THE MIDDLE CLASS IS ALIVE AND WELL   
    

Winter in Michigan
Set my wife and me on our way to get away

Paying the costs up front
    As far as we could see

Of sailing the Caribbean Sea

I knew financial matters
      That tough master
Would prevent some from joining this cruise

But as I logged the events below I missed the others
Those who could afford to play more easily than we
      I suspect they found an easier way 

Day 1, Thursday, 2/12/15

“The bus leaves at five a. m.
Park your car in the ramp across the street, level four
Pick up a white ticket
You will be issued a green one to redeem your car
Meet the bus here when you return”

“Detroit luggage drop lines are up one flight
Are your tickets in order?
Security lines start the next floor up”

Security, actually a snap and breakfast, relaxed
Our vacation flight an hour away
Easy day

Easy prey!

The Delta Gang

Across the tarmac, riding hard, caught us unawares
Herded us into corral 34-A
For three hours of flogging 
Our plane, impounded

Deltannouncement!
We have an equipment downgrade   

Who will travel?
Who remain?

    “Everyone move back four steps
    We need room to board”

Our vacation, four months to plan
Gone with a Delta yawn?

Good news — seats, new — assigned on boarding

Bad news — What did those upgrades cost?
A February Florida beach afternoon lost

“Your luggage is at carousel 12
Meet your tour rep there and follow her to your bus
That’s bus number two
See a porter to register

Tomorrow, meet in the lobby to board your shuttle
9:00 to 11:00”


Day 2, Friday the 13th
Note to Pogo:  on a Friday this month

That pushy woman with her unconvincing naivete’ took my chair
Her husband, caned and showing his age
Would get this chair here

“Isn’t it better this way?”
In a crowd, advantage Northeast

Two days later, same Northeast accent
Same woman
Cut into our buffet line

Bus trip to the port

    We, the infirm, salute you
    You, the few, who board today
    Sans fuss
    Or clumsy tote-bag delays
   
    On the way, wait to watch a drawbridge raise
    And honor 4 sailboats 

The usual . . . Rigamarole

    Public health forms
    Complete and take into the line and join a snake
    “Even numbered staterooms, here, odds over there”

    We wound our way, inch by inch, to the check-in desk
    Finally able to leave the snake
    After one last wiggle, boarding pics   

    “Meet your luggage in your room
    At three, an emergency drill
    Your assembly area, Ten
    Room keys will be scanned”

Are we there yet?

Take a breath

Leaving port
My day-one favorite
    Are we moving yet?

    Veranda anticipation

        Recreation boats in the channel
             Return their waves
        Beautiful homes
        A Coast Guard base

Gaining perspective 
    The receding waterfront gradually reveals its hotels
    Up and down Atlantic's beach

The decision to go back inside, not so favorite

Good news:
    The ride on a big ship
        Three promenade laps to a mile
    Slick

Bad news:
    Everywhere, crowded locations
    And the intrusion of conversations

We, the  largely worn,  salute you,
You who remember 
Beautiful people

Day 3, Saturday, First Day Out

Another perfect day at Holland America’s Halfmoon Cay
The Bahamas, just to our west
Clear water, blue 
And white sand, the best

Oh ye of little faith
This Michigander dragging his jacket
It’s winter, for heaven’s sake

Welcome to a gorgeous Caribbean Valentine’s Day

We walked the beach and its surround
To  the sounds of steel pans
Serenade one
From our resident musician 

The water, still interpreting the memo
Was four degrees cooler than the lap pool back home

Back on board we walked the promenade, then
Dined Italian at Canaletto
An Aperol spritz  preceded antipasto,  pasta
Sea bass and, of course, dessert


Day 4, 2/15, Sunday at sea

Coffee in the room
Early Mass, too early

At breakfast, one of many at Lido’s extensive buffet
A couple with a 50 state bucket list
North Carolinians planning to visit Michigan
    Love to help you if we can   

The promenade again
A lee side deck chair in the sun
Lured Carole  
Here’s what you do on a cruise for fun
Read, relax and mix in a lap or two

Later, The Atrium bar, deck one
Enticed Dennis with the promise of Martini Madness
Their special martini of the day
One of those not-really-martinis
Skipped the two-for-one

Formal dinner, dining room
An opportunity for dress-up pictures

Day 5, Monday, 2/16

Crowded Oranjestad with traffic creep
Jewelry shops, high end retailers, Prada, Rolex
Both sides of the street

We walked to Queen Wilhelmina Park
Enjoying its shade, a bench and Aruba Iguanas
Sunning, posing, begging,
Fighting over a chicken bone
Could that be their lunch?

Returned early for top-to-toe massages


Day 6, Tuesday

Dawn at Willemstad
Docked to the opening and closing of the Swinging Gate Bridge

Carole’s comment,  “They have cute-ed up Curacao even more” 
There were many new red tile roofs and ice cream color paint jobs

“The line for the land-and-sea excursion starts here
Show your ticket to get a sticker
Follow that woman to the bus”

We toured the city then stepped down
Into a mini submarine
For a rock and roll cruise over coral  
And colorful fish
Rewarded for swimming up close
With our captain

Day 7, Wednesday
At sea

Next stop, Panama

Do not wait until
Your fourth cruise with HAL to try
The Pinnacle Grill

For starters,
Soup bowl presentation, crumbled lobster 
The soup poured table side 
Bisque

Day 8, Thursday, 2/19/15
Emily's 17th birthday

Panama

We traversed the first of three sets of locks 
Then docked
At Gatun Lake
One of three
Water reservoirs and canal passageways

There the ship would stay
While we spent our day with Rosalba
On a railroad trek 47 miles south to the Pacific
Paralleling the canal, lots of trees
Some ship traffic

And construction
Enlarging the canal for your next trip

Panama City, modern, upscale
Marina shopping on the Pacific

Then back to the Caribbean side to re-board at Colon
For us,  an off limits zone
Once a vacation destination
Now collapsed into urban squalor
From some colossal ignore
Its residents sharing trash, destitution, fear
And razor wire

That evening we left through a harbor filled with ships


Day 9, Friday, 2/20

Costa Rica

A long bus ride from Limon west
Through banana and pineapple plantations
Into the rain forest mountains
Where a private park promised tram rides through the canopy
 
Bad news, broken tram, and minor calamity
Our highlight, after all, gone
 
Damn!  

Good news, we were not one of those stuck on the tram
In the rain
For forty five minutes

A short hike and a delightful lunch would suffice for fun
Fresh foods, green flora, none of the fabled Costa Rican fauna
Our memento, a nifty poncho
And, to be fair about it, a prompt HAL refund

“Puro Vida!”


Day 10
Saturday, 2/21/15, back at sea.

Skipped the Mariners' champagne brunch
Late breakfast and walk
Formal dinner tonight
Formal pictures, take two


Day 11
Sunday, 2/22, Last day at sea

Finally made it to a Sunday morning service
Evangelical minister and Episcopal priest
Crowded but something for everybody

Last call at the Lido pool
Carole, a mango smoothie
Dennis, an Irish coffee

Steel drums setting up one last time
Giving lessons today while poolside golfers chip
Plastic balls at a life saver target

By midnight, bags in the hallway

Monday, 2/23

Off the ship by 9 a. m.
Revisit the snakes and add one — customs

As for news about the demise of the middle class
I take note of those not among our company this time
Those with enough money to avoid fun en masse
And those who barely dare to dream 

Plane departure, 2:00 p. m.

DRK
8/3/15