Carnival Fascination Cruise (& Cocoa Beach)

Saturday, Jan. 5, 2008. We left Ft. Myers to spend the weekend at a Holiday Inn in Sunrise, FL (outside Ft. Lauderdale). This was part of a timeshare presentation package and cruise. Jon and Becky Hurwitz were getting in on the same special deal. By the time we checked into the timeshare Welcome Center and had lunch half the afternoon was gone. So we just hung around the motel, walked, and read until dinner at the Shrimp Shack. It was about a 40 minute wait but was excellent food. What an eclectic interior. It looked like they went to a tag sale, bought everything and hung it on the walls. It was obviously a popular family place.

Sunday, Jan. 6. We all attended the timeshare presentation. Since we already own a timeshare we went to a different presentation than the Hurwitz's. None of us intended to buy. We were given options to upgrade ours but we weren't willing to spend extra money to do that. We saw no real advantages and after 2 ours we were done. The Hurwitz's 90 minute presentation turned into a 3 hour one - not fun! After that we really felt we needed to deprogram so had an enjoyable lunch. The Hurwitz's had been to Ft. Lauderdale before so took us to the beach. It was beautiful and relaxing. On the drive and the walk from the parking lot we admired the yachts. We took a long walk on the sidewalk and then read for a bit. It was a fun, leisurely afternoon. (It was about 82 degrees.)

Monday through Friday. It was the first time we were on a cruise ship. Just getting to the port was an experience. We first drove to a parking lot to leave our cars. They then shuttled us to the Port of Miami, Carnival building - a huge building. The check-in process was short and smooth. We walked on the huge ship and were awed by the interior lobby with its glass elevators, shiny walls and multi-storied atrium. (The ship picture is actually when we were docked in Cozumel.)

We had about an hour or more before our luggage would arrive in our rooms so we took ourselves on a tour of the ship. On the top level there was a mini golf course surrounded by a spongy walking track. The next level down had a basketball half court, volleyball court and a golf cage made of netting. There was a main pool with twisting slide and 2 other smaller pools, one specifically for kids. The view of Miami from the ship was gorgeous with all the homes and yachts and palm trees.


Our rooms were on the bottom deck but were really roomy. They have twin beds but they can make them up into King beds. (No balcony rooms for us at our rock bottom price!) It was fun to come back to the room after the nightly show to see what towel animal the room steward had left on our bed (along with chocolate candy).

Right before the ship left Miami everyone had to grab their life jackets and go to a specific meeting area (Muster Area) to receive instructions in case of an emergency. When the ship starting moving (about 4:30) we definitely felt the movement of the ship and hoped that we wouldn't always feel it. Well, we did always feel it but it didn't bother us, thank goodness. We saw a number of people with seasick patches behind their ears but didn't hear of anyone getting sick.

The entertainment every night was excellent, better than what Club Med offers. They have a huge theater with comfortable seats and little tables for your drinks.

They had people all day and night asking if they could get you a drink. Drinks are really expensive and many people spend as much or more on drinks as they do on the price of the cruise!

The food was very good although from movies and TV we expected long buffet tables with ice sculptures. Maybe there was one at the midnight buffet which they had only one night. We didn't make it to that! For breakfast you could get served in the dining room and have nicer food or you could go to the grill, still have lots of choices and eat outside. We really enjoyed eating outside and watching the water. Lunch was from the grill and there were always lots of options. For dinner you could go either to an assigned table in the dining room or to the grill. We went to the dining room every night except when we missed our seating one night because of our Cozumel excursion. We enjoyed meeting these people but are not sure we'd really like to sit with them for 7 nights. The Hurwitz's were at a different table so we all met other people. The husband of one couple they met is from Watertown, NY and knew our sister-in-law's (Amy) father! Small world!

They have games and activities all day long and in the evening before the show. There is no lack for things to do if you want. Sandy played a Trivial Pursuit type of game and won a "Ship on a Stick." Now, who do you know who has one of those? He also played a Family Feud type game (men vs. women) and won. So now he is also proud owner of a Carnival medal.

When Sandy went onto the stage to play the first game he said he was from Amherst, MA. Later, a woman in the audience came up to us in the hall and said she had lived in Amherst and gotten a PhD at UMass. Not only that, she worked with Ron Moyer at the junior high! Another small world happening!

Key West was really picturesque with some beautiful and unusual homes. We were going to be docked there from 7:30 - 2 on Tuesday so we all decided to do a Bike Tour of Key West (a Carnival excursion). It turned out to be informative but it was really hard to ride so slow with 11 others. (Won't do that again.) A walking tour with a printout from the internet would have been just as good. Live and learn (hopefully). We rode through the historic area and learned about the arrival of the Cubans (to roll cigars after the embargo of cigars from Cuba) and the Bahamians (to dive for sponges since they could hold their breath for a long time). We also saw Hemingway's home and rode through a low rent district where low-income people lived in 2 story cinder block housing. Real estate is incredibly expensive here and low-income housing is non-existent and not really desired (according to the tour guide).

When we had a stop at the beach the tour guide mentioned that about 6 months of the year there is a problem with red tide and no one can swim. That also really affects the air quality. One thing we didn't like learning was that the ships dump their waste in the ocean (a certain number of miles out). I can't imagine that it just doesn't affect the ocean. (I looked online for more info and there will be an EPA report out in February.)

After the tour Becky and Jon did there own thing and we checked out the "Audubon House", the "Truman Annex", and the "Key West Heritage House Museum and Robert Frost Cottage" where he lived in the winter later in life. In this house there were numerous beautiful orchids in the garden.

The Truman Annex was purchased from the Truman Navy Base by a developer. He did a beautiful job creating varied housing of single family and condos with green spaces.

We were in Cozumel from 1 to 10PM. We knew that there was good snorkeling so we signed up for a catamaran tour with snorkeling and time at a beach. Before the excursion we walked around town near the dock. It looked nice on Front Street and deteriorated a block back. It was a little annoying having all the employees trying to sell you things.

The trip was fun but not as good as we had hoped. The ride on the cat was really nice. The snorkeling was not very good. The water was cloudy, there was very little coral and only a few kinds of fish. The beach was nice. You could use kayaks or floats or just sit on a chaise lounge. We just sat and enjoyed the scenery. On the ride back there were free drinks and some nice music, much of it with group dancing. Becky was really cold since we had to go into the water up to our waist to get back onto the boat and it was getting a little cool. Fortunately we had humongous Carnival towels that covered her up completely for the ride back. The Hurwitz's walked around the town and visited the Cozumel museum which we would have enjoyed.

The shows consisted of the dancers, two soloists and one or two other acts. We saw comedians, a balancing act, break dancers, and Las Vegas type shows. We really enjoyed them.

The air temperature was in the low 80's everyday on land and sea. The last day when we only at sea it was really windy, so much so that we couldn't play mini golf or walk on the track on the top deck. We used the treadmills that day.

We used this cruise as a trial run to help us decide whether or not to cruise again. Yes, all the food and desserts and ice cream at lunch and dinner were tempting. (We haven't had a weigh-in yet!) We think it really is a good value if you think of it as an all inclusive resort which includes entertainment. But one thing we'd like is to be on land for at least 10-12 hours. And it definitely is more fun to go with friends! Both of the couples at our dining table had cruised numerous times. They got great deals online and felt it was a very good value. As one good deal they mentioned repositioning cruises in the spring and fall where you just cruise one way and fly the other. M-m-m, something to check out! So, I think the answer to whether we'll cruise again is, yes!

We drove up to Cocoa Beach on Friday afternoon and spent the weekend visiting Ron Moyer and Karen de Pasquale. We really enjoyed our time together. Ron and Sandy got a round of golf in on Saturday and we watched to Patriots beat Jacksonville. On Monday morning we drove over to New Port Richey to June's.






Next trip: Belize. We'll be heading for Belize on Friday, January 18. We won't have our cell phones with us and e-mail contact could be sketchy. We'll be back in Florida on the 12th of February.

Our two weeks in Fort Myers

We have had amazingly nice weather here in Fort Myers. Out of our 2 1/2 weeks here only 4 days were not in the high 70's or low 80's. Our wonderful renters, Anne and John Jones, have been on an adventure in South America visiting Machu Picchu and The Galapagos Islands. We are looking forward to hearing all about their adventure. Maybe we'll visit there some time.

We arrived in the afternoon of Friday, the 14th. A little food shopping and a dip in the pool were the first order of business. Michael Gallagher and Mike Kostoroski (former colleagues at school) were down visiting Becky and Jon Hurwitz in their condo, which is 10 minutes from our place. We invited all 4 of them over for dinner on Saturday. We had a great time talking about life after Fort River School. The weather was wonderful and we spent the whole evening on our lanai. Here is a picture of the 4 Fort River retirees. When you look at that picture you are seeing over 140 years of teaching experience, the vast majority at Fort River School. AND all of us so handsome after all of those years! (The last sentence was an editorial comment from an unnamed source.)

Scott and Libby arrived on Monday the 17th instead of the planned Sunday the 16th. Something to do with being forgetful. They had forgotten what day their flight was. They thought that they left Sunday evening but when they went to check in on line Sunday morning they discovered that they were supposed to be in Chicago already! All worked out well and we were able to have a great week with them. They both had a lot of work to do so they spent a lot of time on our lanai with their computers on their laps. We did get the in the pool once in a while. Here they are working and doing water ballet!
















Julie and Michael arrived later in the week. Michael had to come in 24 hours before Julie. Julie had been filming a small independent movie and they needed her to stay an extra couple of days in New York. She arrived on Friday morning and all 6 of us were all able to visit a non profit farm called ECHO. Check out their website here. It's a wonderful experimental farm whose goal is to "to network with community leaders in developing countries to seek hunger solutions for families growing food under difficult conditions." They gave a 2 1/2 hour guided tour of many of their projects. It was very impressive.

On Becky's birthday, the 22nd, all 6 of us drive up to Largo to pick up Becky's 95 year old mother. We then drove up to New Port Richey to have our Christmas dinner with Sandy's mom. We had a great time and Mom did a great job as usual! Here are a few pictures of that afternoon.





























We dropped Becky's mom off around 5:00 and headed back to our home in Fort Myers to celebrate our Christmas. Scott and Libby were flying out to Duluth, MN the morning of the 23rd so we decided to exchange gifts the evening of the 22nd. We all sat in the living room and in the McNiven tradition we opened presents from the youngest (Libby) to the oldest (Becky). Every year this brings back such vivid memories of our Christmases in Altamont and what an amazing childhood our parents gave us!

Here are some pictures from that evening. Scott and Libby are soooo excited about what is in their stocking!














We dropped Scott and Libby off at the airport on Sunday morning the 23rd. They flew from gorgeous 80 degree weather to a mid-west snow event in Duluth. They made it all the way to their street but the car got stuck in the snow a half a block away from the house. They needed to get out the shovels and snowblowers and clear a path for the car to the driveway.

Meanwhile Julie, Michael, Becky and Sandy drove up to an animal sanctuary in Zolfo Springs. Here is the website. We learned a lot that day about how many wild animals are kept as pets by people who should just know better. Then they get too big or dangerous to keep and ask this place to keep them. This family that runs this sanctuary has found their mission in life!





























One day we noticed black spots on the lanai and pool cover and they were like soot to touch. Sandy got out his power sprayer and cleaned it up but more came back. We were puzzled! The next day we found out the cause. There had been a tire fire in North Fort Myers and the wonderful breezes that we always have carried the oily soot all over the place.

Most of time was spent relaxing, reading, swimming and playing in our pool. Sandy managed to combine all 4 of those in one experience. Check out the picture of him doing just that!














Thursday the 4 of us went to Shark Valley. It is one of the four entrances into the Everglades National Park, located along the old Tamiami Trail which is US 41. We took an excellent narrated 2 hour tram tour. (This was our 3rd tour!) It's best to do it during the dry season (the winter) because that's when the birds and gators gather right alongside the tram road. It's very informative and there are plenty of chances to see alligators up close. Sometimes you can see 2 generations of baby gators all with 10 feet of you. Becky took these pictures of the female alligator and the wood stork while on the tram tour. (We were fortunate to see a total of about 25 wood storks. They're not a common bird!) Next time you see us ask us why it's called Shark Valley. Very interesting!




Julie & Michael went up to Busch Gardens in Tampa on Saturday, the 29th. They rode lots of roller coasters and had a great day visiting all of the sights. They then drove up to Sandy's mother's home in New Port Richey and spent the night. Michael had a 9:00 flight in the morning back to New York from Tampa airport. Julie dropped him off and then came back down here. She'll fly back late on the 3rd.

Anne and John Jones will be back on the 2nd and we will be spending a couple of days at the Kroodsma's condo in Naples.

Next: Our first cruise with Becky & Jon Hurwitz and a visit to Ron Moyer & Karen in Cocoa Beach

A Week on Turks & Caicos

We just spent a week in a Club Med on the island of Providenciales in the Caribbean island nation of Turks & Caicos. It is truly a paradise at this time of the year. Read about the Turks & Caicos here. We left Sandy's mother's home in New Port Richey on Sunday, Dec. 2. We drove down to Naples and spent the night at the Kroodsma's condo. Thanks Melissa and Don! We had a 12:30 flight from Miami. There was a lot of road construction around the airport but our GPS helped us find our way. We parked the car at the Wyndham Hotel and took their shuttle over the airport. (What a great deal through unitedairportparking.com.) (Thanks to Glen for this picture of us.)

It was only a 90 minute flight. We took a taxi to the Club Med Turkoise and checked into our room. Check out this Club Med here. The island nation is in the same time zone as the eastern part of the United States except Club Med Turkoise does not observe daylight savings time. This way the sun doesn't set until about 6:15. It gives us more daylight to play in.

And play is what we did. The beach is spectacular! The club is on a quarter mile of beautiful white, silky, sand beach. We took a number of walks along the beach since it's all public.

There are so many water activities to take advantage of. Tandem Kayaks, windsurfing, sailing, snorkeling, and scuba are all available with good quality instruction. We took out a kayak one day but there really wasn't anything to see, i.e. explore mangroves. They were too far away.

The windsurfing was disappointing. Sandy never went out since he had lots of other activities to keep him busy. Becky went out three times but it wasn't very good. Either the wind was inconsistent or it was too strong. (We've never tried to windsurf in the winter and will keep this in mind when booking another trip.)

Land activities included volleyball, basketball, tennis, softball, water exercise, stretching classes, a complete fitness center, pool games and much more. We found plenty of time to play as well as down time to read and take the occasional nap. Sandy played a lot of beach volleyball and a little regular volleyball. He also had the opportunity to use a trampoline and a trapeze. Take a look at this very short video of Sandy on the trapeze.



Sandy had done this 20 years ago but he needed to see if he could do it again at 58. It turns out that he could but his knees ached for several days afterwards. It was worth it!

The food was just spectacular. All meals were done in a smörgåsbord style with one ethnic food highlighted each night. After we filled our plates we were seated at tables of eight. This way we had a chance to eat with and meet people from all over. There were many Canadians there as well as vacationers from South America, Europe and the United States. We enjoyed these meals and made many friends throughout the week.

At 10PM every night there was a show in their open-air theater put on by the workers. Most were good. A few were excellent, like the trapeze and circus shows.

Scuba and snorkeling were good but some days it was a little rough on the surface. While snorkeling we did get to see two nurse sharks and a hawksbill turtle as well as the many common reef fish in the area. Sandy took two scuba dives on Thursday and had the chance to see a 7 foot green moray eel, a reef shark, barracuda, and a hawksbill turtle swam right under him. (We're waiting for a picture to be sent to us.) Snorkeling was much better in Hawaii!!

We spent the week playing in the sun and were sad to leave on Monday the 10th. (At least we weren't returning to a really cold place.) All in all it was a nice week but not as much fun as other stays at Club Med. Becky expected to have fun windsurfing and snorkeling everyday and it just didn't pan out. But she got a couple of books read, met some great people, and had 2 really good instructors for stretching and exercise in a perfect setting.

We left about 3:30 in the afternoon and arrived in Miami around 5:00. By 6 we had cleared customs and immigration, picked up our bags and headed off to Naples to spend another night in the Kroodsma's condo. Right now we are up in New Port Richey visiting Sandy's mom. We'll head down to Fort Myers on Dec. 14 to spend some time at our home there until Jan. 2. Our wonderful renters, John and Anne Jones, will be in South America visiting Machu Picchu and and then the Galapagos islands. Scott and Libby will arrive on the 16th and Julie and Michael will arrive on the 19th. We're looking forward to a wonderful visit with the four of them.

Here are some pictures of the beach and facilities. We stayed in the first floor room.

Another Car Trip to Florida

November 20-25. As if it wasn’t bad enough to leave sunny, warm Hawaii, we arrived at Bradley Airport in Hartford, CT to their first snowfall of the season! It was only a few inches of wet snow but still . . .

Wednesday we visited Fort River School at lunch time. It was fun to say hi and let people know that yes, we really were having a great time on our retirement travels! Sandy really enjoyed saying hi to a few of his former students. We also went up to Pelham School and got to talk to Meg Gallagher during her kid's recess.

We had a fabulous time visiting friends and family: Doug and Denise, David and Betsy, Don and Melissa and David, and Ron and Karen.

We usually spend Thanksgiving at Sandy’s brother, John’s house near Albany, NY. This year we actually spent 2 nights as well. Besides John, Diane, Trevor and Gavin, we also got to visit with Sandy’s other brothers, Scott (and Amy, Megan, and Kerri) and Rob (and Nancy, Jenny, and Stephen). Julie and Michael drove up from Brooklyn for the day so we were 16 for dinner. (Scott and Libby were with friends and then visited Ann Hallisey and her kids whom Scott hadn't seen in many years.) It was relaxing and fun to visit and play cards and not have to drive home after dinner. (Pictures coming from Diane of the Thanksgiving crowd.)

Friday we drove Sandy’s mother’s car from John’s to Amherst as well as our car. We took off the license plates of the Nissan Altima (with a little elbow grease-actually Sandy had to rip them off), left it in our garage and returned the plates to the DMV. (We thought we’d save a few dollars since we won’t need the car until the beginning of June.) While in the DMV we had the pleasure of running into former neighbors, Ned and Laura Woodbridge. She was taking her learner’s permit test.

That night we celebrated Kate’s and Owen’s engagement at the Gagnon’s with Owen’s parents, Willy and Lynn, the Mullins, Chris and Chelsea (and Ryleigh and Carter), Bob and Pat Hursh, and Owen’s brother, Ally. Kate has a gorgeous antique white gold ring!

Saturday morning it was 16 degrees when we left on our 9 ½ hour drive to Stanardsville, VA (north of Charlottesville) to Sandy’s sister’s house. We’ll really miss our friends here but we’re really looking forward to warmer weather.

The drive was easy. We enjoyed the fading colors of fall and the rolling hills of Pennsylvania and Virginia. It was sunny and we didn’t hit any traffic at all.

It was great to see Gail and Dale and 2 of their grandchildren, Quillan (13) and Zeya (10). We usually only see them once a year in the summer. It’s also nice to visit people on their own turf. They live in beautiful country! We’ll be back!

Monday, Nov. 26. Columbia, SC. We left Monday morning with rain and temps expected in the 50’s. Our next stop was to visit some friends from Amherst, Harris and Patricia Pastides, who moved to Columbia in 1998. We had such a great time visiting and catching up on the latest about their children, Andrew and Katherine. Andrew recently moved to NYC as an actor and Katherine works at the Getty Villa in Santa Monica. They both have acting ties to Julie. Andrew and Julie were first in “Sound of Music” together years ago and in 1998 they were in “Runaways”. And Andrew and Katherine were both in “Anne of Green Gables” with Julie.)

We hope to visit again and spend more time in South Carolina.

Nov. 27-29. Savannah, GA. The sun came out shortly after we left. It was a beautiful drive with lots of trees on either side of the road. We thought it was going to be warmer than mid 60’s but that was better than the 40’s in Amherst!

We really had no idea that Savannah had so much history and firsts and that it was a planned city. We learned so much at the Visitor Center. The movie was a great overview of the history. There are hundreds of different kinds of tours: architectural, history, ghost, trees, etc. We decided to buy the booklet and do a self-guided walking tour and then go back and do specific tours.

In 1733, General James Oglethorpe was sent to Georgia to start a British colony (and became its governor). He laid it out in a grid about 1 mile square. In the early 1800’s it was the center for cotton export. There were lots of squares with live oaks with Spanish Moss and magnolia trees. Many had a monument, a statue, or a fountain. The little parks are gorgeous. The Forsyth square was much bigger than the rest and had this really beautiful fountain.

The streets were gorgeous with overhanging oaks. Many of the house foundations and some sidewalks and parts of streets were made out of tabby, a mixture of oyster shells, lime, sand, and water.

In the movie, "Forrest Gump" he sat on a bench in Chippewa Square waiting for the bus with his box of chocolates.

After doing the walking tour we decided to pay for 2 individual tours: the Owen-Thomas House and the Temple Mickve Israel. Both were very interesting. The house, built in 1919, had some unusual features such as indoor plumbing and a dining room with one round end. The Temple is the only Gothic Style one in the US. They have a museum showing a torah brought over in 1733 written on deerskin that was probably written in the 1400’s! (We also wanted to tour the Black History museum but missed the last tour.)

They have a very nice River Walk on River Street, renovated from the old cotton warehouses. It’s a pretty area with lots of shops and restaurants. There’s a cute fountain depicting the Savannah, the first steamship.

The Savannah School of Art and Design had a part in redesigning a number of buildings. What great experience they’re getting!

Since Savannah is noted by the Travel Channel as the most haunted city we decided we had to go on a ghost tour. There were just 4 of us and a (Hauntings Tour) who walked us around the historical section and stopped every now and then to point out a place where there had been strange occurances. It was fun to hear the stories. She said the reason that area has a lot of ghosts is that it was built on a cemetery. She told us to take pictures of certain buildings where some people’s pictures had shown orbs (balls of light), i.e. energy. Mine didn’t. One example of a ghost-inhabited building was a building that was being renovated and contractor after contractor quit because of things happening! We know it wasn’t for real but we saw this sign on a storefront.

We learned the original of some words. 1-Indentured, as in indentured servant. It refers to how they identified those people. They took impressions of their teeth. 2-A pub is short for publik tavern. 3-A mad hatter refers to the condition that afflicted many hatters (hat makers for males). They used beaver fur to make felted hats. The beaver pelt had to be soaked in a solution with mercury and then the fur was pulled off. The mercury got in the hatter’s body through his hands and eventually affected his brains and other organs. 4-Daisy Scouts, girl scouts for Kindergarten and First Graders, got their name from the nickname of Juliette Gordon Low, the founder of the Girl Scouts. (She was born in Savannah.) 5-Graveyard shift is a reference to the 19th century problem of accidentally burying people who were still alive. (People who died of yellow fever were taken to be buried immediately.) To prevent this from happening, the caskets had a bell-ringing device attached to fingers of the corpse so a waking "corpse" to notify the world that they were no longer dead. The graveyard attendants worked the graveyard shift.

We really liked the architecture of these. (There were actually a lot that we really liked.)

We took a beautiful drive out to Tybee Island just east of Savannah. We saw homes built near the marshes with long docks out to the inlets to either the Savannah River or the ocean. But it was very windy and cold by the beach so we didn’t walk around there. Instead, we visited the Tybee Island Lighthouse and Museum and learned about its history. While there we saw this hawk eating.

Nearby the lighthouse were some beautiful houses.

Last stop was Fort Pulaski near the mouth of the Savannah River. It was a really cool fort made out of tabby and then brick with a moat around it. It was supposed to be invincible. However, a significant battle, the “Siege of Savannah” took place in 1862 where cannonballs breached the walls. After 30 hours the confederates surrendered.

What a cool city! We're very glad we visited.

Next stop is June McNiven’s in New Port Richey and Club Med in the Turks & Caicos from 12/3-10. We look forward to spending parts of the rest of December with Scott and Libby and Julie and Michael.