So you think you want to cruise or you would like to and are afraid of getting seasick. My advice; don't miss the chance.

Vacations take many shapes, take it from someone who has done many. You can camp. Picture the family sitting around the campfire telling spooky stories so the kids can't sleep at night. It is fun---- but the bed and the shower leave a lot to be desired. Rent a condo? Yes, I have a timeshare and we love using it. We have traded for Myrtle Beach, Vero Beach, Walton Hall, England, Oberstaufen, Germany, Seaside, Oregon, and other places. We have thoroughly enjoyed these vacations but in the end, we slept in the same place every night.

When my oldest son graduated from high school, we decided that a caribbean cruise was to be the family graduation gift.

Alaska was far and away our favorite.

Our first cruise took us from Miami to Labadee, Haiti, San Juan, Puerto Rico, St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, and Cocoa Cay in Bermuda. That is four different places to sleep in one trip! The trip came with a lot of memories, good and bad, and a few lessons about cruising. Labadee would see me using my metal detector on the beach part of the time. Not much to find until we prepared to leave. I was cutting across the peninsula to get back to the ship when I got a good signal. What came up was a corroded disc that appeared to be iron over some other metal. As we waited in line to re-board, I scraped some of the rust from the edge. There was the unmistakable color of silver. I was able to slip my thumbnail under some of the corrosion and pop it off. A crown shown in the tarnished silver underneath. The rest wouldn't budge. I could see design and the work REX (king). I could finally see DAN. Now I knew it was Danish but that is all it would tell me. When we returned home, I looked for a way to dissolve the corrosion. I tried soaking in several coin solutions to no avail. In frustration, I checked my work bench and found some naval jelly. I applied it to one side, waited a minute and wiped it with a towel. The tarnish came off like magic. The coin was well worn but was definitely from Denmark and had a king's picture in the center at one point. I turned the coin over and did the other side and the same thing happened. This time, however, i was able to make something out of the jumbled mess . i had been orienting the coin wrong all this time. I rotated the coin to reveal a ship on the back with a faint but clear date at the bottom---1765. I had a true pirate coin!

Back to the cruise. There was a lot to do even while at sea. My daughter and I tackled Bingo together and actually won one game. That allowed us a little bit of spending money for the next port. I also lost some money in the casino one-armed bandits. Still liked it though. One of the night shows featured a comedian that talked about the does and don'ts of cruising.

"You know that little mint that they put on your pillow? Be sure you don't forget about it and fall asleep. The next morning will bring an unpleasant surprise." he said. That night I went to the casino, lost my allowance and headed back to the room. Before climbing in bed, I looked for the mint. It wasn't there. I checked under the covers. Not there either. Figuring my son or daughter ate it, I settled into sleep. Yup, you guessed it! It was there somewhere because when I got up the next morning there was chocolate all over me and the bed. It was an UGLY sight!

It happened that during this cruise Haley's Comet was very visible in the night sky. We went to the forward deck where they turned out the lights so people could enjoy the comet. There was a gentleman there looking at the comet through his small telescope binoculars. He saw us and our daughter (11 at the time) and asked her if she would like to look at it through the scope. She eagerly took him up on it. It was then that we recognized him as the comedian from the night before. Turns out he was from Fort Collins, about 70 miles from where we lived. I had to confess my transgressions which we all got a kick out of. We talked and looked for about an hour before he was off to his next show.

Cocoa Cay would be the place for us to snorkel and collect shells. There were a lot of conch shells in the water, I picked up one and met the inhabitant conch. I had never seen one before. They have one long "claw" that they use to move and dig. There was a young boy who was playing volleyball who made the mistake of putting a live conch in his pocket. Mid serve we heard him start howling and tryng to get the conch out of his pocket. I'll leave the rest to your imagination. Unfortunately, this is where my daughter had a run in with a nasty jellyfish called a sea nettle. She still has a scar on her arm.

So there are a couple of stories about the first cruise. Since then we have done a second Caribbean trip to Grand Cayman, Costa Maya (I think) where we saw the Mayan ruins, and Cozumel. We decided on this trip to share a table with someone we hadn't met before. The couple and their daughter were first time cruisers from Illinois, close to Chicago. On this trip, I was having pretty good luck in the casino and each evening at dinner we would discuss our excursion. I would then pipe in "I won 40 bucks in the casino today. Our new friend would counter with "I won $150 or $400 or $250 or whatever. He topped me every night!.Finally I asked which machines. His hot streak was on the Wheel of Fortune dollar slots. HMMMM.

On the third night at dinner, we scanned the menu and there they were. This was one of the appetisers we had been waiting for----ESCARGOT (snails to those who are not French inclined). The three of us ordered the escargot under the suspicious eyes of our table partners. When they came, my wife and I finally talked mom and dad into trying one. this was a major feat. Once tried, they immediately both ordered their own. They turned to their daughter. Dear, you have to try this. NO WAY. and she didn't!

This trip was us at the sea turtle farm in Grand Cayman seeing these wonderful creatures being raised and returned to the sea. Green iguanas were everywhere as we made our way to Hell, Grand Cayman. Now I can say I've been to Hell and back. In Cozumel, we climbed aboard the glass bottomed submarine and marveled at the reef fish. We even spotted and eagle ray which was evidently a rare treat.

At Costa Maya it was into the jungle to see the Mayan ruins. For a treasure hunter, this was a double thrill. i can only imagine emerging from the jungle into this clearing and discovering this site for the first time. WOW. Back to the ship and head for home.

As the cruise was approaching the Mississippi River on the way up to our New Orleans destination, I took one more shot at the casino. My favorite machine had gone cold so I was wandering when I saw HIM by a Wheel of Fortune machine. I sidled over. "How you doin?" "Nothing today," he replied. They are all yours. I fed three dollars in and pulled the crank. WHEEL OF FORTUNE!!! I spun the wheel and won $100. Good way to end the trip.

I will save Alaska for a separate hub because that is what it deserves. Instead let me help you decide and give you some tips on cruising.

All of our cruises were Royal Caribbean cruises. The cost of the cruise depends on the kind of room you book. Windows and balconies cost more and aren't altogether necessary if you are in the middle of the Caribbean. On the other hand, if you are doing Alaska, I highly recommend a balcony. There is a lot to see over most of the trip including dolphins, seals, eagles, and, if you are lucky, humpback whales. We enjoyed sitting out on the balcony with a hot cup of coffee, watching the scenery. (Preview for later).

Rooms are small. Expect that. You get what you pay for but if you are budget minded, the inside cabins are fine. After all, you won't be spending much time there and, as they say, all rooms look the same when your eyes are closed. Our first cabin was an inside which was fine. The first night the gentle rocking of the boat put us to sleep like little babies. It was tight for four of us but it worked. A hint about rooms, especially inside. Stay away from the bottom decks and the back of the boat. Both are very noisy. Bags will fit under your bed. Pack light though.

A little about the rocking of the boat. If you are on a large cruise ship, they are equipped with huge stabilizers that help keep the ship from rocking wildly. Our first cruise was on 12 foot seas and although we felt some swaying, it wasn't very pronounced. For those prone to seasickness, bring your remedies be it patches, armbands, benadryl, teddy bears, to help out. If that doesn't work or you forget them, go to the purser's desk where they have bonine tablets that will quell the nausea in a heartbeat. My daughter got queasy while in the buffet line and headed for the bathroom. My wife got her some bonine and she was back in line for lunch.

I'm on a ship. What shall I do?

• Casino
• Bingo
• shows most nights unless in a port- do not miss!!!
• Saunas
• Pools
• exercise
• messages
• shops
• restaurants
• libraries
• lectures
• shopping seminars for the stops
• Basketball
• Miniature golf (some ships)
• climbing wall (some ships)
• wave rider (some ships)
• dancing, karaoke

Am I getting the message across? You won't be bored!

About the food. You can eat eight or more times a day, if you like. Don't do it. Stick to your three meal a day routine. If you don't, you won't be hungry come dinnertime and, believe me, you want to be hungry at that meal. This is five star dining each evening. You will choose appetizers, salads, main courses and desserts. If you want to try several things, most cruises will allow you to order extra. We usually ordered multiple appetizers so we could try some things we never tried. On the first cruise this got hot and heavy. We were feeding each other samples with the "Try this" phrase flying fast. My oldest daughter saw here opportunity. She told my oldest son to "Try this." He opened his mouth without thinking and she slipped an entire anchovy from her Caesar salad into his waiting mouth! He was more careful after that. I think he is still contemplating payback time!

There are specialty restaurants on many cruises that you can make reservations for. You will pay extra for these and you need to make reservations early. They do fill up. Steakhouses, Italian Restaurants, Japanese Hibachi, are a few of the choices.

Alcohol and soft drinks are extra. You will use your cruise charge card to pay for this. We like to pick the wine card so that we can pick a bottle of wine for each evening meal. The kids each get a soft drink bracelet so they can get drinks when the want to.

Try and pry open the pocketbook a little and book excursions on line for your cruise. At each stop there will be a number of choices of what you would like to do. They cost extra but provide many of the memories. We have seen the sting rays at sting ray city, the turtles at the turtle farm , panned gold in Alaska, watched humpback and killer whales, and many other things. The shopping at the various destinations is also special.

So much to tell, so little space. Here is a challenge. Pick a place you want to go. Select a hotel, not too fancy, for seven nights. Now figure the cost of three meals a day including a nice restaurant every night. Oh, and the cost of a Broadway style show each night. Cruising can run you as little as $100 a day per person. I don' think there is a better bang for the buck.

When you return, plan your next cruise and talk about your Treasured Pasts.

Stuart