Cruise - 2018

While we were in South Dakota visiting our Son and his wife, we had a Cruise scheduled...we actually booked it for Oct of 2017 for an Eastern Caribbean cruise, starting and ending in Puerto Rico. But after the hurricanes went through and wiped out all the islands in that area, we had to change our plans and did a Western Caribbean cruise instead. This is our third cruise; the first was a 4 day cruise starting in San Diego and went to Catalina Island off of Los Angeles and then to Ensenada Mexico and back to San Diego, and the second was a 7 day western Caribbean cruise leaving out of Galveston Texas, and went to Jamaica, Grand Cayman, Cozumel, and then back to Galveston. All were Carnival Cruises. 

This cruise was for 8 days started on May 19th out of Miami Florida. The first full day was a sea day. Then a stop at Cozumel, Belize, Mahogany Bay, Grand cayman, one more day at sea and then home to Miami. We booked one excursion at Belize to see the Mayan Ruins and we also booked the Chefs Dinner. For all other ports we were going to play it by ear. Below is our adventures for this cruise. 

Before we started this adventure, we booked hotel room in Miami the night before the cruise, and another one in Ft. Lauderdale for after the cruise. We also scheduled a limo to pick us up in Fl. Lauderdale (Southwest doesn't fly into Miami) and take us to our hotel in Miami. Then we found out you had to book it for at least 5 hours (the web page didn't say that.) So we booked an executive Car instead. It cost about twice as much as a Uber, but was fun for a one time experience (we really wanted the limo though). 

We started out from Summit, SD (where we are camping) and headed to Minneapolis, MN. When we got to the airport, there was a metal tube hanging across the access road to the parking garage. You know the ones that say how tall you can be to enter. Well ours said 6' 10". Terry asked, "Will we fit?" and I said "I think so, they (Chevy) say we are only 6' 6" tall." After the antenna hits and a few heartbeats skipped, we fit. Of course once we were in the parking garage, our antenna never hit again. Our flight was on time and was a short flight to Chicago. Thank god, because I got the little kid behind me that had nothing else to do but kick my seat.  His Dad kept telling him to stop, but that didn't help. 

Our connecting flight was 2 hours late, so we called the car company back to let them know we will be arriving two hours later. While waiting for the flight, a bunch of high school kids invaded where we were sitting. I got tired of being kicked and blocked. Time to move to someplace else at the airport. Once we got into the air, Terry had 4 drink coupons that was burning a hole in her pocket and since we were not driving for the next 8 or so days, we decided we would try and get tipsy on the plane. After we ordered our first set of drinks, the steward said they were on the house, when we got to the second set, the same thing happened. We didn't order anymore mainly because you know how fast the service is on a plane. By the time they came by after the second drink, we were starting to descend into the rain clouds. I guess we will hold on to the coupons a little longer. Oh, did I ever mention it always rains everywhere we go? 

We got to the hotel fine and the room we got was an executive room. I mean it was huge. It has a dining/meeting table, couch, loveseat and chair in another section of the room and then the King bed. But what was funny was the bathroom was like any other hotel bathroom; small and plain. Don't know how we got it, because we didn't pay for that type of room, but it was nice. Oh did I say it was prom night in Miami. The next morning guess what, It's raining and will do it all day. That is how our vacations usually start. I did look at the radar it looks like there's no storms in horizon through the Gulf, so hopefully our cruise will be good.  Here are some pictures of the Miami Port and some ship pictures while we were leaving port. 

While we were on ship we played/watched trivia games, bingo games or listened to the different bands. Other things we did was wander and watched sunsets and sunrises..ok maybe not sunrises and went to different shows. Below are some of the highlights/thoughts throughout the cruise. 

Anyone that has been on cruises knows you have to do an abandon ship drill the first day. If this was a real one, then I think everyone was doing to die. They said no one was going to board the lifeboats until everyone showed up... 40 minutes later, we were still waiting for everyone to show up. They finally released us and gave the people that didn't show up there own briefing. I also don't know if their procedures are good either, since we had people meet on both sides of the boat. If the boat was sinking, I would guess it would be leaning to one side. But since I have never been on a sinking ship (I have been on a small boat full of water, but it was an inflatable and would never sink anyway.) I can only guess. 

Every night, the stewards come in and tear down the bed. they also leave a Towel animal for your Pleasure? Anyway, here's the pictures of those. 

In the morning after the first night, Terry had to find the hair Dryer. she found it in the main room (not bathroom). Here is her comments on that. 

 "Call me silly, but who has a hair dryer plugged into the wall behind a desk that you cannot get to to unplug, that is at waist level, with a cord that's only a foot long? Sort of hard to do anything with that. I guess only midgets are allowed to dry their hair...oh wait, that's not politically correct. Ignore that part." 

The rest of the night we checked out the ship, we went up the stairs, down the stairs, then back up them again. Not that we wanted to get exercise or anything, we were just trying to get to different areas of the ship and found out we couldn't in the stairwell we were at. We always seemed to either end up at the ice cream machine (that's where Steve usually lead us to) or the bar in the lobby after we went forward and used those stairs. 

The Lobby bar is where a lot of different games were played and you could also go into the main showroom from that level (just down the hall). The first night I ordered my signature drink at that bar. You guessed it, a Bacardi and Diet coke, but I ordered a double. After the first drink, they would just make the same. Since they knew what I drank, I didn't bother changing it and confusing them. You will see why later. 

At the end of the second day, we finally figured out the lay of the ship (not really, we still got lost the whole cruise). You cannot get to the lobby section third floor from the middle section. You have to go forward or aft before you can get there, and that is where the lobby (bar we liked) is. 

So after closing down the bar in the lobby on the second night, we were off looking for someplace else so we could continue to party. We found a nightclub and off we went. It's been awhile since we've been to a club and I forgot they don't play a whole song. They tease you with the song and then change it.  

 Cozumel was our first stop. We didn't have any plans here, just to check out the shops. I guess that was a bad plan because we spent way more than if we just got on an excursion. Terry did get a nice 1 ct. Tanzanite Ring and a Phil Stein bracelet and we spent half an arm at Cariloha's getting everything bamboo. Here is some pictures. 

After leaving Cozumel we sat down to eat in the dining room and saw some dolphins swimming around. They then headed right for the side of the ship! It looked like it ran right into the side, but after talking to other people, they popped up on the other side...close one.  

That night, the ship played the game "hasbro the game show". This is giant sized games like connect 4 and other games that we don't remember. Anyway, I was picked to play the Connect 4 and when I was going on stage, I almost fell off the stairs getting on stage. No it wasn't the alcohol talking. The ship was just a rockin like it did the entire trip. Oh and our team didn't win.  Here are some pictures of the game show, another show, and the band. (might be a little blurry.  it was clear when I took them though...after closing the bar of course.)

The second time we played bingo I won the big jackpot with one other person. It was a balloon type game so we had to pick a balloon out of 5 to see how much we won. So instead of $750 we won $200. Or I won $100. I was hoping for the $750 but better luck next time. 

Later in the cruise Terry also won in bingo. Her pot was $250 and she didn't have to share it with anyone...(but me.) 

Belize was a tender port. we had two ports like that. the other was the Grand cayman port. Belize was the only port we went on an excursion and that was "Lamanai Mayan Ruins" with a River boat Safari". The river boat portion was was just a boat ride starting in a canal that dumped into a very large river. You didn't see anything of interest during the boat ride. The Ruins portion was quite nice though. I would recommend this one. We saw three Temples and was able to go to the top of the "High Temple". While walking between temples we saw howling monkeys (or black spots in the trees that made lots of noise). The boat we took back from the ruins was almost as fast as a land turtle in the ocean. We were passed by multiple boats. The town that the ship was parked at was like Guam; not very trashy. Every once in a while you would see a bag of trash. And at the site, you would get a little dead animal smell but not that bad. It was a warm day, I heard it was over 100 degrees with some humidity like I guess 100%. Here are our pictures of the ruins and stuff there.  When we got back we ran...ok walked slowly to the ice cream machine. We also had the Chefs dinner tonight, a nice 7 course dinner with 4 different bites before the dinner during the reception.

At the Chef's dinner, I tried everything and liked everything except for the "Mango Sphere, Rosemary Biscuit" that is the one that looks like an egg but isn't. And you had to put the whole thing in your mouth. Good thing because it squirted everywhere. Here is the menu and pictures of each dish. Check the info for each picture to see what it was. Here is a bonus, they gave us the recipe for warm Chocolate Melting Cake. (I think they do that on all cruises though).  We had a magician during the chefs dinner. He had me draw a card and put it back in the deck. Same for another guy. He found my card and handed it to me for safe keeping. He then tried to find the other guys card but couldn't. But when I picked my card back up from the table, it was his card. That was cool. He also had someone pick a card and then he blew on a piece of glass to reveal the card. He did this twice. He had a very small plunger that would pick up the exact number of cards someone picked. He even had someone else do it and it worked then too. Smart plunger. He did other tricks too. It was fun. I like magic! Well we left the dinner full with a good buzz. Did I mention wine was included? 

 I'm not saying we drank a lot or made an impression one night or not, but we can go to the lobby bar and they know us by name and what we drink. So from a distance I can point to me and/or Terry and have the drink ready when we get there.

 At Mahogany bay in Roatan Honduras There was a place that would charge you $15 for fish to eat your dead skin. If you watched the first season of "Better late than never", then you know what I mean. For everyone else, I guess you will need to look it up. We did more shopping here. I picked up a bottle of Dark Chocolate Rum. It was tasty. and we spent more money at Cariloha's. The place was cool though. it also was about the only port with a beach close by and free. When the ship was leaving Roatan, I saw one flying fish or it was a bird trying to drown itself. Terry didn't see it and she said she never has seen one. I have seen plenty in Guam. Too bad that was the only one seen on this trip. Here are some picture of Mahogany Bay.

  During breakfast the next morning, Terry picked the first table she saw. There was a reason no one was sitting there, it was for big people. She had to be a good 2+ feet away from the table.  It was good for a laugh.

In Grand Cayman, while we were walking down the street, Terry saw a bird land on a guy's head and didn't want to leave. I guess the guy was just waving his hands all over the place trying to get the bird to fly away. It eventually did...right before I looked of course. Here are some pictures we took here. 

There was several different nights the entertainment cast (the singers and actors) put on a show about the different music era's. Then after the show, everyone would go to the lobby for a music trivia session. After the questions were answered, we would get on the dance floor and check our work. Listening to the music, getting the answer and every so often, a free drink would be given out. Terry must of been a good dancer...or wiggled her ass more, because in two separate trivia sessions, she got a free drink. All I got was a leigh...but everyone got one of those. 

 During one of the shows, we saw a bird flying around in the theater. When we went to the lobby for the trivia session, the "Bird" came too. But it wasn't a bird, it was a bat. people tried to get the bat outside, but was foiled when the Cruise director said "Leave batman alone". I didn't really see the bat after that, he must of went back to the bat cave. 

 Met a guy (Ken) at the bar... I guess you cannot call it a bar then since it closed so we will call it along table with stools that don't move. Here is where I will give Ken a SHOUT OUT!... Oh, hang over... shout out. 

Friday Night they delivered our rum to the room so we packed everything up so we could leave in the morning. On Saturday, we called an uber and what??? Yup, It was raining. Tropical Storm Alberto came for a visit. I guess we even went through it while on the ship too. That would explain why the big doors to the decks were closed. We got our ride to our hotel in Ft. Lauderdale. 

 While we were there, we walked to the Bass Pro Shop about a mile away (yes it was sprinkling). On the way and at the restaurant (in the Bass pro Shop), we saw these ugly ducks. They must of wrote that story about ugly ducks here. Anyway, I did a little research and found out they are called Muscovy Ducks. Also, while we were eating, two of the ducks were at the top of a staircase. The first one waddled to the edge and jumped to the next step. She did this all the way down to the bottom. The second one waddled up to the edge and then flew to the bottom. I think the first duck said "Chicken!". Here is a picture of them. 

 We got to the airport and nothing really special happened except Terry was able to use 2 of the 4 drink coupons. Since I was going to be driving for 4 hours after we landed, I didn't partake. 

 Once we landed in Minneapolis, we had to find our truck. We know it was in the parking garage, but that is all we remembered. We started on the second level but found out it was on the first level. The only way we found it was using onstar to honk the horn of the truck. That told us we were in the opposite corner of the structure and when we got closer, it told us we were on the wrong floor. But we found it and off to South Dakota we went.  At one point, I think Bigfoot was in the woods with a Bug Machine gun.  We must have killed 1 zillion bugs in a mile stretch.  I had to clean my windshield about 10 times during the trip home.  This isn't an issue in Colorado; very little bugs there.  While driving though Bird Island Minnesota, I think I hit a bird. If that is the case, I guess they will have to change their name to Birdless Island. 

 We did make it safely back home (the fifth Wheel)...well all except the front of the bug ridden truck. 

 I do want to touch base on two different drink packages they have onboard.  Talking about the bubbles and cheers drink packages and whether it was worth it or not. The bubbles package is for soda and the cheers are for adult beverages and it also includes the soda. I did get the bubbles package for myself and it cost about $60 plus 15% tip for the cruise and the cheers package costs $416 for the cruise, plus 15% tip. We added up everything we spent, and I came close to the $60 for soda but not close for the $416 for boose. And I was drinking doubles and averaged about 4 or 5 drinks on the nights we drank (about every other night or so). Terry didn't come close either, so for us, the drink packages are not worth it. 

 While on the ship we booked our next cruise to Alaska. We picked a balcony for this trip. We will be doing that in Sept of 2019.

That's all for this trip.  Thanks for reading and if you have any comments, concerns, or questions, please keep them to yourself.  Naw, just kidding, Please put them below.  Thanks.