Why I Cruise

Food, glorious food..........and at all hours of the day and night. Of course, there are other reasons to board a ship and sail away from your daily life on shore. You can visit many new places, and once you've unpacked, you don't have to do it again for five, perhaps ten, maybe someday 14 or more days.

I am currently at nine (9) cruises with Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines, and when I reach ten (10) I become a Diamond (certainly in the rough) Frequent Cruise Customer. I began this adventure quite by accident, with the encouragement of a friend in St. Louis who had gone before me and spoke of the fun and adventures to be had. Those first cruises were not all fun and adventure however. On my first cruise, my card to the room identified me as a "Gold" member, and I was to be at that level for another four cruises. As a Gold cruiser, I went sometimes with my buddy, other times with my wife. She had bad luck, breaking a tooth on one cruise (somebody left an olive pit inside the Focaccia Bread), and this happened on the first night. OUCH! I think that was the 2003 "adventure", and ultimately the cruise line made good on the full dental bill, after I spent a fair amount of time on the phone escalating my complaint up the line. It took her a while to venture to sea with me again. She still disdains any departure from San Juan, where that particular cruise was sold out (last minute filling of unsold cabins) to local families with dozens of unruly children running amok throughout the ship. But fortunately, that's been an exception for us - she's a few cruises short of my number, but based on my status gets that Platinum robe in the room anyway.

In the beginning, I went infrequently, perhaps every other year starting in 2001. But, after my retirement, the pace quickened, and in 2009 my wife and I went three times, from three different ports (Baltimore, Tampa, Ft. Lauderdale). We've discovered that with four points of departure with four to five hours drive, we can put the dog in the kennel, load up the car, and take off on fairly short notice. Baltimore was our jump off point for Bermuda - a great place to visit if you get the chance.

I recently "blogged" on my ten day to Columbia, Panama, Costa Rica and Grand Cayman (with an earlier "rain day" off Haiti). What I didn't mention was the return, where the ship came in at a different location than it departed (Thank You, Royal Caribbean, for notifying me!), and off we went speed walking through the pouring rain to the parking garage to discover somebody stole the Corvette. We were early off the ship, and eventually several other families showed up at that same garage, to discover their cars also missing. My wife then observed (she's the observant one, after all) that while identical, we were in the wrong garage. I begged a ride with the local police (thank you, Miami-Dade Sheriff) who put me in the back of his car and gave me a ride half a mile or more to the garage where I "found" my car once again. Life is a learning experience - next time out of Miami I'll note the garage number and adjacent pier. Having never been locked in the rear of a cop car, I did get that extra bonus at the end of the cruise.

So, great food, wonderful destinations, generally sunny days, and every night a host of shows and activities, you'll see that cruising isn't half bad. Not sure where we go next, but now that I'm at nine (9) cruises and the Platinum level, I'm looking forward to that tenth and Diamond status. Not sure what it will get me, maybe two mints on the pillow.