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| Red Carpet Inn kitty |
Monday, February 10, 2025
'Tis the day for leaving the land for the open seas. We didn't exactly rise with the sun this morning, but neither did we dawdle departing our Fort Lauderdale lodgings. Before we left, a local feral cat took up what we assume was his traditional lounging spot outside our door; he was not at all keen on being handled, but he appeared otherwise healthy and seemed comfortable enough around us (he probably knew we were cat people). I hope he will be okay for the long haul.
During our single-night stay in Fort Lauderdale, we had only a limited view of the city, and I'm sure there are plenty of lovely places for residents and visitors alike to enjoy, but we mainly experienced Just Another City in Florida, as apart from St. Augustine, they seem to blend one into another into another into another along the state's eastern coast.
'Tis the day for leaving the land for the open seas. We didn't exactly rise with the sun this morning, but neither did we dawdle departing our Fort Lauderdale lodgings. Before we left, a local feral cat took up what we assume was his traditional lounging spot outside our door; he was not at all keen on being handled, but he appeared otherwise healthy and seemed comfortable enough around us (he probably knew we were cat people). I hope he will be okay for the long haul.
During our single-night stay in Fort Lauderdale, we had only a limited view of the city, and I'm sure there are plenty of lovely places for residents and visitors alike to enjoy, but we mainly experienced Just Another City in Florida, as apart from St. Augustine, they seem to blend one into another into another into another along the state's eastern coast.
Check-in on the ship went smoothly, so once settled into our suite, we headed
for lunch in the Windjammer, the standard Royal Caribbean buffet-style
restaurant on board. A very good martini accompanied. Afterward, Terry and I
planted ourselves in the exclusive Crown Club lounge, (membership to which is
one of the perks he & Beth have earned for cruising, like, a lot, and
which fortunately extends to their guests of peasant status). We hung out for
about an hour, drank coffee, and yakked until we both finally had to get up
and go pee.
Dinner was in the main restaurant, and we secured a table in a nice, quiet corner where we met a nice couple, Andy and Mary Beth from Missouri. I had some excellent escargot and some sad fried chicken. Can't win 'em all, I reckon. The drinks were superb. Afterward, we settled ourselves in the Irish Pub, Hoof & Claw, for a couple of 1970s trivia contests, one for music and one for general history. Our foursome won both (these people are really old). Then we wandered about the ship, listening to tunes, dancing (well, some of us did; not me), and finally returned to our quarters for a hard crash and burn.
Dinner was in the main restaurant, and we secured a table in a nice, quiet corner where we met a nice couple, Andy and Mary Beth from Missouri. I had some excellent escargot and some sad fried chicken. Can't win 'em all, I reckon. The drinks were superb. Afterward, we settled ourselves in the Irish Pub, Hoof & Claw, for a couple of 1970s trivia contests, one for music and one for general history. Our foursome won both (these people are really old). Then we wandered about the ship, listening to tunes, dancing (well, some of us did; not me), and finally returned to our quarters for a hard crash and burn.
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| View of Fort Lauderdale from the lounge of the Liberty of the Seas, prior to departure |
Tuesday, February 11, 2025
On a not-at-all-cruise-related topic, today is release day for my newest novel, The House at Black Tooth Pond, from Crossroad Press, in paperback and ebook, with the audiobook to come soon. Preorders have been healthy, and the response from those who've already delved into it is enthusiastic. To be sure, I hope this thing flies like Rodan, the Flying Monster. If you've been good enough to pick up the book, might I please prevail upon you further to leave a review, particularly on Amazon.com, since it is, for better or for worse, the most strategic sales outlet.
For Terry and me, our morning began pretty early. While Ms. B. and Beth slept in, he and I went down to Chops Grille, one of the ship's many restaurants, which offers free breakfasts to suite guests. It was fairly good—scrambled eggs, bacon, hash browns, toast, and lots of coffee; satisfying but not superlative, which is typical of cruise ship food. Afterward, we decided to try our luck at the casino. I've always been partial to Blackjack, so I spent 30 or 40 minutes at the table; I was in the black for a little bit, but as so often happens, I stuck around just long enough to lose a wee bit. Thankfully, it really was a wee bit. I've got lots of chips left, so I will be returning for a rematch, probably this evening.
I needed my regular daily exercise, so I did some laps around the ship until I reached my goal of 5,000 steps (and I put in a few extra). I've averaged over 9K a day on this trip, and by tonight, I will have no doubt put in quite a few more. The Liberty is not at all a small boat, so I get almost 1,000 steps per lap around the deck.
The gang decided that, since we have free room service in the suite, we should
have lunch delivered. And we did. Smoked potato soup and butternut squash
risotto for me. The soup was better than the risotto. We shared a couple of
bottles of Italian red wine—an Amarone and a Nebbiolo—both of which were
superb. Then some folks went for naps and some went for blogging. The latter
might have been me.
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| Celebratory toast to the success of The House at Black Tooth Pond. Good wine! |
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Moon over the Caribbean, viewed from the lounge of the Liberty of the Seas |
As afternoon moved toward evening, we settled in at the Suites Lounge and had a few nibbles along with a couple of drinks. They make a killer gin martini here (several of them, as a matter of fact). We finally dragged ourselves over to dinner, and tonight I destroyed some delicious calamari and a seafood linguine, which was probably the best dish I've had on the ship so far. The service, as always, was exemplary. Andy and Mary Beth again provided pleasurable dinnertime companionship.
For afters, Terry and I again ventured to the casino, and this time I won at least most of my money back from this morning. There was a bourbon tasting at the nearby duty-free shop, but it was only a couple of shots of Jack Daniels green label and Jack Daniels single-malt, the latter of which was actually pretty good, though I didn't consider either a necessary purchase.
By now, we all had worked up a pretty good tired, so we retired to our quarters, where I finished up today's blog entry. All in all, an invigorating and satisfying day, particularly since the announcements I posted about The House at Black Tooth Pond seemed to be especially well received. Tomorrow, CocoCay in the Bahamas. And me, I'm bushed, so g'night.
Wednesday, February 12, 2025
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| Ship butts |
We woke up to see the Royal Caribbean–owned CocoCay Port outside our windows rather than open sea. We had ordered a continental breakfast to be delivered to our room, so once we snarfed it down, we made our way down to the gangway and over to CocoCay. First target for me (and Terry, who accompanied me to make sure I didn't fall into the ocean and drown) was a number of Adventure Lab cache stages, which turned out to be quick and easy.
There are several beach areas on CocoCay, so we found a nice, shady spot for our base of operations. Brugger and I soon wandered out into the crystal blue water...which turned out to be pretty icy, at least at first. We heard—second hand, so I can't really verify it—that there was a shark watch for our beach, so we didn't paddle out but so deep, and not for too long. We saw no sharks, but Kim and I bounced a lot of lines from Jaws off each other. Mostly, we hung out on the beach, drank spritzes, and had a nice lunch from the nearby pavilion.
Mid-afternoon, we returned to the ship. Terry and I woke ourselves back up with a couple of mugs of Juan Valdez in the Suites Lounge, while our respective spouses took power naps.
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| Chill Island Beach on CocoCay |
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| Royal Caribbean's Liberty of the Seas (our ship, on the left) and Voyager of the Seas (on the right) |
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| The view from our suite balcony first thing this morning |
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The Nassau Cathedral. Do you see the geocache? |
As is typical when we're on a cruise, we woke up to a new view outside our balcony this morning—a whole bunch of cruise ships packed in tight at the Nassau port. Ours was one of several already docked and another one—a Disney ship—came steaming in as I watched.
That meant the Nassau cruise port was crowded as motherfuck.
After another continental breakfast in our suite, I headed into town to hunt a few caches. There were several Adventure Lab stages, a couple of virtuals, and a physical cache, which lurked at the nearby cathedral. The sanctuary was the only place I found in this teeming madhouse of a town that was relatively serene; in fact, I sat in a pew for a bit so I could write my cache log. As far as caching went, success on all counts. Terry and Beth opted to stay on board the ship today, but eventually, Ms. B. arrived on the scene. We found ourselves a taxi over to nearby Paradise Island and the Atlantis Resort, which is a sprawling, luxury development, with a grand hotel, a massive outdoor aquarium, casino, shops, restaurants, a harbor full of massive yachts (none of them are mine, at least not yet), and a virtual cache.
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Non-Euclidean horror guarding the entrance of the Atlantis Casino; this might give me second thoughts about gambling there. |
Oddly, almost all the restaurants in the surrounding area were closed, even at noon. We finally found a tropical-themed spot called Sip-Sip, which was open, where I had some of the best chicken wings I've ever tasted. The server asked if I was okay with a lot of spice, and of course I am, but these really weren't that spicy. The flavor, though... hooooey! All kinds of good.
After our lunch, we navigated to the virtual cache, which is at the western end of the Atlantis, but I've gotta say, getting to that point from the eastern end took some doing. We went through the outdoor aquarium, which is in itself a labyrinth, but a very cool one. We saw sharks, manta rays, stingrays, horseshoe crabs, and all kinds of exotic fish. Eventually, we figured out how to reach our target, and I gathered the information necessary to claim the cache.
By then, Ms. B. and I had grown weary of the oppressive crowds, so we took a taxi (filled to the brim with people!) back to the port and fought our way back aboard the Liberty. I finally managed to revive myself with a shower and worked on the blog for a bit.
My impression of Nassau from today was not that favorable, but I might sing a different tune when the place is not so jam-packed with tourists (assuming there's ever a slow time). It's fair to say that Nassau has changed radically in the 60 years since Thunderball was made (it's one of my favorite James Bond films), but I admit I had the movie theme going through my head as I wandered the town caching. I'd certainly be willing to give the place another shot, if we ever have the opportunity, though there are certainly many other destinations I'd put well out in front.
Tonight, being our last night on board, we kept things pretty mellow. Terry and I visited the casino for a last fling, and for a refreshing change, I am coming home in the black, gambling-wise. I'll take it!
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| The cathedral interior; it was the only peaceful place I found in Nassau the entire day |
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| A few yachts in the harbor near Sip-Sip at Atlantis |
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| Holy cow, a spot that's not teeming with human beings! |
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| Stingray at the Atlantis Aquarium |
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| Old Dude and Brugger at the Atlantis Casino (we did not gamble). |
L) Ms. B. hanging with another monster at the Casino; R) Pirate Republic
ale at Sip-Sip
Once we disembarked from the ship, we found a fantastic breakfast in Fort Lauderdale at Joe's Diner (which comes complete with signs bearing the iconic "Eat at Joe's" slogan). Since Terry and Beth have another cruise coming up in a couple of days, they had booked themselves a small AirBnB not far from the cruise port, and we accompanied them there to hang out until it was time for us to leave for the airport. Before heading out, Brugger and I walked to a nearby park and snagged a geocache.
At last, it was time to say goodbye to our friends. At FLL, Ms. B. and I checked in and found that our flights appeared to be on schedule. The first leg took us to Charlotte, where we had time for an early supper and a drink before the connecting flight into Greensboro.
Well, there was supposed to be a flight to Greensboro.
We boarded the plane on time, sat for a little bit, and then the pilot announced that the co-pilot had not shown up, so they were canceling the flight. As you might imagine, it was a disgruntled bunch of passengers that turned around and marched back off the plane. Only thing is, American Airlines had not officially canceled the flight, so the gate crew advised us to hang out for a while until they received the official verdict from the tower.
Yep, canceled.
So, we—along with everyone else on the flight—had to visit the customer service desk to make alternate arrangements. Charlotte is less than a couple of hours' drive to Greensboro, and numerous people decided to rent cars. However, doing so meant that American Airlines would not offer any reimbursement. They told us that if we rebooked our flights for the next day, they'd give us vouchers for a hotel, Uber rides there and back, and two meals at the airport restaurants. Our luggage would be sent to Greensboro on the first flight out the next day, so it would probably precede our arrival.
Though it was mighty inconvenient, we opted for the latter, with a flight to GSO at 9:35 a.m. on Saturday. Since all our clothes were in our checked bags, we nothing to wear but the clothes on our backs, though—thank Yog!—we had carried small necessities, such as our medications, toothbrushes, electronic devices, and such with us as we always do. Anyhoo, while this mess was a major pain in the ass, I'll reluctantly give AAL credit for living up to their end of the bargain as far as finally getting us back home.
Regardless, American is pretty much on my shit list because, in the last three years, every significant flight foul-up I've experienced has happened on American. I'd written them off a while back, but we did decide to give them another shot last year, and they came through with flying colors.
Not this time, alas.
#
Over several years, we've taken quite a few big trips with Terry
and Beth, and there is little better than traveling to distant places with such good
friends. The mood on this trip has felt a little different, though, what with that orange
trash and his goons occupying the Oval Office and what could rightly be called a
coup by a puppet dictator going on in real time around us. We've really loved
this respite from the stress, and I'm excited about my new book having hit the streets, but the
world, and especially our country, are entering a period unlike any in my
lifetime, and I don't know that any of us are going to come out of this mess
unscathed, some far worse than others.
Well...we're doing our best not to withdraw to preserve our sanity but to fight the good fight—whatever and however we feel is the best way. Because without a concerted effort by many, I fear we may be fucked for a long, long time to come.
Adios for now.
Well...we're doing our best not to withdraw to preserve our sanity but to fight the good fight—whatever and however we feel is the best way. Because without a concerted effort by many, I fear we may be fucked for a long, long time to come.
Adios for now.
