Back in the Saddle Again

After a three-year hiatus, we have returned to cruising. It was back in May of 2020, and Diane and I were set to depart San Diego for Mexico on Norwegian for her first serious cruise. Several years prior, she had gone on a three-day cruise to Mexico which didn’t enamor her to cruising. So, you can imagine our disappointment the night before (literally as I was preparing to fly to San Diego) receiving an email from Norwegian telling us, due to Covid, the cruise was cancelled. The good news was I still flew to San Diego (on a practically empty flight, I got all three seats to myself) and instead of my gallant and romantic marriage proposal on Formal Night on that cruise, I proposed over a dynamite lasagna at Dolci Café Italiano in Rancho San Diego. In retrospect, I kind of liked the lasagna proposal idea better.

So, now happily married for two plus years, we decided to try the cruise again. To make it easier, we chose a Galveston, Texas departure, a relatively nice five-hour drive from Aubrey south to the Gulf. Once ensconced in our hotel, we wandered out into historic Galveston (Emancipation Proclamation read June 19th, 1865 “Juneteenth”, 1st City in Texas to become electrified, Hurricane of 1900, etc.) and ended up at Salsas Mexican Restaurant on the Seawall for dinner.

We stayed the night and preparing for a full day of cruise-boarding nonsense, began our day at Millers Seawall Grille, a must do for Breakfast. We both had the Spinach Omelet with grits and one of their AMAZING biscuits they use for their Biscuits and Gravy and the basis for their Peach Cobbler. Very reasonable prices, lots of food and they keep the coffee cup full the whole time.

So, lucky for us, Carnival had relaxed their Covid protocol and we no longer had to get negative tests prior to boarding. They didn’t even take temperatures. I had preregistered and got an early check-in and timed our arrival just right. We unexpectedly (contrary to some of my earlier experiences) glided through security and check-in. Assisting in this endeavor, Carnival uses “VeriFLY” so we could upload our Covid vaccination records which made the check-in more efficient. Except we had to upload personal information to ANOTHER third party (I know they’re probably NOT going to sell our info; I hate that) not a bad idea. Unable to get into the room right away, we settled into a table in the Lido dining room and drank some water and juice as we gazed out onto downtown Galveston.

Once our deck was opened, we were surprised to find all our bags waiting for us in the hall. We quickly unpacked and I showed Diane the ship. We decided to do formal dining and were seated at a large table with three other couples. Everyone was a cruise veteran but the conversation shifted to where we were from. Two couples were native Texans and two (including us) were transplants. It was first night, so it was a quiet meal. We excused ourselves after dessert and wandered toward the shops.

Most cruisers, at one time or another, will venture into the shops to browse their wares (usually expensive wares). Diane was like a kid in a candy shop (which she also bought). I am convinced there is a buying gene in all women (hey, I’m not judging and its not just a woman thing, although it seems to be a dominant force in them). Everything glitters under high-intensity lighting and it is hard not to shop. Of course, there is always that item she forgot to pack (Hmmm….) which she has to pick up to complete her cruise experience.

First Sea Day was mostly getting around the ship and exploring all the nooks and crannies, most importantly locating the Coffee Shop and trying out the Lattes for quality control. Got our first real Main Dining room experience in a table for eight. Not our cup of tea but we’ll fix that the next day and got a small table with just the two of us on Formal Night.

Second Sea Day opened with rain, a small outer-band cell from Hurricane Earl which dissipated quickly. Hit the shops again briefly and made it to Brunch with a neat couple from Houston at a table with a window view off the stern.

Occasional rain kept most everybody inside so we stayed mostly in the cabin reading and watching movies. In my experience, Formal Night is usually later in the week but we suited up and after the obligatory photo shoot, got a table for two and had a wonderful Prime Rib dinner. We eschewed the show and returned to the cabin to prepare for our first stop in Key West, Florida .

Key West is one of my favorites and I was glad to take Diane there. We had signed up for a Parasailing excursion and we were all set to go. Let me digress just a little. As some of you may know….I used to park helicopters for a living and am a big fan of aviation. I am NOT a big fan of hovering out in space attached by a single cable, which appeared to be frayed in some spots, dragged along by a high-powered boat with two 20 somethings making life or death decisions on my behalf. That said, it was an amazing experience we got to share together.

Having cheated death, we were able to spend some time wandering downtown Key West. We needed sustenance and hopped into Two Friends Patio Restaurant for a disappointing black bean hamburger for Diane and the “Special” Grilled Cheese Hamburger for me. Diane’s did not look appealing and mine was under-cooked and the greasiest piece of ground beef I’ve ever tasted.

Diane’s bucket list included a chocolate dipped Key Lime pie from Kermit’s. So, we Google Map walked there and she got her pie and I got my traditional Key Lime slice. Excellent flavor you can’t capture anywhere except Key West, home of the beautiful yellow juice of the Key Lime. Just as we finished, it began to drizzle, then it started to rain, then it was lightning-thunder and it was pouring buckets (think Gene Kelly in “Singing in the Rain”). We now had about a mile back to the Ship so I utilized my technology and ordered up an Uber. Our lovely Jamaican driver rolled right up and after dropping us under the overhang of the Opal Key Resort, we made our way through the parking structure and only had about 100 yards through the deluge back to the pier. We were soaked but happy.

Next stop was Grand Bahama Island with a motor tour of the island with stops at Taino Beach, where Diane got a swim in the Atlantic a mere 55 miles from West Palm Beach, Florida. The beach was beautiful and though it rained on and off, we were struck by the beauty of it all. It was quite evident that they have yet to fully recover from (wait for it Tonia….) Hurricane Dorian in August of 2019. It rolled through the Bahamas as a Cat 5 storm and left a long trail of destruction all the way up the eastern coast of the US. We drove by several homes and businesses which had been severely damaged but not been rebuilt. 

We then headed to Half Moon Cay which is part of Little San Salvador Island. It’s a cruise ship haven funded by the Cruise Lines as a private setting for the passengers to shop, swim and do some water sports. Rain had dogged us all along our trip but finally moved on as we parked off the coast outside the harbor. Diane can now check off “Tendering” off the ship to get to the shore. All of us wedged together as we braved the choppy seas until we got inside the breakwater and docked.

Diane got some ocean swim time and we got some shopping done for family and friends.We topped it off with a Bahama Mama and an Island Fruit Drink, both laced with Rum. Now onto our final destination, Nassau.

We are sort of programed to think of Nassau as the main island in the Bahamas. Though it is the capitol and most populous island in the chain (you’ve seen it in several 007 movies) we actually visit the island of New Providence. The Bahamas is a chain of 700 islands (30 of which are inhabited) and 2,400 Cays in total with a total land area of 3,860 sq mi.

The Bahama Islands were originally inhabited by the Lucayans, a branch of the Arawakan-speaking Taíno, for many centuries. Christopher Columbus was the first European to see the islands, making his first landfall in the "New World" in 1492 when he landed on the island of San Salvador. Later, the Spanish shipped the native Lucayans to and enslaved them on Hispaniola, after which the Bahama Islands were mostly deserted from 1513 until 1648 due to nearly all native Bahamians being forcefully removed through enslavement causing their extinction (thanks Chris). In 1649, since the place was vacant, English colonists from Bermuda, known as the Eleutheran Adventurers, settled on the island of Eleuthera. 

The Bahamas became a British crown colony in 1718, when the British clamped down on piracy (why Pirates of the Caribbean was partially filmed here…. oh yeah, Johnny Depp has his own island here too). After the American Revolutionary War, the Crown resettled thousands of American Loyalists to the Bahamas; they took enslaved people with them (thanks for that, too) and established plantations on land grants. Enslaved African people and their descendants constituted the majority of the population from this period on.

Thankfully, the slave trade was abolished by the British in 1807; slavery in the Bahamas was abolished in 1834 (thanks Queen Victoria). Subsequently, the Bahamas became a haven for freed African slaves. Africans liberated from illegal slave ships were resettled on the islands by the Royal Navy, while some North American slaves and Seminoles escaped to the Bahamas from Florida. Bahamians were even known to recognize the freedom of enslaved people carried by the ships of other nations which reached the Bahamas.

We made it ashore and joined others on a short voyage to Pearl Island for swimming, snorkeling and a catered lunch. We learned that, until recently, Eddie Murphy had owned the island and was now in the hands of another. When we got there around 9 a.m., it was relatively cool but quickly got hotter as the sun rose in the sky. There were occasional clouds passing overhead which kept the sun off us initially but once the clouds departed, it became really hot with very little shade available (see photo). Lunch was pretty good serving BBQ chicken, rice and beans, a fried fish fillet and Cole Slaw. We got our “complementary” Daiquiri and tried in vain to keep cool.

Thankfully, our ride returned to take us back to the pier but, due to poor maintenance (an electrical problem one of our fellow guests, a marine mechanic, tried to help fix but was still unable to get her going) the boat was unable to take us back so the tour guides called in a second boat which successfully got us back to dry land.

It was two days back to Galveston so we spent time in the cabin reading and sleeping (don’t judge….it WAS a vacation after all). We did take in a show or two and we had one more Formal Night to dress up for. All in all, a pretty good first time for Diane (well…except for the intermittent Internet service).

We made it back to land and once off the ship, shuttled to our car and made a beeline for a local Starbucks for a Latte for Diane. We began our drive home up the I-45. By noon, I was ready for a break and we stopped in beautiful Madisonville, Texas.

We could have stopped at Buc-ees but I like local and we stopped at The Lake Side Restaurant (yes…there is a small man-made reservoir close by). I had a nice BLT and fries and Diane had the Grilled Cheese with seasoned fries. Having stretched our legs, we then made the long drive back home to Aubrey.