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Honeymoon, Part 1
Wednesday, 2007 February 21 - 8:48 am
Tales and photos from our honeymoon cruise to the Caribbean.

Does anyone actually enjoy looking at other people's vacation photos? Well, tough cookies, I'm posting them anyway.

Amy and I left February 10th on our cruise, sailing out of Charleston on the Norwegian Majesty. Charleston is convenient because it's within driving distance. The Majesty is not exactly the flagship of the Norwegian fleet; it's a smaller boat with fewer restaurants and amenities. But the fact that we can pack as heavily as we want, without hassling with airline travel, still makes it worthwhile.

We started off sailing from Charleston to the Cayman Islands, going around Florida and Cuba in the process. Much of the first few days was spent eating, drinking, and sleeping. Sometimes, um, the drinking led directly to the sleeping.



We bagged the singing-and-dancing shows all week... it's not really Amy's thing, and I told Amy she wasn't missing too much.

One thing we discovered quickly: the "fine dining" options on the Majesty weren't all that great. They tried to gussy up the menu with fancy sounding dishes, but a lot of them came out tasting more like TV dinners. What they called "chimichurri sauce" had no garlic whatsoever, a sin when served with Argentinian-style flank steak. And their "Caribbean jerk chicken" was devoid of jerk spices; we were astounded that it came with a light, mild gravy instead. The only really nice meal we had was in their specialty restaurant "Le Bistro", where we had filet mignon and lobster tail (for an extra fee, of course). Otherwise we eschewed the main restaurants in favor of the various buffets and the burger stand.

Breakfast was good, at least. Amy could eat her favorite breakfast, grits with bacon, and I could eat my lox and bagels. I remarked that our breakfasts looked like "north meets south".



We arrived at Georgetown on Grand Cayman island, where we were booked for a reef-and-wreck snorkeling excursion. We got some waterproof film cameras and took pictures there; unfortunately we'll have to go through the antiquated film developing process before I can post those photos.

After the snorkeling, we were able to spend a little time shopping; the main task was to make sure we got our allotment of duty-free liquor. While the prices weren't as cheap as I'd remembered them, we did snag two 1.75-liter bottles of Grey Goose for $46 apiece. That's $25 less than what we pay locally in North Carolina. (Note to travelers: the official duty-free allowance is one liter per person, but the customs officials will let it slide if you're a little over.)

After the Cayman Islands, we sailed to Cozumel. We booked the Tulum Mayan ruins excursion there. Unfortunately, two-thirds of the excursion involved ferrying, walking, and bus-riding to and from the site. But we did see lots of cool things.



A couple of interesting facts about Tulum: one, there are a lot of iguanas there. Two, they don't like vowels.





After Cozumel, we went to Key West, where we walked around town for a bit, visiting various bars. We met a couple of guys at the Green Parrot bar who sounded like Click and Clack from NPR's "Car Talk". They were clearly regulars at the bar, and with their Boston accents, I started to think of them as "Norm and Cliff". At any rate, they sure got a kick out of Amy.



Chickens run amok in Key West. It's odd to think of wild chickens... I mean, it's not like chickens have a lot of natural defenses against predators. If I were a cat in Key West, I'd walk around with a deep fryer and some wing sauce.





There are lots of interesting old houses in Key West, but I'm not sure if I understand their naming conventions.




In the evening, we went on the "Ghost Tour", where they walk you around and tell you about various "haunted" places in town. They encourage you to take lots of photos in hopes of catching a "ghost". I think some folks took the whole thing a little too seriously. Me, I played along and took photos, but didn't see anything out of the ordinary. Or wait: is that a ghost bicycle rider in front of the church there?



Near the end of the evening, we were standing in front of a gift shop. I told Amy that when my sister and I were kids, if we were standing next to any kind of statue, my dad would have us pose like the statue for pictures. So this is for my dad:



The last few days of the cruise were at sea. I played in a poker tournament and won first place, winning an $883 prize. That was almost enough to cover our bar tab for the week. (The winning hand: full house, jacks over kings! Though a pair of kings would have been enough.)



The cruise ended all too soon, and we arrived back in Charleston on the 17th.

In Part 2, I'll (hopefully) have photos from snorkeling, pictures of some souvenirs, and proof of just how much we drank on board.
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Posted by Ken in: lifetravel

Comments

Comment #1 from Noelle (Guest)
2007 Feb 21 - 10:52 am : #
I'd REALLY like to see more photos from the wedding, do you have those posted anywhere? Thanks.
Comment #2 from Ken (realkato)
2007 Feb 21 - 11:13 am : #
We haven't gotten our official wedding photos yet. We've only seen a handful of pictures that guests took, and a lot of those didn't come out very well because of the low light. But we should have pictures soon, I swear.
Comment #3 from Crouching Hamster (Guest)
2007 Feb 21 - 1:20 pm : #
I've posted about a dozen snapshots on my blog. But I'm sure the professional shots will look more, ah, "professional." I'm eager to see them as well!
Comment #4 from Noelle (Guest)
2007 Feb 22 - 10:05 am : #
Thanks guys. I have photos of all my friend's weddings up in my cube. I'm 37 and suprisingly, since my friends have been getting married for over 10 years now, no one is divorced or seperated! My cube display is good luck. It just hit me... I've been married for 5 years... wow, feels like one or two. :)

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