"The Cruise" Part III

Land Ahoy!

The United States of America!!

How sweet to see the beautiful view as we approached

Key West, Florida!

I know we weren't explorers by any stretch of the 

imagination, and we hadn't voyaged from far across the sea,

and we hadn't suffered at all during our voyage...

but for just a moment I felt just a vapor of what 

the early settlers must have felt!

We watched with wonder and amazement as we approached!

 The immigration officers waited patiently far below as our captain maneuvered this huge ship sideways to our dock.

 The immigration officers came on board and we were assigned numbers and times to go through customs.  

We had to have our papers in hand, Sea Pass cards punched, 

and then we were free to go out and tour Key West.

It was rainy so we chose to rent these limousines

for our tour of Key West.

We rented two of them and they served us perfectly!

 Much of what happened here will have to stay on the island!

We walked through a lot of shops with crazy things for sale,

we ate lunch at Five Guys Burgers and Fries, 

we saw the southern most point of Key  West,

and tasted the tropical drinks.

We raced to return our limousines

 in order not to miss our last call back on the ship.  

It was good to be back in our homeland again.

Back on the ship, we quickly clean up,
 and were off to the dining room for dinner

where we received a special number from the chefs, 

waiters, and waitresses.

They sang and marched around the room for us while

we all applauded them for a job WELL DONE!

 I loved how this Amish man swung his white napkin in honor and applause for the serving staff!  I was so blessed and impressed through this whole trip with the Amish and Mennonites.  They offered their friendship to  any and all...regardless of race, color, and dress.  They took pictures and greeted by name their staff each evening.  They made friends with them and invited them to their homes if they should ever visit their state and country.  They sat with people from all over the world and many shared their faith.  What an opportunity and blessing!  We, too, had numerous people from all over the world ask...and we were able to share about our God!

 We cherished our dinner chats with

 Marv & Sharon and Lloyd & Sandra .

 Our evening table servers.

The last night was the latest of them all!

We stayed up til the wee hours of the night

chatting over coffee and tea.

Lots and lots of luggage as we wait to depart the ship in Miami.  It was such a good experience and we would do it again!  We would highly recommend the Sail and Sing Christian Cruise to whoever may be considering it...to have Christian entertainment was worth so much on a ship that is definitely geared for the world.  The last evening we noticed different times the ship's entertainment staff coming in and out of our Christian gathering...they were trying to figure out what was drawing hundreds of people to these gatherings every night.  If only they would come to know our Jesus, too!

After finding all our luggage, the van, etc. we headed to Marathon, Florida for a fish fry and visit with some friends of the LaRaviere family.  It was some of the best fish we have had and we all ate until we were stuffed full!  Back to Miami where we delivered Isaiah to his Pollard family and then set out to find a hotel for the night, with plans to explore the Everglades the next day. Interestingly enough we made several trips through toll booths without knowing we needed to stop until it was too late, and feared there would be an alert on the evening news for a white, 15-passenger van passing through numerous toll booths  without paying (and the tickets did catch up with the driver at a later date!).  We called and called and called and called hotels... desperately searching for a hotel with rooms available.  The cheapest one we found that had rooms available was priced at $700.00 per night per room!!  "Uh, thank you but we'll keep looking."   What's with Miami on a Thursday night?!!  

The later it got the sillier the people in the white, 15-passenger van got!  With all due respect, we'll have to close the story now before it's actually finished....

because what happened in Miami that night

will have to stay in Miami!  

We had an amazing time!!

 ...but we still don't know who the person or persons is/are 

that blessed us with this incredible gift!!  

We feel incredibly unworthy of such a gift, 

it far exceeded any expectations we had,

and we pray God's blessing upon 

whoever the donor was!  

May God return 100-fold what was 

so graciously given to us!

We will always treasure the memories of this trip!

THANK - YOU!!

"The Cruise" Part II

Nassau, Bahamas

After enjoying a delicious dinner served in a style I could easily get used to, we visited with lots of people, and got to know new people.  We had no problem with sea sickness, in fact, you hardly knew we were moving!  Yay from me!

Each evening we were treated with different singing groups and a comedian ventriloquist.  We enjoyed each of their programs a lot although we usually visited so long at dinner that we had problems finding seating at these events.  (That's us!) The programs always had its serious moments and its hilarious moments! 

This special cruise was called "Sail and Sing Christian Cruise" and was hosted by different groups of singers, actors, and musicians, most who also happened to be personal friends of ours.  There were approximately 450-500 Anabaptists on this cruise of about 3000 people.  Yes, we got a lot of attention!  It was really neat though, because it gave us many opportunities to witness about Jesus. Many of the staff and fellow travelers wanted to know who we were and what we believe.  We were able to share with people from all over the world and also learn about their culture.  Different testimonies were shared of how they could tell we were Christians by the countenance on our faces. 

Our first morning we awoke arriving in the port of Nassau, Bahamas.  A small tv screen in our room let us know our speed, depth, and location.  After enjoying the breakfast buffet we packed our day bags and prepared to see Nassau.

 Tours were a little pricey so we decided to do our own guided tours through the city.  Following signs we found the Straw Market where we purchased some souvenirs and soon learned to turn our ears away from everyone who wanted to sell us something.  Each vendor seemed to talk to us 'quietly and confidentially' to let us know how much cheaper they would sell things to us then their competitors.  It took discernment to know who to buy from and who not to.

 This police lady seemed pleased that we were taking her photo and waved and posed for us.  Notice the little wheels under her podium so she can move it wherever she needs it.  

 Looking at this traffic jam and the dents in vehicles makes me think the police lady's job may have been a risky job!

 Tired, hungry, and hot we went back to the ship for lunch and then the youngers of the group went to tour beautiful Paradise Island. The 2 "older men" of our group thought they should have naps. We ladies decided it was a good time for some quiet, sun time up on the top deck.  Later the revived men and their ladies toured the mighty ship.

The kids returned in time for dinner (well, okay, several guys had to clean their room before the porters would allow them to have dinner!!)  After another gourmet meal, an evening of worship and some entertainment, the night was still young (not!) but there is never enough time to visit, catch up on friendships, drink more coffee and tea, eat, and eat a little more, and then head for bed quite early in the morning...... to meet your son knocking on your bedroom door as you round the corner of the hallway.  His eyes get big and he's wondering what we are still doing up when he thought we were in bed already!! ( ....and we're wondering why he is still up!!! lol)

After a short night of sleep, (while the ship traveled on to CocoCay, Bahamas), we packed our day bags, ate breakfast, and got on our ferry to the island.  Royal Caribbean had several ferries, each held 250 people, so it didn't take too long to get us ferried over.  We were assigned different times to leave, according to our Sea Pass numbers.

 It seemed like a dream! 

 Suddenly it seemed like we were standing in the middle of pictures we've seen for years!! 

 It was amazing!!

 Somebody was supposed to watch our backpack so they "hid" it under an Angry Bird beach towel!! 

 While the guys went scuba diving, the girls soaked up the sun.

 They loved it and eventually talked the girls into going, too.

 A huge buffet lunch was served on the island, compliments of Royal Caribbean.  Then while the kids went for the second round of scuba diving, Matthew, Becky, JR and I went on a Glass Bottom Boat Tour.  It was fairly windy and tossed the boat around enough that the driver wouldn't take us too near the rocks and reefs.  He was afraid everyone would lose their lunch.  He did a great job of keeping us entertained and we enjoyed the tour a lot.  He let us touch a lot of under water sea creatures.

Dinner that evening was formal.  It was fantastic and once again we enjoyed chatting with our friends from here and new friends from Mexico.  There were so many people on this ship that the only time we could catch up with our dear friends from Sarasota was over dinner.  Other than at dinner, we only saw each other in passing. Crazy, I know!!

 I was privileged and honored to be escorted to dinner 

by this handsome man a.k.a. the Love of my Life!!

 ...the romantic view of the sea at night!

 At midnight, as if anyone could possibly be hungry, the staff served a buffet of delectable foods.  Of course, we had to see what there was to taste and enjoy.

 ...followed by an even later night/morning!

By now we understood even better how little time you spend 

in your room!  Too much to do, too many people to enjoy!

"The Cruise" Part 1

Majesty of the Seas by Royal Caribbean   

Some undisclosed person or persons chose our associate pastor and his wife to be the messengers of some incredible news.

Our pastor's wife visited with us one Sunday morning after church and asked us what our plans were for Feb. 24-27.  JR was telling her how he was planning to run someone's lawn business that week while the owner and his wife

 (who also happen to be very good friends of ours)

were going on a Caribbean cruise to the Bahamas

with Sail & Sing Christian Cruise.

Our pastor's wife visited for awhile and said she had been sent by someone to see what our schedule was over those dates.

OK....?!

While we knew there was a cruise leaving from Miami in February, and our son, his girlfriend and her family, along with many other people we knew were going on a cruise.  We had talked earlier of how we would enjoy going, 

had prayed about it, but it appeared that financially,

 it was not an option.

On the way home from church we discussed the possibility that those dates she quoted might possibly be the same dates of the cruise and briefly mentioned the possibility of someone sending us on a cruise but quickly dismissed it as not too apt to happen and also knowing JR had committed to running a lawn business! 

When we got home we asked Derek about the dates of the cruise and interestingly enough, the dates matched!

 A week passed in which time we left for Ministers' Enrichment Weekend in Lancaster, PA. where we had a very enjoyable time. We were barely home when again, the phone rang...

the same message bearer with more news.

I got goose bumps up and down my arms as I was informed that "someone" had purchased 2 tickets for JR and I and we were to be ready to leave on in three weeks!!  I had to sit down and pinch myself to see if this was actually happening!

Sure enough, arrangements had been made, another worker had been lined up to run our friend's lawn business 

and confirmations were sent of our reservations!

WE WERE EXCITED!!

JR had mentioned through the years how he would love to go on a cruise sometime!  It never appealed to me that much because I don't like being on things I can't get off of and, while I love water, I wasn't too sure about not being able to see land. 

 Extra money was never in abundance, so a cruise seemed like a 

"maybe someday we'll go" thing.

But this time... I WAS AS EXCITED AS JR!!!

Travel documents were gathered, bags were packed, arrangements were made, and one early Monday morning the LaRaviere family stopped in to pick us up so we could all travel together to Miami 

in a 15-passenger van.

(more to follow on that!) 

As we neared the Port of Miami we were all eyes...

looking for the first glimpse of our ship.  

It didn't take long until we spotted it.

It was gargantuwa!!!  HUGE!

It was like a city on the water!

Matthew unloaded us all at the dock while he went to park the van.  Before we even left the dock and entered the ship, the porter recognized us as Christians and had asked for prayer. 

With opportunities like that, we knew this was going to be a

 God-trip and it was...over and over again!

Approaching the ship...

We entered Customs having no idea what we were doing but tried to look like well-seasoned travelers.

Derek (our son) ran into problems at Customs because he was under 21.  He pointed the attendant to us, his parents, so she sent him down to our line where they approved his travel abroad, and we all breathed a sigh of relief as we moved on through.

We walked through all the pass-ways and bridges with wide eyes...

we felt just a smidging like "Amish in the City"!

This is the middle of the ship showing all the different levels, stairways, elevators,  and shops.

And then we were off to find our room.

We were on the fifth floor in an inside room.

It was small but had plenty of room for two people.

I thought not having a window might bother my problem

of being claustrophobic but it didn't at all 

and it didn't take us long to realize how little time

is spent in your room on a trip like this!

Derek and his friends roomed right next to ours,

 right across from us was the Pollard family 

and scattered across the ship were many people we knew.  

Smiling, friendly porters from all over the world were available at all times to see if we needed anything. 

 Our rooms were cleaned twice a day. 

I think I could get used to this quite quickly!

 This little character was waiting in our room one night when we got back to it.  He was wearing JR's glasses and holding the remote control for us.  Different of his friends greeted us when we came in.

Departure from Miami was announced so up on top deck we all went to bid farewell to the United States of America.

 Last minute phone calls, texts, and facebook status' were done before we lost our cellphone service.

 Ahead lay open seas and lots of water!  Breath-takinglyBeautiful!

It felt surreal!  We were on a cruise! 

My first voyage out of the U.S!!