Kerrville Cruise 2001

It is said that the only thing constant in this world is change. This was our third Kerrville cruise and it was markedly different from the previous two. Last year’s cruise was a superb event due to a combination of the people involved and the places visited. This year started off as decidedly average but gradually became well-worth and memorable.

It really was a miracle it happened at all. The Kerrville Cruise of January 2001 was supposed to have been out of Aruba, the small island off the coast of Venezuela, and to have included visits to Barbados and Grenada. Some 65 people signed up to go on the Commodore Cruise Line Crown Dynasty, an 800 passenger ship comparable to the Sea Breeze that we took last year.

Everything progressed nicely until December. In the course of about a month, the Sea Breeze went down in a storm off of Cape Hatteras and the Commodore went bankrupt. In a mad dash to rescue something, the travel agency (Cruises Only) got everyone reservations on the Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) SS Norway, leaving out of Miami for St. Martin, St Johns, St Croix, and a private island.

The Norway used to be the SS France, and was the flagship for NCL for 20 years. It is a smooth-riding boat that took swells in-stride and had much nicer facilities for the 1800 passengers aboard. It sailed pretty much at a steady pace of 18 knots with the potential of 30 knots if required. It is the longest ship in cruise service today. A lot of people would have been seasick this year if we had been on a smaller boat.

FOOD

Cruises are notorious for having food available around the clock, with selections of the finest entrees and 4 star service to go with it. The Norway had gorgeous dining rooms, and entrees like prime rib and rack of lamb, roast duck, vegetarian meals, fresh fish, etc. Unfortunately, preparation was spotty. Our first supper aboard featured prime rib – which came either raw or well-done depending on nothing but the luck of the draw. And it was tough whichever way it came. Another night the feature was rack of lamb, with one chop coming perfectly prepared and the other well-done and dried out. Breakfast was dependably good, and lunch dependable mediocre.

One way around the spotty suppers was to make reservations at the Bistro Supper Club, a room with its own chefs and a $10 per person surcharge. It was worth every penny when 30 of us took Rod Kennedy for his birthday dinner at the Bistro. The Bistro has a splendid menu, small but adequate. However, only the special of the night changes. If you want to be sure of having superb cruise meals, look for ships that have special smaller restaurants that can prepare special meals in gourmet fashion. Otherwise you inevitably face institutional cooking for large crowds in short time frames.

SIDE TRIPS

Last year we visited Honduras and Belize on what amounted to an archaeological expedition, supplemented by nice beaches and some snorkeling. This year we spent two days at sea, one day at the remarkably touristy St Martins, the next day at St Johns/St Thomas (also very touristy), another day at sea, and then a day at the private island. The weather cooperated so that the visits to the islands were pleasant enough but there really wasn’t much to see or do on-shore. Unless you came for a stay at a private resort, you really wouldn’t have much reason to visit these islands at all. And the whole northern Caribbean is this way or you wouldn’t see 6 giant cruise boats docked at St Thomas, disgorging 10,000 or so tourists for a one-day stop in a poor little industry-less town.

ENTERTAINMENT

Naturally, a Kerrville cruise brings along its own entertainment. This year it was Carol Elliott and Buddy Mondlock, Kat Eggleston, Carrie Newcomer, Tom Prasada-Rao, and Lorin Rowen. Concerts were on Sunday and Thursday with an impromptu in-the-round on Monday. These were very good performers and the ITR was the best of all.

The boat also provided considerable entertainment, even including a full-scale performance of the classic Guys and Gals. There were movies, dancing, cabarets, bingo, casino gambling, and crafts. If you ended up bored and had nothing to do, it was your own doing.

You could even access the Internet if you had the $2 per minute telephone connect charge plus other charges. To benefit from that without breaking the bank, you would need to have a secret user name that only was known to people who might urgently need to contact you. Otherwise the spam would eat a major hole in your trip budget.