One Big Ship, One Big Celebration

FORT LAUDERDALE — Probably only somebody who’s into cruising would appreciate what we witnessed here on Thursday. There was a parade. A parade of one. It was a ship, a special ship, Allure of the Seas. People came and they watched, like it was an historic event, and in a sense it was. The Allure… Continue reading One Big Ship, One Big Celebration

Captain and Kid — Make A Wish

What does the captain of a cruise ship do on a sea day, when your vessel is more or less on auto pilot, in a body of water so large there is no land to be seen in any direction? If you’re Patrik Dahlgren, master of Navigator of the Seas, you walk a mile with… Continue reading Captain and Kid — Make A Wish

The Place All the Hellion Tourists Go

GEORGETOWN, Grand Cayman — Heaven may have its doves of peace and birds of paradise, but did you know that Hell has birds, too? We saw them, one white and two black, flitting from the jagged tops of the blackened limestone that everybody visiting Grand Cayman is told: “This is Hell.” And it is. In… Continue reading The Place All the Hellion Tourists Go

So You Wanna Be a Navigator

This will be our first time on the Navigator of the Seas. Many years ago, Nancy requested that I be “her driver.” I think she said something about being Miss Daisy. I agreed, on the condition that she be the navigator. So here we are, on a ship named after her kind of people, so… Continue reading So You Wanna Be a Navigator

What a Welcome to South Florida

We’ve always found the congestion in south Florida to be problematic, but never moreso than after we landed here from Houston, to embark of a 5-day cruise aboard the Navigator of the Seas. Our flight landed in Miami. That was the first issue. Royal Caribbean’s pier is in Fort Lauderdale. That’s about 28 miles —… Continue reading What a Welcome to South Florida