Cruising The Bahamas--Nassau

 After a day at sea attending lectures, enjoying the sea air (when it wasn't raining), and of course enjoying good food and the exciting entertainment of the Crystal singers and dancers who went non-stop for an energetic forty-five minute show, we arrived early Saturday morning in Nassau. Now we've been to Nassau more times than we can count and originally planned to stay on the ship but we'd only had one chance to swim in those beautiful Caribbean waters so we found an excursion that sounded inviting and booked it.

While we were getting ready to go ashore we saw a familiar sight. Several of our trips to Nassau were aboard a Disney ship that our niece performed on. She was Belle and several other characters and we booked a couple of three day cruises to see her perform. I knew we would hear the ship's whistle play "When you wish upon a star" at least once during the day.

We waited in the Stardust Lounge for our excursion to be called to go ashore and when it was, we followed our escort to the dock and waited there while the Bahamian guides checked our tickets and had us sign waivers. When the tour boat arrived, we were off to Blue Lagoon Island. 

On our way we passed lots of interesting and very large homes. Later on the way back we would be told about some of the owners or previous owners. One was the Starbucks' founder and another Beyonce. It was a beautiful day. No strong winds. No rain. Temperature was perfect. The thirty minute ride was

wonderful.

The Blue Lagoon Island is separate from the larger Island, New Providence, and it appears to be developed only for tourists and local guests to enjoy. We pulled into a little harbor and were led to our section of a beach that stretched on for quite a ways. The beach was divided into sections so even though other cruise ships sent groups, each had a separate area and we were not crowded. 

The water was perfect but there could have been a little more of it. The sand bar that stretched out into the water went most of the way across the channel for swimming. The water was only mid-calf deep. There was a section that had inflated water slides in it set aside for the kids from the Disney ship. On the outside perimeter it was a bit deeper and you could actually swim without hitting your knees on the bottom. It got a bit crowded after a while with people who wanted to be at least waist deep in water.

The chairs we found were in the shade of some palms and sea grape trees and a gentle breeze made it quite pleasant. Just before lunch, we took a walk to the area that had dolphins, sea lions, rays and even a caged raccoon. There were optional excursions that featured encounters with the dolphins but I think you could have bought the experience there as well. There was also interaction with the rays and sea lions. 

We had brought our snorkel gear but one look at the waves where the snorkeling area was told us it wouldn't be worth the attempt. It was very shallow as well and rocky. Reports were not real good about the snorkel experience. It's tough for scuba divers to get excited over snorkeling anyway. 

Our lunch was in an are reserved for us by the beach resort. It featured hamburgers, hot dogs, fries, rice and beans, and my favorite, fried plantains. Going to the Caribbean and having fried plantains is like going south of the Mason-Dixon line and having grits. Those people know how to make them right.

The return trip to the ship was scheduled for 1:30 and we were ready to return by then. We would get back just in time to shower and change and curl up on the bed in front of the iPad to watch the Ohio State football game. The live stream froze a couple of times but it was better than nothing. And we won!

Our reservations for dinner were at the specialty restaurant called Umi Uma. If it sounds like yummy, it was. The restaurant features mostly Japanese dishes and sushi of course. We ordered warm Sake which we were introduced to when we went to Japan. It's been a long time since we had it and there wouldn't be any mischievous sons around to refill my cup when I wasn't looking. 

Dinner started with an assortment of sushi and sashimi. So good you wanted to close your eyes and moan. Anytime there is a mushroom dish, I'm there and the mushroom salad was amazing. More kinds of mushrooms than I could count. I was considering the lobster stir fry but the waiter described the specialty dish of Nobu Style Black Cod and I ordered that. Unbelievably delicious. Of course I followed it all with a wonderful dessert, chocolate soufflé cake with sesame ice cream. Oh, Bob ate too but I didn't pay much attention to his entrée after the first bite of mine. 

The main entertainment for the evening was Bruce Hammond again but this time he presented a variety of songs from other artists like Bobby Darin and Neil Diamond. It was another great performance.

I went to bed wondering what our next port would be like. We'd never been to Bimini and I'd only heard stories about it from our marine science student of years ago when he went with his professor and a group of students to study sharks. Would I decide to get in the water or not?

Cruising the Bahamas--Great Exuma

 The Exumas, a district of the Bahamas consisting of 365 small cays and islands. The largest island is Great Exuma and is about 37 miles long. As we approach the island, we question whether we might hear another announcement that we won't be going ashore. The waves and wind seem to be just as bad as at San Salvador. This time we aren't concerned as we had not planned to go ashore other than to maybe walk around a bit rather than shuttle to the beach. The excursions offered, while tempting, were a bit pricey and we're trying to save our pennies for the Grand Voyage in January.

We hear the announcement as we're finishing our breakfast. It might be a rocky ride but the tenders will run today. Bob's brother and sister-n-law decide to chance it. They'd like to try to see the grotto where the Bond movies, "Thunderball" and "Never Say Never Again", were filmed. We will hear later that it was a really rough ride in to shore and back and unfortunately, they didn't get a chance to see the grotto.

The big draw for Great Exuma was the swimming pigs. I would have loved to see them--not swim with them as the excursion was planned--but we didn't want to spend the money just to go and look. I have heard lots of good feedback for the excursion from those who took a bathing suit and jumped in with the furry critters.

Instead of a shore visit, we went up to the paddle ball courts and started hitting balls back and forth again feeling a little more successful this time in hitting the balls over the net and in the court. Two ladies came to hit balls on the other court and eventually asked if we wanted to try to play a game. One of them had asked the fitness director to show her how the game was played and scored. The score is done like tennis and we improvised what we weren't sure of. The bottom line, we had a fun time and the one lady who is a tennis player was a whole lot better than we were. It was a lot of fun through.

On the Promenade Deck we did our 3.35 times around to get a mile of walking in. While we did, we could see the tenders bobbing in the water as they loaded and unloaded their passengers and made the trek back and forth in the choppy water. You have to really appreciate the crew that man those tenders. They bobbed all day long. 

Just a little before five, we dressed for dinner as we wanted to attend a talk by celebrity photographer, Marc Serota. He has photographed a lot of G.O.A.T.s and showed many of his pictures of Lebron James and other great athletes that he has featured in his new book, G.O.A.T.s, Greatest of All-Time. 

We hurried to the specialty restaurant, Prego, to meet our traveling companions. The restaurant features great Italian dishes but quite a variety of other entrees as well. I had veal al limone and Bob had veal parmigiana. I would love to show you pictures of dinner but we dove into our meals before I thought of it. 

The evening entertainment was Crystal On Broadway, The Show. It was music from three different Broadway shows from producer Kevin McCollum, Rent, Something Rotten! and the revival of West Side Story. It was excellent. 

On the way back to our stateroom, we poked our heads into a music venues for a few minutes that featured piano music and another, a guitar. We were very sleepy. I was relaxing more and more and sleeping solidly through the night in a comfy bed that rocked gently. So grateful to be on a ship again.

Cruising The Bahamas--San Salvador

 There are 700 islands in the Bahamas but only 30 are inhabited. One of the things we looked forward to on this cruise besides the food, the entertainment and the time to relax was stopping at places we had not been. San Salvador was one of them.

There are four different monuments scattered around the twelve by five mile island that commemorate Christopher Columbus' first step into the New World. While Columbus was able to stop here and go ashore, we were not. The place where the tenders from the ship would land, was not protected from the surf and there was a strong wind blowing in. It would not be safe. So with apologies, Captain Vorland announced at lunch time when we arrived at the island that we would be having a great day at sea.

I could imagine the Cruise Director, Rick Spath, scrambling to schedule more onboard activities but I think it was not much of a scramble. The Crystal Serenity had been making this cruise for a few months now and there were other times that the ship could not allow passengers to go ashore because of weather. He had alternative plans in his back pocket, I'm sure.

It was all okay by us. We wanted a day at sea to explore and reacquaint ourselves with the ship that we would be spending 128 days aboard come January. We had already attended a lecture by one of our favorite at sea lecturers, Bill Miller who is an authority on ocean liners and cruise ships. We have heard him several times on other cruises and he did not disappoint. The history and interesting facts of those who traveled on the early ships is fascinating. 

Our first stop after lunch was paddle ball on the sun deck. In the benches that hold the balls and paddles, there was also pickleball equipment but there were no lines on the paddle ball court for pickleball. 

We chose a couple of paddles and grabbed some balls for the opportunity to practice a little and get used to the larger paddles and the tennis balls that have a hole poked in them to keep them from being too bouncy. We started hitting the balls back and forth and laughing as we had to get used to the way the ball bounced and the moving deck below our feet. When we took a water break, we watched the group of guys playing in the court next to us. They were obviously well practiced with the game and it was quite competitive. 

The rest of the day we spent getting a walk around the Promenade Deck and enjoying afternoon tea. The tea has changed procedure a bit. I suspect because of COVID protocol, instead of waiters coming around with trays for you to choose the scones, and little pastries and finger sandwiches from, a three tiered tray was set before us with more than we could ever finish off. We did our best though and learned later that we could just ask them to leave the tray with the scones on it and take back the rest. After all, we had to leave some room for dinner. The whole experience reminded us of the very expensive high tea we had at the Burj al Arab in Dubai.

Reading on the veranda followed by dinner in the evening was relaxing me more and more. Dinner was the excellent experience we expected from Crystal and our waiter, Kola from Albania, was fun. Entertainment in the Stardust Club was James Fox who presented a selection of songs from various artists including Billy Joel and Elton John. We had skipped the show the night before when he did only Billy Joel. We were so tired that first night that we were falling asleep before the show started. I was glad we got to hear him before his time aboard was over.

We sank into soft pillows and crisp linens and quickly went to sleep rocking gently our second night at sea.

Testing...Testing...Clear to Cruise!

 

Our flight to Fort Lauderdale landed a bit before noon and our special "Uber" driver picked us up. She was accompanied by four young back seat drivers. My daughter-in-law is a gem and in addition to getting a ride to our hotel for the night, we had the opportunity to visit with her and our Florida grands. 

By the time we got to Miami we were all hungry. We parked in the garage at the Bayside Marketplace which is a large area with all sorts of shops, restaurants and opportunities for boat rides around the Miami Harbor. We chose to have lunch at Bubba Gump's since they had never been there and we thought it would be a much quieter place where we could catch up on everyone's life. 

Following lunch, we got ice cream and sherbet and strolled around a bit checking out the various street food vendors. Lots of good looking ethnic foods. All too soon it was time to say goodbye and after a round of hugs, they left us at our Hampton Inn nearby.

We met Bob's brother and sister-in-law who had traveled from Ohio as well for the cruise and found a nice place for dinner that had outside dining. It was too cold for that back home. 

The next morning we killed some time walking down to the water and watching the boats and ships that we could see from our vantage point. Then, when it was near our boarding time, we used the hotel shuttle to get to the cruise terminal.

Masks on, we had to show our vaccination cards outside since all passengers and crew are required to have COVID vaccinations. The next step would be antigen testing. There was quite a crowd and we learned later that it was because a lot of people did not adhere to their assigned embarkation times. We sat and waited a bit while filling out a longer health form than the usual one we'd had in past cruises. Mostly COVID related symptomatic questions. 

When our numbers were called, we went forward to be registered on the computers and then directed behind a screen where the tests were given. We had taken antigen tests on our own at home just to see what was involved so that helped with the nervousness. One, we knew what to expect with the procedure and two, we had tested negative at home so we were relatively sure there would be another negative test.

The procedure was simple. A swab of each nostril (gently done and not deep) and it was put into the little cardboard test kit to be carried over to the section that took care of watching for results. We sat and waited in a different area for the results. The test is supposed to take fifteen minutes for the results to show. If you haven't had one, there's a little window in the cardboard that displays two lines. One needs to disappear. Sort of like a pregnancy test. 

It took a long time for our names to be called but even before they were, an email message showed in our inboxes that we were negative. The extra time came with those in charge having to hand out wrist bands to show we were good to board. From there we went to another table to turn in our health forms and they directed us to board the ship. 

We wound our way through the terminal past the photographer and to the gangplank. Procedure was becoming a little more familiar. At the entrance to the ship, our picture was taken for security and at the check in table we were issued a tracker band and told that they needed to be with us whenever we were not in our room.

The trackers flash a blue dot until you are next to someone else with a tracker for more than fifteen minutes. The dot then turns red. If anyone were to contract COVID aboard the ship, the QSR codes on the back of the watch would then allow the health providers to check who may have had contact with that person. No. It is not a way to track your every movement. It is just for your safety. I kept mine in my pocket or purse. It was a little bulky on my wrist.

Once on board, we were informed that masks were optional for guests except when going ashore. The Bahamas required masks be worn at all times unless eating or swimming. The staff is still required to wear them. Optional masks, I thought to myself, after all the time we spent looking for something comfortable because we thought we would have to wear them inside the ship. I wasn't complaining. I was relieved.

Knowing everyone was vaccinated and had a negative test made us all feel very comfortable. Add to that, the ship was only about two-thirds full. The biggest crowds we encountered were in the terminal and that would have been lessened if everyone had stuck to their boarding times. 

From start to finish it took about an hour and a half for our boarding procedure. I opened the door to the veranda of our stateroom and stepped out. I was ready to cruise!

Cruising Again!

 Outside the plane the baggage people were busily loading suitcases into the belly of the plane. I sat back and let out a deep breath. We would soon be on our way. The passage through checking our baggage and TSA precheck had gone smoothly. It was beginning to feel like old times. We hadn't traveled by air since way before the pandemic had started.

Bob had used our travel miles to book our flight and upgrade our first half of the flight to first class. That was where things began to be a little different. The seats were nice and comfy as usual but when it came time for meal service (breakfast) we realized first class wasn't what it used to be. There was no tray with silverware and napkins. Our choice was a breakfast sandwich on a croissant or an "everything" baguette with a veggie cream cheese filling. Since we were the last to be asked there were only one of each left. Bob got the croissant and I got the "everything." Our meals came on a little plastic dish and were wrapped in cellophane. Coffee was in Styrofoam cups. Except for the nice seats, we could have been in coach.

Undaunted, we happily took a selfie and announced to FaceBook world that we were on our way. 

As the plane climbed, I looked below at the beautiful fall colors. We were leaving behind what promised to be probably the last warm week of fall but we were on our way to the ship that would offer sunny days and warm breezes in the Bahamas. Tears moistened my eyes. We were traveling again and soon would be cruising. 

I settled in with my ebook but took a look outside every so often. The skies were unusually clear for a good part of our flight. Once when I looked down, I could see the Blue Mountains that we pass through each year on our way to Florida. 

Then as we neared Fort Lauderdale, I could see the coast line and the ocean dotted with white surf. Again my eyes filled. This was really happening. We were going to cruise.

 And just as exciting was the special "Uber" driver who would soon meet us upon landing.