Single Woman's Cruise to Cuba

Honestly, I haven't known what to post...my Cuba cruise left me feeling a little empty.  Purchased tickets last minute, got a great deal, and just wanted to get outa town for my vacation from work...more than really go to Cuba, but I did... I went to Cuba.

I took the second cruise in my life, and the first one was nearly 30 years ago with my family when I was in college! I really was surprised at how wonderful and how many opportunities that cruising can provide, but on my next cruise, if traveling alone again, it may be better for me to try a singles cruise.

Right away, as the cruise to Cuba began, I met a "gambler," 47, with a booking website talking to a newlywed couple in the sports bar.  Handsome, clean cut guy...never married/no kids.  His name was Adam...he said it's easy to remember his name because I "don't know him from Adam!"   He was right I never forgot his name after that!  We had an awesome time watching the game, exploring the ship, learning about each other, and having dinner in the all inclusive restaurant that was great, and he helped me with things like filling out my Visa information and locking the safe in my room...he was pretty funny, and kept making comments to me like: "Trace, what would you do without me!?" in his NYC/New Jersey accent...like we'd known each other forever.

Everything seemed great, and I was so happy to meet someone that I seemed to be so compatible with me so quickly and easily the first night!...However, it all came to a screeching halt at about 9:30 that 1st evening, when, while watching the game, location had been changed to my room, at his request, and he leaned over in my ear, and said: "I know what you want...you want me to BANG you, right???"

 I was floored...I didn't answer right away, thought about his question, and yes, while I did enjoy my time with him, and could see our week rounding out nicely,  I couldn't say that at this time, without even sharing a kiss with this man, that I DID, in fact, want him to "BANG" me!!  I thought this was completely disrespectful. 

Ok, so that is what I was dealing with here.  So, I responded...
"No, that is really not what I want."
I wasn't angry, but I could see a real difference in values here.
After my response he said: "ok," then he was going to leave, and that seemed justified to me.

Although, I still felt like we would spend more time together, but that is not the way of the ship.  It is very hard to keep touch with people you meet unless the universe wants it, or unless you are sharing a room with them, I decided, because cell service is virtually non-existent, unless you buy one of their expensive cell packages...which few actually do...more, it is actually very enjoyable being so remote...surprisingly, I enjoyed it!!

Anyway, after that exchange, the next morning I woke up with no itinerary in mind.  However feeling like yesterday was forgotten, and now I need to make some new friends.  I was awoken by a loud speaker telling people to get off the ship, as we were in Cuba...very early at like 7:30am.  I didn't find the schedule of activities that the boat has planned until Wednesday, so until then I was just talking to people to see where they recommended that I go...
I later learned they were just announcing the "excursions."  Well, I had none scheduled since this was a cruise that I booked on Sunday to leave on Monday, so, traveling alone, I thought it might be a good idea to do an outing with a group of people...chose one with a walking group!

 

However, as I was disembarking, a hot rod restored bright red car passed in front of the ship, with two handsome men in it, stopped, and offered me a "tour" of Havana! Now, I'll be honest...this looked a lot more fun than the slow group of travelers that I was following, but because I had already paid $100, and because I was a solo traveler, I thought it would be best for me to just stay with the group.

We saw a lot of old architecture, and learned about Havana...the old city that really resembled Casco Viejo in Panama, where I lived for 10 years, to me.

Met some nice girls in this walking group, and really couldn't believe how HOT it was!!

La Vitrola, also reminded me of the restaurant with the same name in Panama!  Also saw the place where Ernest Hemingway lived most of his life, and died. Every other corner had an elaborate church, but they were all closed.  Churches in Havana don't open until the afternoon.

Almost ready to get back on the ship that you can see in the background in the above picture, but 1st we were taken to "The Market," which is a wide open warehouse with vendors making deals to sell their product.  I had $60 burning a hole in my pocket, because I felt the peer pressure, as we were disembarking the ship to change over my money, because everyone was doing it.

So after turning down 3 jewelry vendors, each who showed me the value of the pearls they were selling by holding fire underneath them, and showing me they were fire resistant, which meant they were not plastic, and were, in fact, genuine!!

 Cracked me up, and made me make myself the butt of a lot of jokes dealing with the authenticity of the jewels that I purchased, just so I wouldn't have to change my cash back on the ship back to American money.  Also, we had to sign a waver documenting our reason for visiting Cuba.  I chose "supporting the cuban people."  Which, after hearing of the miniscule amount of money the people of Cuba make who live and work there, I'm imagining my $60 jewelry purchase might support a family living there for a month!

Then, when I returned to the ship, I put my bathing suit on, and went to the pool deck for lunch. All of the liquor and food were included, so this was really nice!  I saw 2 handsome Venezuelans, who I'd seen around the ship before, and so I sat down with them to chat.  Because this is the way cruises are.  Everyone welcomes you, and is very open to talking and getting to know others on the ship, because lets face it, even if you are traveling with someone else, there is only so much time that you will want to spend with just them, and then everyone welcomes getting to know someone else!!  I found this really refreshing.

So, they told me their names: Gustavo, 47 and Miguel, 39.  I thought they were father and son, but it turned out that Miguel, the younger one was Gustavo's lawyer.  Only Gustavo spoke English, so I spoke a lot to them in Spanish.  Both were handsome, and I wasn't sure which one I liked at first, and they both seemed interested in me, but then decided I had more in common with Gustavo, so we spent a lot of time together that day in the pool, dancing, playing.

Gustavo owns a few big dairy farms in Venezuela, he said, and travels to Miami once a month, and also had kids, a prior marriage, educated, an airplane, seemed more serious.  While Miguel had recently moved to Miami, but never married, no kids and spoke only spanish.  Seemed more like a "player."  They also introduced me to 3 women, who approached us, as we were seated at a table, and getting to know each other, over the first cocktails of the day, from Delaware.  They had all met the night before in a club on the ship at 3am.  Soon, one of the women, the most friendly, and after I showed that I clearly was not interested in Miguel, told me she had also 2 kids, a husband at home, and 3 boyfriends, so she guessed Miguel would make 4, and she could visit Venezuela.

Miguel and Gustavo had reservations for dinner that night at the "French restaurant" that was not included in our trip fee, and did not invite me or any of the other girls, after we'd spent the entire day together, so that was noted, and I ate dinner alone at a table for 4 the 2nd night in the all inclusive restaurant, which was actually quite nice, but kind of sucked to eat alone...especially after the first night with the funny guy from NYC, now Pompano, in the same "Italian restaurant".  I ran into Adam earlier in the day, at the pool, he was with the black girl, and I was with Gustavo....

I had heard of a singles mixer that night later at a club inside the ship.  When I made my way there, I met 2 funny guys named Mart and Jerry, who became great friends to have dinner with and see more of Cuba the next day.  Mart, A big man, retired, ex- "drug-fiend," and a career cruiser.  Getting off this ship on Friday to get on another one just a few hours later.  He invited to take me back in to Cuba that night, as he was going.  But, honestly, I felt I'd seen enough of Cuba for the day, and was exhausted...just wanted to stay on and enjoy the ship!

So, left Mart and wandered around the ship a little.  Found a nice attractive guy sitting alone in the distance, so I immediately bee-lined for him...then realizing my urgency, embarrassed, I slowed to a stop just a few steps away from him, and ran my fingers thru my hair in a "Fonze" sort of manner.  Then I heard him say something to me, so happily, I looked up, and he greeted me, asked me to sit with him!  Started by telling me his last name, which made me laugh, because nowadays people are so secretive, and he started by telling me his FULL NAME...which included 2 first names and a last.  I found this refreshing.

So, then he said he is an engineer of some sort hired in from Santa Barbara, and doing work on the ship while it travels, so he is just off-work for the night, with a schedule that puts him back to work at 6:30am the next day.  He asked me where he could get a bite to eat on the ship.  I told him of the steak restaurant that I'd been told was good by my South Beach friend, David.  So, he said that sounded great, and asked me to join him!  NICE!!

We got up to the restaurant just after it closed, but they said they'd stay open for us!!  I was not really hungry because I had already had dinner, but just ordered a side salad, but I just love to be in nice steak/fish restaurants!! And even better, he ordered us a nice bottle of $100 Cabernet, Jordan!

Now we are talking!! This was such a very nice dinner with him, even though I hardly ate.  James Douglas was really such a gentleman.  At the end of our dinner, I would have thought the employees and wait staff would have been rushing us off to leave, after we'd kept them there, but instead they brought us a cake!! They said to celebrate our "Anniversary," which was hilarious, because it was just our first date!!  They then also kept cheering for us to "KISS," and sang us a song "Let me call you Sweetheart!"

This was a very positive turn to my day, which ended as the nice man walked me back to my room.

Then I got up the next day and did another walking tour with Mart and Jerry in the morning, and saw all the 3 married woman on the beach in the Bahamas the final day...they all acted like my friend, and while I was waiting in line for a Mojito, I was asked to join the Miss Norweigan competition.  

What the heck!? Sure, why not!? 

I had nothing else going on that day.  Then I saw Adam again, as he was filming the competition because his shipboard girlfriend was in it!  She saw me, and knew my name, and acted as my friend....like she was excited we were in the competition together...I had been pretty friendly to everyone on the ship, so I must have met her!?  

Anyway, she won the competition, and I won a deck of cards, and was a little embarrassed that I had even let them pull me into that activity.

 Miguel and Gustavo, had appeared on the beach for a moment, and said they were going Jetski-ing, and the married women seemed to be waiting for them to get back.  

I, however, had decided to return to the ship.

Then later, back on the ship, I ran into Gustavo and Miguel sitting in their usual table. 

Miguel was visibly drunk, and kept saying in spanish someone had a new girlfriend.  

I asked Gustavo what he was saying...Gustavo chuckled and said that Miguel was saying that Gustavo had a new girlfriend!  

I asked why he would be telling ME this???  

Gustavo said he didn't know, but that one of the girls on the beach had "seduced" him....

with this, I stood up, and said, "ok, boys, enjoy the rest of your trip."

I later saw the third married woman in the lounge that night, alone, and she was perplexed and angry, because this "girls' trip" had turned into a trip where 2 of her married friends shacked up with a "Sylvester Stallone look-a-like, and his young friend, who spoke NO English."  

What was she supposed to tell her husband when she got home?? 

They were all friends...the women and their husbands, and this woman told me that she is accustomed to sharing EVERYTHING with her husband...her best friend...

which is the kind of marriage that I had, and would like to someday have again, 

so I completely understood...

WHY get married if you are not going to ACT married and honor your spouse!?

Anyway, after going to bed early, I found myself up at 3am, unable to return to sleep that last night of the cruise...wondering what I had done to bring all of this stuff into my life...

why did I attract this to me???

There was an older married gentleman up that last night on the deck of the cruise...

we were the only 2 at 3am drinking coffee

...he said, after hearing about my trip, that he had seen me, and he didn't think that I had done anything wrong.  

It is just that I look a certain way, and "this is what men want."

The whole trip was a little disheartening from the first belittling comment to the 

2 married women cheating on their families...

Enjoyed many of the new people I'd met, who'd opened themselves to me, 

but, I am not going to lie,

 I was ever so happy to return home.