on the road

Sunday, Dec. 16 – Disembarkation

It used to be that I never counted the cruise as finished until the photos were back from the processor. Thanks to cranky Blogspot.com, I can hold off considering it done until after I’ve gotten all the photos posted, so even though we have to get off the ship in a few minutes, the cruise will not be done till you have seen all my photos!

Yesterday was bittersweet. People were racing around the ship, doing all the things they hadn’t had a chance to get around to. The photo gallery where you pick up the professionally taken pictures, was honest to God jam packed. Back to belly and elbow to ribcage. Glad I had sense enough to check things out as we went along. I got four of the professional photos. Wait till you see how romantic they made us look! DH has been eyeing a watch all the trip and finally broke down and treated himself. Yayyy!!! I hung over the rail of the balcony till I saw flying fish. Love those little fishies. We ended the day with a magic show – really well done. The guy looked like Bruce Willis, and had a quirky, warm stage persona. He had two little kids aged 8 and 9 help him with a trick. He was talking to the little girl, “Where are you from? How old are you? What’s your name? Are you married?” She gave him the most pitying look, and patiently said, “I’m not married. I’m only nine. Didn’t you hear me tell you that?” And as for the poor little guy, the magician had him pose like a weight lifter, then made farting sounds every time the kid moved. The young fellow was giggling so hard he nearly wet his pants. They helped him make a ring disappear, then reappear on the magician’s key ring. It was sweet and silly and really rather good illusion.

Sunday morning, we got up, dressed, cleared the room, had breakfast, everything was going swimmingly until the US Customs computer broke down. Three thousand people, frantic about missing their flights, waiting an hour and a half until Customs is back in operation. The cruise director was brilliant. He started running Funniest Home Videos on the big screen in the show lounge. It doesn’t need translation and it kept people entertained and laughing.

When we finally got cleared and tried to find our bags, one was missing. The cabin tag had been ripped off, so it was left in the lost luggage corner. However, it had a bright red pompom tied to the handle, so as soon as we knew where to look, we found it instantly. Then , as we were dragging the bags off the ship and across the street to the taxi station, I caught the toe of one foot in the cuff of the other pantleg and fell full length in the street. I was touched by how many people leapt forward to help me. I picked up a touch of gravel in my palms, a smear of grit on one cheek, and bruised knees. Thank God it was no worse than that!

And then, during the screening process, I was one of the random Xpercent that got pulled aside and frisked. Our flight has been delayed on departure to Chicago. Well, the adventure continues!

Ha! Eureka! I have upload! Here is a sunworshipper on the ship.

Here is the mandatory kitty picture - a little lady we met in St. Lucia.

For Warrior Knitter, here's sailing in the sunshine.

And for anyone interested, here's a little beefcake.