Monthly Archives: July 2025

Posted in travel

Ship Chef: “Hey, It’s Hard to Cook for 5,000 People!”

By Comments:11 Comments

by Bob Sparrow

Given the interest there was in readers wondering about my sanity, booking a cruise with 2,500 kids on board, I thought I would report back to let you know just how everything went and if my sanity is still intact.

Let’s first discuss the positives. No, let’s do the negatives so we can end on a positive note.

  • The obvious is there were lots of kids, but there were also so many kids’ areas – kids’ pool, kids’ clubs, kids’ games, etc. So, yes, lots of kids, but I never felt they were under foot/in the way.
  • The food could have been better, much better.  There was plenty of it and a good variety, but, based on other cruises, this was below expectations.  When we mentioned something about food quality at one of our dinners, the chef came out and explained to us that it was difficult to cook for 5,000 people.  Duh!!!  Isn’t that what you signed up to do? Isn’t that your job?
  • The only other disadvantage that I experienced, was when I went back to the ‘adults only’ section of the ship and looked for a place to sit down, by the pool, anywhere on the deck, with a view, any seat! – all were taken. Apparently, a lot of parents were looking for some ‘quiet time’ away from their chaotic kids.

What I liked about the cruise was . . .

  • The ship, Royal Caribbean’s Ovations of the Sea, was much better than I expected for a large ship with 5,000 passengers.  Great layout, lots of restaurants with a variety of cuisines, lots of bars, lots of shops, excellent show venues, did I mention lots of bars?
  • Lots of things to do, especially for kids, basketball, pickleball, bumper cars, roller skating, rock climbing, surfing, various rides, arts & crafts, arcade, ping pong, etc., etc., etc.
  • Fun casino that both giveth and taketh away
  • We had a nice room that allowed all 13 of us to gather a few times
  • The staff, the Filipinos, were especially nice
  • Heard the gym was very well equipped.
  • We didn’t get off the ship in Ensenada
  • The thing I liked most was that we had our whole immediate family on board with everyone enjoying all the activities and the adults enjoying the kids enjoying all the activities . . . and the drink package!

 Some family photos . . . 

Grandkids: Dylan, Mac, Addison, Emma & Brooklyn
Original Sparrows: Linda, me, Steph, Jeff & Dana
The Shomers: Dylan, Emma, Steph & Jason
The Borrellis: Dana, Joe, Addison, Mac
Brooklyn, Jeff & Pam Sparrow
Most popular adult ride: Pina Colada
OK, maybe this one’s better
I promised beautiful Emma
I’d put a photo of her in the blog.

Posted in opinion

THE DOG DAYS OF SUMMER

By Comments:8 Comments

By Suzanne Sparrow Watson

Dooley in the sun

Well, here we are in the dog days of summer. Ironically, my dog Dooley doesn’t appreciate this time of year. No afternoon walks, no endless sessions of fetch, and no sitting in the sun for hours on end. Although he tries – I have to pick him up off of the synthetic grass after a minute or two, lest he get overheated. His one working brain cell hasn’t figured that part out yet. Yep, it’s the time of year when the “feels like” temperature on my weather app reads like the pre-heat on my oven. In all honesty, our weather this year has generally been at or below normal, a wonderful respite from the last two record-breaking summers. Still, it’s Arizona so it’s hot. These “dog days” typically run from early July to mid-August. In other words, it’s the season when the ice in your glass is gone before you take your first sip, so it’s best to stick with wine.

The dog days of summer require some strategic thinking when it comes to clothing. Anything beyond the bare minimum is an act of heroism – or lunacy. White T-shirts become translucent, denim becomes a form of self-inflicted torture, and flip-flops are appropriate except for black tie events. You know it’s the dog days when you start to consider mesh shorts a formal upgrade. Hats? Only if you enjoy forehead sweat decorating your face. Sunglasses? Absolutely, but only if they don’t slide off your nose and into your (melted) iced coffee.

People told me that Dooley would slow down during the worst of the summer heat; that our walks would become sluggish crawls from one patch of shade to the next, interrupted only by dramatic flops onto cool tile floors. Nope. I take him out at 5:30 every morning and if I didn’t stop him, he’d chase the squirrels and bunnies for hours. Eventually I am able to entice him to join me at the ice machine at our rest stop, where he chomps on crushed ice, and then is raring to go back out. Meanwhile, my pants are stuck to my thighs, and the humidity makes my hair look like I’ve put my finger in a light socket.

I’ve learned that if you can’t beat the heat, it’s best to avoid it. Here are a few tried-and-true strategies for surviving the dog days:

  • Fill your bathtub with ice and submerge yourself. Bonus points if you can stay under for more than thirty seconds without shrieking.
  • Perfect your popsicle-to-mouth coordination. (Brain freeze is a rite of passage.)
  • Befriend your local air-conditioned library. You don’t have to read, but you do have to linger meaningfully near the vents.
  • Plan elaborate vacations in your mind. The Maldives? Sure, why not?
  • Convince your friends to have a movie marathon—indoors, with blackout curtains, a mountain of snacks, and a Slurpee machine.

There’s no doubt that the dog days of summer are a test of patience, deodorant, and the limits of your air conditioning unit. But there’s a certain camaraderie in the collective struggle. We’re all in this together—sweaty, sticky, slightly delirious, and counting down the days until sweater weather returns. So next time you find yourself staring longingly at a cloud, hoping for rain, remember: these sultry days are but a fleeting moment. My guess is that Target will have their Christmas decorations up in the next month. Before we know it, we’ll be reminiscing about summer’s warmth as we put another log on the fire and watch Netflix in our down parkas. Until then, wear your sunscreen, laugh at your sweat stains, and give your dog an extra belly rub—after all, these are their days.

Posted in travel

2500 Kids on Board! Really?!

By Comments:10 Comments

by Bob Sparrow

Ovation of the Seas – Kids pool with North Star in upper right corner

While we’re on the subject of cruising after reading Suzanne’s blog last week about ‘Senior Cruising’, I thought I would mention that Linda and I will be leaving this Tuesday on what could be called ‘Junior Cruising’. Our three kids, Stephanie, Dana and Jeff, their spouses, Jason, Joe and Pam AND our five grandchildren, Dylan, Emma, Addison, Mac and Brooklyn, will all be boarding the Royal Caribbean ship, Ovations of the Sea for a four-day cruise from L.A. to Ensenada, Mexico and back to L.A.

There will be nearly 5,000 passengers on board, half of them kids, so this is not a cruise for relaxation, in fact there are so many things to do on this ship, that we may not get to them all in the four days we will be on board. Below is a list of activities available to the kids/grandkids, OK, and maybe us too.

Ripcord skydiving
  • At the SeaPlex, at varying times, one can ride bumper cars, play basketball, volleyball, soccer, go roller skating or attend a circus school with a trapeze.
  • Go on North Star, which extends 300 feet above the ship for a 360-degree view of the surroundings.
  • Ripcord is a skydiving simulator the gives the sensation of free falling.
  • FlowRider is a surf simulator that lets you ride a surfboard or a boogie board on real waves.
  • Rock Climbing on a simulated rock wall on the side of the ship, safety lines included.
FlowRider

In their spare time, kids can participate in the Adventure Ocean youth program where age-specific activities for Aquanauts (3-5), Explorers (6-8) and Voyagers (9-11), and a Teen Lounge for those ‘older’ kids. There is also an Adventure Science Lab and a fun-filled Water Park, with mini-slides, water cannons, fountains and pools.

In between activities I’m sure the kids will find ‘all-you-can-eat-pizza’ and ‘all-you-can-eat-ice cream shops.

Bumper cars

But the ship also recognizes that adults may need a break and a treat or two, so there is an adult-only section where one can go to get relief from the constant chaos, a casino, where I’ll look for Linda if I can’t find her, a Bionic Bar where your drink is made to order by a mechanical bartender, no tipping just oil him once in a while.  There are Broadway-style shows nightly as well as venues with music and dancing – not sure how much dancing I’ll do, but it’s nice to know it’s there in the event I get the urge! There is also a place called Two70, it provides a 270-degree view from the back of the boat.  This multi-level lounge transforms from a daytime observation space with panoramic views into a nighttime theater featuring a unique blend of digital art, robotics, and live performances. There are also plenty of restaurants and bars that will help us to maximize our drink package! Oh yeah, there’s also a gym, but don’t expect any photos that might catch us perspiring.

Robotic bar

We’re not sure we want to expose our grandkids to Ensenada at their age, so we’ll probably not get off the boat when we’re in port, but we’ll see, maybe they want to discover what a real Mexican taco tastes like.

That’s all for the cruise preview, if anything happens that’s blog-worthy, I’ll give you an update next time.  Until then, wish me luck in keeping my sanity around 2,000 sugar-high kids!

Yes, I’ll have another Margarita, thank you!

Posted in opinion

CRUISING INTO RETIREMENT

By Comments:6 Comments

By Suzanne Sparrow Watson

Like many people my age, I spend time thinking about what my next move will be. Sometimes I feel like a tweenager – too young for a retirement community and too old to downsize to a mixed-age neighborhood. But I stumbled upon a unique alternative the other day while reading an online newspaper – move into a cruise ship. Just imagine – waking up each morning to the gentle sway of the sea, sipping coffee on my private balcony as the sun rises over a new horizon, wandering down to a dining room where someone cooks a breakfast to order. Apparently, taking back-to-back cruises has become increasingly popular. People are selling their primary residence, renting a small apartment, and then cruising the world. Some people choose to book consecutive trips on the same ship, while others book different cruise lines to break up the monotony. And one company, Villa Vie, offers “condos” one can buy for a 15-year lease. Fifteen years!!! It visits 147 countries and 425 destinations over a three-and-a-half-year cycle and then repeats. I don’t know about you, but I think I’d kill someone after spending 15 months in such small confines.

Of course, on social media there are many opinions about “retirement cruising”. On the plus side, there is room, board, entertainment, laundry, free Wi-Fi and, of course, travel. On the downside, many suggest that people get “ship happy” confined to such small spaces for a long time. Still others, many who have worked on cruise ships, advise that although every ship has a medical staff, they are not really qualified to handle some of the specialized maladies that confront older people, much less a full-blown emergency. I think one would have to take the attitude that dying on a cruise ship beats many other ways one can leave this mortal coil.

A living room on The World

I was intrigued by the concept of living on a cruise ship, but honestly, I envisioned lots of noisy children, bachelor parties, or, equally dispiriting, hallways lined with wheelchairs. But then I found my ideal ship – The World. The World has 165 privately owned apartments, ranging from 290-square-foot studios to 3,240-square-foot four-bedroom residences. Like many cruises, the ship has multiple restaurants and bars, yoga classes and a gym, two pools, a medical center and round-the-clock room service. Unlike other cruise ships, the owners call many of the shots. They vote on things like the itinerary, they vote for refurbishments on the ship, as well as its board of directors. The World docks in around 100 ports per year, stopping for two to five days, rather than a few hours. Of course, as you might suspect, the cost of such luxury is a bit steep: prices for residences range from $2.4 million to $15 million — a figure which doesn’t include quarterly maintenance fees, which can be around 10% of the purchase price annually. If the price doesn’t deter you, their entrance requirement might trip you up: potential buyers are vetted, and, in addition to financial and criminal checks, buyers need two letters of recommendation from an existing resident. I don’t know about you, but I don’t know even ONE person who has that kind of money to throw around on a ship condo. Or one that would vouch for me, for that matter.

In any event, I’ve ruled out The World as a retirement option. Not just because of the expense, but because they don’t allow dogs on board. Now what kind of morons expect you to leave your dog when you buy one of these condos? Apparently very rich ones. I think Dooley and I will keep looking.