Wednesday Dec 28 - Day 2 Key West

Day 2 photos

There is a vibration on the Voyager when you are at speed. It is easily felt in room 748 when the ship is trying to make good time. The good news is that it is only a vibration problem and otherwise the Voyager seems to handle rather well. So far, there has been none of the bouncing side to side problems we felt on the Diamond in the Caribbean or the porpoising behavior we have seen on the Orient Lines Crown Oddessey (which we spent 42 days on in the last quarter of 2001, Barcelona to Singapore via Capetown). But the vibration problem is definitely here in 748. Unless you have a heavy object in the center of the coffee table, the glass in the table rattles with the vibration. The seas are like glass, but the vibration is there, strictly from the ship's movement.

Our tasks today are to see Key West, and then follow up on the luggage status, and see about getting the promised room internet connection into 748. (We have an email from Radisson corporate in July saying we will have such a connection.)

Clay walked outside on the track above deck 11 this morning from about 5-6am and saw the sun come up. The are 7 laps to a mile (much better than the Diamond's 11-13? laps to a mile). He shared the tracked with only 1 person for the last 5 minutes.

After breakfast (and an on-deck bleach episode), we left the ship around 9am to go ashore. Debbie called her Mother in Bonita Springs as this may be the last chance for a cheap call until San Diego. (Clay lost his BlackBerry signal around 7am on Thurs Dec 29 as the ship rounded Cuba heading south. Until then, the Blackberry was able to access email and phone signals without problems.) We then walked over to the visitors information center and got a walking tour map. Our goal was to walk about a mile over to the cemetery seeing sights along the way. The helpful woman at the center recommended Bo's for a grouper sandwich when Clay asked. There were three cruise ships docked in Key West for the day. So, Duval Street was very active with lots of shoppers. Debbie purchased two pairs of shorts and a shirt there (because of the on-deck bleach incident). Our walk to the cemetery took us away from the crowds, and Bo's was busy but not overly packed. It was a pleasant morning. We got back the to ship around 2 well within the 3:30 all-aboard time.

The evening attire was formal for the Captain's Dinner. Beforehand, they offered drinks in a block party that took place in all the cabin halls. The menu had lobster, caviar, beef wellington. The food was very good, and it was a pleasant evening. See the pictures for details of the meal.

So far here are some of the very helpful hints noted so far culled from the LCT board - Thanks

1) KMart's Martha Stewart over-the-door shoebag
2) Magnets - bring twice as many as you think you need - you can also ask your stewardess for these (The walls and doors of your cabin are metal. Magnets will create a lot of space for you to post things that you want to have in sight without cluttering surfaces or losing things when the stewardess moves your things/papers off of surfaces.)

Day 2 photos