I actually slept sort of late on Sunday. At least until 9 am. At that point I got up to go for a jog, and I was so
glad to see that the sun was shining, unlike the day before. Not only was the sun shining, but also it was a
warm day. The ship spent Sunday sailing back to Miami. After my jog, I got ready to spend the day on the
deck, in the sun, by the pool. Although, first I had to attend a meeting on disembarkation. One person from
each cabin was suggested should be in attendance. No one else in our cabin was ready for it. I was the only
one dressed. So what it was a bikini I was dressed in, with a cover-up of course.
Eventually, Tina and me wind up on the sun deck. We were looking for Amy and Vicki. When we couldn’t
find them, we found ourselves a seat at the bar. That would be where we stayed for the whole day, until it was
time to get ready for dinner. Eventually Vicki and Amy found us and so did our new friends Jules and Amy. It
was a lot of fun hanging out in the sun while sailing our way back home.
I finally got to go down the ship’s waterslide. Yee haw! Naturally, there was only little kids using it, but
hey, I’m a big kid and proud of it. The first time I went on it, as soon as I sat down, I noticed something
that wasn’t quite right. The water was cold, and I do mean cold. I did my best to go as fast as I could
down the slide and then I splashed into a pool of ice cold water, yuck. It was salt water too. They use the
water from the sea to fill the pool. Even though the water was cold, I wouldn’t let it deter me from going on
the slide again, and again. Eventually I found another big kid to go on it with me; Jules friend Amy was just as
big a kid as I was. Amy2 didn’t like the cold water either. She headed straight for the hot tub after going on
the slide. I eventually joined her in there. Then I dragged some poor soul (but a cute one) onto the slide with
us. He even got to go down it with his beer.
With most of the members of the Wild Bunch hanging out by the pool, we decided now would be a good time to
get some autographs. Tina was nice enough to go back to the room to get my mini photo album and my
sharpies. The only things I had brought to the pool with me were my towel, sunglasses, bathing suit, and my
CD Walkman. Now with me being armed with some sharpies and my photos, I approached the members of the
band that were around. In the end, I got everyone but Frank, Jimmy and Eddie Montgomery. I wasn’t too
concerned about Eddie Montgomery since I already have his autograph, but I really wanted to get Frank and
Jimmy’s’ autographs.
Before we got dressed for dinner, we needed to pack our suitcases and leave them out in front of our cabin so
that the steward could collect our bags and get them ready for disembarkation on Monday morning. Dinner on
Sunday wasn’t too eventful. Just a lot more fun and a lot more pictures being taking. After dinner, we
naturally went back to the bar by the casino.
The website that had the information about this cruise had said that we would get a jam session with the band.
The itinerary had said that the jam session would be on Sunday on the Lido deck by the pool. For some reason
they cancelled the jam session. I don’t know why, and it doesn’t really matter since Bo did a jam session
with some friends at the bar. I’m not sure where Bo got the guitar he was playing from, but I was there
was some woman handed her husband a guitar that they brought on the ship with them. So, we had two guitars
being played, Bo always had one in his hand. The second guitar was played by many different people, one of
which was never me. One person who played was Rick a member of MG’s crew. He was pretty good. He
was even playing that acoustic guitar as a slide guitar by putting the guitar on his lap and using a lighter on the
neck and picking some strings.
We spent most of the night on that floor of the ship. There were a few different bars on that floor. There was
a dance club that we kept popping into. The band playing at that club seemed to enjoy our visits there since it
was mostly a dud crowd in there. The dud crowd didn’t appreciate our brand of “FUN�. Ooo ooo.
Eventually the bars on this floor closed and we moved the party to another bar on a different floor that was still
open, those of us who were still awake anyway. By the time we got there, they were getting ready to close that
bar too. The bartender was letting everyone buy a few drinks at a time. So, with our few drinks we headed off
to someplace to keep the party going. Amy thought it would be fun to stay awake all night, and I wasn’t
going to leave her alone.
At some point I think we both lost our almost un-ending energy and finally decided to make our way to the cabin
to get some sleep. Well, I believe we got two hours of sleep before we had to get up and get ready to leave the
boat. Vicki took advantage of the early exit option and was off the ship by 8 am. At 8:30 am, our steward was
kindly kicking us out of our cabin. We were supposed to be on the Lido deck having breakfast. It was actually
the first breakfast I had since leaving the Miami hotel on Friday morning. When we finally got to a table with
some food, they called our group for disembarkation. I managed a few bites before we finally left the ship.
Clearing customs was really quick and easy. We all passed the dog sniff test I guess. Then it was onto the
airport.
The three of us had made afternoon flights, since we didn’t think that we would get off the ship until noon.
We were at the airport by 10:30 am. We tried to change our flight to leave earlier. Tina was successful with
that, but with the snow that New York had, they were backed up to begin with, Amy and I had to wait until our
3 o’clock flight. We all needed some food, since we barely touched what we grabbed off of the breakfast
buffet on the ship. It was in the restaurant in the airport where we ran into Jules and Amy2 once again. What a
riot those two are. Tina was the first person who had to leave. The line to go through security had grown quite
long and was passing the restaurant we were in. After we said goodbye to Tina and she headed to the end of
the line, it took about 15 minutes before she passed the restaurant on her way to the front of the security check-
in.
Jules and Amy2 were flying out of a different airline and needed to go to a different security gate, I have no idea
how long that line was. Eventually, Amy and I got on the line to go through security. It probably took us a
good 40 minutes waiting on that line. Once it was my turn to clear security, it was then that I found out that I
had been flagged for a complete security search. Everything I had with me, my carry-on, my checked-in
luggage, and my person, was completely searched. They didn’t miss a thing. That alone must have taken
about 15 minutes. When I was finally done, I walked out of the security area to find Amy just sitting on the
floor waiting for me. As soon as she got on her feet we headed to our gate.
We both tried to get some sleep in the airport since we were too busy having fun the night before to go to our
cabin for a good night’s rest. Tina was probably almost home by the time we boarded our first flight. Our
flight out of Miami departed on time.
We arrived at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky airport absolutely exhausted and wishing we could just go back
on that boat. Our connecting flights were leaving from two different terminals. Since my flight was leaving a
full 50 minutes after Amy’s, I accompanied her to her terminal. We enjoyed a drink together at a pub called
CHEERS, where I also had some food. Before long it was time for Amy to head to her gate. It was so sad
saying goodbye. That part just totally sucks. And then there was one, ME, all alone and headed to my gate.
When I finally arrived back on Long Island at Islip Airport, I could immediately feel the chill the recent
snowstorm had left behind. After collecting my checked luggage, I headed to where I had parked my car. The
plows did such a lovely job clearing the parking lot, NOT. My three suitcases weren’t jam packed, nor were
they too heavy, but let me tell you, it was quite difficult dragging them almost a half mile through a parking lot
that was caked with snow and ice. Some how I made it to my car. Once there, I could tell that someone had
tried to clear away some of the snow, but I could also tell that a plow had gone down the aisle since then. The
plow had left about foot and half of ice, snow, and dirt packed right behind my car. After I managed to get my
stuff inside my car, I did try to remove some of the snow/ice from behind so that I could pull out of my parking
spot, but to no avail. It was frozen solid there, and it wasn’t moving. From now on it might be a good idea
for me to pack a shovel in my car. I was almost in tears. Steven really should have been here to help me, yeah
right.
Anyhow, I noticed that no one had been parked next to me on my left, and that no one had been parked in front
of that spot either. There was nothing but fresh snow. I did try to back out of my spot, but I got stuck on the
mound of ice and my car just wouldn’t go. Then I tried to just angle my car so that I could go through the
fresh snow in the spots next to me. My sharpie skills proved successful, since I was easily able to escape my
parking space this way.
When I got home, for some reason, I just didn’t get the warm reception I really needed and rightfully
deserved. Anyhow, we’ve gotten over that now, but look out for any future road, fly, or boat trips. Heâ
€™s bound to put his foot down eventually and start wearing the pants. Wish me luck.
In all, the cruise was excellent. I had a great time and would welcome a chance to do that again in the future.
Except for a Phil Vassar concert in Manhattan on February 12, I don’t have anything planned until Kennyâ
€™s tour starts in March. For now, I just need to get through Christmas and New Year’s. I also need to
get some help hired in my store so that I won’t have a problem getting the time off that I deserve. By the
time Kenny’s tour starts I will have another weeks vacation due to me, and since I only used two days of
my current vacation time, I will have 8 days of vacation once March rolls around. I hope to see ya’ll on the
road in March. Unfortunately, I have no idea when I’ll be seeing MG again, but what memories I have of
them until then.