Cruising over, Cruise 'in yet to come!

Just a quick post about our last cruise and our cruise-in to come! Our Western Caribbean cruise on the Carnival Magic was fairly uneventful. Or not. It all depends on your point of view.

• Stu dove three ports, all of which he has dived before. Roatan, Honduras is still his favorite.
• I wrote, and wrote, and wrote - getting six chapters written for my upcoming novella in the Lei Crime Series, Paradise Dead.
• I managed to stick to my diet, for the most part. Dinner in the Italian specialty restaurant was tough but I tried to not eat too much pasta. My downfall was iced cappuccinos. I held out until the last two days though!
• Karaoke on a cruise ship is just as painful as it is on land.
• We had an absolute blast getting to know two of the new members in the #sixappeal band. They are now both added to the cast of characters in the upcoming book, Paradise Dead.
• We went cave tubing and zip-lining in Belize with five members of the #sixappeal band. What a hoot!!!
• Formerly referred to as our foster grandsons, they are now our BAND-sons (and daughter). We will miss them all and hope to see a few of them as we cross paths in the future. Talented folks!
• Stu can dance it up when the right song comes on. {snicker}
  
• We briefly met John Heald, the brand ambassador for Carnival Cruise Lines. We love his humor and follow his Facebook page. He was kind enough to send us a gift - we now have a bottle of wine in the fridge and a ship-on-a-stick to add to our memorabilia. The fruit was gifted to a family traveling with several kids.
• To me, this song will always be known as "Night at the Museum", but now I know better.
• Guy's Burgers taste just as good without a bun! (and I did eat 5-6 french fries...snicker)
• The snacks in the Red Frog Pub are very reasonably priced at $3.33 each.
• The Magic is a HUGE ship for us. We liked many things about it but still prefer the smaller ships. The Conquest class is currently our favorite.
• Too many kids! Stu ended up with a chest cold at the end of the cruise.
• We took a few photos, mostly of the band and stage performers. We took several short videos as well.
• Yes, I'm still addicted to iced cappuccinos.

Most of the pictures/videos were taken with an iPhone or a GoPro. The quality varies from okay to wretched. LOL! No time to edit, just uploaded and going with them as is. Here are some shared by others. Dinner in the Italian Specialty Restaurant. Front to back, left to right: Steven Zimoski (saxophone), Stu, Me, Jacob Bowker (keyboard), Anna-Julia King (singer/dancer), David Tarr (singer, guitar) 

 

Way too early in the morning for these guys - taking the tender into Belize. Front to back, left to right: Steven Zimoski (saxophone), Federico Gironelli (lead guitar), me, Teddy Grant (drums), Jacob Bowker (keyboard), David Tarr (singer/guitar), Stu (You can enjoy an original composition from Federico on YouTube.) 

 

Getting ready for the zip-line. David Tarr, Teddy Grant, Federico Gironelli, Steven Zimoski 

Me, coming in for a landing on one of the five platforms. 

Late night chatting with our band-sons.

 

What musicians do when the cruise director comes over the intercom and overrides their microphones. 

The BEARD photo... 

And here are links to two short video clips from the stage production "America Sings" and the Chicago song, "25 Or 6 To 4".  Video one is the horns coming in (their stage rose from underneath) and video two is the end of the song with Federico on guitar.

A few pics of the ship, Carnival Magic.

All the photos are HERE and, unfortunately, not in order taken. Most of the videos are at the bottom and the first photos at the top are ones friends shared with us. LOL! Enjoy..

So that's it - cruising is over. BUT we now have a CRUISE-IN to attend. April 1st in Chattanooga.

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Ciao for now!