Our Christmas Holiday in 2011 was interrupted by the reunion of the Ocwieja Bridgeport siblings and most of their families (exceptions were Regina, Brian, Hans, Anne, Wynn and Zenon). Trees were up and decorated at our home and maybe others. We would all forget about the holiday and focus just on spending time together with no agenda.

Day 1: Sue, Karen and Frank flew to Miami on Monday morning, December 19, 2011. We took a taxi to the Royal Caribbean Majesty of the Seas. Despite our worries, everyone else made it, too. In most cases, they had come to Miami at least the day before. The ship set sail at around 5:00 PM. Its sister ship, Monarch of the Seas, also left the port at about the same time; in fact, it would accompany us all through the voyage.

Our first dinner was at one of three tables in the Moonlight Dining Room, where all of the family would be seated the next three nights, as well. There we met our obsequious Filipino waiter, Jay. Our group of twenty-four relatives slept in nine staterooms on deck 10, the only one with an ocean balcony in every room.

Day 2: We docked in Key West early in the morning, and had breakfast on Deck 11 in the Windjammer Café. Sue, Karen and I found a taxi on shore to Fort Zachary Taylor Beach, where Karen Emily had spent much of her visit to the island the previous summer. We enjoyed breezy relaxation and reading under the palm trees. Before leaving the beach, Sue bought all of us frozen Key Lime Pie on a stick—not bad. Some in our group instead took walking tours, although 3 hours was reported to be more than enough to see everything on the island.

We telephoned for another taxi to take us back to the Majesty in time for a late lunch at the Windjammer. An evacuation drill brought all 800 or so passengers onto Deck 7. We ate dinner on board. Two of the best courses on the menu during our journey were the Wild Mushrooms and, on the next day, the Pumpkin Soup.

Some of the family found each other afterwards for a circle talk on Deck 12 behind the pool. Second generation’s illnesses were discussed. Third generation exchanged notes on careers. Fourth generation started to meet one another. Entertainment there was provided by a wind-elevated carpet edge over which walking passengers continually tripped when commuting from their staterooms to and from the pool deck. It took several calls and visits to the ship’s crew to satisfy ourselves that we had done all we could to get them to install staples, duct tape, or glue to prevent the injury that would surely have ruined someone’s vacation. Fortunately, it was fastened by morning.

Earlier that evening, Sue experienced “the mystery of the missing pearl earrings”—How were they moved from one drawer in our stateroom to another? How did they disappear from the room? How did they happen to materialize in their black sack at Carole’s feet in the dining room? Why did the Guest Relations host not acknowledge, when Sue inquired, that Carole had earlier turned them in? Sue, of course, insisted that Nola had indeed turned them in and the pearls were eventually returned to Sue.

Day 3: Breakfast onboard was quickly followed by disembarkation in Nassau. Many splinter groups of the clan made their own ways to the attractions of the resort town, including shopping, visits to the Atlantis casino resort, play with dolphins on Blue Lagoon Island, and, for the laziest of us, a driving tour guided by Captain Morgan in lilting Island English and passable Spanish for our Argentine fellow tourists.

That evening’s “formal” dinner onboard got everyone into the “finest” evening wear they had remembered to pack. The menu included lamb shanks, cooked thoroughly but unimaginatively.

Some of the family took part in a trivia contest later. It could have been won by their team were it not for a last-minute change in one of their answers.
The Norwegian ship’s captain, Tor Olsen, let his large multicultural crew humorously introduce themselves at his welcoming (?) reception in the theatre. He told us that the Majesty of the Seas is over 20 years old and due to retire in two years or so.

Day 4: After breakfast onboard, small boats ferried virtually all the ship’s passengers to Coco Cay, an island circumferenced by small bays and beaches where sunbathing, swimming, snorkeling, sailing, and other typical shallow water activities occupied hundreds of visitors from both the Majesty and the Monarch, which was anchored a half-mile away. Dick, ever the seaman, took a few of the cousins for a short sail in a rented sloop in the surrounding bay.

A lunch was served buffet-style just behind the beach. It included inedible barbequed ribs, but was accompanied by the ship’s talented Caribbean band and dancing. Back on the beach, Strolling vendors singing “Coco Loco” prompted Ethan to ask what it meant. It seems to be a mixture of whatever rum drinks that had been prepared rearlier separately. A dozen of the family formed an almost victorious beach volley ball team to play a pick-up game nearby.

By 3:00 PM we were ready to board our ferry and return to the ship. The Smith Boys (father and son) participated in the ship’s free throw contest, but were challenged by the physics of the swaying deck and its effect on the ball’s trajectory. Dinner in the Moonlight Dining Room onboard culminated in a waiters’ serenade (“O Solo Mio”).

Captain Olsen announced our evening’s slow sail to Miami (10 knots) over the PA. Members of the family got together for a word game in the Viking Crown Lounge (aka the Deck 14 saucer). Plans were already being discussed for the next reunion, perhaps at an all-inclusive resort. Meanwhile, the twenty- (or thirty-) something cousins looked forward to visiting each other soon.

Day 5: We rushed to get out of our room early, went up the slow, overtaxed elevator, ate a quick breakfast on Deck 11 and rolled our luggage through customs and immigration to look for our transfer bus. It would take us from Miami port to the airport at three times the cost of the waiting taxis.

A few remarks in closing:

Only at the end of the cruise did we realize that the little intrusion by world news, or total lack thereof, was one of the reunion’s best features.
The ship’s pool was little used, except perhaps by Ernst and his family. Loud (but rhythmic) music, a constant background, was disturbing to some; consequently, less reading in the deck chairs got done than anticipated. Nevertheless, the band was good, particularly its drummer.

Toni Matyszyk., our travel agent, did a much appreciated job. One problem showed up, however, when those who sat in the bus awaiting transfer from Miami port to the airport had to wait in their seats while the nearby taxies expeditiously carried disembarking passengers away.

Now that we are all home (although the itinerant Ocwieja-Cheung family spent the next eight days in Costa Rica!), I wake up at night feeling I’m still on the ship until I confirm by looking out the window that my neighbor’s house is standing there across the street.