Oceans 1

“It is good to have an end to journey toward; 

but it is the journey that matters, in the end.” 

Ernest Hemingway

25 degrees North and 80 degrees West doesn’t really mean much without a map, but just as we were learning in our geometry lesson “its a point”. Point “A” was Miami and we would disembark at point “B”, 4815 nautical miles away in Southampton, England.  Our final destination was at 51 degrees North and 1 degree West.  A lot of latitude and longitude to cover in 14 days.  Sailing from from point A to point B meant we would cross the Atlantic Ocean.

Royal Caribbean "Adventure of the Seas"

Our mode of transport was a Royal Caribbean cruise ship, which I hoped would only mildly live up to its name “Adventure of the Seas”.  From the vantage point of our 17^th storey hotel window, squinting through binoculars, Josh figured out which was our liner.  Every morning we had awoken to see a fresh batch of cruise ships line up in port.  Today was finally our day to hear the muster horns of farewell from on-board the boat.

Port of Miami herding pen

As with all great journeys it begins with rushing to leave, before waiting to go, then hurrying up to hang around some more.  In the spirit of responsible parenting we played poker while we waited in line for our grand adventure.



Watching the crew carry a wooden steering wheel on board elicited several bad jokes from me about it being "too late to fix it now".  The frowns from my fellow passengers worsened as I explained to the kids that the photo ID they were taking as we boarded was necessary for identification if they fished your carcass out of the ocean.  Jasmin insisted on my silence after I loudly advised her to try for her best bloated look as the camera snapped away.

Realizing that falling overboard in the middle of the Atlantic was no laughing matter I lectured the kids on staying well away from the edge. Then we headed for the back of the boat for some final farewell pics.  Maybe it would be another 25 years before any of us returned this way again?

We had several hours before we were due to leave port and without a cabin assigned, we were left to fend for ourselves at the lunchtime buffet over in Windjammer Café.  "Jammed in" being the operative words as we had lunch with 3000 or so of our new best friends.  It felt as if the other 2997 were all elbowing me at the salad bar.  I was going to have to get way more comfortable with the herd mentality and embrace my fellow grazers.  We wasted away the afternoon exploring beyond the foyer and signing up for all manner of adventure activities on the following days.  After a quick round of mini golf we ventured below decks into the bowels of the liner.

Entrance Foyer

Being a virgin cruiser I was awed by the grandeur of the main promenade.  Little did I know as the days would pass the promenade would shrink down to a mere passageway from aft to fore.

 

Main Promenade 

Lyric theatre

With ice rink, climbing wall, miniature golf and a theatre to keep us busy I began to wonder if 14 days would be enough?

"Ne di Venere Ne di Marte non si sposa ne si parte!"

(Neither marriage nor war will go away once you start).

It feels like one big Italian wedding on board a cruise ship.  You don’t really know anyone, however, there is a collective conscious as you're all there for the same reason.  It's wise to be nice to everyone because you never quite know which table you will be seated at.  

On-board in Giovannis Restaurant

In the spirit of individuality the kids balked at signing up for the children's club.  Who could blame them?  I observed the teen club later in the day by the pool.  They were a large group of surly looking pale Europeans moving as one, never straying too far from their peers.  It was as if the threat of lagging behind would instantly cause a crocodile to pick off the unfortunate pimply straggler.  Someone should have told them we were leaving behind the land of caymans and alligators and we were Caribbean bound.

It is not the going out of port, but the coming in, 

that determines the success of a voyage" 

Henry Ward Beecher

Finally it was time to push away from dock, take our place in the afternoon cruise ship departure procession and head out to sea

The tannoy system announced we were now allowed to go to our cabin.  Avoiding the crush at the elevators we headed down the stairs, the kids were elbowing each other as they raced along the corridor.  At first viewing the cabin seemed much smaller than our imaginations had allowed for.  

Cabin 2304

My mind recollected Micheal Douglas in the movie "Falling Down" where he psychotically held up a ragged burger to the MacDonald's server and compared the glossy photo of the Big Mac to the soggy drooping bun in his hand.  However, it was not my style to 'go postal' and start ranting that the online photos misrepresented the size of the cabin in reality.  But, there was one issue I had to address, we were short of a bed.  My eyes widened in horror at the idea of all three of us sharing one double bed.  Just as I was contemplating rigging up a hammock with one of the sheets the room attendant introduced herself.  Emilie pointed up to the ceiling where an extra bunk was cleverly concealed.  

Dressed for dinner

Cruise ships are a floating food fantasy where you can free feed at the buffet or formally dine with a table of strangers.  For me figuring out the origin of each person's accent was like a giant geography puzzle.  

Formal Dining Room

The hierarchy of cruising is particularly prevalent in the dining room with the lowest floor, named Vivaldi, reserved for non status plebs such as myself.  The second tier balcony, called Strauss, looked down over us.  Then the uppermost Mozart level was allocated for the diamond club status.  They were shielded from us commoners troughing below by the crystal chandeliers hanging in the centre of the sweeping staircase.   I suspected there may even have been another higher level above diamond, almost masonic in its membership, unadvertised and only spoken of in hushed  and reverent tones.  Perhaps they ate behind one way mirrored glass in complete privacy.  Regardless, I watched Titanic and in the beginning they had way more fun on the lower decks.  As we sailed off into the sunset, headed for the Bahamas, I hoped the only ice I would encounter would be in a glass chilling my rum and coke.

"I figure life's a gift and I don't intend on wasting it. You don't know what hand you're gonna get dealt next."

Jack Dawson (from the movie Titanic)