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It’s been a while since I wrote Part 1. I left off as we were cruizing out of the English Channel. I decided I would try and combat the all-you-can-eat with some running in the morning. I hit the treadmill the first morning at sea which was very good but sadly that was the first and last time I would see the gym. Not quite sure where that 3 x 7km runs a week willpower went from 4 years ago…? It was okay though, I had found an alternative which was a lot more fun – The Flowrider!

The Flowrider is an artificial standing wave and Independence had one on the back deck. The nice thing is it’s REALLY tough to stand up and you spend most of your spare time trying to! The average time for a rookie is 1.5 seconds. Even surfers, snowboarders, skateboarders hit the deck first time. The Flowrider uses the same amount of electricity in 3 hours that all the lifts onboard (16 of them) use in one weeks so it’s only swtiched on twice a day. Dean (Jackie’s brother) and I spent most days trying to master it. You start off with the bodyboard then work your way up to drop-knee and then give the stand up a go.

This is how far I got after 2 weeks…

This is how it’s meant to be done (this video is taken by someone else on our trip, that guy was our instructor)….

We had heard of Johnny Rockets – the “authentic 1950’s American diner” restaurant on the ship, which we were keen to check out. It wasn’t included in the ticket cost but we paid $1.75 and could eat anything on the menu. All we had was a cheeseburger, chips, chocolate milkshake and sundae I haven’t felt that bloated since I attempted the Saul’s 1.2kg burger in Sea Point. They bring you a (huge) plate of onion rings as a starter….nuff said! Needless to say that was our first and last visit. They do all this singing/dancing while you in there, to get you into the whole 50’s American vibe.

The second night we had the Captains Dinner. Except we had the 6 o’ clock sitting booked so we’d have the dinner but no Captain. Rumor has it that our Captain was a shy guy and quite boring (direct quote from waitress) but we got dressed up in our tuxedo’s ($80 to hire). Last time I wore a tux was high school, I felt quite smart

We woke up the next day in Gibraltar. Gibraltar was tiny, basically Cape Town’s City Bowl but half the size. There is a lot of history in Gibraltar (flashbacks of Malta) and we had a good time going up the mountain, feeding the monkeys and walking through the siege tunnel. Not quite proposalville though…

We left Gibraltar in the evening and cruised up the coast, destination Barcelona. That night we were booked for the Ice Show, “Freeze Frame”. Royal Carribean have managed to install an ice rink in the middle of the boat. You could go ice skating during the day but tonight we were watching olympic skaters putting on a display. We weren’t allowed any photos or videos but managed to find this on Google Images.

Did we go ice skating? I put on a display of ice shuffling second to none. Holding onto the bar the entire way round while the Ellse family whizzed past me. There were 5 year olds skating better than me but it was all good.

We docked in Barcelona at 7pm and decided to go explore. Barcelona is an awesome city. It’s clean, organized and manages to be very modern but still has so much history. We walked the “La Rambla” that night and were offered handbags by these african gentlemen who looked like they’d just arrived fresh from a stowaway. They had these blankets with ropes attached to them and then loads of designer brand handbags on them (100% fake no doubt). The minute the police walked around the corner, they’d grab the ropes so the blanket formed a backpack and then leg it down the street. Classic stuff.

We had the next day in Barcelona too and walked the La Rambla again. There were many street performers (mimes/freak shows/etc). Some were excellent. A far cry from the crackhead performer we had seen in Gibraltar. Jackie was in shopping heaven and we visited most shops on La Rambla. We got on one of those buses that go round the town and saw some of the sights and sounds. Around one corner we saw this huge church. It was a personal project of a priest and the whole thing was funded by donations.

Returning to the ship I realised that I had to now make time to ask John for Jackie’s hand in marraige. I had kept the proposal a secret for about 6 months now so if I had asked him to “join me for a beer” without Dean I know there would be suspicion. So when we got back to the ship, it was myself, Dean and John – Jackie was somewhere with her mom. We hit the Windjammer for lunch and when Dean went to the buffet, I said to John I had a big question to ask him. He was so relaxed and said “I was waiting for you to ask” and “of course you can”. We then chatted and I was VERY relieved that all had gone well. We told Dean and he wasn’t too surprised understandably. When Sharon and Jackie returned, we told Sharon and at one moment John almost slipped up but we managed to keep it quiet )

The next stop was Ville Franche. I made a decision in Barcelona that I would propose in Monte Carlo from the hill overlooking the bay. I didn’t have the exact spot planned so I thought I would wait for the right moment on top of the hill. We woke up the next morning in Ville Franche which is a tiny bay, straight out of a postcard. French villa’s on the hills, our ship was anchored right across it. We took the tenders to shore then walked along the promenade to the train. The train dropped us off at Monte Carlo station and we walked out the station and straight onto the starting straight for the F1 track. Amazing.

Monte Carlo is surreal. You walk around and there is this definite money vibe in the air. Serious serious serious wealth. Some new money, but mostly old money. The smallest cruise boat in the harbour was bigger than the biggest one I’ve seen elsewhere. There was a couple of ships (probably some Sheik’s/Royalty). These ships had doors that opened up in the side to reveal smaller cruise ships, jet ski’s, rubber ducks and any other toy you can imagine. I couldn’t stop smiling because I was walking around the Formula 1 track with a diamond in the camera pouch. I had already seen 6 Ferrari’s in about 20 minutes. We walked up some side streets and then decided to go up to the palace. I knew I wanted to propose on a hill overlooking Monte Carlo so this was it! We took the bus up and arrived as the changing of the guards was happening.

Now the panic started. I think you can see it in some of the photos. There was this huge open yard where the changing of the guards was taking place. The place was full of people too. Jackie and I walked to the other side of the hill by the trees and I thought, this is perfect. So I spot a walkway overlooking the bay and I say “Come let’s go for a walk”. By now my palms are SWEATY and she can feel it. I am pretty sure she knows my plan now. Then I hit a dead end coz the only way to get to the walkway is around the shop. So she says let’s go check out this shop quick. We buy this fridge magnet then we take a walk out the shop towards the walkway. I get to the ledge overlooking the bay and I open the camera bag and I can see she thinks this is it. Then I filmed the bay quickly (quick fake) then I put the camera back and got out the ring. She was just grinning and I was nervous. I got down on one knee hoping my pants wouldn’t rip (we’d been eating a lot on the boat). She said yes and that was it! We hugged and kissed then some people took this photo of us: