Kathie’s Fiftieth Birthday Celebration.

In fall of last year I schemed with Kathie’s friend Gail to through a surprise party for Kathie’s 50th birthday. The true planning got underway in early January and Gail and Neil generously offered to have the party at their newly purchased house in Ashburn. The party was planned 10 days before her actual birthday to insure the surprise.

In mid January I asked Kathie what she wanted to do for her birthday and she requested a cruise. We couldn’t let our passports get cold, so we started planning our cruise from Ft. Lauderdale to Key West, Cozumel, and Belize and back.

On February 17th Gail, Neil and I pulled off a flawless surprise party for Kathie with friends from Herndon and work. Kathie was surprised and this started a two week celebration of Kathie’s Birthday.

The Cruise

We booked a 5 day cruise with Royal Caribbean that was scheduled to start on February 26th, the day before the big birthday event.  The week before the cruise we got word from South Carolina that Kathie’s dad was going to have surgery.  The concern that he may need help after surgery made us consider canceling.  We later found out that the surgery was to be scheduled several weeks out so we were back on. We had flights scheduled on Jet Blue for Monday morning and the ship set sail in the afternoon. As the weekend approached another ice storm was predicted for Sunday in the Northern Virginia area. Given Jet Blue’s record in the last ice storm Kathie and I rescheduled to leave Saturday.

We flew into Ft. Lauderdale, rented a car and drove to West Palm Beach to visit my brother Bob and his wife Penny.  On Sunday Kathie and I went out for Breakfast and did some pre-cruise shopping and had a great Italian dinner in Wellington with Bob and Penny.  On Monday Kathie and I got up and drove to Ft. Lauderdale, did more shopping at Sawgrass Mills Mall, took the car rental back to the airport and took a taxi to the pier.

 Boarding:

 

The ship we booked was the “Enchantment of the Seas”. We found our state room and started to explore. We had lunch at the Windjammer Lounge where most buffets were offered. We were anxious to get our luggage because I had a suit that needed to be cleaned before the next day’s dinner.  We would visit our stateroom every 30 minutes or so to see if it had arrived. We checked out our dinning assignment for the “My Fair Lady” dining area. We checked out the pool area and running track of the top deck. We also visited the lounge on the aft tower that had a great view. We did our muster drill at 4:30 and when we got back to the room our luggage had arrived and we called housekeeping to let them know I had a suit to be cleaned.  We got dressed and arrived for our first scheduled dinner to the cruise. The dress code was “smart casual”. We were seated at a table for 6. It appeared that they only sat us and another couple there for the week. The other couple was from Jolliet, Illinois.  Jason and Sarah were celebrating their 10th wedding anniversary.  They were a younger couple, and they made for nice dinner conversation. After dinner we went to the Welcome Aboard Show featuring the comic stylings of Tim Jones. Later we competed in the team trivia compitition and had a drink at the Schooner Bar.

 Day 2: Key West
Key West Pictures

On day 2 we got up for breakfast and took off for the streets of Key West where we spend an hour exploring on our own then returned to the boat to meet up with the “Margaritaville Tour”. The guy who led this tour was names Bo. We went from Captain Tony’s to Margaritaville and learned a bit about  Jimmy Buffet and Key West. After the tour we shopped and stopped off at Sloppy Joe’s  for a drink, (my second for the day). We returned to the boat and joined a wine tasting in the afternoon.  At dinner we celebrated Kathie’s birthday with wine.  After dinner we went to see the first production show, “From Stage to Screen”.  We slept very well that night.

 Day 3: Mexico
Mexico Pictures

On day 3, arrival in Cozumel was late morning so I got up to exercise. The seas were a little rough and the Life Cycles in the exercise area looked out over the stern of the ship. After 20 minutes of riding motion sickness set in and I cut the session short.  I went back to the room took some Dramamine and a 30 minute nap before we left for the days excursion. Although we docked in Cozumel, our excursion for the day was on the Yucatan peninsula and we took a 45 Minute tender ride there. The tender was closed in, and the waters were choppy and I was very happy that I medicated before I left.
 
At the dock on shore we found our tour guide and he took us through the streets of Playa Del Carmen to a van with 4 other people from the ship. The van took over an hour with a stop at a souvenir shop. The tour was of the Mayan ruins of Muyil and a walk through a biosphere of Sian Kha'an.  The sight was interesting and the end of the walked ended at a lagoon that was very cool, but Kathie and I didn’t feel like the tour was worth the time and money. When we returned to Playa Del Carmen we had a little over an hour to shop and get a bite to eat. We took the last tender back to the ship where they were waiting for our boat to return before the ship shoved off. That night we were too late for the formal dinner so we went up to the Windjammer Lounge for the buffet. We took in the show, which included the singer Dolores Park and the comedian Tom Parks. After the long day we hit the bed hard to get  up for an early day 4.

Day 4 Belize:
Belize Pictures

On day 4 we got up for breakfast and took the tender into Belize City for the day’s excursion. The Belize tour took us through Belize City, the tour guide gave us an interesting peek into life in the city. She took great pride to show the prime minister’s house that looked like a middle class house in America.  It had no guard and the tour guide said that the prime minister was very accessible. The bus ride took about an hour and ended at the Mayan village of Altun Ha that was a larger and better-preserved specimen than the Mexican site. The tour guide took us to all the structures and then set us free to climb the tallest of the temples. The climb had stairs and handrails and had a great view of the jungle and the rest of the village. After climbing we headed toward the bus. Next to the parking area was a line of vender shacks with wood carved item and snacks and other wears.   I found wood worker who was also selling hot sauce. This looked like a good gift for my co-workers so I bought a bottle. On the return to Belize City the bus took us through the south part of the city.  Here is where the poor of the city lived. The housing was hard to fathom but it seemed that most people lived happy lives. The schooling was mostly Christian run with government support. The gas stations had no prices listed for view because the government controls the prices. The price of gasoline was about $5.50 US. As we approached our drop off point we were stopped by a parade of mothers and children in a cross street. The parade was either a protest of or in support of daycare and lasted about 15 minutes. We were dropped off outside a restaurant and given a ticket for a free drink. We went into the restaurant and had our drink and then contemplated staying for lunch.  We decided to go back toward the dock in hopes of seeing more of the city. As we entered the pier area we were asked to show our ship pass. This told me that we were in tourist only territory. We chose a restaurant at the pier that offered beans and rice. This is the popular dish of Belize. The rice and beans we got tasted very similar to the packaged dish that we get at home. I think we missed the authentic meal we were looking for.  After eating we caught the next tender back to the boat
We returned to the ship got ready for and went to dinner.  After dinner the ship had departed for the return to Florida and the seas started to get rough. For most of the next 18 hours we had 10 to 12 foot swells.  It was interesting to see people staggering, restaurants carts moving on their own and watching doors open and close on their own. We went to the second stage production “Don’t Stop the Rock” and were interested to see the dancers on stage perform with the rough waves. Later we watched Royal Caribbean’s version of the newlywed game. It was pretty funny. We capped the night by going to the mid-night buffet with ice sculptures and great deserts.
 
Day 5: Cruising
On board Pictures
 
After spending a late night on day 4 and having no port of call on day 5 Kathie and I slept in.  I got up at about 8 and took the laptop to the ship’s library to check email. The ship offered Internet access for 50 cents a minute or package deals the started at $35 for 90 minutes. I checked email 3 times and on day five checked the Clemson basketball score all for 8 or 10 bucks.  I went back to the room and Kathie had started to get up.  We got to breakfast just as they were closing some of the breakfast lines and starting up the lunch lines. We got breakfast then checked around the pool and solarium for a good place to chill. We ended up at the pool under the shade of the running track. The cool breeze off the ocean made for very comfortable temperatures. During the day we took in the Men’s Sexy Leg contest, Back Stage tour, and did a bit of shopping and gambling. We went to a comedy magic show, had a few drinks at the piano bar and watched to adult comedy of Tim Jones. Durring all this we packed our bags for departure the next day and had our last dinner on the ship.

Departure from the Ship:
Palm Beach Pictures

On Saturday we got up for an early breakfast and watched the ship dock in Ft. Lauderdale and then waited for our turn to depart from the ship.  We departed and my brother and sister in-law picked us up. From there we went to the Sea-View restaurant for lunch. This was a great place with good seafood and a great view of the ocean.  After lunch Bob gave us a tour of Palm Beach were we saw, Mara-Largo, the Estee Lauder home and Jimmy Buffet’s home.  We stopped and explored Bethesda, the Episcopal Church where Donald Trump was last married.  After the tour we returned to Bob and Penny’s where we had a nice visit with them and their new dog Sydney. The afternoon went quickly and before it was over we started to plan our next cruise to Alaska! The next morning Bob, Penny and Sydney took us to Ft. Lauderdale airport for our return trip.