I began writing this blog post while sprawled across my stateroom bed on the MSC Seashore, mesmerized by the turquoise water of the Bahamas (wow, it really is turquoise) through my balcony door. Our balcony room was placed on the starboard side of the ship, not port side, which was docked at the cruise line’s private island called Ocean Cay. But we could see a tugboat, anchored near the second, smaller island MSC cruise line is currently developing for its “Explorer” series of ships.
Kent, my husband, and I enjoyed the air conditioning in our stateroom and watched plenty of cruisers zoom by on jet skis, after a rather wonderful swim on one of several beaches at Ocean Cay. We managed to burn our shoulders and faces even though we were slathered with sunscreen.
Nothing but sun, sand, music and happy drinkers on the beaches, plus a good supply of giddy children.
This was a peaceful day, but it took a lot of stress to get us there. It’s roughly 2,509 kilometers (1,559 miles) from Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada, to Port Canaveral, Florida, where MSC Seashore received guests for embarkation.
Getting There
After we boarded, I felt like a lucky duck, especially since we were part of that unfortunate group of summer vacationers whose flights were cancelled by the recent Air Canada strike.
I am neither for nor against such things, except that it was frightening to consider being unable to take our non-refundable Caribbean cruise because the Air Canada flight attendants were pissed about their working conditions. It’s easier to care when you don’t have thousands of dollars on the line, thousands of dollars that took years to save, and would not be recouped.
Other than a group trip to Scotland in 1997, this would be our first “real” vacation in 33 years of marriage, as well as our very first cruise. We spent all our thrifty childrearing years together camping with the kids at Fundy National Park, or visiting friends and family in Quebec or Ontario.
So, we were scared our cruise vacation would be wasted.
The travel agent was apologetic that all she could offer was a $2400 alternative leaving from Halifax, or a $3400 alternative leaving from Fredericton. We said we’d make our own arrangements.
On the Thursday prior to the walk-off, we booked a flight with American Airlines leaving from Bangor, Maine, which is a four-and-a-half hour drive from Moncton. We crossed the border by car, parked it in long-term parking, and from there we made a connection in Washington, DC for Orlando, Florida. The shuttle from the airport to Port Canaveral was a 40-minute drive.
Air Canada offered us a credit.
Since we will not be travelling before the deadline of June 9 next year (the month and day of purchase), this is useless to us. We did apply to Air Canada for an” alternative travel” refund, so we’ll see if they return the money that we spent on American Airlines. If not, perhaps I can make an insurance claim, which would recoup 80% of our original Air Canada fares.
So far, I can say that we spent as much on airfare as we did on the cruise itself.
Yikes. Anyway, you want to know about the cruise, I’m sure.
All the great stuff about cruising!
There were 5011 passengers (697 Canadians) and 1800 crew on board MSC Seashore during our seven day August trip. The 170,000 tonne ship launched in 2021, which makes it quite new. But during our allotted dinnertime, a veteran cruiser seated next to me said that Seashore was “only a mid-size ship.”
Seemed enormous to me, and quite beautiful. Swarovski crystals stud the stairways of the main atrium at the centre of the ship, where many activities took place (including the sail-away party in the video above), and the interior design was patterned on the place names and locations of New York City. A 10-foot Statue of Liberty overlooked the casino. During the day, we played Scrabble in the Brooklyn Café, and in the evening, listened to an incredibly talented jazz quartet from Brazil. We had delicious specialty coffee (uh, yeah, every day…) and really wonderful gelato at Venchi, an Italian chocolatier.
Most of the passengers were Americans, and many of them Spanish speaking, but I did detect a smattering of Italian speakers (the cruise line is Italian, and has only been in North America since 2021) –some Koreans and Chinese, maybe a couple of Germans? There were young families with kids on board – they enjoyed the water park on deck 18. There were old people (some riding around on scooters!) who didn’t leave the ship much, and twenty-somethings who were just there to party on the beach. There were family reunion groups in matching t-shirts who all sat together in the buffet and talked about their day.
Excursions, shopping, musical theatre, trivia and Guess that Tune games, dance lessons – there were all kinds of things to do, announced daily over the loudspeaker by Neil Dixon, the energetic cruise director with the posh London accent (So different than what I remember of Julie McCoy, the cruise director on The Love Boat. Anyone of a certain age remember The Love Boat?)
After a particularly stressful year, I didn’t come aboard with the intention to stay constantly busy. We were both content to wander around the ship, work on writing projects, and enjoy our balcony, day and night. (The water was indigo blue, by the way, close to Mexico. At home, the North Atlantic is gray-green. I wonder what makes the difference?)
But one night, we sat listening to a trio playing 70s and 80s covers in one of the main lounges. We met Nancy and Mike, who asked to join our table. They were a retired couple, originally from Spokane, Washington, but had lived in Orlando for the past 22 years.
“We still don’t have many friends,” Nancy confided, with some sadness. “No one is really friendly in Orlando.” Then she asked me if Canadians hate Americans, given the current political climate.
I didn’t reply that yes, many of them do – especially lately.
But not me. “I don’t hate Americans.” I said, shrugging. “Politicians and governments come and go, but neighbours are forever. We’ll work it out.”
In preparation for this trip, I watched many cruise bloggers on YouTube, and one of them suggested we shouldn’t discuss politics or religion on a cruise ship, since everyone’s there to have a good time… but Nancy brought it up, so we had quite a good discussion.
Besides, G.K. Chesterton once wrote, “I never discuss anything else except politics and religion. There is nothing else to discuss.”
Are you hungry? There’s Food…Lots and Lots
The enormous buffet, which was open for meals more or less all day, was comprised of many stations serving different types of food and took up a good portion of deck 16. Our stateroom was on deck 10, so we did a fair amount of climbing stairs. There were plenty of elevators, but with more than 5,000 guests, it just didn’t seem efficient to wait. We found the buffet quite delicious and adequate for almost all our meals, even though we did take a couple of dinners at our assigned dining room at 9:00 pm. We only ate at one of the restaurants once – Butcher’s cut, which is a steakhouse – on the first night. It was extra money, and we wanted to watch our additional spending.
Speaking of dinner, I met another lady named Beata at our table who was originally from Poland, but had lived in Tampa for many years. I gave her a copy of The Widow and The Will (Merlin Star Press, 2024), the novel I published last year. She was travelling with a close friend and was full of energy.
Nice Meeting Y’all
Southern Americans, I’ve found, are unfailingly polite. “Where y’all from?” was a constant question. Once from a young man and his cousins at the brunch table, and once from another young man at the Brooklyn Café, both from Georgia. I didn’t get either of their names. We also met Laura and Reagan from Virginia. After about ten minutes of chatting about weather and other basic info, they all rise to their feet and say, “well, it was nice meeting y’all. Have a nice trip.”
(I think I often over-talk my welcome. I can’t help it. People are more interesting than activities.)
Appreciate the moment, why don’t you?
While sprawled on the bed that day in the Bahamas, I laughed when I remembered a quote from one of Jerry Seinfeld’s comedy acts, Nobody wants to be Anywhere. He says,
“After all the work you put into getting your ass where it is right now, you’re only halfway through this nightmare at this point. Wherever you are, really anywhere in life, at some point, you gotta get the hell outta there.
You’re at work, you wanna get home.
You’re home, you’re working all week, ‘I gotta get out.’
You’re out, it’s late, ‘I gotta get back.’
‘I gotta get up.’
‘I gotta get to the airport.’
‘When are we getting on the plane?’ The plane takes off.
‘When’s the plane gonna land?’ The plane lands.
‘Why don’t they open the door so we can get out?’
Nobody wants to be anywhere. Nobody likes anything. We’re cranky. We’re irritable, and we’re dealing with it by constantly changing locations. Now the good thing about being out is you don’t have to be out for long. Just long enough to get the next feeling, which you’re all gonna get. And that feeling is, ‘I gotta be gettin’ back!’
This is funny and profound, because it’s true.
We spent so much money planning the event, dreaming about it, then fretting over the possibility that it might not happen and all the extra money we had to spend, and by the second day of the seven-day cruise, I was already thinking about it being over. Thinking about saving for the next cruise – thinking about anything but being there, in the moment.
It really does take some discipline of the mind for me to enjoy a moment with no thought of the past or the future. We are creatures who move through time. Time herds us around like cattle.
I couldn’t write and post in the moment because of limited wifi, so I had to make notes for posting after I returned home. There’s some poetic justice in that. Perhaps the same God I believe in who gifted me with this trip also wanted me to enjoy it while it was happening.
