Day 0 – Tampa

6 of the gang gathered on the day before the cruise. 4 from Michigan flew in on the day before the cruise because they wisely didn’t trust airlines to get them there on time.

The hotel was nice enough with plenty of amenities except for the slidey, pocket type bathroom door. James didn’t mind that so much, but when the door was closed, it would slide open on its own. This was more togetherness than most folks wanted.

They all met around dinner time and ate at a local Irish pub.

Afterwards, they played a few rounds of Mexican Train. It took the Florida folks a little while to remember the rules that the rest knew. Then they got their asses handed to them.

Day 1 – Tampa – Boarding the ship

The cruise ship port was a 15 minute walk from the hotel. James and Dolley walked over to see where they’d park their car.

Then they walked back, checked out of the hotel, and drove to the port. They got to the port at 10:30 and waited for the Washington’s and Jackson’s. They were all on the ship by 11:00. This was a personal best for the group.

About 10 minutes later, the Adamses showed up at the regular sun deck hangout.

After spending enough time on the pool deck, James went exploring. He soon found the martini bar and reported this to the group.

Stuff

James had wanted to bring his favorite running shoes on the cruise, but they were pretty sh1tted up so they were run thru the washing machine. They were still kinda wet when it was time to go, so they were left in the car. The Madison’s were in the middle of the Caribbean when they realized that they’d left the shoes in the car. The shampoo and sunscreen were also in the car.

Amongst these realizations, James noticed that he couldn’t find the pants that he’d been planning to wear dancing. This was because he hadn’t packed them. He had 2 suits so he could use their pants, but they were going to be pretty ratty looking by the end of the cruise.

Dancing

After dinner, James and Dolley found a trio of violin players performing on electric violins with electronic accompaniment in the lobby playing a combination of classical and contemporary music.

The Madison’s danced to a slow piece by Andrea Bocelli and then a faster piece. As the Madisons left, a number of folks said very nice things about their dancing which made them feel both pleased and awkward.

The Madisons then went to the Martini bar where a guitarist and a singer were performing. After seeing them dance, the guitarist said he’d play a “real” dance tune. This was “Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps” which the Madisons had danced to as part of a routine at one of the Vegas dance camps that they’d gone to. They didn’t remember the specific routine, but they’d danced a lot more rumbas between then and now.

Day 2 – Fun Day at Sea

More time was spent in the Serenity Lounge – a place with a pool, deck chairs, and no kids.

Day 3 – Costa Maya

George had booked a boat for the guys to go deep sea fishing. James was excited to do this because he’d only fished once before for an hour with limited success.

As James walked along the cruise ship’s pier to the meeting place, he noticed some very rough waves and felt some trepidation.

Note: As they walked past the happy-go-lucky cruise staff they passed a couple of heavily armored police (“policía”) with automatic weapons. Luckily, the police didn’t seem interested in anyone.

When the guys got to the fishing place, the young lady said that there was no reservation. She couldn’t say much more because she didn’t speak English and the guys didn’t speak Spanish.

She tried to use google translate on her phone but didn’t know how to express what the guys needed to know.

Then James got out his phone and ran his copy of google translate. He played 20 questions with the girl to find out that the sea was too rough for small boats and all of the beaches had red flags out.

After this, the owner came out and explained in limited English what James and the girl had just deciphered.

Note: The author had anticipated writing a tale of adventure about four men combating the elements to catch fish. The author got really excited about naming the blog post “cruising 2023 the old men and the sea” and wasn’t about to let reality stand in his way.

Having been deprived of one adventure, the guys chose to rent a golf cart and explore the town. As navigator, James only got them a little bit lost and not for very long.

They eventually got to the beach that they’d been looking for and went exploring on foot. The locals frequently offered massages, cigars, and other wares. John bought a few things and then they all had lunch.

The girls went shopping for a while and then did some more shopping. They even made guac.

The guy in the red shirt

While the girls hung out at the martini bar, the guys sat across the way, talking among themselves. They noticed a young lady sitting by herself moving very sensually to the music. She was soon joined by a man in his 50s in a red shirt. From what the guys could tell, he was hitting on her very unsuccessfully. He had a too-loud laugh and seemed to think that he was a lot funnier than the young lady thought.

He soon tried to up his game by touching her forearm as he told his jokes. This is when she left.

James and Dolley next saw the red shirt guy after they’d been dancing. He said some nice things about their dancing and that they must be very close to dance so well together. Then he mentioned that he was divorced and gave the Madisons an awful lot of relationship advice.

Dancing

One of the bands featured Caribbean music which is unfortunate in James’ view. However, the violin group was in fine form. One of their pieces had a false ending that totally fooled James. The Madisons walked back to their seats and then the band continued the piece. James felt pretty stupid but 8 or 9 members of a family applauded their dancing anyway.

As the band began to wrap up, they asked the Madisons to pick a song to dance to. James really hates being the center of attention. The only way that he can get over this with dancing is to pretend that no one else is noticing with all of the other dancers. This gets very difficult if he and Dolley are the only dancers. So, James and Dolley are standing in the middle of the dance floor and the band is asking them to pick a tune just for them. There was no way for James to pretend that he wasn’t the focus of everyone’s attention.

James asked for a waltz. This wasn’t that bad of an idea. They love to dance waltzes and they hadn’t heard one all week. The leader (or the one who spoke English) said that they’d play the Blue Danube. Dolley was worried that this was faster than they usually danced to. James was worried that it was longer than they were used to. They were both a bit sweaty by the time that the piece eventually finished. Oddly, James always associated the piece with the landing of a rocket on the moon from “2001: A Space Odyssey”. (Watch it, it’s awesome. Well worth the other 17 hours of movie.) After checking with other folks, James found that he was alone in this.

Day 4 – Belize

Andrew and Rachel went tubing in the jungle. It was a 90 minute drive to the place and another 90 minutes back. They said that they’d enjoyed the tubing.

The rest of the gang did some shopping at the port and most of them went to a beach. The Michiganders of the group found the water to be refreshing. Dolley found that the water was cooler than the day that her Florida friends thought the water was too cold to swim. Everything’s relative.

They got back to the port a couple of hours before the ship left. Martha, Abigail, and Dolley wanted to do more shopping. George and John did not so they went back to the ship. The girls were able the catch the second to last shuttle to the ship.

Day 5 – Cozumel

Today, the gang went on an “Amazing Race” style treasure hunt. To make it interesting, Andrew suggested that the teams be guys versus girls.

The hunt involved solving puzzles and interacting with locals to eventually get to a restaurant for drinks. James found some of the puzzles interesting. He got to use what he learned about the Mayan numbering system in grade 4 or 5. The girls won because of some questionable tactics (at least, some of the guys questioned them) and were awarded gold(ish) medallions. The guys were awarded silver(ish) medallions. It was suggested that these were “participante” awards (the author likes to show off his Spanish). (The author also likes to refer to himself in the third person.)

After dinner, James and Dolley went looking for dancing venues. They spent some time with the Brilliant Strings Trio before the trio finished for the night.

Rachel suggested that they try the Sea Surfers Band. The Sea Surfers Band had been performing all week but James hadn’t noticed. The band played a lot that the Madisons could dance to and soon everyone was on the floor.

Relationships

As James was getting a drink at the bar, he overheard a conversation with 2 women and a man. They were about 10 years older than James. They were talking about how intense and loving their relationship had gotten over the last few days. For whatever reason, this inspired the man to mention that he was married.

The lady on the left said although she loved him with the heat of a thousand suns, his marriage was a line that she could not cross. The lady on the right said nothing.

A short while later, I saw the woman who’d been on the left dancing with another man. I’d guessed that she’d moved on. I also saw that woman who’d been on the right was dancing and wrapped around the married man. Some lines can be crossed.

After a particularly fast dance while the ship was especially bouncy, Martha and Rachel complimented James and Dolley’s way of dealing with their mistakes. Apparently, their mistakes were noticed. The way that they handled the mistakes was to laugh it off and try again.

Day 6 – Another Fun Day at Sea

“Bronzing”, dancing, tearful goodbyes, etc.

Day 7 – Debarkation

Most cruises, the gang would hide out on the deck and wait until they were more forcefully encouraged to leave. This time, they either had early flights or just needed to get to the parking lot, so they all were in a hurry to get out.

They all hung on to their luggage and ran out as soon as possible.

The gang went back to their lives.

<sad collective sigh>