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The Second Half

It is way after the fact, so I'll just post the photos and add some explanatory captions when necessary.

Freedom of the Seas, 1

Taken together, these two photos show how massive the Freedom of the Seas is. Massive.

Some other damn ship.

The port of Philipsburg, St Maarten. We walked way over to there and man it was hot.

Believe it or not, that bulbous extension is a 16-person jaccuzzi, emblematic of the indulgent luxury idiocy.

I don't know the names of these ships, but I like the light behind the first one out of her berth.

The Lawn Club on Deck 15 of the Solstice. Tough to get grass to grow at sea, and it was a relaxing spot to relax.

This and the following shots were taken from the sugar train on St Kitts. Years ago they used the narrow-guage railway to transport sugar cane to its manufacturing point; it is now used to transport something far sweeter: tourist dollars.

I ordered a virgin piña colada and when she asked, "Who's the virgin?" well, what could I say?

Schoolkids rush out to greet the train, blow kisses, wave and holler, and steal your heart.

At another school.

Rich looking over the port of Basseterre

That's Rich on Deck 10 from Deck 5. I love "our room" shots.

Getting ready for dinner on the last night.

Dinner on the last night. Au revoir!

Sunday, December 21, 2008 | 6:15 p.m.

El Grande Cinquanta

The Thanksgiving holiday was a blast: a good day at work, a relaxing drive down to Newport, and a fun dinner. Jim and Jane and the kids were there, which was a nice surprise as they were supposed to be in Philadelphia but had decided to travel early Thursday morning. After Jim built a great fire out in the pit, Jane and I solved the world's problems.

The day itself was fun as I really enjoy cooking in the state-of-the-art kitchen in Newport. Ann was in charge of the turkey, I got some of the vegetables and apple pie, Rich took on the big boy task of mashed potatoes (too much work for me — I'd rather have rice or something else entirely). So a magnificent feast, and I hope yours, dear reader, was the same..

We drove back to Boston, packed anxiously, and got to bed, and as much as we had been looking forward to it, the morning came too early. But, as it was Rich's 50^th, I was happy to get the day started. The flight was fine, we actually left early, and we were ready to get settled in at the Fontainebleau Hotel as quickly as possible. This place is rife with history, and had (in its heyday) played host to everyone from Eleanor Roosevelt to the Shah of Iran to Jerry Lewis. A huge spectrum of the noted and notable once called this place a second home, and it was such a place to be seen that it has its' famous stairway to nowhere. At the top of this staircase is a small coatroom or powder room, but the point of it was to be seen walking down it, as it clings to a massive gold lamé wall. Oh darn, I thought I had a photo of it, but here are some photos of this rather overpowering getaway, home, by the way, of the Victoria's Secret fashion show on television this week (check your local listings). Some snaps:.

The famous Fontainebleau pool, where JFK cavorted, where Sinatra dallied, and any other Camelot-era nonsense you can think of probably happened.

The pool at dusk.

The Bleau Bar, home to one of the most refreshing, complex, delicious, and expensive cocktails I've ever had.

So basically the hotel sucks on a huge level. I use Trip Advisor for my hotel reviews (I'll post it later and update the link), but suffice it to say it was yet another example of a hotel thinking that as long as you hire pretty people your service problems will be solved. Oh good God no. Methinks it is often when they begin. But we had a lovely dinner at Morton's Steakhouse for Rich's birthday. I usually use Open Table to manage my out of town reservations. It works, it's free, and has enough clout that the restaurant does the right thing by you, viz:

Morton's menu

Nice touch, huh? And dessert was on the house. Classy joint.

The iconic lobby of the hotel. Really quite impressive.

So Saturday was mellow, walking along the boardwalk, and taking a long drive up and down the Florida coast. We have a great time just hanging out in the car and talking, looking at houses, thinking about living somewhere like this but not always seriously, seeing how locals comport themselves, how buses run, how traffic moves, where people go to the market. Sounds somewhat unadventurous, I guess, but the else in elsewhere fascinates me to no end. The crowd at the hotel was international if not exactly cosmopolitan. The glamour of Miami draws a crowd whose motivation is unclear: are they there to observe? To get lessons? To absorb? To fit in or stand out? While the ways of the city are beyond me, I do believe that some people are indeed cool and hip and trendsetters, it's just that in a place like this it is difficult to discern the leaders from the followers. Chiefly, everyone looks alike — or at least dresses alike. I wanted to take photos of people to illustrate my point, but I demurred, not because I thought people would take offense but because they wouldn't. The situation would devolve into, therefore, a who's kidding whom standoff. I don't like to objectify people (too much). It is a weird, weird place, more vapid, hotter, cooler, more self-conscious than just about any place I've been.

My colleague Carole was boarding a Royal Caribbean ship so we thought we drive by to see if her ship was still in port. We drove around some side streets off the 17th St. Causeway, stood on a small patch of grass between some incredible houses and saw her ship as well as the ship on which we took our last cruise, the superb Queen Mary 2.

Two Ships

That's Carole's ship on the left; on the right is the Queen Mary 2.

We drove back to the hotel, and saw some beautiful early evening sun:

Florida twilight

Great light, and those birds were hundreds of hawks taking the breezes.

Haulover Beach lies between Collins Avenue and the intercoastal. We pulled over to see this beautiful sunset.

Sunday finally comes, we're ready to board the ship and get on with the main thrust of vacation. There are many elements to the day as we had to check out of the hotel (the management of which seemed more resigned to, rather than surprised by, our laundry list of complaints), drive up to Ft. Lauderdale to go the Sawgrass Mills Mall for some last minute stuff (it was odd driving past Pete and Robin's house; but they were in Georgia for Thanksgiving), and return the car before getting a cab to the port. Finally on board, we are a bit stunned by the beauty of the cabin and at how comfortable it is. Similarly, the artwork does not suck. I know that such judgments are subjective, but there are glass pieces everywhere on board (there is a glass-making exhibit five times a day on board and you cannot get near it) and they are exquisite. We walked around to familiarize ourselves with the ship, along with the other 2,848 passengers. To those of you who have been on ships you know that this can be a taxing experience; some people cannot seem to do anything but get in your way or meander or be gauche. You wonder after a while just where so many people go after the first rush of excitement. You rarely see so many people at one time again for the duration of the vacation.

We had champagne in our room, courtesy of. . . someone. We had a glass and watched as we set sail. The sailaway was ruined a bit by poor weather, but it was fun to be off and slipped of our moorings (which sounds like a metaphor for something, though I'm not sure what). Later on, as we sought to establish a routine, we had dinner and went to the casino (don't ask). I was going to stay up for a bit but became very tired all of a sudden as was out like a light before I could turn the light out.

Below are some photos of the ship. Because I'll be posting this to a cruise forum, I took some other cabin photos as well. You can take a look at those if you are so inclined.

Rich in 1118

Rich in our cabin, shortly after arrival.

The roomy deck. By the time you read this, Rich will have taken up semi-permanent residence on the chaise longue.

Glass-walled elevators whisk you up and down the central corridor. A bit unnerving at first, it's fun to watch people going about thier day.

Rich in the library.

In the library.

Har-dee har har.

A tree grows in the middle of the corridor; more awe-inspiring than you might imagine. It is beautiful.

NB: I don't know why these photos aren't being displayed. I'm working on it.

Patch of lawn

A different vantage point from where we were twenty-four hours earlier. This patch is where we stood when we were on shore looking at Carole's ship and the Queen Mary 2.

The residents of these towers blow whistles, blast airhorns, ring bells, and flash lights to signify thier wishes for a bon voyage. A wonderful tradition we first experienced while onboard the Queen Elizabeth 2.

Exiting the bight, looking north from portside to Ft. Lauderdale.

Arrrr, two hearty mateys.

Having exited the bight, looking south from starboard to Miami.

More to come!

Monday, December 1, 2008 | 12:00

Well, here it is Wednesday and I'm still having trouble uploading some of the photos. I haven't figured it out, but I think it's because the WiFi is pretty weak and there isn't enough power to get the photos up. Monday evening was a formal evening and we went to the Tuscan Grille — it's a specialty restaurant (read: surcharge) and we had a great time. I later and throughout the evening made friends with every last bartender on board. The Casino, inevitably if misleadingly named Fortunes, continues to be stingy to an appalling degree. We're both having terrible luck and after a fairly lucky year, it appears that that well has run dry. The staff is nice, though, but we have decided to quit our visits. Tomorrow is St Kitts and we've had luck there before, so we'll see. Tuesday we arrived in San Juan, PR, in the afternoon. It is hellishly hot, and crowded as there were two ships in port — ours and the Royal Caribbean Freedom of the Seas. San Juan is a beautiful city, historic (is it the oldest city in the Western Hemisphere?) and has some beautiful architecture in Old San Juan. We walked around and up the hill leading to the fort (something I could not manage on our last visit, but as I've said adieu to some pesky avoirdupois it wasn't too exhausting. We took a lot of photos, not all of them worthy of publishing, but I rather like these:

Sunset at sea

Sunset on Monday, somewhere between Ft Lauderdale and San Juan.

Your provincial New Englander gets out of the house and reflexively points to home.

On December 1, the moon, Venus, and Jupiter were in alignment. I wanted to capture it, but I don't think a digital camera is up to it. That's Jupiter below the moon; Venus didn't make it.

Heading to dinner on Monday night.

The following photos are all of San Juan and I've only captioned some of them. Chiefly, they are here as the houses are so beautiful they demand to be photographed. And some were just funny.

Red shirt on portico