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Summer Vacation!

Written By: Tracy Block on Friday, September 7, 2007

Cruisin’, Boozin’, Not Enough Snoozin’!

The only “vacations” I have taken in the past year were a few statewide weekend getaways. As Craig gears up to return to Orlando for his senior year at UCF, I felt it was time for us to take our first official vacation together.

Since we started dating a couple of years ago, I always told Craig how much I loved going on cruises. There is something about the all-inclusive package that attracts me, and I guess maybe the whole concept of being in the middle of the ocean with no cell phone service or Internet access had something to do with it as well.

Craig and I planned to embark on a five-night journey upon the Royal Caribbean Enchantment of the Seas a few days into August. The anticipation of taking off from my full time job and other part time gigs was eating away at me as the days seemed to pass by slower and slower. To prepare for our excursion, Craig and I devised a plan to sneak a few bottles of vino onto the cruise, since they have a strict “No Alcohol” policy so they can basically rob you for all you’re worth atop the sun deck after three too many Coco Locos. We carefully packaged the wine and I made sure we didn’t bring anything too costly, just in case we got caught red-handed. My choices were an inexpensive but tasty brut, a bottle of Rondel bubbly, and one of my recent faves, Stony Bay Sauvignon Blanc.

As soon as we waved goodbye to good old Miami, Craig and I got our bags and I started an ice bath in the bathroom sink. We chilled the Rondel so we could toast before dinner, but in the meantime, we headed to the deck for the sail away party. As we chilled on the lounges and listened to the band, I noticed a familiar face. An old buddy from college, Fudali, was on the ship with his family, which was great, since Craig and I had another twentysomething to hang with.

Soon after, we hit the showers and got ready for dinner, which was going to be interesting, since we would meet the folks we would be dining with for the remainder of the trip. Our toast, which we had intended to be a single glass each, turned into our polishing off the entire bottle. But we didn’t care, because we were on vacation!

We headed to the dining room to meet Johanna and Eric, a nice couple from North Carolina, newlywed twentysomethings, a new experience for Craig and me. After we finished what seemed like a meal for 10, Craig and I hit the casino, something we were both looking forward to. Craig met a fellow UCF student named Matt, who we would actually end up spending much of our party time with. After a few hours, we cashed in our chips (or what was left of them) and headed to the club. We danced for a little while and headed back to the room.

The next day we were at sea, taking advantage of the breakfast buffet and the beautiful weather by the pool. We hit up some high-stakes bingo, but no luck there. Craig won fourth place in the Black Jack tournament (one short of a cash prize). We mostly took it easy, since the ship was docking at our first port of call early in the a.m.

We docked at sunny Ocho Rios, Jamaica early in the day. Craig and I headed over to the infamous Dunn’s River Falls, where we planned to climb the beautiful waterfalls with a backpack full of valuables. After eating it about five times along the way, we made it to the top and decided to head over to a local crafts market. We shopped for souvenirs and I got a lesson on how to play a local drum, which Craig loved so much, he bought for me. We didn’t have much time to taste the local flavors, but I grabbed some crazy overproof Jamaican rum and we headed back to the boat for some lunch. Later that evening, we ate, gambled, drank and danced, which seemed to be a working nightly routine for us.

Our next port of call was George Town, Grand Cayman, where we decided to catch up on our tans. We took a cab over to a beautiful beach called Sea Grape, where we parked in the sand and baked for a while. We literally could not stay in the sun for more than a few minutes at a time.

After a couple of hours in the sun at Grand Cayman, we shopped a little, tasted and bought some rum cakes, and headed back to the boat. It wasn’t long before we disrobed and saw the hot pink burns adorning our bodies. Exhausted from the heat and sun, we passed out until dinner, catching up on some much needed rest. I opened my bottle of Stony Bay, hoping it would cool us down a bit. We had a couple of glasses before dinner and left the rest on ice.

Maybe it was the impact of the sun, but on our last day at sea, we slept in until about 1 p.m., which seemed crazy, but totally necessary. We did a few boat-related activities, played more Bingo (unsuccessfully losing the $4,000 jackpot), and had some pizza by the indoor pool. The last night, we drank the last of our alcohol, downing some painful Jamaica rum and dancing a bit at the club. We threw our last pennies at the Black Jack table, cashed out, and called it a night.

Sometimes, when I go on vacation, I worry that I’ll get fed up with the person I room with mid-trip. Though these thoughts were on the back burner of my mind, I must admit that, aside our normal squabbles as a functioning couple, this trip truly reaffirmed my love for Craig. We had such an amazing time together, especially exploring new territories. It is so important that you can embrace the great things in life together as a couple, and I was so happy to be with him every minute on and off that ship. As our second anniversary approaches next week, I can truly say that I am very lucky to have such a suitable companion to share in this time of my life.

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