Anchors Aweigh!

Yep.  The rumors are true.  Somehow I was convinced to go back out on a big boat for an extended vacation with my family AGAIN.  Back in 2008, we did a 7 day cruise out of Galveston with the family (parents, brothers, wives).  It was our first cruise and an exciting/interesting trip.  The itinerary was to sail from Galveston through the Caribbean to three ports (Jamaica, Grand Cayman, Cozumel).  Was a nice trip but after about 5 days of togetherness with the family on the boat we were getting a bit stir crazy.  The wife and I decided it was nice, but we felt 5 days was probably our limit and we didn't really see this as a regular trek for us (my parents and oldest brother are regular cruise veterans).  This past summer, my brother got the urge to take a 10 day cruise to the Panama Canal for their anniversary and they talked my parents into going.  Initially, they tried to convince us to go, but I declined because I we couldn't swing an extended trip away from home for that long and I wasn't sure I could be on a boat with my siblings without some serious counselling.  They convinced my middle brother who lives in Seattle to come out of his yurt and make the trip and eventually they guilted us into going (could be my 89 year old parent's last cruise).  Momma was not as keen on making the trip, given the logistics, so I applied my silver tongue and sweet talked her into the trip.  I felt this was the one and only time we would be able to see the Canal so we should "climb on board".

So, after making all the preparations and packing way too much and dumping the dogs off at doggy day camp (where I discovered a really great BBQ place), we finally headed out for the airport at zero thirty for the 1st leg of our excursion.  Since momma is a very nervous flyer, I cashed in a few of my frequent flier miles I acquired from my travels and bumped our tickets to 1st class to make the flight a bit easier.  Good flight, a bit hectic getting the bags from the airport to the boat, but we finally made it on board.       

For the next 10 days, we made our home aboard the MS Zuiderdam for a jaunt through the colorful Caribbean with various ports of call along the way.  Lots of sun, lots of food, lots of drink, lots of pictures.  I am culling through the roughly 2400 pictures I took (not counting the ones taken by my brothers/dad) and plan to post up some of our adventures.    

MS Zuiderdam

My office for the next 10 days

Bye-bye Florida

Party on the Lido deck

Casual dress day