"The Cruise"

I bet some of you have given up. You think we'll never get around to posting anything about the cruise. You're almost right. As per standard operating procedure, fate has decreed that a few of us had to have some very bad weeks to make up for the glorious time we had on the cruise. It's in the regulations somewhere - the more you enjoyed it, the worse the repercussions. Maybe someday we'll tell you about the repercussions.

We had a great time. There were very few places on the ship that we didn't visit. I suspect most of them were the insides of spacious staterooms. We visited every place open to the public, most of them many times. We met some interesting people. One or two were interesting in the "avoid them at all costs" way. For all of the pre-cruise discussion we didn't spend a lot of time drinking or gambling. We did spend much time talking, an average amount eating, some time in the arcade, an amazing amount of time getting formal pictures taken, lots of time walking to one place or another on the ship, several hours in the casino, and of course, several hours a night sleeping. That about sums up the trip. Here is a pic of our group on formal night.


The weather was bad so we didn't get to stop in Nassau. St. Thomas was wonderful (unsophisticated, relaxed). St Maarten was over flowing with pricy stores and tourists. Would we do it again? Apparently. The Evil Twin has been named "Julie, the cruise director" and is responsible for finding our next cruise. The plans are for 2007.

Jinx will be writing a few posts about some of the people we had the pleasure of meeting. Hopefully she'll tell the full story of The Evil Twin and the Photographer. I'm sure there are many things I could tell you about from the trip. Maybe I'll remember some of them as time goes on.

The only funny thing that I haven't forgotten is 'the little girls' room' . We all know that phrase is slang for a women's restroom. So when asked I mentioned that was where I was headed. I did not realize just how literal that statement was. I headed for the nearest public facility on the ship, and slipped into an empty stall. I immediately figured out why it was empty. Once in the stall, to close the door you had to slip sideways between the toilet and the wall. I repeat, the door could not be closed if you were standing in front of the toilet. I had to go bad and no other stalls were open, so I slid sideways and closed the door.

If you've pictured this then you've probably guessed that having to perform this maneuver means there is not much room for knees once you sit down. You'd be right!!!! There was also not much room for the movement necessary to lower and raise jeans. The contortions I had to go through to make effective use of the stall had me chuckling by the time I left it. Of course, I went back and warned my girlfriends of the "little girl’s room". I think they doubted the size until they actually saw it.

Toward the end of the cruise I entered a restroom in time to hear one woman tell her friend to watch out for the tiny stall, that she wouldn't be able to unstick her if she managed to get in it. This stall was a tight squeeze for me, a size 12. There were many women larger than me on the ship; I hope none of them got stuck in that stall.

I'd say that the following picture is of the most important people on the cruise but I'd be lying.



This picture is the best of the cruise and summarizes the fun we had.