2006-08-21 - 7:18 p.m. - the other side of paradise (part 3)...
So where was I? Oh yeah, the cruise. I should probably rewind a little bit to the first day. So there I was on the cruise ship. Although I've been on a similar ship before about a decade back, the impact is similar. Just walking into the large Centrum area as you board the ship you know that you have entered a different world and somehow your mind almost automatically switches into vacation mode. There are a few things that are different between then and now, most notably is the increased security, from the check-in at the port to the airport-like screening when boarding and disembarking the ship, I guess it's a way of life nowadays.
Although I kept an open mind, given my track record with the opposite sex, my goal of this little excursion was not to outwardly pick up women. Rather, I was just out to have a good time and if I ran into someone I liked, I'd totally play it by ear. So I spent part of the first day resting on the pool deck, Pi�a Colada on hand, recovering from having to wake up early for my flight to Ft. Lauderdale. The family and I had some dinner later in the main dining room and after that and I was scouting various areas of the ship.
At night I made my way to the Viking Crown. It wasn't very crowded at first, but people started wandering in as the night progressed. Then these two really cute girls came in. One was a brunette wearing a cute blue and white dress, very nautical. The other was blonde with a black dress and was asking the girl she was with to get a drink. The brunette refused saying that she's not going to look after her if she's drunk, so the blonde went to the bar and ordered her own drink.
I was only on my first martini, so my analytical skills were still rather sharp. The brunette appeared to be the older sister, while the blonde though apparently the younger of the two, was old enough to buy her self drinks at the bar and very likely just turned 21. While the blonde sister was getting her drink, I complimented the brunette on her nautical dress and noted the fact that she was looking out for her sister in our conversation. She was rather quiet though and wasn't giving me much to work with.
Her sister eventually came back with her drink and took out some cigarettes, so I pulled out my lighter and gave her a light. She seemed appreciative of the gesture. The rest of the evening was kind of a blur, I had more drinks, there was quite a bit of dancing involved I even danced a bit with the blonde. I think the two sisters left a little early though, while I stuck around until last call. Like I said, it was kind of a blur.
Picture of the Viking Crown Lounge with my the crappy camera on my phone.
By morning of day two I earned myself a really nice hangover. I prepared myself a little "remedy" consisting of Airborne Formula and Alka Seltzer. The Airborne was purely a preventative measure against any cold/flu bugs I might have picked up on my journey, It seemed to have worked quite well too because by the third day of chain smoking my throat was really sore and raw from the cigarette abuse, partying and lack of rest, which is a typical sign that I'm going to get sick as hell, yet I never caught a full-blown cold or flu. I still needed Halls to sooth my sore throat and developing cough though. I probably went through half a bag on my trip. The Alka Seltzer was of course for my hangover symptoms. I found it works rather well for hangovers. I also had a good breakfast consisting of granola cereal w/ fruit and some Eggs Benedict. I also managed to get a really good Bloody Mary, a traditional brunch cocktail, which is purported to be a really good hangover recovery drink.
I swear I should have gained 20 pounds in this cruise, but I couldn't have possibly stuffed all that food in my face. It was physically impossible. Plus I tried to balance things out in terms of nutritional value, I always got a soup and salad before my meal and if I wanted to try more than one entree, I avoided the pasta, rice, potatoes etc. having only a little taste of each because that stuff totally fills you up and lasts a while in your system. The only exception was the Pad Thai I ordered for a lunch, which I saw someone else eat and couldn't pass up. I only had lunch 2 out of the 5 days though because the food was just that fucking overwhelming. I also tried avoiding bread, but the sourdough rolls were fucking awesome so I'd usually have some with my soup. If I didn't like a particular dish I set it aside, there basically was no room in my system for substandard food.
I'd mix up my entrees as well, sometimes getting a fish or vegetarian entree if it looked good. There were a handful of appetizers that were absolutely superlative, like the escargot and the shrimp cocktail. There was one entree, prime rib I think that had perfectly cooked asparagus, heated just enough to bring out the flavor but not so much that it lost its crisp. You'd be surprised at how even the best of restaurants fuck up the preparation of asparagus, but there it was on my plate waiting to burst in my mouth with all of its crispy flavor. My apologies if I'm making you hungry with all this mentioning of food, but the food experience was seriously a large part of what made the trip so fucking awesome.
The second evening was formal night, the only formal night of the five day cruise. It's a shame really because I got more looks and turned more heads that night than I had all year. I mean don't get me wrong, I'm an OK looking guy, but I'm not really so hot looking that I'd command that kind of female attention. It must have been the suit because that night I was on fucking fire. Unfortunately I didn't have a linen suit in my wardrobe (which is better for summer) so I had to rock the regular black suit and since it was way to humid for a tie, I just wore a white open collared shirt underneath. I took a picture of the exact same outfit a while back shown below:
So there I was looking like "the bomb", I got dinner out of the way then I swung by the Bolero's Lounge for an after-dinner drink and listened to the Salsa band and then after I went to the Viking Crown lounge again for 70's night. It was probably the most crowded night of the trip in the Viking Crown, because all the baby boomers were out in full force for their one night of partying.
My mom and her boyfriend were supposed to show up too, but the boat was unusually rocky for almost the whole day due to winds from a nearby storm. Even I was affected, I didn't really get seasick, but my equilibrium was constantly challenged, I mean there were times I felt like I was always falling or losing my balance and of course my drinking didn't help at all. By the time night hit however, the waves and the winds subsided and it was smooth sailing for disco night. My mom however was on Dramamine, the drowsy kind so she slept it out in her cabin and her boyfriend kept her company.
My sister was able to get in that night by using my mom's ship card. The cards on the ship are called the "Sea Pass Card", which are used to purchase everything on the ship and to confirm your identity as you disembark and board the ship at the ports. They are also used to distinguish the various age groups. Basically 2 punch holes are placed on the card if you are under 18, 1 punch hole is for 18-20 and no punch holes are 21 and over. My mom's boyfriend's son who stayed in a separate cabin with me was also able to get in because he looked over 18 (He's like 6'5" in height). The way it works is that you have to be over 18 to go in the nightclub after-hours on the ship and you have to be over 21 to be able to purchase alcoholic beverages.
To follow the 70's theme, a whole group of the crew was dressed like the Village People and was dancing to the various Village People songs like Macho Man and YMCA. The cute blonde from the night before was out there on the dance floor too wearing the sailor's hat from one of the Village People guys while the brunette and another one of her sisters (also brunette) were outside the dance floor watching.
I put my drink down and made my way to the dance floor for the YMCA dance. After the whole Village people thing, they started playing "Staying Alive" and one of the Village people dudes took the microphone and started teaching us the whole
dance John Travolta did in Saturday Night Fever then after that I went back for my drink and had a smoke.
Shot of the "Village People" w/ my camera phone in the Viking Crown
After a while, the cute blonde motioned me to the dance floor with her finger and that "come hither" look. I for one can tell you that in the "real world" this never happens to me, which is why I'm in love with this moment on the cruise. I made my way back to the dance floor and started dancing with her. Although I wanted more than anything to be close to her I avoided the heavy grinding thing. After all I didn't want to make a bad impression. In the dance our hands and arms touched and as we were moving around I went for the "safe" touches like her arms and her waist. She took my shades off and wore them. She actually looked pretty hot in them.
Although, I wasn't really out to pick up women on that cruise, she kind of caught me off guard especially when I spend most of my normal life feeling invisible to women. I don't know, I guess part of it is my fault too. I know there are times when I treat women like they are invisible, and I know that there I times when I can be picky when it comes to women. I guess attraction can be a fickle thing, especially mutual attraction. I wish it could be as easy as you liking someone and that someone liking you back and then just letting the fireworks happen.
What I can say is that I can't remember the last time I had fallen in love. In lust, yes I've fallen in lust many times but my thoughts haven't gotten further than the "horizontal mambo" stage. With her it was something different. I just wanted to be closer to her in some way. It didn't have to be sex, though far be it for me to prevent it for happening if it had ever gotten there. I guess what I really wanted was more time, more time to spend with her. I wanted to talk to her, maybe get to know her a little better. I wanted to see if our attraction would lead to a kiss, maybe to a heavy make out session and possibly even more and the more I thought about it the more I was falling for her.
In reality though, I didn't have that many more chances to see her. After our little dance she went to the bathroom with her sisters and I went of to smoke the cigar that I mentioned in my last entry and talked to that nice couple. By the time I had gotten back from my cigar, the sisters, including the cute blonde were gone. So I had more drinks, danced with more people and had quite a few people recognizing me from the night club the next day.
I think I ran into the cute blonde and her sisters the next evening after dinner when I snuck away to the Promenade for a smoke. They were taking pictures of each other so I offered to take a picture of all three of them. She said she would join me for a cigarette, but her throat was a little sore from the last two nights of smoking. I told her I my throat was kind of sore too and I should probably lay off the smoking after that cigarette and she went off to follow her sisters. I saw her one more time with her sisters again in the Centrum. I raised my glass and winked and smiled at her as I was passing and she waved and smiled back to me. Then finally, the day before the last night I spotted her sisters while I was tanning on the pool deck. I figured she had to be somewhere nearby. I saw the older sister spotted me and we waved at each other and I saw them later go to the upper deck.
So I made a round of the upper tanning deck and finally spotted her. I sat down in the deck chair next to her and tapped her on the hand. She woke up and said hi. I apologized for waking her up and we talked for a bit. I finally had a chance to exchange names and pleasantries. She's 21 from Florida attending a local community college, her older sister is 24 and her younger sister is 18 and she has an even older sister who is 27 who is married and didn't make it out this trip and she's of course traveling with the rest of her immediate family. It's interesting though, how all the siblings are 3 years apart. Then something unusual happened, a couple of cards, someone Sea Pass card and Visa credit card, both with the same name just blew in with the wind and landed near me. I picked them up and excused myself and asked the guy nearest me if he was the person missing the cards. He said no. Then I looked in the direction of the wind, towards the bow of the ship. There wasn't another person in that direction until all the way at the front of the ship. So I went back to the girl and told her I have to turn the cards into the front desk. I asked if she was going to the Viking Crown that night, she said the she will try. I didn't get to see her that evening and that afternoon on the pool deck was the last time I would see her. I probably would have at least exchanged e-mail with her to keep in touch but I guess fate intervened and whatever chance I may have had I didn't grab enough of it. Story of my life I guess...
I did have a more stuff to say regarding the trip, I haven't even gotten to Jamaica or Grand Cayman part yet, but this entry is getting a bit long and it took me forever to get this far so I'll have to continue the story in yet another entry so once again it's "To be Continued..."
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