I'm on a boat and it's going fast and...
Our third port of call was Samana in the Dominican Republic.
Where we were greeted by a group of beautiful dancers.
We didn't have an excursion planned, because we had to get back for our spa day, so we just went to the beach. Getting there was a little hairy, since we were in a rickshaw pulled by a moped, and the DR doesn't really have what one would refer to as well-paved roads. But we got there in one piece and set up the beach tent.
Little did we know that it would turn out to be the beach tent of doom. It took absolutely no time at all to set up, but once it came time to pack it up and go, it turned evil. It refused to be folded up and put in its bag. We wrestled with it for a good 15 minutes...all the while we had about 20 spectators, a couple of whom were FILMING us. So, if any of you come across "beach tent fiasco" or something like it on youtube, let me know. They applauded when we were done, to which we replied, "Thank you so much for all your help! [muttermutter] Assholes."
Back to the ship for our spa treatments. An hour of head, neck, back, foot and ankle massage, a facial and a glass of champagne. It was SO GREAT! Carly was my spa lady, and she was really cool. I had never had a massage or facial in my entire life, and all I have to say is Oh YES, there will be more of that in my future. So nice. So relaxing. I almost fell asleep. Afterwards it was time for dinner, which was lovely as always, and on to the show. We were in the front row for Sean and Dave, a fun little comedy juggling team who had been working together for decades. And guess who got pulled up on stage to act as Vanna for a couple of minutes...
Yup. I can hand axes to people with the best of 'em. They loved me, though, because every time we saw them for the next few days, they would call me and come over to talk to us.
More karaoke, then bed.
Our last port day was spent in Labadee, Haiti, where Royal Caribbean owns their own beach.
It was absolutely gorgeous there. Before we went ashore, I noticed that we had a stow away.
This little guy had come aboard the night before in the DR, and hung out on the pool deck all night. Seriously beautiful moth...I think it was a hawk moth of some sort.
The beach itself was really nice, and there were chaises and hammocks, which we took full advantage of.
We had a yummy barbecue lunch, did a little shopping, and picked out some artwork for Cortni's new place. Then it was back to the ship for Cortni's graduation prezzie hot stone massage.
Dinner was yummy and the show was terrific. It was the dude who did the Happy Days theme song. His first song was "Mack the Knife," which was one of my lullabies when I was little, and he came down to the audience to do a round, saw me singing every word and stuck the microphone in front of me and let me sing a little bit. By this time, I think everyone on the ship thought that Cortni and I were part of the official onboard entertainment...we did seem to wiggle our way into most of it.
The final two days were at sea. So we spent a lot of time at the pool. Cortni took a few gratuitous bikini pics of me, but ugh, so you only get one. :-p
We spent a bunch of time in the Schooner Bar with AJ and Kevin. AJ was our favorite bartender. One night Cortni wanted a glass of Merlot, but she wanted a long pour, so she asked for a Mer-high. This became AJ's new favorite thing. When he asked me if I wanted a Mer-high, and I told him I wasn't a fan of red wine, without skipping a beat, he offered me a Chardon-high. We love AJ. So, we had to get the "attitude" picture with him...
And we spent a bunch of time with Kevin, who told us that he was engaged to one of the featured singers in the show, JC...so we cheered extra loud for her at the shows. By now we were officially the YAY Girls, and Kevin let Cortni sing "Fever" with him one night, since they didn't have it on the karaoke list.
We also spent quite a bit of time with Cary, our Redneck Gay, who adopted us on the first day. He was there with his entire family, poor man, and they were about as Southern as you could get.
We managed to get a pic with everyone at our dinner table.
And we got pictures of Raj and Arthur.
The last day was a formal dinner night and here we are with Arthur, who was ADORABLE and loved to sing.
The last show was an extravaganza, with these three Argentinian drummers, who were also adorable.
And a terrific show by the Royal Caribbean singers and dancers, JC in front. (I couldn't use the flash, so they're a little iffy.
We actually got to meet her, because after the show, we went back to the Schooner Bar, and Kevin made sure he brought her over to meet the YAY Girls. She recognized us from the shows.
Oh, one thing I forgot...our room attendant Lu would put little towel animals on our beds almost every night. Here they are, in no particular order...
Oh, I forgot to mention that on the first formal night, Tom bought roses for Heidi, Cortni and I. Pink for Cortni, yellow for me and, of course, red for Heidi.
Cortni loved the towel turtle and slept with it for a couple of nights. And she wanted to wear the elephant head as a hat.
Finally, we were back in Norfolk (Boooooooooo!). It took us a while to get through customs, because the IDIOTS in front of us in line had tried to bring a plant back to the U.S. with them. A PLANT!!! Stupid people. When we got back to the car, it was about 11 or so, and we set off back to DC and reality. We hit some ridiculous traffic coming out of Norfolk, so as we were crawling along at 2 mph, we busted out some Black Eyed Peas and car danced like there was no one watching. Even though they totally were, and we were very amusing, if their faces were to be believed. Got back to my place around 5, got some dinner, and watched The Big Bang Theory (which I have also successfully indoctrinated Cortni into) and drank wine until we were too tired to be up anymore.
The trip didn't officially end until the next morning around ten. We got up at 8, walked up to this little breakfast place (about the same distance as our stateroom to the Windjammer Cafe), got something to eat, went back to my place, and finished season 1 of BBT.
All told, it was an amazing trip, and I can't wait to take another cruise with Cortni.
Next I'll write about our very last (gasp! until the next one) adventure to New Orleans.