Sorry for the interruption of my oh-so-regular blogging schedule. I went on a cruise. Not just any cruise, but a dance cruise.
First, the back story. The Laird and I have been taking dance lessons for about six years, now. We’re not as good as one might expect, given that amount of time. There are two mitigating factors: Six years of weekly one-hour lessons really isn’t that much – about 40 working days. Equally important, I’m not good at learning – or remembering – physical skills. The studio at which we take lessons, National Dance Clubs, is very interested in competitions for its longer-term students (this, btw, seems fairly normal for dance studios). The Laird and I are not. However, we have taken part in a few and enjoyed them. After the last one, we decided that we would rather spend that money on a cruise. We made the mistake of wondering aloud if a “dance cruise” were a thing. Turns out that, yes, yes, it is. So much for saying “no” to the next competition offer. In my defense, it was a cruise to the Bahamas, in February – and I live in South Dakota.
For a fee that shall forever remain undisclosed, they took care of everything. It was a great travel experience because I did nothing other than pack a bag. The Laird went a bit overboard and made a suit for each themed night. I just packed shirts he had already made.
Of course, the black blazer that I thought I had turned out to be navy blue when I tried it on with black jeans. There’s a men’s fashion/tailor shop downtown that I’d never been to, so I thought I’d try them – Seeley’s – first. I had low expectations that a custom tailoring place would have a black jacket handy, but why not try? Hah, did I score! I don’t think I’ve ever had a jacket that fits so well. Granted, it is wool and I was going to the Bahamas, but cruise ships are air conditioned (not as much as a Piggly Wiggly in Georgia, but still). It was perfect. I wore black jeans with a black jacket and a theme appropriate shirt to every party. It was The Laird who got to shine.
The biggest downside to going on a cruise is that one must add a day of travel on each end (unless one lives in Florida). We flew out Sunday, spent the night in Miami, boarded on Monday, were in Cocoa Cay (a tiny island owned by Royal Caribbean) on Tuesday, Nassau on Wednesday, a sea day on Thursday, and back to Miami on Friday. I just got home.
Digression: Of course, one must have the Royal Caribbean app for things to work. I couldn’t find it in the Google Play Store. I looked on the internet, instead of the Play Store app, and there it was. I tried to download it and found out my phone was out of date. I checked the system updates and it said it was up-to-date with Android 8.something – from 2010. We went to the Cricket Wireless store and I asked the guy, “what’s the current Android version?” Turns out, it’s 16.something. As a software guy, I hate it when our customers do this. I bought a new phone without complaint. Got the Royal Caribbean app. Got the United Airline app. All is good – until the phone bricks in Miami. Some sort of eSIM problem that locked it up with a screen-of-death – even after rebooting. Cricket Wireless support is Monday through Friday Eastern Time business hours. I found this out on Sunday and needed to board the ship Monday – before business hours. National Dance Clubs to the rescue! Our instructor/chaperon just dealt with it from her phone. I was busy vacationing and figured I’d deal with it between ship debarkation and plane embarkation in Miami (while it was still broken) on Friday. Of course, it worked just fine in the Miami airport. That issue is still pending and I’m very tempted to just ignore it because I don’t travel often.
I’ve often wondered why they don’t put apartments on top of malls. It seems very logical. They’re short buildings with all the stuff one could want inside. Put apartments above them. Very convenient. The Royal Caribbean Oasis class ships are exactly that. It works – as long as you are comfortable around a LOT of people. The ship (Wonder of the Sea) is gorgeous. It really is a floating mall with apartments – and swimming pools (follow the link – it’s incredible). It’s new (for ship), having been commissioned in 2022. But the people! In my twenties, I would have been ecstatic. In my thirties, I would have loved it. In my forties, it would have been OK. In my fifties – especially having worked from home for 5 years – it was too much.
There were a lot of families. There are plenty of adult spaces if one does not want to be around children. There was one woman that I had to compliment because she and her husband were trying to dance (at the Boleros bar on Latin night) with their two kids. She was holding both and still dancing! I complimented her dancing and observed that mothers must have the strongest arms in the world. She took it in the spirit it was intended and laughed. The pool deck was just “no”. The Laird and I hung out at the adult pool, which is not nearly as exciting as it sounds, being merely and age, not content, restriction. It was fun to watch the sibling interactions in the dining room. I had flashbacks to my own.
Both of those paragraphs are to compare with the Princess Gem class ships. They’re much more my speed. They’re smaller and older. The crowd is older. The people to places ratio is lower. This is most definitely a personal preference – I did move out of Denver to Rapid City with this as one my reasons. Just as one example, I never had to look for an open deck chair on the Princess cruises.
The highlight of the cruise was the Swimming with Dolphins excursion (that’s what they call off-ship activities) in Nassau. It was delightful. That word is chosen with purpose. It wasn’t “amazing” or “cool” or “wonderful”. It brought back a child-like delight in seeing the world. The water was an amazing blue. The Blue Lagoon island was wonderful. Being on an island in the Bahamas in February was cool. The dolphin (Laguna) was delightful.
There was also dancing.
The (coalition of?) studio(s) that put it together had a dance party each night. The first night was also the Nightclub competition at the same venue. The venue (the Music Box bar) was fine as a dance club on a cruise ship. It was tiny for a gathering of dance studio folk. I – of all people – was close to a nervous breakdown wondering how on Earth they would manage a waltz competition on that tiny dance floor. Which answered my major question about the cruise…
Why is the competition at 0500?!?! The competition was at 0700 EST – but I live in the Mountain time zone, so it’s 0500 for me. I don’t like morning-person privilege. I don’t like east-coast-time privilege. I’ve been starting work at 0700 for 20 years because New York trading starts at 0900. Going to bed before midnight is still, at my age, difficult. Night People Unite!
It turned out that the reason was that time was when the ice rink (with a cover over the ice) was available. Yes, the ship has an ice rink – you really need to click on that link, above. It was a good sized ballroom dance floor; not huge (not a hockey rink), but not in any way small. The floor was OK. It was a bit less slick than the nominal wooden dance floor, but it didn’t glue one’s shoes down. That space was well worth the early start; something I made a point of saying to everyone I complained about the start time to – particularly the organizers.
The dance competition was a dance competition. Despite the indignant protests of our instructor, I feel that The Laird and I were there to make everyone else look better. We are not good dancers. Compared to a random couple off the street, sure, we’re good. Compared to people who want to be in a competition, uh, no.
What made it fun is that it was a pre-built/organized group. Even though many of us did not know each other (some people did), the nightly dance party introduced us all and created a bond – an admittedly light bond – for the entire cruise. When you are vacationing with 7,000 – yes, 7,000 – of your closest friends, it’s nice to have a small tribe to associate and identify with.
It was a great vacation and I regret nothing (although there was drunken Mark at dinner). Will we do it again? Maybe. It is an annual event. My birthday is in February. We’re considering every other year. Existential justification: One can die at any time. Saving everything for “later in life” and missing great experiences, may not be a good decision.
Marked Up 