This past September I embarked on my first workout cruise on the Royal Caribbean Harmony of the Seas ship. It was for 7 days in the Bahamas and Mexico. It was originally supposed to go to St Kitts and St Thomas, but Hurricane Lee changed the course to Mexico. For me that was a win win because I was planning on going to Mexico in March of 2024, since I went now, I will go to Puerto Rico instead.
This was my first-time teaching on a cruise ship, and I was joined with 38 guests from various places on the planet earth. I never realize how many people I touched with my online exercise’s classes. from various walks of life.
The trip started off on a adventurous note. I decided to take the Amtrak train from my home in Pittsburgh, PA to Miami, Fl to board the ship. I everything packed and boarded the train only for it to break down with 20 minutes after departure from the Pittsburgh train station. I sat there pondering if the train will get fixed in time to make my connecting train in Philadelphia to Miami. However, something more critical than that came to my mind. I had left my passport at home. I went into panic mood but after calming down I came up with a plan. I would get off the train in Philadelphia and catch a bus coming back to Pittsburgh and get my passport and book a flight to Miami for the next morning. I explained to the conductor that i could not continue on the train to Miami because I needed to go back to Pittsburgh and get my passport. The conductor told me to get off at the next stop which would be Harrisburg and that there would be a train going back to Pittsburgh within 20 minutes once we get to Harrisburg. Sure, enough when the train got to Harrisburg the Pittsburgh bound trained showed up within 10 minutes. I was home by 8 PM. I still had to face hurdle, the fear of flying. Yes, I only fly if it’s the last option I have and in this case it was the last option. I was also happy that it was a nonstop flight to Miami. I boarded the plane at 6 AM then next morning and was in Miami by 8:30 AM. I arrived in Miami 12 hours before the train would have arrived. So I got to walk around Miami and go sightseeing.
Embarkment Day
I got to the Miami port the next morning and started running into people who were coming to workout with me on the cruise. It was truly a wonderful experience. In another post I will share about teaching on the cruise ship.
Cruisers Arriving
