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November Cruise to Bermuda
Starting on another cruise - To Bermuda - a cruise on the Grandeur of the Seas. Bob has decided that he only wants to be gone on trips of a week, and this is the first one.
Bob decided to take the big brown suitcase, but he didn't pack way in advance as usual. Lynde came on Tuesday October 29th and we packed me in the little red suitcase.
Wednesday October 30th Bob packed, and I put things in the computer bag. I decided to take the pocketbook my sister gave me and put all my medications in that. I also electronically stopped the mail and the Washington Post. I forgot the Wall Street Journal though and by the time I remembered it, it was too late to do it by phone and we didn't know our ID number to do it by computer. Thursday morning, when I finally remembered to do that, it was too late to stop it coming on Friday. But the same lady delivers both of them and in the end it turned out OK as she didn't deliver it on Friday.
Everything starts back up on Nov 8th - the day we get back. Bob also ordered a leaf blower which should be delivered while we are gone (actually it was shipped by USPS and so it was held until we got home).
Bob wanted to print out a map of where the hotel was and he couldn't get his iPad to do it, so I did it from my computer.
We left the house about one o'clock on October 31st after we had lunch (we both had the salad that Bob made for dinner the previous night.) after Bob put the suitcases in the car and also the new scooter. I always take a photo when we leave the house at the start of the trip. I didn't get it as quickly as usual, so this is the road up to town.
(Scooter in the hotel)
We checked into the motel (the Hampton Inn at BWI) but when I got out of the car, I found the lens cap had come off my camera. We couldn't find it anyplace. (When I got home I ordered another one, but in the meantime, I took the one off the telephoto lens)
It was interesting to see the Baltimore stations instead of the ones from D.C., but they didn't have the HGTV channel
We have the cruise rate which includes the shuttle to the port. I made a reservation on Weds for the next trip in Feb and got a rate of $70 plus tax, but parking is $5.00 a day. That's still cheaper than the Cruise rate which is about double that.
We went to dinner at the Olive Grove (not the Olive Garden but a separate local restaurant)
They did have a salad bowl
Bob had MD crab soup and a half rack
and I had the single crab cake with a pasta side.
It was, as usual, too much for us to eat and we couldn't take it 'home'. So we didn't get to sample the desserts
The hotel TV is missing some channels - I could NOT find Thursday night football. When I asked, the hotel desk person said that they have limited numbers of DishTV channels and they don't carry football unless it is on one of the Baltimore channels. Bob set the TV to go on and off by itself, but it didn't and he couldn't turn it off afterwards either. I didn't do any computing when I got back after dinner - just went straight to bed.
Tomorrow is Embarkation Day
Embarkation - November 1
In the morning, Bob went down to breakfast and brought me back a hard boiled egg and a banana. So I continued using the computer until about 9:30 when I stopped and had a shower. Bob went and got a luggage cart and we got into the van about 10 (I had said 10:30, but Bob was impatient.).
Bob folding up the scooter to put it in the van
The shuttle driver took us to the port. It was raining a little bit
We've always liked going to Baltimore for a cruise because usually it is a pleasant and easy embarkation. But this time our expectations were dashed. I went through on the scooter and someone wanded me, but they did not investigate my pocketbook or coat. OTOH, Bob went through the regular screening and they took two tiny pocket knives away from him (as if there weren't plenty of big steak knives on the boat for use if someone wanted to hijack the ship). Whereas, I could have had 10 knives in my pocketbook and nobody cared. They also made him empty the water out of one the bottles we brought so that we would have water. This made Bob understandably grumpy. It took about half an hour to get through the procedures
After we signed in, we sat in the holding area for about another half an hour and then they let us go on board
the ship. I knew that while the wheelchair people go in on deck 1 and take the elevator up so that the wheelchair pushers don't have to go up the ramp, but a motorized scooter or wheelchair has to go up the ramp. He was annoyed when I obeyed the directions to go up the ramp. We did meet someone on the ramp who had one of those back pack oxygen things and they were resting before they went the rest of the way up. But the scooter was really fine with it.
We went up to the Windjammer, but it didn't open until noon. Bob and I sat at a table in a covered location - I took my coat and cane and left them there with Bob and the carry-ons, (drain on the floor next to the table)
and went in (they let us in a little early) to get something to eat. Bob thought that the scooter would have trouble with the big gap going into the Windjammer, but it was OK.
I got a plate and found the iconic honey stung chicken. I was able to carry a plate in one hand and maneuver the scooter with the other. But I couldn't see some of the labels as they were eye level with a tall standing person. So I got a piece of cake, a piece of bread and a little pasta,
and then went to get something to drink. I could not carry a plate and a drink, and no one offered to help until I got to the drink lady, who took my plate and a glass of tea and a glass of water for Bob.
Bob got the chicken and some rolls and a cookie. We sat and ate and talked to the people at the table next to us, and then they left and we talked to the man of the next couple that sat down - they were from Montreal and she only spoke French. They did not know that Grandeur had been upgraded (he didn't remember things like the big movie screen because it was new) and they didn't know about the fire either) At one, we went down to deck two and very shortly thereafter we were able to get to the room.
But the bed was made up as a double. We could get in with the scooter, but there was no place to park it. I called and asked for the beds to be separated and they said they would do it during the drill (and they did).
The beds are under the window with two nightstands - 2 drawers each. I'm sitting on my bed and Bob is lying on his bed
f We have an ocean-view and since we are on deck 2, we are quite close to the water. There is a couch
and little round table which I wish we could get rid of (I eventually put it in the closet). There is a flat screen TV instead of the old one, But it was fortunate that we had an ocean view because the bow camera was out of focus for the entire cruise. It took us awhile to find the safe in one of the cabinets over the TV.The desk has 3 wide drawers (one of which doesn't 'glide' at all, and three narrow ones (one of which has the hair dryer. There are closets (hall with my cane hanging on the wall)
which also have drawers in one end. There are tiny triangular cupboards on each side of the mirror over the desk, and I ended up putting the mini-bar stuff in there.
Bob decided to take the big brown suitcase, but he didn't pack way in advance as usual. Lynde came on Tuesday October 29th and we packed me in the little red suitcase.
Wednesday October 30th Bob packed, and I put things in the computer bag. I decided to take the pocketbook my sister gave me and put all my medications in that. I also electronically stopped the mail and the Washington Post. I forgot the Wall Street Journal though and by the time I remembered it, it was too late to do it by phone and we didn't know our ID number to do it by computer. Thursday morning, when I finally remembered to do that, it was too late to stop it coming on Friday. But the same lady delivers both of them and in the end it turned out OK as she didn't deliver it on Friday.
Everything starts back up on Nov 8th - the day we get back. Bob also ordered a leaf blower which should be delivered while we are gone (actually it was shipped by USPS and so it was held until we got home).
Bob wanted to print out a map of where the hotel was and he couldn't get his iPad to do it, so I did it from my computer.
We left the house about one o'clock on October 31st after we had lunch (we both had the salad that Bob made for dinner the previous night.) after Bob put the suitcases in the car and also the new scooter. I always take a photo when we leave the house at the start of the trip. I didn't get it as quickly as usual, so this is the road up to town.
(Scooter in the hotel)
We checked into the motel (the Hampton Inn at BWI) but when I got out of the car, I found the lens cap had come off my camera. We couldn't find it anyplace. (When I got home I ordered another one, but in the meantime, I took the one off the telephoto lens)
It was interesting to see the Baltimore stations instead of the ones from D.C., but they didn't have the HGTV channel
We have the cruise rate which includes the shuttle to the port. I made a reservation on Weds for the next trip in Feb and got a rate of $70 plus tax, but parking is $5.00 a day. That's still cheaper than the Cruise rate which is about double that.
We went to dinner at the Olive Grove (not the Olive Garden but a separate local restaurant)
They did have a salad bowl
Bob had MD crab soup and a half rack
and I had the single crab cake with a pasta side.
It was, as usual, too much for us to eat and we couldn't take it 'home'. So we didn't get to sample the desserts
The hotel TV is missing some channels - I could NOT find Thursday night football. When I asked, the hotel desk person said that they have limited numbers of DishTV channels and they don't carry football unless it is on one of the Baltimore channels. Bob set the TV to go on and off by itself, but it didn't and he couldn't turn it off afterwards either. I didn't do any computing when I got back after dinner - just went straight to bed.
Tomorrow is Embarkation Day
Embarkation - November 1
In the morning, Bob went down to breakfast and brought me back a hard boiled egg and a banana. So I continued using the computer until about 9:30 when I stopped and had a shower. Bob went and got a luggage cart and we got into the van about 10 (I had said 10:30, but Bob was impatient.).
Bob folding up the scooter to put it in the van
The shuttle driver took us to the port. It was raining a little bit
We've always liked going to Baltimore for a cruise because usually it is a pleasant and easy embarkation. But this time our expectations were dashed. I went through on the scooter and someone wanded me, but they did not investigate my pocketbook or coat. OTOH, Bob went through the regular screening and they took two tiny pocket knives away from him (as if there weren't plenty of big steak knives on the boat for use if someone wanted to hijack the ship). Whereas, I could have had 10 knives in my pocketbook and nobody cared. They also made him empty the water out of one the bottles we brought so that we would have water. This made Bob understandably grumpy. It took about half an hour to get through the procedures
After we signed in, we sat in the holding area for about another half an hour and then they let us go on board
the ship. I knew that while the wheelchair people go in on deck 1 and take the elevator up so that the wheelchair pushers don't have to go up the ramp, but a motorized scooter or wheelchair has to go up the ramp. He was annoyed when I obeyed the directions to go up the ramp. We did meet someone on the ramp who had one of those back pack oxygen things and they were resting before they went the rest of the way up. But the scooter was really fine with it.
We went up to the Windjammer, but it didn't open until noon. Bob and I sat at a table in a covered location - I took my coat and cane and left them there with Bob and the carry-ons, (drain on the floor next to the table)
and went in (they let us in a little early) to get something to eat. Bob thought that the scooter would have trouble with the big gap going into the Windjammer, but it was OK.
I got a plate and found the iconic honey stung chicken. I was able to carry a plate in one hand and maneuver the scooter with the other. But I couldn't see some of the labels as they were eye level with a tall standing person. So I got a piece of cake, a piece of bread and a little pasta,
and then went to get something to drink. I could not carry a plate and a drink, and no one offered to help until I got to the drink lady, who took my plate and a glass of tea and a glass of water for Bob.
Bob got the chicken and some rolls and a cookie. We sat and ate and talked to the people at the table next to us, and then they left and we talked to the man of the next couple that sat down - they were from Montreal and she only spoke French. They did not know that Grandeur had been upgraded (he didn't remember things like the big movie screen because it was new) and they didn't know about the fire either) At one, we went down to deck two and very shortly thereafter we were able to get to the room.
But the bed was made up as a double. We could get in with the scooter, but there was no place to park it. I called and asked for the beds to be separated and they said they would do it during the drill (and they did).
The beds are under the window with two nightstands - 2 drawers each. I'm sitting on my bed and Bob is lying on his bed
f We have an ocean-view and since we are on deck 2, we are quite close to the water. There is a couch
and little round table which I wish we could get rid of (I eventually put it in the closet). There is a flat screen TV instead of the old one, But it was fortunate that we had an ocean view because the bow camera was out of focus for the entire cruise. It took us awhile to find the safe in one of the cabinets over the TV.The desk has 3 wide drawers (one of which doesn't 'glide' at all, and three narrow ones (one of which has the hair dryer. There are closets (hall with my cane hanging on the wall)
which also have drawers in one end. There are tiny triangular cupboards on each side of the mirror over the desk, and I ended up putting the mini-bar stuff in there.
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Shelf under the sink with my pill container- the only place we can put our pill boxes is on the shelf under the sink where the bathmat stays.
The shelves and cabinets on the side are so shallow that you can't put a hairbrush or toothbrush unless it is diagonal.
We went down and found our table which the maitre d' said was a table for 6, but it had 10 chairs. We got our bags before the drill and unpacked at least the hanging stuff. But I didn't want to put the stuff in the drawers until the beds were separated because I didn't know which night table I would get.
We had the Drill at 3 We had to listen to the spiel on TV a couple of times and still did not know if we needed to take the life jackets. Eventually the cruise director came on the horn and said that we did not. We took the elevator up to deck 5. The scooter could get out on deck OK.
They put me back against the wall, and scanned our room keys to log us in. Of course with people standing in front of me, I could not see (if I had needed to see) the life jacket demonstrations. The captain said he would be leaving port in 15 minutes. So I stayed on deck.
I took some photos including fork lift driver on the phone
Bromo Seltzer tower
a police helicopter
They had the bow blocked off for embarkation so I
couldn't go all the way around.
Then it didn't look like we were actually going to get underway in 15 minutes and my back hurt so I lay down on a lounger.
When we did get underway,
I took photos of the usual suspects (Lazarette Lighthouse with Johns Hopkins Bayview in the back of it
Fort McHenry,
and the FSK buoy where the boat was that Francis Scott Key was on during the bombardment of Ft McHenry
Key Bridge
and abandoned Fort Carroll).
I also got a photo of the Natty Boh sign (National Bohemian Beer)
a marina that was on the other side of Ft. McHenry (name unknown),
two guys in a bass boat,
the statue of Orpheus on Ft. McHenry,
and the WBAL
and the Channel 13 (WJZ) helicopters. I had trouble getting back over the threshold to get back into the ship - I could get out on deck OK, but the scooter hung up on the ramp going the other way.
By now it was almost 5 and our dinner was at 5:30 so I went down to the room and retrieved Bob and we went up to the dining room. They were going to show us to our table, but Bob was already halfway down the dining room (since we had been that afternoon and already knew where it was). We put the scooter next to the window. but after this I usually left it at the dining room entrance.
Eventually there were 10 of us. Two of them at the other end of the table I didn't get their names. She came in a wheelchair which they parked behind Bob. Next to me were Jan and Del and I don't think they've been together long. Next to Bob were Robert and Melba - they are from Highlandtown/Camden and they are doing a B2B to the Bahamas. At the other end are Skip and Dara - they came last but they talked loud enough so I could hear their names. When we went under the Bay Bridge, I could take photos from the table
I got the spinach salad
and Bob got two starters - shrimp and they gave him horseradish to add to the cocktail sauce,
and the watermelon raspberry soup.
Then he had the salmon and I had prime rib. I really couldn't eat that much because my back was really hurting. Then we both had the blueberry peach crumble for dessert, but I didn't eat much of that either.
We came back to the room and basically went to bed. I couldn't do anything but lie there and try to get my back comfortable. It didn't hurt to move. It just hurt.
I woke up again about midnight, and wanted to go to the bathroom. I saw a red light and wanted to know what it was - it turned out to be the TV and I could do it with a touch screen. The other light turned out to be the peephole to the corridor.
I decided as long as I was awake, I would download and edit my photos. So I found my glasses and got the computer out of the drawer where I put it, but I didn't want to have it directly on the bed, so I thought I would put it on a book like I did on Disney. But the information books were soft cover. So I took the tray that was under the sodas and water that you have to pay if you use, and I used that. I had 174 photos (that I kept - I deleted some).
Then I went back to sleep
Cost of the trip
The ship has wi-fi and no it is not included in the price. The basic cruise price includes the transportation, the room, most of the food and some of the entertainment.
It does not include semi-mandatory tips (the cruise line pays peanuts and the crew like the waiters and cabin cleaning people depend on the tips to make their money - currently it is about $12/day per person), and it does not include drinks, the casino, the excursions, internet, phone, bingo, extra price restaurants or food, spa treatments, some gym classes and some entertainment. For instance they have martini making classes or something like that and you pay for that.
Depending on the package you buy the internet can be as low as 25 cents a minute (for 26 hours) but starts at 75 cents a minute.
I think we paid about $560 each for the week and that included the tips, which we pre-paid. That is a real bargain for Bermuda where the hotel rooms run about $300 each per day plus meals.
Things that we have forgotten - Bob forgot to bring a laundry bag and the scrubbies. He almost forgot his dark glasses which live in the car. The room steward gave us a really big chock that will work in the door so I don't have to run over Bob's feet each time (the one we keep with the scooter was too small). She also gave me an extra glass to keep my toothbrush in and brought us ice.
I waked up about 7:50 and Bob was in the bathroom. Eventually I was able to get into the bathroom too. (We were never able to really get hot water in the shower)
We went down to breakfast about 8:30 and were seated at a table for four, but no one else came so we ate alone. I must say that the dining room staff do NOT know how to organize seating people efficiently. There were long lines for the dining room at both lunch and dinner, and this is in spite of the fact that the seas are very rough (picture from our stateroom window with spray on the window)
and a lot of people are remaining in their rooms. Because of that, I had tea.
Bob went and got himself cereal and said it was not well organized and he would just get things himself from now on. He also got scrambled eggs.
I got the onion and bacon quiche - there wasn't a lot of bacon in it. It came with hash browns and a tomato.
The tomato was on the menu but the hash browns were not. Apparently it it mandatory to have hash browns and a tomato with whatever you have for breakfast. There was no cranberry juice so we got apple. After the first morning, I brought my cranberry juice to the table. (We brought a bottle of it with us) because I suspected that they would not have it.
By the time we got done eating it was almost 10 am (the dining room is not very quick either). I went up to the camera shop to see if they had a lens cap, but they did not. I took some selfies in the overhead mirrors but this one just does not look like me (IMHO)
A better photo of me in the rest room
Bob went down to the room to get his Cruise Critic's invitation but I had mine with me already.
Ben and Jerry's (which you pay extra for) across the atrium
It was rainy and windy so when we got up to deck 10 and needed to get to deck 11 for the meeting we couldn't go out and around on deck 10 because they had it closed. and the pool almost had white caps when we saw it (they are putting nets up around it here)
They gave us the little neck pocket things and also name tags to put on them. Then they had a raffle for some T-shirts and wine. What they did NOT do - which they should have done IMHO - is have us introduce ourselves to the group. (Bob at the Cruise Critics meeting)
After that they had a line dancing class
and so we left and went down to have lunch.
The chandeliers in the main atrium were swinging like pendulums. (These are for the main atrium show where they do a Cirque de Soleil type performance in the evening)
We were too early for lunch.
There was a sushi demonstration in the atrium.
I got into a conversation with a lady who was using another kind of scooter and I got Bob to show her how it folded up. I found that the dinner menus were no longer paper ones posted in a display case - they are now on touch screens. But they only have the dinner menu for the main dining room on the touch screens
For lunch I had the Royal Beefburger (which was a cheese burger with mushrooms)
and Bob had the pan seared salmon with a fennel orange salad.
For dessert I had two scoops of coffee ice cream and Bob had a sundae.
We were possibly going to trivia at 2, but we went down to the room and I got involved with writing up the previous day, so we didn't go.
It was formal night, but not with lobster (although you could pay extra and have lobster. I had the shrimp cocktail
and then a dish of shaved cantaloupe and honeydew melon with yogurt.
Bob had the shrimp cocktail and chilled banana rum soup.
For the main course I had shrimp ravioli with spinach (but there wasn't really much spinach)
and Bob had salmon. The salmon looked very good,
but he started having a swallowing problem and didn't eat it all.
November 3 - almost to Bermuda
I got a call on the phone this morning - room service wanted to make a delivery. WHAT? I didn't order room service. He said it was room 058 (which is us) but he also said that there was coffee and we don't drink coffee. Someone is going to be mad that their room service hasn't come.
For breakfast, I decided to have Eggs Benedict without the ham which tends to be too salty. I prefer Eggs Florentine (with spinach). When it came, it was bitter. I thought they had put mustard in it but the man across the table said that he thought it was Tabasco sauce. I ate the eggs out from under it. Probably should have gotten the orange pancakes which was the special
Bob went and got his cereal and figs - I really object to having to go to a buffet in the dining room - I think it is a cop-out. But service is so slow that may be the only way to get something reasonably quickly. Anyway they had some really good raisin bread this morning. Bob got scrambled eggs and bacon also but he couldn't get them to leave off the obligatory. hash browns and the tomato
They came and asked if it was good, and since they asked, I said no it wasn't. (Otherwise I wouldn't have said anything - it is probably not a good idea to ask me if I am satisfied as I usually able to find something that could be improved.) They were all apologetic, but I didn't need that. It was OK - I just didn't like it.
The ocean has a lot less motion to it this morning. (view from our window)
At lunch some of the people went to the buffet salad bar, but there again they are making you wait on yourself. I had the roast beef (which was good)
and Bob had one chicken slider (there were two but he asked for just one).
Bob had his vanilla ice cream with chocolate sauce, and I had a praline crunch bar. It had what looked like an oreo bottom, and then a very hard crunchy middle (which I couldn't cut with a spoon so after I ate the soft part off, I picked it up to eat), and the top was a kind of chocolate mousse with a chocolate icing top.
We could see Bermuda from the window at lunch
and then it disappeared around to the other side of the ship. So when we left the dining room, I took the scooter up to deck 5 (the promenade deck) to take photos of the arrival. I got some photos of St. David's lighthouse
and Fort St. Catherine.
and the pink sand beach next to it
Then I went back to the room to get ready to go on the excursion which is the only one I booked for this cruise. On the way, I observed an exercise class in the atrium.
The excursion was to meet on the dock at 3:15 and we still hadn't been cleared - were not cleared until after 3. Then we had to get an elevator. - but every time the elevator came down it was full. Bob said he would just collapse the scooter and take it down the stairs, so I started for the lobby but lady who was directing people down he stairs saw me, and she came and when an elevator stopped, she made everyone that wasn't crippled get out and let Pam (who has leg braces and can't stand long) and me and our SO's on so we could get down to deck 1. By the time we got down to the dock the performance was finished, so I couldn't get a better photo. (Ship from the carriage)
We went off the ship and found the excursion person who walked us over to the horse and carriage.
Bob took the scooter and parked it by security - we were the last two of the 10 for that time.
We had an hour tour of the area - other than horse drawn carriages, you have a choice of a taxi
or renting a pedal bike or a motorcycle or motor scooter
or taking a Segway tour (the Segways are rented out of this bus)
or taking the bus (the public transportation system is very good)
or a ferry
because there are no rental cars available on Bermuda. They drive on the left.
There is a small free shuttle train in the area where the ship docks.
But basically this just goes to the Clocktower Mall and back (Clocktower mall from our stateroom)
The clocktower mall has two towers - one tower is the clock (now non-working)
and the other tower is a tide clock (also not working)
We went by the old prison,
wall where all the ships pained their names and logos,
which was one of the things I wanted to see
because last time, we didn't stop
The driver told us that gas on Bermuda is $32/gallon and low cost housing is $1750.00/month (this is an example)
A gallon of milk an a loaf of bread are each about $5.00. That's why Bermuda is so expensive- they have to import everything. Some kids who were chasing the carriage
We came by a place where they were doing something they called 'flying'.
Apparently you have jet booster things on your feet and the water pressure allows you to rise up about 5 feet off the water.
It's very expensive, but apparently a lot of fun.
We passed beaches
And the Royal Navy Cemetery
And the cement plant with the owner who is a Pittsburgh Steelers fan
We got back just about in time for dinner. Bob had three starters - shrimp cocktail, mango pineapple soup (which I had also and which was very good), and clam chowder (and I had that too). He tried the salmon again and this time was able to eat it all. I had a beef sliders.
Then I had the strawberry kiwi pavlova,
and a chocolate praline finger
which I thought would be like what I had in the afternoon, but this one was soft. And Bob had his usual
When we got back to the room, we had a sting ray towel animal.
We could see the end of the afternoon game (NE and Pittsburgh) and then I watched (or listened to) the Sunday night football.
I took about 180 photos and Bob took 22.
November 4th
Bob set the alarm for 7 and so we were in the dining room by 8.00 Bob had his usual (figs, raisin bran, 2 scrambled eggs and 2 pieces of bacon). I had grits, and poached eggs on toast. We were able to get down to the dock by 9:30 (me on the scooter) and met our guide. Since you can't rent cars on Bermuda and I wasn't really a candidate for a motor scooter, nor did I want to take the buses, it was either a taxi (charging by the mile and minute) or a guide charging by the hour. The Cruise Critic site had a list of 'blue flag' guides who had been approved to do the guided tours, so I contacted one of them. Photo of the decal from inside the van
The going rate for guides is $40 and hour, but if you book one in advance to meet the ship they usually charge $50 an hour. I argued that I didn't need a guide really - just a driver, and the guide (Lewis Foggo) agreed to a rate of $50 for the first hour and $40 after that. And of course we tipped him too. Bob folded up the scooter, and I got in the front seat of the van.
This was our sixth trip to Bermuda (once in 1963 when my husband's ship was there and I was pregnant with my second child. The second time was for Thanksgiving in 1995, and it started us on our post-children travels. Just for variety, we came the third time (November 2004) and a fourth time (October 2007) and a fifth time (November 2011) on a cruise ship) and we've done most of the tourist things except the caves and I don't think my knees would be up to the steps.
My main goal for this trip was photo-documentation of the cemeteries in Bermuda or at least as many as I could do in a day and a half.
I had my list of 32 cemeteries most of which needed either photos or a map, two maps of Bermuda with the cemeteries roughly located on them and my cell phone with a mapping program. Unfortunately not the roads are all marked on the phone map. I have figured out how to put a bookmarked pin on the map.
We took almost 600 photos of cemeteries today - 2/3rds of them were taken by Bob. I just can't walk up and down hills on yielding turf.
First we visited Somerset Military Cemetery - Here Bob photographed all the markers. I hadn't intended to actually photograph this cemetery as I thought all the memorials were already entered and it also already had a cemetery photo. But this one memorial had not been entered
And when I looked at the cemetery as listed, I realized that while the memorials were entered, most of them did not have a photo. And this one
was listed under the husband's name and not as the wife. (But I can't read her first name).
Bob also took a photo of the big obelisk at the entrance- it says
Quote:
TO THE MEMORY
OF THEIR COMRADES
WHO DIED IN BERMUDA
OF PNEUMONIA
DURING THE MONTH
OF APRIL 1916
THIS MONUMENT
HAS BEEN ERECTED
BY ALL RANKS OF THE
4TH BATALLION
BRITISH WEST INDIES REGIMENT
REGIMENT
Next was St Joseph's Roman Catholic Cemetery.
I had taken a photo of the church on a prior trip
But it had been painted pink (Lewis insisted that it was salmon and not pink) since that visit and he wanted the photo to show the new color (or colour)
There was one memorial in the cemetery and obviously there were more graves than that, so Bob took photos of all of the graves which had names on them. Next we went to St. Anne's
- this was the photo I took in 2011
There was a map for the cemetery, but it was a fairly large cemetery which only had 11 memorials.
Next we went to St Mary the Virgin.
Bob took a photo of this plant
Then we went to St. Paul's
where I knew there was a request right around the entrance. So we filled that request
and took another 200 photos By this time it was almost 12:30, so we drove into Hamilton
Cenotaph
Front Street
Where the policeman was in the Bird Cage
Then we had lunch at the Lobster Pot in Hamilton.
The sign at the entrance said 2-3 lb lobster whole boiled $79.00 We didn't have lobster.
I had the fish chowder $7.00
and Bob had,the Lobster Bisque $7.50.
Butter for our bread
Then he had a lobster seafood slider $13.75
and I had Peach Melba $7.50.
out to St. George. I asked Lewis where Durnford House was, and he didn't know, so he called the Historical Society, and she told him. It is a private house with one memorial although the Historical Society lady didn't know if anyone was actually buried there.
But I got a GPS location and a photo of the house
Lewis was really getting into the spirit of graving by now, and he asked me if the list had the Parish Cemetery in St. George. Which it didn't. So he drove us out there
and showed us three cemeteries together.
One was the Seventh Day Adventist - This turned out (after I processed the photos) to be the St. George Military Cemetery on Secretary Lane which the 7th Day Adventists are using one end of it.
which is across the street from the new church. I got the coordinates and we let Bob out to take photos
and he worked his way through the cemetery (taking 45 photos) until he saw this ladder
so he climbed over the wall
to where we were which was the St. George Anglican Parish Cemetery.
After I had gotten the GPS coordinated for this cemetery, and had been taking photos from the van, when Lewis said "My parents are buried here. Do you want me to go take photos of their grave?" So I said yes and gave him my camera. He said "What will you do with the photos?" and I said "Put them on the internet". So he said OK, and headed off into the cemetery. When he and Bob (who had by now gotten over the wall) got back to the van, he said that there was a path that the undertaker used. He drove us through the cemetery and we took another 75 photos.
The third cemetery there Lewis said was the Methodist parish cemetery, but there was no sign on it
I forgot to say that on the way in to Hamilton, I took another photo of the Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute
The maps call it Secretary Road, but this sign says Lane
We also swung by the other St. George Military Cemetery
(got the GPS and Bob took 27 photos)
The Lewis asked if we had Ebenezer Methodist Cemetery, and we didn't. So we went there
and I got the GPS coordinates and Bob took about 30 more photos. Both of us took a photo of the sign and both photos are so out of focus that they can't be read. I did get this one of leaving the cemetery
Then we went to the Muslim Cemetery in Ferry Point Park
which Lewis said they had to close for awhile because of the stink. I got the GPS location and took a cemetery photo - there were about 30 flat graves with no names
And then there were two individual grave markers
But we didn't have time to actually take grave photos there. We also got the location for St. Marks
Then we finished up with Marsden Cemetery. There were only eight graves with names on them.
We just barely made it back for dinner. Service was so slow that we did not have a chance to see the Cirque de Soliel type show in the atrium.
We had mixed berry and yogurt frappe
Brie and asparagus quiche
and I had Chocolate Sensation for dessert
It was my birthday and also the birthday of the main waiter but her birthday was 50 years after mine. They sang Happy Birthday to us.
Atrium at night
Elevator
We had a towel animal
And I spent the evening organizing the photos and figuring out what I still needed to do.
I had figured out that Watford Cemetery in Somerset on the west side of the bridge was not the same as Somerset Cemetery on the east side of the bridge (in Somerset). It said it was on the first driveway after the bridge, but the first driveway ended in the water and that wasn't it.
So after a bit of bushwacking, we found Watford.
There were already nine memorials there and Bob took 31 photos
Then he took us to Somerset Methodist which wasn't on the list.
Took about 15 photos here
Lewis also asked me if Chapel of Ease Cemetery was on Find A Grave, and it wasn't. We couldn't visit it because it was all the way at the other end of Bermuda in St. Davids, but I found where it was
Some photos of Christ Church
Note the doors are Bermuda cedar
This was one of the more interesting markers in Christ Church
After Bob walked around Christ Church,
and took another 160 photos Lewis took us to the Moonlight Church (aka Cobb's Hill) which was built by slaves at night (sometimes by moonlight) in 1827.
Officially designated a UNESCO Slave Project
This church was built by the slaves and free Blacks of this parish, often at night in the moonlight. They were led by Edward Fraser who was freed after the church was built and became a Methodist missionary
This one was also not on Find A Grave.
and there were only two marked graves
Then we found Calvary Cemetery on Roberts Ave.
There was an iron gate that you could walk through, so we took the scooter and passed it through the gate
and I got to take some photos too.
I took a photo of the sign on the building
which says "Our Lady of Calvary Chapel"
We took an addition 215 photos here.
Then it was 12:35 and I thought we might stop for lunch but Bob said we had to be back on the ship by 2:30. So we went out to where there were a couple of questionable cemetery entries to see if we could find the names.
We went to the Pembroke Parish Cemetery
And got a gate shot and the GPS
And then St. John's church was on the other side of the fence, and Lewis thought it was all one cemetery. So Bob walked over and took a photo of that sign
which clearly said
that it was not. Then we went down to the Methodist Cemetery, but there was no sign on the gate
Except the road sign on the wall
We went back to the ship through Hamilton, and I noticed that the fountains in front of City Hall were gone.
Lewis said it was a problem keeping unauthorized fluids out of it (well he didn't put it exactly like that but you can guess what I mean)
Some of the military markers
This was Bob's last photo at Calvary (we do a gate shot at the beginning and the end of each cemetery) - I've gone back to the van
Pembroke Parish
St John's Church
Skyline
Methodist (?) Cemetery
We saw a couple riding double very cautiously - a white plate with red numbers and I asked if it was a rental and Lewis said it was. He said a blue plate with white numbers meant it was a scooter with a smaller engine and that teens could only drive that size scooter until they were adults (18 I think but could be 21)
Gibbs Hill Lighthouse on the way back to the ship
Back at the ship there was already a line to get in so I took a photo of this sign while I was waiting
So we went back to the ship. We got back by two. After we checked in, we had to go to the Windjammer for lunch. Again no one offered to help. We went back to the cabin
With some effort, the ship pulled away from dock about 4 - churning up the water. We took naps and just woke up in time for dinner. I had scallops au gratin
and the Chilled strawberry bisque with mint foam,
and then the tiger shrimp
and sticky bread and butter pudding.
Bob had the same soup, and tiger shrimp and then strawberries and ice cream (which they called Strawberries Romanoff
The weather was somewhat rough
Weather was better this morning
We went to breakfast early and I tried the eggs Benedict again and they were bitter, but not as much. For lunch I had the corn chowder which was OK and then Turkey Scallopine which was supposed to have asparagus and had spinach instead. I didn't like it.
Then I had the Raspberry Chocolate Ganache Tart and that was good.
It was formal night and we had the peach soup, and then the Royal seafood salad (which had a big king crab claw and then a mishmash of other seafood.
The lobster was called Fisherman's plate and had a lobster tail but I told them to leave the garlic shrimp off since I had that last night.
We had Baked Alaska for dessert. When we got back to the room, the room steward used Bob's sunglasses on the towel animal.
Most of the time we stayed in the room and Bob watched and I listened to TV. The TV is basically useless - has only CNN international news and weather and nothing from the US, (not even the D.C. temperatures). And some old movies and stuff from RCCI, plus re-runs of Seinfeld and Thirty Rock and The Big Bang Theory and Whose Line is it Anyway.They had the checkout procedures on the TV but failed to mention what time we have to vacate the cabin, or how they decide when we disembark.
November 7 - Sea Day and Disembarkation
For breakfast I tried poached eggs again and this time they were hard boiled almost
Lined up for lunch
Touch screens which tell you the menus for dinner
And the one which also tells the schedule
Atrium elevator from below
(I have to do something while waiting to be seated)
For lunch I decided to get the salad which they make up for you at the salad bar
One of the salad bar guys carried it back to the table for me - only the second time I had assistance with a buffet.
We have to have the suitcases packed and out in the corridor tonight, so we packed this afternoon.
Dinner
Pineapple lychee soup
Tomato and Baked Feta Cheese Salad with Aragula, Kalamata olives and red onion
Steak from the classic menu
Bob had turkey
We got our luggage tags (green 5, but only the number matters as all of the tags are green) and the customs form and the form to evaluate the ship after lunch yesterday. They gave us two customs forms but only one evaluation form. Bob\wanted his own form and he went up to the desk and they made him sign for it. Green 5 is supposed to debark at 8:10 and wait for the announcement on deck 6. Dining room opens at 6 am. Nothing anywhere said when we had to be out of our room. The customs form was easy to fill out as the only thing we bought in Bermuda was lunch, and the only other money we spent was for the guide.
On my form I said that I loved going to Bermuda but Grandeur of the Seas was my least favorite way of doing it. They also gave us three WOW envelopes (for good service), and Bob gave one to each of the dining stewards and one to the room steward.
After dinner I tried to use up the internet that I bought (it was about 25 hours total at 25 cents a minute but we got a 15% refund on the price because of our RCCI status) and I was just too sleepy. I was too sleepy even to watch the game.
I woke up at about 4:30 and finished up the internet that I had left. After about 45 minutes the website stops calculating the price and goes to "you have used 231576628 minutes for $N.00" If I really want to know how much I've used, I have to sign off (and the sign off page does NOT give you the amount left OR the amount used) and then sign on again at which point it tells me how much I have left.
I also got the final bill which was stuck in the door. Since we prepaid the one excursion and also prepaid the tips,and we didn't buy anything on the ship, or go to the casino and gamble or drink, the only thing on it was the internet.
Bob got up at 6 and after he finished in the bathroom I had a shower and we went up to breakfast at 6. Well we TRIED to go up to breakfast - had trouble getting an elevator. Finally got up to the dining room - shuffled in and Bob went to get his cereal and I ordered us scrambled eggs.
I got toast, and used the last orange marmalade
in the rack
When we were finished breakfast, Bob said for me to go up to 6 and he would go down to 2 and get the bags. I had a hard time getting an elevator, and when I did get one, it opened and shut the doors about five times before it went up the two floors. Bob said the same thing was happening and he walked up the last floor.
This is where the VIP's wait to disembark
This is where everyone else waits because they only call the numbers here
Then we had the same problem getting down. The wheelchair people got off on deck one - everyone else on deck 4. So I thought we should get off on deck 4 and that's what we did. When I went to hand the man my card for the final scan, I accidentally goosed the scooter and dropped the card which the scooter then ran over it.
Then we went down the long ramp and through the passageway to the terminal (they had heaters in the ceiling to blow hot air on us as we went under)
Bob retrieved his pen knives (they had a note on his record when he signed out). and he left the carry-ons with me and went and got our bags. He strapped the big brown bag and my smaller red bag together so he could pull all of them. We got outside and sat on a bench in the sun and called the shuttle driver.
He came and picked us up (after getting yelled at by the police for picking us up in the "wrong" place)
We were back at the car and loaded up and on the road before 10.
We got down here about 11:30 and stopped for lunch. They were having the funeral of the fire chief at Charles Memorial Gardens and were putting up the flag as we came through
We had lunch at Arby's along with the local Amish
PS. You have taken more pics of cemeteries on this one trip than I did in my entire life.
More photos than you have taken in your life or just more photos of cemeteries than you have taken (which probably wouldn't be hard even for most prolific photographers)