Royal Caribbean has several levels of "achievement", which pretty much says how tenured you are at the cruising experience. You start out on your first and subsequent four cruises with "Gold" status. That's generally accompanied by learning that the least expensive trips are by taking an inside cabin. Basically, it's a dark cave, with a bathroom so small that you hardly can change your mind, let alone your socks.
After starting off "on the cheap", by my sixth cruise I decided that now I was "Platinum" level, I should at least try an outside cabin. The distinction, other than a higher daily cost, was a window [portholes were further down in the bowels of the ship]. My wife really liked the cabin with a window, but on cruise number 7 I fell back into my default setting (cheap) and went to an inside cabin for a four day cruise. Big Mistake, and when momma ain't happy, nobody's happy. On cruise number 8, I found jewelry would cure almost anything provided I would NEVER again select an inside cabin.
Cruise number 9 (for me, 7 for my wife) was going to be our longest together in a confined space. I threw caution to the winds, and purchased a balcony cabin. This was also the first time we were not on either deck 4 or deck 5, in fact we moved up to deck 7 in one swell foop. She loved the balcony, and I did too. We'll go back to an outside cabin for cruise number 10 (already planned) but that will be a short cruise just to wrack up the last point necessary to reach "Diamond" status. Now, the nice thing about being a "Diamond" is that whenever you go on a sister cruise line, you'll automatically be treated to their equal level of accommodation and services. Since we got terrycloth robes at Platinum, I'm expecting a silk kimono at least. We also get more "on board ship credits", and you'd be surprised just how much they sell on board.
How does this get us to the picture above? Well, Royal Caribbean has cut "deals" with select merchants in each port of call. One of them is Diamonds International, and to get you into their stores, they give you a free charm for your (first cruise) free charm bracelet. Now we've collected a number of these charms, even though my wife hardly ever wears the bracelet - except into their stores. On Grand Cayman, we walked in and naturally the charm is free.....but, at the back of the store. You must walk past all the show cases of "sparkling" rings, earrings, drops, pendants, etc. to get there. Diamonds International has a line of jewelry trademarked "Circle of Light" and one ring in particular drew my dearest in. Adding insult to potential injury, once out of the case, it slipped on her finger perfectly. The Royal Caribbean "ambassador" was also in the store, where they offered an "additional $100 discount" for passengers. The ring in question had 1.01 carets, with the primary stone being .59 caret, circled by smaller stones. It was magnificent, and "only" $2,750 - their "best price". Fortunately, my wife does not easily spend my money, so despite the come on and encouragement by the lovely blond saleslady [she was Polish of all things, on a Caribbean island], we left with the understanding that they'd hold that price (even if the RCCL "ambassador" was not present later) for the rest of the day.
Much as I often complain, and who doesn't after 38 years of marriage, my wife is truly my better half. We went down the street, and found a purse we'd seen on an earlier cruise. It was only sold in this one shop and during the last cruise they didn't have the size she wanted. I had set aside the money specifically for this purchase, and they had her color and size. On the way back to the ship, we found a second Diamonds International store, with the same ring but a smaller stone for less money - but the stone looked out of proportion for the setting. I did learn a bit more about size, clarity, color and we looked in perhaps six shops before finding what you see in the picture. The shop was NOT affiliated with the cruise line, and we got more carets for less cash, and a really unique and contemporary design. So, momma ended up VERY happy, and when momma is happy EVERYBODY is happy. I need one more cruise (10) to reach Diamond - she did it in 7. This ends my travelogue of five nations in ten days, on a happy note shared by all.
Oh, one final note or two - when we departed, we left from Terminal F, and parked in the garage at Terminal G (the closest). When we returned, nobody on the ship made an announcement that we were coming into Terminal C. The closest garage to it was across from Terminal D, and I went lugging our suitcases down there to find "oh shit, somebody stole the Corvette". So, I marched back across the wide street to where a Miami Dade Sheriff's Deputy was parked. Meanwhile, three other families descended on the garage to find their cars not where they left them - and simultaneously also remembered the terminal garage was not OUR garage. I went back to the deputy, and begged a ride down to the correct garage where I found my car exactly where I left it. So I came in a Corvette, and briefly left in the back seat of a police car.
I also learned one additional thing - when you get off the cruise ship, you'll enter a warehouse where rows and rows of luggage are lined up. There is also a police officer with a dog walking down those endless rows. Should the dog stop at YOUR bag..................pray that he lifts his leg.
No comments:
Post a Comment