Iguanas, Chickens, and Crabs! Oh my!

Taking Royal Caribbean? Be prepared to walk. Don't get me wrong, I had lots of fun on vacation (you'll read more about my adventures later in this blog), but the ship that we were on had 12 floors, 2500 guests... and SIX elevators. That's right. SIX. Six elevators that didn't work part of the time and were very slow to getting to your floor. Yes, there were stairs, but who wants to walk up twelve stories? Especially when all the activities usually went on on Deck 11 or Deck 7, and our cabin was on the second floor? Not to mention that I had my grandparents with me, who couldn't make it up the stairs that far and had to use the elevators. Ugh. Another bad thing about the ship (which is a bad thing about all ships and the main reason I was afraid to go) is that we were in the ocean. With giant waves. ROCKING THE BOAT. Now, one thing that is the absolute truth about me and that I'm willing to share on this blog is that I get motion sick. And I'm not just talking about a little headache or loss of balance. I'm talking about an I-better-lay-down-right-now-or-I'm-gonna-puke-syndrome. You're probably wondering why I didn't take motion sickness pills. There are a few reasons for that, but the main one would be that I don't like taking medicine unless I absolutely need it. Why? Because I'm afraid of addictions. I have a few medicine-addictions in my family, so it runs very strongly through my blood. And besides... I hadn't puked yet, so I didn't need it. Right?


Well, anyway, I figure I better lay off the bad stuff and get on with the good. I'll tell you day by day how the vacation went, but I'm skipping the first day since we didn't do much but get settled in, eat, and sleep, and how boring would that have been? The only fun thing we did that night was watch a show in the Sound of Music Theater. It was a comedian named David O'rian, who had been the opening act for Seinfeld quite a few times. I laughed my butt off. That guy was so funny, I definitely recommend seeing him if you are able! After the show, we all just pretty much went to bed.




Day Two


The second day, our ship, The Monarch of the Seas, stopped at the Royal Caribbean private island of Coco Cay. Here, my family and I walked around the island like any old tourist. We swam in the ocean (I got sunburned after putting on SPF 90 FREAKING SUNBLOCK). We walked around the Straw Market and bought a few souvenirs. I got a windchime made out of seashells, and a cute dress that would be good for either a bathing suit cover up or a ballroom dancing dress (yes, it is styled very much like a ballroom dancing dress). Our ship was providing a BBQ lunch for us and after we ate, we walked around the island and found some really interesting wildlife. Over the edge of the dock, we saw some pretty big crabs running around on a rock along with some tropical fish in the water. Then, my dad spotted a "water snake", which looks pretty much like a thin blade of grass with a mouth. Then we listened to my mom freaking out because she realized that she had just swam in the water that housed these terrifying creatures.


Onward we marched through the island grass, avoiding all the loud vendors that wanted us to buy this, or sell us that for half price, or look at these. Once away from the Straw Market, we rested underneath a palm tree on some hammocks. Depending on where you are from, Reader, this may not be a big deal. But to a Hoosier like me (that would be someone that lives in Indiana, the freezing state of frozenness), sitting under a palm tree in your bathing suit and looking up at the coconuts that could fall on your head at any moment in the middle of January... was pretty sweet, to say the least. We also found an iguana and some chickens at this point in our journey. The chickens were doing what chickens do... which is mainly walk around, bobbing their heads and clucking, and then getting spooked and doing that attempt-to-fly-flutter-their-wings-thing and scream before seeming extremely embarrassed at their overreaction and scurrying away. The iguana... just sat there. On a rock. In the sun. And didn't move except to breathe. He was pretty boring.


Once back on the ship, my family and I went to dinner. The Monarch of the Seas (which we will abbreviate to TMotS) has a "fancy" restaurant that you get to eat at for dinner, called Claude's, and we had table number 40, which was the table assigned to our waiter, Karian, and our assistant waiter, Wilson. Karian was probably the sweetest person I met on vacation. She was in her early to mid twenties and learned all of our names very quickly. She was pretty good at speaking English, and while she did pronounce some of our names funny (everyone pronounced my name "Ahn-jel" instead of "Ayn-jel"), she made sure to remember us all. I think my family and I had the best waiter out of all of them in the restaurant, although every staff person was extremely nice. Our assistant waiter was named Wilson. He was twenty years old and very cute. He was in charge of the drinks and refills, handing out rolls and stuff like that. The previous night, my uncle and his fiancee' had gone to this restaurant and had already met the waiter and assistant waiter. So when I got there this night, my uncle introduced us all to the team. Upon being introduced to Wilson, I immediately told him he was cute. He smiled shyly and, if his complexion were as pale as mine, he would have blushed.


For dinner, you got to choose an appetizer (as many as you wanted, but I usually stuck with one), and a main course (or more, but again, it was usually just one). After the meal, Karian would come back to take our dessert order. That night, I had the BEST mushroom alfredo I have ever had in my entire life and probably will never get to eat again. *sigh* Oh well.


After dinner, we went to the nightly show held at the Sound of Music Theater on Deck 5. Sheesh, it's a little crazy how I remember exactly which Deck housed what, isn't it? Anyway, this night we were supposed to see a musician that did Motown music. On our way in, one of the entertainment crew was welcoming us and I noticed that he had a British accent. I told him that I love British accents and we started talking. His name was Stefan, and he was from London. He had only been in his job for four weeks and he was very good at it. Of course, being a huge Doctor Who fan (probably the biggest in America... or, at least, Indiana), I had to ask him if he watched Doctor Who. "Oh yes!" He replied in much the same way David Tennant does on the show. He was a huge fan of the Doctor, and, just like me and every other fan in the world, wished he could ride in the TARDIS. I knew I had made a new friend.


Once seated, Stefan and the other entertainment staff member, Christy, went up on stage to prepare us for the show. They danced and clapped and had the whole crowd going and I giggled uncontrollably at how cute Stefan looked onstage. Once finished with that, it was time for our Cruise Director, Warren Allen, to come onstage and let us know about the activities that were taking place after the show and the next day. After Warren left, it was time for the main act. Johnny Thunder appeared onstage. Now, if you don't know who Johnny Thunder is, you're either pretty young... or you don't pay attention to popular media much. Johnny Thunder was a member of a band known as the Drifters. The Drifters were popular some-such years ago at the same time that the Four Tops and the Temptations were popular. Johnny Thunder was seventy-seven years old and he still sang like he was twenty. He was absolutely magnificent. At the end of the show, he invited the audience to come up onstage with him and dance to his last song. Of course, there were only three or four people that took him up on that offer, but I was one of them. My uncle and I ran up onstage and did the swing (yes, a ballroom dance) to his last song of the night. I was onstage with Johnny Thunder!


After the show, my family and I made our way to the Circuit nightclub for an '80s Night Dance Party. That ran until midnight and by the end, we had lost half of our group to sleep. So, we all pretty much decided it was time for bed.


And that was day two of my vacation. Next time, I'll talk about Day Three at Nassau, Bahamas!


~Angel