Meet Me in Chicago

Meet me in Chicago
Down by the waterline.
You stepped across the gold coast
Stepped into this heart of mine
--"Chicago" by Mat Kearney

She's from Cincinnati, I'm from Portland, but Chicago. . .Chicago is our city, the one that belongs to us.

Our city of Chicago, as seen from our room at the Fairmont. Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Chicago has long been a part of the mythology of our relationship.   We'd both been there countless times before we met with various would-be lovers and friends & aquaintances of the moment.  But when we started dating, Chicago was never far away.  The Big City, a mere a hour and a half from Andrews University, where we could go on Big City Dates.  Some of my favorite memories of our early years of dating and marriage are set in the Windy City.  There was the weekend of my friend Kim's wedding.  The wedding was actually held in Atlanta, it's our time in Chicago that really sticks in my memory.   We stayed in Kim's Irving Park apartment the night before our flight to Atlanta--it was like a taste of romantic urban life.  And when we flew back into to town we decided to spend the day walking the city's blustery streets and warming ourselves with hot coffee at a Brother's coffee shop on Michigan Avenue.  We got lost trying to find our way out of the city, and even that was a treasured moment.  The two of us, out in the bustling metropolis, finding our way.

And then there was our wedding night.  The first night of our honeymoon found us back in Chicago, celebrating the beginning of our life together in the luxurious Fairmont Hotel within sight of Navy Pier and Grant Park.  We had planned to explore the city during the two days we had until we jetted off to our honeymoon proper--a week in Puerta Vallarta, Mexico--but the Fairmont was so amazing, that we found ourselves content to hole up in the room for virtually the entire time.  Just looking out the windows we could see our city glittering in at our feet.

One of the last places we visited before we left for Saipan, was Chicago, once again.  We shopped at the Crate and Barrel on the Magnificent Mile, and took lots of pictures of the city, to tide us over in the decidely un-urban life ahead of us.

San Francisco is gorgeous, San Diego the sort of place we even considered living in,Orlando is lots of fun, Cincinnati, Portland, Columbus are all home in one sense or another.  But Chicago?  Chicago is ours.

And so two weeks ago, we hit the road once again for Chicago--just the two of us.  For the first time we left our son to stay overnight with his grandparents.  For the next twenty-four hours or so, we would be simply a couple again.  We enjoyed a nice drive up to the city, listening to the special U2 playlist I'd created on my ipod an anticipation of the concert that night.

Belly Shack: Perfect for lunch!

 We arrived in Chicago around 2:30 in the afternoon and our first stop was the Belly Shack, a wonderfully delicious little place specializing in a hybrid of Korean and Puerto Rican food.  I had the Korean BBQ beef with a side of the best kimchi I've had since Saipan (actually the first kimchi I"ve had since Saipan--but it was good!).  Babs had the borica--marinated tofu with hoisin BBQ sauce and brown rice served on slices of crispy plantains.  We also had the togarashi spiced fries with curry mayo--unbelievably good.  I found the place while doing a google search of the best restaurants in Chicago, and I must concur that this is not only one of the best eats in Chicago, but one of the best anywhere--and reasonably priced too!

The Chicago Fairmont, one of our favorite places in our favorite city to stay

After treating our bellies at the Belly Shack, our next stop was the Chicago Fairmont hotel.  After 14 years, it was long past time to revisit our honeymoon hotel.  Since 1997, they've completely remodeled the place and if anything it's even more spectacular and luxurious than before.  They gave us a huge suite with stunning views of the city from both the living room and bedroom.  We thought our honeymoon suite was pretty swell, but these digs e easily outclassed our very lovely first room.  Once again we found ourselves so enamored with the luxury of our room, that we ended up abandoning our plans to walk around the city and spent the remains of the afternoon reveling in our room overlooking our city.

The living room area of our suite, as you enter the front door.

The dining nook, adjoining the living room.  You can see the door to the bedroom to the left

The bedroom. Wow!  Our honeymoon suite was basically one room, like most hotel suites.  This room had a completely seperate bedroom and a bedroom-sized bathroom as well!

Of course Babs had to get a picture of the artwork on the wall above our bed!

The view from our bedroom window

The happy couple, still on honeymoon after 14 years!

At the last possible minute, we grabbed a cab and raced over to Soldier Field for the main reason for our visit--the U2 360 tour was in town again, and this time I intended to treat my wife to the incomparable experience of a U2 show.  I knew, having seen this tour twice already in 2009, that even with our seats high in the stands, Babs would be in for a treat.

At the show:  We had seats high up "behind" the circular stage.  The band made a decent effort to include us in the action, circling around to our side from time to time to sing or play, but still most of the time they were facing the front or sides.  From this high up, the screen was the best way to view the show anyway and we always had a spectacular view of that.

We arrived just as the lights were going down and the band's intro music, David Bowie's "A Spaced Oddity" was beginning to play.   The band played a great set.  I've read online that many who'd seen multiple shows on this tour thought this one of their best nights of the tour.  For myself, I found few surprises--since I'd studied the setlist in advance I knew pretty much what to expect.   U2 began with a blistering quartet of songs from their 1991 album Achtung Baby, and then continued with a sampling of cuts from every album they've released--from crowd-pleasing hits like "Pride (In the Name of Love)", "With or Without You", "Beautiful Day" and this one:

"I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" (my traditional U2 concert video clip)

to fan-pleasing rarities like "Out of Control", "Zooropa" and "Scarlet".  I was particularl pleased to hear "Zooropa" as it is one of my all-time favorite U2 tunes and hadn't been played live for years until just recently.   But all of this was expected--at least for me--and what I was hoping for was a surprise, something I didn't see coming.   And I got it, right at the very end.  On what appeared to be a spur of the moment decision the band decided to play "One Tree Hill", a song written in honor of their close friend Greg Carroll, who died almost 25 years ago to the day  of that concert.  This song about saying goodbyes, with intimations of seeing loved ones again "when the stars fall from the sky and the moon turns red over One Tree Hill", and the image of the great ocean that I love so much, is another one of my favorites among favorites by U2 and I was so excited to hear it again.  I last heard it at the Japan show I attended in 2006 and the bootleg of that version is the one I prefer above even the original recording.  I felt even more lucky to hear it, when I found out that U2 rarely ever play this song.

All in all, it was a great show, with something for everyone--lots of familiar hits that I knew my wife, and the many other casual fans there would know, and lots of gems from their catalogue that die-hards like me could treasure.

Here's the complete setlist for the show we attended on Tuesday, July 5, 2011:

Even Better Than The Real Thing
The Fly
Mysterious Ways / Tryin' To Throw Your Arms Around The World (snippet)
Until The End Of The World
Out Of Control
Get On Your Boots
I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For / The Promised Land (snippet)
Stay (Faraway, So Close!)
Beautiful Day / Space Oddity (snippet)
Elevation
Pride (In The Name Of Love)
Miss Sarajevo
Zooropa
City Of Blinding Lights / My Kind Of Town (snippet)
Vertigo
Miss You (snippet) / I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight / Discothèque (snippet) / Life During Wartime (snippet)
Sunday Bloody Sunday
Scarlet
Walk On / You'll Never Walk Alone (snippet)

encore(s):
One
Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow (snippet) / Where The Streets Have No Name
Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me / My Kind Of Town (snippet)
With Or Without You
Moment of Surrender / One Tree Hill (snippet)
One Tree Hill

Sound and Light at the U2360 show.  I actually thought the band made more creative use of the 360 degree screen at the 2009 Chicago shows, but it was still pretty spectacular.

Looks like she's having a great time!  To be honest, I felt a little shy taking Babs to her first U2 concert.  I wasn't sure if she would enjoy it as much as I did, if she'd find either the band or my enthusiasm too loud. I'd have been crushed if she'd felt negatively about an experience and a band that I enjoy so much.  Fortunately, my worries turned out to be for naught.

Just before "Moment of Surrender",  Bono asked us to take out our cellphones, as he often does at concerts, and had the stage lights turned down so that the entire stadium turned into a galaxy of stars created by 80,000 phones.  We opened our phone too, revealing the picture of our Little Feller, in that way remembering him and makin him part of our experience too.

U2's 360 stage nicknamed "The Claw" at the end of the show.  The pictures came out better with the houselights up.

Babs n' Me after the show.

Getting out of the stadium took awhile, and by the time we began walking back to the Fairmont I was bone tired.  Yet, strolling along hand-in-hand, the city lights twinkling all around us, is one of my favorite memories among many of the two of us in our city.

The next morning we slept late, rushed out to find some souvenirs to take home to our little boy, grabbed a delectable classic Chicago deep-dish pizza from Lou Malnati's (another place I definitely recommend--they have locations all over the city and out in the suburbs), and hit the road for home.

Our visit had been too short, as it seems our visits to Chicago always are, but long enough to create a few more special memories that will join the others of the times we've spent as friends and lovers in our city--Chicago.

Chicago cityscape.  Babs took this photo on Wednesday, July 6, on our way out of town.  With our good friends J, Evelyn, and Benjamin Carlos moving to the Windy City, we expect to be back soon and often.

Meet me in Chicago
Down by the water line
Step across the gold coast
To my heart and to your wine
Maybe Cincinnati
With a trip in the morning light
Step across the branches
I will follow you over the Rhine
And it takes one to know one
That's what they always say
I've waited for the dawn
And I've waited for the day
Oh, I'm coming low
And I'm willing to pray
Stepping through the haze
One more day on a wide open road
On and on and the lights come and go
And everything I might not even know
What is the distance
On through the resistance singing
Oh
Meet me in Portland
Roast here in the summer light
See you in the evergreens
I will catch you down on the Northeast side
And maybe San Diego
Moonlight at the lowest tide
See you in the shoreline breaker
Stepping over my maker's line
And it takes one to know one
That's what they always say
I've waited for the dawn
And I've waited for the day
Oh, I'm coming low
And I'm willing to pray
Stepping through the haze
One more day on a wide open road
On and on and the lights come and go
And everything I might not even know
What is the distance
On through the resistance singing

You met me on the backstreets
Right there at the end of the line
Where a spark turns into fire
And a tear falls into life

And it takes one to know one
That's what they always say
I've waited for the dawn
And I've waited for the day
Oh, I'm coming low
And I'm willing to pray
Stepping through the haze
One more day on a wide open road
On and on and the lights come and go
And everything I might not even know
What is the distance
On through the resistance
On a wide open road
On and on and the lights come and go
And everything I might not even know
What is the distance
On through the resistance singing
Oh
Meet me in Chicago
Down by the water line
You stepped across the gold coast
Stepped into this heart of mine

Wonderworks, Orlando: The Endorsement

I have been asked to remove the photo I found online of WonderWorks as posting it was a copyright violation. I've not yet been able to ascertain whether it was WonderWorks or the photographer that demanded that picture be removed. If it was WonderWorks, it was terribly short-sighted on their part.  They would essentially be preventing free advertising of their business in order to protect their rights to a photograph.  I totally support protecting artists rights to their work, and I always try to honor copyright protection laws whenever I reasonably can.  Any photo that I've "borrowed" from the web I would happily pay a reasonable price for, if provided a way to do so.  It seems like a system for connecting photographers  with those interested in using their online photos and allowing users to pay a nominal fee for each photo used would be a win-win situation for everyone.  Think iTunes for digital photos.  At any rate, the photo is gone, so if you want to see what WonderWorks looks like, you'll have to click on the link below.  I am grudgingly keeping my endorsement of the attraction, as their boneheaded approach to copyright infringement doesn't make the attraction any less amazing.

When the Carnival Sensation returned to port Thursday morning, June 9, 2011, we were out of money, but not out of time.  We still had another 24 hours before our flight left for Columbus.  What were we to do with the remaining time on a budget of zero dollars?

Fortunately, my cousin Yvette Saliba came to the rescue.  Having planned our budget carefully, I knew from the outset that there wouldn't be anything left over for Orlando, so I'd written Yvette hoping that she might be able to pull some strings or call in some favors and get us tickets to somewhere to while away the day in Orlando.  Sure enough, she was able to hook us up with tickets to WonderWorks on International Drive.

Now we've all heard of the Disney World empire with it's vast network of parks from the Magic Kingdom to Epcot to Animal Kingdom. You're undoubtedly familiar with Universal Studios and Sea World.  You may have even heard of nearby Busch Gardens, but Wonderworks?  What's that?

Wonderworks, it turns out is one of Orlando best kept attractions secrets, but after a fantastic afternoon there I'm eager to do my part to raise the profile of this wonderful little place.   Wonderworks has done an outstanding job of positioning itself as an easy addition to any tourist's Orlando itinerary.  It is essentially a hands-on science museuem, though that description fails to do it justice.  Indeed, Yvette's promo of the place was laced with caveats--there are no rides, no theme park characters, very little in the way of obvious "wow" factors--and really who would want to go look at science stuff when you're in the home of Mickey Mouse?  But the truth is Wonderworks should be high on the list of any Orlando visitor's to-do list for a number of reasons:

1.  It's small.  This is just the place to fit in when you're sunburned and exahausted from a couple of days at the big parks, or when Central Florida's afternoon thunderstorms make the thought of long lines at the rides seem daunting.  You can see the whole place in 3 to 4 hours and Wonderworks has made the savvy decision to keep it's doors open until midnight making it the perfect place to tack on to a late afternoon or early evening of a day's activity.  Our group didn't arrive until four in the afternoon and we had plenty of time.

2. It's cheap.  Granted, it was really cheap for us (thanks again Yvette!), but even for those who don't have helpful and generous cousins living in Orlando, the price for an adult full day's admission is $25, almost a quarter of the price of admission to Disney for a day, and about $60 less than the cost of a single-park ticket to Universal.  A mere $20 bucks gets your kids under 12 in the door and includes admission to the 4D theater and the ropes course.  The laser tag option is just $10 more.

3. It's fun! From the moment you enter the place (through a truly dizzying "inverter" that gives you the illusion of being turned upside down), the experience is first class, well-planned, and lots of fun.  After your thrilling pass through the "inverter"--the idea is that the building is a mad scientists' experiment gone awry and that his inverter enables you to experience his upside down house as if you were right side up--you encounter the first of a series of rooms.  Each room contains loads of fun, hands-on science activities.  Virtually everything in Wonderworks lets you get involved--whether it's experiencing an earthquake or hurricane-force winds, designing and riding your own virtual roller coaster or using a computer model that depicts what you'll look like in fifty years.

Rather than being hit by the full force of the Wonderworks at once, the experience is divided up into a series of rooms, which encourages you to spend more time in each room, fully experiencing each one, before discovering the entrance to yet another room of wonders.  After completing all the exhibits, you climb the stairs past dozens of mind-bending paintings and drawings by M.C. Escher and others until you reach The Basement (remember the building is "upside down.")  The Basement holds an expansive video arcade, the 4-D movie theater, the laser tag course, and the ropes course.  I like that they save all these activities until the end--otherwise kids might race past the exhibits in order to get to the video games, thus missing out on more than half the fun. 

The Basement activities were all a cut above too.  The 4-D theater provided some pretty exiting thrills and was better than any virtual ride I'd been on.  The straight points system in the laser tag arena provided a maximum of action during our session there and easily outclassed any indoor laser tag experience I've had (though even this exceptional experience couldn't come close to the outdoor laser tag experience in Australia).  The ropes course, dangling over the arcade, was fun and challenging too.  Finally, the kids burned through the last of their pocket money on the arcade.  We were there for over five hours and the kids probably would have stayed longer if we'd let them.  And we didn't even go to the dinner and comedy and magic show, which from what I hear, is pretty impressive too.

So if you're looking for an an inexpensive and fun addition to your Orlando vacation for kids at least school-age or older, check out Wonderworks.  Just look for the upside down house!

Blogging the Bahamas Beaches: Onshore in Freeport & Nassau

Lucaya Beach, Freeport, Grand Bahamas Island. Monday, June 6, 2011

Western Esplanade Beach, Nassau, New Providence Island, Bahamas. Tuesday, June 7, 2011

A few weeks ago Babs and I were talking about what type of lifestyle defines us.  Babs is an unabashed city girl—born in one of the great American cities, Cincinnati—and ever after enamored with urban life.  If she had her way (and we had the money to afford it) we’d been living in a townhouse in the Short North, frequenting galleries and cafes and our son living a like someone on Sesame Street minus the muppets.  The conversation started as we were driving through a quaint little  town on our way to the Allegheny West Campground located about 45 minutes southeast of our home in New Albany.  We noted the charm of the little village, and acknowledged the appeal of living in a small town like that.  Indeed, I know there are those that find the prospect of living out their lives in small-town America to be utterly romantic.  But Babs and I agreed, that wasn’t our style.  Likewise, we drove through beautiful farmland, and mused over the idea of living a rural lifestyle.  Again, we could see the appeal of such a life but recognized it wasn’t for us.

So Babs asked me, where would you want to live?

To be honest, I can be happy just about anywhere.  I think I could find the beauty and joy in country living, residing in a small town, or a big city.  I have found much to enjoy and appreciate living in an upscale suburban area.  But none of those places define me.   After some thought, it came to me—something I guess I’ve known for a long time—when all is said and done I’m an island boy.  The island life is the life for me.  The laid-back life, all-warm-weather climate, the sand and the sea, the eclectic mix of local islanders and ex-patriates—that is me.

And so it was a joy to return to the islands at the beginning of June, 2011.  Granted they were islands I’d never seen before, but I’m realizing that tropical islands of any kind fit the bill.  When I’m there, even if it’s my first time visiting I feel totally at home.

Where I belong.

Freeport

Our first port of call was on Monday morning, June 6, 2011, just over 15 hours after we left Florida, at Freeport on Grand Bahama Island. 

A tranquil corner of the Lucaya tourist district in Freeport

  The port on Grand Bahama island was about 20 minutes drive from anything of note and we ended up spending $90 round trip on taxi fare just to get into town.  The island, though much larger than New Providence, reminded me a great deal of Tinian, Saipan's smaller neighbor to the south with its quiet roads, the langorous pace, and the mostly flat landscape.  We had the taxi drop us off at Lucaya, the main tourist district in Freeport.  This place reminded me of Garapan, Saipan's tourist district--full of shops stocked with touristy knick-knacks, sunglasses, sarongs, and souvinirs, a few resorts dominating the beachside, and a noticeable lack of people.  The Lucaya district had that same eerie since I noticed in Garapan--the sense that the place was built to accomodate more people than were there.

The national flag of the Bahamas flies over a building near the Lucaya tourist district in Freeport

The kids browsed the shops but weren't quick to buy.  I bought a Malta, enjoying the cold beverage until an errant bee flew into the bottle, drowned itself in the brew, and I was forced to discard the rest.

"YoungMoney" jams with a local musician at an open square in the Lucaya District.  This one-man band was another familiar island staple reminiscent of Saipan.  This guy put on quite an energetic show despite virtually no audience and the broiling midday sun.  In addition to our temporary additions to his show, another school group of fifth and sixth grade boys--also traveling on the Sensation--stopped by and struck up an impressive impromptu dance number.

After some window-shopping we ambled down to the beach for a little bit of sun, sand, and sea before we had to meet our driver to return to the ship.

It's hard to beat the graceful beauty and island charm of coconut palms

Lucaya district, Freeport, Bahamas

The Freeport visit was hardly what I'd call exciting, but it was relaxing and thoroughly enjoyable.  For me just being on the island was pleasure enough.

The line to reboard the Sensation.  We set sail from Freeport at 5:00 P.M. on Monday, June 6, the same day we arrived.  Our next destination: Nassau

Nassau

Nassau in contrast to Freeport was a bustling hive of activity.  Its sister island in the Marianas would be Guam.  The tourist activities began virtually the moment you got off the ship--shopping, a beach in walking distance, restaurants, and historical sights were all close at hand.

We pulled into port early Tuesday  morning, June 7, and were picked up at the port around 9:00 A.M. by Anthony  Burrows (above), principal of the Bahamas Academy of Seventh-day Adventists. He and one of the teachers from the school took care of us for the morning beginning with a tour of the school's brand new campus under construction.

One of the classrooms at the current and soon-to-be former campus of Bahamas Academy of Seventh-day Adventists

 After a stop at the conference office,  we were taken to the old campus for a tour where we were treated to cold drinks and pizza. 

The interior of Fort Charlotte, an old British garrison in the heart of Nassau

After a pleasant morning touring our sister Adventist institutions we were dropped off at Ft. Charlotte, an old colonial-era fort not far from the port.  A big thank you to Principal Burrows and the staff at Bahamas Academy for your generous hospitality and the gift your time and effort to provide us with a comprehensive tour of the Adventist landmarks in Nassau.

At our next destination, we spent more time shopping at the cluster of vendors outside the fort than we did inside.  The guided tour was delivered in a bored monotone and was over in about 15 minutes.  It wasn't worth the $3.00 a piece that we paid to get inside and certainly not worthy of the tip we were encouraged to (but stubbornly did not) leave behind.  The fort itself was small and somewhat interesting.  It reminded me of the forts we used to visit when I was a kid living in St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands though those were better maintained as I recall.  Needless to say this was not the highlight of our trip. 

A view from Ft. Charlotte.  You can see our ship in the distance, and beyond that the towers of the  famed Atlantis resort.

  From Fort Charlotte, we shelled out a few more dollars and got a ride back to the ship, where we ate late lunch and resupplied for a late afternoon foray to the souvenir vendors and the beach.

Throughout our time onshore in the Bahamas there were familiar notes of the island life:

The flame trees

They go by a different name in the Bahamas, but to me they are still flame trees.  Their fiery blossoms were a welcome and familiar site

The beach, of course

Yet another beach shot, this one from our time in Nassau. Our ship, the Sensation, is the one on the left.

 and the tourist racket. . .

The Nassau Straw Market.  We did most of our souvenir shopping here, barganing with the vendors in the hopes of brining home a bargain.  It's not rocket science, really, to live in a place everyone wants to visit and make a living selling what you get for free. (I didn't take any photos of the Straw Market myself--this photo is from About.com)

Let others have the sophisticated cities, the friendly small towns, the bucolic countryside.  I'll take the island life any day!

Just had to throw these two photos in:

While driving us around Nassau, Mr. Burrows pointed this scene out to us:  three guys painting one traffic signal.  Many hands make light work, I guess, though I couldn't help being reminded of the bloated government waste that was one of the downsides of life in Saipan. 

And how could I not take a photo of Columbus House?

"Seaing" an Old Friend

I have missed the sea.

I didn’t really realize this until I was onboard the Sensation, late in the afternoon, after the coast of Florida had receded into the distance.  Leaning against the railing, looking out into the endless vastness of the ocean, I was reminded of the vista from the edge of Banzai Cliff, from the peak of Mt. Tapochau, from the cliffs of Naftan Point, and it was like seeing an old friend again.  I realized the last time I’d seen the sea was when I was last in Saipan.  It had been way too long.

After that I took a glance out of every window as I walked about the ship, always kept my gaze angle seaward as I strolled the decks, thrilling in the beautiful sight of the great ocean around me.

I suppose the immensity of the sea could be a bit terrifying, but for me the feeling is more one of awe.  The ocean, like her Creator, puts you in perspective by virtue of her sheer size and power.  Of course the difference is that while I can know and love the sea, she cannot know and love me—she is big, but the soulfulness in her sparkling beauty is but an illusion.  She feels nothing.  But when I look at the ocean, I can’t help but think of our Creator—the One who made the sea and who made, knows, and loves me.  

“. . .He who calls for the waters of the sea, and pours them out on the face of the earth, the Lord is His name.”  Amos 9:6b

The Cruise: Highights from the High Seas

On board the Carnival Sensation at sunset

I've never had any interest in going on a cruise. I admit I'd always been a bit of a snob about cruises. They seemed, for lack of a better word, corny. The TV ads trumpeting the rock wall and the flow-rider did little to disabuse me of my smug sense of superiority. The experience just seemed too packaged, too limiting--literally being stuck on a ship for much of the journey. The cruise experience with it's casinos, showgirls, and man-made spectacle seemed reminiscent of Vegas, another place that's never had any appeal to me.

But now that I've actually been a cruise I can report. . .that it is a little corny. The overly-shiny decor and faux luxe details are reminiscent of a late-80's three star hotel. But it's also a lot of fun, and definitely something I'd like to do again. After all, if you're going on vacation, this is way better than flying coach on an airplane. Why not make the journey part of the destination?


The six 8th grade graduates along with Pastor Johnson, school principal Brenda Arthurs, and I met at the airport in Columbus late Sabbath afternoon, June 4. We flew to Orlando, FL arriving around 7:30 in the evening. There our group split up. Funds were tight, and I had agreed to flying rather than driving to Florida on the condition that we keep expenses to a minimum. So Mrs. Arthurs, and "The Rose", the one girl among the students (so named because our headwaiter on the cruise referred to her as "the rose among the thorns") headed off to spend the night with a family friends of Mrs. Arthurs. Most of the boys stayed with Pastor Johnson at the airport Embassy Suites, and "The Attorney" and I stayed at my mom's house. Sunday morning we all met up at the hotel for breakfast and then got a ride arranged through one of the local Adventist churches by Pastor Johnson to Port Canaveral. Herewith, some of the highlights from our time on the high seas:

The Sensation in port  at Freeport, Bahamas

The Ship 

Our ship was the Carnival Sensation and it was huge (though certainly not the biggest ship out there. At the next pier over was the Royal Caribbean Freedom of the Seas which towered over our vessel.) Walking into the huge main atrium, looking up five or six stories at the massive skylight above you're suitably impressed by the size of the ship. There's space for a jogging track, a mini-golf course, several waterpark-worthy water slides, and of course the swimming pool. Indoors there's the gym, spa, salon, casinos, various nightclubs and lounges, and an expansive entertainment stage where Vegas-style musical revues are performed each night. At first it was easy to get lost onboard, but after a day we began to get our bearings, and before long we could navigate the vessel from end to end with ease. We found the ship is big but gets smaller the more time you spend on it. But it never gets so small you feel cramped.

The view from the top.  We gathered here with a lot of our fellow travelers as the liner left Port Canaveral

Another view as we departed Port Canaveral

The atrium is a great place to get a sense of the sheer size of the ship as you can see muliple deck levels all at the same time here.

Looking up at the massive skylight in the main atrium.  Doesn't it seem like Batman should come crashing through there at some point?

It's also big enough that you almost never feel the ship moving--something I'd always had a little anxiety about. I've always been a little prone to motion sickness and didn't want to end up spending most of the trip curled up over the toilet returning all the free cruise food. I brought along a healthy supply of dramamine but found I only used it twice. One pill on the first night at sea, and one the last night. Neither occasion demanded the remedy, but I did notice some motion and figured I'd better be safe than sorry. Mrs. Arthurs and I were the only ones who were even slightly affected by the motion of the ocean, and it didn't impinge on our enjoyment of the trip at all.

This web photo of an interior stateroom on a Carnival vessel is identical to the one we stayed in, right down to the color scheme and flat screen TV.  The upper bunk folds away during the day.  There is another set of bunks located at the photographer's vantage point.  Very comfy.

The Staterooms
The staterooms were much better than I expected. I envisioned a closet of a room, a place to change, sleep, and shower and that's all, especially since we'd purchased the cheapest rooms available, windowless interior rooms down in the bowels of the ship. I figured stateroom was an overstatement, a marketing ploy to dress up steerage class, but was pleasantly surprised to find we got substantially more than that. The rooms were small, yes, bu big enough to be comfortable. Our room slept four, with two overhead bunks that were folded away during the day, opening up the room a bit. I actually found the room cozy rather than claustrophobic. A nice touch was the curtained wall-space which gave the illusion of a window, which was surprisingly helpful in preventing one from feeling penned in. The only drawback is that in an interior room it's all too easy to oversleep. 9:00 A.M. feels the same as 4:00 A.M. with no sunlight to clue you in. I shared a room with three of the boys--"The Attorney" (so named for his considerable debating skills--skills he employed on me ad nauseum for reasons big and small all school year long!), "The Quiet Man" (the verbal opposite of "The Attorney") and "Asian Pop Star" (so named because of his super-trendy style). Pastor Johnson shared a room a few doors down with "Freshboi" and his son who I will call "Youngmoney" after one of his many Facebook appellations. "The Rose" and Mrs. Arthurs were quite a hike forward on the same deck as the rest of us.

A view of just part of the gargantuan buffet on the Lido deck of a Carnival cruise ship.  I snagged this photo from the web, and our particular vessel's buffet didn't look exactly like this, but this gives you the general idea.

The Lido Deck
 One of the great perks of cruising is the free food! Indeed one of the key selling points when we decided to go on a cruise was that once you're onboard everything is free (well, almost everything--but the food--all of it--is definitely free). The first place we all headed after depositing our carry-ons (our larger bags would be delivered by the porters later on in the day) in our staterooms was the Lido deck where an endless array of food awaited us. Apparently all cruise ships have a Lido deck, where the outdoor pool and surrounding facilities are located.  For us though, the Lido deck meant a sumptuous buffet spread available at virtually all hours of the day.  Even though the main buffet was only open at meal times, those meal times were several hours in length each and in between the pizzeria and deli were always open.  There was so much food available that I did the opposite of gorging myself on my first meal.  I began with a simple plate of grilled vegetables, olives, and a little eggplant dish.  There was no need to stuff myself because I knew that a feast awaited me at my leisure.

Another view of the Lido deck buffet.  This is the serving line.  Again this is a web photo and not our actual ship.

The Lido deck became one of our favorite hangouts and meeting places.  Leisurely breakfasts of pancakes, scrambled eggs (and a veggie omlet!), hash browns, grits, yogurt, a couple of Danish pastries, washed down with OJ.  Quick snacks of a Rueben from the deli, a late lunch of burgers, fries and fried chicken from the grill, and ice cream—lots of ice cream from the soft serve machines any time you liked.  I confess I had three ice cream cones in a row. . . more than once.  Even when we weren’t eating, we often ended up on the Lido deck.  It was a great place to find a deck chair in the sun or shade and just relax.  Pastor Johnson and I kept up with the NBA championships on the TVs scattered about in the buffet area and the pool bar.  We’d outfitted each of the students with their own walkie-talkies to enable us to keep track of them while allowing them a measure of freedom onboard the ship, but I found that it was easy to keep an eye on them simply by staying on the Lido deck.

"The Rose" and Mrs. Arthurs contemplate their many delicious choices at dinner.  I suppose you could order everything on the menu if you wanted. It's all free!  On at least one meal,  I did order three items from the starter menu--a soup, a salad, and appetizer plus an entree and a dessert for a true full-course meal

Dinner
 One of the high points of each day on the ship, was our seated dinner time. It was nice to come together with the whole group and share a meal together.  It was also a great opportunity for our students to learn the finer points of fine dining.   The setting was quite elegant—nice china, linen table cloths, and so on.  There is something very egalitarian about the cruise experience. Regular people get to feel rich (and if you're not careful, spend like you're rich). There's no Titanic-like restrictions by class. We cellar dwellers ate at the same table as the people who paid for the fancy high-end staterooms.

The menu was diverse with a couple new selections every night in addition to the “Carnival Classics” that were always available—of course everything on the menu was free. Monday night was Elegant Night and the dress code called for formal wear.  Our kids turned out looking sharp and carried themselves like true lady and gentlemen.  We were waited on by a team of three led by our headwaiter, Julie.  Julie was a friendly and solicitous Filipina and her familiar accent brought back fond memories of Saipan and all our friends in the Filipino community there.

Each evening the entire wait staff led by the maître d presented a short performance—a song or dance or both for our entertainment.  On Tuesday night, “Freshboi” provided one of the more memorable dinnertime moments of the trip.  The wait staff were providing an amateur dance number to the tune of “Apple Bottom Jeans” and of course many of the dinner guests joined in the fun.  “Freshboi” jumped out of his seat and started cutting a rug—and I swear, I thought this only happened in movies—the crowd stopped dancing, made a big circle for him, and cheered him on as he showed his stuff.  I guess all that jiving in the hall on the way back from the bathroom finally paid off.  I admit was more than a little impressed that his moves could command that kind of attention.  

Another enjoyable aspect of the evening was getting to know our tablemates.  You are assigned the same table for duration of the cruise and each table is filled so you usually get an opportunity to share your meal each evening with some of the other guests on board.  Our tablemates were Carol, her daughter Jennifer, and Jennifer’s two sons.  The family was from Orlando and had decided on the cruise as a last minute treat.  Getting to know them over dinner was a pleasure.

Passengers living it up on the Lido deck

The Fun Ship
 We cruised with Carnival. They did a great job from start to finish. I had a "personal vacation planner" who knew my by name and was my direct contact from the time I first enquired about the cruise, through our reservations process, and the months leading up to the trip. A big thanks to Roy at Carnival for all your help!  Once on board, the attention to detail and fantastic service continued.  The stateroom steward took the time to learn my name and always greeted me as we passed in the hall.   Guest services allowed “Asian Pop Star” to call his parents from their phone free of charge (Normally, it would have cost over $5 per minute.  And it wasn’t even a dire emergency—at least in my opinion.  He wanted to look even more like an Asian pop star and dye his hair an Asian pop star brown.  I --and the salon staff--wouldn’t allow him to do it unless I knew for sure his parents would allow it.  They gave the okay, but then it turned out he couldn’t get it done anyway because the dye allergy test wouldn’t clear before the cruise ended.  I was also very impressed with how the stylist broke the news to a deeply disappointed “Asian Pop Star”).   At  dinner the maître d arranged for us to change tables to escape smoke drifting down from the lounge upstairs and got us in for late seating when we missed our assigned early seating due to a late return from our day in Nassau.  In every aspect, I found the service and attention outstanding.

One of the neat things the stewards do each night when they turn down our beds, is leave a towel folded in the shape of an animal.  On this particular night, I think it was Wednesday night, June 8, they left us a towel crab.

Carnival bills its vessels as the “fun ships.”  And indeed the emphasis from the moment we boarded was to provide as many ways for the guests to have fun as possible.  Each evening we found a schedule of the next days’ activity choices onboard the ship and there was always something going on.  I’d say we took advantage of about 1% of all the activities they had available, and we were never bored.  Carnival cruise ships remind me a lot of the Pacific Islands Club resort in Saipan—a floating P.I.C.  They have the same international cast of young staff members and the same emphasis on keeping things exciting.   

For the first two full days of the cruise, we were ashore for most of the day.  Still we ate on board the ship and there was plenty of time in the evening to take advantage all the ship had to offer.  The last day of the cruise, Wednesday, June 8, we were at sea for the full day and we were able to take full advantage of everything on board.   The kids spent most of their time revolving between the Lido deck and Circle C, a youth club for kids 12-14 that provided a steady stream of activities and games throughout the day and well into the night.   They also made occasional forays to the gym, where I’d supervise them while they tried out the various machines.  Their main goal was social—to make new friends, particularly girls. (“The Rose” was content with privileging some of her classmates with the pleasure of her company as she saw fit—you can imagine the drama among the fellows on that count!)  

"The Attorney" above and "The Rose" below, working out in the onboard gym

Surprisingly the kids didn’t utilize the pool or the waterpark very much at all.  The boys swam briefly a few times, but complained that the water “didn’t feel right.”  I’m not sure what they meant by that, as I didn’t swim myself. The pool and the two whirlpools on either side of it were usually pretty crowded anyway.  I did try one of the slides in the waterpark though on our last day and found it quite refreshing after reading on a sunny deck chair for an hour or so.

On the full day at sea, I also popped into see one of the short shows/contests they had throughout the day.  The one I saw was a version of the newlywed game featuring one couple that had been married 51 years, one couple that had been married 26 years, and one couple that had been married for four days.  The game was hosted by Skip, the ship’s Australian cruise director.  It was quite funny, and I enjoyed trying to guess what Babs and I might have replied to the questions.  Unfortunately I missed the reveal of the couple’s responses as I was called away to deal with “Asian Pop Star’s” hair dye drama. 

It’s quite possible to fill your day onboard the ship and never spend a dime.  It’s also possible to spend quite a lot. If you want to drink soda, you can pay three bucks a pop plus gratuity or spend $24 for a soda card that allows you to drink unlimited  soda for the duration of the cruise.  Carnival also employs a small crew of ubiquitous photographers who take pictures of you as you board the ship, as you disembark at each port of call, and as you eat dinner.  In addition they have a multitude of backdrops set up along the promenade deck where you can have professional portraits of all kinds taken.  The pictures are displayed on a wall of photos in the main atrium and you can pick and choose which ones you’d like to keep.  A full-size 8 X 10 will set you back well over $20, so buying pics can add up fast.  At our last dinner, the students presented Mrs. Arthurs and me each with a leather bound professional photo of my students and me that we took during the Elegant Night.  It’s a beautiful photo, I must say—everyone looks like the most beautiful versions of themselves.  I’m sure it must have set them back a pretty penny, and I was touched that they used some of their personal funds that way.   Carnival also offers to book shore excursions for each of the ports of call.  The cheapest of these excursions, the basic tour of Nassau runs about $45 per person, with activities such as the Dolphin Encounter in Freeport or the visit to the legendary Atlantis resort in Nassau costing over $100 per person.  If you can’t be away from the web for four days, you can pay a hefty fee to use wi-fi or connect using one of the ship’s computers.  Likewise, cell-phones are functional throughout the cruise, but you’ll be charged exorbitant international rates when you make or receive calls (and, I’m told, roaming charges that are assessed even if you never make a single call).  We just turned our phones off for the duration of the trip.

In addition to these optional expenses, expect to be charged $10 per person per day for gratuities.  These funds go to the wait staff that serve you at dinner, the steward and other housekeeping staff, and other behind-the-scenes workers.  To be fair, if you’re going to leave a fair tip you’d probably spend that much or more anyway, but the $160 for gratuities that our room was charged sure hit the wallet hard.  You’re also expected to leave a generous tip in cash for the maître d on the last night of the cruise.  I don’t begrudge any of the gratuities but in the future I’ll be prepared for the added expense.  Even though I knew we would need to tip, I was still caught a little flatfooted with the amount we ended up spending.

Spending is dangerously easy on the ship.  Each guest is given a Sign and Sail card when they check in.  This card is used for any and all purchases on the ship—the soda card, gift shop purchases, photos etc—and the amount charged is assessed to your credit card automatically when the cruise is over, or you can pay in cash if you prefer.  Because charging is so easy, I imagine it would be easy to rack up quite a bill without realizing it.

The Sensation, right,  in port in Nassau.  In the foreground is a Royal Caribbean vessel, the Majesty of the Seas, I think.

When all is said and done, I have to say that I wouldn’t mind cruising again.  I think it would be a lot of fun with my family.  I might be interested in trying another line like Royal Caribbean, but I’ve heard that some of the other cruise lines skew towards an elderly clientele, and I like the variety of activities available for kids and families on the Carnival Fun Ships.  It’d be nice to splurge abit and get a room with a view or even a balcony.  There’d be lots we could do with the Feller and could even leave him at Camp Carnival (the kids camp/day care for children from ages 2-11) for a little while and spend some time together just the two of us.

 Congratulations, Carnival!  You’ve converted this cruise skeptic!  Hopefully sometime in the near future, I’ll have the chance to hit the high seas again.

Unfortunately, the only photo I could get of an entire cruise ship was of the Royal Caribbean vessel, which was blocking our ship.  You can just make out the water slide of the Sensation peeking out from behind the mammoth RC ship.