October 2009 Cruise Vacation - Westerdam

Usually I post photos with my entries – but this one is a narrative of my Cruise vacation with out embedded photos.

For photos – click here – or click on the Bill’s On Line Photos link to the right.

Sunday – Raleigh to Ft. Lauderdale

Typical travel day.

Easy flight from RDU to Ft. Lauderdale. Jet Blue has their act together.

Met up with David and Olga at dinner. Which for me, was a scallop cocktail, chilled fruit soup, pork medallions and a custard parfait for dessert.

David (the vegetarian) said his eggplant Parmesan was the best he’s ever had.

Yummy.

I got up at 0500 so I was tired and went to bed early – around 2100.

Nuke stayed up till the bars closed.

Monday – Half Moon Cay

Half Moon Cay is the HAL (Carnival Corporation) private island.

We rented a cabana which we were kind of wary of due to the high price ($300).

It was great.

Over priced and waaay too expensive – but still great.

Provided shade, a couple of fans, water mister, a place to shower off sand and a nice covered place to sit or read if the sun was too much or to sit out the one rain storm. Much nicer than dealing with lounges in the sand.

Dinner was scallops, avocado soup, chicken breast stuffed with spinach and cheese on guava with roasted peppers and pineapple.

Tuesday – Grand Turk

Sailed into Grand Turk around 1000.

We got some lounge chairs in the shade (and also rented ‘clamshells’) and lazed around.

Dave and Olga left their stuff with me and caught a cab over to the lighthouse.

There isn’t much else here.

Seriously.

Other than the cruise port – which was developed and owned by Carnival – there’s nothing on this island. Scuba diving is the only draw this island has.

As touristy as it is – the best thing to do is lounge on the beach, do a little window shopping – and that’s about it.

I read, swam, read some more, had a pina colada, napped, swam, read a little more, and napped again. Pretty nice day if you ask me.

Nuke walked past the port complex and hung out a local bar for a while.

Tonight was formal night. Most cruise ships have gone more and more casual. HAL still requires tuxedos or suits / jackets on formal nights. If you don’t have a jacket, you are NOT allowed in the dining room on formal night.

Traditional fare – jumbo shrimp cocktail, chilled potato and leek soup, surf and turf, vanilla hot chocolate sundae with almonds. Excellent.

This evening I finished a wonderful book – The Lost City of Z by David Grann.

About the Amazon explorer Percy Fawcett.

It’s part biography, history of Amazon exploration and current Indian tribe status and culture.

Compelling story and very well written. I really lucked out with this random selection from the ship’s library.

Wednesday – Sea Day

A day of sea travel on the way to Grand Cayman.

Didn’t do much.

Read, walked around the ship, listened to music and such.

Excellent string quartet on board, by the way.

The evening show was Olympic gymnast Lance Ringnald.

Best show so far. He explained the different things he did, the technique involved, the training required, etc. A very entertaining and informative act. Best act so far on this trip.

Dinner was pretty simple for me – crab mouse, chilled blueberry soup, and a simple salad with oil and balsamic vinegar. The salad was on the starter side, but I had it for the main course.

If you’re over 50 – roughage is your friend.

Thursday - Grand Cayman

Nuke and I walked around town and then stopped at a local bar away from the tourist district. After a couple (each) of very well made cocktails (and by well made – I mean STRONG) we staggered back towards the port area.

I split off at the National Museum and Nuke went on to another local bar.

Dave and Olga went out to Sting Ray City on Wave Runners. They said it was a blast.

Dinner was chilled apple, peach and pear appetizer, coconut soup and thinly sliced citrus marinated beef over a salad with avocados.

Nuke had the surf and turf for the filet mignon. He doesn’t like shell fish so I ate his lobster tail.

Friday - Mujuhual aka Costa Maya

Slept in since the ship didn’t arrive till 1000. We went ashore at 1100 for a tour of Chacchoben Mayan Ruins.

Our tour was through a private guide, not the ship’s tour.

It was a great private tour – however – we did have one scary moment. At speed - the left rear tire blew out – completely shredded – nothing left but the rim. Our driver eased us over to the side of the road. The tour company sent out a replacement van.

The Mayan Ruins were great – see the photos in my link to the right.

Dinner was a fruit salad, crab soup and steak.

Saturday – Sea Day

I crept out of the room early so that Nuke could sleep in.

Went to the top observation lounge and finished a Christopher Moore novel (Fool).

The Westerdam is full of art (as most ships are).

Nuke downloaded an Art Tour of the ship from the HAL website for me to this i-pod. Essentially - like an art museum audio tour.

I took the i-pod tour during the afternoon.

BUT - the ship has been remodeled since the tour was created - so - the tour was out of order.

Soon - I was out of sequence with the i-pod tour.

Nuke had showed me how to stop / pause / start the i-pod - but didn't show me how to fast forward or fast reverse it.

Frustrated - I spotted a kid (young guy) in the hall - "hey you - you're young - can you help me with this?"

The guy said "sure". He showed me how to operate the various functions and such.

Then - some other people came up and asked me - "Would you please take a picture of us?"

Sure thing - I figured they were with the kid (young guy).

While taking their photos with the kid - I realized - the "kid" was Lance Ringnald!

I apologized - he told me that it was great to be treated like a regular person.

He and I then hung out for a while and talked.

If you want details about his career, girl friend (health problems - but getting better), life as a cruise ship entertainer, etc. - give me a call.

Gala Dinner – some kind of mouse, another appetizer, soup, shrimp scampi and baked Alaska.

We all met for the show later and I hung out with Nuke at the Sports Bar afterward.

Around midnight – I went back to the room and packed.

Sunday – Ft. Lauderdale to Raleigh

Nuke and I rolled our bags down the hall to Dave and Olga’s room and hung out with them during disembarkation.

Dave and Olga headed out to Miami South Beach for a couple of days.

Nuke and I had a late afternoon flight back to Raleigh. Outside the terminal I asked a Policeman where to spend time till our flight. He said, “Early Sunday morning? I know just where to send you.” He waved a cab for us and told the driver to take us to the “Marriott Beach Place – Ft. Lauderdale” and added “between Las Olas and 17th Street”.

The taxi took us to a great place right on the beach. An upscale residential / hotel area with shops, restaurants, coffee bars – next to the Marriott and the Ritz Carlton.

Nuke and I spent the day at the h2o Café.

Nuke had a few beers, I had a Cuban sandwich and some Pellegrino water – and we spent a few hours people watching.

Walked next door to the Ritz Carlton entrance, caught a cab to the airport and away to Raleigh.

All in all – a great vacation.

U2

 

 

I watched 8th ranked Cincinnati at 21st ranked USF on ESPN Thursday. It was a good game. We play Cincinnati next season.

The announcers kept talking about how bad the field was (Tampa Bay Buc’s Stadium). Seems there was a U2 concert last weekend – and the damage was pretty bad – and it wasn’t repaired in time (or properly) for the game. The Panther’s play the Bucs there this coming Sunday.

When U2 played at NC State our turf was removed before the concert. Then temporary turf was laid down for the remainder of the season. And that will be replaced by the correct turf at the end of the season.

Here come’s the science (and boring details) –

Our ‘brand new this season’ flat fast draining field is basically a sand bed with a ¾ inch golf course putting green on top. It was installed early this year and had a full growing season for the roots to attach to the underlying sand bed.

With the stage, structures, equipment and plywood, etc. required to stage the U2 show – that would have pretty much killed the grass and dented the sod, etc. So – that’s why it was removed before the show – basically taken back down to the sand bedding / foundation.

The ‘temporary’ replacement sod is much thicker. AND – has a clay base. The idea is that since there’s no growing time – it was made to be heavy enough that it won’t move during football play. And the thickness withstands the pounding and cleats.

But – clay doesn’t drain well (negating the fast drain system) and the turf isn’t the fine quality of the initial field. Thus – after the season – we rip it out – replace it with the nice (and thinner) putting green sod – and it’ll have a year to grow and attach.

How much you ask? Around a quarter million dollars.

We, and by we I mean the Athletics Department and Cameron Smith (head engineer for NCSU) know what they’re doing and made sure that the U2 show wouldn’t negatively impact the football program.

U2

Spectacular show. Very well done. The political commentary was kept to an acceptable level. The play list could have been a little stronger but overall a great show.

My friend Chip had an interesting observation. He said that good talent and music should be able to stand on its own – without the need for special effects.

He’s right.

Name Branding

Name recognition and branding is important. Major corporations spend millions researching and testing when they want to rename or market a new line or product.

The local airport is about 3 miles from my house. I'm not in an approach path or anything like that so there's no noise except for the weekend folks learning to fly in piper cubs buzzing around. I enjoy watching them. Sometimes I drive over just to kill a little time and watch the various little planes take off and land.

Saturday was the first ever Family Day at the airport. I went over for a little while in the morning. The afternoon, of course, was spent watching State get it's ass whupped by Dook.

Anyway - they announced that our little ol airport was getting a new name: the Raleigh Executive Jetport at Sanford-Lee County.

Huh?

I guess there's something to be said for getting everything in the title.

Maybe they'll call it the REJ@SLC for short.

LOL

Movie Addendum

I'm watching The Man Who Fell To Earth. I've only seen it once - when it first came out in theaters.

The sound has been digitally remastered for Dolby Surround as well as THX / DTS. I've switched back to the original stereo. All the extra sound seemed out of place with the original cinematography.

Duke 49 - State 28

We lost to Duke. Yeah - Duke.

Duke scored 49 points on us.

Not Florida, not Texas, not Ohio State - Duke.

The second half (except for a beautiful kick off returned for a touchdown) was the absolute worst I've seen State play since Amato's last year coaching.

We found out in last week's loss to Wake Forest that we have a porous secondary.

Well, tonight, Duke's Thad Lewis passed for over 450 yards against us. There was no need to run against us - Duke could pass at will.

You can bet that every team we play from now on will be airing it out.

All the preseason talk about an 8 - 4 or maybe even 9 - 3 season was just a bunch of BS hype.

Shout Out

My friend Chip also keeps a blog. You can find his blog by looking over to the links on the right.

Here's a link to a recent post of his.

Even if you're not a sports or baseball fan - it's well worth watching.

That guy should be in Vegas setting sports book odds!

Don’t Touch Me Biatch

Woody Durham has been UNC’s sports announcer for ages.

Obviously one is partisan – but – most announcers try to be professional and objective. Naturally, I’m prone to find fault with Woody since I’m an NCSU guy.

To me – Woody has always been blatantly slanted during his broadcasts. He's gotten better over time. But still . . . .

[NCSU’s Gary Hahn (and his predecessor Wally Ausley) is always much more objective and professional during broadcasts. IMHO]

Woody seems to have an ego. He comes across as self-important and self-aggrandizing. Basically kind of icky and oily.

Hmmmmm – seems some of the UNC staff might have issues with ol Woody as well.

Here’s a clip of Woody interviewing UNC Head Football Coach Butch Davis.

You only see Woody’s microphone and hand in the video. Watch Woody's hand – and Butch's right shoulder. What you’re looking for happens around 25 seconds into the clip.

I haven’t been able to find a way to embed the clip - so you have to click on the link for now.

Let’s roll the tape, shall we?

LOL

http://tarheelblue.cstv.com/inthehuddle/video-iframe.html?&url=http://mfile.akamai.com/26782/wmv/cstvcbs.download.akamai.com/8108/open/unc/09-10/video/m-footbl/09sep/092609_unc_m-footbl_DavisPress.asx

This is a Great Movie