Feel the burn

For the second year in a row, the CFO and I celebrated Thanksgiving on a cruise ship… a tradition that we could definitely get used to.  We Left Bloomington on Thursday November 15^th after work and drove down to St. Louis, where we spent the night before flying out at 5:55 am to Charlotte.  Since we would have to pay to park at the airport, we decided to pay a tiny bit more and get a hotel room that included parking, allowing us to get some decent sleep before the flight (Parksleepfly.com for the win!).   After leaving St. Louis, we had a brief layover in Charlotte before boarding a flight to San Juan Puerto Rico.  We were on the island by 2pm and, after checking into the hotel, spent the rest of the day roaming around the “old town” section of the city.  On Saturday morning, we continued exploring more of the city and the historic fort that sits at the entrance to the port.  I am always amazed by structures that were built hundreds of years ago.

On Saturday afternoon, we took a cab to the cruise ship terminal and waited for the CFO’s parents and brother to arrive.  After waiting for an hour and half, their bus from the airport finally showed up and we all checked in and boarded the ship.  Yes, even though we were leaving the country, we were still able to spend this holiday with family.  Our last two cruises were with Royal Caribbean, but this time we tried a different cruise line and we were on the Celebrity Cruise line ship “Summit.”  This ship is smaller than the ship we were on last time, it only holds 2100 passengers plus the crew vs. 3000 passengers on our last ship.  Don’t get me wrong, it is still a huge floating hotel, but not nearly as huge as some of the newer ships.

The ship set sail just as we were sitting down for dinner, her family looked a bit unsure as we started to feel the ship move around… probably not the best time for dinner.  Sunday was a day at sea, as we sailed south towards our first port of call.  The day at sea gave us time to learn our way around the ship and to settle into a routine:  Eat breakfast, sit by the pool, eat lunch, sit by the pool, eat a snack, roam around a bit, get cleaned up for dinner, pose for pictures, eat dinner (we always do the second seating at 8:30pm) and then end the evening in the theater for a show.  This food heavy routine was repeated daily, we should have weighed ourselves before and after the trip.  On Sunday afternoon, some of us took advantage of the opportunity to take a tour of the kitchen area for the main dining room… imagine a kitchen big enough to serve two seating of 750+ people per night.  The place was huge and, thankfully, spotless.

Yes, this guy was hand carving melons to decorate the buffet.

On Monday, we docked in Barbados and, since we hadn’t booked an excursion, we decided to make it a beach day.  I had read about a nearby beach called Boatyard beach where you pay a fee to access the beach and get a lounge chair, umbrella for shade, a drink from the bar and shuttle service back to the ship.  It seemed highly rated, so that is where we went.  As soon as I laid eyes on that crystal clear water, I was immediately drawn in and stayed in the water for 2.5-3 hours.  I’m not sure what it is about the ocean, but it always brings out the kid in me.  There was a pier extending out along the right side of the beach and they had a rope swing attached to a small crane that was on the pier.  Of course I had to do that a few times… who wouldn’t want to swing off of a pier and jump into the ocean?!  We must have picked the best beach on the island, as we noticed that the entire cast of the on board singers and dancers entertainment group was at this beach. 

Looks like fun, right?!

We decided to have a late lunch on the ship instead of paying to eat on the island, so we left the beach around 2pm and headed back to the ship.  Why pay for food when there is a buffet full of food waiting for you on the ship?  On the way back to the ship I thought that my back was itching some, but didn’t think too much of it.  I had, after all, been in the water for a good part of the day and it was probably just the salt making me itch.  We shopped at some stores at the dock and then went back on the ship to eat.  While viewing the selection of foods on the lunch buffet, I commented that my back felt really warm.  The CFO raised the back of my shirt and commented that my back was bright red.  Yes, I managed to get fried on the first island that we stopped at and the burn would haunt me for the rest of the trip. 

 Photos don't do it justice... this was taken on Tuesday afternoon.

After we ate lunch, we ran back off the ship to buy a bottle of aloe… aloe is supposed to make sunburns feel better, but it hurt like crazy every time she applied it.  It hurt so bad that I couldn’t even get comfortable at night and had trouble sleeping.  I was so uncomfortable that I ended up spending the better part of two nights sleeping in the chairs on our balcony because it felt better to sit up than to lay down.  Not fun.



She got a photo of me sleeping outside. on our balcony..

On Tuesday, the ship docked in St. Lucia, but I opted to stay on board in the AC, hoping that my burn might magically go away.  It didn’t.  The CFO, her mom and her brother went to a beach while her dad and I hung out on the ship.  The island looked really pretty; I wish I could have seen more of it.  I guess we will have to circle back to see it another time.  While her dad and I were roaming around the ship, we swung by the desk for the on board spa to see if they had anything for sunburns.  They asked to see how bad the burn was and, after seeing it, they offered to give me a complimentary trail of the milk bath to see if it would help.  It did help a little bit, but not enough to warrant the price that they charged for it.  I decided to stick it out with the aloe that we already bought.  (it has now been over a week since the burn and I'm now peeling like a reptile!)

To be continued...