A Christmas Cruise!!
I must say that I was pretty skeptical about going on a cruise during Christmas. After all, my family, like most families, has a Christmas Day ritual that happens without fail every year. However, let me go ahead and say that I had a great time. :) Let me also go ahead and say that I've uploaded a ton of photos on Facebook, which now allows all people to look at their members' photo albums. :) Just click here:
http://olemiss.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2057551&l=c1468&id=6517120
Just to whet your whistle, here's one of the pics:
Now...onto the cruise. I was the only member of my family who had never been on a cruise before, so despite the eagerness of my parents and sister to prepare, I had no idea what to expect.
First of all, the ship has a Cruise Director. For our cruise, her name was Linda. The cruise director's job, in essence, is to announce activities and events all throughout the day. To the point that you begin to loathe her voice. Fortunate for us, Linda's voice was amusing. It was British, and it sounded a bit like a "late-night telephone operator." Amusing, yes.
What's next...oh, the food. Since a cruise ship works just like an all-inclusive resort, all the food was prepaid. So, at each meal, we ate appetizer and soup/salad and entree and dessert. I gained less weight than I thought I would...probably because of the walking we did during our on-shore excursions. But, I did gain a little. Now, something else about the food. It was hit-and-miss. The dishes themselves all sounded absolutely fantastic, when reading them on the menu. However, sometimes, when the dishes came up, something got lost in the execution.
Worse dish: shrimp-encrusted salmon. Listen carefully: SHRIMP SHOULD NEVER ENCRUST ANYTHING!!!! It became rubbery rubber crust. It also gave the salmon even more of a fishier taste than it would have had on its own.
Best dish: New York strip with green peppercorn sauce. So good!!!! And, the Potato Gratin that came with it was even better!!! It was a stellar meal.
Moving on to the entertainment, it was interesting. This cruise ship required most of its performers to do a variety of things...sing, dance, be acrobatic...and that led to none of them being outstanding at any one talent. Everyone was very talented, but none of the shows really showcased the talent well. It was a bit amateurish...of course, when the entertainment venue is called "The Stardust Lounge," you already working under a deficit.
Over the course of the week, I got tired of the ship itself. I mean, there's only so much you can explore, and I covered that on the first day. After that, it was repetitive. Where I really enjoyed the cruise was at the ports of call and on the shore excursions for each port. In that way, it was like 4 vacations in one, and I found that really appealing. I got to visit 2 Maya ruin sites, tour a working banana plantation, and explore a coral reef in a submarine. Very cool stuff. In addition, I got to see 4 unique towns. That whole aspect of the cruise was right up my alley.
So, now I'm back, on the verge of a new year. I hope everybody had a great Christmas, as well as a positive 2006 overall. Here's to hoping for a safe and happy 2007 for all of you!!!
http://olemiss.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2057551&l=c1468&id=6517120
Just to whet your whistle, here's one of the pics:
Now...onto the cruise. I was the only member of my family who had never been on a cruise before, so despite the eagerness of my parents and sister to prepare, I had no idea what to expect.
First of all, the ship has a Cruise Director. For our cruise, her name was Linda. The cruise director's job, in essence, is to announce activities and events all throughout the day. To the point that you begin to loathe her voice. Fortunate for us, Linda's voice was amusing. It was British, and it sounded a bit like a "late-night telephone operator." Amusing, yes.
What's next...oh, the food. Since a cruise ship works just like an all-inclusive resort, all the food was prepaid. So, at each meal, we ate appetizer and soup/salad and entree and dessert. I gained less weight than I thought I would...probably because of the walking we did during our on-shore excursions. But, I did gain a little. Now, something else about the food. It was hit-and-miss. The dishes themselves all sounded absolutely fantastic, when reading them on the menu. However, sometimes, when the dishes came up, something got lost in the execution.
Worse dish: shrimp-encrusted salmon. Listen carefully: SHRIMP SHOULD NEVER ENCRUST ANYTHING!!!! It became rubbery rubber crust. It also gave the salmon even more of a fishier taste than it would have had on its own.
Best dish: New York strip with green peppercorn sauce. So good!!!! And, the Potato Gratin that came with it was even better!!! It was a stellar meal.
Moving on to the entertainment, it was interesting. This cruise ship required most of its performers to do a variety of things...sing, dance, be acrobatic...and that led to none of them being outstanding at any one talent. Everyone was very talented, but none of the shows really showcased the talent well. It was a bit amateurish...of course, when the entertainment venue is called "The Stardust Lounge," you already working under a deficit.
Over the course of the week, I got tired of the ship itself. I mean, there's only so much you can explore, and I covered that on the first day. After that, it was repetitive. Where I really enjoyed the cruise was at the ports of call and on the shore excursions for each port. In that way, it was like 4 vacations in one, and I found that really appealing. I got to visit 2 Maya ruin sites, tour a working banana plantation, and explore a coral reef in a submarine. Very cool stuff. In addition, I got to see 4 unique towns. That whole aspect of the cruise was right up my alley.
So, now I'm back, on the verge of a new year. I hope everybody had a great Christmas, as well as a positive 2006 overall. Here's to hoping for a safe and happy 2007 for all of you!!!
posted by Trey at
5:02 PM
2 Comments:
How fun and cruises' can be such fun. I think I did gain weight when i went on one b/c we seriously ate 24/7. They are fun...
By
Jen, at 8:26 AM
Your "entertainment" (to use the term loosely) on board reminded me of a similar encounter on my Punta Cana trip in November: Our first night at the resort, we found ourselves at the nightly entertainment show....celebrating none other than.....(this is where you ask yourself what entertainer could possibly have risen to idolic stature in the Dominican Republic)...MICHAEL JACKSON! (Side bar: No one on the island understood my attempts at "Hola" but somehow knew every word to every MJ song ever written.)
The show was an extremely theatrical event complete with set changes and choreographed dances. It was only mildly disturbing to recognize the concierge and towel boy wearing track suits exclaiming "BAD!" on the back dancing to - you guessed it - "Bad." It became slightly more disturbing to recognize the room service guy rollerblading down the aisle in a monster costume (for "Thriller," natch). But I became completely hysterical when the hotel manager was wheeled out on stage in a wheel chair, neck brace and leg cast demonstrating what I can only guess to be a MS/Epileptic hybrid disorder, twitching for the final performance of "Heal the World." No one else was laughing.
Good stuff.
By
Meredith, at 8:09 AM
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