Like all trips there were great times and bad times, but it all boils down to a good trip. To get to Miami, we had to fly to Chicago, then catch a plane that passes right over our house in Tennessee and fly back down to Miami. You will need to ask the airline gods to explain that.

We got there with no problem, but the ship didn't sail until the next day, so we booked a night in a typical Miami Motel (that means it was run by Cubans). The van service was somewhat lacking. It took the van two hours and five phone calls to get to the airport, but it took us to the motel in seven minutes flat. Only the airport van gods can explain the difference.

The next day, we went to the port and there was a wall there that went on, east and west, forever. It also went up forever. It was the side of the ship. Now I've seen cruise ships before, but this dude was 1020 feet long, over a hundred feet wide and deck 15 was in the stratosphere. I hate to think how far down the keel was. Her name is Voyager of the Seas. You can bet your boots she doesn't sail up very many creeks. They say she won't even fit in the Panama Canal.

I won't mention food and swimming pools and hot tubs, except to say there was twice what I expected. It had a few other nice little things, like a street called the "Promanade"* that looks like it was taken right out of NYC. It was a full city block long and three decks high. At one end there was a staircase that made the one on the Titanic look like a stepladder. At the other was a battery of glass elevators. The street was lined with stores which were lined with expensive stuff. Except one. That was a snack bar where everything was free. In another part of the ship, there was a 50's diner where everything was free. (Except drinks. You need to ask the cruise ship gods to explain that.)

Two of our grand childern just happened to be on the ship, and Tori, age 8, went to the top of the climbing wall. It started on deck 12 and went up about 30 or 40 feet. She and her 5-year-old brother went ice scating and roller blading. We all played putt putt golf.

We visited Haiti, Mexico, Jamaica,* and Grand Cayman.

The ship had the largest moving theatre I have ever seen and the nightly shows were great. They had comics, singers, dancers, and a couple who did a combo juggling and acrobatics act. One night the show was down at the ice rink. Now folks, I've seen a few ice shows live, and a few more on TV, but this was the best one I ever saw. The rocking of the ship didn't trip up any of the scaters.

Net weight gain was 3 pounds for me, but I was the only one who would reveal the number.

Once back in Miami, we stared home. We covered about 6 miles the first day. That was because we were stuck in the Miami airport all day long. We went to a different motel that night because of the van service problem, and the next day we got an early flight to Chicago. By this time we were both feeling sick. After an entire day at Chicago's airport, we got sicker and sicker. We had a matched set of sinus infections, and we all know what that does to airline passengers. The descent into Knoxville was a very painful experience, and 24 hours later we both still have very sore ears.

While we were gone, the grass grew ankle high and a snake crawled into our basement and hid behind the freezer. I think that rascal is still in there. But traveling always has a few ups and downs. At least we didn't find our carpet floating.
Howard
*I know I didn't spell that right.