BY: Keith S. Shikowitz, Editor In Chief/Investigative Reporter
In September, my friend Bill had gone on a cruise with his daughter. Three days after he got back, he told me he wanted to go on another cruise and wanted to know if I wanted to go. I said to him, “Are you crazy? Do you honestly think my wife is going to let me go on a cruise without her?” He said, “All we can do is ask.” We went upstairs to the living room and waited for my wife to join us. When she sat down, Bill explained what was going on. I was waiting for the are you out of you mind statement. She surprised me and said, “Go ahead. With everything you’ve been through lately, you need it.” Totally blew my mind.
The cruise was leaving for the Western Caribbean on January 10, 2026. It was a mess getting everything together with the cruise line online, but we got through it. We had to purchase a number of things for snorkeling, and other activities. We ended up having to return one item because it didn’t fit right. We got everything set up and finalized and just counted down the days to launch.
We had a problem. I didn’t have the money for the airfare at the time Bill was booking the flights. So I had to drive down. I love a good road trip anyway. I didn’t want to make an 1100 mile trip by myself. So my wife said she would some with me. Second problem… since she is not coming on the cruise, where is she going to stay. She suggested a cousin of hers, but they are on the West Coast of Florida and the cruise was leaving from Miami in the East Coast. Then I remembered that my cousins are snowbirds and have a place on the east coast. I called and asked them if she could stay with them and if they could take me to the Port of Miami. No problem was the response.
They say that getting there is half the fun. Bill, Guillermo and Jose flew down on the 8th on a 10:50 flight and my wife and I began our two day journey at 6 am on the same day. On the first day, the trip was smooth sailing through NJ, DE, Md, Va, NC into SC. Outside of the general idiots on the road who want to ride up your rear end to push you out of their way, when you are already doing 10 – 15 miles over the speed limit and they get upset because you are not moving out of their way, cut around, cut you off and flip you off, we did see something that you don’t see everyday. Going through NC we saw police on the side of the road with people pulled over. There was on officer standing near the tow people and one was on the ground in between the cars searching meticulously through one suitcase.
We arrived at the hotel in Florence exactly as I predicted. Met Spencer and Tammy, hung out at the hotel for a bit and went out to dinner. We had trouble figuring out where we wanted to go. We finally settled on Buffalo Wild Wings. I didn’t eat much. Tired outdid hunger.
Left Florence at 7:30 on the 9th for the final leg of the trip to my cousin’s house. We again had idiots who were in a rush to go nowhere. Other than that, there was no traffic. Most of the way the speed limit was 70 and we moved at a steady 80 mph clip, in order not to get clobbered by those who were doing 90 or better.
We made it into Florida by 12:30 and had about 5 hours left to get to my cousin’s house. Finally got there at about 7 pm. Went to dinner then went back to the house and collapsed.
Saturday morning January 10, we left the house at about 8:30 to get to the port of Miami. I was in constant contact with my friend Bill to see about meeting up when we got there. As it turns out, while we were coming around the corner to where the ship was docked, I was talking with Bill and low and behold, there was Bill, Guillermo and Jose. What are the odds of that happening?
We got checked in and finally made it onto the ship about an hour later. Since our room was not ready, we went to lunch at the buffet on the 16th deck. One thing I can say about the food on the two cruises I have been on, it is great.
Part 2 Coming soon