AT SEA EN ROUTE TO FORT LAUDERDALE DAY VII (4/29/2007)

From: Sherman rootberg (BiggiRoot)
Date: Apr 29, 2007 9:56 PM
Subject: Sunday, April 29, 2007

Sunday, April 29, 2007

AT SEA EN ROUTE TO FORT LAUDERDALE DAY VII

This morning at 10:30 there was a white elephant sale in the atrium, on the fourth floor. There was a surprising amount of junk, which Bobbi insists is wonderful treasures. Quite a bit came from the ship.

These people are nutz. It was done by auction. Jamie, the cruise director, conducted the auction. If you came thinking you would pick up something great for little money, just forget about it. A baseball type cap from the world cup races went for $1,200 and $1,400. T shirts went for the same and more. All proceeds went to a fund for staff. It is for someone that needs emergency medical help for their families or emergency air transport or most anything unfortunate that might come up. Last year they made about $10,000 for the crew. This year it came to $22,000.

Jamie was really good and it was very funny but this paying of ridicules amounts for junk finally got to me. I retired for nap. Before leaving, I left strict orders with Bobbi. We have no room to pack anything. I gave at the office and do not wish to further donate to this charity. I already gave hundreds of dollars in tips to people that are not supposed to be tipped. All because of Bobbi already giving money away without asking. Of course she listens perfectly to my every order or request. Has anyone else ever noticed, she pays absolutely no attention, whatsoever, to a word I say?

Suddenly my nap is disturbed with the opening of the cabin door and the rustling of packages. Having paid perfect attention not, she of course had to make purchases for wonderful treasures we have no earthly use for. Things I more correctly refer to as “JUNK”. It seems the ship had an over supply of t shirts for the crew. They say 2007 World Cruise and Crew Only. As they are of no use starting tomorrow, they donated them.

Well, now eight of my larger grand kids are going to get the honor of being recognized as crew on the 2007 world cruise. Kids: For what your crazy Bubbi paid for this wonderful treasure, you could have had some good toys. Parents of those kids: For what your Mom spent on junk presents on this trip, you might have had some inheritance or donations to college funds. Now, just forget about it. Keep your day jobs and plan on supporting us in our old age.

She took no pictures today and I doubt I will have time to write tomorrow. So here are a couple of pictures of what we should see when we get home.

AT SEA EN ROUTE TO FORT LAUDERDALE DAY VI (4/28/2007)

From: BiggiRoot
Date: Apr 29, 2007 12:03 AM
Subject: Saturday, April 28, 2007

Saturday, April 28, 2007

AT SEA EN ROUTE TO FORT LAUDERDALE DAY VI

The exciting event today was having our hair and nails done. Bobbi went to the spa and had a manicure and had all kinds of stuff done to her hair. I clipped my nails with my finger nail clipper and I’m still looking for my hair. I did not find any.

This evening we had a farewell party in the theater for all the world cruisers. The singers and dancers and some of the some of the other staff performed and the cruise director, the captain, and several other officers made speeches and showed films. It was a very good show.

The captain had planned to get us into Port Everglades Sunday evening instead of Monday morning. He was told this was fleet week. There is very high security for all the military ships. We will not be able to enter the harbor until Monday morning. As there were no stops at ports the last few days, we could not pick up customs agents. We will all, now have to go through costumes in the warehouse in Ft Lauderdale rather then on board. This will be loads of fun. The lines will be long, slow and hot.

AT SEA EN ROUTE TO FORT LAUDERDALE DAY V (4/27/2007)

From: Sherman Rootberg (BiggiRoot)
Date: Apr 27, 2007 8:06 PM
Subject: Friday, April 27, 2007

Friday, April 27, 2007

AT SEA EN ROUTE TO FORT LAUDERDALE DAY V

Both this year and last, a brother and sister had cocktail parties for the entire ship. At the beginning of the cruises the brother has had cocktail parties in the theater. Today was the sister’s cocktail party. Like last year, it was a Stop the Packing Party. As she did last year, she had clothes hung up all over the atrium and that is where she had her cocktail party.

Sorry, but that was as exciting as it got today and I’m going to hurry up and try to send this before the internet quits. The internet has been out most of the day.

AT SEA EN ROUTE TO FORT LAUDERDALE DAY IV (4/26/2007)

From: Sherman Rootberg (BiggiRoot)
Date: Apr 26, 2007 10:13 PM
Subject: Thursday, April 26, 2007

Thursday, April 26, 2007

AT SEA EN ROUTE TO FORT LAUDERDALE DAY IV

It was just an ordinary sea day until this evening. The night before last, we had dinner at Jimbo’s Truck stop. Last night, the other half of the world cruisers had dinner at Jimbo’s and tonight the non full world cruisers, known as the segment cruisers, had dinner at Jimbo’s. The main restaurant, Compass Rose, was open only for all the full world cruisers, tonight. The other restaurants were closed also, except for Signatures, the small French restaurant.

This was billed as an old time gala dinner. If you ask me, they are all old time dinners, given the age of most of the people aboard. But the older people seem to be the only ones with enough time and money to do the long cruises and especially the luxury ones.

You may ask, why is this night different then all other nights? Well children, on all other nights you can dine in your room or at any one of four different restaurants. Tonight there is only the one. On other nights you can come to dinner any time you like, from 6:30 to 9:00 PM. Tonight everyone must eat at 7:00 PM. With everyone coming at once, of course the whole staff was nutz. At least the menu was very limited.

Now you may ask, how is tonight’s menu different from all other nights? No you wouldn’t. Who cares? I’m just writing this crap because I just had to set the clocks back another hour and I don’t feel like going to sleep yet and Bobbi is sleeping and the TV would bother her.

Instead of all the usual choices there was only a fruit cup or caviar for an appetizer, one soup, one salad, a sorbet, and either lobster with a half pound shrimp and Dover Sole or filet of beast. No dessert was listed.

Some of the tables had been removed from the center of the restaurant where there was a dance floor. A lady singer sang throughout dinner with some of the ships band. Many of the songs were even from this century and last instead of the usual music for dead people.

After dinner and as soon as they could stop feeding people, they had the waiters parade with Baked Alaska. The captain made a short farewell speech. In it he mentioned that he had not had one of these old time parades in seven years aboard his ships. I mentioned that he shouldn’t have started now.

Back in the ‘60s, when you saw it for the first time, some might have thought it was cute. When you have seen it 500 times, it is no longer cute and I don’t especially like it anyhow. They used to walk around with the stuff on fire and the lights shut off. New regulations don’t allow any fires or cooking in the dinning rooms. So they marched up and back with some sparklers.

At least the food was good and we ate at a table with our favorite waiter. We got good service while some others waited. Thank goodness that was the first and last old time gala dinner. Oh yeah. I forgot to mention that they gave us the good wine tonight. The regular wine is what you would pay about $20 a bottle for at home. Nightly, they also list some very good wines, for which they charge $40 to $80 extra per bottle. This was the only time they included the good stuff. I don’t know very much about wine but this stuff was good.

The entertainment tonight was amateur hour with the crew as the entertainers. They did this last year too. It was pretty good and fun to see people who you knew and had seen doing their different jobs. This year these people were fantastic. Many were far better then any we have seen on Idol. There were a couple of groups of singer/dancers that put on cute skits that were really funny. This was some of the best entertainment we have seen in years.

AT SEA EN ROUTE TO FORT LAUDERDALE DAY III (4/25/2007)

From: Sherman Rootberg (BiggiRoot)
Date: Apr 25, 2007 6:04 PM
Subject: Wednesday, April 25, 2007

Wednesday, April 25, 2007

AT SEA EN ROUTE TO FORT LAUDERDALE DAY III

The big deal today was a country fair up on the pool deck. There were all kinds of silly games at the many different booths. The booth operators were all crew members. They were dressed in different costumes and each booth was done in a different theme. There would be voting later for the best booth. The winning booth will get a party in their honor, thrown by the captain.

One of the better ones was the Adams Family. A bald waiter had his head sticking up through a toilet. It was a ring toss game. Another was a couple of clowns in a small boat floating in the pool. This was a pie tossing contest. You had to pick up a pie and whack someone in the boat with it.

Bobbi and I entered the elephant races. The winner got a ticket. The ticket entered you in a drawing for a prize. I don’t know what the prize was, but I must not have won it anyhow. I did win the second elephant race. I did get a ticket for first place. Bobbi came in second. She got nothing for second place. It was just a dice toss game. They would shake the dice and your elephant would move one space for each time a die came up with your number. That’s my arm in the picture, signaling that I had won.

I don’t know if we could have taken all the excitement and besides, it was very windy and chilly up on deck. So we took the stairs down from 11 to 5 and walked out the rear lounge. We sat and watched the rear wake for awhile. Later we watched a CD we had purchased at the beginning of the cruise. It was a Kenny Smiles CD. He sings well and some of his shtick is hilarious. Bobbi said I fell asleep and she was laughing all by herself for over an hour.

While I was at it, I finally sent Kenny a Kenny joke. He is from Wales but has recently bought a house and property in Arkansas. He does some really funny jokes about people from that area. I had a joke that one of our friends sent us, quite some time back. Tell me if you like this one. It’s one of my favorites. Here is what I sent Kenny:

Hi Kenny,

We have been fans since we saw you on the Voyager on the 2006 world cruise. We even have your CDs. My wife will buy anything. We were standing on the deck with Carl and Vanessa (Friends of his from Wales) when you were aboard the Voyager the other day.

That brought to mind the event we remembered from Arkansas. This happened right near your house.

We were driving down a dirt road and just about to pass a farm house when an old pickup truck comes flying up in a cloud of dust. This guy nails the brakes and slides the truck sideways, blocking the road. He jumps out looking really mad, doesn’t even bother to close the truck door and walks quickly up to the front door of that farm house. He takes his fist and bangs really hard on the door. A boy about 14 or 15 years old comes to the door. We are close enough to hear what is being said.

The obviously irritated farmer asks the boy where his paw is, he has to talk to his paw. The boy says he’s not here. The farmer asks where he is. The boy says he went to town. After thinking a moment or two the farmer then says where is your maw, I guess I can talk to your maw. The boy says, she’s not here too. The farmer asks where she is. The boy says she went to town with paw. The farmer walks up and back a couple of times and then says, well then I will have to talk to your brother. The boy says, he’s not here too. The farmer asks where he is. The boy says he went to town with paw and maw. The farmer really looks agitated now. He walks up and back for about a minute and finally says then I will talk to you. Your brother Jethro has gotten my daughter pregnant. The boy says, yeah, you will have to talk to paw. I know he gets $50 for the bull and $25 for the hog but I don’t know what he gets for Jethro.

Please let me know if you do use this. I am not asking for payment. Let me know if you read it. If you would like more Kenny jokes when I get them, let me know.

SHERMAN ROOTBERG

AT SEA EN ROUTE TO FORT LAUDERDALE DAY II (4/24/2007)

From: Sherman Rootberg (BiggiRoot)
Date: Apr 24, 2007 4:45 PM
Subject: Tuesday, April 24, 2007

Tuesday, April 24, 2007

AT SEA EN ROUTE TO FORT LAUDERDALE DAY II

Just the usual day at sea. This evening we had dinner at Jimbo’s Truck Stop. Last year there were far less full world cruisers so they did it a little different. It was mostly just hot dogs and hamburgers. This year they got fancy with all kinds of salads and herrings and grav lox. There were steaks, hamburgers, pasta, baked potatoes, meat loaf and more. There was wine on the tables and a bar with most anything. All of the help was dressed up as truck stop employees and/or floozies. One had a pink wig and a T shirt tied with her stomach sticking out. Another had self implanted huge boobs. We were really in the crews mess at the bottom of the ship. It was very cheerful and a lot of fun.

AT SEA EN ROUTE TO FORT LAUDERDALE (4/23/2007)

From: Sherman Rootberg (BiggiRoot)
Date: Apr 23, 2007 3:59 PM
Subject: Monday, April 23, 2007

Monday, April 23, 2007

AT SEA EN ROUTE TO FORT LAUDERDALE

Don’t give up yet. The cruise still goes on. There are seven days for something more to happen. Who knows? Sea Monsters? Come to think of it, there are already a whole ship load of those. Maybe mysterious sightings? Naaa. Sightings cannot get much more mysterious then some already aboard. Okay, probably not. But I’ll send some pictures we didn’t send yet, if nothing new happens.

The big event today was at about 3:00 this afternoon. The seas and wind were dead calm. We lowered an inflatable boat with the captain, Dag, and the cruise director, Jamie, or some other skin head aboard. The captain is quite a ham and that can be entertaining. Jamie or whomever, must be just stupid and went waterskiing. This time he had a blow up shark attached. I hope Bobbi got a shot of that or better yet, one of the bald guy doing a big splash when they hit a big swell.

This fooling around was not just for our ship but also for the Regent Navigator which they arranged to meet at sea. The Navigator also launched an inflatable. The comedian, Kenny Smiles, that had been on earlier in the cruise, came over to our ship aboard their Zodiac while Michel Cousteau went over to the Navigator. Sounded like a good trade to me.

Kenny went up to the bridge and announced, over the loud speakers, that he shoved Dag in and he was now taking over. It was soon announced that Kenny had better get back in the Zodiac and get back on the navigator before he got thrown in. When he did arrive back at the Navigator every booed. It was just a joke. Ha, ha. Funny, funny?

Well folks, that’s about as exciting as it gets on sea days. Lots of rest. Lots of lectures. Cousteau will be on until Florida, unless he wants a long swim. And there are some others aboard, I don’t remember. We will have to wait and see what other exciting events they have planned. They keep threatening, that they do have some.

TENERIFE, CANARY ISLANDS (4/22/2007)

From: Sherman Rootberg (BiggiRoot)
Date: Apr 22, 2007 4:12 PM
Subject: Sunday, April 22, 2007

Sunday, April 22, 2007

TENERIFE, CANARY ISLANDS

This is another wild island. It goes from sea shore and tourist area to the highest mountain in Spain and the entire Atlantic. The whole island is very hilly and there are almost always high mountains in the background.

This morning we really had to get up early. We had an all day tour with lunch, all provided by Virtuoso. As we left the harbor, right near the entrance is the Canary Islands Version of the Sidney Opera House. This one looks very similar but is supposed to really work inside. The original one does not.

Our final destination was the top of a huge national park where we could get at close as possible to the summit of the 12,000 foot volcanic mountain. As we drove along we could see we were constantly going up. After about 15 minutes we got off the expressway and took a series of secondary roads until we came to the 2 lane road through the park. After some time we came to an area of one restaurant after another. There were many other buses also stopping for rest stops. Ours was giving away samples of home made candy it was selling. Oh wonderful. Bobbi found something to buy.

As we traveled on the terrain and the weather changed. We went from the seaside to city to farm land to forest and finally to volcanic rock. We started off at about 67 degrees, got down to about 55 at the rest stop and back up to about 63 at the top where the sun was out. It had been cloudy and rained on the way up. The road was very good and well marked but too narrow for a big bus in several places. There were areas, going through the rocks, where the turns were so tight and the rocks sticking out so far, we barely missed some by inches. When we passed a large truck or another bus we would have to come to a stop and just barely creep by. Sometimes one or the other of us would have to back up. Often, the driver would blow the horn before going around some of the tight turns. Most of the way we had to hold on or we would get thrown out of our seats. That always cuts into my sleeping time, because Bobbi keeps yelling and poking at me as I fall out of my seat.

As we neared the top the scenery was amazing. Others must have thought so too. Some films like Star Wars were filmed here. It looks as much like another planet as another planet. The volcanic desert goes on for as far as can be seen. Some of the rock formations and colors are breath taking.

On the way back we stopped at a restaurant that was an originally an old monastery. Actually, originally it had to be a new monastery at some time, but now it had gotten old. No kiddies. They said I was wrong when I said that is where monsters used to live. Why do they call it a monstery then? They gave us wine. Lots of wine. Maybe I drank too much?

They had folkloric dancers and singers playing outside and then inside. They fed us far more lamb then anyone could possibly eat and it was good. The wine was not but it did do the trick. I didn’t see a step and fell really good. It was okay though. It was on my good knee and I didn’t feel much until later. Bobbi bandaged it up and is taking real good care of me and I am milking it as much as possible. Oops. Now I am in trouble. She just read this.

The last thing we did was stop at the opera house on the way back. It is closed today and the guide said we were not even allowed to stop there but we did for a few pictures from inside the bus.

This was our last stop before getting off in Florida. I hope you had fun. We sure did. We are just sad to have it come to an end.