Mixups and Drama....Cruisin '05

Tuesday, August 23rd

Last night was a lot of fun. We hung out in Henri's Dance Club watching the people get their groove on. My son (who sometime moonlights as a DJ) was not pleased with Patrick, who served as our DJ for the entire cruise. "He should mix it up better", he said. He was right though; Patrick would get a massive crowd on the floor only to lose them on the very next song. Oh well, I was entertaining myself by watching the drunk people dance. They stayed on the dance floor.

Today, we looked forward to another full day of fun. More importantly, the drink of the day is Caribbean Breeze. It was a little on the sweet side (a little heavy on the pineapple juice) but what the heck, I decided to live a little. I knew that it wouldn't make me sick but after two of them, I became bored with it.

After breakfast, we hit the casino. There was a $500 Slot Machine Tournament taking place so I decided to give it a try. After paying the twenty dollar entry fee, I sat down at one of the machines and waited for the tournament to begin. About forty minutes later (the slot machines would not reset themselves so we had to wait for the technician to reset them. I do not envy his job!), the tournament began. To advance to the next round, you had to rack up the most points in the current round. All we had to do was keep hitting the spin button as if we were playing for money instead of points. Each contestant was allotted 300 spins to collect as many points as possible. Needless to say, I didn't advance past the first round but it was fun.

Meanwhile, My mom and my sister Donna, were hit'em heavy on the slot machines. The two of them are very lucky with the slots so it was a matter of time before one of them won some money. Donna was the first one. She sat down at a nickel machine (yes, I said nickel) and put in a twenty dollar bill; as soon as the girl hit the spin button, she won a jackpot. I forget offhand how many nickels she won but it amounted to $700. We were happy for her because she had just started a new job and would not be getting paid for the week she is on the cruise so this would really help her out. Go, Sis!!!

Today's line-up of activities included Shipboard Survivor (an onboard version of Survivor), The Newlywed Game, more Bingo, TV Theme Trivia and a host of others. The crew went back and forth between the activities and the casino.

Now, the drama....

As I stated previously, my entire family was not seated at the same table in the dining room at dinnertime. The night before, we'd mentioned it to our group leader who assured us that she would straighten things out. The previous night, my table was missing two people (our table was a seating for eight). Tonight, they decided to join us for dinner. The only problem was the night before, there had been another couple sitting there. So, after our group leader did some shuffling to seat my family together, the people from the previous night had been bumped from the table. They showed up for dinner late so they took seats at the next table over from us without checking to see if the seats belonged to anyone. Why'd they do that? The next thing I knew, there was mad cursing and yelling coming from that table. I turned around and the couple who had been bumped from our table had taken someone else's seats and the people showed up. Apparently, someone asked them to get up, a comment was made and it got ghetto. Now mind you, the dining room is pretty big and there were a lot of people having dinner at the time. There also were a lot of white people who looked none too pleased with folk to begin with. So, when the yelling and threatening (you read correctly) started, they had looks on their faces like they expected black folk to act out (which we did).

My parents became disgusted, I became frustrated and my sister was unhappy because it wasn't only our group whose seating was jacked up, a lot of folks were separated from their people. The next thing I knew, there was a fight breaking out on the other side of the dining room. We decided that it was not worth the drama and we would have dinner the next night on the upper deck where folks knew how to act. The diningroom boycott was in full effect. Besides, we could wear whatever we wanted at the buffet!

After the dinner drama, everyone went back to their cabins to change into our clubbing clothes for later that evening. There was a Lido Deck party going on and wanted to make sure that we didn't miss it.

It was off the chain but I'll have to write about it tomorrow after I get the pictures together. I will say though that my crew wound up on video for everyone to see! Hopefully, it won't end up on the blackmarket! :) And tomorrow, we port in Montego Bay, Jamaica!!!!

Cruisin '05- continued

Monday, August 22nd

My sisters and I decided that 7 a.m. would be the time for our wakeup calls no matter what time we managed to fall into bed the previous night. Since last night was really just an excursion around the ship to become acclimated, we were energetic and ready to commence with the games. I had decided early on that even though I was on vacation, I would still eat sensibly (but often). So, breakfast for me always contained a hot cup of tea (to subdue the alcohol) and fruit no matter what else I ate. I managed to stick to this agenda every day!

Each evening we received a Carnival Capers paper in our cabins. The caper informed us of just about everything that would occur on the ship for the entire day and night (we would not reach our first port until Wednesday). So, after breakfast we reviewed the paper to see when our first event would start. There were a full day's worth of events taking place and the first one was a game called Trivia Time @ 10 a.m.. It took place in one of the bars on Deck 3 so we headed there to get good seats.

Just so you'll know, every game played on board the ship afforded us a chance to win prizes. They ranged from a simple medal to a bottle of champagne to cash prizes so participation was never scarce. There were about 25 people playing Trivia and although I didn't win anything, it was a lot of fun. The next event was $1,000 Jackpot Bingo which was held in a big auditorium that also served as one of the lounges for our nightly entertainment. Now, whenever there is cash at stake, people turn out in droves so the room (which could hold a good thousand or so people) was quite full. My family and I all met there so that we could all play together. No of us won but again it was a lot of fun.

Afterwards, it was time to check out some midmorning grub. See, I needed to have a snack because we were about to partake on our first alcoholic beverages for the day. Everyday there is a drink special that you could purchase either in a regular glass or in a Carnival souvenir glass. The drink special of the day was an Island Delight. Now, those who know me well know that I don't really drink mixed drinks too much anymore but hell, this is a vacation so I'm open to whatever! The drink was quite tasty and the bartender proved that he could mix it up (hahaha!) with the best of them! I think that I had four or five of them in total for the day.

Anyway, throughout the day we went from activity to activity (Blackjack Tournament, Ice Carving and Hairy Chest Competition, Who Wants to be a Millionaire, The Dating Game, Austin Powers Dance Class, more Bingo). Below are some of the pictures from the various activities.....











Later that Night

Since this is our first full day, it is also our Formal Night. This means we all have to dress in something other than jeans and sneakers so that we can take photos. Dinner was had in the formal dining room where we would be each night of the cruise (The Monet Room). It is a pretty dining room with two levels and our groups' seating was on the second level. Now here comes the drama; there are six of us in the immediate family and we all have the same last name so one would think that we would all be seated together as a family, right? WRONG. My son and I were seated at a different table nearby. We told our group leader what had happened and she promised to straighten it out for the next evening. Little did we know, that this would precipitate massive drama (more on that later). After eating our meal, it was time to take some photos...









After the picturetaking was over, we decided that we were going to change into our dance clothes and hit Henri's Dance Club for some more drinks and fun. The fun lasted til about two....three...sometime a.m.

Stay tuned......

Cruisin '05

I promised that I would post about my cruise so here we go....

Sunday, August 21st @ 4:30 a.m.

My family and I piled into a white, stretch limo (courtesy of my wonderful cousin, Go Eddie!) with our luggage for the short trek to LGA Airport. I'd never been to this airport and was not really impressed with what I saw but I was so excited it didn't matter. Since we arrived mad early, after the ten minute check-in process, there was nothing left to do but wait until we could board our first flight (at 7 a.m.).

After what seemed like a lifetime, our flight was called to board and we were on our way. I've flown in airplanes before but each time feels like the first. To me, flying is a thrilling experience. I feel thisclose to GOD when I am in the air!

The first flight was a relatively short layover in Chicago. By the time I made my obligatory phone call home, it was time to board for the second leg. This one was a little longer but equally exciting to me. However, my Mom and Dad (who hate flying), seemed to be having a difficult time (especially my Mom). From time to time, my sisters and I gave her a reassuring glance that said that everything would be alright and that we would all survive the flight.

Once we landed in New Orleans, the excitement REALLY began to build. Our group of fifty (we repped the Bronx, Queens and BK strong) then climbed into a charter bus for the thirty minute ride to the port where we would board the Carnival Conquest.

Along the way, I was able to capture some images of New Orleans (to be posted later), including the Superdome. As we pulled up to the pier, the busdriver pointed out our ship and my jaw dropped. It was a breathtaking view of the largest ship I'd ever seen. We were informed that she stood 27 stories tall and could carry 2000+ passengers. This would be my home for the next eight days!

Even though we had traveled a ways to get here, no one seemed fatigued. After spending another twenty minutes to check-in, we were allowed to board. I'm not gonna front, my ass RAN to get on that ship, I was so happy! As our cabins were not quite ready, we were directed to the ninth floor deck for a reception party. Didn't have to tell me twice! I headed straight to the first bar I saw and ordered the first of MANY drinks to come!

Welcome to Paradise! Yeah, baby!!!!! More to come.....

I haven't been in the best of moods lately so I prayed, read my current book (Dark Nights of the Soul) and made a promise to myself to face my demons head on and ride this wave until I resolve the issues in my life. The sooner I get past this phase of my life, the happier I can be for myself, my family and loved ones.

Later tonight, I will begin posting about the wonderful cruise that I experienced this summer. Stay tuned.....

"I Need You To Survive"

While I was watching the Save Ourselves telethon on BET tonight, gospel singer Hezekiah Walker sang a song with his choir entitled "I Need You To Survive". I'd heard snippets of the song before but tonight I really got a chance to listen closely to the words of the song. As the goosebumps took over my flesh, I realized how much this song really hits home for me right now...

"I Pray For You, You Pray For Me"
"I Love You, I Need You To Survive"
"I won't harm you with words from my mouth, I Love You, I Need You To Survive"
"You Are Important To Me, I Need You To Survive"

Writer's Block....Sort Of

I haven't felt much like writing the last few days. Not for lack of anything to say but because I'm preoccupied with a lot of things right now, mainly my life and how unhappy I am with it at the moment. I promise to blog about my vacation very soon along with posting some pictures.

But first, I have to get back to being me.

"What An Asshole!"

Today I was really upset about the devastation from the effects of Hurricane Katrina. Don't' get me wrong, I am a stern believer in GOD and know that he does things for a reason but I'm still human with human emotions. I guess that I still have a lot to learn about life. Anyway, my CEO told the staff that the asshole President is two for two this week. First, he flies safely in his flying pimp mobile over the states that were affected by this disaster and makes a stupid comment about how New Orleans was mostly covered by water. No shit, Sherlock!!! Where the fuck have you been the last few days? Tell us something that we don't already know! Then, because of the rising gas prices, he tells the American people not to buy gas unless they need it. What the fuck?!!! Okay so, people are just arbitrarily going to gas stations and spending their hard-earned money on gas just for the helluva it? I'd like to personally pimp-slap every single person who re-elected (excuse me, re-selected) this moron back into office.