Caribbean Cruise 1999

In February of 1999, we took a one week cruise in the Caribbean on The Enchantment of the Seas.

We had been cruising once before - about 10 years ago. But these ships have become quite a bit larger. Ours carried 1000 passengers and 400 crew members. And they are building even larger ships today.

This is the first vacation we've taken a friend of Chris's with us. Sean and Chris had their own cabin and got a real sampling of adult freedoms; the ship is a relatively safe self-contained environment so we felt safe letting them explore on their own. One night we said goodnight to the boys and went to bed - they promised they'd be back in their cabin by midnight; but they were on their own.

Most of the time we just enjoyed the environment of the ship. But we had some fun excursions as well. Here Chris and Sean pose in front of the Mayan ruins of Tulum.

The ruins are built above rocky cliffs overlooking the sea. You can climb up on one of the lookout towers and look out to sea. It's breathtaking.

When we weren't on an excursion, we were most often eating! Francis, our beverage waiter learned the boy's favorite drinks and had them ready at the table before we even sat down.	Orkun, our table waiter was a wild man - very funny. Here he dances for us holding an Italian flag during one of the many theme-nights in the dinning room.
Orkun hams it up with our cocktail waiter - Ian.	Our dining partners - Jane, Steve,...
Mike, ...	and Matt.

On a tour of the ship's bridge I was amazed to see how many of the ship's systems are controlled by off-the-shelf PC's! Here's a screen from the ballast control system. They carry spare machines in case one fails. I did note, however, that the fire control system was controlled by a Sun Microsystems machine...no doubt they felt it more reliable than Windows '95!

Our Room	The Boy's Room
Sean holds a gator in Miami

Sean takes a trip on the railing...

Chris takes a trip off the railing!