Table #118

            Table #118

My wife and I just came home from a week of cruisin. Not a Cruise-In where you sport your prized '55 Chevy or '66 Stang, but a vacation on a huge ship with plenty of food and entertainment, The Carnival Sunshine.

This particular fun ship weighs in at 102,853 tons and can host 3,006 passengers. It always amazes me that something that weighs this much can be buoyant.

Not our first time on one of these massive floating steel cities, but exploring each nook and granny fills the days at sea with excitement. There are clubs for every type fun that might appeal to you. Comedy Clubs, Karaoke Bars, Dance Clubs, Art Auctions, Jewelry sales, and Sports bars, equipped with games to watch on the big screens.

The Almost Newlywed Show seems to be a big deal as does the daily Bingo in the main auditorium. At night there is always some type of entertain by the cast on the ship, whether a full blown broadway type show or simply following the cast throughout the ship as they entertain with dancing, singing and high powered fun and frivolity.

Be sure to come hungry because food is plentiful and everyone is encouraged to eat. Hamburger bars, Deli's, Pizza Bars, the buffets and my favorite the all day, all night ice cream bar.

The exotic ports of call is only one of the reason cruisin is so much fun, This particular cruise took us to Aruba, Curacao, and The Grand Turk Island. Eight days of sunshine, no cell phones or computers, just eating and enjoying life.

A huge plus when sailing is the evening meal. Most people enjoy dining in one of the main dining rooms where you are seated either for the first sitting, 6:00 pm or the late sitting 8:00 pm at an assigned table.

In most cases you are seated with other people, unless you want some private romantic time with your sweetie in which case you can request a table for two. But what the heck, you can see your sweetie anytime, so a table with multiple people is the way to go.

On this particular cruise, we sailed with a couple of which we are friends and requested seating at a table together. Upon check-in they were given an upgrade to a room on a different floor than originally assigned. This resulted in a different table for dining as well. When they discovered the change they immediately had us reassigned to the same table for dining so as to be together as originally planned. Here goes the story of Table #118.

Now one must understand that meeting new people can be somewhat uncomfortable, unless you have a strange personality like me, and eating with strangers even more so. But if you decide to sail on a fun ship the chances of dining with strangers is pretty darn good so be prepared.

We set sail on Friday afternoon, changed for supper and arrived at our table around 5:45 pm with our friends, Ron and Linda. We immediately met a couple from Augusta, Georgia who were also assigned to our table. Introductions were made and then another couple from Jacksonville, Florida showed up.

We made our introductions again sharing small talk a little nervously before sitting to begin our meal. A few minutes went by and the last couple appeared and announced they were from Huntington Beach, California, which peaked my attention since I retired from a company headquartered in Irvine a short distance from there and had visited the city often.

Everyone at Table #118 seemed to blend and the conversation was always lively as we shared stories about our families, ourselves, our work, (for those that still do), and pictures of our families, especially the grands.

Each night we talked about what we did during the day, whether on the ship or in the port of call, showing the neat souvenirs and jewelry that was purchased.

The table was adorned with gaiety as everyone became more comfortable with each other and it led to joking and the occasional picking at people as we enjoyed the company of our new friends.

Being in sales for forty plus years, affords me the luxury of spotting the different types of personalities and how those personalities blend with others. I must say that most personalities were of the A strain but even the B's complimented each other in this group.

We had a couple of engineers, one who actually builds bridges, cool huh, a head of a medical department at a major hospital, a retail associate, a lady who works for the Air Force and retired people all sitting at the table.

The great thing about a cruise is definitely the food and the ability to get as many desserts as possible and we took full advantage of it. Some were shared but others, like myself greedily consumed all of theirs.

We had birthdays and anniversaries to celebrate and the wait staff brought special cakes for the occasions for all at the table to share. It truly was an eventful and joyous occasion as we all gathered to share our evening meal.

However, like all things, the week began to come to a close as we all knew it would. I made the suggestion that we get together again for another cruise, a reunion cruise. Everyone agreed that it would be fun and the suggestion was made to have matching t-shirts, so we could all identify with the cruise.

The last night, Friday, came and we met for dinner. We shared email addresses and home addresses. We each invited the others to come visit when in the area in which we live, we all agreed we would.

Champagne was ordered for those that partake and we all toasted our glasses to a great cruise and new friends.

After dinner was done, we thanked out table waiters for the great service they provided, we hugged our new friends and bade them goodbye, and promised to stay in touch.
I hope we do plan a reunion cruise and I hope we have t-shirts to signify the occasion. I think a great name for our group would be this simple but profound saying, "The Crew of Table #118, Carnival Sunshine.

True friendships are few.

To The Crew of Table #118, Carnival Sunshine, an old Irish saying! "May the hinges of our friendship never grow rusty."

"Life Happens"