Cruising with Audrey to the Bahamas - August 2009 - originally posted 2/27/10

We first met in Kansas City near the airport the night before we flew out to Miami - which was Thursday August 13, 2009. We flew out of KS City on August 14th. J drove A down & then I took her home afterwards before coming on home.

We had to be at the airport early! Then we are in the gate & hear a kid of about 12 sobbing horribly! We finally get on the plane late & find ourselves sitting in front of the family with the sobbing kid! Just before the door is shut, the parents take the kid & get off.

We arrive in Miami, get our car & drive to West Palm Beach to my in-law's house until Monday AM. A's friend L, who was also her maid of honor, meets us there. We have a wonderful relaxing visit. The girls & I even getting in their pool, me knitting on my 1st pair of socks, etc.

Monday, L leaves & then we leave. Our ship sails at 4 pm, I believe. We get to Miami, drop off the car, get a taxi to the docks, check our bags (1 duffle bag gets destroyed - the entire end ripped off, but I think they manage to find if not everything, then nearly everything! - including an ugly shoe that didn't belong to us!). Before the ship (Royal Caribbean's Majesty of the Seas) sailed, we got our first mojito! That felt so decadent to me!

This cruise, we didn't have any sea days, Monday left Miami, Tuesday in Nassau, Wednesday in Coco Cay,, Thursday in Key West & Friday back to Miami. Even with wearing my knee brace, A & I managed to walk approximately 9 miles across Nassau & saw many terrific sites. We did a little shopping and then we stopped in a local restaurant & had a late lunch before heading back to the ship. Then we got another drink & went out onto the deck to relax as the ship sailed, until it started sprinkling on us.

Tuesday was Coco Cay - a privately owned island owned by Royal Caribbean. A wanted to snorkel, I was originally intending to try to walk the nature trail about it, but after she was stung by jelly fish several times & considering how much stress I had put on my knee the day before, we just decided to head back to the ship and then go & enjoy the massages that we had arranged for the day before. Of course when we got to the spa, we found out that had mistakenly put us down for the exact same things so while they had told us before that we wouldn't be able to be together for them at that time, they had actually put us into the same room. So we got it corrected on what we each wanted & it all worked out - I got scalp, neck, shoulder, back, foot & ankles massages - she got a total body exfoliation, milk bath, scalp, neck & shoulders, I believe.

Thursday was Key West. We walked a lot again while we found Hemingway's home, the Little White House and the Southern most point of the US. We even got to see the 6 toed cats of Hemingway's and then we had a late lunch & drinks at Sloppy Joe's before heading back to the ship.

Last year when we had cruised, we felt we had very rude & horrible tablemates & so we only tried eating dinner with them 2 of the nights, then gave up. This year, we had 2 great couples we shared a table with & we not only had dinner with them every night, we also all stayed at the table talking way after everyone else was leaving! The one couple had just gotten married on Saturday before we cruised & they were from Kansas City. The other couple was a longer married couple from WI, if I remember correctly.

Friday we caught a taxi to the airport & tried to get our tickets moved to standby so that we could leave earlier, but were unable to. So we spent a lot of the day in the airport in Miami. And we seemed to have some of the worst luck when it came to people on the planes! We ended up sitting with a couple who were having an argument! So when the attendant said they needed to move 2 young kids out of the exit row - A & I volunteered to take their places! Then we were also able to spread out a bit & enjoy ourselves.

We were late leaving Miami, so barely made our flight in Detroit - she ran ahead & I came behind because of my knee. We were the last ones on the flight I think, but we made it. We got into Kansas City, caught our shuttle, got the van & headed to her house in MO. Saturday morning, we got up, I got ready & headed to Iowa to visit my natural dad's youngest brother's family - got about 30 miles out & A had changed her mind, so I went back for her. Ended up not getting to my uncles as early as I thought, so a cousin & his wife had to leave, but we did get to see 2 aunts, 1 uncle and 5 cousins before we then headed back to A's. I got up early on Sunday & hit the road home. Made it home about 5 pm & was able to get the dogs before unpacking & getting ready to head back to work on Monday.


I can't wait until I can cruise again!