Vacation Tales

HEY EVERYBODYYYYY!!!! Did cha miss me?! Alrightty then, lol My first day open enough to actually write something. I have caught up on most of my reading however, glad to see that all in all everyone doing well. I feel like I'm writing in a 'whisper' because my throat is a little raw - I guess sea air and cold ass air don't mix well. I hope I don't get sick. My body is going through some kinda breakdown as we speak and Monday my emotions were on edge - so it's good to be back and back to normal somewhat.

Did I not get those pictures up and out quickly. I'm obsesssed with that. Don't know why. We took about 300 pictures and I weeded them down to about 70 and I gave you all the top of the top. I might post another book, don't know. Hey check out that site however, that I posted them to SMILE BOX. Really cool site! Do something different than the usual with your pictures, it even has music!

Well, you know while away, I jotted down plenty of things to talk about. Then it just got to be too much. I took these last couple of days to kinda upload in my mind the highlights. Let the Tales Begin! (in no particular order)

• Coming into New Orleans, even a couple of years later - we felt a 'somberness' as we came over the bridge and saw remnants of Katrina. From the damaged homes to the shell of Six Flags, the realization of being on the earth when this happened as well as it happening in our lifetime was humbling and we silently looked and paid our respects to the people of New Orleans.
  
  
• People, I can honestly say after thinking it over, I have never been as drunk, as an adult, as I was in New Orleans! Whoo Lawd! You talking bout tore up. We arrived in New Orleans about 5, were on Bourbon Street about 6, I was damn near fall down drunk about 7:30! What in the world do they put in the drinks...UM LIQUOR! LOL LOL I can only do that damn city for one day. About 9 CAUN escorted me back to the hotel for a nap. We woke up about 1am and hit Bourbon Street again and it was still on and poppin and this was an OFF NIGHT. We were coasting into Easter week people this wasn't no mardi gras. I wouldn't have survived that, lol Around 4am we ended up at a Gay 24 hour diner eating grilled cheese and chili dogs. What a freaking night!
  
  
• Why must we always have evidence of our debauchery, lol The actual text message I sent "Janet" exactly as it was written: on bourbon street rocking my bead and on my second tequila sunrise in the big cup. now I am drinking cranberry adn avsolut. Ilove new orleans and and vsvr wair tivsee rhesvlics sex. CLASSIC! Don't ask me what the hell I was talking about.
  
  
• CAUN and I had a bet that he would see someone he knew during this trip. Every where we go, he knows someone. Well we were standing in a store in Costa Maya Mexico and this woman was commenting on this VERY nice water cooler set. CAUN did as well, they look at each other and lo and behold - they knew each other! They worked together. She was on another boat. So I won the bet, but then we were walking out of the Stardust Lounge on our ship and this woman who was escorting her even older mother stepped to me and said "Are you Stormeka?" You talking about us falling out laughing. She was like "I recognize you from a cruise site by your hairstyle" So I won double or nothing cause this middle aged keebler recognized me by my more obscure screen name, lol lol
  
  
• I was trying to look out the cabin window and the curtain was stuck. So I yanked it and it came down half way. I grabbed my bag and jokingly told CAUN I was about to jet - in the middle of laughing the 'announcement' bong sounded and suddenly there was a voice in our room. I screamed, burst out in tears and tried to run out the cabin and leave him there! It was hilarious! He was like 'you aint no super hero you a punk,lol' we still laughing about that one.
  
  
• Did you really say you got a cab to take you to get some Belizian Coochie? (some other passengers) Lawd have mercy! When on the customs form they ask, have you been exposed to any disease - please put down - give me 30 days and I'm sure I'll be brewing something or the other.
  
  
• We didn’t get college spring breakers, we got Senior Trippers. I saw the littlest people march through several times and it looked like they were having fun. The say 10-13 year olds were hanging out doing the ‘tween’ thing. Lawd, maybe it’s a cultural thang – but I have never seen so many young adults having permission, being supported and encouraged in….DRINKING! I can’t really believe that all of those Seniors were 18 and even then 18 is a good three years away from 21. We saw some kids who were never without a drink. At the beach they also were knee deep in harder libations as well. They were not unruly, but my momma and I would not be sitting down having a drink of anything together at 18.
  
  
• We did find it kinda disturbing that they constantly took over the night club every night. All that simulated sex every single night became disturbing. Girl on Girl, Two boys on Girl – all the girls should know they toes intimately, because that’s all they saw bent over all night. Just back the fuck up on the dance floor and whomever attaches to your ass - that's where you'll be. Yea I know the times dictate what they dicate, but class and decency are continuous.
  
  
• The food was good. I am an Indian Food Fanatic – the vegetarian cuisine for the week was...Indian food, so having a choice of some Indian Food Dish for Seven Days sealed it for me! We ate in the main dining area twice, we ate at East meets West once (the speciality steak house), and the sports deck once. We ordered room service several times. The food in the Buffet was good most days and nights. If you have been to Golden Corral or Picadilly then there you have it. I did find that sometimes it was soo hot under the covers that you almost got 3rd degree burns trying to get your food. There was always enough and enough choices for everyone. THE FRIED CHICKEN SUCKED! Either get some Southerns back there or take it off the menu. My husband ate so many freaking hamburgers w/oinions and mushrooms – I thought he was going to start moo’ing.
  
  
• The Blacks - well first of all, why must we always take the stance that once we move to another level, we've arrived? I saw plenty of that on the ship. It took us several more days than keeblers to feel each other out. Some of us never felt each other out. That's cool. I have found that on average it takes us 72 hours to decide whether or not we are going to be social with one another if we are spending more than $100, lol lol Once we do however, it's on and poppin and we had a great time with the crew we hung with. We exchanged emails etc. and I have some additonal pictures to send to a couple of folks.
  
  
• Um the workers on board the ship and the people indigeious to the ports ARE NOT SLAVES and shouldn't be treated that way. Why the nasty attitude and tone of voice when speaking to them? Why do you purposely go out of your way to be more nastier than you usually are? Why do you talk these people down to pennies on the dollar for their wares?
  
  
• The ship was great - the programs were entertaining and it was VERY clean. As always you gotta love the Captain and his all the way pimp voice, lol Looked forward to hearing him speak daily. Norwegian is a freestyle Cruise which means no set times when it came to eating. Eat when you want. The whole ship had this 'resort' feel to it. Folks were on RELAX mode. We are going on NCL again, CAUN is convinced it's the only ship to travel on, lol
  
  
• Dean Koonz, How To Books, School Books and then there was me and...Thugalicious! Got many stares, lol
  
  
• Ahh yes my 6 litres of booze. Finally getting my bar up and running like I wanted to!
  
  
• Costa Maya – We had a good day, taking the advice of fellow cruise critic members, we had booked time at Tequila Beach. It was simple to get there and we had a good time. The beach was rocky at the shore and I darn near screamed! I had to wear my flip flops but once out there the water was inviting. The beach wasn’t over crowded and we didn’t feel bombarded by the peddlers. When we went for a walk into the town, I was glad I was with my husband, because you were bombarded! I didn’t feel unsafe but I felt safer because folks were pushing up on you with their wares and services. We had a good port visit.
  
  
• Santo De Tomas – We should have booked an excursion. We went to the port shops and that’s about it. We got back on the boat after about an hour and just chilled out. We did LOVE the send off and I’m determined to have that recreated when I get home from work (laugh). We knew there was something just over the horizon, but we found that the taxi services were about the ‘tours’ and just wouldn’t take us to town and that be it.
  
  
• Belize – (Tendered in uneventful – that boat was flying) We had booked a tour but it got cancelled so we decided to wing it. We had a nice time in Belize. I bought my liquors there (smile) and we had some GREAT food. I also partook of the pocketbook availability and was quite pleased with what I brought home. It was HOT! Lawd, was it HOT! To me the hottest port we went to.
  
  
• Cozumel – (Tendered in uneventful) Quite ‘Americanized’ and bustling when we got off the ship – we rented a VW and took off. This was our best time. Just us in the wind! We enjoyed the drive. We stopped at Paradise beach. Whew it was crowded. The water was rough and choppy, so no wave runners were being rented. It was just too crowded to really enjoy. On the other side of the Island however, some great beaches!! Several ships were there and we got to see all kinds of folks. Cozumel was straight bustling. We liked it.
  
  
• The best time? We rented the VW convertible ($55/day) and just drove the entire island of Cozumel. Talking bout fun?! It was just in the wind and it felt good. The very best time? The fact that CAUN and I spent all that time together and it was just one lonnnng groove!
  
  
• Some Future Improvements: Can we get one more channel on the TV via satellite or something!! VH-1 Cruise? HBO (laugh)?Can we get a punch or lemonade type drink as a ‘free drink’? Can we rent DVD players for the trip? Can we get a frequent drinkers card or something – get it punched and then get ½ off on the last day or something? Can we get some over 25 nights in the nightclubs?
  

So there you have it. We had a BALLL!! We already have the next cruise picked out and we will be taking Mini-me with us. I am now QUITE curious about one of the all black cruises. Lawd I might not survive that - if everything is geared towards our people. Well let me get back to the here and now. Tomorrow, I must get caught up on all the stuff that has went on while I was gone in the pop culture and political world. Whew, I might be late but I gotta comment!

Look to the RIGHT and I have listed a ton of sites for vacationing and what not for African Americans. Enjoy!