CLAMP Campus Adventures

I’m back from vacation, as of last week, but things got hectic due to floods almost immediately or I’d have written this up sooner, plus I wanted to include some thumbnails to some of the pictures. The rest can be found in the gallery in the Bermuda Vacation album‘. To relieve fears now, we weren’t terribly hard hit by the New England flooding, but there was a good two to four inches of water in our basement when we arrived home last Sunday. Let me start from the beginning, however…

Vacation Day 1 (May 7)

We got a later start than I had wanted, but finally made it out the door around 11:30 am. We hopped on the Winthrop bus to get us to Orient Heights and took the blue line to the airport. From there we switched to a free bus to the terminal and grabbed the first Silver Line bus that came around. According to the MBTA website we needed a SL1 or SL2 bus to get to the waterfront. Unfortunately, this wasn’t as clear as it should be and we found out in actuality, we need SL3 to go to the pier and this bus doesn’t go to the airport. We’d have been better off going to South Station using the T and getting a free transfer to the Silver Line instead of thinking we’d save time this way.

We realized we were on the wrong bus around the time we got to the World Trade Center stop and got off at the courthouse, before South Station. Not knowing what we were supposed to do, we exited the terminal area and called the MBTA who verbally was able to set us straight. We paid to get back in and waited for the correct bus. We waited over a half hour. By the time we got to the pier, it was after 1 pm.

We got there and saw a mess. Unsure of what was going on or where we were supposed to go, I asked a porter where we were supposed to be. He said that people had been waiting for over three hours because the ship was in two hours late. He indicated we should head towards the back on the line and sort of motioned us in the correct direction. Apparently, they had only just started letting people on the ship when we’d arrived, and some of those had been waiting since 11:30 am when they advertised the boarding would start. So, it was just as well that we were late, because we’d have just been standing there for two to three hours in a line anyhow.

We moved towards the back of the line, not realizing just how far back it went. It was at least a quarter mile long, if not longer. The ship wasn’t huge but it can sure hold a lot of people! At least it was moving slightly be the time we’d gotten back there. The cruise-line or the port, I’m not sure which, had distributed chairs, but were picking them up by the time we got there. We proceeded to stand in line for a good two hours before making it up the escalator to the next line to check in. They were only letting small groups go up the escalator, so that was a bottleneck (albeit an understandable one). It turns out the people behind us were taken another way (I think they got to go through the express check-in which was for people who’d previously cruised with Norwegian) after we’d gone up, so we ended up being the second to last in line to be processed. We ended up getting to our cabin just before 5 pm (did I mention the ship was originally scheduled to leave Boston at 4 pm?), just in time to grab our life jackets and participate in the mandatory drill.

After we got back from the drill, which was the least instructive of any cruise I’ve been on, we were exceedingly hungry due to missing out anticipated on board lunch. So, we headed immediately to the Seven Seas dining room which was scheduled to open at 5:30 pm. We got there just as it was opening and were seated with another group of four at a table. We were so hungry we didn’t immediately notice the lack of service, but we weren’t terribly well attended. Our assistant waiter failed to ask us if we wanted anything to drink (I could have used some booze right about then too), so we made do with water. I got some lamb kebabs. They were moderately good, but a little dry. Instead of chunks of lamb meat, I got ground lamb meatballs. It was a bit weird. The sauce was good and made the couscous edible.

We then decided to head up on deck as the ship was finally about to depart Boston. I took some pictures of the port as we left and the Boston skyline. I tried to get some shots of Winthrop as we went by, but none were terribly good so I deleted them.

After we got bored with taking photos and watching Boston recede behind us, we decided to explore the ship a bit and get to know where things were. That lasted about an hour and then it was determined some of us (everyone but me) were hungry again, so we went back to the Seven Seas dining room and had another dinner. I just had a salad, but they made it larger for me. At this point the lack of service of our previous dinner was evident as we noticed other people getting items we weren’t offered, including horseradish sauce for the roast beef.

After dinner mark two, we went back to the cabin and played cards for awhile. Then the group decided to check out the “late night snacks” available in one of the lounges. It was less than inspiring so it didn’t take long for us to head back to the cabin and go to sleep.

Vacation Day 2 (May 8)

This was our day at sea. Carl and I are fairly early risers and got up in time to go to breakfast. We tried to buffet this morning but weren’t terribly impressed by the selection. Of course, we didn’t discover where they hid the crepe and waffle station for a couple of days. The ship was going at a pretty fast speed (probably trying to make up some lost time) and there was a lot of wind outside, so we took our food inside to eat.

After breakfast, we headed to the ship’s library and played some Cribbage. After awhile, we figured K and Bob would be awake and headed back to the cabin to check. Sure enough, we’d missed them. So, we decided to head to lunch on our own. We went up on deck and partook of the available hamburgers. After lunch we headed back to the cabin and crashed for a nap. During our sleep, K and Bob came back.

When we woke, it was time to get ready for dinner. This was the fancy dinner, although, we didn’t really think people were all that dressed up. Again, we went to the Seven Seas restaurant and again, we weren’t wowed by the service, although it was better than the night before.

After dinner, we had our photos taken and headed back to the cabin where I could change into more comfortable clothing and wash makeup off my face. K and Bob came back and we played cards again (this time it was Asshole, or “Bad Person”). During the game, we got the munchies and ordered a butt-load of food from room service. Since the portions were generally tiny, it seemed we were ordering a lot more than we actually were, but it certainly made us feel like gluttons.

Eventually, we got tired and went to sleep.

Vacation Day 3 (May 9)

We were scheduled to arrive in St. George’s around noon, but already when we went upstairs for breakfast, Carl and I could feel the difference in the water (we were being tossed around less) and temperature outside (much more mild). We went to the dining room for breakfast where I was able to get a bagel and lox smoked salmon for breakfast. Service was insane. We waited over 45 minutes for our food. My food came at such a different interval, I was done eating by the time Carl’s showed up, so I ordered some blintzes as well, which is what Carl had ordered. They showed up almost immediately, so there was no real reason for the delay other than poor service.

After breakfast, we went out on deck for a little bit to enjoy the nice weather and then to the library to play cribbage for a bit. We headed back to the cabin and met up with K and Bob for lunch. We went back to the restaurant for sit-down. Apparently, our waiter from dinner last night (who happened to be our lunch waiter) was looking for me because he had forgotten to have me sign the slip for the wine. They had swiped my card but hadn’t asked for my signature and since they had returned my card, I thought the transaction was complete and we left when we were done eating. I guess, although the transaction could be tracked, he got into a bit of trouble with his supervisor. I can’t feel guilty about it because it was really his own inefficiency that got him into trouble.

During lunch, we watched as we passed scarily close to land as we entered the cut for St. George’s. We docked and got clearance while we were eating so, after lunch, we went down to the cabin and grabbed our stuff and headed out to enjoy the beach. Unfortunately, it was drizzly and cool, so I didn’t feel like going into the water. I sat on the sand with Bob and watched Carl and K go in. After awhile, I was shivering and had had enough so I asked Carl if he was alright heading back (I was fine walking it was sitting still in the rain and wind that got to me). We left K and Bob to enjoy the water and walked back to the ship where we cleaned up and readied for dinner.

We were heading to the reservations only (but no cover charge) pasta cafe that night while K and Bob were going to one of the dining rooms on their own. There are two restaurants other than the main dining rooms (there are two of those). One is a pasta cafe with no cover charge and the other is called ‘Le Bistro’ and had a $15 cover. I looked at the ‘Le Bistro’ menu and thought the food was more in line with what we got on other cruises instead of the somewhat mediocre food we’d been getting on this cruise, which overall was more casual. However, I’d already paid for the cruise, and I wasn’t paying another $30 (total for both of us) to get a shot at some escargot. Our reservations weren’t until 7 pm so we killed some time watching TV in the cabin before we left. This was probably the best meal and best service the entire cruise. I thoroughly enjoyed it. We had a nice view of St. George’s from our table too.

After dinner, we had plans to meet back up with K and Bob, but I had one of my nasty headaches and took some Tylenol and closed my eyes. Before I knew it, it was the next morning…

Vacation Day 4 (May 10)

Originally, snorkeling was scheduled for this day, but considering the nasty rain occurring outside, I was glad they’d moved it to the next day. We got up for breakfast and went to the dining room again. It was quite early, so we figured we had plenty of time. Silly us. This time it took over an hour to get our meal. The family next to us were seated after us and left before we’d gotten our food. There was really no excuse for this. We got out of the dining room at around 10 am and had actually planned to have lunch around 11:30 am so we wouldn’t have to buy anything for lunch in Hamilton.

We went back to the cabin and met up with K and Bob so we could all head up for the buffet lunch. I discovered a windy deck and a loose skirt did not go well together when I flashed the waiters at the hamburger stand. I didn’t go back to the cabin to change though, figuring it wouldn’t be nearly as windy off the ship and we then headed outside to buy our bus tokens. We received directions to the bus stop and there was a bus waiting when we got there so we got on board. It was just in time too because it started to deluge. I had brought a book and my Nintendo DS for the bus trip, but in actuality I didn’t use either. Instead I watched as we went around the island and got a good, free tour of the southern half of Bermuda between St. George’s and Hamilton, using the bus map as a partial guide.

When we got the Hamilton about 50 minutes later, the rain had let up some, but it was still drizzling. We used a guidebook I had picked up in the visitor’s center for a walking tour and went around town. About halfway through, it started to rain again and we managed to get up to Fort Hamilton and spend some time in the underground caverns during some of it. Unfortunately, we’d left one of the umbrellas in the cabin so Carl got a bit wet during it all. Once the rain let up some, we headed back down to Front Street and stopped by the restaurant we had planned to eat dinner at. The cruise-line had given us lunch vouchers (for a $5 charge) which we could upgrade (for another $5 for dinner). This allowed us to not have to head back to the ship for dinner and would allow us to enjoy a planned street fair in Hamilton that evening. I made the reservation for 6 pm and we still had some time to kill so we headed out to some benches near the harbor to rest our weary feet.

After awhile, we’d had enough of resting, so we went to finish up the walking tour. K had also read there was Internet access in the Library so we went looking for the building. Once we detoured through a car park, we found it and went it. There was a bit of a mix-up with the computers, but eventually we all got to check our email. We were done, but still had about a half hour before dinner so found a covered courtyard where we could relax. I played Tetris DS for a bit and tried to share with K but she wasn’t into it so much, probably because she was out of practice with Tetris.

It was time to go eat so we headed towards the Pickled Onion, our restaurant for the evening. We were asked if we wanted to sit outside, but I took one look at the grey skies and damp sidewalks and made an executive decision for the group. We’d dine inside this evening, thank you. While we were eating, it started to not just pour rain outside, but also thunder. It was a good decision, covered porch or not. We took our time with our limited menu, paid by the cruise-line meal, and had a nice dessert. The rain had pretty much let up when we were done, so we headed towards the bus station to go back to the ship. The promised festival never did materialize, so we figured it was rained out. The bus was already there but packed. The bus driver asked if we were going to St. George’s but we said we’d take the next one. She grumbles, “That’s an hour from now.” For her line, yes, but there was another line arriving in a half hour we could take. It turns out we didn’t have to wait because she convinced another driver to take her route, so we got on a much less packed bus. I played more Nintendo DS while we went back to the ship.

After we got back, I changed out of that damn skirt which I will never wear in a breeze again, and collected some Uno cards Carl and I had checked out of the library the previous day. For a change of scenery, we went to find some tables to play. We choose the coffee bar since it was non-smoking and allowed us to get water while we played. I was terribly dry. We’d completely mis-remembered some of the rules which made for some insane games before we figured it all out. Eventually, the bar got a little noisy so we headed up to get some pizza at the 24-hour grill to go. Carl, Bob and I carried it down to our room while K got drinks and we had a much fuller snack than our room service order previously. However, we were still hungry, so we got some light snacks from room service too.

After we’d stuffed ourselves to the gills and had enough of Uno, we went to bed.

Vacation Day 5 (May 11)

This was the day of our snorkel trip which said to meet on Deck 6 at 12:30 pm. K asked us to get both her and Bob up in time for breakfast. So, we made a little more noise than usual getting ready. K ended up not wanting to go to breakfast, but Bob joined us on deck for the buffet. It was at this point we figured out where the crepe and waffle station was. I went for that (mmmm) while Bob and Carl went for the eggs and pancakes in the standard buffet. I met them in the seating area and we gawked outside the ship while we ate. I noticed there was a rather large, rusted-out shipwreck in the harbor and pointed it out to Carl.

We headed back to the cabin and met up with K, who was just finishing getting ready. She and Bob headed out to St. George’s to grab some souvenirs they wanted to buy. Carl and I relaxed in the cabin while they were gone. After they got back, we all headed up for lunch at the buffet. After eating, we were a little early for the snorkel meet-up time, but headed down to Deck 7 anyhow. We were just in time to see the 17th century version of a wet tee-shirt contest, known as a ducking, taking place on the square just across from the ship. This is what they did to nags and gossips as punishment. They sit the woman on a wooden stool and drop her into the water, where her shift gets nice and wet. Horrible punishment, really.

By the time the ducking re-enactment was over, it was just about time for the meet-up for the snorkeling. Our guides, Shaun and Leo, distributed equipment and we made sure our fins fit before all trooping down to the gangway to go out and meet our ferry. We head to the wrong side (as a group) and then head to the correct side before boarding the boat. We settle in and listen to our captain and his crew give us an amusing history of the island and as they point out things along the way. They tell us about how the sewage and rain collection for water works. We also get a tidbit about how KFC (which we’d walked by the previous day in Hamilton) is the only franchise on the island because one they opened, the locals freaked out about franchises and passed a law letting no more in.

We get to our first snorkel destination, the reef and get in. The water is waist deep to start. Once we’re all off the boat, we head out. I follow Leo and he points out the fish we’re seeing as we go around. He points out Sargent Majors, Parrot Fish, and a very aggressive lobster. We are also shown various coral in the reef. We go around the reef as Leo points things out and then we carefully go over the reef on the way back to the boat. We get back to the boat, clamber back on, and head on to destination number 2, the shipwreck.

At this point we were told not to slather ourselves with sunscreen because it could damage the reefs and it would effect the seal on our snorkel masks (I’m not so sure on the latter as I had slathered my face before leaving the ship and had no problems at the first site). Unfortunately, it seems Bob burns a bit more easily than the rest of us, although the tips of my ears turned a bit red.

When we got to the shipwreck, the water was a bit deeper here so there was no phutzing with our fins in the sand. We had to put them on before getting in. Some of the people in the back of the line to get into the water didn’t quite understand this at first and thought we people in the front were afraid of the ‘cold’ water. Please, it was a lovely temperature. It was certainly better than the temperatures in Massachusetts in August. Some people decided to not go in at all at this point, and instead enjoyed beer and rum runners on the boat.

Again, I followed Leo about, getting a neat tour of the shipwreck. People stuck a little closer together for this part of the tour, which lead to me getting kicked in the stomach at one point. This was because we’d had fear of the currents drilled into us and we didn’t want to wander too far from the tour guides. Leo took us around for a bit and showed us how to free dive to get better looks. I didn’t do this because I was wearing ear plugs to prevent swimmers ear. Carl did try it once or twice. Leo then took us back past the boat to show us some more parts of the boat. Some people bailed at this point and got back on the boat. I kept at it and got a couple more pictures of what looked like the steering deck of the old steam ship.

We got back on the boat after that and headed back towards our ship. They collected our gear so we didn’t have to bring it back on the ship ourselves, so we headed back to our cabin to clean up for dinner. This time we tried the other restaurant on the ship, the Four Seasons. We found the atmosphere much quieter and the service was ten times better. We resolved to go to this restaurant for the remainder of the cruise.

After dinner, we returned to the cabin and I printed some of my photos onto postcards to send out. Carl ran out to the square in St. George’s to mail them before we headed to bed. After I was done with the postcards, we played a game of Whist. We ordered more room service snacks and after Carl returned from the postcard run, with a story about smelling marijuana in the hallway and seeing the police on their way onto the ship, we went to sleep.

Vacation Day 6 (May 12)

Our ship was scheduled to leave St. George’s at noon, so we felt we were better off spending the morning on board. We left for breakfast and went to the buffet, having fully given up on getting timely service in the dining room for breakfast. I had pancakes rather than crepes and waffles this time. Carl and I checked back in the cabin briefly after dinner but K and Bob were still out cold, so we headed up to the library for a bit and then up to the deck to grab a bite to eat and watch the ship leave dock at St. George’s. I had some extra pictures left on the underwater cameras to get rid of so we could get them developed promptly when getting home.

We got pina coladas while on deck and once we were tired of watching Bermuda recede behind us, we headed back inside and to our cabin, where K and Bob were finally up. I lounged about for awhile playing my Nintendo DS while Carl napped. We ended up lazying away most of the afternoon in the cabin this way. Eventually, we dragged ourselves out for dinner.

After dinner, we went back to the cabin and played our Nintendos for a bit. K and Bob and Game Boys and I played my DS. Eventually Carl turned on the TV and discovered the more recent version of ‘The Producers’ was playing on TV. We had all gone to see the show when it came to Boston so nothing was a surprise and it was easy to pick up from the pigeon roof-top scene.

By the time the movie was over, it was time to head up a deck to the Chocoholics Buffet, which was already in full swing (a bit early) by the time we got there. Despite them agreeing (much to K and my dismay) they should snack beforehand, neither Carl nor Bob did so. The plates were way too small, but we loaded them right up. We munched and somehow amazed our waitress by asking for milk. I don’t want to know why that surprised her.

After stuffing ourselves, we headed back to the cabin and to bed, where I proceded to have very odd dreams from eating sugar too close to bedtime.

Vacation Day 8 (May 13)

This was our final full day at sea. Carl and I headed back to the buffet breakfast where I got waffles and crepes again. We hung around the ship for a bit, and then to the disembarkation discussion going on. It was fairly informative and we discovered we had an opportunity to not wait for our tags to be called, but instead get ourselves and all our luggage off the ship ourselves in a process called ‘Express Check-out’. We had gotten ourselves there on public transportation, so it seemed like something we could reasonably manage. We had to let them know by noon which was about a half hour away.

After the discussion we went back to the cabin and woke K up to get her opinion on Express Checkout. With the okay to go, Carl and I went back up to Deck 5 to register ourselves for it. We came back down to the cabin and we all went to lunch together at the Seven Seas restaurant. At this point, we were starting to get further north in the Atlantic and the ship was rocking a bit more.

After lunch, we headed back to the cabin and relaxed for a bit before heading out to one of the trivia challenges going on. This one was less of a contest and more of a relaxed ’shout out the answer if you feel like it’ kind of thing. Afterwards, we headed to dinner and then back to the cabin to start packing. We had everything together before heading to bed and set the alarm clocks for an early morning. Express Check-out ran from 8:15 am to 8:45 am and Carl and I wanted breakfast before we left!

Vacation Final Day (May 14)

The ship had already docked by the time we woke up around 6:30 am. Bob joined Carl and I for breakfast where I got my last waffle and crepe. We then headed back to the cabin and got everything together while we waited for Express Check-out to be called. It was called pretty much right on time, so we headed out to Deck 5 to get in the long line. There was one rather rude woman who wanted to know why we weren’t pushing through the line (which wasn’t moving) and we should be more aggressive because she had an 11 o’clock flight! (note it’s 8:20 am at this point, we were scheduled to be off the ship by 8:45 am and it’s all of a 5 minute taxi ride to Logan airport from the pier). We eventually all got off the ship and we were amused to find we were ahead of the rude lady in the taxi line after she huffed off and tried to go around us in the line.

It was pouring rain out, so we did forego public transportation in favor of a taxi. We weren’t aware at this time it had been raining non-stop for about two days and flooding was occurring all over New England. We had barely gotten home and put our stuff down when my neighbor knocked on our door to request we help pump water out of the basement.

K and Bob left to go to K’s mother’s house (since it was Mother’s Day) and we went and pumped out the basement for about 3 hours before we decided we need to do our own errands and went to the grocery store (since we had no food). When we came back, our other neighbors had taken up pump duty and we managed to relax a little bit.

And other stuff…

To round out the flooding, on Wednesday I went out to my car in the morning to find some jackass had broken my driver’s side mirror. Since Carl had the day off, I went to borrow his car, and discovered a jackass had broken his mirror too. Since the cars weren’t parked near each other (mine was across the street from the house and Carl’s was about 5 cars up from there with about 2 driveways separating us), this was obviously vandalism. I had to deal with filing a police report and calling insurance. Mine came to about $35, but Carl’s is over $100, and they’re both below our $300 comprehensive deductible. I need to call the body shop tomorrow and schedule an appointment to see when he can take it. I just didn’t need that crap.