"Wow, is that an Ocelot in the elevator?" (Oosterdam, 11/2/09) :)

[heathriel]

We just finished a lovely trip on the Oosterdam, and while it is on its way back to San Diego, here's my (very animal-oriented) trip report.

 

Day 1: Fort Lauderdale.

 

We stayed at the Springhill Suites, which has a free shuttle to the port. There were 33 guests that morning, all with lots of luggage, and the bus was big enough for 30 of them. However, another person managed to squeeze in on someone's lap, and DH and I decided to just wait for the next one. As the bus left at 10:45AM (and they hadn't even finished offloading the first guests by then), we figured there was no harm in waiting. We had a rather pleasant wait, figuring that we'd let Morgan wander around before we had to zip him into his carry-bag during check in (which he *hates* - he likes his bag, but he doesn't like being enclosed in it. Well, really, would *you* like to be zipped up into a little bag and carried around when you're used to walking on your own? I don't think so :) )

 

Anyway, bus comes, Morgan trots onto the bus and sits down while we supervise our bags being loaded. The bus driver starts talking about how silly it was that everyone crammed onto the last bus like sausages when the ship wasn't even loading yet. We, just happy to be on our way, were half afraid at how Morgan was going to behave when we zipped him up into his bag again in a few minutes, and apprehensive of the line ahead.

 

Thankfully, when we got there, the line wasn't too bad. We got through checkin in under half an hour, and were on the ship and into the Mariner's luncheon - having met multiple Cruise Critic members along the way, and had some at our table at the luncheon - in no time at all. Morgan finally threw a fit about being zipped up about halfway through lunch, but I really couldn't blame him. He's not used to that.

 

We got to our cabin, and our bags started to arrive soon after. We unpacked, and just decided on room service for that night.

 

Day 2: Half Moon Cay

 

I took Morgan around to see the boat while everyone was ashore so he'd get a feel for it. (I'm sure wherever the Security Guards are with their camera banks they must have found it hilarious to see a cat walking around on a leash.) When we got to the Vista lounge, there was a lady practicing on the Violin and Morgan just stopped and started listening to her, then started rolling around on the floor. It was so cute. I hated to have to pull him away from there but we had places to go. I mentally decided to buy him some classical violin music when we got home.

 

This day, however, became the day that he met the cruise director. Oh-no! Glenn and Morgan did not get along, mostly because I made the mistake of taking Morgan outside on deck 10, in the wind, and completely freaking him out right before going to Trivia. Glenn must have been annoyed with Morgan, who was agitated and crying after I had been so mean as to thrust him into the scary wind, and all the while after that he would cry whenever he was around Glenn. The entire rest of the cruise, everywhere on the ship, he was quiet, docile, etc, but around Glenn, he'd cry. Oh well, can't win them all.

 

Day 3: Grand Turk

Very cute little "fake" town area where the cruise docks, even has a Margaritaville. We walked around a bit, then sat down and had some drinks. We didn't explore the island at all, but we could see the whole thing from our balcony. We just wanted to stretch our legs a little :)

 

Day 4: At Sea

This was the day of the Meet & Greet. As soon as I walked in, I was mobbed. Or, rather, Morgan was. I didn't even really get past the "Private Party" sign. Morgan became the center of attention. The mantra of the cruise became "Oh, look, they've got a cat!" and then "Look at how well behaved he is!" quickly followed by "My cat would NEVER just sit/stand there like that!" and, of course the "They made us leave ours at home!"

 

So, Morgan became a little bit of a media darling. This is also when he met the poodle that was also aboard, and the two got along rather well. Morgan's best friend is a poodle, and the poodle was raised by a cat, so it all worked out :)

 

Day 5: Aruba

This was Morgan's first tour. We couldn't leave him unattended, so when I went on a tour of Aruba, he came with me. Part of the tour was a climb to the top of a hill, with steps. Morgan actually led *me* up the steps. The other people from the ship who saw us stopped in their tracks and started taking pictures of *him* instead of Aruba.

 

We continued our tour and got to a Windmill, and Morgan insistently started pushing at the window. The driver stopped to let him out, and Morgan really seemed interested in the Windmill, chasing some butterflies - he really liked that little spot. He got so upset when I put him back in the car, that he actually sulked the rest of the way back to the ship. Our tour companions said it was the strangest thing - he really was sulking.

 

Then, to make matters worse, when I got back on the ship, I got to our floor and started walking him to our cabin - I thought. He kept stopping and glaring at me. I had to drag him along on the floor (which I don't have to do.) Finally, he broke out of his harness and ran the other way. I had to run after him, panting, till I caught up with him - where he'd stopped, in front of our cabin (on the opposite side of the boat). That darn cat. Sometimes I just forget how smart he is.

 

Day 8: Panama

We had booked the dome car train excursion in Panama. This had a bus in one direction, a stop at the Miraflores Locks, and the train to come back. Morgan was happy to look out the window the whole bus ride, and when we got to the locks, the docent there saw him and started snapping pictures of him - "The first cat to cross the canal" (Yeah right :) ) On the train, we sat in the lower part of the dome car, and he had his own seat. He was fine until the train conductors came in and started playing some percussion instruments right by his ears for some local song, but he just ran into my lap and buried his head for that bit.

 

Day 10: Costa Rica

We rented a jeep and drove around all day. He was fine, even when we went to a place that had little monkeys that offered him some of their food - and then snatched it away when he sniffed at it. Stupid Monkeys!

 

For the rest of the trip, we just mostly hung around the boat (no tours), and up until the last day we were there, people were still saying "I'd *heard* there was a cat on board - is this him?" He did fine in the Main Dining Room when we went there, and he was great in the Pinnacle and Caneletto when we were there. The HAL crew treated us very well, and the other *guests* did too (with the exception of the lady in the balcony directly next to ours, who complained that animals should not be allowed onboard as it can affect her asthma.)

 

People were very interested in learning about his training, especially after meeting him and seeing how well he responds to commands, and just how well-behaved in general he is. Multiple people offered to buy him on the spot (and there was a rich Texas that I'm pretty sure meant it) ;)

 

The best comment I think came from Candace, the party planner on board, who (jokingly) said "The next time we have a service cat on board, if he isn't as good as Morgan, I'll be like 'I *know* good service cats, and yours needs to go back to school" ;)

[IRL_Joanie]

Thank you for the great review of the cruise... and Morgan:)

 

Joanie

[hoopman]

but what is a service cat?

[fann1sh]

but what is a service cat?

 

 

Here's a recent thread. Heathriel chimed in several times to explain:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1065982

 

Heathriel, I'm glad you made HAL's policy of "no service animal alone in cabin" work out for you and Morgan.

[hoopman]

One can learn something everyday. My son has OCD and spends a lot of time with my daughter's cat. So I guess there's something to it.

[CowPrincess]

Thanks for the cat-centric report :) Glad Morgan enjoyed the cruise! (you, too :D)

[wines60]

Hopefully you took pictures of Morgan on his cruise. Would love to see them!

[MrsMuir]

Yes, let's see some photos of Morgan the Sea Bengal. Now I have a reason for my non-cruising -- but cat-loving -- little sister to check out Cruise Critic.

 

Thanks for a fascinating review.

 

Mrs M

[heathriel]

 

Chillin' on the balcony.

[heathriel]

 

Giving daddy a hug - and warily eyeing the cookies from the Lido...

[CowPrincess]

Morgan: "hello room service?"

 

RS: "yes, how can we help?"

 

Morgan: "I see you have chocolate mouse -- can I get some of those please?"

 

RS: "certainly sir"

 

Disappointed kitty in 3... 2..... 1.... :D

[heathriel]

Our room service attendants LOVED Morgan. I swear one of them must have switched shifts so he could be there breakfast, lunch AND dinner to play with Morgan.

 

On our final night before we got off in Cabo, he brought Morgan extra sauce for his Lobster and extra garlic butter for his escargot :)

 

(No, garlic is not poison to Bengals. Yes, he had regular cat food too.)

[CowPrincess]

(No, garlic is not poison to Bengals. Yes, he had regular cat food too.)

 

No, but onion can cause aplastic anemia in cats. :(

[heathriel]

The quantities required to cause that are rather high. Like, they'd have to eat an entire onion.

 

But yes, to be on the safe side, just don't give a dog or a cat onions, or onion broth. Things cooked in onions are fine, though. :)

 

And don't give them *too* much garlic, either (they'd have to eat an entire container of chopped garlic for it to affect a *cat*) but a little bit here and there is fine.

[CowPrincess]

Back to Morgan's cruise :) Do you have any more pics to share? Lolling on a beach, taking in the tourist areas, surf & turf? He's such a gorgeous boy!

[heathriel]

Those are the only ones I have available at the moment. We've got them on different phones, cameras, camcorder, etc, have to get everything together in one place.

 

But, those are ones that have recognizable (to HAL fanatics) HAL sites in the background ;)

[Krazy Kruizers]

I am curious -- Morgan is a cat. What type of service cat is he??

The service animals we have seen on board wear a red service coat?

Why do you need this animal on board?

[heathriel]

Not all service animals wear vests, and those that have them generally only wear them when they're working. The poodle aboard would have his vest on when working, and off when not.

 

Morgan is a "Wake" animal. He monitors me at night, and is trained to wake me. As he doesn't work during the day, no vest.

[Onesharbear]

We just finished a lovely trip on the Oosterdam, and while it is on its way back to San Diego, here's my (very animal-oriented) trip report.

 

Day 1: Fort Lauderdale.

 

We stayed at the Springhill Suites, which has a free shuttle to the port. There were 33 guests that morning, all with lots of luggage, and the bus was big enough for 30 of them. However, another person managed to squeeze in on someone's lap, and DH and I decided to just wait for the next one. As the bus left at 10:45AM (and they hadn't even finished offloading the first guests by then), we figured there was no harm in waiting. We had a rather pleasant wait, figuring that we'd let Morgan wander around before we had to zip him into his carry-bag during check in (which he *hates* - he likes his bag, but he doesn't like being enclosed in it. Well, really, would *you* like to be zipped up into a little bag and carried around when you're used to walking on your own? I don't think so )

 

Anyway, bus comes, Morgan trots onto the bus and sits down while we supervise our bags being loaded. The bus driver starts talking about how silly it was that everyone crammed onto the last bus like sausages when the ship wasn't even loading yet. We, just happy to be on our way, were half afraid at how Morgan was going to behave when we zipped him up into his bag again in a few minutes, and apprehensive of the line ahead.

 

Thankfully, when we got there, the line wasn't too bad. We got through checkin in under half an hour, and were on the ship and into the Mariner's luncheon - having met multiple Cruise Critic members along the way, and had some at our table at the luncheon - in no time at all. Morgan finally threw a fit about being zipped up about halfway through lunch, but I really couldn't blame him. He's not used to that.

 

We got to our cabin, and our bags started to arrive soon after. We unpacked, and just decided on room service for that night.

 

Day 2: Half Moon Cay

 

I took Morgan around to see the boat while everyone was ashore so he'd get a feel for it. (I'm sure wherever the Security Guards are with their camera banks they must have found it hilarious to see a cat walking around on a leash.) When we got to the Vista lounge, there was a lady practicing on the Violin and Morgan just stopped and started listening to her, then started rolling around on the floor. It was so cute. I hated to have to pull him away from there but we had places to go. I mentally decided to buy him some classical violin music when we got home.

 

This day, however, became the day that he met the cruise director. Oh-no! Glenn and Morgan did not get along, mostly because I made the mistake of taking Morgan outside on deck 10, in the wind, and completely freaking him out right before going to Trivia. Glenn must have been annoyed with Morgan, who was agitated and crying after I had been so mean as to thrust him into the scary wind, and all the while after that he would cry whenever he was around Glenn. The entire rest of the cruise, everywhere on the ship, he was quiet, docile, etc, but around Glenn, he'd cry. Oh well, can't win them all.

 

Day 3: Grand Turk

Very cute little "fake" town area where the cruise docks, even has a Margaritaville. We walked around a bit, then sat down and had some drinks. We didn't explore the island at all, but we could see the whole thing from our balcony. We just wanted to stretch our legs a little

 

Day 4: At Sea

This was the day of the Meet & Greet. As soon as I walked in, I was mobbed. Or, rather, Morgan was. I didn't even really get past the "Private Party" sign. Morgan became the center of attention. The mantra of the cruise became "Oh, look, they've got a cat!" and then "Look at how well behaved he is!" quickly followed by "My cat would NEVER just sit/stand there like that!" and, of course the "They made us leave ours at home!"

 

So, Morgan became a little bit of a media darling. This is also when he met the poodle that was also aboard, and the two got along rather well. Morgan's best friend is a poodle, and the poodle was raised by a cat, so it all worked out

 

Day 5: Aruba

This was Morgan's first tour. We couldn't leave him unattended, so when I went on a tour of Aruba, he came with me. Part of the tour was a climb to the top of a hill, with steps. Morgan actually led *me* up the steps. The other people from the ship who saw us stopped in their tracks and started taking pictures of *him* instead of Aruba.

 

We continued our tour and got to a Windmill, and Morgan insistently started pushing at the window. The driver stopped to let him out, and Morgan really seemed interested in the Windmill, chasing some butterflies - he really liked that little spot. He got so upset when I put him back in the car, that he actually sulked the rest of the way back to the ship. Our tour companions said it was the strangest thing - he really was sulking.

 

Then, to make matters worse, when I got back on the ship, I got to our floor and started walking him to our cabin - I thought. He kept stopping and glaring at me. I had to drag him along on the floor (which I don't have to do.) Finally, he broke out of his harness and ran the other way. I had to run after him, panting, till I caught up with him - where he'd stopped, in front of our cabin (on the opposite side of the boat). That darn cat. Sometimes I just forget how smart he is.

 

Day 8: Panama

We had booked the dome car train excursion in Panama. This had a bus in one direction, a stop at the Miraflores Locks, and the train to come back. Morgan was happy to look out the window the whole bus ride, and when we got to the locks, the docent there saw him and started snapping pictures of him - "The first cat to cross the canal" (Yeah right :) ) On the train, we sat in the lower part of the dome car, and he had his own seat. He was fine until the train conductors came in and started playing some percussion instruments right by his ears for some local song, but he just ran into my lap and buried his head for that bit.

 

Day 10: Costa Rica

We rented a jeep and drove around all day. He was fine, even when we went to a place that had little monkeys that offered him some of their food - and then snatched it away when he sniffed at it. Stupid Monkeys!

 

For the rest of the trip, we just mostly hung around the boat (no tours), and up until the last day we were there, people were still saying "I'd *heard* there was a cat on board - is this him?" He did fine in the Main Dining Room when we went there, and he was great in the Pinnacle and Caneletto when we were there. The HAL crew treated us very well, and the other *guests* did too (with the exception of the lady in the balcony directly next to ours, who complained that animals should not be allowed onboard as it can affect her asthma.)

 

People were very interested in learning about his training, especially after meeting him and seeing how well he responds to commands, and just how well-behaved in general he is. Multiple people offered to buy him on the spot (and there was a rich Texas that I'm pretty sure meant it) ;)

 

The best comment I think came from Candace, the party planner on board, who (jokingly) said "The next time we have a service cat on board, if he isn't as good as Morgan, I'll be like 'I *know* good service cats, and yours needs to go back to school" ;)

 

I think that is wonderful! My husband and I breed Bengals as you may know are very smart cats as well. I would love to see some pictures of your cat if you had any to post. When I fly I usually have my cat with me, and we get comments all the time about how beautiful they are and calm.

Thank you for sharing your story on your trip, it was a fun read.

Sharon :)

[heathriel]

Scroll up a little - I've posted a few :)

 

And Morgan actually *is* a Bengal. People just kept calling him an Ocelot, a Leopard, a Tiger, etc.

 

:)

 

KK:

 

We passed you guys in Panama (the Zuiderdam) - we were on the Train and saw your ship at Gatun, and it was picking up passengers from that ship when we got off. We saw the Statendam going through Pedro Miguel Locks on the bus ride to Miraflores that morning.

 

There were three Dam ships in Panama the day we were there. Was neat!

[Onesharbear]

Those are the only ones I have available at the moment. We've got them on different phones, cameras, camcorder, etc, have to get everything together in one place.

 

But, those are ones that have recognizable (to HAL fanatics) HAL sites in the background ;)

 

 

Great Pics thanks for sharing

[IRL_Joanie]

Morgan: "hello room service?"

 

RS: "yes, how can we help?"

 

Morgan: "I see you have chocolate mouse -- can I get some of those please?"

 

RS: "certainly sir"

 

Disappointed kitty in 3... 2..... 1.... :D

LOL Now that is toooooo funny!!!!!!!!!

 

Joanie

[IRL_Joanie]

I am curious -- Morgan is a cat. What type of service cat is he??

 

The service animals we have seen on board wear a red service coat?

 

Why do you need this animal on board?

 

 

Heathereil did a thread on this I think while you were on your cruise Yonnie. Morgan alerts to Sleep Apnea.

 

Sounds like the cruise was a total success and Morgan got more attention than Mr Stein Kruse (is that his name?) would have if he'd been on the same cruise:D

 

Joanie

[heathriel]

It's not apnea, but it's along those lines. They do have cats trained for Sleep Apnea that gave my doctor the idea.

 

And yes, Morgan's first HAL cruise was a great success.

[CowPrincess]

heathriel, do you have another cruise booked? If so, when and for how long?