Just crusing

I had never been on a cruise before...until last week. Now let me just say that my parents have been on a few, and i've seen all the pictures. I would look at them and think " yeah that's a big boat" but nothing would prepare me for seeing the size of this ship in real life. Our ship was absolutly MASSIVE! To give you a bit of perspective, let me list some of the things that were on our ship:
-3 pools
-5 hot tubs
-countless clubs/bars/lounges all playing different styles of live music.
- all of these clubs have like 2-3 bars in them
- a large casino
- shopping center
- minigolf
-45' climbing wall
- skating rink (with much seating for ice shows)
- a large theater for live productions
- a movie theater
- basketball court
-a masive 3 story dining room (with the staircase like titanic)

Now remember...this is a boat...i couldn't belive it.

I now love cruises! Best vacation i've ever had. But let me start where a good story always starts...at the beginning...

It started last year at julia's gruduation party. I suprised her with a cruise. Well, i tried to suprise her. The fact is that after i had started looking for a cruise...SHE started looking. She would get fairly ticked because i refused to look with her, or even entertain the idea of going on a cruise. (as i had already booked one). We would have the same argument every couple nights for 2 weeks. "Rob, come and look at this cruise i found" "Julia, where are we going to get money for a cruise?" "Rob, just come and look, it's not that expensive." "Why don't we talk about this in a few months...maybe we can save some money for it" "Rob we should look now.." "NO, i'm not lloking now" ect.ect.

So a rough couple of weeks for me to have to keep my secret. Anyway i gave it to her for her graduaton from waterloo. She was happy. I was happy. Everything ran soomthly in the Dueckman household.

We had decided that since we were catching a deathly early flight on saturday, that we would stay overnight in detroit. So on friday after worked we packed the car, headed out...our destination was the howard johnson by the airport. We checked in and went to the room. It was a decent room...not a dump, but not the hilton either...no real big complaints about it. My complaint came at 4:00 in the morning. We woke up, both expecting to shower and head to the airport. Well when we turned on the hot water...it came only freezing cold. So we let it run...and run..and run hopeing that the hot water would eventually come....but after 10 mintues of cold...we couldn't wait anymore. We had to leave for the airport. So we went to the front desk to check out, and i told the guy about our lack of hotwater. He siad "you just need to let it run" I informed him nicely that we had let it run for 10 minutes, and still no heat. He then proceeded to let me know that the reason there was no hot water was because i didn't know how to work it. And that there were no other complaints, so there must not be a problem.

2 things were clear to me at this point:

1. I was talking to a genius. I mean obviously we was smarter than me...after all he knew how to turn on a hot water tap (something i clearly didn't know). And also he had gotten no other complaints...because most people are trying to shower at 4:00 in the morning.

2. I was getting no discount on my room.

So fine we left...i didn't have time to argue with him. And we were off to Florida.

I'll skip ahead to bore you of the details of how cheap spirit airlines is.

Our cruise's first 2 days were at sea. So julia and I kept ourselves very busy with various activities like rock climbing, touring the entire ship, eating too much, and going to a really sweet comidieans/shows in the live theater.
*side note*
These shows were spectacular! Throughout the entire cruise i didn't hear a single wrong note by any of the singer, or musicians. The sound was spectacular, as was the lighting. I'm not suprised because the guy in charge of sound was named "magic". One time a singer came in louder than the sound guy anticipated, and i cuaght a tiny hint of feedback...so slight julia didn't even notice. I glanced back at the soundboard...all of them had their jaws dropped, and couldn't believe was just happened. Needless to say they were on top of things.

We also watched the superbowl in the ice theater. They had tacken the ice out, and there were a bunch of tv's and a big screen in the middle. Where the ice had been they had hotdogs, wings, nachos ect.

*side note*
Best superbowl in a long time! Thankyou Eli for shutting up all the critics back in NY. Also thankyou to all of the cocky New England fans who were wearing "19-0" shirts. You make me laugh. Also thanks to tyree who made the most amazing catch ever.

Our second day was a stop at jamaica. Jamaica felt bitter sweet to me. We had a lot of fun...got to climb up dunn's river falls, which is a pretty sweet thing. A winding waterfall that streches like 2 football finds long. It was cool. We went to a bunch of shops, and walked around the town. The bad part of jamaica was that you couldn't make eye contact with anyone because if you did, you would end up being hounded for 10 mintues about buying some trinket, or going on a taxi tour. I must have said "no-thankyou" over 100 times. Oh, we also saw a cultrual show with fire eating..dancing...that sort of thing. It was pretty alright.

Next day was Grand cayman. I love grandcayman! Everything was really clean and well taken care of. The people were freindly and didn't bagger you for anything. We walked around the town all morning, then we went snorkeling. We went to a shipwreck, and then a reef. There were many colourfull fish. Probably the best snorkeling i've ever done. Grand cayman is awsome. Much better than Jamica.

The next day was another day at sea. We again definetly were not bored. We went skating, sat by the pool, and i entered a speed climbing competition. I suprisinly finished 2nd. I lost to a chinese guy.

*side note*
I was not at all disapointed for losing to a chinese guy! Have you ever seen a jackie chan movie where he's like climbing up buildings and punching and kicking like 50 nijas at a time!? Jackie chan is chinese...need i say more?

All in all this cruise was the best thing ever. If you've never been you need to go! Tommorow!

-chuck out