The cruise in a nut shell. After all our complications with us finally getting on board in Cape Town, HAL and their Crew have certainly gave us a cruise that we will never forget. We had a most excellent genuine experience with all our "friends" on board and we thank everyone for being, well, who you are. Although we saw amazing ports of calls, for us this cruise was about being on board and enjoying all that the cruising life has to offer. So when the itinerary changed that was okay with us, in fact it gave us a chance to see more of the Caribbean, an area of the world we had yet to explore. Guests on board mouths dropped when they heard we had 500 days without visiting the Caribbean, How is that possible", one other comment was "prepare to fall in love" - ah, you had me Half Moon Cay.
The one thing I learned this cruise was, where there is a will there is a way. I have always been one to criticize anyone that attempts to participate in an activity where they will certainly struggle and perhaps slow everyone else down. I just don't think it is fair to rest of the participants, both on the physical and financial sides. But now I will have to check myself on a person by person, activity by activity basis. Case in point was the Para sailing in Cabo San Lucas, I saw a very quiet guest lathering themselves up with had to be 200 spf sunscreen sitting in the area for the para sailors. She can't be with us, I am thinking, she was not tiny (I will be as kind as I can be here), she will struggle the whole through, is she going to be able to manage the boat? All these thoughts going through my head. So with some help she gets on board, really does say too much, just quietly sits in a spot and holds her hat down so it doesn't fly away as two couples go off and enjoy the experience. When her turn comes she takes off her hat, moves to launching area and poof off she goes with a little giggle - I can still see her little white socks swinging back and forth. She returns with a huge smile and gets her hat and returns to her spot. I am impressed and thought about the silly earlier questions and with new eyes said to myself, good for her, this is obviously something she wanted to do and she knew she could do this and I say good for you. So at the end of the day, lesson learned, you certainly cannot tell a book by its cover. I now have a new respect for the shore excursion staff in that they must have a very difficult time when someone books themselves on an adventurous excursion - you just can't say no, there are many factors to consider...
So at the end of day, we look forward to our summer and all the activities that a Vancouver summer holds for us and then we look at the September schedule and with everything giving us the go ahead we continue our travels. Stay tuned I will be providing a travel update in the first week of September. I will end this adventure with a quote from Mark Twain as I know for me it does apply...
"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime."
