NO BLOG FOR YOU

 October 2, 2026

Sorry there was no blog last night.  I was tired from talking and Bonnie was tired from listening, so we went to bed.  Well, that's partly true.  I was tired.

All of you Trekkers out there.  You remember the scene in "The Wrath of Khan" where Chekov and Captain Terrell beam down to Ceti Alpha 6, thinking they are on Ceti Alpha 5 and you can hear the wind howling.  Or "The Undiscovered Country" where Kirk, McCoy and the Changeling are escaping across the snow-covered wastes of Rura Penti?  Welcome to Carnival Miracle Cabin 1181!  About a day and a half after we left Seattle we began to wonder what was that sound we were hearing.  The wind is howling through our cabin.  You can't feel it, but you can hear it.

Or if you are not into Star Trek, how about John 3:8 -- "The wind blows wherever it wants ... you can hear the sound of the wind but can't tell where it comes from or where it is going ..."

Today's talk was Social Media: Blogging.  I have to do one talk on Social Media, which I eschew except for receiving the occasional cruise assignment from Starboard Speakers, of as a second place to post the audio of some of my selected sermons.  If I continue to sail for Carnival I am going to ask Seeker, my AI research friend to help me create a new one, but anyway, today I was showing a blog that I started really as a sample, designed in black and yellow/gold.  I commented that I chose those for my Pirates and Steelers, but after last night's debacle in Cleveland, I was glad I didn't use that one.  A lady from the audience responded, "That was a great game!"  I said, "You're from Cleveland."  She said, "Yep."  I commented about my friend Tom Compton sending me a smiling face when Cleveland wins, and a "sigh" when they don't.  Today I sighed.

Well, now.  Here's Bonnie!

You know for a " famouse renown" writer he should be able to write more, haha!  Well, we set our clocks forward one hour last night, so we are only two hours behind now. So my phone which is on Seattle time is still three hours behind and my watch which I changed is only two hours behind. I will really be confused it I look at the time  during the night.

Well, we went to the Lido, deck 9, for breakfast. Very unsatisfying. Everything is basically luke warm or cold. So tomorrow we will go to the dining room. They may not know who I am but the food is hot. Last night when we went to supper the waiter and the head lady came over and had to ask my name because I am still not in their computer system and don't exist! I have been to guest services twice trying to get this fixed, but it is still wrong.

Today after his talk we played and finished one card game and I won. I am now ahead 2 to 1. He is currently leading the fourth game. We will probably finish it before supper. We are going up and play while we wait for the dining room to open. We just walk in when they open the doors and don't check in so i don't get harassed because they don't have me in their system.

 Today at lunch on the Lido when we went up to get an ice cream cone, while we ate I watched a group of 5 birds flying around diving into the water to get a fish and occasionally landed for a rest on the water.

I have got some more crocheting done. I hope to get at least one project finished and the second one started. I am currently reading two books, one on my phone and a paperback. I started to read a third one the kindle but it got too confusing trying to remember the story lines.

Jason, the entertainment director, gives us 2 large bottles of water everyday. We now have 5 bottles left. We are drinking but just not fast enough. It is very nice of him, they cost $4.50 each to buy. So far I have only had one coke. 

The things to do on this ship are very limited. There is lots of trivia, dance classes and silly games.  We have only been to two evening shows. We have been tired or he has had a talk the next day or it wasn't anything we were interested in seeing.

People are busy hiding ducks. I have found one so far. Some ships have forbidden this but evidently not the Miracle.

They put out a puzzle sheet every morning up by the coffee bar. It has a crossword puzzle, a sudoku and a maze. I usually get one and do the crossword while waiting for his talk. His talk tomorrow isn't until 4.

Today it is funny he thought his talk was in the Mad Hatter and he went there. The tech came and found him and brought him to the theater. Tomorrow we will back in the Mad Hatter.

Well, almost time to go and play some cards. Last night was elegant night and we dressed up but tonight is just cruise casual. So I just want to change my sweater. 

Nothing exciting happening here.  We have managed to miss the hurricane but right now we are experiencing  some rough seas. Walk carefully. By the way everytime we go to eat we walk 230 steps to get to an elevator!

Well, have a great night where ever you are. Love you.

Mom, Granny and Bonnie

Detour

 September 30, 2026

Well, no Cabo San Lucas tomorrow. It is a tender port and the storm in the area has caused the officials there to close the port.  So we are detouring around the storm and heading for Costa Rica.  Bonnie and I weren't getting off the ship anyway.

After I finished my 10:30 talk today, Jason, the entertainment director, came to me and said since we were missing a scheduled stop he moved one of my two scheduled Sunday talks to tomorrow.  Today I did the celestial navigation talk, "Are We There Yet?" and the one tomorrow will be part 2 of the c.n., "John Harrison: the Man who gave us longitude.  Much better layout.

My technician today was Andrei from -- are you ready -- Russia.  We gavarooed a bit, he found the street in Samara where mom and I rented a flat.  Really neat.  Then after the talk there was a lady selling tickets for bingo and her accent was -- are you ready -- Russian.  Her name is Anastasia, and I pronounced it the Russian way which made her happy (Anna Stas E Uh not Anna Stayzyuh).  I guess you needed to be there.

Well I need to start rehearsal so we'll see yinz tomorrow.  Mom is sitting in bed, reading, and drinking a coke and using it to was down a Hershey chocolate bar.

TTFN

Love, David/Dad/Pappy

The Real 9/29

 September 29, 2026

Well, we started at 6:30 am with showers. On then to breakfast on Deck 3. He went back to the  room to study while I went up to the LIDO to get my cup filled with ice and water for the day. Then off to Deck 2 to sit and wait for his first talk today on Photography. I sit in front of the "Starbucks" coffee place. It is crazy busy with people order their lattee, etc at the cost of $7 or more. A cup of just plain coffee is $3. You can get a cup of coffee on the lido deck for free. I bought 2 cans of coke tonight and that was $9. Won't buy too many of those. Jason brought us 2 large boys of cold water for our room. Very nice because they cost $4.50 each.

After his talk we went back to the room so he could get ready for his second talk on Potatoes at 2:30. Today was a busy day. After this talk it was back to the room till it was time for our 5:15 supper.

I did get some crocheting done. And they finally got the temperature adjusted in our room so we are not freezing.

Tomorrow at 10:30 he has his first talk in the theater. Much bigger venue. He only has one talk so we will have some time to go to the shops, relax and play some cards. 

Tonight's supper was not satisfactory. My tomato soup and salad were good. However, my entree was not. I got what was described as "chicken in a creamy mushroom gravy with noodles and seasoned vegetables". Instead of nice pieces of chicken I had two small pieces of chicken with the bone in under the gravy. It took me forever to separate the small amount of chicken from the bones in order to eat it. I wound up having to remove little pieces of bone from my mouth which I couldn't see. It was not an appetizing meal. Dessert was pina colada cheesecake, sugar free. It was good.

Well, he has finished his practicing and will do his part now. We are getting up 6:30 tomorrow to be at breakfast by 8.

Miss you all. Haven't had anytime to get out on deck yet. Maybe tomorrow.

Love you all. Mom, Granny and Bonnie

September 29

 Hey everybody ! Welcome to the crazy farm.

We just rushed in from supper and he said BLOG! So here I am. Today up at 7 (went to bed at 8 pm) I was exhausted last night. We had gone to the show after supper and yesterday was his first talk. It was just a long day.

Today was slower, he had the day off. Tomorrow he has 2 talks, one at 10:30 and one at 2:30. It will be crazy .

Today we were talking about getting off the ship on the 12th and look at getting a shuttle to the airport. Can't be done our flight is too early. So he has spent all afternoon changing the plane flights so we can buy a ship's shuttle ticket.

Our cabin is on Deck 1. Kind of in the middle of the ship. If you turn right out our door we walk about 2/3 the length of the ship to take an elevator up to food. If you turn left out the door you walk about 1/3 the length of the ship to get to the Mad Hadder lounge where  10 talks are and the other 2 are in the theater two decks up.

As he has said our room is icy!! Even cold to me. Nice to sleep in but not sit or work. This is an older ship so things don't all work as well as they could.

We have had a breakfast brunch in the dining room twice. It is nice and I can get a cup of hot chocolate. Then, we don't eat again to supper because brunch is late. Today we did go up to the Lido deck and have a bowl of soup and an ice cream cone. The meals in the dining room have been good. Our wait staff (I Gusti, Dodi, Antari, and Alfi) are very nice and work very hard. They have many tables!!

I have done a little crocheting and some reading. People are hiding ducks and I found one tonight in the dining room. Yes, and I scooped it up. I shall be on the look out for more. There is not much to explore on the ship. Only 2 or 3 shops. Halls and spaces are very narrow. Not much opportunity to sit outside on deck 2 or 3 and there are no chairs outside. Haven't looked around on Deck 9 the Lido deck where pools and etc are located. Want to go back to the one shop that has souveniors and clothes. He bought a new shirt to wear because he forgot his sweater vest to wear for his talks. I found a t-shirt on clearance for just a little more than $4.

Well, he has studying to do and I won't be long out of bed. I am very tired again tonight.

OH, we did play one game  of cards and he beat me bad.

Love to all!! Mom, Granny and Bonnie

September 27

09-27-2026 A full day at sea, the first of many. We don’t make our first landfall until Cabo san Lucas, then another Mexican stop (at neither of which do we plan to disembark) and finally Cartegena, Columbia before Galveston. I had my first talk today, “Yes, We May Have No Bananas.” A good crowd in the Mad Hatter Theater. It looks like will seat 75. Mom guesstimated an audience of 60. I’m off tomorrow and then have 2 on Tuesday. At supper tonight Bonnie had “Southern Fried Chicken,” but it looked like and she said it tasted tlike “Banquet Frozen Chicken.” My pork tenderloin wrapped in bacon was good. And we each had Carnival Molten Lava Cake, with 2 scoops of vanilla ice cream for dessert. And it was very good. Well, my cruise buddy is napping (she promised to blog tomorrow), and my demonic word processor, aka Word, is being stupid (Note to self: install the angelic WordPerfect before next cruise), so I will say TTFN.

93 Emails

93-Emails That’s how many emails were exchanged between your humble scribe and CCL before boarding the Carnival Miracle today. And among the last half dozen was the statement that we did not have a cabin assigned and we would have to carry our suitcases on by ourselves. This morning we prayed that when we got to the ship there would be an assignment. We walked up to a lady and said, “We don’t have one.” She looked and said, “There you are!” Thank you, Lord! That was one of several angel visits since leaving Augusta. Brooke, on Delta, the lead flight attendant tried to get Bonnie’s monitor working and when it failed, gave us a $25 travel voucher. When we checked into the Hilton Hotel last night, room paid for by CCL, Natasha said we were in one of the rooms selected for crew, outside and a good hike away. She said, “Let me see if there is an upgrade I can move you to,” and there was and we stayed inside in a king suite. At breakfast this morning I had a voucher for my breakfast and would have to pay for Mom. Our waitress, Savannah, said, “I have more vouchers. She doesn’t have to pay.” And she advised us to take an Uber to the ship and not a taxi because it would be faster and cheaper. For all of the above, as well as all of the safe travel, Lord we give you the glory, and our thanks! There’s more to tell, but it will wait until tomorrow, because I need to rehearse for my first talk, “Yes, we have no bananas,” tomorrow at 4 p.m. in the Mad Hatter lounge. So until then, TTFN.

Bonnie’s End of Cruise Musings

It is Tuesday May, 13 Tate”s birthday. We have been home for about 14 hours. This is the final blog for our last day of travel, yesterday Monday May 12 which was the great granddaughter ‘s birthday Wrenley..

Now about our last day. Well I was up at 2 am and back to bed at 3 am hoping to sleep some more. We had set our luggage out before 10 and heard them carry it away, very noisily. We got up at 5:10 before the alarm went off at 5:30 (this was 12:30 am in Augusta). We dressed, I packed up my c pap machine, we packed pj’s, dirty clothes from the night and the turtle into the green bag decorated with pink flamingos which would carry off the last of our stuff. I had my backpack ready to go and he had his computer case.

We headed off to the Windjammer for our last time for breakfast. Not quite as cold outside but typical England weather rain and fog. He had on 4 layers of clothes for our trip. I enjoyed one more bacon sandwich with mustard. He had eggs and bacon. Well, after eating back to the room to turn on channel 7 and see where the ship was in going off. It was about 30 minutes behind schedule. We were to be in the deck four gangway lounge before 7:15 go off time. We headed that way about 6:45.

They finally called green 19 tag. So we got up and headed to the line which wound through deck 4 dinning room around the back of it and finally out onto deck 4 to join the growing long line. As we were walking down the side of the ship I realized I had left the green flamingo bag back in the lounge. The line to the scanner was long so he went back to find it. I got out of the line temporally till he would return empty handed. It was gone!! We tried to remember what was in it. Pj’s, dirty underwear, electric toothbrush, hair brush. All replaceable. Then as we went through the scanner and were walking down the long ramp to pick up our suitcases it struck me TURTLE was in the bag. That is unreplaceable! David bought him for me when I had shoulder surgery and he has been my constant buddy in the bed at night. I have never seen another turtle like him . He is gone. He has traveled on every cruise and seen many countries often sitting in the window of our cabin looking out when we had one. SADNESS!

Next we found the bus for green tag 19 heading to Terminal 3 in London Heathrow airport. We were the last 2 of the last 4 people to board the bus. Back seats for us. The ride would take and one and a half hours. The lady on the bus who was giving instructions about ride said that they had provided the usual rain and fog for our journey. They drive on the wrong side of the road which was interesting as we rode. We finally got to the airport around 10 am. Now we had been up 5 hours. At Heathrow airport they charge 6 pounds if you drive and drop off passengers. Busses is 6 pounds per person. If you don’t prepay or pay by midnight the fine will be up to 80 pounds.

Well, we went into the terminal and found the check in computers to check us in. We didn’t have to pay for our bags, Yeah! We printed the luggage tags and attached them to the suitcases. Then we headed to the desk to give our luggage to be put onto the plane and get out boarding passes. The cases were checked through to Augusta. I was feeling pretty good and we said we wouldn’t need the wheelchair till we got to Atlanta. England is not as kind to the elderly when going through security. Shoes off, belts off, jackets off no matter how old you are. Beep Beep and the usually very through pat down. Way longer than was needed or necessary. Not a friendly young lady, nice or kind. Took about 5 minutes before she was through probing me. Well, Heathrow, like Lisbon, does not put up gate numbers till about an hour before scheduled take off. The board said our gate would be shown at 13:45( that is 1:45pm) it was now about 11 am. We took turns going into the shops, and there were hundreds of them. We limited ourselves to a couple around where we were currently setting so we could see a board. We each got a sandwich, chips and a drink. Cost only 6 pounds for each of us. One  sandwich alone cost about $12 in Atlanta.

I shopped and bought a couple of souvenirs. We had brought 100 pounds to spend but only used 50.  Finally they put up our gate, 21. We pottied along the way because they are few and far between. We got to the gate and got put into the group for first on. Our seats were Row 47 A and B. Huge plane. Held over 400 people. There was a blanket and pillow in our seats, a TV to watch and they gave us headphones.

The flight was taking off at 3:30 and was to take 8 and a half hours. It would land at Atlanta about 7:30 Atlanta time. LONG flight. I watched 3 movies. I couldn’t sleep. I crocheted and made a new pot holder as we flew. I had brought yarn to make one while we flew. Seats were not bad but both of my hips were not happy. The meal we were served somewhat warm. They literally almost threw it to you and ten minutes later came back to pick up the garbage. Really! It does take a while to eat. There were wooden utensils, yuck! We also were offered a drink two other times and one of those  time with a cookie during the 8 ½ hour trip. Attendants were very inattentive.

When we landed in Atlanta there were to be wheel chairs waiting for each of us. It was on our tickets. A lot of people were getting off wanting wheel chairs and did not have it on their tickets. Plus for some reason there was a large shortage of wheel chairs. None to be found right at that time. There were none. We finally got 2 and headed off to pick up our suitcases and go through security. Well, the people who were pushing the chairs were assigned to the international airport and could not take us to our connecting flight in domestic. They did pick up our suitcases and put them where they needed to be to go to our connecting flight. So they parked us outside the security and customs place and left. During our stay there more than 15 people were parked there at any one time. They took our boarding passes and gave them to a very uninterested young woman who was to get the people from domestic to come get us. We sat there over an hour waiting! Finally someone came. A very nice young man, and he took us up to the customs guy and the security. More beep and beep and patting down.

Our gate was D15. The restrooms were even harder to find here so we stopped and used them before we got to the gate. The young man took us to D15 parked us and left. We had received a text saying our flight was delayed from 10:55 to 11:28. About 15 or so minutes after the young man left we got another text to say the gate was now D21 and would leave at original time. It was around 9:30 by now. So Dad left his chair and pushed me to the new gate. It was not too far away. I was totally wiped out by this time. He walked a little way and found us a bag of chips and a drink. So we waited. Totally disorganized. Finally they were ready to board. We had seats 14 c and d  about 2/3 of the way back. They asked if I could walk out and I said yes and very slowly went. We got to our seats. We are use to planes in Atlanta they take forever riding around till they take off. I was so tired and I fell asleep before we took off. They next thing I know there was this huge jerk and bang and we were landing in Augusta. I have no memory of anything.

We got off the plane and slowly made our way to find our luggage. Standing just outside the doors to the baggage area was a tall young man named Matthew wearing a Pirate t-shirt. We got our suitcases and headed to the car and toward home. It was one o’clock Tuesday morning when we entered the house. Bed Now! Slept till 6 this morning. 25 hours traveling!!

Well, I had a nice nap this afternoon and still fill like I haven’t had any sleep for days.  Maybe I will feel better in a couple of days.

Well, I still love you all and missed you. We just sang happy birthday to Tate and he is wiped out because he spent the day at the Atlanta aquarium with his class.

Love Mom, Granny and Bonnie