So Jenny and I are off to take our cruise. For various reasons (not least that internet time onboard is something like $5 a minute), I am posting these after the fact. Pictures of the cruise are available here. The full list of cruise posts is available here.

Cruise: Day 8 (Debarkation at Galveston)

Jenny and I arise at 6:30, since debarkation begins about 7 and we are anxious to be off. We again need to hurry on account of Dog Boys, since they close at 2pm. Unfortunately, we don't actually debark until 10:30 (lesson: always sign up for Express Walk-Off unless your legs are actually broken), and there is construction (meaning bad traffic) in Houston, which puts us near Dog Boys at 3pm. We have called ahead to make sure someone will be there at 3, so this is OK. Unfortunately Eric takes several wrong turns on the twisty, identical, unlabeled streets leading to Dog Boys (entirely due to a lack of preparation), which puts us at Dog Boys at 3:30 due entirely to the intervention of a saintly Lutheran Good Samaritan. Nonetheless, they kindly allow us to pick up our dogs, who dash out to see us, climb in the back seat of the car, and pass out for about 6 hours (as they do every time they come home from the Ranch).

This is where the week turns tragic. We arrive home, tired and in need of a bathroom break, only to discover that our guinea pig Neil has some kind of terrible infection which has covered and inflamed his entire right eye. He had a sinus infection when we left, but we had left instructions with the pet sitter to take him to the vet immediately if he changed for the worse (and this is very much worse). Unfortunately it seems that the infection developed very rapidly, so the first anyone knows of it is when I greet Neil on arriving home. One emergency trip to the only open local vet later, we are given the news that the infection apparently backed up and exploded into his eye orbit, and that he is virtually certain to be permanently blind in that eye. Both of us feel completely terrible about this, although Neil himself is taking it like a trooper (good appetite and energy, and he was purring when we cuddled him, glad to see us). We're going to make sure he has the best possible care, of course, but both of us feel like if we'd just been here we could have caught it in time to save his sight in that eye.

Not really much to say after that; we've called everywhere in and out of town (including specialists at Texas A&M) and we're just going to have to see what happens. Wish Neil luck, he's a plucky little guy but he's going to need it.

So Jenny and I are off to take our cruise. For various reasons (not least that internet time onboard is something like $5 a minute), I am posting these after the fact. Pictures of the cruise are available here. The full list of cruise posts is available here.

Cruise: Day 6 (Cozumel)

Despite the fact that Cozumel is merely 9 miles away from Playa Del Carmen, across an open strait of water, it took us all night (5pm til 7am) to get from the latter to the former. I am not kidding. Scuttlebutt (okay, I eavesdropped) on the ship was that the delay was so that they could open the casino, shops, and bars, which they could only do in international waters. Indirect support for this is provided by our route, which was roughly 100 miles straight out into the Carribbean, a U-turn, and 91 miles straight back along the opposite heading. :-P

Cozumel was, a year ago, a tourist trap on par with Playa Del Carmen. Unfortunately, Wilma seems to have played the part of abusive spouse for Cozumel while leaving PDC largely untouched (at least as far as I was able to tell). The pier--steel-reinforced concrete--had been torn up for nearly its entire length, and there were no untouched trees I saw. Cozumel itself was a reprise of PDC, including the silver shops, though today we found a very pretty necklace that, while it does not match Jenny's imaginary specifications, is still attractive enough to make a dashing birthday present (largely to herself, as she haggled for it).

Our excursion for today was snorkeling; we put on borrowed snorkel masks, fins, and live preservers, and waded out into the painfully blue sea. It really was beautiful, which fails to explain the remarkably grumpy-looking white fish (with a furrowed gray brow) Jenny and I saw. Sadly, I neglected to purchase a waterproof camera, so there are no photos of that. The water was a tad bit cold for long exposure (wetsuits would have been nice), so after 45 minutes or so we hightailed it back to shore, but I did enjoy it (after I learned not to panic when breathing with my head under water ;). Next time perhaps we will snorkel something more exciting (we were scheduled to do a reef/wreck snorkel in canceled Grand Cayman).

Dinner tonight was ravioli and a sadly disappointing spinach flan (I know Jenny was looking forward to the flan). Tomorrow we have demanded a custom entree in observance of Jenny's birthday.

So Jenny and I are off to take our cruise. For various reasons (not least that internet time onboard is something like $5 a minute), I am posting these after the fact. Pictures of the cruise are available here. The full list of cruise posts is available here.

Cruise: Day 4 (Belize)

Jenny and I took our first steps away from dependence on the cruise line today; we got off the boat without a shore excursion planned, but hired a local tour company to take us to the Community Baboon Sanctuary (CBS) outside Belize City. They're not, of course, actual baboons (which only live in Africa and Asia), but black Howler Monkeys, the local slang term for which is baboon. Our tour guide for the day was Reggie, who was dare I say waxed loquacious on all things Belizean. Among other tidbits, he told us that a Texan named (of course) Tex had purchased an entire island just off the coast. Islands in Belize are surprisingly affordable for Americans (in the neighborhood of $250,000--sans house, of course). Tex is apparently a "nice guy", since he allows the locals to use his beach for barbeques, provided they clean up after themselves. We heard about another Texan (not named Tex; that would be too confusing) who owned a truly huge mansion. Of course, it wasn't a patch on the American Embassy in Belize, which spans (I am not kidding) roughly six city blocks, all dutifully flying the Stars and Stripes.

Anyway, as I said, Reggie had been engaged to ferry us to the CBS and back, which he did, after a semi-thorough tour of what he called "uppity-town" (the wealthy section, approximately 90% of whose inhabitants were expatriate Americans). :) Reggie was a delight of a tour guide and an informative way to spend several hours.

The CBS itself was very interesting. Despite only being about 18 inches tall and weighing maybe 40 pounds, howler monkeys are quite intimidating. The little black forms 30 feet up in the trees were making sounds that could be heard a mile away, and standing right under them is somewhat nerve-wracking, although we were assured they weren't aggressive towards humans. We saw several other interesting things on the trip, including a roughly millenium-old palm tree, a fern-like plant that "goes to sleep" when you touch it (folds up its leaves), and the opportunity to try cashew wine. Apparently the cashew is actually a fruit; the nut we generally eat is a single seed that, unusually for fruit, grows outside the fruit itself. They make wine from the fruit in Belize; I wanted to try it, but Jen wasn't game, so we passed.

All in all we both really liked Belize; it's actually not that far from Texas (2 days' drive, give or take), so we could go back if we wanted. Definitely a worthwhile stop.

Tonight was the night of the Maitre d'Hotel's wine tasting. While the Maitre D was in attendance, most of the talking was by various waiters; the best of whom ended up somehow talking into his wine glass and testing the aroma of his microphone, much to everyone's amusement. The only wine we particularly liked was something called a meritage, which was really quite tasty. Plus, Luigi (one of the head waiters, from Italy) hand-made us some very wonderful pasta in a spicy tomato-garlic sauce, and I'm a sucker for anything involving both garlic and capsaicin. ;)

Dinner was our second formal night (the first Jen and I attended, having skipped Pojarski night), so I wore my suit and Jen wore her Valentine's dress (in which she is dazzling, let me assure you). I have no recollection of what we ate, she's that distracting. ;)

So Jenny and I are off to take our cruise. For various reasons (not least that internet time onboard is something like $5 a minute), I am posting these after the fact. Pictures of the cruise are available here. The full list of cruise posts is available here.

Cruise: Day 2 (At Sea)

So since Jenny's birthday was going to occur while we were on the ship, I had previously contacted Princess to discuss a special dinner. The CSR I spoke with was very confident that this would be easily arranged. It was not. The first response I got was that Princess' vendors "could not procure" the items we had requested. The second response I got (after I modified my request) was that we should talk to the Maitre d'Hotel once onboard and he would "be happy to accommodate any request". Fine, no problem. In fact, we actually had two reasons to talk to the fellow, because the menu for that night (posted every morning, or available the night before on request) indicated that the vegetarian entree was something called "Vegetable Pojarski". Vegetable Pojarski is an (apparently) Polish invention which consists of squished up, mushy vegetables. I am not kidding. In this particular case the Pojarski was to be shaped into "cutlets" and pan-fried. Now, I recognize that Jenny and I are foodies, but mushed-up vegetable bits are something I expect to serve a newborn baby, not actual adults. So--off to see the Maitre D.

I use that phrase advisedly, as for several days we were convinced that the Maitre D, like the Wizard of Oz, did not actually exist. Our first try was the ship's phone directory. No entry. Next we tried the Purser's Desk. They told us to go to the dining room and ask for him. So, being literal people, we did. We were directed to a head waiter, who assured us that the Pojarski was "very good". We remained skeptical, but the head waiter claimed he had never heard of any such creature as a Maitre d'Hotel (I'm sorry, what was that? It sounds French, doesn't it?), but that the Pojarski was in fact wonderful. (He was, not surprisingly, not a vegetarian. One of the waitresses was, but we never discovered her views on Pojarski.)

Of course, a cruise ship offers a number of ways to acquire calories. So we avoided the dining room that night in favor of the fast food in the forward pool deck. Now, in the interest of fairness, I should point out that in order to efficiently use limited resources, the ship's kitchen will reuse a lot of items. One night you'll see asparagus soup, in addition to several asparagus sides, etc etc. So it wasn't entirely a surprise when Jenny and I had so-called "veggie burgers", which turned out to be Pojarski on a bun. I assure you, it was entirely unappetizing. Even on a bun with lettuce, tomato, onions, ketchup, and mustard. The fries were good, though.

Jenny and I also attended a wine tasting, at which we were invited to partake in a "much more expensiveexclusive" wine tasting, hosted by none other than the Maitre d'Hotel. We speculated on whether this would prove to be a waiter in a tux. We did, of course, decide to attend (who could resist?). We didn't like any of the wines in this first tasting. :-P