May 5, 2024 

              Before Bonnie Blogs, I’m going to try to post a couple of pictures tonight.  I know, “Do or do not.  There is no try.”  Rachel Bryn, we really cannot go a day without a movie quote or a song.

            Oh yeah.  I started to post the blog  and everything but our writing was in Spanish.  No comprendo.  Well, a couple of clicks and I outwitted it.  A country boy can survive.

It is Sunday! And it is Cinco di Mayo. It is 3:20pm here on the Explorer of the Sea. We had laid down for a nap planning on getting up now and going to the ice skating show at 4 pm, however they just came on the intercom and announced they were changing the time to 4:30 and supper starts at 5, so we will have to go on Day 11. Best laid plans of mice and men.

Well, what have we been up to since we last blogged. Well, basically we have turned the clocks back one hour 5 times! In a day we sleep till about 6:30 am. We get up, shower and dress, and go to the Windjammer for breakfast at 7:30. It has been sparsely populated because of all the clocks changes. We enjoy a breakfast. Then he heads back to the cabin to study because he has had a talk at 10 am every morning. One of the best things about the cabin is that there is a real chair with a back for him to sit in and practice. Every other ship has a makeup chair with a half back, a very uncomfortable chair in which to sit.

I head to Deck 4 and outside to walk 2 or 3 times around. Sometimes I don’t get the whole way because they have it closed for cleaning but I can turn around and walk a shorter route. One of the scenic spots along the walk is the dog station (a box with straw in it and a box disposable plastic gloves) for those guests who have their “comfort” dogs with them. I have seen at least 3 older ladies with the tiny little pooches in the windjammer or the dining room. The walk is nice and sometimes it is breezy but it was only cold one morning. I enjoy the air and the walk. It is usually not too crowded at that time in the morning. I walk about 45 minutes to an hour. On one side of the ship is the smoking side. But so far there have not been too many smokers.

After finishing my walk, back to the cabin to drop off the kindle and earphones, earbuds won’t work without the internet. I pick up my crochet bag and supplies for the day. Since I last blogged I have finished 4 projects and am working on my 5^th and final project. I leave him in the room finishing up his studying and dressing for the talk and I go to the lounge on deck 5 forward to wait for the talk. There is a nice chair in the back by the door where I can sit and crochet and listen to his talk. He arrives about 9:45 and sets up his computer with the help of the tech. One nice thing about this cruise is they provide him with a bottle of water, sweet. Never done that before. But so far the art people have set up the art in the lounge blocking off anywhere from 1/3 to ½ of the chairs so people have no where to sit. It really cuts down on how many people can get into seats, but today should have been the last time he has that to deal with. He does his talk which takes about 45 minutes. When he finishes, he moves to the back by the door to be able to talk to people and I move to the front to disconnect and pack up the computer and stuff. Then, I move it back to my chair. There is a talk that follows immediately after so his stuff needs to be out of the way. He talks for about 10 or 15 minutes to people who like to ask questions and make comments. Always very nice things.

Then, we walk back aft, across deck 5, to the elevators for him to return to the room to work on the next days talk and me to sit in the lounge by the elevators and crochet some more. It is a great place to watch the people going to and fro or to the guest services, etc. He will usually work about 45 minutes to an hour and then come down to get me and we will go to lunch. We have gone to the dining room on deck 3 three times for lunch, a nice leisure lunch. The other times we have gone to the Windjammer. Sometimes after lunch we go to the library on deck 7 and play some cards. Then about 1 or 2 to the cabin for a short nap after which he will study his program again. He usually studies 3 or 4 times. Then, about 5 we get dressed for supper. Twice we have had formal night. One night was causal night and we wore our Mickey Mouse t-shirts that say “I don’t do matching shirts”. Everybody gets a kick out of that. We each have on the exact same shirt. Our waiter asked if he could take our picture.

After supper we have been walking out on deck and looking at the sea. The shows usually start at 7 and it is after 7 before we get out of supper. I don’t know why they don’t start at 7:30. But there really hasn’t been anything we wanted to see. We will go back to the cabin. I crochet, do puzzles and play games while he studies. Then, if we don’t have to do the clocks we play some cards.

The evening menus have been basically good. I had chicken parmesan with spaghetti last night. I have had short ribs, grilled chicken and a turkey pot pie. I have had mostly no sugar added desserts. The appetizers have been okay. Today in the Windjammer they had set up a bar where you could get taco chips with lettuce, tomatoes, sour cream, chopped onions, jalapenos, salsa, a very thin cheese sauce and a chile beef sauce. There was also chicken and soft taco shells, too. It was good and I made a plate of nachos and toppings. He got a hot dog, and their hot dogs are really good, and some sautéed vegetables.

Tonight, I am going to give the French onion soup another chance, the first time I tried it had no onions and tasted like water. They are having a Mojo-marinated pork chop with steamed broccoli, roasted parsnips, sweet potatoes (which means you get one broccoli spear, one parsnip and one sweet potato) and a cumin-orange -lime reduction. No kidding about the vegetables. There is never more than one broccoli spear. There must be a run on them. There is a mediterranean spinach pie that sounds good. It has spinach, sun-dried tomatoes, feta cheese and bechamel sauce under a flaky pie crust. Maybe I will be daring and try it. They do have the warm chocolate cake with molten center for dessert.

We will come back to the room after supper. He has made changes to his Woman in Gold talk and will need to work on it for tomorrow. It is a port day tomorrow and he usually doesn’t do a talk but the docking was scheduled for gangway down at 1:30 pm with all aboard at 9:30. The captain came on and said in his noon talk that we were going to dock early at 11:30, so we don’t know if his talk will be changed or not. There is only one more sea day and that is before we get to Malaga. He will be doing his “Purple and Picasso” talk on that day. We shall see what tomorrow holds. We don’t know where we are docking tomorrow, so we don’t know whether we will be able to get off and wander around. It depends on how far out he is docked.

For Tuesday we bought a 4 hour tour that will take us on a 40 minute bus ride to Puerto de la Cruz. We get to roam around and shop, lunch, etc on our own. It wasn’t expensive and it was the only tour in the four ports that was not sold out, except for the two Spanish speakers only tours. There were 3 spots left and we got 2 of them. It should be a lot of fun. We aren’t sure whether if it will be possible to walk off the ship in the other 2 ports and look around. It all depends on where he parks the ship. 

And now here is sleepy head who is finally up from his loooong nap!

So, here is sleepy head who was napping until SOMEONE said, very loudly, “Do you want to get up?”  No!  I want to nap!  Well, guess who got up.

This is Day 8 of our cruise, and I very honestly say, this has been one of our best cruises ever.  Lots of fun doing the talks.  Great table mates.  Fun card games (I actually won one out of two).  Good food (but then I eat most anything – are there snails tonight?).  Good audiences.  Positive interaction with many of the crew (David’s Cruising Rule – or really any other activity rule – get the server’s/helper’s name, talk to them, ask questions about their day, their home, their family and be genuinely interested in them.  It is the right thing to do and they will go out of their way to be friendly and helpful.  So many cruisers are slugs who treat them like they are dark colored and picking cotton while the overseer stands with a whip ready to beat them half to death).

Well, my Cruise Buddy has brought you up to date on most everything that has happened, but I do have a couple of amusing anecdotes to share.

              Yesterday as I was walking into the Star Lounge a couple stopped me and asked me when Bonnie and I were married.  The lady recalled that I had said August, 1968.  She asked what day.  I told her 24.  And she tapped her husband’s hand and beamed, “That’s the same day we were married.”  She told me that they have met one other couple who were married on that day.  I told her, Suzanne, and her husband, Charles, that I knew another couple who were married on August 24, but not that long ago.

              After the talk, about John Harrison, the man who “created” longitude (actually created the chronometer that allows us to learn our proper longitude), a man asked me if I could explain to him how they judges of the longitude contest – the winner of which would receive the equivalent of $2.1 million dollars in today’s money – could determine that his winning clock had lost just 5 seconds in 81 days with all of the other clocks being so bad.  I told him, “No, and I’ve been asked that before and so far have been unable to find the answer, but I’ll look again.”  This time Sergei Bryn and the boys at Google did better for me and a I learned the 2 ways they made the determination.  One was, when the ship Harrison was on docked at Port Royal Jamaica they had previously stopped at Kingston and the exact longitude had been determined there years ago with the use of a complicated mathematic formula.  That’s how they knew the 5 seconds.  The other way was using “mean solar time.”  I relayed the question this morning and my answers, explaining I had no idea what mean solar time was, reading them, in a hurried, comedic style a paragraph from the Wikipedia entry on “solar time.”  We all had a big laugh.  Those of you who are nodding off, do you want to wake up now?

              After he left a man from England stepped up with some comments, and we ended up talking about Michael Portello, Rumpole of the Baily, Midsomer Murders, and other great British TV programs that Bonnie and I enjoy.

              Speaking of Rumpole, She Who Must Be Obeyed just told me I have 5 minutes, just enough time to tell you about the plate of strawberries covered in chocolate (the strawberries, not the plate) that was delivered mysteriously to our room yesterday.  It starts several days ago when the six of us at Table 515 were moved there, against our will from Table 503.  Two nights ago I got a bowl of strawberry ice cream for dessert and it was awful.  Previous servings had been very good.  I asked Bonnie to tasted it and she agreed it was lousy.  The waiter noticed I wasn’t eating it and I described the taste.  He said they must have given me sugar free ice cream instead and went and got real ice cream.  The strawberries and chocolate must have been an “I’m sorry” offering.  We took them to supper and shared them with our  tablemates.  And after we had all been seated, the head waiter came with a bottle of champagne for the table.  We had told the head at 503 we didn’t want to move, but they explained the reason and we moved.  I think the champagne was another “sorry” offering. 

              And now it’s supper.

               And now a rummy report.  The score is tied at 2-2.  I came storming back for the win.

One more for Star Wars Day

When trying to find our stateroom, I look for the statue of the naked lady.  If she's not here we are on the wrong side of the ship.

And finally, wisdom from the door.

              TTFN

May 1

 

It is all Park West Galleries’ fault!  Under oath, I would repeat that statement: it’s all their fault!  So what am I yelling about you ask?  I’m glad you asked.

Well, we had consumed our breakfast (assorted vegetables for her, salami and a hard roll for me – that’s from Star Trek – bonus points for knowing the episode, and let’s not always see the same hands), I had returned to Stateroom 8469 for the last rehearsal of “Red: the Color of Desire,” and Bonnie had gone for her morning stroll around the deck.  I finished my wrap up, changed from breakfast clothes to show clothes – astronaut cat t-shirt off, Augusta Nation shirt (purchased at a 2^nd hand store) on; computer loaded, and I headed for Deck 5 and the Star Lounge.

I walked in and HALF OF THE THEATER was taken by easels and crappy, constantly duplicated art work, to be sold at a fake auction by the above-mentioned slugs: Park West Galleries.  It happens every cruise.  The slugs come in and completely take over a venue, turning half of my audience away (and any other speaker scheduled for that spot) because they cannot find a seat.  The young man helping me set up gave me a weary sigh and said, “There is nothing we can do about it.  They take over the whole place to sell their junk.”

Anyway, I smiled good-naturedly (I’m only growling to you) and the show went on.  Red was well received and I closed with a picture of a fire engine red 1959 Chevrolet.  It was a 4-door Parkwood, I couldn’t find a 2-door Brookwood (and that’s been the story of my life since Dad junked mine for $35 – and don’t raise your hand if you’ve heard that story).

So here is what I’m complaining about.  I know, it took me a long time to get here, but this my half of the blog.

Coming back to our stateroom, I got off the elevator, turned the wrong way, and got lost.  As the sign on the door said, “Not all of us are wandering.  Some of us are just trying to find our staterooms.”  I’m now on a 5 mile hike with a 15 pound pack, and as I’m huffing and puffing down the hall, a cabin steward asks, “Can I help you?”  I pant, “8---4---6---9.”  He points in the same direction I’m walking, so I smile and go on.  But the numbers keep going up, not going down.  8-4-?-? is no where in sight.   All around me is 8-5-?-? 

“Curse you PWG!” I shout to the air.

Then I come to a cross-corridor and take it.  I look at the numbers.  They are now odd instead of even.  I look at 3 cabins.  They’re going up that way, and down that way.  Victory!

Well, dear hearts, we is in the realm of the celestials (Brother Dave Gardner) and it ain’t over yet.  I get to the room and set down to study for “The World’s Most Stolen Artwork.”  It is part 1 of a 2 part talk, and so I open the notes on my tablet for part 1 and it’s part 2.  To shorten this story, I knew had made a goof back at 233, and thought I had corrected it.  Nope.  It took me about 15 minutes – tech  support was no where in sight, and no longer a phone call away – but, you’d be proud Michael.  I got it.  Change that patch cord.  Don’t use one with two C-usb ends.  Use one with a standard USB and a C.  Delete.  “Are you sure you want to do this?”  Yes!  Just do it!  Copy.  Paste.  “This file already exists” (no it doesn’t!  I erased it!) “Do you want to copy over it with the same file?”  Yes, you ninny.  And all was well.

Study time wasted for tomorrow’s Part 1, so I went down to Deck 5.  Found Bonnie.  Went to lunch.  Then we went to the Library and played 3 hands of auction rummy and I am proud to say, for the first time in 2 cruses, I am ahead.  We came back up for nap.  And now I have shared my adventures with you and I will turn to The Ghent Altarpiece, Part 1.  Bonnie will blog later.

And now, hereeeeeees Bonnie

Well, let me start with yesterday at breakfast and give some highlights of Monday and Tuesday before I do Wednesday. On Monday I brought my air pods and my phone to breakfast planning to listen to my book on the phone. It worked perfectly well at home. However, when I put my air pods in my ears and went to the phone, it said you will have to have the internet to listen. YUCK! So I went off on my walk with nothing. On Tuesday morning I brought my air pods and the kindle and had no luck getting them to connect either. YUCK!!  So off I went walking.  On Tuesday after I got out on deck the wind was blowing so hard it was cold, so I went back to the cabin and got a sweater and then proceeded back out to walk. I am using Deck 4. Nice walk. On Monday night they had told us we would have to move to a different table, 515, for supper. So were went to supper Tuesday night heading to the new round table for 6 and not the rectangular one. It was fine but the waiters were not as attentive as the old ones. Supper was coconut shrimp for an appetizer and grilled tiger shrimp for supper. They were the same size though tiger shrimp as supposed to be larger. All very good to eat.

After supper on Tuesday there was a show of a tenor singer. I am pretty sure he said he was from Atlanta. He was a little larger than all of the photos of him in his videos on the tv screens. Neither of us could understand a word he sang. It was English but not understandable. He was more interested in telling us about all the famous people he either knew, or sang with, or wrote music for than actually singing. He showed the same pictures over and over again of all the famous people. Not a very good show.

We had turned the clocks up again on Tuesday night and are turning them up again tonight. So tomorrow we will be 3 hours ahead of you.

Now for the adventures of today, Wednesday. Well, we were up by 7, showered and dressed and headed for breakfast. Today I splurged I had two thin slices cut from a large baked ham, an English muffin and 2 small slices of cantaloupe. All was consumed and enjoyed. David yesterday had suggested we buy some headphones to try and get my kindle to work. I said no I wasn’t spending the money. But before I went to bed Tuesday night I remembered I had a pair of headphones we had gotten from somewhere on one of our trips and they were in my backpack down in among other left over junk from other trips. So I had found them last night and brought them with the kindle to breakfast. We shall try again. Well, I put them in, clicked on my book and the book wouldn’t turn on, YUCK!!!. I played with it but nothing doing. He had to get back to the room so I told him to go and I would mess with it. Well, after he left the table I looked at the book I was trying to listen to and realized it was a book to read and not a book that had audio, DUMB! So I picked a different book that had audio and amazingly the headphones worked. Off to deck 4 and my walk. It was still breezy but the walk was very nice. I was little late finishing up the walk so when I got back to the room it was time for him to go his talk. So we went together.

WE went down to 5 and walked across to the Star Lounge for his talk. SURPRISE it is Park West Galleries show today and it is at 1:30 pm (it lasts 2 and half hours) and it is only 10 am but they have set all their art in the lounge and blocked off at least half of the seats. His tech was changed, also, and he did not bring David his water. So I needed to go all the way back up to the room and get his water. There were a lot of people who came and left because they couldn’t find a seat. Sadness. Talk went well.

After the talk he headed to the room and had his adventure and I found a seat near the elevators across from guest services and did some crocheting. (Up date on crocheting: I have now finished 3 of the 5 projects I brought. Almost rang out of yarn for the one I worked on yesterday. I had about 12 inches left.) He came down about 12 and we went up to lunch. There were a lot more people there than yesterday because a lot of people got up late and didn’t make it to breakfast. So they were having a brunch.  I had a salad and a hotdog, no bun.  He got 4 of the little desserts and we sampled some of them. Then, we went to deck 7 to the library and game room and played  cards. Then, off for a nap.

Short naps and he worked on his talk and I crocheted on project 3. About 5 we dressed for supper and headed to our table. Tonight I had shrimp cocktail, a turkey pot pie and an apple cobbler. The pot pie would have been better if there had been more vegetables. 90% of it was huge chunks of turkey. I ate about half of it.

On the way back from supper we stopped at the t shirt sale and each got a nice shirt and got a couple of souvenirs for those back home. There was a show with a magician, which I don’t care for, so we didn’t go to the show. Then, because getting off the ship to come home, comes all too soon, we stopped at guest services, where the line was very short. We inquired about and bought our shuttle tickets from the ship to the airport in Barcelona at the cost of $30 each. I like to do this early because one time when we had waited they said they had sold them all and it was oh “so sorry”. It is funny because when we got back to the room there was a circular on our bed  telling you to get your shuttle tickets now.

Well, it has been a fun 3 days and tomorrow the talk is the “Ghent Altarpiece” which is one of his favorites. The art should be gone but it will be back at least 2 more time. Haven’t read my Compass yet to see what tomorrow has to hold. I get a paper one, by requesting it from the steward, because it is on the app and half the time mine does not work.

Hey everybody say a short prayer for Jack’s Mom.

Well, he has work to do and I have crocheting to do. Please everybody be safe. Miss you all. Love you all. Mom, Granny and Bonnie.

PS:  Karen and Frank I hope you are safely home and had a great time. Looking for ward to seeing you soon!

April 29, 2024

            15:09 hours. Calm seas and following winds.  And the first blog from Explorer of the Seas heading for Barcelona.

The journey has been smooth.  The folks at security in the Augusta Airport acted like human beings who were enjoying their jobs, not like Cretans only looking for a good grope.  And even easier getting on board.  The only bump was waiting for the shuttle in Miami to take us to our hotel. 

The free ride from Courtyard by Marriott runs from 05:00 to 01:00 (for readers who did not work at the Naval Academy or otherwise in government service that’s from 5 a.m. today to 1 a.m. tomorrow) and comes by every 15 minutes.  One pulled away just as we stumbled from the curb lugging our luggage.  The next one couldn’t get in because of the way two other properties vans were parked.  But eventually one pulled up and loaded our bags and us.  I gave him a good tip (Kyle – you know some of the Bros tips) and he carried my computer case onto the van after loading our suitcases, took Bonnie’s back pack from her and helped her into the van.  At the hotel he took our things off, and told me he would take them inside, shooing Bonnie away from the cases when she went to get one.  Inside, he walked up to the desk, motioned to a man who was getting ready to help another guest, and told him our names and that we were ready to check in.  I don’t know whether the other folks look at us was with admiration as though were of the which of which there is no whicher or whether it was with “well who do they think they are?”  Moral of this story.  Tip someone, call them by name in a friendly voice .  And treat  them fairly.

I got our dinner arrangements changed.  We were supposed to eat at 5:30 and instead they had us down for My Time Dining at 6:45. Too late.  I waited in line about 30 minutes – lots of folks were making changes.  Met a man from Orlando, named Dan, and a man from New Zealand, named David.  I told David we could have been related, and told him the story of Dad and Lorraine.  If you haven’t heard the story, raise your hand.  Dan and his wife Katherine, call me Kat, were at our table as were Neil and Barbara, whom I hadn’t met, but also from Orlando.  David and his wife Ellen were the first ones in the theater today for my first talk, “English: The World’s Language.”  It was a good crowd and the talk was well received.  I am in the Star Lounge every sea day at 10:00 a.m.  Tomorrow, “The Incredible Hermitage.”

              We are springing forward tonight, so we will be an hour ahead of you.  Only 4 or 5 more of those to go.

              And now, here’s Mom/Granny/Bonnie.

              Well, greetings to all of you in Augusta and Karen and Frank who are at sea somewhere and Brian and Elizabeth in Victoria BC.

Yes the trip though very long and tiring from Augusta was pretty uneventful. At the Atlanta airport we didn’t have to run or travel very far to get to the next gate. We stopped at a Boars head deli and I got a tuna fish sandwich on whole wheat and he got a ham and cheese wrap. He got a bottle of water and I got a coke zero and a small bag of barbecue chips all for the low price of $35!  The plane from Atlanta was large and full. It was almost an hour late leaving Atlanta. So we were late getting to Miami. Some of the people on the flight only had 20 minutes to get to their next flight when we landed, ouch! We just had to walk to the carousals and find our bags and then outside to try and find the shuttle outside door 23. After about 30 minutes we managed to flag one down. It was actually one that was going to 3 different Marriotts. After we checked in and then after stowing our bags had supper at the Champions restaurant in the hotel. They had a menu on a tablet, yuck! But I managed to use it and got a chicken quesadia. Way too much chicken. I took off most of the chicken and enjoyed the rest of it. That cost $38. We went to bed about 9:30 and slept to 6:30. Good nights sleep. Only up a couple of times. Had breakfast at the same place. We each had a scrambled egg wrap. He had potatoes and I had tropical fruit. It was edible but only ate a little. The fruit was all sour, so I didn’t eat it. He really enjoyed his potatoes. That was $24.

         Then, off to collect our luggage and come downstairs at 11:15 to wait for our “taxi” which turned out to be a very expensive private car. Beautiful car and a comfy ride of 15 minutes to the port for $45, a taxi ride cost about $15 to $20. The desk guy called the car not us, we had asked for a taxi! Oh well, it was quit and easy ride. Checked our luggage and headed into the building. While we were waiting for our  ride to the port we met a couple who we talked with and then they came to the talk today.

          Quit and easy checking on to the ship. We first went to our Muster Station D23 as instructed by our phones who had been nagging us for 3 days to do the health check, watch the safety video and check in at the Muster station. It was impossible to do the Muster station till we got onboard. Then, up to the Windjammer for lunch. Hot dogs for us both. By the time we finished lunch the rooms were ready, so we headed there and got our key pass. Of course the beds were apart as twin beds. We found our steward and asked for them to be changed. Since our meal time was incorrect, he headed out to get it changed. While he was gone I watched the TV. There were actually shows to watch. I was surprised. He stood in line for over 30 minutes but was successful. Then, we rested for a bit. He had a meeting at 5 and so we headed there. It was right beside the Star Lounge where his talks are. Meeting went okay.

            Now off to supper. We were the first to get to our table 503 which was immediately inside the doors of the dining room on deck 4. It is a table for six, three on each side. We took the first two chairs on the right side. Our waiter brought the menus and we waited for the other four to arrive. One couple he had met while standing in line to change our dining. The other couple we had not met. Both couples are from Florida.

            My supper was a shrimp cocktail, yum, a piece of dried out over cooked prime rib. I ate a little of it. There was one small broccoli spear and 3 small slices of carrot, and 2 tablespoons of mashed potatoes. I consumed the vegetables and potatoes, they were good. A sugar free chocolate pudding for dessert. He of course had snails, crab cake and the white fish and 2 scoops of strawberry ice cream for dessert.

             After supper we came to the room. He worked on his talk and I crocheted and did some puzzles. Our beds had been fixed. We were in bed by about 11. I slept till about 3 and then slept some more. We had the alarm set for 7:30. Up and took our bath in our very small shower. I do mean small.  We dressed and headed to breakfast. I had bacon, small amount of egg, cantaloupe, and watermelon. I took my air pods and phone planning to listen to my book that was on my phone as I walked. Opps! You have to have internet to listen. I do not. My phone is on airplane mode and only good to be a watch and play games on, so I did my 2 rounds on deck 4 and came back to the cabin. Then, off to the star lounge to wait for his talk. Talk was good. Then, he went back to the cabin to get ready for tomorrow and I sat on deck 5 and people watched while I crocheted. I returned to the cabin as instructed and we went for lunch about 12:15. A small salad, cantaloupe, watermelon and a small amount of tuna salad. All very good.

Sugar free chocolate pudding for dessert. No nap the freight train was in our room, haha! Now it is time to dress for formal night.

On the crocheting front. I have finished one of the 5 projects I brought with me. Yeah! Only 4 to go.

Love Mom, Granny and Bonnie

 

November 11, 2023

First of all, on this Veteran’s Day, to all who have served in the military

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE!!

We are packing up our stuff.  Luggage is being prepared to go outside for the 10 o’clock deadline.  And one of us just had a cold shower, which did not make her happy oh is Royal Caribbean going to get a bad review from her.

We have given gratuities to our stateroom steward, our waiter and assistant waiter, and two young ladies in the Wind Jammer who were a big help to us.

We went outside in Nassau for about an hour this morning, walked a bit, and bought 4 owba, 2 raguera, one ryerkw, and mom bought a new hat.  Souvenirs are way more expensive here than the last time we stopped.  The docking area is much more convenient for each vessel’s captains, but it leaves the guests at least a mile from town.  That was pretty much the way it was in Valencia, although here you could walk and there you had to hire a shuttle.  Cadiz was much better – we docked right down town and were within minutes of the sights we wanted to see.  I have read that many cities are putting cruise ships in less than desirable dockage to discourage them from coming – too many people, and the ships are doing ecological damage.

That’s it for me for this cruise.  And now, here’s Mom, Granny, and Bonnie.

Well it is almost  all aboard time, 4:30. My suitcase is packed ( I had packed it yesterday But wasn’t happy with it so I unpacked it this morning and packed it again) and I have had my last bath for the cruise :). I will brush my teeth for the last time on board before bed. Supper is at 5:30. We should be back in the cabin by 7 pm depending on how many of his admiring fans, and there are many, he stops to talk with on our way to or on our way back from supper. We did our gratuities last night because last night supper is very hectic time. We know this from past experiences. 

It is very hot here. There are 5 ships in dock. We were the second in port at 8 am. There was already the Carnival ship, Elation. By the time we got off the ship there were two Disney ships, one very huge, and another Royal Caribbean ship. That means there were at least 15,000 people here. The walk to the port shopping was very long as we were parked the farthest out. The sun was blazing. Not my kind of weather. We shopped for about one hour total. We took a free shuttle back to the ship. Tipping nicely.

I really don’t like the new dock they built.

Then, off to lunch. I thought the Windjammer wouldn’t be so crowded but there must have been a lot of people who didn’t get off because it was very busy. We had a bowl of tomato soup some bread pudding and our last walk on the musical steps to our last ice cream cone. Then, back to the room for a nap.

He napped in the bed as I had returned our towels that we were using as nap time covers. I took a short nap on the couch. 

We are up now and he has started packing. We are paring down the toilet articles and stuff that we will have to carry off since the suitcases go out at 10 pm. I brought a small fold up bag to put that stuff into in the morning. That bag will go into his suitcase when we get to the airport tomorrow.

We are slated to get off the ship in the morning at 7:30. We got a couple of donuts this morning to bring back and have for breakfast tomorrow. There will be no time to go to the Windjammer. Our flight leaves Ft Lauderdale at 11:56 and arrives in Charlotte at 2. Our flight from there to Augusta will arrive at 4:30. We have a taxi service already arranged, Thank You Amy car service. Our seats from Ft Lauderdale to Charlotte are aisle seats in two consecutive rows. Our seats to Augusta are together.

Well, it is past all  aboard so we should be moving soon. And supper is at 5:30 so we will be headed that way shortly.

Love you all and will see you for supper Monday. It is Pizza Hut pizza for supper!

LOVE,  Mom, Granny and Bonnie

November 10, 2023

Things are incredibly exciting here on the Symphony of the Seas.  For instance, I forgot to tell you that we hung a new roll of toilet paper on Tuesday, having finished the roll that was up when boarded.  And the big excitement today was getting our departure instructions and our baggage tickets.  Mom has started packing.  Since we’ve worn everything we brought, it is basically my dirty clothes in my suitcase and her dirty clothes in hers.  Much laundry come Monday.

Today was my last talk, “Flight 19 and the Legend of the Bermuda Triangle.”  It is always a well-attended talk.  It looked like about 400 there.  When I started, I pushed my clicker and the slides wouldn’t change – I looked down and I had forgotten to plug the dongle in.  The Bermuda Triangle strikes again.

 

Supper tonight was not much.  The veal in my Osso Bucco Gremolata was very good and incredible tender – cut it with the fork.  The vegetables were nothing extra and the pollenta was thick and lumpy, not creamy and smooth.  But the strawberry ice cream and coffee were very good.  Bonnie ordered prime rib medium well.  It came out rare.  But she said the baked potato was good.

One more night for the marathon Cassino card game.  I am behind 336 to 339.  Last chance tomorrow to catch up and claim the title.  

We are going to try to sleep in tomorrow (try not, do or do not) have a late breakfast and then go ashore in Nassau for a little bit.

Bonnie told me a minute ago she was not sleeping, but just resting.  And now I hear sounds of sleeping coming from the bed.  So ...

TTFN 

 November 9, 2023

We are heading for bed as soon as I post this, but we have some good stuff to tell you tomorrow after a good night’s sleep.  But before we go, one more time ...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JENNIFER DARYLYN!!

And now,

TTFN

November 8, 2023

Tonight’s blog is brought to you by Bonnie Belle Carter Sisler.  And now, heeeeere’s Bonnie!

First , tomorrow is Jennifer’s 53rd birthday. Everybody remember to send her a big Happy Birthday!!

Well, I am not at all sure how good this will be. I am very sleepy. As I sit here getting ready to write just as every other night there is the sound of a child’s steps as he runs back and forth across the floor in the room over head. This actually goes on every morning and night. Usually I fall asleep while he is still running!

This morning when we got up the rain and big waves had ceased. However, off in the distance I could see clouds that mean rain. We never saw the rain but three of the most beautiful rainbows. The first one went from the water on one side of the ship all the way over to the water on the other side of the ship. It was so big we could not take a picture of the whole thing. But we did get a picture of a shorter one to the right of the first one. Then a little later I saw part of a third one. A wonderful way to start a day seeing the reminder from God that he will never destroy us by floods. They were indeed very beautiful.

After dressing we headed to the windjammer for breakfast. I tried french toast but it was cold and I didn’t like the taste of the yogurt I got. So I had some chocolate milk and a sugar donut. Your Dad had thick oatmeal which he declared was good with 3 pats of butter and brown sugar on top! Tomorrow I will try something else.

His talk was at 9:30 and it was freezing in the theater. People came in dressed in large parka coats and other winter attire. So far no one has been able to get the temp fixed. I crocheted and he talked. We went back to the room gathered the cards and went off to play some before lunch. We are playing one marathon game of Casino with winner take all the bragging rights. The score right now is 275-260, favor of me.

We soon headed to the windjammer and today enjoyed a delicious lunch of vegetables including broccoli, carrots, snow peas, zucchini, squash and some mashed bothers with gravy. I had some sauerkraut too, YUM! Bread pudding and ice cream cones for dessert.

The Captain, whose name is Rick, always gives a noon report. Yesterday we had really bad weather, rain,4 to 5 meter waves and a wind of about 30 knots. It was cold and very difficult to be outside and walk anywhere. The Captain said “he didn’t know where that weather came from”. Really aren’t you the Captain and shouldn’t you know and kind of give us a heads up. He did not.

After lunch it was off to the cabin for a nap. After nap time he studied and I crocheted some more. Today’s supper dress was “Caribbean style”. Well, I had a shirt kind of flowery and I wore that and since he said I was kind of dressed up he would wear a sport coat. That was good because we were going to a show with a singer, Finis Henderson, more about him later.

Supper was not very exciting. We had coconut shrimp for appetizer, a chicken Karma with rice and a very spicy sauce. It had a type of flat bread and a kind of large taco chip with it. It was very tasty. Dessert was a pineapple cake for me.

Now about the show. The singer was the Godson of Sammy Davis Jr. He had a great voice and sang about twenty different songs in the voices of Elvis, Sammy, Johnnie Cash, The Bee Gees, rappers, Dean Martin with Jerry Lewis, Lionel Richie, Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson, Sinatra, and many more. He had all the voices and mannerisms perfect. He is a singer in his own right having records produced out of Motown. He also did Arnold and Stallone. He was very good. He gave an hour performance.  

We turn our clocks back again tonight so we are only one hour ahead of you tomorrow. 

I am very tired and ready for bed. I hope you get a good night’s sleep Mac!!.

I miss you all very much. We are supposed to be off the ship at 7:30 on Sunday and headed to the airport for our flight to Charlotte and then to Augusta.

Everybody be good and safe!! Love Mom, Granny and Bonnie.

PS:  Karen, I hope Frank is doing well and you are both well and safe.

And that’s it tonight from 10502.  TTFN