Savoy at Sea 2025

Saturday 25 January 2025

The two of us have been Buffett fans since the early ’70’s enjoying tracks like “Come Monday”, “Havana Daydreamin’”, and of course “Margaritaville” and appreciating Jimmy’s take on life. We’ve had times in life when “Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitude” has fortified us as we’ve taken on new challenges. So when we learned the January 2025 swing dance cruise would be on the Margaritaville at Sea Islander, we were all in. It’s been our tradition since 2002 to join fellow dancers aboard a Caribbean cruise each winter to soak up sun and kick up our heels. Each year it’s a chance to immerse ourselves in all things tropical, dance, dance, dance, and to savor long term friendships as well as make new friends. This time we left Medina in 11°F temperatures and snow on the ground with visions of palm trees dancing in our heads. We left soon enough to enjoy a fun visit with our friend Vivian, a lovely lunch with Mike & Cathy at the legendary Ted Peters, time with Pete & Debi, and a chance to catch up a bit with Karen’s nephew Matt home from New Orleans for the weekend. Then on Sunday at the Cruise Port of Tampa we embarked Islander. Soon we were hanging out with Karen’s brother Ed and meeting new friends, hanging out with Loren as he made his iconic turk’s head bracelets, and making our way to the topmost deck to watch our progress under the Skyway Bridge on our way to Cozumel and Progresso, Mexico. This year’s contingent was twenty-four, mostly all dancers of varying degrees of experience but all game to have a good time together. Days at Sea we always got an opportunity to meet up in the Havana Daydream’ Lounge for a dance lesson or an opportunity to DJ our own dance. Every evening more or less as a group we roamed the ship finding the best music for dancing. One of our favorites was the Bubbles Up Lounge where Ellie the pianist was delighted to play jazz standards for us. It was also cool to watch the bartender craft a Bubbles Up Margarita. Cozumel was our first port of call. It was delightful to walk around in short sleeves even if we were dodging some raindrops and the sunshine was behind clouds most of the time. Some of our group did a walkabout to Mercado Municipal in San Miquel de Cozumel while others of us poked into to various shops not far from the waterfront where we scored a couple of fun finds before indulging in street tacos and frozen drinks then taxiing back to The International Pier where the Islander was moored. The next day we awakened to swirling seas and the news that the weather had forced the Progresso port to close. The cruise director delightedly told us we’d get a Bonus Day at Sea, and the Groups Coordinator offered us an extra hour long Private Function so a small cadre of us pulled together a plan to notify all of our group of where we’d be meeting in just an hour and a half. And it worked beautifully. So, all in all we really enjoyed the ship and the cruise line. The line is only about four years old and The Islander, it’s second ship, entered its service back in June. The ship is gorgeous, decorated in a wonderful tropical, flip flop, Jimmy Buffett vibe. The crew members were delightful. Although we experienced a few small issues, the team did a great job taking care of us. Would we sail with them again. Yes, especially since they may offer us the opportunity to call on some Caribbean ports we’ve not yet visited. Now we’ve disembarked, been welcomed to “Alaska”, retrieved our truck from the port parking lot, cranked up the heater, and are on our way back to the frozen north. In fact we encountered snow just north of the FL/SC border and it did snow in north Florida a couple of days ago, about the time the thermometer dropped to ten below in Medina. Brr! Good to know we’ve got another Caribbean adventure planned soon.