It was somewhere outside Barstow when the drugs took hold ----- WHOA – HOLD IT!!

That was a different trip by a very different author. Herr Doktor Thompson meant mescaline, peyote and LSD. However, I’m on the downwind leg to runway six-zero so the drugs involved are meclizine, scopolamine and Jack Daniels, various combinations of which get me through any cruise.

My traveling circus, 8 adults and 2 teenagers, took our virgin NCL cruise aboard the GEM out of NYC to the Bahamas. We are big Royal Caribbean fans but were anxious to try the “Freestyle experience” so on a fine Saturday morning, we assembled in my driveway to head off for Pier 88.