So what had happened was, I went on a cruise in March 2022. See part 1 here and Part B here.
Now let’s get to the nitty gritty, the actual cruise. We had lots of ports of call, so I’ll keep it brief and image-intensive.
Ft. Lauderdale
Not really worth mentioning, except for the beautiful beaches just to the north of the port. My dad and his wife stayed at the beautiful and family-friendly Lago Mar Beach Resort & Club. This is an old-school Florida membership resort club (but you can rent condos for vacations). There were a ton of kids, all of whom seemed to be having a great time. I stayed at the fleabag across the bridge.
Sea Days
One of the attractions of this cruise was there were two at-sea days right out of the gate. My dad enjoyed the blackjack tables (casino is open while at sea only!) while I explored the ship and found the most comfortable spot (answer: in the aft).
 Prop wash with a Caribbean sunset. |
 Midships pool area. Not my scene. |
 Moonrise from my balcony. |
St. Maarten
This Franco-Dutch island was the entire reason I came on this cruise. Coofy restrictions here were nil, and we hopped off the ship and into a taxi and headed to the Sunset Beach Bar Sxm for the haj of the AvGeek. My only complaint was that we had to be back at the ship at 3pm, which meant leaving the bar/beach at 2pm. All the heavy jets coming from Europe arrive starting about 4pm. So you see the problem.
At any rate, this was a bucket list/dream come true. It was everything I’d hoped for in a day at the beach – airplanes and plenty of shade.
 Definition of WOOHOO |
 Island hopper |
 Dad gets in on the action |
 End of runway 10, SXM |
St. Lucia
Home of The Pitons (the opposite gender of The Tetons) and unexpected planespotting. We didn’t g et off the ship here, and I just enjoyed the airport views from my balcony and the various port side decks.
 Balcony bloody mary with the airport in the background. |
 Dinner at Asian fusion restaurant Tamarind. Fucking delicious. |
Barbados
Here we took our first official cruise excursion, to the Harrison Caves. I’ve been to lots of caves. They’re interesting, but tend to be pretty much the same. We also saw Rihanna’s house and learned all about the Barbadians giving the pedophilic English monarchy the boot.
 Harrison Caves with some stalagmites and water |
 Warm underground waterfall |
Dominica
The port was scenic, but we were only allowed to amble (definitely not gambol) along a 200-yard section of the dock in front of the ship, unless on an official excursion. The misty mountains behind the port looked more inviting than the port. Apparently there is world-class scuba and snorkeling here.
Mountains behind the port, with Our Lady of Fair Haven Cathedral steeple visible.
St. Kitts & Nevis
Another day on the ship with a great airport view. As I was checking my flight radar app, I heard a pip-pip-cheerio accent ask “do you reckon that 11am flight will be on time?”. My fellow AvGeek and I had a jolly olde time watching planes for the rest of the day.
You may ask “why don’t you just get off the ship and explore the port?”. It’s because all the ports have the exact same shopping and restaurants, and most of the islands had severe movement restrictions at the time.
American Airlines landing over St. Kitts
St. Thomas
Back in the USSA! Except they drive on the left. What the fuck?
Charlotte Amalie is an absolutely beautiful, and deadly, port. Here we had a sloppily-executed excursion to Coral World, with the standard aquarium stuff. We saw some dolphins perform for fish and walked around the underwater viewing area, which was in the actual bay, not in an artificial fish tank.
 Charlotte Amalie pilot boat approaches through a rainbow |
 Charlotte Amalie Harbor |
 Underwater viewing room at Coral World |
Half Moon Cay
Holland America’s private island. Pretty much what you’d expect – beachy, clean, dull. What puzzled me was the short time we spent there. Since HAL doesn’t pay dockage fees, it seems like it would be a better experience to stay late into the night. The cost-benefit of the logistics of packing up for a beach day don’t add up.
The Featured Image on his post is taken from Half Moon Cay. That’s all you’ll get and you’ll like it!
So the snow bunny went on a Caribbean cruise.
Did I like it? Nope – I loved it. It was one of the best vacations I’ve ever had. I worried about nothing except my outfit and food choices for a solid 11 days. The food was always available, and always delicious. The staff, particularly the cabin stewards, were friendly and efficient. Some of them had worked for HAL for 20+ years. There was always something happening on the ship – trivia, karaoke, cornhole, pickle ball, etc. if that’s your bag (it’s not mine). We had the drinks package on this cruise, and, to be honest, you could come close to alcohol poisoning trying to drink your limit each day. But it also made partying on the aft deck way more fun, with no concerns about the expense of a particularly crazy night.
If you’re cruise-skeptical and you know how to relax, wind down, let go, and have fun, I’d recommend giving it ta try. If you’re more of the high-octane go-go-go type, I’d still give it a try, but maybe not on Holland America. Each cruise line has its own “culture”, and there are a lot of them.
That’s what I did on my spring break!
Coofy restrictions here were nil, and we hopped off the ship and into a taxi and headed to the Sunset Beach Bar Sxm for the haj of the AvGeek.
🙂
Nice pictures and nice alt-text.
LOL…thanks for noticing. I put more effort into those than the article
You’re welcome!
The Featured Image on his post is taken from Half Moon Cay. That’s all you’ll get and you’ll like it!
This is why KK is my BFF. Technical expertise and IDGAF ‘tude.
😘
Dominica, Nica, Nica….
Did not know that about the Virgin Islands.
Oh. OK, then. 🙄
Thanks, KK! This has been fun.
My husband and I are eyeballing Christmas 2024 for a cruise, a long one over Christmas and New Year’s. Both children should be out of the nest by then, and we all know Christmas just isn’t all that magical when you’re without small children.
“and we all know Christmas just isn’t all that magical when you’re without small children.”
[OMWC nods in agreement.]
Depending on which cruise line you choose, there could be a fuckton of rugrats. Or not.
For Xmas, I’d love to do a Viking ocean cruise. Although a river cruise through Europe at Xmas might not be bad.
Time of year and type of cruise have a lot to do with that, as well. For instance, in May 2011 The Bosslady and I took a repositioning cruise (Fort Lauderdale to Rome) on Celebrity. Two weeks on the water, and school was still in session, so the number of children aboard could be counted without taking off your shoes and socks.
Just stay away from London. Never, ever spend Christmas in London/The Doctor
River cruises are the only kind that really tempt me, and I’d be inclined to opt for a Mississippi cruise…if the water level is still high enough for the riverboats. Barring that, I could go for a Great Lakes cruise. The sun in tropical climes is not my friend.
A friend’s parents took a river cruise down the Ohio. The boat’s engine died. I think they had to be towed into a river port and then bussed back.
Viking does a Great Lakes cruuse
Not quite a river cruise, but if it’s northern climes you’re after, this might be suitable.
No, we want an adults-only cruise. I REALLY don’t like other people’s children.
You’re more social than I.
I also don’t want the other people around.
Virgin and Viking have a minimum age of 18 to cruise with them. Other luxury lines (Oceana, Regent Seven Seas, Silversea) don’t bar kids, but they don’t market to the parents with small children demographic, and usually don’t have kids’ programs onboard.
If that’s not enough, there’s a British line called Saga where the minimum age to book/board is fifty.
Yeah, those days are over.
I like the idea of a boozy chill.
Sounds like you had a really good time. We took a St Croix vacation about 25-30 years ago, couple weeks. Great except I had bronchitis and had to see a doc while we were there. My son got married there, which was the purpose of the trip but we turned it into a 2 week winter holiday.
I like cruises, particularly in a 14 footer with a fishing rod in my hand.
Your pictures are beautiful, the Bloody Mary looks like a fruity cocktail. Thanks, KK, for sharing.
That article title…
How did you get the cave pictures to come out clear? I’ve had great difficulty with cave photography.
We’re #2! We’re #2! We’re #2!
Sooooo….losers?
First loser
According to this Iowa didn’t make the top 10
https://worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/alcohol-consumption-by-state
Need more money for studies
Uh yeah, that’s why. Interestingly, Idaho is #7.
Maximum derp. Like if Iowa had the same regs those corn farmers wouldn’t cook up some good stuff anyway, and if Utah changed the laws that the mormons wouldn’t still abstain.
It doesn’t say who is #1, but I’m guessing I’m there already.
That was my guess
Somebody’s fixin’ to ask for a budget increase.
It’s all due to the U of I.
Who is to say what is excessive?
Sunset Beach Bar may not even be in my top 10 best spots on St Maarten.
Is it in your top 1p best spots at the end of the SXM runway?
Nice pics and report. Especially now that the temps here are going below freezing at night!
Mrs. Whiz and I honeymooned on St. Croix — the driving on the wrong side was … interesting.
You get used to it fast.
D.E.G. regarding bet on Shapiro over or under 5%: Can’t use booze, so how about $20 to winner’s favorite non-profit?
I like that.
Shapiro wins by 5% or more: I pay $20 to a non-profit of your choice
Shapiro wins by 5% or less or Mastriano wins: You pay $20 to a non-profit of my choice.
That work?
OK, that’s dumb. What happens if it is 5%? Let’s try this:
Shapiro wins by 5% or more: I pay $20 to a non-profit of your choice
Shapiro wins by less than 5% or Mastriano wins: You pay $20 to a non-profit of my choice.
And I gotta head out… I’ll check back in the morning.
OK – If Mastriano wins, or he loses by less than 5.0%, I donate $20 to your favorite non-profit. If he loses by 5.0% or more, you donate $20 to mine.
If results are so close one of us doesn’t concede, then outcome will be based on final certified results by State Board of Elections.
Good luck, and I’m rooting for a Shapiro loss, but I think Philly and the surrounding “woke” counties will pummel Mastriano.
Works for me!
Good luck!
I dumped some money into Mastriano’s campaign. I found out the other day that WaWa has donated to Shapiro, and nothing to Mastriano. Huh. About those closed stores in Philly….
St Martin was great, even for non-cruisers. I’d go back.
Off-Topic but important:
In case you didn’t know, Paypal put back in that financial penalty they took out after many complaints.
All of the money I had in PayPal has been taken out, and they can take a flying leap.
Same
I’ve been trying since the news originally came out back in September, but they insist I have a “pending transaction”, which I can’t find in the interface. Finally had to reach out to customer service.
I closed my account when the first announcement came out. They are nuts.
I’ve heard so much shit about them over the years that I only do “check out without account” when I must.
Smart move. Now it’s time to avoid them altogether. They need to be punished for their hubris.
The Donate link here is still PayPal.
Another item for the site TODO list.
You can mail a check.
I am kinda screwed, as I do a lot of business over eBay. I wish there was an alternate payment method there. I should probably look harder at Etsy.
Etsy’s not far behind.
Sadly, I do a lot of business through Paypal. I’m not sure I can replace it.
OT: Gold plated Mosin-Nagant.
I can’t get that site to work for me, but I’m envisioning something very tacky.
Of course it is Baghdad, Iraq. We captured many chromed and some gold plated AKMS and AK-47’s. They were tacky as you would assume but made great trading material.
For those of you who are interested, but still a bit gun-shy about cruising, a few suggestions:
There’s a website called Vacations to Go that has an extensive database of cruises, and it’s filterable by date, region, cruise line, etc. They’ll ask you for an email address to register, but they don’t spam you afterward. So if you’re looking for, say, southern Caribbean in March 2023, you can find all your options in a few clicks.
If you’re not particularly interested in a ports-heavy experience, consider a repositioning cruise. For instance, in late spring each year, dozens of ships that were plying the waters of the Caribbean head out for Alaska or the Mediterranean for the summer. They have to drive the boats there, so they take paying customers, usually at a significant discount. So a Miami-Barcelona or Fort Liquordale to Anchorage can be had for a song. I’ve done three of these — Ft. Lauderdale to Rome on Celebrity, San Diego to Vancouver also on Celebrity, and San Francisco to Vancouver by way of Alaska on Oceana. The advantage is in the cost. The disadvantage, especially on the transatlantic / transpacific, is that you’re spending every day looking at ocean. Also, for some reason, transiting the Panama Canal is expensive, and there’s not much to look at.
Once you’ve made your choice, go to a site called CruiseCompete dot com. You’ll have register there, too. Once you have, enter the cruise that you want to take and the type cabin you want. Travel agents then post their best deals to you, with significant savings off the cruise line’s rack rate (never, ever, book your cruise directly with the line).
My three cents.
‘Also, for some reason, transiting the Panama Canal is expensive, and there’s not much to look at.’
Maybe engineering nerds raising demand, also the fares through the canal are the only thing holding up all of panama.
So I’m watching cheesy eighties police procedural Hunter – a guilty pleasure – and apparently the go-to for “British serial killer” was… Gary Sinise?!
Outstanding.
+1 DeeDee McCall.
She’s a looker for sure.
And Fred Dryer. Well… hm…. Let’s just say that li’l Rhywun noticed back in the day.
That show offered something for everyone.
The best episodes were when she had to go undercover as a hooker, stripper or trying to break into porn. Pretty sure Heather Locklear had similar duty on TJ Hooker.
I was reading wikipedia and IIRC they said she was raped *twice* during the run of the show.
But yeah I’ve a couple of her hooker episodes and I’m impressed that they managed to get even more make-up on her than was usual at the time.
It’s pretty amazing to see some big name stars doing one off appearances early in their careers.
I’ve always really liked Sinise and seeing him here is jarring AF.
He does a pretty good British accent too.
Sam Waterson starred in Rancho Deluxe (1975) as an Indian cattle rustler alongside Jeff Bridges. I still can’t really see the current SW except at occasional moments.
That is my wife and I’s favorite game when watching the tube; playing “who is that? No, wait, don’t tell me.”
Lulz, we do that.
-1 Clooney on Baby Talk
+1 Clooney on Roseanne.
Clooney on Facts Of Life.
Michael Mann of Miami Vice had to be the absolute master of this. Between the people who would become household names in show biz and the pro athletes / musicians trying their hand at acting, the show is hard to top. A partial list of guest stars includes:
Jimmy Smits, Martin Ferrero (became a semi-regular), Ed O’Neill, Dennis Farina, Bruce Willis, Burt Young, Glenn Frey, Pam Grier, Ving Rhames, Gene Simmons, Penn Jillette, Luis Guzman, Eartha Kitt, Nathan Lane (shockingly, as a would-be rapist), Frankie Valli (same episode as Lane), Miles Davis, Dean Stockwell, Phil Collins, G. Gordon Liddy, Kyra Sedgwick, Ted Nugent (excellent as a murderous drug kingpin), Leonard Cohen, Bill Russell, Harvey Fierstein, Michael Richards, Roberto Duran, Frank Zappa, Gary Cole, Michael “Needs Moar ‘Splosions” Bay, Richard Belzer, John Leguizamo, and Lee Iacocca — and that’s just the first two seasons!
Later seasons brought us Liam Neeson, Paul “You Get the Horns” Gleason, Laurence Fishburne, Charles S. Dutton, Willie Nelson, Steve Buscemi, Bill Paxton, Wesley Snipes, the trio of Don King, Mark Breland, and Randall “Tex” Cobb, Helena Bonham Carter, Lou Diamond Phillips, Annette Bening, George Takei, John Matuszak, Benicio del Toro, Brian Dennehy, Kelly Lynch, Penelope Ann Miller, James Brown, Sheena Easton, Teller, Chris Rock, Chris Cooper, Amanda Plummer, and Laura San Giacomo.
Can you tell I have the complete series on DVD?
That is a show I never watched first run and I think I would enjoy it more now. I’ve barely seen a couple episodes.
👍
Dude, you really need to watch some Miami Vice. I, like Shpip, own the complete series. Just some excellent 80’s television. Great on scene shots, great clothes, great tunes, and excellent melodrama. Thanks for mentioning Hunter. I loved that show as a kid and hadn’t thought about it nor seen it since it was originally aired. I’m gonna have to find some episodes.
The “Smuggler’s Blues” episode with Glenn Fry is classic, as is the G Gordon Liddy episode.
Indeed, that’s a great one. Calderone’s Return (double episode) and Out Where the Buses Don’t Run are a couple of standout episodes as well. The first three seasons were excellent and after that it was a bit more hit and miss, but a few good ones still.
Concur on “Smuggler’s Blues.” My other “must see” episodes are “The Maze” (S1E18), “Made for Each Other” (S1E19) — which is mostly Switek & Zito, and “Definitely Miami” (S2E13) with Ted Nugent guest starring.
My absolute favorite is “Glades” (S1E10), which contained one of the best lines in the show’s history.
I have a vague memory of Edward James Olmos going full on samurai in one of the last episodes. That was fantastic.
You’re probably thinking of Bushido (S2E8). Castillo indeed saves the day.
I think that’s it.
Hunter is on (I think) GetTV every night. If you have cable.
The thing with Miami Vice is… it’s never on. Anywhere on cable.
Yeah, I ended up having to buy it cause it was never on for free when I wanted it, same as Magnum PI, which I also love. I just found Hunter on Comcast and set to record. What a blast from the past. Can’t believe my parents used to let me watch all that shit at a very young age.
That’s an incredible line up.
Nice article KK, now, if I can only convince the wife. Maybe one of the Euro river cruises would interest her?
Tulip had an article back in the before times about a British canal boat charter. KK covered the big water nicely at the other end of the spectrum.
There are also crewed sailboat charters all over the world. You, and maybe a couple of friends, sail during the day and then anchor and enjoy the area.
I forgot the bright side of the crewed charters. Somebody else cooks, cleans, and is responsible for driving whenever you want to not bother with it.
(Oh year, any damages are on them as well.)
This show is going to give me a lot of tabloid fodder for a while.
https://www.dailystar.co.uk/real-life/im-porn-star-irelands-biggest-28336611
Also I think this guy is on topic for a KK post.
The Daily Star is really obsessed with penises.
Oh, and… ick. Those tatts scream “I’m contagious.”
‘The Dublin lad quit his job as a plumber to become a porn star – and the rest is history.’
He quit being a plumber to lay pipe instead?
“I’ve been doing porn full-time ever since. I now make porn videos with men and women, but I’m not gay. It’s just for money.”
Gaaaaaay. You’ve got a chance Rhy! 😛
Thank you KK and Shpip! Missus is talking about doing a cruise somewhere (Greek islands, Scandinavia, Alaska, rivers) or going back to Japan since covidmania. Not sure about the last or Europe as she wants to do a road trip in both. Aka me doing the driving.
Oooo Greek islands yaaas.
I really enjoyed Croatia generally, so I think anywhere on the Aegean would be amazing.
I hate paying bills. It’s all “Ooo… payday. Wait…”
Thanks for reminding me….
Sorry.
😔
Great write up KK. I enjoyed your photos (and alt text).
And to tie in Miami Vice with KK’s article, the Endeavour 42 (named the St. Vitus Dance) that Sonny Crockett lived on is now owned by a Key West charter company and is available for snorkeling trips, sunset cruises, or multi-day excursions to the Bahamas.
https://youtu.be/l772fYpNIrw
Ya know, I’ve been listening to Lovecraftian horror stories for the last few weeks as a sleep aid. SugarFree’s latest ranks up there with some of the creepiest. Bravo, Author!
Yay! Medicare enrollment and elections ads!
The dad is hot.
This is the most glib comment here, congrats grrizz. Just about spit my coffee out.
suh’ fam
whats goody
Mornin Tres.
Good morning, homey, Sean, DEG, and Lack!
Taking my beloved Subie in for an oil change+ this morning and asking them to check one of the tires that has a slow(ish) leak. Hope it can be repaired – bought these tires less than 60K miles ago – probably a little over 50K, and they had a 60K mile warranty (prorated for mileage, of course.) And I don’t want to have to buy new tires right now – I’ve just this week been hit up by my oldest sister to help buy our mutual poor-crazy-cat-lady middle sister another (high-mileage) used car after the frame broke in her old Volvo. 🙄
On a completely unrelated topic – homey, have you figured out how to get rid of the daggone Live Stream box now planted at the top of every page of Channel 7’s website? 😒
Frame broke?
That’s what I was told. I imagine it had to be solid rust for her to manage to do that – allegedly after crossing RR tracks.
I guess thats possible.
Just for my curiosity what year vehicle? I still drive my 05 XC-90. (aka sheep ambulance)
Sorry – I have no clue what year, but knowing her, I imagine it was pretty old.
Understood.
I just appreciate old volvos…
Morning.
Good morning, U!
I’m off to the Subie dealer. I’ll catch up with all of you when I get there.
I didn’t win the Powerball. Time to get ready for work. 😒
Ive decided that if I win it, ya’all can have all my old clothes.
🙁
I think the rain finally stopped here in southern NH. Last couple of days were gloomy and rainy.
Time to head to the gym. Mornin’ all!
Great, ice on the windshield, what next, a plague of squirrels?
No, wait! Ghaaaa!
Covfefe everyone🙂
Morning Glibs !
Same here, Yusef, but since I’m not going anywhere and the truck is in the garage, I don’t care. I’m down to making 2 trips a week to the PO for mail, shop the Podunkville mega-mall at the same time.
Coffee is hot, got the wood stove cranked up, all is well in the woods.
Sounds relaxing 4x, the temps are still mild in the 50’s so there is still golf after work. Its a pleasant season.
Cheers!
Well this is sobering, another article from Salon….
https://www.salon.com/2022/10/27/stop-worrying-and-love-the-bomb-our-proxy-with-is-sliding-toward-apocalypse/
I don’t know who said it, but someone here has suggested that (my words here) wants Russia to fail so the seep state/soros/eu bureaucrats can take over the mineral rich Russia. What if they think in their long term planning that a small nuclear war is a good thing?
*snort*
I almost forgot I was on Salon until I browsed the selection of “trending” articles on the side.
I know….. how bad it must be for THAT to get past editors.
its a sign of the end times i tell ya.
Useful tip in these stupid times: KI pills make great stocking stuffers.
They might even manage to keep you alive so you can wander the hellish wasteland that’d be the result of a nuclear war until some kind of cancer claims you.
Just tell them its for thyroid cancers only.
We don’t have any “rad away”.
Obligatory.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=3Q3j-i7GLr0
Mornin’, reprobates!
Wind is kicking up, a fall chill in the air. It’s been uncomfortably warm in the house for the last couple of days, AC is retired for the season. Nice to get back to normal.
Also, finally got some sleep last night. Finally tamed the white whale I’ve been chasing for a month, found the process which was consuming ~50GB memory overnight. Of course, the first time the process ran properly there were upstream issues… That is why it is called “work”.
Beluga?
Google’s Big Query. Using a python method which loads the entire result set into an internal data structure before writing the output file. “It’s really fast!”.
That seems inefficient.
Of course I can’t prove it, that’s just my instinctual reaction.
The dirty little secret of Google and other cloud-based big data technologies is their reliance on computing power to overcome inefficiencies. Throw enough parallel resources at a problem and you can get really fast results. Of course, you get charged for “compute” resources; the more you scale up the more you pay. It is a really great revenue model.
Am I the only one who wants the coders to work on reducing resource usage instead of screwing up the UI?
Note to self: book a cruise, stat. I need a week or three to recharge the old batteries. Thanks for the write-up, KK.
Huh, never realized the murder rate in the Virgin Islands was so high.
The Virgin Islands: Come to enjoy the beautiful scenery, stay because you’ve been brutally murdered and dumped in an open manhole cover.
You should work in advertising.
We are hiring…