Notable Times: Bermuda 1: Liberty of the Seas

Bermuda Bound

Our youngest daughter Sienna was called by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints to serve as a missionary for 18 months in Tuxtla Gutierrez, Mexico, starting at the end of July 2023. We wanted to do a family trip with all of our kids (and sons-in-law) before she left, so after looking at several options, the one that worked with everyone's schedule was a cruise to Bermuda sailing out of New Jersey.

We found that the cruise was cheaper through Expedia.com than anywhere else, so we planned to book through them. Then that very day, Linette met someone for lunch in Draper, Utah, and afterwards happened to see an office that said "Expedia Cruises." She was quite surprised and went in there and booked the cruise. I guess it was meant to be.

So on Friday, June 9, 2023, Kelsi & Chase flew from Charlotte, North Carolina, to New York City, and my sisters Sharon and Leslie dropped the other 8 of us off at the airport in Salt Lake City so we could fly to New Jersey.

Once in New Jersey, Kyle and Erika took a bus to New York City to meet up with Kelsi & Chase, and the other 6 of us took a free shuttle to our hotel. We just missed one shuttle, so we had a half hour wait, during which time I had a nice chat with a bloke from Australia who had been awake for 32 hours.

At the hotel room we had fun playing The Great Dalmuti.

Our hotel was perfectly surrounded by loops and loops of highway, and bordered by an airport to the south and a prison to the north, so there was no possibility to walk anywhere to get dinner.

So we had pizza delivered, and it was great.

Sienna brought her fuzzy ball monster named Harold on the trip. She and her roommates bought Harold and took turns taking him on adventures.

Apparently Sienna was trying to do something on her phone when she passed out again.

Meanwhile, Kelsi and Chase had flown to New York City from Charlotte, and they went to see the broadway play, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.

Expectations weren't super high because some people thought the plot didn't align with the original books. However, Kelsi reported that the effects were spectacular, with "dementors" flying around above the audience and all kinds of crazy stuff, so they thoroughly enjoyed it.

Like Chase, Kyle hadn't been to New York City before, so when the rest of us went to the hotel in New Jersey, Erika and Kyle took a train to Manhattan to check things out while Kelsi and Chase were in the play.

Kyle loves the Bills, and always says, "Go Bills!" So he was distraught when he saw this sign.

They went to the Hershey store, and found this Kit Kat bar. I love that it says "snack size" on the bottom.

Eventually they met up with Kelsi & Chase and stayed at the same hotel. In the morning, they got tasty bagels for breakfast. (Kelsi apologized for buying any food right before going on a cruise, but where New York bagels are considered, I could understand.)

That morning, they also walked around taking pictures and seeing the town. Kelsi took pictures of Erika and Kyle taking pictures...

Here's a lovely "show your double chin" shot.

They also walked over to Central Park to explore, and they saw the turtle pond and stuff.

Finally, they visited Tiffany's, which had cool mirrors everywhere.

Meanwhile, back at our hotel, we found that The Courtyard hotel indeed had a courtyard, with a nice spot to sit to read.

So Linette and I each spent a moment there reading in the morning.

We used Lyft to catch a ride for the six of us (plus luggage) to the cruise terminal. The driver missed a turn so we went the long way and took a different bridge, but we eventually got there. He was originally from the Dominican Republic, and it was fun that Jared, Katelyn and Linette were all able to speak to him in Spanish. We were kind of buddies by the end.

The Liberty of the Seas

Soon our ship was in sight. We were setting sail aboard the Liberty of the Seas, departing from Cape Liberty, past the Statue of Liberty. This made me want to sing, "Liberty, Liberty, Li-berty..." I tried to refrain.

All aboard!

We started things right off with ice cream cones.

Across the harbor, we could see the Statue of Liberty as well as the One World Tower (and the Empire State Building and Chrysler Building on the left). While trying to meet up with Kelsi, she asked if we were on the side with the Statue of Liberty, and at first I didn't see it, but once we met up and she pointed it out, it was obvious.

Jared got a good zoomed-in picture of it where you can also see the Empire State Building better.

We finally got all 10 of us together and ate some lunch, which might have been the last time we experienced hunger for the next week.

Jared's zoom lens had the same problem as it had once before, where it would get stuck when trying to zoom. We pulled back the rubber ring to expose the tiny screw in there that needed to be tightened. (Yes, Jared had a screw loose. No surprise there. :) I said, "What we need is a tiny little screwdriver." Katelyn produced one. Then I jokingly said, "I don't suppose you have a Phillips head one?" She took the cap off of the other end of the tiny screwdriver to reveal a Phillips head screwdriver, which worked perfectly to fix the lens. That reminded me of the kind of preparedness coup my dad always used to pull off. Well played.

Linette and I got a balcony room, which we had never done before on a cruise. (The view got better later on.)

As the ship pulled away from the dock, there was an "anchors aweigh" party in the "Royal Promenade" (the big open area in the middle).

The cast put on quite a show with colorful costumes and dancing.

The parade ended with some confetti being blasted out over the audience. Erika put it to use.

We switched our phones to use the ship's wifi so that we could use the Royal Caribbean app to send messages to each other. Then we split up to unpack and explore the ship.

Linette and I went to the top deck and played a round of miniature golf. The wind factored in at times.

Then we found a ping pong table and played that for a while, too.

I saw that there was a giant chess board there, but no chess pieces.

I assume this chess board is for beginners. (Just kidding. Not sure how that would work...)

We had a set dining table each night at 5:30pm. It was great having meals all taken care of for this big group. From left to right, we have Randy, Kyle, Chase, Adam, Katelyn (Jared's girlfriend, rooming with Sienna), Jared, Sienna, Kelsi, Erika and Linette.

We loved being right by the window, and it was fun having the ocean moving along in the distance while we ate, as you can see in this 10-second video.

The kids surprised me with a beverage package that allows you to get unlimited non-alcoholic beverages. Apparently you have to get at least 4 drinks per day in order to break even with purchasing them individually. So anything less would have been fiscally irresponsible!

Kyle and Jared had the package as well, so I had them coach me on what the options were. This is a virgin "Miami Vice", which has strawberry daiquiri on the bottom and piña colada on top.

While at dinner that first night, someone spotted some dolphins off the port side. Then someone saw a whale spouting.

In this video, you can see the dolphins from dinner, and hear Kyle's enthusiasm when he went to the front of the ship after dinner and saw some more dolphins.

After dinner we could walk right outside onto the walkway at Deck 4.

Here are Katelyn and Jared taking advantage of the setting sun.

One thing I loved about The Liberty of the Seas was that Deck 4 went all the way around the ship.

At the front of the ship, stairs went from Deck 4 to Deck 5, where you could walk out onto the helipad and see right off the front of the ship. I was on a cruise ship once that didn't have any way to look off the front and that was a bummer, so I was happy that this ship let you walk all the way around.

There was a "name that movie (that had that tune)" trivia game in the Schooner Bar, so we arrived early and played "Sushi Go" while we waited.

We played some Skull King back in the same bar.

That evening there was a comedian who was pretty great. He told about a friend of his that he did pranks on sometimes. The guy who was put under anesthesia when he went in for knee surgery, and they hired a 20-year-old actor to pretend to be his 4-year-old son when he came out of it. "Dad?" he said. "You're awake!!"

We also got a preview of an aerial show that was coming up in a couple of days, and it was pretty impressive.

Later that night, we watched a great ice skating show. We love watching ice skating during the winter Olympics, but the competitors are always constrained to certain moves there. It was fun seeing really good skaters who were free to do all the crowd pleasers with wild abandon.

The ship had a pizza place that was always open, so we did some late-night pizza that night.

The next morning, Linette and I woke early and sat out on the balcony to enjoy watching the ocean go by as we read scriptures and stuff.

We decided to do a sit-down breakfast that morning (instead of the typical Windjammer buffet), because it was the one morning we wouldn't be in a hurry. The beverage package included "fresh-squeezed orange juice", so I got some of each and did a taste test. It was a pretty dramatic difference, both in taste and in fanciness of the glass. :)

Adam had already eaten that morning, but everyone else was there for this meal.

Next we all went up and did rock climbing. Erika had just had her appendix out two weeks before, so we urged her to take it easy, and she did fine.

As Kelsi shows, you climb up to the top and ring the bell, and then lean back (with a bit of faith) and kick off the wall as you zoom back down.

Even though I knew that's what you do, I had to think for just a minute, "Ok, you really just kick away from the wall and hope the tether slows your fall?" because it didn't seem to resist much before you jumped.

Adam did one of the harder routes, but made it to the top.

Sienna just zoomed right up there. She doesn't weigh much, so she almost floats anyway.

Jared had a hard route, and his grabbing muscles didn't work well for the next few hours.

And Linette and Katelyn finished things off. It was a fun activity.

Another fun activity onboard was the "Flowrider" surf simulator. Here is a video of me and Linette boogie boarding, with slow-motion wipe-outs.

We had actually gone for one run the day before, and this was our second run.

Kelsi and Chase also signed up for the Flowrider, and did awesome, especially since this was their first time. This video starts out coming from two different cameras, and then merges into one.

Also included with the beverage package were the Johnny Rocket milkshakes, so I hit those on a regular basis.

The Windjammer Cafe provided a buffet every meal, and we loved sitting where we could watch the ocean out the windows.

That afternoon we found a row of deck chairs where everyone sat and read or napped.

Here is Adam pensively surveying the ocean. It's just fun to watch the water go by.

Jared and Katelyn play volleyball regularly, so they joined in the volleyball tournament going on near the rock wall.

That night at sea was "formal night", so we dressed up for dinner.

Due to a mix-up, two of our seats were at a table that had some strangers between us and everyone else, so Linette and I were separated from the rest that evening. But we had a great view of the ocean going by while we ate, and they put us all together the rest of the time.

We took a picture on the bridge leading to the Royal Promenade.

We also went to take pictures out on the deck. Kyle joined Katelyn and Jared for a picture.

Then Kyle joined Kelsi and Chase for a picture.

Then others joined, one by one.

Here's one of Kelsi & Chase without the riff-raff.

And a nice close-up of Erika and Kyle.

Erika wanted one with just her.

And then Kelsi jumped in and they pretended to laugh.

And then Sienna joined in. What cute daughters I have!

I love these kids!

Adam's hair had a party in the wind.

I also really love this gal.

And there were more random shots.

And we got a nice group shot with the deck chairs.

That evening, the three girls signed up to do karaoke. While we waited, we heard a couple people who couldn't hit the notes, and then one guy who sang "I'm Proud to be an American" really well, which got the crowd stoked. Then Kelsi, Erika and Sienna went up, announced as "the Wilson sisters", to sing "500 Miles".

Unfortunately, instead of playing the peppy song, "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)" by the Proclaimers, they got the music to the slow ballad, "500 Miles" by Peter, Paul and Mary from 1962. The girls quickly noticed that it was the wrong song, but the people running it couldn't find the other one, so the music just kept playing.

So then Kelsi started singing, to the slow music, "When I wake up, well you know I'm gonna be, I'm gonna be the man who wakes up next to you..." They purposely stuck to the beat of the music, and it actually worked surprisingly well. The crowd was laughing because they could see what they were doing. Then when it got to the "da-da-da dah dah" part, they held the mike out and the crowd echoed the da-das back perfectly. Finally, they figured that was enough, and Kelsi said, "You've been a great audience!" The lady next to me was totally busting up, and it was a proud moment for me when I told her that they were my daughters. :)

Here's a 2-minute video of how that all went down.

We watched a "Broadway-style" production of Saturday Night Fever that night. That movie was a really big deal in the 1970s, and jumpstarted disco and shaped a lot of culture. I had seen part of it before, but Linette never had, so she was glad to finally hear the story, and it was fun to reminisce with the songs from our junior high days. The singing and dancing was great. Unfortunately, the story itself is really bad (everyone makes bad choices, they are crude and terrible to each other, and there aren't really any characters to look up to). So most of the group didn't enjoy it at all. Linette and I at least appreciated the songs from our younger days.

We again did some late-night pizza before calling it a night.

The next morning as I looked out the balcony, I could see Bermuda in the distance.

I cried, "Laaaaaaaand Hooooooooo!"

Some of us hit the hot tub, from which we could watch the land approach.

The view from the Windjammer buffet was panoramic, so it was a good place to watch as well.

We went past the island and turned around to come back in through a safe channel in the reefs. A little boat pulled up alongside us, and a pilot climbed on board to guide the ship through the channel.

Here's a 1-minute video showing how that worked. (It felt a little like we were being boarded by pirates...)

As we approached the Naval Dockyard, we could see that a Norwegian Cruise Line ship was also docked there.

Next to the dockyard is a big fort (sometimes called The Keep) which also houses the National Museum of Bermuda. We had a perfect view of it while we ate.