SATURDAY - 1/09 [photo album]
Priority boarding since the upgrade fairy called and we moved from a balcony to an ocean suite (yes, we paid extra), amazing cabin, great dinner, our first "Your Time Dining" experience. Went to the cruise first night show, pretty good. Got a preview of the two comedians. REALLY rocky seas....drawers in the dressing room, opening and closing.
SUNDAY - 1/10
Nice day at sea, spent a lot of it trying to get the Chromebook working offline. Ended up buying a day of Internet access (no, didn't check FB - well, not too often) but then the battery died - so I read two great books in the Oracle series by Meghan Doidge. (Just as good as the Dowser series.)
Dinner in the steakhouse, excellent as usual (we pay an extra $35 each for this, but it's always a nice treat). Went to the adult comedy shows, both were good, definitely ADULT. Got REALLY rocky later in the evening again...drawers in the dressing room, opening and closing again. Never had it this rough on previous cruises.
MONDAY - 1/11 [photo album]
Arrived in Cozumel around 10 am, drizzly & cool. Stu's dive was cancelled. I continued working on getting offline apps to work with the Chromebook (who knew it was Linux?) I can open and edit with Google Docs (after I uploaded the files to Google Drive). Installed half a dozen apps, the one with the features I needed the most, won't open the files. Ended up doing a copy/paste into one of the apps. Ended up signing up for internet all week, had to help a client with a website issue. Rained most of the day, at least a drizzle. Dinner was nice, no shows since Stu has a dive in Belize on Tuesday.
TUESDAY - 1/12 [photo album]
Belize - This is a tender port, I've been before so staying on board to write. Overcast in the morning, Stu is off to dive! Had a great day, sun came out, spent some time on the balcony, got some good writing done and Stu saw a huge manta ray and made some diving friends. He said he would come back just do the diving at their resort. Nice dinner, early night.
WEDNESDAY - 1/13 [photo album]
Roatan, Honduras - This is always a good port. Sunny, humid and hot. Stu is off to dive, I went into the shopping area and got him a Pirana Joe shirt and me a "Life is Short, Break Some Rules" shirt. Took photos, too hot to stay too long. An hour did me in. More writing. Stu had a great day of diving, still his favorite port. I started feeling bad around 3pm, ended up sleeping for several hours, skipping dinner and have a grilled cheese from room service later. Stu went to dinner (pizza), met some folks and chatted, played in the casino and just generally had a nice evening.
THURSDAY - 1/14 [photo album]
Costa Maya, Mexico - Overcast day, a little cooler. LONG pier here at (and we've been here before) and I'm still not 100% so skipping a shopping trip. Not sure how much writing I will get done, kind of lost my focus yesterday when I started feeling bad. Stu is off diving. He had a good day even though the sun never came out. Costa Maya was all but destroyed by the last hurricane. They are working hard to rebuild it. We opted to eat at the buffet. Went to a PG comedy show and came back to the room to relax.
FRIDAY - 1/15 [photo album]
Day at sea - booked another cruise! Got the week before our Hawaii cruise on a B2B, same cabin, good rate. No more flying around Thanksgiving. Stu will dive both ports - Puerto Vallarta and Cabo San Lucas (where we spent our honeymoon). I finished writing Wednesday Wailing Wallflower and am moving on to Thursday Thankful Thrills.
We went to the Legends show where guests audition for roles a singers like Elvis, James Brown, Madonna, Frank Sinatra and more. It was actually pretty good. I snapped a few photos from the above the atrium after the show - not great pics though.
SATURDAY - 1/16 [photo album]
Switching cabins/same boat. Great day - so nice to be able to relax on board before everything is deluged with people. Nice dinner in the main dining room with our same waiter, Luis. He is from Peru, has been doing this for 12 years. Going home for 3 months after this cruise and will only do one more tour. Good comedy show, Kelly Terranova was great. Talked to him briefly after the show and found out he lives in Annapolis!
SUNDAY - 1/17 [photo album]
Day at Sea (Laundry day) - all was good till around 1pm when I started feeling bad. Napped most of the afternoon, finally got room service dinner of grilled cheese and chips and doing a bit better by bed time. Stu is fighting a cold, bought Dayquil and Nyquil for $35 but worth it if he can do his dives.
MONDAY - 1/18 [photo album]
Amber Cove, Dominican Republic - Spent a quiet day, walked into Amber Cove (a Carnival built port). Bought a Harley (fake) polo shirt for Stu, a license plate (fake), a beer (kept the bottle to add to our collection) and a little gift for my brother and his wife. Had a nice dinner in the main dining room...oh, and booked ONE MORE cruise. Why? It allows us to board our 22 days on the Miracle (out of LA) as platinum cruisers. Gives us priority boarding as well as free laundry. Yes!
TUESDAY - 1/19 [photo album]
St Thomas, US Virgin Islands - Leisurely breakfast, ported in St Thomas around 11 am, Stu went diving at noon. I spent the day writing. Stu had a good day and I got some writing done. Intestinal issues back, we ate dinner on the Lido Deck and called it a night. I took a two hour nap, waking around 10:30. Oh yeah, and Stu brought me another conch shell. No crab, right? WRONG! Argh!!! LOL!
WEDNESDAY - 1/20 [photo album]
San Juan, PR - bright and sunny. Too much city for me, sticking with writing. Stu went walking, had a beer and got in some steps. Agreed, too much city for us. LOL! Got some nice shots as we left, including a rainbow and some of the fort that we passed. Got out to sea - ROCKY WATERS. We ate dinner in the buffet since it was Cruise Elegant night. Plenty of company doing the same.
Went to the late movie at the Dive-In (by the pool), "San Andreas". Had to sit way up, even arriving 15 minutes early. The movie was your typical disaster movie but hey, it starred Dwayne Johnson! The interesting thing was watching earthquakes on the screen while the ship was rocking and rolling. Talk about special effects. Got back to the room and the sliding closet door kept rolling open and closed. Jammed some cardboard between the doors to stop it. Same with the triple doors on the shower/jacuzzi tub. Those stayed latched once we closed them completely.
THURSDAY - 1/21 [photo album]
Grand Turk & Caicos - Woke up to up still rocking & rolling. Stu went scuba diving and I went in and walked the shops. Gorgeous FREE beach, lots of shops. Found Harley-Davidson, Pirana Joe and Ron Jon. Got Stu two t-shirts, a pair of water shoes and me a t-shirt. Wandered for about an hour, VERY windy out! Oh, and had the Emerald Princess parked beside us.
FRIDAY - 1/22 [photo album]
Sea Day - Another rocky day at sea but that wasn't what made me sick - up most of the night, sitting on the john. UGH! I took it easy all day, staying in bed most of the day. Grilled cheese sandwich & chips from room service was the only thing I ate. Stu did a lot of walking and taking care of me.
SATURDAY - 1/23
Home on time, breakfast in the room, off the ship, picked up the truck and on the road home by 9:15. WOW!
Ciao for Now!
Stu and Donna