27th October – At Sea
And what a busy day it was.
Breakfast was in the Solarium with the gang. The Solarium is a few floors at the front of the ship. Adults only and so many lovely sitting area. There is on pool on this ship but a few spas and the food place. Like a mini Windjammer. At dinner time it is a full Bistro with great buffet then cooked to order foods.
Then I went to Choir sign up. A bit fancier then the Radiance Pop Choir that I did. It is run by not one but two of the ship musicians and is very serious. We had to rate ourselves and say what range we were in.
I then went on a Galley tour. Nothing flash. Probably a bit less detailed then on the smaller ships but still good to see.
Then rush down to the “Building the Harmony” talk with Captain Gus. And some great fact.
Although Harmony is of the Oasis Class – it is a mix of Anthem Class and Oasis class. Oasis is 10 years old so they have changed many things.
She was built in Saint Naziare, France. The first steel was cut on 23rd September 2013. Exactly three years before I stepped onto her. I’m sure the powers that be have noticed that she set sail for the US on the third anniversary, but nothing has been said of it.
The cut the steel panels then weld them into blocks. Then the blocks are welded together to make a ship. There are 87 blocks in Harmony. 46,000 tonnes of steel!
Gross tonnage – 226,963
Width 65.7m (you could fit a dressage arena across the ship.)
Before the blocks are joined there is a “Coin Ceremony”, an old tradition to request devine protection. Coins are placed on a piece of wood that the keel will be placed on as they join the blocks together to form a ship. When the area is flooded and the ship is floated out, the coin are retrieved and become the “Luck coins”. Captain Gus has his pair in a perspex block. 
This ship can go from full speed to stop in five ship lengths. Better then any car!so 1800 metres from full to stop! Impressive. It is because of the azipods. They just swing them around and keep them going full. would to be very comfortable…but would beat the alternative.
When the ship is finished – still cosmetic things to go – the run sea trials where they test everything. Maximum speed it 25 knots. They run the Fog Fire System. Like sprinklers – but in a fog. The most efficient way to cut a fire and reduce the heat. Lucky they test it before the cosmetics…as there is a lot of carpet (90,000 meters) and curtains (8,000 windows) on this girl. 44,000 metres of public space. 2747 passenger cabins and 1197 crew cabins.
20 restaurants
35 bars
26,000 seats
7,000 works of art
4,000 Kilometres of cables
460 ks of pipes
100,000 light fittings. There must be full time globe changers.
The ship blows yellow smoke. Lots of it. Turns out that it is only steam. They use a low sulphur fuel that then goes through a scrubber. It is boiled ad the solid particles are trapped. It is steam going out with, obviously, a small amount of waste in it. Normally it would be black.
The vessel cost over $1.5 billion to build.
During question time some one said “Blah Blah blah on this boat”. Captain came back with “First of all – this ain’t no boat!” His definition is that ships have Captains, boats have frustrated husbands!One idiot asked if it was true that a crew member died in the much publicised training accident last month – or was it a lie. What an idiot. I’d say the poor Captain has lost enough sleep over this incident. He didn’t need to be asked that.
The ship has 19 huge lifeboats – they hold 375 each. And rafts. The rafts look cool as you enter them down a slide tube. But NO! I do not really want to see one! They have room for more then 10,500 people.
The power the ship makes is cleaner than any power made on land.
This ship can ACCEPT medical emergencies from smaller vessels!
Desalination and osmosis produces 150,000 litres of fresh water a day.
Some one asked about the sewerage treatment. The captain said he had two things to say about that. “Number one…and Number Two!” He then went on to say that they sepearte siloids nad liquids. Solids are burnt. Liquids are treated so they are drinkable, but they don’t use it. It is bottled and sold to Carnival Cruise Lines.
The off to Choir practice. it was fantastic. Started with heaps of vocal exercises. Singing notes with Ohhh ahhh, maaa, mooo heee etc. Then we started working on our songs. It is gong to sound pretty damn good by the end.
Trivia was fun. And of course we lost by one point. I am so consistent with how often I can loose by one point.
For lunch/ afternoon food I called into Sorrentos – the Pizza place. Pretty good pizza off the shelf, or you can have a made to order.
I went to the Crown and Anchor do. The biggest group of C&A members EVER in one place. 4451 members. 1299 Diamond, 1146 Diamond Plus and 194 Pinnacle. Top Cruiser was Super Mario on 6,440 points. And he is a great public speaker. Very keen.
They had the latest headliner singer on. She started and I said “Oh..she is going to sining Rolling in the Deep.”But, I thought, she sang that the other day! Why did no one else realise this? and then she cracked a few of the jokes she did the other day. “Why was no one else reacting?” I was confused…..Then I realised I saw her last week on Navigator. Funny!
That evening I had my booking for the Puzzle room. But not enough people turned up…so it was cancelled. So instead of going out and joining everyone…..I went to bed! And best of all ew got to move our clocks back an hour!
And even better…we get to do it SEVEN NIGHTS IN A ROW! How wonderful.
We called into Madiera again last night. Sad for someone as it was a medivac.
The side lights are so bright on this ship.
28th October – At Sea
Had a very relaxed day today. A few trivia games and time walking around the ship exploring. So much to see.
Around the ship. Sports deck
Evening. Around the ship. Solarium – Adults only area with the most amazing sitting areas, many spas, great bar and super restaurant.
Cantilevered spas hanging over the side of the ship.
The Boardwalk.
Pretty amazing.
29th October – At Sea
Todays fun fact.
The ship holds 5,000 tons of fuel and consumes 8 tons/hour. So our 13 night/14 days cruise consumes about 1/2 a tank of fuel.
Today is another rushing around day.
Breakfast at ‘Mini Bites’ up on Deck 15…..then a ride on the Abyss! Off we all went!
10 stories high. The largest slide at sea. A 30 metre drop down a twisty tube, some of it the dark, some with flashing lights and graffiti. Takes 13 seconds to get down. It starts with a 450 degree spiral then two 2360 degree circles. You sit in a fabric toboggan mat and off you go. No changing of mind!
Terrifying for a second, then great fun.
I got to the bottom and started yelling “do it again. Do it again.”
Then a team ride on the Carousel. I had to ride the Kangaroo of course! Part of the deal was then to the hotdog stand.
But I was excused. I had ‘Lunch with an Officer. That was lovely! I sat with one of the most important people on the ship – well in my opinion…the Second in charge Engineer – Head of Refrigeration. Air conditioning and of course fridges!
After lunch I had to rush off – late – to Choir practice.
After lunch I rushed back up to deck 15 for another ride on the Abyss.
Still a bit scary the second time but worse was I did notice the floor. “Oh My – It’ a long way down!”
Everyone commented on the fact that the worst part was the glass floor. I didn’t even see that on trip one. I did the second time and yes….a bit off putting. 50 metres above sea level.
The Abyss was still a bit scary the second time but worse was I did notice the floor. “Oh My – It’ a long way down!”
At four – the ‘Behind the Scenes Theatre Tour’. It was great seeing how the Grease show was run.
And the stage and the set u is amazing.
It is as big as a Broadway stage and setup. The lights are all LED and the globes are changes out twice a year at a cost of u to $200,000 each time!
They have the largest LED wall in the world.
Storing the props is “Like playing Tetras!”
They have their own laundry there – for washing costumes.
Drinks at The Mast Bar. We all went a bit crazy taking selfies. Fun was had.
Then time to start using my dinner package. The package is $100 for four specialty restaurants. Wonderland is $65 a person if you are just going there…so not bad value.
Tonights dinner was at “Wonderland – Down the rabbit hole”.
Amazing! I loved it. Great food and great company. Some of our group didn’t love it quiet as much as I did……but it was great. All super complicated and super tasty food. And nothing was as it appeared.
It was all like on TV show.
The menu’s were blank….until you painted them with water and all was revealed. All the food was related to the elements – Sun, Ice, Fire, Sea and Earth.
1 – Eggs. But smoked served under a dish of smoke.
2 – A pastry cone, filled with a crab mouse, a dash of wasabi and avocado mouse.
3 – An amazing prawn wrapped in hair noodles.
4 – Limes – hollowed out and filled with spicy Tuna.
5 – A tomato dish….but the tomato was not a tomato…It was a blanched and skinless tomato, blended and flavoured, then wrapped and set into the shape of a tomato. It was with ‘liquid olives’ that were a clear olive mix, set in a gelatine skin that exploded in your mouth.
6 – A vegetable dish.
7 – Super tender beef on the bone, pork belly, fish cooked in clear paper.
8 – Dessert was so exciting. A big sphere of chocolate. when they poured hot sauce into it the ball dissolved away – not just melted – but dissolved, forming the best ever chocolate fudge over a salted caramel ice-cream sitting on a bed of soil. Theatrical, delicious and so exciting. And that was only one of the three dishes.
Sensational night. The waiters all wore long red velvet jackets – mad hatter style and the decor was great with things like a fireplace surrounds disappearing into the wall.
What a dinner. Excellent.
Then a quick look at the headliner singer. Very good. What a powerful voice.
Yep…today was not wasted!
And Joy oh Joy……the clocks go back another hour.
30th October – At Sea
A lovely quieter day today. Just wondering around exploring.
Hot Dog house. Like on Radiance but with the best cheese buns.
Octoberfest.
With an Omm Paa Band. 
Rising Tide Bar is a bar on deck 5 in the Promenade. A bar with a twist. It goes up – to Central Park on the 8th floor. Slow and gentle but very cool. When I rode it they were filming an add.
Rising Tide Bar. Barmen where excited with the add.
I went to watch the Juggler/Comedian. I don’t really like Juggler or Comedian but this guy was hilarious. So funny and clever.
31st October – At Sea Halloween.
And it was huge.
The walking track. Early morning walks – well 8.30 am. hahaha
The walking track is great on this ship. Rather then being on the pool deck where you walk in the sun, and where runners have people wandering all over their running track, it is on deck 5. All the way around the ship. Under cover and wonderful. Perfect for a morning walk. So busy. Hundreds of people out there. It was great.
Then a soak in the spa.
So many spas. The adults only Solarium alone, has about 10 spas. Four of them are huge and are cantilevered out over the edge of the ship. And infinity pools so it looks amazing.
Then a wander around. Decorations had sprung up over night.
Another look at Central Park. Saw the resident Gnomes.
I thought these wet slides were scary from the top. They are up on deck 16 and huge and fast. It has a ‘toilet bowl’ where people swish round and around. I didn’t realise the ‘poo tube’ comes over this 7 story void. Crazy!
Look carefully. There are people in there.
Hope the bottom doesn’t fall out. Its 10 decks down.
Then lunch at Sabor – The Mexican place. I was doing a staggered lunch – over a few days.
The sun went down.
And it was time for Halloween. Walking Dead time.
Thousands of people dressed up and a great party was had. Halloween is fun.
If you are going to bite someone…it may as well be Captain Gus.
Then to brush my hair before bed….not fun!
1st November – Crossing the Atlantic.
I started the day off with a tour of “Central Park” with the head horticulturalist. He has a staff of three others and was involved in setting up the park on all three Oasis class ships.
It is a large outdoor area on deck 8. The original plan was to have the promenade (on deck 5) open to the sky but they saw that that would not work. So they built this over the top and left it open. It has paths wondering along it, many restaurants, bars and cafes. Seating, glass shell like pergolas and much loveliness.
Vintages Wine and Tapas bar –
Jamie’s restaurant –
Park cafe –
Trellis Bar –
Chops –
150 Central Park – a very fancy restaurant
High end shops like Bulgaria and Cartier.
And the glass bubble top over the Rising Tide Bar.
The park is made up of garden beds filled with custom designed aluminium pots that fit into each bed. This is to reduce weight and therefore stress on the structure. All the plants are tropical and are all grown in the US. They cannot take plants on in other countries. It’s lucky they are tropic plants as they don’t get a cool season – let alone winter. When the ship arrives in the US, inspectors will come on and check it all out. There is no insect problem but they have insect taps hidden around the garden. These will be looked at but he inspectors.
There is 12,000 plants in the garden included 4 metre trees. The irrigation system has 32 zones! and can pump fertilisers through it.
The vertical gardens are amazing. 11,000 plants.
No birds have ever nested there. But on two occasions small owls have moved in (on Oasis or Allure). They lived on small birds…but eventually moved on.
We spent the first 15 minutes standing in a group outside the Vintage’s restaurant talking. We then walked on. About 10 minutes later there was a huge grunting, creaking noise then a whoosh and a huge crash. A glass partition (the ones that seperate the balconies fell off. It hit the balcony wall. Most fell onto the balcony, the top snapped off and fell into Central Park – just outside Jamie’s. It was safety glass so was just a dump of glass bits like an old windscreen, and no one was nearby when it happened.
The staff response was pretty amazing. The guy talking to us – jumped mid sentence and rush towards it. Then others appeared – cleaners, waiters and then officers were there within 30 seconds putting chairs out to block access etc. Great response – great training.
Then we continued with the tour.
I wandered area and looked at more things – people zip lining. They shoot past my balcony.
Then to Vintages Bar. A lovely place…..but cannot go there at night – it has been made the Pinnacle Club for this voyage as there are 180 of them.
Then joined a group and played cards for a few hours. Fun.
And drinks with the mob on deck 16.
And the sun set – again!
Dinner was at Jamie’s Italian. Amazing food. So good.
The desert plank! Lucky it was for 78 of us.
Then off to the other Broadway production. “Columbus the Musical”. It is about Christopher Columbus’ not so successful distant cousin ‘Marvin’. Basically he sets sail and gets lost. They battle pirates and sharks, as well as huge storms. They crash onto a desert island. Turns out that the pickles he makes are a youth serum and they have passed a few hundred years. Suddenly a Royal Caribbean ships pulls up and the island is flooded with tourists. Very funny and excellent.
Again the sets and the props were amazing. So much aerial work. Flying sharks, flying pirates.
Wonderful. The ship!!!!! I saw it on the theatre tour but to see it assembled and in action was amazing. It was almost as big as the stage and is in fact only one metre shorter then the ship Columbus sailed in. It spun around and opened up to have scenes inside. Amazing. It was on runners, tracks and a turntable so did heaps of things. Fantastic.
Yet another amazing day on Harmony of the seas – World’s biggest cruise ship.
2nd November
The sun came up – again.
More ship wandering. I started with a look at the Spa and the fitness centre. Pretty flash set up. It is the whole of the front of the ship and is huge. You walk into a huge open are with lovely chairs and the Vitality Cafe.
It has real coffee – ie roster coffee with a proper machine and baristas that seem to know what they are doing. They also make smoothies and supplement drinks. I had the ‘Apple Mint’. A green apple went into the blender, A hunk of fresh ginger, handful of mint and the juice of a full lemon. It was then blended with ice and was great. Made your face curl…but you could feel the goodness. You can also tell them what to put into it. They also make all the ‘gym junky’ drinks with added muscle building supplements, protein powder etc. As well as added multi vitamins, and more.
The Gym was huge with every machine you can think of, free weights, weight machines, yoga room and more.
Then there is the beauty part with hair, nails, massage, acupuncture, etc.As we were getting our drinks they asked Maggie if she would be a model for the ‘hair show’. So off we went to watch. She got a hair do and we got to laugh really hard when at one stage she looked like a Cocker Spaniel. He did a nice job on her hair, but then had to take the many many hairpins as she was going own the slide next.
I went to the “Captain Corner” with the Captain, Chief Engineers, Head of Food and Beverage and the Cruise Director. Much of it was interesting, much of it was filled with people asking ridiculous questions…like “why don’t they order more chocolate ice cream”. Some one asked why they use “brown eggs not white ones”. The winner was the lady who said she had counted the life boats and saw that there were not enough. How does the captain decide who gets in? His answer was you are in the 1) wrong century, 2) the wrong cruise line and 3) the wrong movie!At the end the captain said we had to finish as the band needed the stage to rehearse. He said it a few times and suddenly a section of the stage floor open up and the and rose up from below.
The captain chatted about wanting to play with the band, then said “Give me one of them”. He got a trumpet and blew into it making silly squeaking noise. He gave it back and said it didn’t work! So the band leader handed him a jacket. He shook it out it was a sparkly shiny jacket. He put it on, picked up the trumpet and played a great rendition of ‘When the saints go marching’. Very cool.
I went down to (one of the temporary) the Diamond Lounge for a while and chatted to people today. It is still so busy down there with no chairs and big crowds – so much nicer at a public bar and the free drink vouchers. Every evening we all meet up at 6.30 at (now) the Solarium Bar. I was exhausted this evening and kept yawning. SO I went over to one of the big pod seats and climbed in. I set my alarm for 8pm, turned on my audio book, snuggled under my scarf and doxed while listening to the waves crash and watched the moon rise. Then I felt much better. Back to the bar for a drink then off to Izumi for dinner.
Izumi’s was lovely. On this ship they have a Hibachi bar – the big open cooker where the chef flicks the food around. We just had the normal sushi but it looked excellent.
Yep – another great day!
3rd November. At Sea.
Today started with being up early enough for the sun rise. We have been changing time zones each day so the sun rise is back at a silly time.
I went on the All Access Tour today. Amazing. I was in two minds about going. $150 US and I had already had a theatre, bridge and galley. But decided that it is the biggest cruise ship in the world. And wow. What a tour.
We did – Galley.
The Garlic guy. The real hero.
And had champagne and canapés.
A snack to get us going.
Then down to i95. The highway that runs the length of the ship. And it is long! Pedestrian crossing, speed jumps and speed signs. You look left and right and merge when entering.
We went down to the control room. Obviously it runs 24 hours day – three shifts. And is the “Heart and the Brains of the ship”. The computers here received 60,000 actions PER SECOND!
The azipods and the thrusters are all electric. Fuels is only there to run the generators – and therefore the ship. There are six engines for power. Two huge and four small. There are no batteries – and there are sub stations all around the ship. So it really is a good sized town. The ship produces enough electricity to run a city of 100,000.
Everything on the ship is doubled – for redundancy. If one breaks down they still have one.
The ship floats on a bubble system – called xxxx?. They produce a blanket of bubbles they are pushed along the hull of the ship. Breaks surface tension and allows the ship to glide on the bubbles. Like an underwater hovercraft. Thus alone saved 11% on fuel costs.
The hull is also painted with ‘slippery’ paint.
Azipods are so good because they pull the ship not push it. This means that they are pulling through (relatively) unbroken water. Propellers fluff up the water, causing bubbles and turbulence which leads to cavitation – where the prop is spinning in a void. So as well as being super manoverable they are efficient.
Waste water is processed and is discharged (apparently is it not really bottled and sold to Carnival! Who knew!) at a level of 5 parts per million. The legal limit is 15 parts per million…but Royal is committed to ‘saving the waves’.
Then the Aqua Theatre where we walked on the pool deck that goes up and down. The pool is tiny. And people dive into it from great heights. And a big question answered. There are divers at the bottom with hand holds and air for the synchronised swimmers.
They are also safety officers who watch that each piece of machinery retracts as it should. Would be sad to dive from 17 meters onto a thing that shouldn’t be there.
When you look carefully there are traffic lights all around the place. Each manoeuvre in the show has a corresponding traffic light. If, just before a move, an actor/athlete looks at their marker and the light is not green…the show will grind to a halt. This is not a show must go on time…this could be a life and death situation. The safety guys under water have full face masks with communications to the control room and call the safety level before each move.
The Aqua Theatre broke the other day. As they were doing safety check pre show a major hydraulic hose blew, filling the pool with brown goop. So after finding parts – mid Atlantic, no close spare parts shops, and fixing it they had to spend two days flushing pipes to get the water clean enough for the performers.
We went down to the laundry and it was amazing. Very amazing was the fact I was 9 meter below sea level. No balconies down there. Seriously in the bowels of the ship. Only other thing down here is engines and generators.
Each day…..2,000 table clothes, 31,000 serviettes, 25,000 bath towels.
This trip. 6,000 people 13 days and only one shirts has gone to the wrong room after washing.
The giant washing machine was amazing. It is a series of cells and the washing is passed along. Wash, rinse, wash, rinse, rinse and rinse again. Every thing is tested. There is a chemicals expert and nothing gets out with any chemicals in it. It is tested to make sure it has a Ph of 7. So for the people who say the sheets smell, or are itchy due to chemicals – “tell them there dreaming!”
It was then off to the main theatre for a stage tour. We accessed it through the crew corridores behind and beside the theatre. Excellent again. The car from Grease cost $250,000 to have made. Its a scale model of the 1950’s chevy but is narrow and made of fibreglass. and has about 20 motors in it to spin the wheels, turn it around etc.
Some of the costumes we saw cost $9,000 each – and one was accidentally order twice. Oops.
The story tells costume from Columbus weighs 30 plus KG. She does many scenes up on the gantry – so does a lot of weight training on stairs.
Next was one of the three crew bars, for another Champagne. And a water.
Then a quick look at their third bar – the smoking one. Technically outside but all under cover and under the helipad.
And onto the helipad to wave at the Captain and to take “I’m the King of the world” photos. This class of ship doesn’t let you onto the helipad (well crew can go there).
And finally up to the bridge for a bridge tour. This bridge is quite different. It is totally paperless and has a command room for most things.
And the bridge wings don’t have the cool glass panel to look down. When I asked, the guy running out tour said that he too was disappointed. The big window next to it opens up to look down. So to get my traditional photo on the glass I took off my shoe and put it on the window!
The bow thrusters are so efficient on this ship that……should they want too….they could got sideways at 9 knots!
BRILLIANT TOUR. Worth every cent.
I then had to grab some lunch before choir practice. I completed my Progressive lunch at Sabor Mexican restaurant. Three days ago I went and had the guacamole, the next day the Chilli Calamari and today the Churros! clever. Too much for one lunch!
Our final rehearsal of the choir up on the main stage.
Then run! Up to the bridge for my C&A Bridge tour. Yes I know….but I was able to just sit and appreciate it on the second tour.
Then the next Aqua show was due to start at three – so down to get a seat. “Big Daddy’s Hideaway”. Very funny and so very good. Basically a slapstick 50’s type story set at Daddy’s resort where all the pretty girls go, with the charming life guards and Cabana boys. Great diving, slack rope work, heaps of aerial stuff. Synchronised swimming, high diving, trampolining! I was exhausted at the end it was such high energy!
But wait…there’s more. It was then up to the Ice Theatre to get in and get a seat for the next ice show- “I Skate”. The story is that they are fighting with Siri on their phone over the music to be played. It was well choreographed and planned but Basically the skaters are out having fun and showing their main skills to music.
And then the sun went down – again.
Dinner is at 150 central Park – a super fancy place. And super tasty. It could be a 5 star restaurant anywhere. How wonderful to have tiny serves of food like in the real world!
Then the Beatles tribute show. And happily it wasn’t great – so I left and came home! You cannot be a Beatles tribute band if your change notes and even chords. Doing that makes you a band in bad wigs singing Beatles songs.
What a day!
4th November.
Another fun exciting day. I spent some time catching up on photos! Then meet Ruth and Michael for lunch at the Mexican place. Lovely.
It was then off to the Talent Show for our choir performance. We sang Lion Sleeps tonight and Coming up Roses. It was all very fancy with a four part Harmony. Run by the director of Grease and one of the band leaders so all very flash and correctly done. It sounded pretty damn good. The men section of base singers was amazing. We then had to sit through the talent show……
And then race up to the room to change cameras and out to the balcony to get a spot for the Three Sisters Meet up. Harmony is the third of the Oasis class of ship and is coming to the USA for the first time. That is why our Trans Atlantic trip was so long. Normally it would take a day or two less.
Royal planned this years ago when working out schedules – and then hoped it all worked out. We arrived mid morning and just hung around! Then the other started to arrive.
We were arriving at Fort Lauderdale at the end of our trip – with a day to spare. Allure was leaving Fort Lauderdale on a seven day trip. Oasis was “Dead Heading” to a new port – travelling with no passengers. So there is a huge party happening on bard tonight. 2000 staff and no passengers. An incredibly rare thing for a ship. So this was no cheap exercise for Royal. That and the few helicopters to take the photos. One helicopter worked from 4 pm till well after 8 pm. With refuel stops. Heaps of photos of the sister. It flew around and around and around and around.
Water cannons came out and fired! Thousands of people lined the decks of each ship.
And after a number of phone calls and towel waving I found Colin over on his balcony on Allure.
Then came back at sunset and took photos of us with the sunset and the Florida skyline behind.
Then when dark flew around and around taking photos with the lights. It did a few runs straight over the middle of the pool. The photos will be spectacular with all the coloured lights.
Will admit the novelty had certainly worn off my 8 pm!
Must have been expensive….but then it was four and a half BILLION dollars of ship there – so probably pretty irrelevant.
What a great experience to be part of the historic meeting of the three largest cruse ships in the world.
Then time to pack for that horrid day tomorrow!
And a great evening with the mob! So sad to say goodbye.
The first of the Helicopter photos is in.
Hateful activity time = Packing.
5th November – Get off my ship day!
Well – this is the third cruise of this trip…..but my first “Get off my ship” day! Cruise 1 – back to back, Cruise 2 – I got of early, and Cruise 3 – Get off day!
We arrived at the port at some ridiculous hour. And I was up at 6.30! I booked a ship tour – to get me off the ship. I’ve heard horror stories about it taking four hours for non US people to get off after Trans Atlantic trips.
So, had to be in the theatre at 7.30. Took about 25 minutes from the beep out to the bus. Excellent. But we did have a 30 minute wait. 4 people were missing. Two came then two more. They said they had missing luggage…..but what I think was that clothes were in the luggage. They arrived with tousled hair and the guy had dress shoes, long black socks and very thin white shorts that looked suspiciously like sleeping boxers! Maybe someone forgot the alarm and forgot to keep morning clothes out when they put the bags out last night. hahahah.
Off to explore the Everglades…well a tiny piece of it. It was an interesting drive out of the city and suddenly into water land. There is water everywhere. We drove past complexes that looked like huge factory warehouses. But they had water ways between them and were inside boat docks. But not for cheap boats. For big fancy ones.
Other things I noticed included heaps of ‘Trailer Park’, permanent parks, like you see int he movies, and heaps and heaps of lawyer and medical billboards.
We arrived at the air boat place and of course it has some alligators on display. But this place was different. It wasn’t a little zoo. It was a rescue place. Alligators or quick learners. Once they have been looked after by humans – even for a short period of time, learn that we will not hurt them (usually) and that we feed them. So an injured wild ‘gator, that goes to the vet and takes a few weeks to recover can never be re released – both legally and morally. SO its either a rescue home or the ‘green dream’.
The airboat people had also paired with an organisation “Predators Unlimited” – a not for profit animal rescue organisation. The airboat people give space to the PU people, the animals bring in the crowds. And the animals did not just include Alligators – other reptiles included Caymans, giant snakes etc.
They also have a collection of exotic cats – because it is legal to own exotic animals in the state of Florida. And it is not likely to change as the selling of permits is a huge money maker. But so many people o not provide adequate housing and the animals are confiscated. I don’t know how they failing the housing limits. They are ridiculously small! One pen he showed us for the bob cat – may be three times the size of my cat pen – was legal for two tigers. What a disgrace. so a rescue place where they save animals previously owned by morons. Cause it is legal to own a panther or a tiger in Florida.
So this place has rescued….bob cat, panther, puma, and more. So sad to here all the stories of each of there big cats and what they had been through. Yes. Humans can be morons.
But…today I fell in love. I always knew I loved the Fennec Fox…but today I interacted with one. And she was beautiful. OMG. Squeal. So tiny. Smaller then a rabbit and about 1kg in weight. The fur is one of he softest furs I have touched. Lucky they are so small – too small for the fur trade.
And the careers take her home at night to there house. Wow how amazing. But a slight problem. They DO NOT toilet train. Ever. And have very small stomachs. So they may be playing on the bed with you and need to poop. So they poop!!! And they are night creatures. And love to play. And screech to get you to play with them. Like a cross between an insect and a fox. How much fun would that be. Having the glorious little thing racing around the house. Apart from when it poops. ALL over the house. Often.
Sarah had her plan when we first went to Arizona to fence the backyard and get a pair if coyote. But NO! It will be Fennec Foxes. I could watch them forever.
It was then off on the airboat ride. Fun. Windy and lovely. The Everglades are very pretty. So flat and the swamp just goes on forever.
We saw some big Gators. But they are certainly not Crocs. We were so close to them. You would never take a boat of tourists within one metre or a four meter wild croc!
Saw An Osprey take his fresh, wiggling fish up into a tree to eat it.
The airboats are actually just that. A flat huge dingy with giant fans at the back. Nothing goes into the water. So they skim across anything with a bit of water under it.
Then back to eat so “gator bites”. Tastier then Croc – not tender but tasty.
Then off to the airport for my flight to New Orleans. When I was checking in and about to pay for luggage – about $65 – the computer asked me if I would like to upgrade to First class for $100. Took me about 7 seconds to hit the YES button. Nice seat, food, drink, lounge, luggage etc.
Next page New Orleans NOLO. Click below to go there.