Getting on the Boat

I might as well start at the beginning... and that would be talking about the trip down to Baltimore, getting on the boat, and my first impressions of the massive ship that I lived on for a week.

When we woke up on Saturday morning we found that the Mark 5 (our 2003 Grand Marquis) had a flat tire. Talk about sending a scary and foreboding message! It was as if our loving and caring care was trying to tell us "Don't go! Don't get on that boat!" Of course nothing terrible happened on the boat, and we were never in any danger (talk about taking the wind out of the sails of suspense...) but man, if we had been... I tell ya.

So after Dad got the tire situation under control (living a block from a Quick Lube is the best decision we've ever made) we packed up the car and hit the road. It was a five hour drive down to Maryland. We weren't getting on the boat until Sunday, so the plan was to visit at my Aunt Mary Ann's house for the evening. She lives about an hour outside of B-more (I got lazy.) On the trip down, I spent most of my time starting the outline for the stand-up comedy routine I have to do this Thursday (Aug 5). I've never done stand-up before, but a good friend of mine does it, mainly in Pittsburgh, and after talking with him he seemed to think I should give it a shot... but anyways, I spent most of my time working on that, listening to the excellent new TMBG CD (The Spine), and playing some Puyo Pop on Gameboy with my brother.

Aunt Mary Ann's house was a good time... I won't dwell on all of the details, since this blog entry is about the cruise. But It was Saturday night that I saw the first of many movies while on my cruise. That night I went with my Dad and brother to see "King Arthur" at the local cineplex. Let me tell you, that movie is a total stinker! Goodness gracious it was awful...

Getting on the boat Sunday afternoon was a pretty interesting experience. We got to see the beautiful underbelly of Baltimore, since they docked the ship in the shipping yards of the harbor. It was a pretty rainy day, but then again most of the days on the ship were rainy at some point. I was also troubled by our luggage check process, which involved my dad pulling up the Mark 5 into this giant warehouse filled with huge crates. These guys took our luggage and tossed them into these crates (it was kinda like the opening scene in "Darkman") and then sent us on our way. I offered to let them scrap our car for parts, but they weren't interested..

To get on the boat you have to go through a number of check points, and you need to have a birth certificate or passport (since you are going out of the country). First you go through a normal metal detector and x-ray booth, just like at the airport, then you are put in this giant serpentine line (like you're at the bank) and you have to wait your turn before you can check in. This involves a credit card, a driver's license, and some skilled decision-making. Dad gets to decide what he wants each of us to be allowed to do on the boat (since we are on those crazy and unpredictable international waters, I have alot more freedoms). I was not allowed to purchase any alcohol (right, since I'm such the lush as it is) but I was allowed to use the credit card account and gamble! Hot dog! Danny wasn't allowed to do anything. After doing this, we are issued a "Sea Pass" card, which is basically the most important piece of plastic you have while on the boat. This card is your room key, your credit card, your proof of age and identification, etc. Once you are all squared away, you get your picture taken (they really like to waste a ton of film on the ship by taking pictures of everyone, and then making them buy the photos later on...) and then are shuffled into another line. This line leads to this crazy magical box with a camera in it. You put in your sea pass and they take a picture of your face! How boss is that?! After that point, you are cleared for boarding. (Although I will say that the process was a tad more complicated than that, and very thorough... I felt quite safe once I got through security!)

Here's the ship...

The ship itself was quite nice. It was one of the older ships in the fleet, but still retained its maritime shine (if there is such a thing.) The thing with the boat is that it had everything it claimed to have... just not always as you expected. For example, they said they had a video arcade (which turned out to be a room with four arcade cabinets in it), a mini golf course (two holes on the top deck of the ship), shuffle board (a normal staple in all cruise ships, however they only had one board on the entire boat), a library (which was a rather impressive room with only about 500 books... still not too shabby), and two swimming pools (which they had, even if they were about the size of your neighbor's in-ground backyard pool). But I'm not complaining, because I didn't really want or need half of that stuff. What was impressive on the boat was it's gigantic auditorium (which seated about 2000 in soft, soft chairs), the Great Gatsby Dining Room (which seated about 1200), and it's centrum (the giant, open atrium of sorts in the middle of the ship.)

I will have pictures of alot of this stuff on a later entry, which will be nothing but pictures- let this be a warning to those of you who still "dial up."

Posted by MikeRubino at August 2, 2004 11:23 AM