Propeller’s Turning The Deep Seas

As I am on the deep sea, gazing on the horizon seeing the sunset, sunrise and the moon from afar. As I am sailing through the waters, I can hear the splash of the water from the ship, hearing the propeller’s from a distance, enjoying the sounds of the cruise ship, and taking in the pure clean air. I am on my way to the aft of the ship and can hardly wait to listen to the propeller’s do its work. A lot of thought and positive goodness comes from it all.

I absolutely love seeing the beautiful bluish colour of the water and bubbles around it and the occasional splash. I love spending time looking at it during the day, and as it gets dark, all you can see is the dark waters, but still incredibly amazing to hear and to feel it in your soul. It was amazing and my eyes were so relaxed and it was great. Often times, we are so invested into screen time, and when I went to watch the water turning, it was such a great way to relax the eyes.

I don’t see many people on cruise ships often admiring that part of the ship, and enjoying looking at the sea. Passengers are often couped up into spa treatments, massages, in the restaurants, bars, pool decks, and inside looking and buying things from the shops, but how often do we take aback from all those and simply go out on deck, take a chair, lounging and taking in the true beauty of nature and disconnect from screens and just take in the moment? I don’t really see it happen. I am sure there are people like me, but it is scarce.

With little time we have to spend with the vessel, it is important to take time to smell nature and appreciate each second we have onboard on one of the most unique and awesome ways to see the world and travel. The propellers that turn the waters of the deep seas are incredible and a huge marvel of technology, engineering and it is so powerful and incredly amazing.

Life on the high seas is definitely different. I feel the positivity, the happiness, the joy and appreciating the simplest and yet most incredible things onboard such as the propellers and watching the ship sail. Often times we are too invested in reviewing the ship with feedback, but I feel that some passengers need to up their game and to really reflect on nature and the sounds.

I remember having conversations with the master captain and officers of the vessel’s I have been on, and I couldn’t help myself with so much excitement to talk to them about the ship, to give them compliments, and telling them my story of the propellers and how much joy it brings me and my life just watching it all unfold. They had never really heard of passengers being so invested into the very interesting parts of it and going behind the scenes and actually exploring these mighty ships. They really appreciated what I had to say and to relate to their passion of these vessel’s.

So, the next time you get onboard a cruise ship, don’t forget to see the simple things and enjoy the moment and take it all in, to not be so critical and to fully live life to the fullest extent and to really hear the sounds of nature and to appreciate each moment that comes.

Cruise Reviews and Cruise Ship Travel

Cruise Ship travel is incredibly awesome. Most of the time the things we read online about cruise ships and other people’s reviews on them misleads people and There are always people with a negative approach to everything. Well, here I am to debunk those reviews and to tell you the truth from an honest traveller like myself. When it comes to travel stuff of any kind, I am serious about it. I don’t just talk out of thin air. Here are cruise questions people frequently ask…

Aren’t cruises boring?

– Far from it. Not boring at all. There is so much to do onboard that you have no time to be bored. Cruise Ships are built so big now, and with so much to do on many of their decks. You hardly have time to spend in your own stateroom. You do not have time to waste. Everything is fabulous and you enjoy every second of it.

Don’t you get sea/motion sickness?

– Now, with the ships new designs, stabilizers and the massive and huge ships that are built, you barely even feel the ship moving. Technology has come a long way.

Why do we have to be back on the ship an hour or half an hour before the ship disembarks to another destination?

– Ship crew needs half an hour or so to take off the ropes/anchors (on tendering ports), gangway disassembles, need to put ship equipment back onto the ship, and need clearance from the port to give the okay to leave the port. Captain and his/her officers are in constant contact with the port workers and pilot boat operators to leave the port, so that is why people need to be on board.

What if we miss the ship?

You need to find your way to the next port of call – call the emergency phone line on your cruise embarkation/disembarkation card and notify the ship of what happened. Sometimes ships do wait for passengers, but sometimes due to the number of people onboard the ship, they need to leave because of time constraints. If a ship is late in the port, they pay fines.

How do we know what to do onboard the ship or in a port of call destination?

Everyday on your door or in your stateroom cabin, you will receive a newsletter of events happening on the ship and excursions or whatever else. You will see dining times, the dress code for the day, theme parties, and amongst specials going on at the stores and boutiques onboard. It’s always great to participate in everything onboard and make it a fun experience for you. They also show you what entertainment shows are on for the night. Some cruise ships, you have to book the shows due to the number of people on the ship. Also, now cruise lines have Apps that you can download on your phone and it will tell you everything going on for that day. All you need to do is put your booking number and your name and you are good to go. Ask or research the onboard cruise line APP and download it before you go on board and log your information in.

Any other questions, let me know.

Cruise Ship Etiquette – Kindness goes a long way

A crew member of a cruise ship of Royal Caribbean went overboard. As you may or may not know, cruise employees get depressed and spend a lot of time alone and are always working and are away from family and friends for 6 to 8 even sometimes up to 9 months from home on the oceans and seas and different ports of call.

I’ve witnessed passengers that come on vacation being so rude to them, demanding and say the most terrible things to them. They work their tail off and I see how hard it is to keep up a smile from them, how they manage to seem strong but passengers add fuel to the fire sometimes and the crew sometimes get to their breaking point. These people sacrifice being away from home from months at a time and the only way to stay in touch is by phone and messages. It’s really hard.

Kindness and patience go a long way. Treat them with dignity and respect. The way you treat others does affect the way they work and serve. Some people don’t realize that. Cruise work is a lot more difficult than an All inclusive resort. There are a lot more people on a ship to serve.
These crew people go through a lot and they have to make a living to provide for their families they hardly get to see. They go home for 2 to 3 months then back on the ship they go.

Kind attitude goes a long way. It does matter more than you think.

Atlantis Hotel, Resort, Casino – Nassau Bahamas – Disappointing

Atlantis Hotel, Resort, Casino
Nassau, Bahama’s.
MSC Seaside Cruise — Last Port of Call.
January 18, 2019
Disappointing –

In 2002, when we were on Costa Atlantica cruise ship, we went to Atlantis and we were able to visit the whole facility and to walk around without being heckled and stopped by hotel security saying these spots are for people who are staying at the hotel and we need to see ID. Now, in 2019, we decided to go after many years later, and we were not permitted to access key points to the hotel. Oh yeah and unless you pay a large amount to enter everywhere its ok.

After a day of walking, taking a water taxi boat ride for $4.00 per person per way, we walked quite the distance to reach the hotel/resort, we were excited to be back on the grounds. Little did we know that almost all areas were blocked off, except for the Casino and the shops where they know they are places where people will spend money, but then some areas where you do not have to spend money and they don’t allow you through. We were so disappointed. We had told the security that we just walk a long distance from our ship to come to visit, and we get turned away.

We told them that what if one day we come and stay here at this hotel? Now, we know not to. It is so overrated anyway. We were so tired and the sun was shining hot. We said time to walk the distance again and go to the water taxi and go back to our beautiful ship and relax. It was absolutely disappointing.

Cruise Travel Inspiration — Cruise Ship

Did a lot of thinking about so many details while I was on my cruise… ⚓️⚓️⚓️

As I was looking at the deep sea/ocean sailing through the many miles of salt water, I can see fellow cruise ships from different cruise lines and sizes, cargo ships, and other vessel’s from afar wondering where they are going. I also noticed parts of land which belongs to the Caribbean islands as we were sailing to our next port of call. I Was waking up fresh and happy every morning way before sunrise to see we have reached another place and a couple of days of sailing on the seas.

I was taking in the fresh clean air of the sea spending every day on my balcony morning and night, just looking at the moon shining down on the water so clearly and beautifully admiring mother nature’s beauty and gazing at the sunrise enjoying the little time I have on the vessel. I was living in the moment, embracing life and how beautiful it can be.

Often times we are too invested in being too busy with life, and we don’t take time out of our lives to embrace life’s pleasures and how beautiful it can be. I was happy to disconnect from my device that week to really remember to enjoy the scenery without a screen in my face, especially when you travel and when you are on a cruise ship.

I remember saying a few words to myself in my head, and thinking about how interesting travel can be and there were so many different types of transportation we used during that week starting from a van, aircraft, bus transfer to port of Miami, a cruise ship vessel, a water taxi boat and a tendering boat(which takes you to shore from the ship that is anchored in the water).

When we were visiting Costa Maya, Ocho Rios, Grand Cayman, Nassau Bahamas and Miami all in a week, I said to myself cruising is the way to go and it’s such a great way to get around.

As I experienced cruising many years ago; the industry has come a long way since then with these vessel’s that are enormously huge and massive with thousands of passengers and crew onboard. The terminology and phrases used on ships are very different. I love the food, the entertainment onboard, the ambience, seeing different cultures and backgrounds, and so much more. I loved every moment.

Don’t even second guess, don’t look at negative reviews from negative people. If you ever get a chance to go on a cruise, please go and don’t waste any more time. Don’t even think twice about it. Just go. It was my 5th cruise and I can’t wait for the next one. Panama Canal is my next more than Europe. Europe is overrated and it gets tiring. Your life will change forever and it did for me. ⚓️⚓️⚓️

In The Heart Of The Sea – Moby Dick — Herman Melville

In The Heart of The Sea

Film Creator and Director: Ron Howard

Played by Actor Chris Hemsworth as Owen Chase.

Moby Dick – Based on the novel story.

Author: Herman Melville
Published: October 18, 1851

In my words about the movie and the true meaning behind it: 

It was a compelling movie. It tells a story, it captivates the hearts of many, the will to survive, the will to sacrifice, the will to go on, the bravery, to battle one of mother nature’s strongest most dangerous to battle the wild water, sea creatures, the violent weather, a vessel in the midst of everything, crossing paths with those who talk unrealistically to try to succeed in bringing a valuable resource in the world to the rich, so the rich become richer, where the mid and low-class work hard in dangerous and treacherous conditions to endanger themselves for the sake of doing so. The unfortunate thing is that they harm a sea creature in order to get that resource.  The sea creature is the whale. 

Most of the time it ends in tragedy and hopefully teaches the greatest lesson in life to never test mother nature’s strength and most importantly never to test what God created. It will eventually be the boomerang effect and come back to haunt you.

The vessel/sail ship that they took out to sea was named “The Essex” of Nantucket.

The survivors of the journey to the sea come back home to describe what had happened and why some of the passengers of the vessel did not survive and the ship that eventually listed, and sunk. They were embarrassed what was the end of the Essex. Of course, it was a mammoth sized whale.

Ben Whishaw plays the part of Author Herman Melville who writes the story.

A lot of lessons to be learned from this movie. If you have not seen “In The Heart Of The Sea”, I suggest you do.

All this and more.

A little bit about the Author Herman Melville:

Herman Melville was an American Novelist who also wrote poetry, short stories and one of his most popular was “In The Heart of The Sea” of Moby Dick.
He was born on August 1st, 1819 in New York City and passed away on September 28th, 1891 in New York City.

He has been influenced by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Edgar Allan Poe, and among many others

The Carnival Triumph – It Could Have Been Much Worse

As you may or may not know, The Carnival Triumph of Carnival Cruise lines engine on the ship caught fire which led to a power outage on the ship and passengers were left stranded for 5 days with deplorable conditions on board the ship and the Triumph made it safely to Mobile, Alabama where all passengers and crew were disembarked off the ship safely. Ladies and gentlemen, I think were missing the big picture here with people going so crazy over this mishap and people filing lawsuits against the cruise line, but it would have been much worse and the officers and crew of the ship played a heroic part in saving the passengers on board and helped with the conditions as much as they could.

People around the world in impoverished, third world countries that have little or no power and who live in unsanitary conditions and there are people who have it a lot worse than what happened on this cruise ship of just 5 days where people live a lifetime of these conditions all the time. It is very important to think about what we do and say with our actions. Some people haven’t seen the way people live in the world, and I have seen the way people live, I’ve traveled to places and seen the way their lives are. What happened on this cruise ship shouldn’t even be justified as a HUGE ISSUE, because what should matter most is people are alive, well, and off the ship reunited with families. Accidents happen unfortunately and people should really think about their actions. I know what happened was horrifying and scary in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico and I sympathize with what everyone went through, but then again it could have been a whole lot worse like the whole ship catching on fire or part of the ship. Thank goodness it was just the Engine area, and it didn’t poke a hole to the ships bottom or else, there would have been more problems, but rescue teams, and boats tugged and towed the ship to the port and everyone did their part to make sure The Triumph gets to land safe and sound.

I mean that is what should matter at the end right? Lawsuits should not happen, and I am sure people will make up stories and try their best to get thousands and thousands of dollars. Instead of saying thank goodness nothing serious happened, people should thank their lucky stars. People are way too dramatic and there will always be people who will not appreciate, they will criticize, and do what they can to get justice, but its something that I wouldn’t want to happen to myself either, and its something that I wouldn’t want to go through, but you know what? Worse things can and could have happened on board the ship. The ship is now being cleaned and repaired right away after the Triumph was docked at the port. I thank and congratulate Carnival Cruise lines for a job well done to make sure passengers, crew members and officers are all safe and sound and that the rescue team efforts did a marvelous and great job to ensure everyone’s safety. That is all that should matter is that there were no fatalities, everyone’s safe and gone back home.

That is all there is to it.

Cruise Ship Travel – Yes Or No?

In Life there are so many ways you can travel and experience new places, take memories home with you for a life time and so many things. Various forms of travel teaches us a thing or two about life and exploring the world, however due to the recent events that happened on board the Carnival Triumph Cruise ship of Carnival Cruise lines that an engine caught fire leading to power outage on the cruise ship with toilets not functioning and more than 4200 passengers and crew aboard the Triumph were completely deserted until rescue came along. They arrived last night safely to the port and it took them hours to tow the ship to the port to get the passengers and crew off the ship safely. My thoughts and prayers go out to all of them and hope they found their way back to their loved ones and are okay. Now the ultimate question on Cruise Ship travel, would you go? Or wouldn’t you go?

To me, Cruise Ship travel is something so incredible and you get to sail to many countries and places all in one vacation. I know some of the incidences that happened with Costa Concordia, Carnival Triumph may deter and prevent people from going on a cruise, but to me, I would still go on a cruise. I love cruise ships a lot and I had studied them a lot and I would pin point which cruise ships would dock at the ports and among everything else. I am very happy I got to travel on 5 cruise ships of all sizes. I want to go on the Oasis of The Seas from Royal Caribbean Cruise line and I want to travel on the bigger cruise ships. I know that it might sound crazy with everything that has happened with the cruises in the past year and a bit, but It will not prevent me from sailing on another ship again. It depends on the cruise line and cruise company you go with too. Do your research, Is the cruise line reputable? It also depends on individuality too and what you want out of a cruise ship trip vacation. Now in your opinion, would you sail on a cruise ship? Have you been on a cruise ship before? What are your feelings and thoughts about them? What Cruise line would you sail with? What do you know about cruise ships instead of the obvious?

To me, I would go on a cruise ship no problem. All the best to everyone!

My Trip to Varadero, Cuba from February 5-12, 2012

Last week I embarked on a wonderful travel journey to Varadero, Cuba. I got to travel with Sunwing Airlines which I really enjoyed the service and they gave us champagne, complimentary headsets, great food, then to end the flight with a sunwing airlines chocolate mint. It was my 10th time in Cuba and I must say it was an incredible time. The weather was beautiful and hot, the turquoise seas were there right before my eyes, every opportunity I had, I was in the ocean swimming and getting that salt water on me which did wonders for my mild psoriasis that I have and it took away the dry skin condition I have. I spent time just under the sun and I got a tan. I met some really nice people and made friends with them instantly. I made friends from Chile, Russia, Vancouver, Ontario, and made some more Cuban friends.

I really enjoyed Varadero. I took the Varadero Bus tour hop on hop off double decker bus like England, and toured around the whole strip and it was so beautiful, an array of hotels, resorts all over, the palm trees with coconuts, the hot sun, saw so many vintage and old cars from the 50’s, 60’s, So many souvenir shops around with so many unique things. Cuba is all around a beautiful country with beautiful people. I met the famous baseball team of Cuba of Matanza’s province and later I watched them play on the TV they had at the lobby and they won. So I hung out with them after the win at the hotel and it was a blast. There was also a pageant of the Resort I stood at called Miss Oasis and I won first place. So I am Miss Oasis, so they gave me a bottle of Blumans Ginebra.

the last couple of days the ocean was very rocky and the currents were very strong, so the lifeguard and the administration of the resort, prohibited the guests from swimming as it was very dangerous, so everyone hung out by the pool side and a lot of people went into town. The winds were so strong and then after that, It was our last day and after checking out, we hung out with our newly made friends until we left to the Varadero Airport to come home. We were delayed for an hour coming home, but coming home safe and sound is the important part. I don’t really care if there is a delay. I would rather have the delay, then to have something terrible happen or something. Always have to play it safe….  Here are some pictures.

Another Travel Blog — I Love Cruise Ship Travel

In My Life I have taken 4 Cruise Ship voyages in the Caribbean and I must say it puts a whole new twist in the travel industry. Its incredible how one travel, takes you to several places all at once. I have been to almost all the Caribbean Islands and some I have stayed right in them such as Cuba, Dominican Republic. I have had so much experience traveling and so my family and I thought lets try cruising this time instead of going All Inclusive all the time to the resorts. in the year of 2000 going into 2001, My dad and I we were looking at Cruise Ship travel  for my family to go away again and we looked all over the net, and as well as going to various travel agent offices to obtain our copies of cruise brochures and books.

We did decide on a cruise and we went with a smaller cruise ship which was the Sundream at the time. We booked it and we decided to go on the last day of the year. We flew to Montego Bay, Jamaica and from there we went on board our ship and we celebrated the new year on board. From Montego bay we went to Cayman Islands, Cozumel, Dominican Republic, Havana, Cuba. We had such a wonderful experience, so our selection of the ship size were getting bigger and bigger. We then sailed Sundream’s Sistership the Sunbird from Aruba, a year later. We sailed to St Kitts, Antigua, Barbados, St Maarten. It was so lovely to see different Caribbean island Cultures and the people there. It was incredible. Definitely an experience of a lifetime.

In 2002, we sailed on Costa Cruises, the Costa Atlantica. This ship is Huge! I was about 17-18 at the time. It was a lot of fun. We flew to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, we went to Port Everglades. We saw about 8 other Cruise ships and they were so enormous in size and then we heard the Cruise ship Horn and it was ever so loud sailing out from Florida port. We then sailed to St. Thomas, Nassau, Bahamas, Costa’s Private Island, San Juan, Puerto Rico. At the time Digital Camera’s were starting to come out, but we had the other camera with the film, so we took so many rolls with us. It was incredible to see all these places that I have always heard about from the news, and doing so much research on all countries before getting to them. It was so incredible.

I just love different types of travel. Since then, I created an e-mail address with Cruiseship360 and i had that for a while. I still do, but i rarely use it anymore. I believe travel is one of the most incredible things about life and just going and seeing the world and just taking it all in. So I can say that I am well traveled and being on Airplanes, Cruise Ships, Buses, Cars, Trains, have been part of most of my life. I want to thank my dad for taking me to all these places. My dad has done so much for my family and I to go out and enjoy the world together, to travel, to get that experience instilled in us and since he introduced to us to travel, I love it so much that everytime I hear we are going somewhere, I am so excited and usually the first one to start planning, packing, researching for hours on end online about it, looking at photos, reading other peoples reviews, going to the ends of the internet to fully satisfy me until we go on that trip. I also go to the travel agencies and pick up oodles of books of pictures of the place or the ship I am going on and I would cut them up and put them in a special box of my travels. All my boarding passes from planes, my cruise ship stuff, all these things are kept in boxes. Like I said I am a very sentimental person in previous blogs ago.

I am so not a patient person when it comes to traveling. I would put countdowns, count the days on my calendar, put x’s on the days that go by and just go shopping. I notice everytime we book, the days seem to get a lot longer and the wait is crazy long. I sometimes try not to think about the trip I am going on so that I don’t torture myself, but then again I cannot lol. I am so impatient and I tend to talk alot about my upcoming trip. I used to do that a lot, but to be honest I am guilty and I still do it. lol. Everytime at the dinner table, during breakfast, or were sitting down in the living room with my family or when we go out, our trip is always on my mind and it cannot get out.

If you have any traveling planned and if its your first time or if you need information, do not hesitate to contact me. I will be happy to assist you.

Thanks for dropping by.