front of each person seated at one table. They followed a route around the table until
one waiter was behind each person. To keep from running into each other, the
headwaiter said a key word so every other waiter placed their dish, then another
key word and the alternate every other ones did theirs. They served the first
course, antipasto, to each table in this manner. These photos don't do their
presentation justice.
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Between courses, the twelve at our table were to decide one question to ask of one
character so each individual could try to solve the murder. I picked out the
"secret identity" of one of the other suspect, but they were not the murderer.
Bruce and Katie picked out the murderer (and they were the ones drinking the
wine), but not the entire motive. Those who guessed right had
their ballots placed in a container for a prize drawing of some bottles of wine.
I guess I don't care that I got it wrong.
This was so much fun, and we have John and Debbie to thank for it. Abracadabra!
Wish you all could have joined us.
We were out of there about an hour and a half after we thought we would be.
It was late, so we returned to our rooms.
Another note about the water being turned off from midnight until 4:00 appeared
in our room. Unfortunately this time, we returned after midnight. But we were
welcomed back by another folded towel critter. This is a bad picture of a good
bunny
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