Tuesday June 18, 2002
Freeport
I woke today about 8:30 and went on deck to get breakfast at Beach Blanket Buffet. As I sat outside, eating my eggs and watching the ship come in, I recalled having heard that the cruise terminal in Freeport was in an industrial area, and we'd have to take cabs to get into the city. This was not a lie; looking around the harbor, I felt like I was in the middle of the Curtis Bay section of south Baltimore, a heavily-industrialized area with factories and shipping not far from my home.
Coming back from breakfast, I ran into Rosie at the aft lifts, and Nanci's son Gil came along a minute later. I found out from Gil that I had slept too late; Nanci, her husband, and her other son Greg had gone ashore early to go snorkeling. I had been hoping to tag along, because Nanc had said she knew of a better place to go snorkeling than the one touted by the ship's shore excursions desk. Rosie and her family, however, were also planning to go snorkeling, so she invited me to go with them. They were on their way to breakfast, but since I was on my way back to my cabin to change, they would call me and let me know when they were ready to go.
Hey, it IS the Clubhouse cruise!
I went back to my cabin and changed into my newly-purchased swim attire and waited for a while. Mike was back from breakfast by then and also wanted to tag along, as he is experienced at both snorkeling and scuba diving, so we sat around watching the ship's Disney movie channel for a while. But before we knew it, it was 11:30, and Rosie still hadn't called. We guessed she had forgotten and gone ashore without us, but neither of us had ever been to Freeport before and didn't feel confident enough to try getting a cab and looking around a foreign city for a place to go snorkeling, so we decided to make today a ship day. Mike went off to see a movie in the Buena Vista theater, and I headed for the Internet Cafe to post an update of yesterday's activities. Since it was close to lunch time, I waited around and chatted live with a few people till about 1:30.
Quiet, quiet, and more quiet
By this time I was hungry, so I went looking for lunch. I found it at Beach Blanket Buffet, which had an excellent Asian buffet today (Chinese and Japanese; they may have had more, but I went right for the Chinese). Lunch was pretty quick, and afterward I went looking for a quiet (and cool) spot to read. I wound up in the lobby of the Walt Disney Theater, a smallish lobby with a couple of tables and some chairs. Since the theater was not in use, and the snack bars and gift shops next to it were also closed, this lobby wound up being pretty deserted during most of the day. I sat there reading The Bourne Identity for a couple of hours.
I finally had to pack up and leave when a group of kids on an outing from the Oceaneers Club showed up, taking over the whole lobby. I didn't want to be in their way, and I certainly couldn't read with 60 kids having fun time in the room, so I went back to my cabin and picked up my camera. Cast-off was scheduled that day for 4pm, and I finally wanted to get some pictures of the ship's lines coming in.
I got to the Deck 4 Promenade just before 4. Our departure was a little delayed, but by 4:30 we were under way, and I got some pretty good shots of the bow lines coming in and the ship's departure from Freeport, both from the Deck 4 Promenade and from Deck 10.
After that I went back to my cabin to write out some trip notes (how do you think I remember all this stuff days or even weeks later?), then back to the Internet Cafe for another quick check-in. Then I just wanted to sit around and do nothing for a while, so I refilled my mug with soda and sat down at a table on Deck 9, just listening to the sea go by. Paige came by and said hi, in the midst of one of her jogs around the ship (she's in such good shape, she could probably lift me in the air with one arm), and we chatted for a few minutes. Then she was off to finish exercising, and I went back to my cabin to type out some more of my Day 1 trip report until it was time to dress for dinner.
In living color!
Dinner that night would be in Animators Palate. I had been inside the place before, during the lifeboat drill, but eating there is a far different experience than just sitting around in a life vest. The walls are black and white, with black and white artwork and several LCD screens scattered throughout. Disney music plays constantly during the meal, and at various points the appropriate piece of artwork lights up in color to match the music. We sat next to Hades, who lit up during "I can Go The Distance." And at the end of the meal, all four walls lit up from behind in a blaze or orange and red color, just as the waitstaff all reappeared, dressed in full-color vests instead of the black-and-white vests they had begun the evening in. The show alone was worth seeing, but the food took the experience to a whole new level. I chose an appetizer that seemed a little unusual, at least to picky eater with limited gourmet experience like me: roast duck and goat cheese on flat bread. It was fabulous! I could have made a meal of two or three of these alone. The duck was shredded, very tender, and cooked in a sweet sauce; the goat cheese reminded me a little of feta, and the flat bread was like a thick pita. My main course was maple-glazed salmon in peppercorns, with sauteed green beans and mashed red potatoes. This was perhaps my favorite meal of the whole trip; I ditched the peppercorns, because I don't like them, and ate the salmon with great relish. "Maple-glazed" meant that it was baked and then glazed with a sweet maple syrup, making for an incredible flavor. I absolutely loved that dish! The green beans were sauteed to perfection, crisp and very tasty, and the mashed red potatoes were perfect for a potato-lover like me. For desert I had a fantastic double-fudge chocolate cake, which I enjoyed completely, but it couldn't compare to the chocolate-mousse cake from Tritons (nothing else on Earth can, really).
By the time I left the restaurant that night, and I was one of the last to leave, too, except for Jeff and Sally, who had decided to order a second desert, I was stuffed. Full. Bursting at the seams. I had cleaned my plate completely at all three courses of the meal, and I had also ordered a mixed drink called a Yellow Bird. I don't remember exactly what was in it, but it was mild and smooth, with citrus juices and rum, and had relaxed me a lot more than one drink usually relaxes someone my size. Yeah, I'm a cheap date; low tolerance for booze. So I was feeling understandably fuzzy when I left Animators Palate that night and went back to my cabin to change. I stayed in the cabin for a little while, writing out trip notes, and before I knew it, around 12:30 or so, I had nodded off.
Walk Miles: 4.7