Port Charlotte to Tampa to Seattle to Sunland; 3-22-15
It was a very lazy morning. We didn't even get up until about 7:00 or so. We lazed around drinking coffee and visiting until it was time to make breakfast (or brunch) late morning. We had a nice visit with Steve and Barbara but had to head back up the coast to Tampa Bay by about 1:30 or so. Our flight was scheduled for 6:00 but we didn't know what the traffic was going to be like. There are so many people in that area we had discovered stop and go traffic a lot.
We got to the airport about 3:00 or so. The Tampa airport security was definitely not like SeaTac's wherein we had to take our shoes off, 3 ounces had to be out of our carry on, etc. But security went pretty quickly. Alaska Airlines is in a terminal with just a couple other smaller airlines so it's not too busy. There was a restaurant right next to our gate so we decided to go ahead and eat dinner since our flight was 6 hours (non-stop) then we had a 3 hour drive home.
It was a full flight and wouldn't you know the guy I had to sit next to had a San Francisco baseball hat on (fortunately it was the baseball team NOT the football team), was just off a NCL cruise and didn't really smell all that great, and was kinda big and was encroaching on my space which meant I had to encroach on Jim's space.
On the other hand, thanks to T-Mobile and GoGo In flight (or whatever it's called), I get free texting, so I pretty much texted with Tracy most of the flight. It was very handy when I wanted to know where we were when we were having "heavy bumps" and the pilot asked the flight attendants to take their seats!
We also did something different with our car this trip. Whenever we fly out of Seattle, we drive over the day before and stay at the Hampton and leave our car at a paid parking place (usually Seatacpark.com). This time, I happened to ask Hampton if they allowed guests to leave their cars for a price - YES, they did and it was half the price of the other paid parking plus it was in the underground parking! It was great to be able to use the restroom, get Jim a cup of coffee in the lobby before getting our car in the parking garage! We might have gotten on the road before 10:0 p.m. local time, but it was after 1:00 a.m. east coast time which is the time zone we were used to.
And now ... back to reality. And waiting for our next adventure!
Sunday, April 5, 2015
Day 12, Travel to Port Charlotte after Debarkation of Vision of the Seas
Tampa Bay; Port Charlotte; 3-21-15
We were woken up by our 5:30 wake up call and were pretty much the first people in the Windjammer. I had my final 2 over medium eggs and wonderful fruit filled bread. I was down on Deck 5 to get my 4 bottles of rum promptly at 6:30! All 4 bottles fit nicely in my little black roll along suitcase which I had purposely left empty for just that purpose.
We left our cabin about 7 and waited on Deck 6 in the Centrum for awhile before going into our assigned waiting area in the Dining Room. We really didn't have long to wait before they came in and called our number. Our luggage was waiting for us and we were 3rd in line for US Customs (of course, we got behind some very ignorant college guys that hadn't filled out their US Customs forms, didn't have pens to fill them out, and were holding up the line before a Royal staff person pulled them out of line and lectured them about having them filled out before they even got into line - it was awesome!!! - by the way they were acting, I'm sure they were hangover, too! - I sure was glad to see the last of those college students).
I only had $86 to declare on the US Customs form! Woohoo for me! And most of that was liquor. The agent asked if I bought liquor. I told him 4 bottles. He asked where it was. I told him in my little black suitcase. He asked if I bought tobacco. I told him absolutely not - ick! He chuckled at that. Said have a good day and that was that.
When we were picked up at the hotel by the shuttle driver a week ago we had asked him the best way to get back to the airport. He gave us his card and said to call him and he'd come back and pick us up. When I called, his cell phone went to voice mail that said he was unavailable. We decided to just grab a cab when a guy asked Jim if we needed a ride to the airport and that he had 2 seats left in his van. Wow, that couldn't have worked out any better. Of course we took it!
We had reserved a rental car for our drive down to Port Charlotte to spend the day, the night and most of the next day with Steve and Barbara Hundley.
We got down to their house late morning. They have a lovely home on one of the canals leading out to the gulf. We went for a boat ride, enjoyed the wonderful weather, ate until we were stuffed, and drank two blenders full of Nellie's Punch between the four of us! It was a good day!
We were woken up by our 5:30 wake up call and were pretty much the first people in the Windjammer. I had my final 2 over medium eggs and wonderful fruit filled bread. I was down on Deck 5 to get my 4 bottles of rum promptly at 6:30! All 4 bottles fit nicely in my little black roll along suitcase which I had purposely left empty for just that purpose.
We left our cabin about 7 and waited on Deck 6 in the Centrum for awhile before going into our assigned waiting area in the Dining Room. We really didn't have long to wait before they came in and called our number. Our luggage was waiting for us and we were 3rd in line for US Customs (of course, we got behind some very ignorant college guys that hadn't filled out their US Customs forms, didn't have pens to fill them out, and were holding up the line before a Royal staff person pulled them out of line and lectured them about having them filled out before they even got into line - it was awesome!!! - by the way they were acting, I'm sure they were hangover, too! - I sure was glad to see the last of those college students).
I only had $86 to declare on the US Customs form! Woohoo for me! And most of that was liquor. The agent asked if I bought liquor. I told him 4 bottles. He asked where it was. I told him in my little black suitcase. He asked if I bought tobacco. I told him absolutely not - ick! He chuckled at that. Said have a good day and that was that.
When we were picked up at the hotel by the shuttle driver a week ago we had asked him the best way to get back to the airport. He gave us his card and said to call him and he'd come back and pick us up. When I called, his cell phone went to voice mail that said he was unavailable. We decided to just grab a cab when a guy asked Jim if we needed a ride to the airport and that he had 2 seats left in his van. Wow, that couldn't have worked out any better. Of course we took it!
We had reserved a rental car for our drive down to Port Charlotte to spend the day, the night and most of the next day with Steve and Barbara Hundley.
We got down to their house late morning. They have a lovely home on one of the canals leading out to the gulf. We went for a boat ride, enjoyed the wonderful weather, ate until we were stuffed, and drank two blenders full of Nellie's Punch between the four of us! It was a good day!
I could live here!
Jim helping Steve get the boat ready to go for a ride.
For some reason I didn't get a picture of Barbara so here's a picture of the two of us taken back in 2013 when we were in New Orleans rocking our Seahawks shirts! She still looks the same!
Cruise Day 7
Sea Day; 3-20-15
It was another calm day at sea. Captain Marek said he'd never had this many calm sea days. There was only one evening that we had seas up to 5 feet and they didn't last very long at all. Yesterday I had refused to walk the stairs anymore. It was 112 stairs from Deck 3 to Deck 9 which is where the Solarium and Windjammer is located. After 5 days of doing that several times a day, I'd had enough so it was elevator time for me.
About mid-morning, Captain Marek announced that we were passing Cuba on the starboard side of the ship - you could barely see land since it was about 7 miles away. Other than his Noon announcement every day, and the announcement about the raft that was adrift, and the announcements when we were coming into port, there were few announcements anymore. No more BINGO BINGO BINGO! It was awesome! I always thought all the announcements all during the day were getting out of hand.
We used our free lunch coupon at Giovanni's today. It's a regular sit-down affair with four different courses. That's just too much for us in the middle of the day so we opted for the main course (lasagna) and dessert (tiramisu).
There were some pool activities today and one in particular that Captain Marek participated in. I didn't want to get too close but I wanted to get a picture of him since he was a very nice looking captain!
It was also time to finish packing. We had gotten our notice where to pick up our rum the next morning. They waste no time - 6:30 a.m. come and get it! LOL I was there and got it, too!
We also got our number to get off the ship. Since we're Diamond, we're #5 group to get off.
I finished up our free internet minutes with another email home. The rest of the day and evening was very lazy. We gave Nikali a nice extra tip ($) for making sure our room was made up for the evening early (since we were early birds this cruise) and making sure our ice bucket was always full of ice. Our luggage was outside before 9:00 p.m. (I think the cut-off was 11:00 p.m.) and our wake-up call was set for 5:30 a.m.
It was a relaxing cruise; I got my rum; but we did miss our cruising buddies!
It was another calm day at sea. Captain Marek said he'd never had this many calm sea days. There was only one evening that we had seas up to 5 feet and they didn't last very long at all. Yesterday I had refused to walk the stairs anymore. It was 112 stairs from Deck 3 to Deck 9 which is where the Solarium and Windjammer is located. After 5 days of doing that several times a day, I'd had enough so it was elevator time for me.
About mid-morning, Captain Marek announced that we were passing Cuba on the starboard side of the ship - you could barely see land since it was about 7 miles away. Other than his Noon announcement every day, and the announcement about the raft that was adrift, and the announcements when we were coming into port, there were few announcements anymore. No more BINGO BINGO BINGO! It was awesome! I always thought all the announcements all during the day were getting out of hand.
We used our free lunch coupon at Giovanni's today. It's a regular sit-down affair with four different courses. That's just too much for us in the middle of the day so we opted for the main course (lasagna) and dessert (tiramisu).
There were some pool activities today and one in particular that Captain Marek participated in. I didn't want to get too close but I wanted to get a picture of him since he was a very nice looking captain!
Crew on the left, passengers on the right.
Captain Marek in the front.
It was also time to finish packing. We had gotten our notice where to pick up our rum the next morning. They waste no time - 6:30 a.m. come and get it! LOL I was there and got it, too!
We also got our number to get off the ship. Since we're Diamond, we're #5 group to get off.
I finished up our free internet minutes with another email home. The rest of the day and evening was very lazy. We gave Nikali a nice extra tip ($) for making sure our room was made up for the evening early (since we were early birds this cruise) and making sure our ice bucket was always full of ice. Our luggage was outside before 9:00 p.m. (I think the cut-off was 11:00 p.m.) and our wake-up call was set for 5:30 a.m.
It was a relaxing cruise; I got my rum; but we did miss our cruising buddies!
Cruise Day 6
Grand Cayman, 3-19-15.
We weren't getting into Grand Cayman until late morning. I was doing some stitching on my quilt on Deck 6 and who should walk by but Gary Lovini. We both happened to look at each other at the same time. He said "hi" and, of course, I took that as a sign that I should talk to him. I told him we enjoyed his music last night just as much as we did last year. He asked where we'd seen him and I told him. I also showed him my play list on my cell phone since I had bought two of his CD's. He was quite pleased about that. He asked if I had gotten a picture the night before but I told him I'd forgotten my cell phone and he asked if I wanted to take a picture right then. Well, duh! So, here we are!
Anyway, this is the day I've been waiting for the entire cruise! The reason I really only booked this cruise in the first place! To come to Grand Cayman so I could go to Tortuga and get their rum! It's the only place in the world you can get it. Grand Cayman is still as beautiful as I remembered it! Beautiful blue water, white sand 7 mile beach! We spent 2 weeks on vacation on Grand Cayman in 2007 and did everything there was to see and do so we really didn't need to do anything else - except buy rum!
We were the 5th ship in port today (3 Royal ships, 1 NCL ship, 1 Carnival ship; the Royal ships alone counted for 10,200 passengers; we figured the other 2 ships held at least 7500 passengers so Grand Cayman was very crowded).
We were anchored by about 10:45. Instead of using the lifeboats (as Royal Caribbean has done in the past at tender ports, especially Grand Cayman), they used a tender service in Grand Cayman. Those tenders held 340 passengers so tendering went very fast. We didn't bother getting in line to get tender tickets since we didn't have anything planned except to get off the ship and go buy rum!
We walked into the first Tortuga store we came to (it was too crowded) and walked right back out. There was a security guard outside the door. I asked him where the next Tortuga store was. He looked at me like I had rocks in my head and then looked at the store we just walked out of. I told him it was too crowded. He said the next store was at the end of the block. Well, duh, why wouldn't I walk one block to a less crowded store? There were only 4 people in that one. I had my 4 bottles of 140 proof Tortuga rum (duty free for 2 bottles each and each bottle is actually a liter not a fifth) bought and we were done and out the door in less than 5 minutes. The store packages it up and delivers it directly to the ship for you. Then I picked it up the morning we docked back in Tampa Bay.
I bought 4 bottles of rum but since we were visiting some friends after the cruise, I left one bottle with them as a thank you gift for having us as guests for a couple of days! Plus I showed them my favorite drink with this wonderful rum - Nellie's Punch! I got the recipe when we were on a Royal cruise back in 1995 and we stopped at their private island on the other end of Haiti. One of the areas was Nellie's Village so the ship's crew served Nellie's Punch. It's best made with this rum, but in a pinch Bacardi 150 proof rum will work. I use a 2 ounce shot glass as my measurer. Here's the recipe:
2 shots each of pineapple juice, orange juice, cream of coconut (found in the mixer aisle at the grocery store), rum (FYI, it has to be 150 rum, regular 80 proof doesn't have the right taste at all). Blend with ice to make a blender full. YUMMY!
After buying the rum, we wandered around a little but there were just too many people we decided we'd had enough and went back to the ship. We spent the rest of the day in the Solarium enjoying the empty pool and reading. We also took advantage of our Diamond status for free drinks again. We really weren't sure we'd take advantage of that particular perk but apparently we did!
We had one final towel animal! He wasn't hanging like the others so he had to hang out on the table!
My 3 bottles ATFER we got home. Since you can't carry more than 3 ounces on the airplane I had to check these. I wrapped and taped each bottle with cardboard. I wrapped and taped each bottle with bubble wrap. I put each bottle in a 2 gallon heavy duty zip lock bag. Finally I put each bottle in a big e-bag in between the clothes and prayed they wouldn't get broken in our checked luggage. We have soft-side luggage and with the way luggage gets thrown around in the airports you just never know! I put two bottles in my suitcase and Jim had one bottle in his.
We weren't getting into Grand Cayman until late morning. I was doing some stitching on my quilt on Deck 6 and who should walk by but Gary Lovini. We both happened to look at each other at the same time. He said "hi" and, of course, I took that as a sign that I should talk to him. I told him we enjoyed his music last night just as much as we did last year. He asked where we'd seen him and I told him. I also showed him my play list on my cell phone since I had bought two of his CD's. He was quite pleased about that. He asked if I had gotten a picture the night before but I told him I'd forgotten my cell phone and he asked if I wanted to take a picture right then. Well, duh! So, here we are!
Anyway, this is the day I've been waiting for the entire cruise! The reason I really only booked this cruise in the first place! To come to Grand Cayman so I could go to Tortuga and get their rum! It's the only place in the world you can get it. Grand Cayman is still as beautiful as I remembered it! Beautiful blue water, white sand 7 mile beach! We spent 2 weeks on vacation on Grand Cayman in 2007 and did everything there was to see and do so we really didn't need to do anything else - except buy rum!
Of course I'm 12ing my Seattle Seahawks!
We were the 5th ship in port today (3 Royal ships, 1 NCL ship, 1 Carnival ship; the Royal ships alone counted for 10,200 passengers; we figured the other 2 ships held at least 7500 passengers so Grand Cayman was very crowded).
Carnival ship; 2 Royal ships
NCL ship (with some behemoth thing on top in front)
We were anchored by about 10:45. Instead of using the lifeboats (as Royal Caribbean has done in the past at tender ports, especially Grand Cayman), they used a tender service in Grand Cayman. Those tenders held 340 passengers so tendering went very fast. We didn't bother getting in line to get tender tickets since we didn't have anything planned except to get off the ship and go buy rum!
We walked into the first Tortuga store we came to (it was too crowded) and walked right back out. There was a security guard outside the door. I asked him where the next Tortuga store was. He looked at me like I had rocks in my head and then looked at the store we just walked out of. I told him it was too crowded. He said the next store was at the end of the block. Well, duh, why wouldn't I walk one block to a less crowded store? There were only 4 people in that one. I had my 4 bottles of 140 proof Tortuga rum (duty free for 2 bottles each and each bottle is actually a liter not a fifth) bought and we were done and out the door in less than 5 minutes. The store packages it up and delivers it directly to the ship for you. Then I picked it up the morning we docked back in Tampa Bay.
I bought 4 bottles of rum but since we were visiting some friends after the cruise, I left one bottle with them as a thank you gift for having us as guests for a couple of days! Plus I showed them my favorite drink with this wonderful rum - Nellie's Punch! I got the recipe when we were on a Royal cruise back in 1995 and we stopped at their private island on the other end of Haiti. One of the areas was Nellie's Village so the ship's crew served Nellie's Punch. It's best made with this rum, but in a pinch Bacardi 150 proof rum will work. I use a 2 ounce shot glass as my measurer. Here's the recipe:
2 shots each of pineapple juice, orange juice, cream of coconut (found in the mixer aisle at the grocery store), rum (FYI, it has to be 150 rum, regular 80 proof doesn't have the right taste at all). Blend with ice to make a blender full. YUMMY!
After buying the rum, we wandered around a little but there were just too many people we decided we'd had enough and went back to the ship. We spent the rest of the day in the Solarium enjoying the empty pool and reading. We also took advantage of our Diamond status for free drinks again. We really weren't sure we'd take advantage of that particular perk but apparently we did!
We had one final towel animal! He wasn't hanging like the others so he had to hang out on the table!
My 3 bottles ATFER we got home. Since you can't carry more than 3 ounces on the airplane I had to check these. I wrapped and taped each bottle with cardboard. I wrapped and taped each bottle with bubble wrap. I put each bottle in a 2 gallon heavy duty zip lock bag. Finally I put each bottle in a big e-bag in between the clothes and prayed they wouldn't get broken in our checked luggage. We have soft-side luggage and with the way luggage gets thrown around in the airports you just never know! I put two bottles in my suitcase and Jim had one bottle in his.
Saturday, April 4, 2015
Cruise Day 5
Costa Maya, Mexico, 3-18-15
We were the only ship docked in port that day. As you can tell, there isn't much of a town at all.
We walked off the ship but the line was very long at the end of the pier and we figured it was because all the bags were being checked by a drug sniffing dog again. Since we were just going to look around at the shops right there at the pier and had no excursions planned, Jim decided he wasn't going to wait in line and headed back to the ship. After he left I realized we were in the excursion line and there actually wasn't a line to walk into the pier area after all!
I was wearing my Seattle Seahawks visor again and was asked by the salesmen if I wanted to buy their backpacks (even though it was plainly obvious I was wearing one), if I wanted to buy a Seahawks poncho, if I wanted to buy a Seahawks baseball hat, etc. I was actually looking for a Seahawks braided bracelet and finally found one. None of the places in Cozumel had any left.
I took a few pictures and as I was leaving the pier area to head back to the ship, one of the salesmen just looked at me, said he liked my visor and didn't even try and sell me anything! How refreshing!
As has been our habit on this cruise, the rest of our day was spent at the Solarium either in the pool or reading. We had also gotten our bag of Wash & Fold laundry back just in the nick of time. Jim kept saying he didn't bring enough short socks! I also used up one of the free hours of internet which meant we still had one hour free which I needed to use over the next two days or lose it
Before dinner Jim just happened to be reading the daily Cruise Compass and noticed that Gary Lovini was the evening entertainment. What a coincidence. Gary was the entertainment on our Trans-Atlantic last April on the Legend. He's a very accomplished violinist and we didn't hesitate to stay up to go see him again. He was just as good as we remembered! Unfortunately I had forgotten to take my phone or camera so I was unable to get his picture.
We were the only ship docked in port that day. As you can tell, there isn't much of a town at all.
We walked off the ship but the line was very long at the end of the pier and we figured it was because all the bags were being checked by a drug sniffing dog again. Since we were just going to look around at the shops right there at the pier and had no excursions planned, Jim decided he wasn't going to wait in line and headed back to the ship. After he left I realized we were in the excursion line and there actually wasn't a line to walk into the pier area after all!
I was wearing my Seattle Seahawks visor again and was asked by the salesmen if I wanted to buy their backpacks (even though it was plainly obvious I was wearing one), if I wanted to buy a Seahawks poncho, if I wanted to buy a Seahawks baseball hat, etc. I was actually looking for a Seahawks braided bracelet and finally found one. None of the places in Cozumel had any left.
I took a few pictures and as I was leaving the pier area to head back to the ship, one of the salesmen just looked at me, said he liked my visor and didn't even try and sell me anything! How refreshing!
The dock was so long there was a little shuttle that ran back and forth for those who didn't think they could walk that far.
As has been our habit on this cruise, the rest of our day was spent at the Solarium either in the pool or reading. We had also gotten our bag of Wash & Fold laundry back just in the nick of time. Jim kept saying he didn't bring enough short socks! I also used up one of the free hours of internet which meant we still had one hour free which I needed to use over the next two days or lose it
Before dinner Jim just happened to be reading the daily Cruise Compass and noticed that Gary Lovini was the evening entertainment. What a coincidence. Gary was the entertainment on our Trans-Atlantic last April on the Legend. He's a very accomplished violinist and we didn't hesitate to stay up to go see him again. He was just as good as we remembered! Unfortunately I had forgotten to take my phone or camera so I was unable to get his picture.
Cruise Day 4
Belize; 3-17-15; St. Patrick's Day
We were up early, had coffee and ate breakfast all by 6:30 a.m. since we had to be in the theatre at 6:45 to catch our tender to port for our all day excursion. It was a 30+ minute tender ride. Then we had a 1 hour, 20 minute bus ride to the New River. Our tour guide was Tina (she called herself an African Créole and was born in Belize. She was cute as could be and very funny. Our archaeologist was very knowledgeable and a Mestizo (combination Mayan and Spanish) and neither Jim nor I can remember his name).
Once we got to the New River, we rode in these river boats for over an hour to Lamanai Mayan Ruins.
Our boat operator spotted this alligator sunning himself on this log not too long after we'd gotten into the main channel of the river. I don't know how he could see him since we were flying down the river!
Once we got to the Lamamai Mayan Ruins, our archaeologist took over the tour.
After visiting the ruins, we made a fast trip back up New River and had lunch before boarding the bus back to the port to catch the tender back to the ship.
It was a horrible tender ride ruined by loud, obnoxious, disrespectful Tennessee Vols college students who didn't care that they were bothering everyone else on the boat. When asked to tone it down, they got louder. It was disgusting. Towards the end I thought one man was really going to start something with them, but then we got to the ship and they quieted down.
We were back in our cabin after dinner by 7:30. We were tired after the long day and I needed to do a bit of hand laundry (I don't sent my undies to the ship's laundry to be washed in hot water).
We got our second towel animal tonight!
We were up early, had coffee and ate breakfast all by 6:30 a.m. since we had to be in the theatre at 6:45 to catch our tender to port for our all day excursion. It was a 30+ minute tender ride. Then we had a 1 hour, 20 minute bus ride to the New River. Our tour guide was Tina (she called herself an African Créole and was born in Belize. She was cute as could be and very funny. Our archaeologist was very knowledgeable and a Mestizo (combination Mayan and Spanish) and neither Jim nor I can remember his name).
Once we got to the New River, we rode in these river boats for over an hour to Lamanai Mayan Ruins.
Our boat operator spotted this alligator sunning himself on this log not too long after we'd gotten into the main channel of the river. I don't know how he could see him since we were flying down the river!
This is where McAfee lived before he fled Belize (yes, the security software McAfee).
A termite nest in this dead tree.
There is an owl on the whitish part of the branch that goes straight out to the right.
A snake cactus on the tree.
Burned palm trees.
One of 13 Amish communities in Belize.
The rest of the same Amish community.
We came flying around the corner of the river and found these Amish guys cooling it down by the water! I have no idea how I was able to get their picture!
It was such a calm day.
Beautiful white bird!
Once we got to the Lamamai Mayan Ruins, our archaeologist took over the tour.
Jaguar Temple - it was very sacred and no one was allowed to climb on it.
High Temple - people were allowed to climb on this.
Jim climbed this one.
From the top.
The final temple that people were allowed to climb on.
After visiting the ruins, we made a fast trip back up New River and had lunch before boarding the bus back to the port to catch the tender back to the ship.
It was a horrible tender ride ruined by loud, obnoxious, disrespectful Tennessee Vols college students who didn't care that they were bothering everyone else on the boat. When asked to tone it down, they got louder. It was disgusting. Towards the end I thought one man was really going to start something with them, but then we got to the ship and they quieted down.
We were back in our cabin after dinner by 7:30. We were tired after the long day and I needed to do a bit of hand laundry (I don't sent my undies to the ship's laundry to be washed in hot water).
We got our second towel animal tonight!
This bat hangs right next to our towel monkey!
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