DOUBLE YUCKED

January 23, 2020

This has been an awful day your favorite cruise talker.  I’m congested.  I’ve been barking and hacking.  And when I started to do my Social Media talk at 10 o’clock I got a coughing fit.  So I took a dose of my codeine cough syrup.  Big mistake.  Really big.  Huge.  I was wacked out for the entire talk.  I’ve never smoked left-handed cigarettes, but I’m sure it is a similar feeling.  I leaned against a post for the entire talk, and according to my cruise buddy, I was at least one slide behind for the entire production.  But the people were gracious, telling me they enjoyed the talk.  I was still a little wacky for the 3:30 talk, and I’m definitely through with the cough syrup until I am back at 233.

Hopefully “Museum Mosaic,” the art talk, will be drug free tomorrow.

And since I am still loopy, I am going to let Bonnie blog.  I can’t even type kerect.

TTFN

What a day!!!!!  First when we left Tortola, yesterday we were 2 hours late because a medical emergency. No not him. As soon as we got on the way I noticed we were rolling again. Well, as today has progressed it has gotten worse. And tonight it is really rocking and rolling!!! This has been a very rocky cruise in more ways than one.

We slept till 8 this morning and went to breakfast about 9. He had a cup of coffee and I had a yogurt and hot chocolate.  We went straight from breakfast to his talk. I could tell he was having a tough time with the talk. I just prayed he would make it to the end. And I had to call about the pins again. They said the girl was there and finally they told me she was behind the stage searching for the pins!!! Oh my. These have been the poorest helpers we have ever had. At least the tech guy has been good.

Well, after he finished we started walking down deck 5 and toward the front of the ship  and the elevators to the room. I didn’t think I was going to get him there. He was slow and I was pulling his briefcase and trying to keep him upright. When we finally got to the room, I put him to bed in my bed because his was not made up. It had been turned back into the couch. I covered him and he slept for 3 hours straight.

I got him up at 2 because we had another talk at 3:30. We went back to the Lido and each had a small sandwich from the deli. At 3 I sent him to the lounge and I went back to the room to get his briefcase. He did better in the second talk but by the end he was again exhausted. I got him back to the room and said we are not going to dress for the elegant night we are staying in and will grab a small bite later in the Lido. We rested and about 6 went to the Lido and again had something from the deli because the buffet was yucky looking. Nothing else was open or available.
After that we went to the dining room to explain why we hadn’t been to supper because they cancelled our reservation and we wanted to be sure we had a table tomorrow night. Tomorrow I have to try and pick up luggage tags so we can get off as early as possible on Saturday. Our suitcases have to be out between 7 pm and 10 pm. Because he has 2 talks tomorrow , one at 10 and one at 4, we will have to go directly to supper from the talk to make our reservation and directly back to the room after supper to pack and get our suitcases out on time. This has been a difficult cruise. Things on board have not been very smoothly managed by the people in charge.

I sure hope the seas settle some but it seems to be getting even worse this evening.
So far I am okay. I have taken some coricidin to try and prevent me getting whatever.
Well, we are going to watch a little TV and then go off to bed.

Love you all. Mom Granny and Bonnie

THE TENNESSEE WALTZ

January 22, 2020

And now the singing rage, Miss Patty Page:

I was dancing with my darling to the Tennessee Waltz
When an old friend I happened to see
I introduced her to my loved one
And while they were dancing
My friend stole my sweetheart from me.

As we walked out of the comedy club, heading for 2216, a young lady was doing a passable imitation of Patty Page and The Tennessee Waltz.  This is one of those songs that grab you and get into your memory and won’t let go.  It is worse than “A Small World.”

Well, that has nothing to do with anything, other than it is stuck in my head, and if you are older than dirt, you have the record spinning on your turntable.  You are welcome!

The Tennessee Waltz is much better than a trip ashore in Tortola.  You know we don’t do the beach (even though we took our beach gear for St. Maarten and didn’t use it) and when I looked at the shore excursions that was it.  Beach, and beach, and beach.  Some of our readers would gladly get sand in non-sandy places.  But not your favorite cruisers.

The two performers in the PG comedy club were funny, and we enjoyed them, the first one better than the second.  Cee Jay Jones told us about being home schooled.  He was the only student in the school and his Dad was the only teacher.  One day he went out for the basketball team and didn’t make it.  Both routines were proof that a comic could do 30 minutes of stand up and not say bad words.

Monroe, the entertainment director said he would have an announcement made that there would be no astronomy talk today.  We didn’t hear the announcement, don’t know if it was made or not, but I didn’t do an astronomy talk.  Social Media tomorrow and Art on Friday.  Tomorrow is cruise elegant night, so I will do my talk in my tuxedo and then we will go to dinner.

I am feeling a little better tonight – thank you for your prayers.  And speaking of praying, there was a medical emergency on board before sail away.  The captain gave no details, but we delayed our departure for over two hours.  No idea if the emergency was taken off of the Breeze to a local hospital, or whether he or she is still on board and bound for San Juan.  Scarey stuff.

So did you hear about the school teacher with crossed eyes?  She couldn’t control her pupils.  Rim shot.

Well, Mom is dragging and I’m not much better than she is, so this rambling will come to a close and perhaps be more organized tomorrow.

Until then.

TTFN

NO THANK YOU! NO PERFUME OR LOTION SAMPLES!

January 21, 2020

It seems like we said that a lot as we walked around St. Maarten today.  Pushy sales people trying to get you to take samples of lotions or perfumes, and a simple, “No thank you,” was insufficient.  One of them pointed to a picture of Selene Dion and told Mom she’d look like that if she used their lotion.  “So, you think I’m ugly now,” froze him and left him with mouth hanging open.  Score one for Bonnie!

Larry and Maritza, the folks we ate dinner with last night were wandering the same streets as us and when we bumped into each other, Maritza showed me pictures she had taken of a church that we never had seen before, even though we’ve been here close to a half dozen times.  And would you believe, it was a Methodist Church?  There are some pictures below of their beautiful building.  The sign out front said they were part of the Leeward Islands Circuit.  The pastor will obviously not use a horse to get to his various charges, but a speed boat perhaps?

Back on board for a light lunch – BLT for me, hot dog with sauerkraut for Mom – and then off to the room for a quick nap and a run through of the astronomy talk before show time.  Interestingly the Carnival phone app had me in two places at once – the Limelight Lounge and the Blush restaurant.  The cruise director was supposed to make an announcement that the Limelight was the place, but if she did we didn’t hear it.  Nevertheless, there was a good crowd in attendance and we had good time. 

Well, imagine my surprise when we came back into the room after tonight’s variety show, picked up tomorrow’s Fun Times and lo and behold, there I am on the front page, doing the astronomy talk for the third time.  I called the entertainment director, he said an unkind word, and said he would have an announcement made tomorrow.  And unless I get word otherwise, there will not be a three-peat.

Tortola, British Virgin Islands tomorrow, then two sea days and home.  But for now, I will turn the keyboard over to my cruise buddy.

TTFN

To Monroe’s comment that they would make an announcement I said HA!! Fat chance of that.

Well, my right arm got sunburned today and I didn’t go to the beach. I did not realize that the sun was that hot but walking in it for two hours must have been. We visited the small, and I do mean small, museum off of Front Street that we have visited almost every time we come here. Not much changes in it but it is nice to see it again. We usually make a small donation for its upkeep and they often have small items from local artist for sale and I made a small purchase. Goodies for some of you. We visited several of the shops and I bought a couple of other things.  Last but not least a can of coke zero. For lunch. The ferry  dropped us off at the upper dock today. Never been this far up the beach. We started walking along the beach area and everything looked different from our last visit. Finally we cut back through to the front street and kept walking. Finally we passed the Yoda museum and came to the end of the street and found the local museum. Then after shopping we headed back up to the point where we had been dropped off to catch the ferry back. That was when we ran into the friends and learned of the church. We finally found it and figured out the reason we hadn’t noticed it before was because the dock we usually were dropped off at was below it and we almost always went to the right on Front Street. This time we had to walk back the other way on Front Street and found the church. Very nice. It was first built in 1851 and had been rebuilt it 1974. I am sure it probably had been destroyed by a hurricane. David took a picture of its Cradle roll and last year they baptized 34 babies. WOW! That is a growing church.

I told David I thought there were way more Jewelry stores this time but he says probably not. I really don’t like lotions and perfumes. And it is very frustrating when you say no thank you to the offered free samples as you walk by store after store
as you walk down the street. I am kind and don’t just ignore them, I say no thank you. But they keep at you and say “ but its free etc”. But if you take it they want you to come inside and they pursue you. Every jewelry store has some one outside offering something free if you come inside and I don’t want that either. Other than that we had a nice walk getting over 10,000 steps before we got back on board.

Really this ship has the poorest organization of its offerings. There have been errors after errors about his talks. They didn’t bring the pins for yesterday’s talk and wouldn’t have brought them today if I hadn’t called about 15 minutes before his talk was finished to tell them there was no one there with the pins. This has never been a problem on any other Carnival ship.

We are going to a new port for us tomorrow and I wanted to try and find something about it. I went to the excursion desk to ask and they told me that they don’t know anything about it. Really! And up on the video screen they were showing all the excursions for San Juan, which is where we were supposed to have been tomorrow, but the schedule was changed. This port is an island that is only 3 square miles big.

We also took on fuel again today. This is the third time we have taken on fuel on this cruise. I don’t ever remember taking on fuel that many times in a cruise. There were three ships in dock today. When we arrived at 8 the Carnival Fascination was already docked. As we came back to the ship from our walk the newest Holland American ship was docking.  The Fascination sailed about 3 or so and we sailed at 6.

Supper was good. Kansas City beef soup and chicken fried steak for us both. The waiter Fuad was funny when I ordered it, he said “It is a beef meal not chicken”. I assured him that I knew that. Our table has a group of really good waiters.

Well, I had better go now. Hope you kids all had a good day at school. I love you all. See you soon.

Love Mom, Granny and Bonnie

P.S.  Karen, got your email glad everybody is doing fine.

St. Maarten Methodist Church

Note the balcony on all sides

The pulpit, chancel rail, and altar

I HEAR THE TRAIN A COMIN’

January 20, 2020

With apologies to Johnny Cash and his great ballad, “Folsom Prison Blues,” I share with you our ride on the “St. Kitts Scenic Railway.”  Actually it was our second time on the SKSR, the first time was our first visit here.  Since then we’ve just wandered around, passing through the touristy areas out into town where there are a couple of great churches and a super local bakery.

The excursion begins with a bus ride to the train, then follows an hour and 45 minute train ride, and a bus ride along a different route back to the ship.  Altogether it’s a 3 hour tour (the passengers set sail for a 3 hour tour).  The excursion is a 30 mile ride with 18 of it being on the railway.

The tracks were laid more than 100 years ago and the railway initially hauled sugar cane, not passengers.  The current rolling stock was made specifically for the Scenic Railway when it went into business in 2005.  Each carriage has an air-conditioned lower section and an open air upper section.  We picked the upper section because you can see more of the beautiful countryside.

A hostess narrates history of the railway and St. Kitts, and a local choir goes from car to car singing to the guests.  And passengers are treated to complimentary drinks, alcoholic and non-alcoholic – we chose virgin pina coladas.  Some folks were slopping down the free booze.

I took a short video which is too big to upload to the blog, but it shows the cars rocking from side to side as we made the circuit.  I don’t think the speed of the train exceeds 20 miles per hour and when we arrived at a bridge – and there are several along the route – speed dropped even lower.

We went through a number of small villages, passed old plantations – some with the plantation houses and parts of the mill still standing.

Back on board the Carnival Breeze I gave my astronomy talk, “Are We There Yet?”  When we first came on board, I met with the entertainment director who changed the schedule because he said there were some conflicts with what home office originally designed.  Well, I was surprised when we came back to the room last night, and the original schedule was in the Fun Times – that meant I was doing the astronomy talk tonight and not tomorrow.  And it appears I will repeat it tomorrow and not Wednesday. 

The schedule is no problem for me, but someone should have nudged the Fun Squad because whoever was to be in attendance to pass out complimentary Academy of Fun pins was absent (this is the second time, and the guests really look forward to getting those little pins – I don’t know whether they collect them or whether they go on eBay).  Hopefully they’ll get it worked out for tomorrow’s show.

After the talk, a couple we met at dinner the first night of the cruise came up to Bonnie and suggested the 4 of us go to dinner together.  We’ve chatted with them often and Bonnie immediately said, “Yes.”  It was an enjoyable time and we went to tonight’s variety show with them.  Larry and Maritza are from Miami.  She came to Florida from Cuba when she was a little girl.  The two of them met at a hospital where they both worked, and somewhere during their 40 years of marriage they opened a series of beauty salons – from which they are now retired.  Really nice couple.

Well, BonBon is not blogging tonight, so this is all you get.  Enjoy the pictures below.

TTFN

View of the Atlantic Ocean from the car

One of the plantation sites with the mill to the left and furnace chimney to the right

Crossing one of the bridges

FIFTY-TWO YEARS AGO TODAY

January 19, 2020

January 19, 1968, I was studying for finals at Frostburg State College (now University) with Rae Ann and Mary Ann when one or the other of them said, “Let’s go for a beer.”  But then they realized none of us were 21 and I didn’t drink beer.  “Wait a minute,” one of the Ann’s said, “Bonnie Carter just had a birthday, and she is one of our sorority sisters.  Let’s call her.”

So we went over to Bert’s, the local hangout.  R&M introduced me to Bonnie.  I got a Pepsi and was talking to some of my fraternity brothers when one of them, sat down beside Bonnie and began to put some moves on her.  When he got up to get another beer, I sat down beside her to protect my fraternity brother from her clutches.

Inasmuch as my glasses were broken and I was wearing prescription sunglasses in a dark college hangout, I leaned over to get a closer look at her, liked what I saw and kept leaning.  I took her home that night – it was Friday.  We had our first official date the next night, going to the Princess Theater to see “To Sir With Love,” starring Sidney Portier and Lulu.  Sunday we had lunch together.  Monday she had her last final and went home.  I had mine on Tuesday and went home.

The following Wednesday we were back at FSC and looking for each other.  We went out Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday.  Saturday night, sitting in the White Coffee Pot Restaurant in LaValle, Maryland – I was drinking coffee, she was drinking hot chocolate – I told her I was going to seminary after graduation and she said, “You’re not going without me.”

As I said, that was 52 years ago.  We had known each other for 14 days, including the 7 days that Bonnie was in Hagerstown and I was in Loch Lynn.  Sometimes you just know.

On those occasions, here in the 21st Century when we are sharp with each other, a regular reader of this blog will say, “I don’t know how you two stayed together.”  The last time she said that I replied, “It’s the sex!”  We may be old, but we’re not dead.

Okay, for all of you who just said, “I threw up in my mouth!” here’s today’s activities.

After breakfast we went out into the shopping area here in Barbados and toodled around, looking at stuff and buying a few things.  Then back on board for lunch of hot dogs – mine was chili and coleslaw, Mom’s was with sauerkraut.  Then back out to buy something she started to buy the first time, talked herself out of it, and decided she wanted it.

Then it was naptime.  A good supper.  And a good show with Mark Preston, one of the Lettermen.  You youngsters look him up on YouTube and enjoy some excellent music.

Back in our room I picked up the Fun Times to see tomorrow’s activities for St. Kitts and noticed, lo and behold, that my talk which was changed to Tuesday is back on Monday.  So after finishing the blog, I will do my rehearsal because we have booked a ship’s excursion to do the St. Kitts’ train ride.  It uses the track and some of the rolling stock of the old sugar plantation trains – a fun ride which we did several years ago.

Well, She Who Must Be Obeyed just remarked that I am writing “War and Peace,” so I will save, run speel check and turn it over to her.

TTFN

Well, we are back out at sea and rock’n’rolling again!!! I feel we will probably be bouncing around all the way home. It is okay so far no sea sickness for me. Being on deck 2 and forward we do get rolling pretty good.

Oh well. We were supposed to get into port by 7 but we were late. When we docked I looked out the port hole at our limited view and saw a Celebrity ship, the Summit. It was docked way out at the last pier. We were fortunate and docked at the near pier to the port stores. There was a Marbella ship parked behind us. We have seen some of their ships before. Either they had passengers getting on or off because there were all kinds of suitcases set up in the port when we went shopping.

We did not leave the dock. There is a nice building with all kinds of little stores and kiosk inside. Plenty of stuff to look at. Found a couple of souvenirs and he got a $5 small can of peanuts. I got a newspaper, yes in English, the Barbados Sunday Sun, and a bottle of diet Pepsi, no coke to be found.  We spent about an hour shopping. There are no shopping areas of the town near by and most of it was closed any way since today was Sunday. The next time we come here we want to go to visit some caves that are here. We tried today but all the tours were booked. Wait til next time.

We played a game of cards while we sat waiting til lunchtime and he won so we are all tied up again. After we finished our card game we were asked to please move from where we were sitting in the Lido because the fun squad needed to set up a place for the kid passenger to have lunch. So we moved and then, got in the deli line. I wanted a hot dog. While shopping I had bought a bag of salt and vinegar chips and I wanted to eat them with my lunch. They were salty but very little vinegar. He said they were good so you know there wasn’t enough vinegar.  After the hot dog we had ice cream of course.

Then, down to the room to nap but first back out to the port for the thing I wanted to buy. Then, naptime. He napped I did not. When we got up it was about 3 and  I wanted watch the all aboard and sail away so I went to deck 5. Just a side note, deck 5 is the promenade deck but there are four large hot tubs , 2 on each side of the ship on this deck, STRANGE!  Well, anyway there really isn’t anywhere on deck 5 to get a good view but I did my best. Everybody seemed to be back on board on time, 3:30, but we again were having to take on fuel and they were not finished yet. In fact it was after 5:30 before they finished and we got back on the sea. This trip is using a lot of fuel because of the weather and the rearranged route we have been taking. I heard a Captain in one of his talk say that the ship gets 5 feet per gallon! Yes, you read that right 5 feet. That would be more than 1000 gallons for a mile.

Well, he needs to study and I will go back to my games. Love you all. Everybody say a prayer for Gabe. We are thinking and praying for you Gabe. You too Mac. Every night a special prayer just for you. Everybody enjoy the holiday tomorrow.

Love Mom, Granny and Bonnie

P.S.   Karen I hope Brownie and Frank are both doing great!!

ONE WEEK GONE

January 18, 2020

Time sure flies when you are having fun!  Cruising is a lot like waiting for Christmas.  It takes a long time to get here and then it’s gone all too soon.  Our last sea day for this cruise is a week from today.

Today’s stop was Martinique, and your favorite cruisers were not impressed.  It is a French protectorate, and in typical French fashion no one spoke to us in English until someone told us “No.”

As we always try to do, we walked to a big church, this time Fort de France Cathedral.  And once inside we light a candle and pray for the folks back home.  Well, as I said above, Martinique is French and uses the Euro for their currency.  I walked up to the person taking donations for the candles – small ones one Euro, large ones two Euros – and asked if he would take dollars for a candle.  He said, “No!  Only Euros!”  How rude!  But we still prayed for you.

And we walked back to the ship, quickly looked at the souvenir/junk dealers and were back on board an hour after we left. 

As for Martinique – been there, done that, couldn’t buy the t-shirt.

Tomorrow’s stop is Barbados, one of my favorite islands, but we’ve been here on Sunday before and much is closed – stores, historic sites, etc.  I appreciate the observance of Sunday, but we dock so far out of downtown that it leaves little to do.  Maybe there will be a free shuttle.  I’ll let you know.

We had pizza for lunch.  Mom won at cards – the score is now 4-3 her favor after a see-saw struggle this afternoon.  And that is my part of today’s blog.

Here’s Bonnie.

Oh, I did get one piece of good news from one of my sports correspondents.  The Dirty Purple Birds of Baltimore will not be playing for the league championship tomorrow, having been defeated by Tennessee 28-12.  The only thing better would have been if it had been the Steelers who handed them the loss.

TTFN

We were up and at it about 8. I was awake about an hour before. WE got washed and dressed and headed to the Lido for some breakfast. He had an omelet and I had a piece of toast and some yogurt. I took some coricidin with my usual pills because my sinuses felt stuffy. We went back to the room and headed for shore being sure to take our passports because we were told we had to have them to be able to return to the ship. Well, it was a short walk down the pier and through the gate and off we went.

We had seen the large church while we were walking so we headed toward it. It was big and very busy. Many people going in and out. But not as inviting as some of the churches we have been to earlier on the other stops. After being rebuffed by the candle salesperson we walked outside and looked in several shops but for the most part you couldn’t buy anything unless you had euros or a credit card. Neither of which we had. If they had told us before we got off the ship they wouldn’t accept our dollars but would take a credit card we could have taken ours. Oh well, there wasn’t anything of interest.

On our way to the church we passed a McDonalds.  There were some children with their parents from the ship around us and they were very excited to see a Mickey D’s. We don’t know whether they would take dollars or not we didn’t stop. 

As we got back to the gate to reenter the pier I had out my passport and the first guy said no just ship card. When we got under the tent at the next guard they also said they weren’t interested in seeing a passport just the ship card. In fact the young woman who looked at my card only looked at the dates and nothing else. As we got under the tent a blowing rainstorm started. Driving blowing wind and rain. I had our ponchos in my bag and after struggling we finally got them on. He got wet from the knees down. I got a little less wet. We finally made it back to the ship and got on board. Of course I set off the alarms and had to be waned again.

We went to the room and decided to go to the Lido to eat and play cards. My pizza was way overdone. Way to hard and crunchy. I like thin crust but not like that.

After playing for a while we headed back to the room for a nap. The out door movie today was “Downton Abbey”. Ivy you would have liked it.

Supper was okay and the show was good too. Tomorrow is Barbados and we will more than likely only get off and look in the shops on the pier. We will have a slow day.

Well, I have my diet coke and my kindle so we will play games and read for a while and then head off to bed.

Love you all. Mom, Granny and Bonnie

OVERCOMER

January 17, 2020

We went ashore on Grenada (you say Grenayda, I say Grenahda) for a couple of hours.  When we started out I told my cruise buddy I was not doing 5 miles today, particularly not on this island where once you get off of the front street it is all hills.  And I know, what goes up must come down, but downhill on one way streets that are just wide enough for parked cars and speeding vehicles hurtling towards you forcing you into the spaces between the cars is just as difficult as walking up the hills – and repeating the dodging act.

You’ve seen the pictures of St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, or what is left of it after a recent hurricane.  I don’t know the name of the hurricane, but it damaged the building across the road from the church, and blew the roof off of the House of Parliament.  All in favor of a hurricane blowing the roof off the houses of Congress and stopping all of their shenanigans, raise your hand!

Anyway, if was a nice day and a nice stroll.  Back on board we went to the Lido and visited the Deli.  I had grilled ham and cheese.  Mom had a grilled tuna salad sandwich.  And of course frozen custard afterwards. 

Then we went up on Deck 12 to find the miniature golf course with plans to play after supper and the variety show.  As we were wandering around, you could hear the sound track of the movie playing on the really big screen out on Deck 10.  A young girl was wondering where God loved her, and a woman was telling her, “Yes, He does!  He sent his Son Jesus to die on the cross so you could be forgiven of your sins.  And Jesus rose from the grave to declare you have eternal life in Him.”  It gives me goose bumps again typing this to you.  Here we are on a cruise ship in the Caribbean and the movie is witnessing to the awesome power of Almighty God!

The title of the movie was “Overcomer.”

Back to ordinary things.

After a very good dinner at a very good table (which we requested for the rest of the cruise). We watched the comedy magician – more comedy than magic (which made Bonnie happy) and then went to play miniature golf. 

If you’ve ever tried to play miniature golf on a Carnival ship you will know why I tell you, we bring our own golf balls.  The ones the ship provides are very light weight (I guess so you won’t throw them and hurt someone) and the wind blows them all over the course.  It is a 9 hole coursed and we played twice.  We played match play scoring (I think that’s what it’s called – whoever wins the hole goes one up; if you are even it is all square).  It is so unusual that I beat Bonnie at miniature golf that I must tell you I won each time one up.

Then we went back down to Deck 10 where the movie “Aladdin” was playing and we got in line for fresh popped popcorn and returned to our domicile for the evening.  Martinique tomorrow.

Okay.  Her turn.

Oh wait!  I forgot to tell you.  For an appetizer tonight I selected frog legs.  No they don’t taste like chicken, but they were delicious.  I hope they are offered again.  And escargot – we haven’t had that yet.

That’s it.

TTFN

Yeah for the third time I got over 10,000 steps. I went over it as I walked to the computer. No Mac I didn’t just swing my arm. He has discovered if he just swings his arm he can make the fitbit I gave him count steps. Mine won’t do that.

We were lazy this morning in getting up. We didn’t have any where to be so we took our time getting up. Went to breakfast and I had a bacon sandwich and some yogurt. When I had sat down at a set of 3 tables for two, there was a lady sitting in one seat of the set next to the window. I asked if any one was sitting in the outside two and she said no. So I sat there. Well, after I had gotten back and had my food she went to get something and asked if I would save her seat. I said sure. Another older couple came looking for seats and asked it they could join me. I said sure but there was one lady in the one chair. Well, they joined me and soon David arrived. Well, the other lady came back and was upset because the new lady had sat in the seat across from hers. She said she had a friend coming. I apologized because I didn’t know she had someone coming, but there was an empty seat beside her. Well, she got huffy and picked up her food and her kindle and moved. Not very friendly. I noticed that her friend never arrived until we were leaving.

After breakfast we headed off the ship. We retrieved our stuff from our room and headed out. We made our way through the tourist shops and out onto the street. We could see the steps that went up the side of the hill to the fort but opted not to go there. Instead we headed up a street that went to a church we could see the front and bell tower of. As we trudged up the hill we passed a local who commented that Grenada was a very hilly town. No kidding. When we got to the church we realized that only the wall facing the port was left standing. So sad, because it appeared to have been a beautiful church. They have a sign up showing the church they plan to build when they have raised enough money.
After leaving that church we walked down a little and then back up higher to visit two other churches. There are almost no side walks and the streets are wide enough for cars to park on one side and a line of cars to drive on it. Pedestrians walk at their own risk dodging cars everywhere. And since everything is on a hill the cars are either zooming up the hill or flying down the hill. Watch out is probably most heard phrase in this town.

We shopped in the shops at the port as we headed back to the ship. We bought a couple of things. It was strange though one of the things we bought we had to show our cruise card in order to buy it. It had something to do with duty free and where the item came from. Who knows.

After getting on the ship and consuming lunch we played a game of cards and now we are tied. Then, back to the room where I crocheted and he napped. Then, dress and off to supper. The magician/comedienne was okay. Then, we did the golf and did some a bean bag in the corn hole game before coming back to the room. Tomorrow we arrive in Martinique at 8:30 and all aboard is 4:30. We will do the same thing tomorrow we did today.

Well, grandkids enjoy your long weekend. Love you all Mom, Granny and Bonnie

P.S. This is for Karen I took some pictures of the rope course they have on deck twelve around the top of the deck. It is pretty cool. Shannon would love it.

HURRICANE DAMAGED CHURCH IN GRENADA

St.Andrews Presbyterian Church. Clock shows time of the hurricane.

The congregation plans to rebuild on this spot.

We saw several storm damaged buildings, including the House of Parliament.

FORMAL SHMORMAL

January 16, 2020

Regular readers of this space (people who read this regularly, not people who are regular and read this blog) know that formal nights are my favorite nights on board.  Pull out the old tuxedo (and that is not just a qualifying modifier – it is 30 years old this year) and we sport ourselves around the ship.

Well, last evening when we were looking at the Fun Times, the ship’s daily newspaper of goings on, and then reading the menu (always posted early on the phone app) we decided to leave our formal duds in the closet and go to the Lido for supper.  I had a talk from 4-5 and it would have been at least 530 until we could have gotten back to the room, changed and gotten to the dining room. 

But the clincher was tonight’s menu.  For a formal night it was rather slack.  There were several offerings I could have ordered – I’ll eat most anything – but for Mom’s refined taste there was nothing other than a caesar salad.  So I kept my work clothes on and we went to the Lido.  We grazed the buffet.  Bonnie had flat iron steak which she pronounced as very good.  I had a small piece of barbeque chicken and a small slice of Hawaiian baked ham.  We each had baked potatoes and a selection of small desserts.  Oh, I also had a very good bowl of clam chowder.  My dinner companion thought it was potato soup and was enjoying it until she pulled up a clam and that was it for the soup.

My talk today was in the photography category and my subject was “How to Take Better Pictures with Your Cell Phone and Your Digital Camera.”  This talk always generates a lot of after-talk questions and discussions.  One lady asked me where were some good places on our next stops (and we have 6 in a row) to get some good photo opportunities.  I was honored by her request, but talking about taking better pictures doesn’t necessarily mean I know where to go on Grenada, Martinique, Barbados, St. Kitts, St. Maarten, or Tortola for good pictures.  As it happens, I could point her towards some promising spots in 3 of the 6.  And she was happy.

I don’t have another talk until before sail away from St. Maarten and Tortola (doing the astronomy talk on both of those evenings) so my cruise buddy and I will be tourists for the next several days.  And try to take some good pictures.

Okay.  It’s Bonnie’s turn.

TTFN

I did not even try the soup . I had put my spoon in it and he said it was clam chowder and that was the end of that!!

Anyway, I forgot to tell you about a small adventure we had yesterday. You know I hate riding elevators, however it is up to deck 10 from 2 for breakfast and we usually ride up and walk down. Well, yesterday since we knew we would be walking a lot in St Croix we decided to ride down to 2 from the Lido. Well, we get on and are riding and all of a sudden the elevator jumps and stops at 5 or almost 5. The door does not open and we just set there. Great! It started back up again and proceeded to our floor but I did not like the hesitation.

Well, up at about 6:30, we got ready and went for breakfast. We were there early today and the omelet line was very short so we both had one. I went to get my cup of hot chocolate out of their hot chocolate machine and all it was giving me was a cup of hot water. It was not mixing the chocolate into it. So I went to the other side and used that one. As I was making my cup a young server was there and I told him the machine on the other side was not working. And he took his hand and tapped the side of the chocolate dispenser on top and said just give it a good slap. He said the chocolate sometimes gets stuck. Funny. I shall remember that.

As my kindle is working I had brought it and my earphones to breakfast so afterwards I could maybe go for a walk. I proceeded up to deck 12 and the jogging track. It was quite windy but I got my mile plus in before heading back to the room to change bags and head for the room where his talk was to be.

Deck 5 where his talk is and our card playing place is located is a COLD floor. Now you know I like the cold but this place is frigid. Back to the cold in a little while. Well, when he had arrived at the lounge for his talk he had forgotten his name tag. So while he set up and schmoozed with the crowd, I went to the room and got it. After the talk we took our stuff to the room, he changed clothes and then we went to Brunch. They have it on sea days. It was okay. After brunch we went to our spot on 5 to play cards. At the moment I am ahead. We played about an hour but by then we were both freezing!!! So we went to the room and both took a nap. Then, off to his second talk and supper etc.

The show tonight was called “88 Keys” It is about a piano bar and piano man and they sing a bunch of great songs. It was very good. We have seen this show probably 4 times but this group did the best job of any of the times before. They sang really well and two of the guys were excellent piano players. Great singing and dancing by all.

Well, we are back in our room and will just be tourist for the next couple of days. By the ways I got over 11,000 steps almost 5 miles. Yeah me.

Love you all and NO IT IS NOT MY BIRTHDAY!! But thanks for all the greetings and thank you to the Herrington’s for the card and Hershey bar. Tate I loved the o’s and hearts you drew in the card and the Love Mac and the Happy Birthday from Luke.

Love Mom,   Granny, and Bonnie

CHANGE OF COURSE

January 15, 2020

It was a beautiful day in St. Maarten today.  Or at least I suppose it was because we weren’t there.  The itinerary called for Wednesday in St. Maarten, but as we told you yesterday, the Carnival Breeze detoured to San Juan so we could get refueled.  And it was a beautiful day in San Juan.

Your favorite cruisers walked up to El Morro, the fort which defended the city.  It is approximately 2.5 miles each way, but I commented as we walked back onto the ship, I think it gets farther away each time we visit.  But the beautiful view and the great sea breeze make the walk worthwhile.  We bought a couple of souvenirs, plus a Snickers Ice Cream bar for me and a Coke Zero for Bonnie.  Last of the big time spenders here.

For reasons we never learned, our favorite path along the outside fortified wall of San Juan was closed today, so we wound our way around through the city.  In addition to the afore mentioned detour, there were barricades all over the city in preparation for a special event about which we haven’t a clue.  Oh well.

For those of you who keep up with our stops on our cruises, you may wish to make the following changes: on Tuesday, January 21 we will be in St. Maarten, and on Wednesday, the 22nd we will be in Tortola.  Those are the only changes due to the fueling stop mentioned above.  I was talking to Monroe, the entertainment director, earlier this evening and he said most captains would just miss a port and keep going, but this one is doing his best to see that we get to visit all the advertised islands.

My talk tomorrow is on how to take better pictures with your digital device, and I got a couple of good ones today which I will add in.  As I said, it was a beautiful day in our neighborhood.

Tonight’s entertainer on the Ovation stage was a comedy juggler.  He was funny, but as Mom said, having seen several jugglers on our cruises we have seen all of his tricks.  But he is very skilled and it was an enjoyable show.  Tomorrow night, the “kids” will do another of their musical programs, and as we’ve told you often, they put on our favorite shows.

And now I will turn the keyboard over to the bride of my youth.

TTFN

Well, first some comments about yesterdays stop in St Croix. We did find the fort and church that he had taken pictures of  that he uses in his photography talk. But also, we found the souvenir store where he picked up a free novel on a rack out side the store. Also, there were chickens and roosters wandering around everywhere. There is a KFC in St Croix and we commented as we always do to the chickens “You better look out or KFC will get you.” Well, I had said to him that I wandered if the roosters ever got friendly with the chickens. And low and behold we saw two different hens with baby chicks. A black hen had about 5 or 6 which were mostly black and a brown and white hen had 2 that were brown. He took a video of the mothers and chicks as the mother hen scratched the ground for whatever they eat and the chicks rushed to eat whatever mother  had found. It was an interesting sight.

Now to today. As usual I was awake at 1:30, 3:30 and 5:30 in the morning. It was light out before 6 am. I was a wake and the boat had slowed and I knew we were getting close to San Juan because we were to dock at 7 am. Couldn’t see much as we came in and docked but there was a Holland American ship, the Zuiderdam, in dock already. We have sailed on it at least 2 or 3 times. After he got up about 6:30 we washed, dressed and headed to breakfast. As were eating the Zuiderdam left port just about 8am. Now that is strange.

After breakfast we went to the room and picked up our going ashore stuff, which included postcards to be mailed to the grand kids. Since Puerto Rico is an American port, I could mail them. I had brought along stamps just for that.  Well, we got off and mailed my post cards and then headed to the fort the way we always went but it was blocked off. So we had to walk back and go another way. There were numerous roads closed all over town and police were every where directing cars. It was quite a mess if you were trying to drive a car. It usually is difficult to drive there but today seemed to be much worse.  There were at least 3 large stages set up in the areas where we walked. They appeared to be preparing for some big celebration which included lots of music and much drinking.

After we got back to the ship and got back on, we headed to the Lido and lunch. Today was hamburgers and of course ice cream. The we headed to deck 5 and a place to set and play cards. They were doing some trivia contest so we joined in on two and managed to win one of them which was all about the 70's. Yeah us. Now we have a Carnival medallion to add to our “ship on a stick” from our last Carnival cruise that sits on the mantle piece.

The comedienne juggler was good even though we had seen all the tricks and heard most of the jokes from other ones. The funniest thing was the lady sitting beside me. She laughed and clapped and was so amazed by everything he did. I don’t think she had ever seen a  juggler before. Her husband sitting beside her seemed to be bored with it all.

Well, we are back in our room and will probably be in bed soon. Tomorrow he has to give his 2 photography talks, one at 10 and one at 4. It is also the second Gala Night. But we will probably be late getting to supper because his second talk is at 4 and our supper is at 5.

Well, time to stop. I love you all. Mom, Granny and Bonnie

FIRST THINGS FIRST

January 14, 2020

Ya know, that’s a crazy expression – first things first.  If you put second things first, they would then be the first things.  Right?  Anyway ...

As you know, my beloved’s Kindle was bumfuzzled.  She couldn’t get in to her crochet patterns, and to paraphrase her comment one day at the Augusta National, she was not happy.  And if Mamma ain’t happy.

Well, we went ashore today, and took the offending device.  After touring the Fort Frederikstad and Museum, we headed for some souvenir stores.  We passed one that advertised WiFi.  I pulled it up on the Kindle – the only page you could get to was a list of WiFi spots – and tried to sign in to the merchant’s WiFi.  It needed a password.  I asked the merchant if he would do a huge favor for me, and explained the situation.  And voila!  The main page came up, Bonnie quickly scrolled through the settings and turned the WiFi and airplane mode off, and there were her patterns.  To thank the merchant, we bought a $2 Diet Coke and gave him a $3 tip.

And on to second things (second).

As you know we’ve had some rough seas since sailing away from Port Canaveral.  The Captain steered us below the Bahamas to get us into smoother seas, and then after skirting the northern coast of Cuba and Hispaniola, he steered south, and dropped us below Puerto Rico and into smooth seas.  After we came out from PR’s protection we had some bumps, but docked smoothly in St. Croix.  The details of the day will come in a few sentences, but sitting at supper, the Captain came on and said he was changing our itinerary.

Tomorrow was supposed to be St. Maarten (where your favorite cruisers are going swimming) but because of the rough weather, the fuel resupply ship could not satisfy our thirsty engines.  So, we are going back to San Juan (which was to be our last stop), and get refueled.  We will actually get an extra hour there, and then head out to the rest of our schedule.  I’m not sure where we will be when, but as soon as the new itinerary is published, I’ll let you know.  Those of you who traveled to Russia with me remember rule number one: Blessed are the flexible for they shall not be bent out of shape.

In my photography talk – how to take better pictures with your digital device – I show a couple of pictures I took as suggestions for some creative picture taking.  And I have never been able to remember where I took those snapshots.  Until today.  Walking off the ship and into town, Mom looked up at the little red fort and said, “That’s where you took the picture through the window looking out into the harbor.”  And she was right.  Now I know where three of the pictures in the talk were taken.  All right here in St. Croix when we were here in 2012 on the Carnival Pride – our first Journeys Cruise.  What to go BonBon!

We wandered around town for a total of about 4 miles, visiting the Catholic church again (it had been damaged by the last hurricane and the restoration is almost finished), and in and out of stores and shops, picking up a couple of souvenirs.  The downtown bandstand was manned with good singers and we enjoyed that as well.  And Jani, if you are reading this, we picked up a surprise for you.  And Jani, if you are not reading this, we picked up a surprise for you.

We are sailing up the eastern coast of Puerto Rico as I type this and the seas have a gentle roll to them, not the hump and bump of the last couple of days.  Prayerfully the high pressure system that was dominating us earlier has moved on to other locales.

After supper tonight we went to Karaoke open mike.  If you’ve never been, treat yourself the first chance you get.  The singers covered all the bases – really good singers, average singers, and brave souls with a microphone.  The later group, sadly, did several numbers.  It was interesting when they got up for their fourth number – one-fourth of the audience got up and left.  We waited a few minutes so we wouldn’t be noticed, but you could hear their enthusiastic performance way down the hall.

Well, I think that’s the day, or the most of it.  We’ll see you tomorrow from Puerto Rico, where I will wear my Roberto Clemente shirt ashore.

TTFN

ROUGH SEAS

January 13, 2020

I don’t remember seas this rough for this long in the Caribbean.  The Captain told us that our arrival at St. Croix will be 3 hours late tomorrow because of the seas.  He has detoured twice to get smoother seas, the last time we are dipping below Puerto Rico where he said it would get smoother.  We are waiting.

We had planned to go to two PG comedians tonight because we have seen, and don’t   care for, tonight’s headliner.  Trouble is, tonight is the Clemson-LSU football game (go Clemson!) And every venue with reception capabilities is occupied.  The Limelight Lounge (where I also do my talks) is home to the comedy club also, and when we got there – late for the first show and early for the second – it was SRO and people standing outside.  So we went to the Atrium and listened to live music and played Yahtzee (she won) and dominos (she won) and now we are back in the room.  I am, obviously, blogging, and Bonnie is watching “Love it or List it.”  It’s growing on me.

We have no plans for St. Croix.  In fact, we only have plans for St. Kitts – a train ride.  The other stops, we will wander around and enjoy the local flavor, looking for old churches, museums, and the like.  Boring I know, but it’s our way.

Well, short but sweet tonight.  Here’s Bonnie!

TTFN

No I have not been able to walk. The winds are at anywhere from 30 to 50 miles per hour. It has been like this for 2 days +. I haven’t been able to crochet because my kindle is messed up and it is locked into some kind of wireless mode and won’t let me open any thing.  UGH!!!!  I have been cold and it is very difficult for me to walk around. The waves hitting the ship are very loud.  When a wave hits the ships, it rocks and rolls a lot. 

Looking forward to a non rolling banging place tomorrow. 

His talks have been well attended but they forgot to send the person with the pins to pass out after the talk. They have messed with the schedule and it has been a challenge.

Well, I am sleepy and hoping I can sleep tonight with the extreme rolling.

Love you all.

Mom, Granny and Bonnie

SLEEPING SINGLE IN A DOUBLE BED

January 12, 2020

Well, that’s the way Barbara Mandrell sang it in 1978, and that’s not the way it is here in 2216, but it is a starting place.  This is the first time in all of our cruises that we have not slept together.  You see the room has one twin bed and one sofa that converts into a sleeper and never the twain shall meet.  But at least the separation puts some distance between our respective snores.

As I type this tonight we are experiencing some rough seas.  We are near the bow of the ship, so as we cut through the waves, when a big one hits, there is an accompanying loud noise.  The cruise director said last night it is the ship hitting whales.  If that is the case, we will make the hump backs extinct before Captain Kirk and crew can bring their captured Klingon vessel back to bring George and Gracie into the 23rd century.  Our hope is we will have smooth spot so we can fall asleep and snore through the waves.

This was our first formal night, and I passed up lobster for spaghetti carbonara – which was good, but not as good as what I had in Venice. Yes, from now on, I think, all Italian foods will be compared dining al fresco last fall.

My first talk was today, “Yes, We May Have No Bananas,” and it was a full house, and a very receptive crowd.  I’ll repeat it tomorrow, then we have two ports, so two days off before I do photography.

Well, I’m making this short tonight, so we can get on the internet and look for one of Bonnie’s crochet patterns.  Her Kindle, onto which the pattern was downloaded, has thrown as hissy fit and won’t let her do anything.  I’m going to take it to the IT manager tomorrow to see if he can fix it.  Kindly cross your fingers.

TTFN