It’s Monday on the Big Unit Cruise. Let’s recap last night first; a wonderful dinner at the steakhouse called Cagney’s. Between the impeccable service and the quality of food, you’d swear that you died and went to heaven.  The filet, the garlic mashed potatoes and the portabella mushrooms were beyond delicious. A few cocktails in the Star Bar afterwards and I called it a night. Quite frankly, I was stuffed and my pants were about to blow off. 
It’s a new day and we’ve made our first stop, in Samana.
This is the first time that I can remember that the weather hasn’t cooperated all day. The sky’s have been cloudy and, at times, sprinkled on and off throughout the day. Its 81 degrees with 92% humidity so it’s more than a little sticky outside. Samana does have a rainforest so what do you expect?
There’s always one stop where I choose to stay on board the ship when the rest disembark; this is it! The ship was almost a ghost town today. Over 2,000 people went on excursions, to beaches, to shop, to just look around at the island. Me, I stayed back and had a great work out, sat in the topside hot tub for about 30 minutes, had a few drinks, relaxed, took some pictures and chatted with a nice couple from Shawno that I just met on board. They’re not part of our group but they were thrilled to see other Wisconsinites. Greg and his wife have been cruising for years and, oddly enough, have taken a few of the same cruises that we have during my 9 years of doing this. I knew he was a “backer” when he strolled past the hot tub and his Packers watch glistened and caught my eye. The first question out of his mouth was, “So what do you think Ted Thompson will do in free agency”? I just smiled and replied, “A lot I hope!”
Near the island of Samana, there’s also whale watching. Who knew! As we cruised in to drop anchor this morning, you could see some of the whales rolling in the deeper water about 500 yards away from the ship. 2 tender boats, full of excursion goers, took off about 10 a.m. to get an up close and personal with the giant mammals. By the looks of them, a few of them were probably welcomed as family…if the whales were pasty white and spoke a language that I didn’t understand that is.
Tonight, a few of us are gathering at Havana. That’s a cigar bar on board the ship. You can taste scotches and cognacs tonight as you pick out one of your favorite smokes.
Some good news, for those of you who know him, Pewaukee Jim is up a little over $1,500 bucks. He was a solid winner in the casino last night. I keep telling him, “Quit while you’re ahead”, but Jim’s going to let it ride….one way or another. If you’ve cruised with us before, you’ll know what that means.
There’s a couple about 12 cabins down from me who have a dry-erase board on magnets attached to their door. They write notes to the staff. Yesterday morning they had “Ash Tray” written on their board. Last night they had “Extra Pillow” written on the board. Naturally, when I come back from the Star Bar, I’ve got my own notes to make, “Rectal suppositories….HURRY” was written on their board. I wonder if they were ever delivered.

Tender boats take passengers back and forth to Samana