Each morning I would flip on
the cabin TV to check out the latest news on the impending Northwest Airlines
mechanics’ strike. The strike was set for Saturday, August 20th and I was
concerned how this was going to affect our flight home on Sunday, the 21st. On
Friday it wasn’t the strike news that caught my attention however. The headline
news that morning was that a tornado had struck Stoughton, Wisconsin…one person
was killed and a large part of the city had been destroyed. My daughter-in-law is from
that area and her parents, brother and sister live there.
I called the oldest son's cabin and told
him to turn on the TV immediately. My daughter-in-law could tell from watching the news
coverage that the damage was in the neighborhood where her parents lived and
she was frantic. We were scheduled to meet up with Phil Lafayette for a tour a
half an hour after the ship docked so I told her to wait and call from shore
rather than trying to use a ship phone. A representative for Phil was waiting
for us at the end of the dock and I explained our situation. She showed daughter-in-law where to buy a phone card and also the location of the pay phones. I’m sorry we
held up the tour a bit that day, but I know that I would have understood if it
had been someone else. The phone call home brought good news…no damage to her parent’s
home, even though homes only a block away had been destroyed. Daughter-in-law was greatly
relieved and able to enjoy the rest of her day in Ocho Rios.
Leaving the dock area at Ocho
Rios we were loaded into one van and then transported a short distance to where
we switched vans. This time we were with Phil Lafayette who was to be our guide
for the day. Our tour started with Phil driving us around the Ocho Rios area
showing us a school, an affluent area in the hills where we had a great view of
the ship and also a small “kitchen garden” along side a country road. As we
walked through the garden, Phil would stop and tell us stories about the
different plants and let us smell some that had unique fragrances.
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| Phil Lafayette, our guide for the day. |
There was a
woodcarver’s stand right next to the garden and a few people made purchases
before getting back into the van to continue the tour. Three years ago we had
done a tour of Ocho Rios with Peat Taylor and had visited the very same place.
Eventually we came to the
place where we were to do the river tubing. Not all of the people on the tour
chose to do the tubing…probably about half of 20 people or so. We walked down a
set of rustic stairs to the river and got into our tubes. There were a couple
of guides helping us since the river was flowing fairly swiftly at this point.
My sister chose not to do the tubing so she and the others who didn’t take part
left with Phil. She said he drove them around to see additional sites and then
they met us at the take-out point for the tubing.
Tubing down the river gave you
the feeling you were a million miles away from civilization. The forest
provided a thick canopy that covered the river. The current was fast enough to
provide a bit of excitement, but not so swift that it seemed scary. The tubes
were fitted with a wooden “bottom” that provided some protection from rocks in
the shallower waters. At times one of us would get carried over to the side of
the river and get hung up on a branch or a rock. Within moments a guide would
be there to help free us and send us on our way down the river.
After floating for some time,
the guides motioned for us to go over to the side and get out of the water. We
walked up to the top of a small cliff where some young boys were jumping into
the river. My family wasn’t going to miss out on this opportunity so Bob and
the kids all took their turn jumping off the cliff into the river below. This
frightened me since there were rocks jutting out of the water nearby. My first
thought was…” I wonder if there is a hospital nearby?” And if this didn’t cause
enough worry, my oldest son did a flip off the cliff! Once the daredevils were
finished, we climbed back into our tubes and floated down the river to where
Phil and the others in our group were waiting.
There was no place to change
out of our wet swimsuits, but Phil had plastic seat covers in his van so it
wasn’t a big problem. Except for our family, all of the others in the van were
going to climb Dunn’s River Falls next. We had done this previously and decided
we would pass on it this time. Phil offered to take us to a beach to hang out until
the others were done with the falls, but instead we opted to be dropped off at
Island Village and then just walk back to the ship. My sister wasn’t feeling
well so Phil took her directly to the ship.
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| Island Village near the cruise ship dock. |
Shopping in the “Island
Village” we felt very safe but it was also much more “touristy” than our
shopping experience in the craft village on our last visit to Ocho Rios. We
browsed through the shops and also stopped in at Jimmy Buffet’s Margaritaville.
Prior to the cruise we had all found the “lost shakers of salt” on the
Margaritaville website and had coupons for free margaritas. Besides the drinks
we ordered some buffalo wings and nachos to share. It was relatively calm and
quiet in the upstairs of Margaritaville where we sat…downstairs loud music
played and guests danced through the building in conga lines. Margaritaville
boasts a slide going from the second floor down to the pool below. After
finally getting dry from our river tubing, we opted to not try the slide.
Island Village is just a short
walk from the ship. Upon returning it was too late for lunch, but too early for
dinner so middle son and I grabbed a hotdog from the grill on the Lido deck. It was
good, but would have been better if some toppings were available…I had my heart
set on grilled onions! I think they were in the process of closing up so
nothing extra was set out. As I look back, I think I only remember getting hot
food from the buffet in the Mediterranean Restaurant one time…at breakfast.
Otherwise I just grabbed cold Danish for breakfast, a sandwich from the deli,
the hotdog from the grill or pizza. Most of our lunches and dinners were eaten
in the Pacific Dining room where we could relax and be waited on!
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| Ocho Rios |
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| It is a long walk from the ship to shore in Ocho Rios. |
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| Passengers returning to the ship at the end of the day. |
Friday night was the second of
the formal nights. Once again…it was a treat for me to see my family looking so
spiffy and even better is that they enjoyed it too and didn’t whine and
complain about getting dressed up!
The show that night was
“Vroom”…a montage of rock and roll songs throughout the years. It started with
a movie about some guy on a motorcycle which I thought was strange, but the
live show was pretty good.
The Grand Gala Buffet was also
held on Friday night. On our Paradise cruises, the gala buffet was held in one
of the formal dining rooms. On the Victory the buffet was set up in the buffet area of the Mediterranean Restaurant…not quite as classy in my opinion. Bob, sister and I
sat and watched them assemble the large ice sculpture of the sea monster and
arrange all of the food displays to perfection.
Instead of standing in line to
actually eat the food, Bob got a tuna sandwich at the deli and I got some pizza and then we finished with an ice cream cone..
By the end of the week we were starting to crave “common, down to earth” food!
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