Several months ago Ann said she'd like to participate in
a Mah Jongg tournament that is being held on a one week Caribbean cruise, great
prices with the group rate, so would I like to go? We did this a few years before with our
friends Harry and Susan, and as I did not want to "be on my own" while
she played her games, I said, sure, if Susan goes, and Harry agrees, I'd love
to, otherwise, please room with another participant and I'll stay home. Harry and I had shared some fun times on the
last cruise, so he readily agreed and therefore on Jan. 11 we departed on the
Holland America's 'Westerdam' from Ft. Lauderdale and have just recently
returned.
We've done many cruises in the past, so easy from
neighboring Ft. Lauderdale, no planes to catch, just drive there and leave the
car until we return. And with group
pricing, a nice, warm Caribbean cruise is so inviting.
Naturally things have changed drastically in the 14 years
that we've been cruising and I figure that we've spent nearly a year at sea, with several
Atlantic crossings as well as one Pacific crossing, and a river cruise. During those years, the cruise industry has
been morphing from a select market to a mass market "product." I don't mean to be elitist, but our tastes in
theatre and traveling have been refined over the years and more and more they
seem to come in conflict with the experience many cruise lines are now
offering, mostly in an attempt to draw larger audiences, with each person a
mini-profit center to whom they can sell drinks, services, tours, shopping,
so-called art (at "auction"), cocktails and wine, and drinks (did I
mention drinks?). And of course there is
the omnipresent casino to relieve passengers of any loose change left after the
foregoing (although one of the Mah Jongg ladies at our table put a few quarters
in a slot machine and won more than $1,000!).
To achieve their objectives, cruise lines are building
their ships larger and larger -- Royal Caribbean International's 'Allure of The
Seas' and 'Oasis of The Seas' topping out at about 225,000 gross tonnage,
accommodating up to 6,200 people. Other,
larger ships are being built in the race for more passengers. These are now small cities and their mere
size makes them Disneyland kinds of destinations onto themselves. Not every port can handle them, and tendering
has to be a nightmare.
There is probably a direct correlation between the size
of the ship and the nature of the services offered, one of the reasons we try
to choose smaller ships, preferably under 2,000 passengers. These now tend to be the older ships (old in
the cruising business is anything nearing 10 years in service). Oceania is now our choice cruising line, but
some of the Holland America, Royal Caribbean, and Celebrity ships can be found
in the smaller vintage.
And that is one of the reasons I agreed to this trip as
it was on the classic Holland America 'Westerdam' and although some of the
photos might make it look leviathan, compare its "mere" 85,000 gross
tonnage and 1,800 passengers to the large ships being built today. It is still stately, and Holland America does
make an effort to maintain some of the traditional aspects of cruising and ship
architecture. I particularly appreciate
the Promenade deck, harking back to the days of swift ocean crossing vessels,
which makes for a perfect, unobstructed place for a morning power-walk, it's
teak deck usually wet from morning dew or heavy seas. Three walks around the deck equals one statue
mile and as I usually walked very early in the morning, I normally had the
entire deck to myself, or occasionally just a few others, fairly remarkable
considering the number of passengers on board, most sleeping in due to their
nighttime activities.
Nonetheless, there is the inevitable feeling that you are
always being marketed to, and later in the day it is sometimes hard to find a
quiet corner. For us, one of the big negative
aspects of Holland America is that they still allow smoking on the verandah
balcony, including cigar smoking, so if you are a non-smoker (and militant
non-smokers as we are -- Lady, can't you read the sign, smoking kills!), and you have a balcony, you are left to the vagaries of
who might be next to you or over or under you if you want to step out and enjoy
your own balcony.
For this reason, we now only book ocean view (no balcony)
on Holland America, the irony being, on this particular trip, our stateroom was
(unknown to us after much research) under the specialty restaurant kitchen and
for some reason they'd be banging away, perhaps throwing pots and pans into the
dishwasher, in the middle of the night.
After four nights of being awakened, and complaining, HA finally moved
us to another stateroom, our friends Susan and Harry also moving with us to an
adjoining stateroom. We had assurances
that those next to us did not smoke and therefore we accepted these verandah
rooms as compromise, despite the inconvenience of moving.
Ironically, our one meal in that same specialty
restaurant was a disaster. My halibut
completely dry and inedible, the shrimp cocktail served lukewarm, the maitre d
insisting that that's how it's served at really fine restaurants! Harry's porterhouse was tough and the coffee
undrinkable. The main dining room on the other hand was consistently fine, food
quality and variety, and in addition we enjoyed getting to know our table mates
from Michigan.
We had been to all the ports on this cruise -- Puerto
Rico, St. Maarten, Half Moon Cay -- but there was one new one for us, Grand Turk. The latter and Half Moon Cay have great
beaches, and what else to do in the Caribbean?
Grand Turk is a fairly deserted island, perhaps best known for when John
Glenn's 1962 Friendship 7 Mercury spacecraft landed in the vicinity. I remember anxiously following the flight in
my college dormitory and Grand Turk meant nothing to me, a remote part of the
world I would surely never see. And here
I was merely 52 years later.
St. Maarten was a sea of humanity -- and that is how the
newer cruise ships are impacting the cruising experience, even if you are not
on one of the megaships. There were
seven ships at the dock in St. Maarten and one at anchor. The ENTIRE island's population is about 70,000
and the day we were there those ships were delivering 24,000 tourists! Imagine the lines and lack of
facilities. What's the sense? After a brief walk, we returned to the ship
for peace and quiet.
Puerto Rico's Old Town is always a fun place to walk around.
Meanwhile, days at sea there were some 60 women engaged
in Mah Jongg battle, including Susan and Frankly, being with our friends, and being
able to relax and read were the high points of the trip for me. Poor Susan and Ann returned each afternoon
slightly frustrated by the Mah Jongg games, Ann in particular who said she
never played more horribly. I don't
understand the game, have no intention of doing so (actually, I don't play any
games, too little time), but from what I do understand it is like most of them,
a mix of luck and skill. I think Chess
-- which I used to play -- is the only game where pure skill prevails. Any game that involves luck doesn't seem to
be worth playing (it's too much like life!).
And Mah Jongg tournaments are intense, emotions running high,
accusations of cheating, cat fights galore! (Again, too much like life!)
It appeared that Susan, with a very high score at the
end, had a good chance of winning some tournament prize money, and we all had
her hopes up, but it turns out someone incorrectly tallied her score and in the
end, she dropped out of contention.
Meanwhile, Ann was in the running for the booby prize but at least
escaped with her dignity.. On the very last night of the cruise, with suitcases
mostly packed, she was invited to play in another "mini tournament"
(these organized for the women who just did not get enough MJ during the day). It turns out, she was on fire and came out
not only the top money winner but with a final score higher than anyone had
achieved so far. Needless to say, she
skipped back to our cabin with her $60 as happy a winner as anyone ever saw!
All in all, it was a very relaxing and fun cruise,
remarkably covering some 2,221 nautical miles in a week. That's a lot of cruising and overall Holland
America did a fine job providing enjoyable meals and excellent services. I love being at sea when I have some time to
read, and although there was a lot to do, I did manage to finish two books. More on those in the next entry.
