Travel

My First Cruise Day 4

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Day 4 was thankfully less eventful than the 3rd day.  We docked in Cozumel Mexico.  We woke up to seeing a near identical ship out of the porthole.  Turned out the Voyager of the Sea’s docked slightly earlier than we did.  At breakfast we also saw two other much smaller carnival cruise ships in port.

We decided on a low key day and after brief browsing of the stores near the dock to hop a cab to a private beach.  We got some chairs in the shade and just relaxed.  We waded in the warm water, had a great lunch and just unwound.  It was really fun.  We took a cab back to the boat early and then relaxed in the pool some more.

It was really cool to watch the Voyager pull out of port.  They backed the ship out of the dock like you would back your car out of a garage.  It was very impressive to see that kind of precision with a ship that was over 100,000 tons displacement.

We had dinner in the dinning room.  All around great day.

My First Cruise Day 3

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Day 3 was a bit interesting.  It was our first port call.  We went to the Caman Islands.  We didn’t end up at the part of the island we were supposed to due to bad seas.  Our shore excursion was also canceled.  We ended up taking a cab to the downtown area we were supposed to goto.  We bought some rum cakes and walked around a bit.

Neither of us were up for much shopping.  We then took another cab to a beach nearby.  We had lunch and then tried to go snorcleing on a boat since that was what our original excursion was supposed to be.  Big mistake.  We should have realized that the seas beging so rough was a good reason not to go.  I was already fighting a migraine and took something for it at lunch.  Once we got on the little boat and it rocked around while at anchor I knew we had made a bad choice.  There was no turning back so we went on our way.  I got sick real quick.  I spent the rest of the short trip lying on the bow of the boat trying to rest.  As it turns out the seas were too rocky for M also and she couldn’t really snorkel that much in the choppy sea’s.

We then headed back to the beach.  For me the damage was already done and i having a full blown migraine.  M was a total trooper.  She got us into a cab/van back to the dock.  I barely made that trip.  She cut the entire line through customs and onto the tender back to the boat.  It was a long line, but i guess people are generally good and didn’t say anything when she was trying to get a sick person back to the boat.  I was able to lie down while on the tender and was very happy to be back in our air conditioned room so I could nap.

After a few hours nap I did feel totally normal.  Or well enough that we went to eat dinner in the dinning room.  We skipped the dinning room the 2nd night and on this night it turned out that the 4 other people at our table had skipped so we had the entire table to ourselves.  Overall it was a fantastic night, but not so great day!

My First Cruise Day 2

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The 2nd day of our cruise was really the first full day.  It was also a full day at sea.  The weather was much nicer than it was in Florida.  The morning was laid back.  We had breakfast at the windjammer and then I had an acupuncture appointment.  I had always wanted to try it so when we did the tour of the spa I signed up for one.  M worked out a bit when I was in the spa.

We had a relaxing lunch and then hung by the pool a little and also explored the ship.  The Navigator was huge.  I read up a lot about it before hand since i am interested in cool technology.  This ship was impressive.

For dinner we decided to skip the dinning room and hit up the steak house.  It was for an extra fee but well worth the price.  We had a great time.

My First Cruise Day 1

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Off on my first cruise.  M and I are taking the Royal Caribbean Navigator of the Sea’s to the Western Caribbean for 5 nights.  With the exception of rediculous traffic that was a close call to getting to the plane on time we had an uneventful flight.

The port was 15 minutes away from the FT. Lauderdale airport so it was a quick trip to the ship.  I was getting over a cold so they required that i be looked at by a nurse before we got on the boat.  I was fine so i breezed through that.

Right when we got on the boat we got our cards we could use to charge anything with.  What was cool was they took our photo so they can verify it is us anytime durring the trip.  I thought that was neat.  We got there a bit early before our room was ready so we headed to the windjammer for lunch.  The view was spectacular even though we were sitting in port.  The buffet was really nice also.

We brought our bags with us instead of checking them so once 1PM rolled around we were able to head down to our room.  We wanted cabin with an outside view but didn’t want to go crazy on cost so we ended up with a cabin on deck 2 with just a porthole.  It was ok.  I think we both imagined much worse.

Once we were settled in to the cabin we had several hours before ship left port.  We both wanted to schedule appointments at the spa so we went up to check it out.

It had been raining on and off all day in South Florida but when the doors opened on the elevator and we walked out onto the deck for the first time is a sight i wont quickly forget.  It was spectacular.  Just the open deck looking out on the water.  Even with the bad weather it was still a sight to see.  We did a quick tour of the spa and each scheduled some appointments.  M actually went right away and did something.  We just relaxed the rest of the day and had a great dinner meeting our table mates for the first time.

St Louis Day 3

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I am on my way home from St. Louis now. I got a bit delayed getting out, but thankfully it wasn’t more than an hour. A bunch of us got a ride to the airport from the one person from NYC who had a rental car and was leaving today. I was on a different airline than everyone else so I couldn’t hang out with anyone else. They were in a different terminal. I hit the Chillis Too for dinner and then went to the American club before the flight. Flight Tracker and the FAA weather app’s on my iphone were invaluable for this trip. Both kept me better informed than the airline was.

Other eventful things today was we went out as a large group to Mongolian BBQ. I was skeptical about it but overall the food was pretty good and there was plenty for me to eat so I was happy.

St Louis Day 2

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Day two of the conference was good. We got a lot done. I did my big presentation. I think it went well. After work I was going to avoid the team dinner since I was really tired, but I got strong armed by two guys on my team and another guy who we work with and I ended up going with them to the shooting range. One of the guys from NY really wanted to do that so 4 of us went.

It was a lot of fun. I got to shoot an AK-47 and an AR-15 for the first time. I also tried a really big revolver like the Dirty Harry gun. I didn’t like that. After that we went to dinner at this place that had fantastic burgers. Thankfully I was back at the hotel at a reasonable time. I was still glad I didn’t goto the other event since they were out much later.

Overall a really good day.

St Louis Day 1

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The first day of the conference went well. I also got to spend some time with my team that is in St Louis. For dinner another team manager was in and most of her US staff with her so we ended up combining our team dinners and had one big get together. We work closely with each other so it was nice to get out of the office for a bit. We almost never do this so it was a lot of fun. One of our head architects was also in town so he came along. All in all it was like 9 people. We went to a decent steakhouse that several people have been to before. Compared to NY it was super cheap and tasty!

The night wasn’t too late since we all had to be at work at normal hours. Overall it was a great first day in St. Louis!

Off to St. Louis

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I am on my way to St Louis for a few days. It is a work trip. There is two events going on there this week. My team is involved in both, but I personally am in a conference. A few other people from NY including another person on my team is going.

Thankfully getting out of NYC was uneventful. My other teammate picked me up at the airport. he got a rental car and i didn’t since i didn’t think it was worth the expense. We went to Friday’s for dinner and ended up meeting up with one other person who is in town for the week.

Finally Home

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The trip home today was uneventful compared to yesterday. I didn’t wait for the shuttle buses that Jetblue was going to provide since I didn’t want to get stuck in a huge crowd so I grabbed a cab to the airport on my own dime. That choose was worth it. I got my ticket in 5 minutes, and was glad I got a head start on the customs line that was pretty long. We got out of the Bahamas without any other incident. We landed in NY a few hours before the storm started. I was thankful to be home even though I enjoyed my vacations.

Looking back on the incidents of yesterday I can say obviously no one likes being stranded. Jetblue did the right thing by putting us all up for the night, but overall the entire process was horrible. There was very little to no communication about what was going on. It looked like Jetblue staff wasn’t communicating to each other because no one had the entire picture of what was going on. In the end things worked out but during the entire situation it was frustrating not know what was going on. So they get mixed grade overall.

Groundhog Day

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My return trip home was not as uneventful as the other legs of my trip this week. Actually so far it has been a disaster. I got to the airport over two hours in advance like the resort and the airline suggested. I got through customs and security pretty quick, even if security had me take my belt off and swapped my entire bag. The lines werent horrible. Then I sat. There was no free wifi like the Jetblue site suggested there was and I couldn’t get the pay WIFI point to take any of my credit cards.

This is where the fun began. My flight got delayed. At first just an hour. Then that hour past and a flight that was supposed to leave at 2:10 got moved to 6PM. They claimed that they needed a part from NY that they had to fly in. This would have been ok if there was a place to eat (I don’t count a skeevy cafeteria that only looked like it had fried chicken and rice) and the fact that they are doing construction in the small terminal. That mean drilling and other loud banging sounds all day. Top off the no WIFI, power outlets, and the terminal was packed. it was not pleasant. Then we hear the flight was canceled. There would be no flight until tomorrow morning.

Thankfully they put us up at a decent hotel. Unfortunately getting to the hotel was not fun. First we had to wait on line to get travel vouchers. Then we had to wait for luggage while the bus drivers waited to take us to the hotel. For about an hour no one knew what was going on. Then the luggage shows up and we have to claim it, then put it on a van for the hotel. Thankfully I got a seat on one of the first bus’s. Then it was waiting at the hotel for a room. Thankfully again I walk fast and actually got to the head of the line for rooms. I have been in this situation before and kinda knew what to do. After a wait for my luggage to show up I headed to dinner.

There was a decent steakhouse in the hotel so I went there and had a nice filet. Half of it was paid for by Jetblue. On the plus side at the restaurant there was an acapella group from stanford that held a small performance for the guests. It was pretty good and something nice to break up the crazy day.

My luck didn’t hold out and I walked out of dinner without my Kindle. I didn’t realize it until I was back at my room. I ran back to the restaurant and thankfully the waiter found it and held onto it. That would have been really bad if that was lost too.

I took a quick shower and am getting ready for bed now since I need to be up at 4:30AM to catch my flight. Apparently Jetblue is flying out a plane for us and we can leave tomorrow morning. I am not happy about the events of today, but in context it could have been (and still may become) much worse. Right now I am worried that we may be delayed again and have problems getting into NYC since a storm is supposed to be on its way. We shall see what happens. Right now I am thankful I have an extra change of clothes for tomorrow.

No one likes being stranded. Jetblue did the right thing by putting us all up for the night, but overall the entire process was horrible. There was very little to no communication about what was going on. It looked like Jetblue staff wasn’t communicating to each other because no one had the entire picture of what was going on. In the end things worked out but during the entire situation it was frustrating not know what was going on.