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I was coming down the stairs to go to Main Dining when my husband snapped this photo of me.  He likes that dress I have on.  The beautiful decorations and colors of the ship are everywhere and enhance any photo taken.

We cruise to have fun. We always cruise with Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines and have for many years.  Always will.  We have been on the Wonder of the Seas, Adventure of the Seas, Serenade of the Seas, Mariner of the Seas and so on and so on.  We’ve gone on over 30 cruises with this cruise line.  We chose this cruise line through experience.  Royal is the best for us.

Cruising with someone or alone is A-OK.  We have met many solo travelers at Main Dining.  We have become lifelong friends who stay in touch.  We share photos of our different cruises and experiences on Facebook.  These people mean a lot to us.

All cruisers like their own individual thing.  My husband and I like to play.  We dress for dinner in Main Dining.  We play golf.  We shuffleboard.  We play tennis.  We play pickleball.  We go to the gym to work off desserts.  We do not go down the large slides.  We do old folks things, safe things.

When you look at that photo of me playing golf, I know you hope that I was able to get that golf ball in that huge hole.  I should have had a hole-in-one, but no.  If I had had my Calloway Golf Clubs with me, I would have made it!!!

We go to Johnny Rockets to dine occasionally and enjoy the staff singing and dancing for us.  Johnny Rockets food is fabulous.  You can have every type of hamburger imaginable.  Hotdogs with all the fix-ins, chicken strips, grilled cheese, Philly cheese steak (my husband’s favorite), salads, a slew of sides, and my favorite – milkshakes.  All their food is good, outstanding, delicious and begs you to come back again and again. The carousel is close to Johnny Rockets.

You can tell what a serious couple we are from the Belize photo.  We had taken the tender from the ship to the dock.  The wind was blowing.  Our hair was standing straight up.  Salt air is a great gel for your hair.  You sort of get the electrocution look without the cost.  We hid behind the board so no one could see our hair.

I’m married to the Crocodile Dundee type of guy.  Below is him with his head in the mouth of an alligator or crocodile.  He is a daredevil.  He takes risks with those artificial animals.

But deep down, my hubby is a carousel kind of guy.  Good of heart with a bit of the little boy still in him. He is never embarrassed to do anything.  I love that about him!

He looks like a professional scuba diver here.  Don’t let that fool you.  I would not want him scuba diving.  That’s a sport for the young.

We go to the children’s arcade and play games there.  For a few dollars you can play skee ball and sit-down games.  We race against one another.  I usually win.  Hah!!

At times, the sports driver in him comes out.  He thinks of Dale Earnhardt, Richard Petty, Cale Yarborough, Kyle Busch.  But deep in his heart he is really Mario Andretti.  I think I see a resemblance to Mario in this photo.

We exercise a lot on the cruise ships.  Up and down the stairs at all times.  We walk the deck 5 area.  We don’t usually go on the walking track at the top of the ship.  Too windy for us.  We go to the gym.  In the photo below, you will see the muscles we’ve managed to maintain during our cruises.

If I can’t find my husband, as we do tend to go our separate ways during some parts of the days, I know I can find him in the casino.  He doesn’t spend a lot of money, but he enjoys the thrill of the win.

I’m so lucky we met 56 years ago.  He makes me laugh.  A lasting marriage needs lots of laughter to get your through those tough days when everything in your life has gone wrong, and you both wonder if you can get through it.  It is not an issue with the two of you, but the issues of the world. It’s that stopped-up toilet, that garbage disposal that just whines instead of grinds, it’s the ice dam that is causing your family room to flood, it’s the health and wellbeing of your children.

Those are the things that you work through together.  You support one another.  You cry.  But, mostly, you laugh. Thanks for reading.

Enjoy your cruise.

Trish

My Handsome Husband

We do not drink alcohol.  When we get to our stateroom, there are eight bottles of water on the counter.  We get bottled water each day, free of charge, because we are long-time cruisers with Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines.

We amble around every ship we cruise on and go into every shop, including the liquor store.  I was fascinated by the bottle of Louis XIII Remy Martin Grande Champagne Cognac that was priced at $4,099.00, a super big price for alcohol.  But since we do not drink, we were unaware of the high cost of exotic alcohol beverages.

It was both the bottle and the cost that drew my attention.  I took that photo. The salesman told me it was gold-plated at the neck and the crystal bottle was made by Baccarat, a company founded in Baccarat, France, in 1764.  Baccarat was famous for making prized crystal items for the aristocrats back then.  Baccarat is still desirable to own and it still has a hefty price on it.

The reason for the high price, aside from the Baccarat crystal, was the contents.  That Champagne Cognac had been aged four to twelve years in French oak casks (tiercons).  It takes a long time for the Champagne Cognac to age; in fact, some of it has been aged 50 to 100 years.  Pricey contents are in that crystal bottle.

When I first saw the bottle, I thought it was made by Lalique, another famous French glass company in France, a company that has made, since 1888, beautiful crystal objects.  I own one piece of Lalique, a perfume bottle.  Below is a picture of my one piece of Lalique.  My husband purchased this bottle of perfume in the Lalique crystal bottle in France for his mother when he was overseas during the Vietnam War.  He was drafted right out of college.

He lived through that war and made it home.  Many didn’t. Some of my friends’ names are on that beautiful black granite, V-shaped wall in Washington, D.C.  It was designed by American architect Maya Lin, and her V-shaped wall is a symbol of enduring legacy.  I will never forget my friends’ names who are on that wall.  They have an enduring legacy in my heart. My husband is always in my heart.

The beautiful Lalique crystal bottle will always remind me of my wonderful mother-in-law, who gave it to me before she passed.  I will always miss her and never forget her.  She, too, has an enduring legacy in my heart.

I wondered why anyone would pay that much money for alcohol.  Did they drink it?  Or did they just keep it on display to look at?  If you look on eBay, you will see lots of empty Baccarat containers that once held the Louis XIII Champagne Cognac.  So people do buy it at that high price, and they do drink its contents.  I was surprised.

It made me wonder about other liquors and their costs. With some research on Google, I found that the most expensive liquor in the world is Antica Distilleria Russo’s D’Amalfi Limoncello Supreme.  Now that puppy costs near $44 million per bottle.  I don’t know what the bottle is made of but it has diamonds, even three 13-carat diamonds on the neck and an 18.5 carat diamond on the body of the bottle. (That would make a nice ring or two for the wife, THIS wife.) The contents must be out of this world.  That liqueur is made from lemons peels that come from Italy’s Amalfi Coast.

If you ever watched NCIS on TV, you heard Ducky ask a friend to join him for a glass of Macallan.  That’s another pricey drink.  A 1926 single malt whiskey will only cost you $2.7 million.  Ducky had expensive taste in whiskey, but I doubt it was the 1926 single malt.  Macallan is well-known and is reasonable in price when compared to those above that I talked about.

There is a sad end to this story about this bottle of booze on the shelf.  The next time we were on that cruise ship, I went again to find the bottle of booze that so fascinated me because of its beautiful crystal container and high price.  It was not there.  I showed my photo to the clerk.  “Ah,” he said.  “Ah, ah, ah. That bottle was dropped by an employee. It broke.  Cognac everywhere.”  There was much tut tutting from him.

My heart ached for the employee.  Did he have to pay for that bottle of precious liquid? I don’t see how he could ever afford to pay for it.  In my mind, Royal Caribbean was good to the employee, showed him sympathy and understanding.  Accidents happen every day to all of us.

I’m just glad I took a photo and did not touch the bottle.  I would have had to pay for it if I had broken it.

Thanks for reading.  Enjoy your cruising, but don’t pick up anything expensive that can break. The ship rocks at times, it could rock while you had that $4,099.00 bottle of booze in your hands.  Don’t risk it.  Take a photo.

Trish

I was lucky enough to be given by Royal Caribbean Cruise Line a three-night stay at my local Seminole Hard Rock Hotel in Tampa, Florida.   The room was very luxurious.  We had a wonderful time of quiet and peace, loud and very noisy on the casino floor, dim lights and then bright lights.  It was a gift we treasured and will always remember.

The hotel has a large guitar standing out by the roadway, with the building in the back.  The guitar can be seen from many miles away.  It’s the lead-in photo that I shared above. The outside of the building is concrete and looks cold, but inside is warm like a pastry right out of the oven.

During our visit, there were many Christmas decorations. They were beautiful.  We have only been here a few times, mostly on the holidays, just to see the gorgeous decorations.

The Seminole Tribe of Florida owns all the Seminole Tribe hotels and casinos.  They deserve to have this source of income after what was done to the Native Indians of America.  Read about the Trail of Tears.  It will tell you how the Indian Removal Act of 1830 rounded up the Seminoles and forced them on a long trek away from their homes in Florida.  Many Native Americans died during that forced trip.  Horrors occurred during that trip.  It is a part of our history that shames me to the bone.

When we stayed in that quiet room, I hoped that every descendant of the Seminole Tribe currently had a room as beautiful as the one we stayed in.  They deserve it.  They deserve much more than I can ever give them.

It makes you grateful to be in a beautiful place like that.  And our stay was a gift from Royal Caribbean; otherwise, we would have never stayed there, especially for three nights.

The casino was bustling.  Always.  We were very careful.  Gambling can be a horrible addiction.  There is help for those with a gambling problem.  Seek help.  Google for a hotline number on gambling that can give you the information you need.

Thank you, Royal Caribbean, for being loyal to us by giving us this free weekend trip. We had a lot of fun.

Thanks for reading.

Trish

The only clothing you need for jet skiing is a swimsuit and a coverup to wear before and after and possibly rosary beads.  My swimsuit is old.  It is made by Jantzen.  It has lasted me a good 15 years.  Jantzen always, and still does, makes excellent, long-lasting swimwear.  Mine still fits and I still wear it.

Years ago, my husband and I were in the Turks and Caicos and went jet skiing.  We putt-putted around.  It was slow and easy and very controlled.  Very relaxing.  A line of about 15 jet skis following one another at a safe distance, never going at high speed.  Sort of like baby carriages being pushed in the park by their mothers.

Well, jet skiing has changed.  We made reservations to go jet skiing at Coco Cay, Royal Caribbean’s private island near Nassau, and found ourselves on something of a frightful ride.

But all went well.

Yes, jet skiing has changed a lot since our putt-putting days. We were required to take a safety course before getting on the Sea-Doo jet skis.  We all had to wear life jackets.  Then we were asked if we wanted to go fast.  All arms of the fellow jet skiers in the room shot up into the air, except for my husband and myself.  Mentally, we are in our 50s, but physically we are in our 70s, late 70s.  We looked across the room at one another wondering what we had gotten ourselves into.

We were led out to the Sea-Doos and mounted them.  They were comfortable.  We were told how to use the throttles on the handle.  The instructors helped us back out of the parking spaces.

Too late for us to chicken out.  We had paid a good sum for the excursion and were sitting on our water demons ready to go.  And go we did.

If you’re on CoCo Cay, look out there on the water and watch the jet skiers.  They are going fast, fast, fast.  There is a leader, you are in a row, but there is a great distance between each jet ski for safety reasons.  They are going fast, fast, fast.

Did I tell you they were going fast???

We went a little distance into the water and met in a group circle, our group leader watching, looking us over.  I bumped into someone else’s Sea Doo because I hadn’t figured out how to get it stopped. With a little help, I got the thing stopped before I knocked someone off their ride or broke someone’s leg when I ran into them.

Nervous Nelly on a jet ski. We were put in formation, with my husband and myself being the last two.  There was a professional follower who came behind the line of skiers.  She was to make sure we all kept up.

I lost my hat.  I hated that.  It blew into the wind behind me.  I never saw it again. It drowned.  My hat died.  I lived.

We couldn’t keep up.  I held on with my knees, like I was riding an angry horse.  Squeezed those knees until they hurt.

There are reefs out there in that dark water so you have to follow the line.  The line of skiers became farther and farther in the distance ahead of us.  The official follower urged us on.  We slowed more and more.

With age comes sanity.  We knew we were far out of our depth, but we hung in there and finished the ride about ten minutes after the YOUNG ones in front of us did.  There was a lot of hootin’ and hollerin’ and much laughter when
we finally arrived at where they were already stationed with their jet skis.  Yes, the old folks had finally made it.

It was exhilarating.  It was scary.  We will never do it again.  Many will.

I discovered later that jet skiing is considered risky by the insurance industry.

We don’t regret going on those jet skis.  We just will never do it again.  We built a four-board horse fence around a two-acre property we once owned.  We will never do that again.  Some things in life are just not do-overs.

If you are extremely brave, courageous, have the will of an adventurer, would go into an arena alone with a starving lion, would fight Mike Tyson or join WWE, then jet skiing at Coco Cay is for you.

OR, if you are simply young, then jet skiing at Coco Cay is for you.  Young, that’s the key.  Lithe, agile, aching for the wind in your face, the water spraying around you, jet skiing at a high speed is the thing for you.  This is a young person’s sport,
to us.

If I had a bucket list, which I do not have, but some people do, I would suggest that you do that part of your bucket list at an early age.  Get it behind you.  Mark it off your list.  If you survive.

Thanks for reading.

Jet ski and have fun.

Trish

I always pack a book when we go on a cruise; in fact, I pack three.  I can’t go to sleep at night unless I’m reading a book I’ve read over and over.  If I’m reading a new book, I can’t put it down and will read late into the night. I do this at home as well.  If I know how the story is going to end, then I can sleep.  If I don’t know how the story is going to end, then I can’t sleep.  So, I am always reading two books — one during the day hours when I can and one when I’m going to bed to sleep at night.  Works for me.

It was new to me that most Royal Caribbean cruise ships have libraries.  Below is a photo of me in one of the most beautiful libraries I have seen on a cruise ship.  It is the Adventure of the Seas.  There was a great selection of books with plenty of room to sit and read right there in the library.  A nice quiet place that few people frequented.

My next encounter with a great library on a cruise ship was on the Serenade of the Seas.  The Serenade had just completed a cruise around the world.  (We were not on that cruise around the world.)  The picture below shows that library, and it was packed with books for those cruisers on a long voyage. Those books were double-stacked. I crawled around the bottom row to see the books behind the front books. I spent a lot of time crawling around there. And, wow, did I find a hidden surprise.

 

My favorite book during my lifetime has been ‘The Stand’ by Stephen King.  On this cruise in that cruise library was a Stephen King signed copy of ‘The Stand.’ I found it the first time I was in the library.  I took it back to our stateroom and thumbed through it.  Yes, I think it really was his signature, but I wasn’t sure because I have never seen his signature.  I couldn’t start reading that book again (have read it probably 50 times) because I would not have done anything else on the ship except read my favorite book.  I returned it to the library.  I wanted to keep it, to steal it, but I didn’t.  I wanted someone else to enjoy it. 

Just think, that book, my favorite book, had been all around the world before we came on the ship.

Writing a book to me is like a huge complex word puzzle that is so huge that it could surround the entire world. It is huge, really huge.  You have plotting, character development, setting, theme, conflict, hero, anti-hero, symbolism, and protagonist.  The writer is the one who puts those complex pieces together to make a book.  I have so much admiration for anyone who can write a book whether it’s crap or a brilliance by words.                                                 

Almost every day I went back to the library to see if someone else had found that treasure.  It was still there. I would tuck it in a little bit more out of sight so no one would see it.  Change the places where I would put it.  What was I doing?  Was I plotting to steal it? 

I cannot steal.  But I had an overwhelming temptation to become a thief.  I had found a rare gem of a book with the author’s signature.  What to do? What to do?  Each day.  Each day it was still there.  I would touch it.  I don’t want to say ‘fondle,’ because that makes me sound sick in the head, but I think there was a bit of fondling going on with the book.  But I kept putting it back.

On the last day of the cruise, I went to Guest Services and asked if I could keep one of the books in the library.  I was told, “Oh, yes, help yourself.  You can take any book or books you would like.”

Grinning like a crazy woman, I ran to the library.  Why hadn’t I thought to ask before then??

Nooooooooooo!!!! It was gone.  My book was gone.  I crawled around on the floor, checking each book in that round book display.  It took several hours.  The book was not there. 

Someone else on that cruise ship loved that book as much as I did.  It didn’t help the hurt I felt inside at the loss of such a precious item, but I knew only a person who loved that book would have taken it.  Maybe they had checked with Guest Services before I. Maybe.  Or maybe they just took it because it is such a glorious book.  (I was trying to find some good in the person who had MY book.)

Or, they simply read the dust cover, became interested in the story and wanted to read it.  Maybe they had seen one or more of the movies that were based on the book and wanted to read the words.  The written word is always better than a movie. 

The movies were okay, but the book is where you really get the feelings of fear, the concern for mankind in the future.  I have that same fear now for our world.  But Stephen King wrote of it many years ago, as he has done on many subjects.  A seer?  I think he might be. 

I will always remember this incident with sadness.  I lost something.

But I still have my old copy. I hope whoever took that book loves it as much as I would have loved it. Maybe they crept to the library on a daily basis to check to see if it was still there.  Maybe we passed each other on the stairs or in the hallways. Maybe we were side by side on a lounge chair in the solarium reading a book. Maybe we ate at a table near one another in Main Dining or the Windjammer.  (I would never think of sticking a fork in someone’s eye over a book, never. Hah!!)

That book will make me always remember gator teeth, cornstalks, deep friendships, betrayal, and true patriotism. Again, it’s one of the greatest books by one of the greatest authors of my lifetime. 

Wouldn’t it be something if we ran into Stephen King on a cruise ship???  All of us would recognize him.

The ship would probably tilt to the side when we all rushed to him.  That’s the life of a celebrity, a literary celebrity.  Put a long beard on him, fake nose, black eyeglasses and a face mask.  He might get past us then, but only then. 

Thanks for reading and letting me share my feeling of loss, but enjoy the libraries these cruise ships have.  It might lighten the weight of your suitcase.

Trish Berry, December 2024

 

 

Pretty, shiny jewelry is not as lovely as a big sparkling smile.  Pretty, shiny jewelry is not as lovely as a laugh from the heart that rings across the dining room.

I have old, wrinkly hands, as you can see in the photo, but I dress up those old hands any way I want.  (Remember, these are 76-year-old hands!!!!)

I love jewelry.  Always have.  Always will.  But it does not need to be expensive jewelry.  I play with different rings and bracelets on the cruises I take.  I wear my good jewelry, but I also wear fun pieces. I found some fun rings in the Cayman Islands.  They are simple adjustable rings in various colors and are called Mermaid Scale Rings.

I found these rings at the souvenir store at Grand Cayman in the Cayman Islands.  There are many things to see in this shop.

I don’t usually wear cheap jewelry because of my allergies to certain metals.  Nickel is the worst.  A lot of the cheap jewelry being sold now can cause severe reactions, even leading to keloid scarring, which is an overgrowth of scar tissue.  If you develop this on your ear lobes, it can be costly to have removed.  

I’m showing you a photo of me with some of the rings on, the store where they were purchased, and the display box where I found them on the counter at the back of the store. They are so cute and so cheap, $5.00 each.  (But I only wear them during dinner and then remove them.  I don’t keep them on long enough to cause harm to my body.)  The photo below is a picture of one of the mermaid scale rings I put on my husband’s little finger.  I thought he looked cute.  He did not think he looked cute.  Possibly a blackmail photo?

Below is a highlighted photo of the tulip ring from the top photo. You are very special if you have a tulip ring. That means you won at Bingo. You press the sides to turn it on and off.  Some nights, a lot of people have flashing rings on their fingers.     

                                                         

I also have fine jewelry that I pack.  I transport this fine jewelry in our roll-on suitcase, and I use a Yale Lock that can only be opened with a key.  All my valuables, makeup, and medications are in that case. I board the ship with this small, wheeled suitcase and take it everywhere with me until the rooms are opened at around 1:00. 

Any fine jewelry I take with me is always locked in that suitcase with the Yale lock when I’m not wearing it and am leaving it in our stateroom.  I trust no one with my jewelry, except my husband and son.    

Most of my fine jewelry came from my husband over the 54 years that we’ve been married, but some of it came from my mother, grandmother and mother-in-law.  

I am allergic to jewelry that is not 14K or 10K gold. I can wear sterling silver, but I am a yellow gold girl.  I can wear gold-filled jewelry without getting a rash on my wrist, but I will not put gold-filled earrings in my ears.  I learned my lesson when I was a teen and first had my ears pierced. 

(Fifty-nine years ago, you went to a doctor to get your ears pierced.  My doctor had a pair of scissors with a needle-like fixture on one end.  He snapped those scissors.  I almost hit the ceiling with the pain, but one ear was done so I had the other ear done.  I cried.  Some of my girlfriends would put a raw potato behind their ear, on the lobe, and an ice cube on the front of the lobe to numb it.  Then, another girlfriend would jam a needle that had thread in it into the lobe and pull the thread through.  They were successful, but I did not want to do that so I thought things would be better if I went to the doctor.  Well, I might as well have stuck with the potato and ice cube.  It was extremely painful to get your ears pierced back then.  And back then, you walked around with cat gut (as I was told) that was tied after it was in your lobe.  I had to pull that cat gut (??) back and forth until the lobe healed enough to put in earrings.  That must have been an awful sight to see.  That cat gut thread was black. It was impossible not to see it.

Just think, short hair with black thread in a circle hanging from your lobes.  Ugaleee!!!!)

I recently had another piercing in my ears so I can wear two pairs of earrings at one time.  Numbing creams are now used. To be on the safe side, I ordered my own numbing cream and put it on my earlobes before I went.  I wiped it off in the car.  I told no one at the store.  They put on new numbing cream.  I had a double dose of numbing cream.  I didn’t feel a thing.  Chicken?  Yes.   

I wear three gold-filled bangle bracelets.  One came from my mother, one from my grandmother and one from my mother-in-law.  One is made by Marathon, another Bates & Bacon and another by Winard.  I have a smaller Carl ART.  These are dear pieces to me because of the memories.  These were popular back in the 1960s.  I wear them along with my Apple Watch.

We are not back in the 1960s.  I wear what I want when I want, which is what every person should do. 

The last time we were on the Serenade of the Seas, someone on our floor hung blue and white rubber bracelets on everyone’s door handle.  Those bracelets said ‘Serenade of the Seas.’ (See photo at top.) That was so sweet.  I wore those bracelets each day we were on the ship.  If I knew who to thank, I would thank them.  It made me smile every time I thought of someone being so thoughtful of others on the ship before we even set sail.  You, out there, I thank you very much.  You made our cruise even more fun.  Hope to meet you one day.

I have an Apple watch and an Apple phone.  We did not want to spend that much money, but these are safe items for us to have.  If the watch is close to the phone, I can call for help if I fall, I can answer phone calls, just by speaking into my wrist.  Look sort of funny doing that in the grocery store, but what the hey.  On the cruise ship, I get in lots of stair steps because we use the stairs as much as possible.  Most ship have covered walking on Deck 5.  I go there to get in my steps when I’m on a smaller ship.  I work at those steps, putting some energy into the, huffin’ and puffin’ so I get my heart pumping.  

Whether you have a watch or phone or not, try to get your steps in.  Here I am at the computer typing while I’m telling you to get your steps in, but each step we take each day helps us.  My husband and I just try to keep moving around.                         

Thanks for reading.

Doll up with jewelry if you want.  Don’t doll up with jewelry if you don’t want.  We are all individuals who do our individual things.  Most importantly, have fun.

 

Trish

Trish Berry, December 2024

Our safety onboard is crucial.  Royal Caribbean sees to it that we are as safe as possible, but it’s our own responsibility to be as safe as possible.

When you sit at the terminal, waiting to board your ship, you do the first two steps of safety on your phone app.  Once you get on the ship, you should go immediately to your muster station.  The muster station is the place that you are to go in the event of an emergency on the ship where passengers might possibly have to board the lifeboats.  Always remember your muster station number and location. This station number and location will be on the same app as your safety check-in.  

Once onboard the ship, when it’s close to time for the ship to leave port, the captain will occasionally come on the loudspeaker and remind all passengers that they must check in at their muster station before the ship can leave port.  We have never had a delay in departure due to someone not checking in at their muster station, but it has been down to the wire in some instances.  I would hate for them to call my name over the loudspeaker at departure time because we always know that it’s the person who has not checked in at their muster station.

All cruise lines have to follow the rules and regulations put in place by the Safety of Life at Sea.  These regulations require the ships to have life-saving devices onboard the ship, enough fire equipment to extinguish a fire, and rules for keeping the ship stable.

Many years ago, rock ballast and water ballast were used to keep a ship balanced. All those years ago when ships came into Tampa Bay, they threw the rocks overboard to lighten their load.  Even now you can find some of these rocks that have been recovered, split into two pieces (or more) and discovered to be geodes. Some are smoothed to make bookends or other home decorating objects.   I could write forever about my love of geodes.  Cruise ships do not now use rocks for ballast.  They use water.  The ships are structurally made to stay stable.  This stability prevents large movements by the ship, making for a more comfortable ride for the passengers. These are some photos of my geodes.

  

There are requirements of the U.S. Coast Guard that have to be met.  We were on a RC cruise ship when we stopped at Key West, Florida. The Coast Guard had set up desk stations on the ship.  All passengers had to show their passports and photo IDs.  We never were told why this was done, but I’m sure it was for our safety.  We were delayed by two hours in getting to shore.  Some excursions were cancelled, funds refunded.  But we all knew that there was a reason for the Coast Guard to be on our ship.  No one complained. 

Occasionally, boarding the ship has been delayed for a Coast Guard inspection.  Everyone is okay with that. No one has complaints.  We all know it’s for our safety.

The app on your phone shows you how to correctly put on your life vest.  When you get to your room, locate your life vests so you can snatch it if you ever need to use it. 

All the cruise ships must have life jackets, life rafts and lifeboats.  Regulations require that there are more of these life-saving devices onboard than passengers.  That’s to ensure that there are plenty of safety devices to save people.

Fire on a cruise ship. A horrible thought.  But all ships must have sprinklers, fire extinguishers and smoke detectors.  You follow orders, go to your muster station. 

Hope this relieves any concerns you had about safety.  The cruise lines do everything they can to protect their passengers.

Get to that muster station first!!!!

Thanks for reading.

Trish