LEFTOVERS--

The cruise ship's atrium elevators (right) were like an arterial highway, whizzing between the vessel's 10 decks, 24 hours per day. Other elevators were scattered through the ship.

This photo and those that follow didn't make the first cut but have something to offer as this story of our recent cruise concludes.

Our cabin was on the second of those ten decks and this passageway appeared to continue to infinity.  It traveled a similar distance in the opposite direction, and, there was an identical passageway on the port side of the vessel as well.

The topmost public deck was the center of nearly constant daylight activity for the passengers with either boisterous tendencies (below) or those just seeking serious exposure to the sub-tropical sun.

It took two decks for formal dining activities and still required appointed seating in either of the two dinner schedules to handle those of the nearly 2,800 passengers who preferred this level of elegance. Once the question of timing was settled, passengers were assigned a table where each evening meal was enjoyed.

Here's a view of our modest and modestly priced cabin.  We booked this cruise just a week or so prior to the departure date and were rewarded with a price of just over $300 each for this 4 night/5 day cruise.  That's for sumptuous food, quarters, international travel, and all manner of entertainment--truly one of life's bargains.

I liked the Grouper photo which led the segment on Atlantis but this pal of his in that attraction's huge aquarium was a close second.

Other vessels were a common sight in these busy sea lanes off the southeast coast of Florida.  It is a nautical thoroughfare serving ships originating in the south of Florida as well as all over the Caribbean enroute Europe, northern Africa and who knows where else.

I liked the geometry of this tightly cropped piece of the ship's grand atrium and enjoyed the passage of the silken sea reflected in the lower pane.  I squeezed the aperture to its smallest size and did this exposure for 4 seconds.  Squishing the camera against a support kept the structure in sharp focus but allowed the sea to flow smoothly by.

No matter how many times I wandered by the stern's superstructure, the sight of Old Glory stirred patriotic feelings in this brief experience of pampered life on the high seas.  Long may she wave!