Bill and Sheila At Sea - Epilogue

After a day of resting and unpacking, we are now facing our first day back at work. It is a good time to take a minute and think back over our adventure.

It is amazing that we traveled as far as we did in such a short time. Last Wednesday night we were in the middle of the US in Tulsa, OK. By Friday morning we were halfway across the Gulf of Mexico with Cuba coming up to port and the Yucatan Peninsula to starboard. We started Monday in the plush dining room of a huge ship being docked in Galveston and ended it at ten o'clock that evening in our own beds back in Tulsa. And, we did not fly. We drove.

I plotted our route to Galveston and chose to avoid Dallas. We took the Indian Nation Turnpike all the way to its' end at Paris, Texas and then took Texas Route 19 almost all the way south across Texas until it meets Interstate 45 about an hour north of Houston. While much of the road was two lane, it is the wide shoulder, well kept, seventy mile per hour speed limit two lane that Texas does so well. I will take a fast, pleasant, two lane drive through the East Texas piney woods over trying to negotiate the LBJ and the High Five any time.

The one mistake we made was over packing. This probably does not hold true for other cruise lines but on Carnival, men could get by fine with one pair of dark slacks, a casual sport coat and two or three collared shirts for the evening. Shorts, flip flops and bathing suits are the uniform for the day. Women could easily get get by with a dressy sundress or two and maybe a soft, simple cocktail dress for the formal evening. Shorts, flip flops and bathing suits will do for the days. We could have gotten by with one wheeled suitcase and a couple of small individual shoulder bags if we had packed carefully.

One of the things we did right was tying large yellow "Caution" construction banners from Lowes to our luggage handles so that we could spot our own black nylon roller cases in a sea of black nylon roller cases that all looked pretty well alike. A second thing we did right was to hire a porter to help us with our luggage as we debarked. Our porter had worked this same terminal for over thirty years and knew every trick in the book about getting through it quickly. We made it out at least twenty minutes faster than other people who started with us simply because this guy knew which line to choose and which direction to take at the right time. He opted not to wait for a full load for his luggage cart and took us through alone and I tipped him the amount he could have expected for a load. It was still a a great deal.

Carnival cruises are without a doubt the best bargain in the travel industry right now. The cruise rates start at less than four hundred dollars per person for a three day, four night cruise. You can't stay in a Hampton Inn for that on land. And on the cruise ship, everything is included, all of your meals and all of your entertainment. The only things you need money for are booze and gambling. Since we don't gamble and only drink a little wine, most of which we brought with us, it is a very cheap vacation.

Oh, and did I say it is FUN. I had the time of my life. Perhaps I am easily pleased, but who wouldn't enjoy sitting around on deck getting some sun and watching the younger folks have fun in the pools, or sitting on your own quiet little balcony watching the ocean go by, or having good to great meals and drinks with good friends every day and night without even thinking about the check, or listening to great music and taking in club style entertainment any evening you want. To me, that is FUN with a capitol F. So, I think I will end my account of this little adventure with links to some old TV ads that still happen to be true: Carnival Value If They Could See Us Now Ain't We Got Fun .