Cruising with Family

   At the beginning of December, we went off on another cruise.  We have been back over a week, so I am late blogging about it, but I figure better late than never.
   This was different from our other trips because it was a short trip and we traveled with family.  My sister and her husband drove to our house on Friday and the four of us embarked on a 2 day drive to Miami Saturday morning.  It was a no-rush drive, since the ship was not scheduled to leave port until Monday afternoon. With 3 drivers, we took 3 hour shifts and drove 9 hours each day.  Sunday night we checked into a hotel and met my sister's son and his wife for dinner at Outback.  Late Monday morning we all boarded the Carnival Imagination for a 4 day cruise to Key West and Cozumel.
   We had never cruised on Carnival before.  Reviews we read or heard were not as good for Carnival as other lines we have cruised with, but we were keeping an open mind.  After all, it was only going to be 4 days.  So here is my impression of the cruise.
   Check in was pretty easy, although there was a lack of signs telling us where to go.  We went to 3 different check-in counters before getting one that could check us in and even that turned out to not be the right one.  The agent was helpful and took care of us anyway.  The other 4 in our party did not have as good luck.  Two of them use wheelchairs, so they had to go to a special line.  Their reservations were made together, but they wanted charges to go on separate credit cards.  The agent had trouble handling this and it took at least an hour for them to check in.
   Once on board, we met in the buffet.  We secured a table for 6 and called the others to tell them where we were.  The only problem was, ship employees insisted on helping with the wheelchairs and wouldn't go where the occupants requested.  They were pushed to a table at the back of the buffet area before this "aid" left them and they could proceed to find us.  Sometimes it's better not to have help.
it was pretty easy for us to find our room, but I heard other passengers who were confused by the deck labeling system.  Decks had names and the first letter of the name was used to identify the deck in the elevator, along with a number and this seemed to confuse some people.  The Imagination is a relatively small ship, so you can't get lost for long.
   We were disappointed with the theater.  It is set up more like a lounge than a theater - way too flat.  There aren't very many seats that you can see the stage well from.  It didn't matter much because the talent of the performers was also below what we experienced on other ships.  The bars were good though and although we didn't try it, the others in our group enjoyed the casino.
In room TV was good, so we opted for that over the shows.  One problem was that, if you are in your room you cannot hear ship announcements and they don't broadcast them over a TV station like some ships do.  The only way to hear an announcement was to open the door and by the time we were able to do that the announcement was usually over.  I guess they don't expect passengers to be in their rooms much.  That might be true in the summer, but for this December cruise it was too cold to sit by the pool.
   Key West and Cozumel were fun.  We enjoyed exploring the port and shopping a little.  The other four rented a car and drove around Cozumel exploring ruins and had a good time. Getting on and off the ship was easy, but there were way too many photographers.  Most ships we have been on have one or two photo op stations at a port, but at Cozumel I counted 8.   Photographers were also more apparent on the ship.  They came to the dining room every night, making the rounds twice the first night.  In addition, there were numerous backdrop photo spots all over the ship.  Definitely overkill.
   Disembarkation was one of the easiest ever, thanks in part to the port of Miami.  This is the first cruise port we have disembarked where the luggage was on a carousel instead of just lined up by color on the open floor.  It made it much easier to find and retrieve our luggage.  The other nicety was that customs and immigration were handled by one agent instead of separate stations.  From the time our number was called to leave the ship until we walked out the terminal door was definitely less than half an hour. We were on the road driving north by 9:30AM.
   As my nephew's wife said, Carnival is the Walmart of cruises - discounted and no frills.  We had a good time, but I wouldn't want to be on a ship like that for a long cruise.  The food was OK, but nothing special.  The room attendant made nice towel animals for us, but there wasn't any personal service.  The dining room waiters had too many tables, so they didn't have time to provide personal service, but they did their jobs well.  If you just want to drink, gamble and swim in the pool or hot tub, this may be fine, but if you want a little more from your cruise experience, you'll be disappointed in Carnival.
   The drive back north was pleasant. We did the same thing, 2 days, 9 hours each, in 3 hour shifts.  My sister and I played Scrabble much of the way.  Once back at our house we invited them to stay another day and help us decorate for Christmas.  This was a big help, especially in passing boxes of ornaments down the stairs in relay fashion.  After completing one 7 ft tree and getting our 12 ft tree 75% done, we took them out for the best ribs in the area. 
   Over all, this was a fun week. We really enjoyed the time with family,  It probably wouldn't have mattered where we were, good times with family are something to be cherished.

Back to Reality

OK, this will be my last post here until the next trip.
We made it home on Sunday in about 11 hours, including breaks for meals and driver swaps.  It was almost uneventful.  During Ray's shift of driving we suddenly became very glad they gave us the monster Chevy Suburban.  There was a tire, on the rim lying in the center of the lane on Rt 95.  We saw the car in front of us swerve around it. but there wasn't enough time or space for Ray to do the same.  Instead he centered the car to run over it.  Once we got past we pulled over to see if any damage was done, but the car was fine.  If we had run over it with any of our tires, it might have flipped us, but the Suburban is such a high car that we went right over it.  The only effect was a little burnt rubber smell where the tire probably rubbed against the car's undercarriage.  Despite that, we made good time and got home safe and sound. 
Today I made arrangements to work from home.  We started by returning the rental car, going to McDonald's for breakfast, then making a quick run into the grocery store to restock the fridge with enough to get us through the next few days.  After that, we went home and I started work while Ray started the laundry. This was the first time in a month that we had to do our own laundry and cook our own meals.  We got so spoiled for the past month.  Tomorrow I go back to the office and Ray has to get a new battery for his car.  Back to reality.

Day 33 - On Dry Land Again

This has been an interesting day.  The Navigator of the Seas arrived at Port Everglades, Ft Lauderdale, about 5:30 this morning.  This was a little later than scheduled because our captain took the ship a little north to stay clear of Hurricane Thomas.   We watched as our ship docked alongside Royal Caribbean's Oasis of the Seas, Carnival's Freedom, The World, and at least 2 other cruise ships.  We were scheduled to disembark at 8AM, but were not cleared to leave the ship until after 9AM.  Once off the ship we had to walk quite a ways to get to the terminal and pick up our bags.  While Ray found our bags I found a porter to help us.  The porter was very good, helping us through the chaos. 
When we got to customs and immigration, Ray handed the officer the customs form.  The officer looked at it and said something to the effect of "usually these are filled in before I get them." We both looked confused and Ray asked the officer if he was looking at the wrong side.  He then realized that he had handed the officer an extra, blank form that was in his pocket, and he searched his other pockets for the right, filled out form.  Luckily, the officer was a nice guy, and smiled at the mistake and waved us through.
The next challenge was getting from the cruise terminal to AVIS.  We rented a car at the AVIS at Ft Lauderdale Airport, so our original plan was to take the cruise shuttle from the port to the airport and then hook up with the AVIS shuttle bus.  We had the transfer tickets, but when we got to the buses, it was a zoo.  There were only 2 buses, both full and lots of people waiting.  Our porter told us that most of the car rental companies had shuttle buses on the other side of the parking lot, so we decided to forgot our original plan and try for that.  The porter said we might have to call for the shuttle, so while he was wheeling our bags to the pick-up point, I tried calling AVIS.  That turned out to be a wasted effort.  I plan to write a letter to them when I get home.  I couldn't get through to anyone at the Ft Lauderdale Airport AVIS location.  After going through all kinds of unhelpful menus, I got to an operator who turned out to be at some central location looking information up on a computer.  He was completely unhelpful, to the point that he gave me wrong information. He told me there was no shuttle from the port.  I found out later there was an AVIS at pier 66 and we were at pier 24, and their shuttle would have come to get us, but that's info for future reference.  We gave up on the shuttle and flagged a taxi van.  This was the right thing to do, finally, because he took us directly to the AVIS at the airport.  It was cheating a little though.  We weren't waiting in the line were everyone else was waiting for taxis, but the sheriff controlling traffic by us pulled a taxi for us and one for another couple who were having trouble out of the line.  We think she was just trying to get us out of her way, but it worked for us.
Once we got to AVIS, they didn't have our car assigned because the expiration date for my credit card that they had on file had expired. Once I gave the lady the new card, she got us a car, but it took her a while. The poor woman was dealing with a customer who had an accident with a car, another woman looking for a car with a child seat, and some other problems interrupting her while she was trying to take care of me.  She apologized and said because I was so patient, she upgraded us to a Chevy Suburban at the same price as what I reserved.  So we are driving a monster car!!
All in all, things worked out fine.  I wasn't expecting to get on the road before noon when we started out today, but we actually left AVIS around 10:30AM.  We made it all the way to Savannah, Georgia, had a nice dinner at Ruby Tuesday's, and are settled in nice and cozy in a Hampton Inn  for the night. From here we should be able to make it home by Sunday night without too much trouble.  We're estimating it's about 10 hours drive from here.
No pictures today.

Day 32 - At Sea

Asst Waiter Shekar & Waiter Erdogan

Today is Friday, the last day of our Trans-Atlantic cruise.  For a change, Ray was up an hour before me this morning.   I did wake up before sunrise again though.   We are heading into the outer edges of Hurricane Thomas today, so it was mostly overcast this morning.  My main video camera gave me an error message saying it had picked up condensation and I needed to turn it off for an hour, so I switched to my little Flip camera to record today's sunrise.   It seems like it did a pretty good job, but I'll see when I go to put all my sunrise videos together.  I've recorded sunrise every morning as we crossed the ocean and plan to put together a collage video of sunrises across the Atlantic.

It's been raining most of the day and the ship is a little rocky, but not bad.  It's been rockier overnights than during the day the last few days.  There isn't much on the schedule today.  I went to play Bingo this morning and to the final jackpot Bingo this afternoon.   I am so unlucky at Bingo, I even lost at the biggest looser game.  This is a game where you have a chance if any of your cards have not hit on any number.  There were only 4 people still in the running for that when I had to drop out.

Sunset on last day

The only other thing we did today was to go look at the photos the ship photographer took and pick out which ones we wanted.  We had coupons to get 2 free.  On the last formal night after dinner the captain posed for photos with anyone who wanted one, so we got in line for the photo-op.   That's one of the ones we'll bring home. 

We're just about packed for the trip home. The rest of the day we just relaxed, read, and enjoyed the ride.  I'm glad we're not flying home - all 4 of our suitcases are definitely overweight.  We have a fifth, expandable one for the 2-day drive home and another nylon one if necessary, but I think we can fit everything in the 5.  Most of the souvenirs we bought are small stuff, but t-shirts add up.

We'll go to our last dinner in a little while and say goodbye to new friends.  Tomorrow we begin the drive home.   I'll try to post this before I go to sleep tonight.

Day 31 - At Sea

Chief Engineer, Captain, Hotel Dir, Environ Officer

Today is Thursday. and it's another beautiful day on the Atlantic Ocean.  We were up for another lovely sunrise this morning.  The waves are a little higher today, but it's still pretty smooth sailing.  We went to a Q&A session this morning with the captain, chief engineer, hotel director, chief environmental officer, and the cruise director.  If you remember, I said we hit some heafty winds between Toulon, France and Barcelona, Spain.  These were the mistral winds that come up with very little warning.  We had heard that the winds were about 80 MPH that noght, but the captain told us today that they got up to 110-120 MPH, or what he referred to as Force 12.  No wonder the ship was shaking. 

Black Forest Cake made at Demo

Other than that one night, the weather has been wonderful.  We really couldn't ask for better.  The captain said we may get some rain tomorrow as we encounter the outer edges of Hurricane Thomas, but it shouldn't be much to worry about.  The worst of it may be the last night as we come into Fort Lauderdale.  Considering that all the other ships repositioning now are running into very bad weather on a more northern route, we are very happy with the course our captain choose. 

By the way, we have been saying the captain looks like a little boy and now we know he really is one.  Someone in the audience asked him about his education and how old he is.  He is only 35, the youngest captain in Royal Caribbean's fleet and he has been a captain since 2007. 

Before the officer's Q&A, I went to a cake decorating demo with the head chef, David from New Zealand.   Chef David instructed and narated while one of the cooks, Rossario, the cruise director Paul, and a woman from the audience each put together a Black Forest cake.   The woman was from Florida, but I know she had to be originally from New Jersey.  Rossario jokingly said something to her in Italian at the beginning and she answered in Italian.  This started everything off on the right note as Paul commented that they were having a Sicilian party of their own.   

There were lots of jokes about that and a bet that Paul is about to loose.  I think I mentioned in a previous note that Royal Caribbean is trying to raise money for the Make a Wish Foundation during this crossing.  Their goal was $15,000, but Paul said, if they raised $20,000 he would dress up like a woman on the last day of the cruise.  Well, the tally was about $18,000 this morning, so there were lots of jokes about him having to shave his legs and wear an outfit the costume manager is preparing for him.   All together, this cake decorating demonstration was a fun event and we got to sample the cake at the end.  The woman from the audience must have experience s a cook because she did an excellent job.  The cake she made will go to her dinner table tonight.

This one's for Rose

We ordered room service for lunch and actually got better food than we usually find on the buffet.  After lunch I went on my own walking tour of some of the art around the ship.  I concentrated on the stairwells, but also went across the promenade and into a few of the lounges.  I got back to the room just as the clocks changed back an hour for the last time, so I have an hour to have a cup of tea and rest now before heading to Bingo.

Day 30 - At Sea

Today is Wednesday, or at least that's what the daily ship's paper and the carpet in the elevators say.  It is so easy to loose track of time out here.  We just float along, no alarm clocks, picking from the many daytime activities the staff plans for us or just sitting on our balcony enjoying the sun and the sea.

Chocolate Mud Pie

Last night we enjoyed a great filet mignon dinner at Chops, one of 2 specialty restaurants onboard.  We both started with a Dungeness Crab and Shrimp Cake appetizer.  Ray had the Caesar Salad and I tried the Chops Signature Salad.  After that, the filet with our choice sides.  Ray got a baked potato, I ordered roasted potatoes with prosciutto and parmesan, and sautéed broccolini.   For dessert, I had a melt-in-your mouth Chocolate Mud Pie and Ray had a great slice of New York cheesecake.  We shared a great bottle of Merlot and finished with specialty coffees.  We left there very full, happy, and a little tipsy.  During dinner we sat next to a couple from Florida (the Villages of course) named Bruce and Marian, and enjoyed a nice conversation with them.  They are also frequent cruisers, so we compared notes on ships and destinations.  They were very nice and I hope we see them again.

BAT

This morning, we both woke up around 6AM and went out on the balcony to see the stars.  It was a beautiful morning.  A few clouds passed by, but in the clearings you could see so many bright stars and planets.  I wish I had a star chart to tell me what we were seeing.  Ray has one on his iPhone, but it needs a connection to work so it can figure out where we are, and there is no connection out here.

ELEPHANT

I did finally get an Internet connection and posted yesterdays notes this morning after breakfast.  It should be ok for the rest of the trip. 

Our room steward has been creating some interesting towel creatures during the voyage.  I've included a few photos of those today.  It's fun to come back to our room at the end of the day and see his latest creation. 

SWAN

Today there was a lecture that we thought might be good but it was too crowded - standing room only.   I went on a tour of some of the art on the ship before lunch.  Royal Caribbean has a lot of money invested in the art on it's ships.  Even the curtain on the theater stage is a work of art, with a woman's figure embroidered and decorated with beads in about 7 dance poses.   The main dining room on the ship is actually 3 because it is on decks 3, 4 and 5, and each one has an art theme from a different ballet - the Nutcracker,  Coppell a, and Swan Lake.  Plus, every public room on the ship is decorated with art in various themes.  I may take a walk on my own tomorrow to look at some of it a little closer.

ALLIGATOR

Tonight was the last formal night.  The chefs danced around the restaurant aisles.  After dinner we went to have our picture taken with the captain and then went to listen to our favorite guitar player again before calling it a night.   Captain Patrick Dahlgren is from Sweden.  He is easily the friendliest captain we have ever encountered.  He seems to really enjoy going out around the ship and talking to passengers.

We have now begun packing away formal attire and laundry. Only 2 more days at sea before this cruise comes to an end.  Sniff, sniff.

Days 28-29 At Sea

Today is our 4th day at sea and the weather has been beautiful until now.  The captain told us that we are the only ship doing the crossing right now that took a southern route.   All the others took  the great circle route through the Azores and have been in bad weather.   Our seas  have been calm and the temperature has been in the high 70's.   Today may be a little different.  We're feeling a little rocking this morning and it looks overcast. We'll see when it starts to get light.

Sunrise

Yesterday we both got up while it was still dark and went to breakfast early.  That gave us a chance to be back on our balcony to watch the sunrise.  It was beautiful.  Since this cruise began in a time zone 6 hours later than the Eastern time zone, we have been setting the clocks back an hour almost every day since we starting the Atlantic crossing.   The captain likes to do the time change at 3PM so everyone is awake and knows what time it is.  That means we are experiencing 25 hour days. Ray & I are doing our best to adjust, staying up until our usual bed time according to the clock of the day.  Hopefully, we will be in sync with Eastern time when we get back.  Of course, we will have one more time change to Eastern Standard time on the drive home.

One of many wonderful desserts

I forgot to mention something unusual that happened at dinner Halloween night.  The captain and the hotel manager walked through the dining room and stopped at every table to say hello to all the passengers who were there.  We have never seen a captain do that before.  He is a really friendly guy, with a baby face and a great smile.  He posed for photos with people who asked and commented on the costumes people were wearing for Halloween.  It was a very nice effort on his part.

The captain also makes an announcement every day sometime between noon and 12:30, giving us the weather and our position in the ocean, just like the captains on every other ship we have been on.  The difference is that, before he speaks, he plays part of a song of his choosing.  Yesterday it was the Beatles "Good Day Sunshine".   It's a nice touch and it gives everyone a chance to realize what's coming and pay attention.

Fruit Carvings

We were both awake at 6AM again this morning, but no sunrise.  It was overcast and rainy until about 9AM, but the skies turned blue after that.  It's still just a little rocky though.  The past 2 days we were able to walk a couple of laps around the sports deck to get a little exercise after breakfast, but it was too wet this morning.  Tomorrow should be better.

Yesterday there wasn't too much going on that either of us were interested in.  I went to Bingo in the morning, we went to Johnny Rockets for lunch, and I sat in on a basic Italian lesson in the afternoon.  The lesson was very basic - she didn't teach anything I didn't already know so I will skip lesson 2 today.  I'll probably go to Bingo again this morning.  They have Bingo twice a day, but once is enough for me. 

5th Formal night

Other than the art one the other day, the enrichment lectures have not been anything we are interested in.  The ones yesterday were on pirates, and we think it was the same guy and the same lecture we heard on another ship on a Caribbean cruise.   The afternoon lectures have been on handwriting analysis and we haven't been interested in that.  We both done a lot of reading instead.  I've finished the 3 paperbacks I brought and am now reading Kindle books.  Ray has finished several books on his iPad. 

Today's morning lecture was "Why Do They Speak Spanish in Spain?"  and this was pretty good.  Ray & I both attended this.  The speaker (Dr Turner, a retired geography professor from Hawaii) talked about how culture, and in particular, languages, change and evolve with conquests, exploration, and subsequent isolation. 

After this morning's talk I went to Bingo and Ray headed back to the room.  We reconnected for lunch and will be going to the afternoon lecture called "Odd Balls and One-Of-A-Kind Ships"  in a little while.  Tonight we are going to the other specialty restaurant- Chops.  We are looking forward to a nice steak dinner.  I don't think we'll be going to too many more shows in the theater.  The seats are really uncomfortable and both of us have trouble with leg cramps after sitting for more than a half hour.  

Around noon today we passed the center point of our voyage across the Atlantic.  Of course that means Internet access is sketchy, so I'll probably wait until tomorrow before I try to post this.

Days 26-27 At Sea, Happy Halloween

Sunrise Oct 28th

On our first Atlantic crossing day we took it easy. I did get up in time to video sunrise. After posting the last blog, I went to the gym and the whirlpool for a little while. We spent the rest of the day on the verandah, reading and enjoying the ocean sounds.  In the afternoon we finally got to see the ice show.  Yes, I said ice show.  This is one of 10 Royal Caribbean ships that have an ice skating rink on board.  They put on a wonderful show called "Ice Dancin'."  We put off seeing it the first cruise because we were so much on the go that we skipped all the shows, but now we are making up for it.

Our door Decorations

Royal Caribbean is running a fund raising campaign for Make a Wish Foundation.  One of the things they are doing is selling cookbooks with the proceeds going to Make a Wish.  I bought one during dinner last night and got the chef, our waiter, assistant waiter, and all the women at our table to sign it.  Before the evening show last night the cruise director auctioned off a bunch of perks, including bridge and engine room tours, lunch with the chief chef, dinner with the captain, and other stuff, with all the funds going to Make a Wish.  They also have a treadmill set up on the main promenade and people are donating $10 to walk on it in the Walk Across the Atlantic promotion, with cameras filming everyone who does it.  It's a good cause and the goal is to raise $15,000, enough for 3 wishes.

The show last night was pretty good. Singer Julie Grace did Broadway, pop, and country love songs .  Tonight is a production show and we haven't decided whether we are going or not.  

Carvings at Buffet Entrance

Today I got up and videoed sunrise again.  My goal is to get a sunrise every day as we cross the Atlantic.  After breakfast we read for awhile, then I went to Bingo.  No, I didn’t win.  After Bingo I went to a lecture on the 20 most important artists in the last 500 years.  That was really interesting.   There were a few on the list I didn't know that I plan to look up when I get home.   The most interesting note was that Andy Warhol painted works in every one of the styles represented by the other 19 artists on the list, so his work could be considered an encyclopedia of artistic styles for the last 500 years.

Royal Caribbean's frequent cruiser club is the Crown & Anchor Society.  Since Celebrity and Royal Caribbean are owned by the same parent company, our Celebrity "Captain's Club" status transferred over and we joined this cruise as Diamond members of the Crown & Anchor Society.  For that we got a few discount coupons (laundry & internet are some of the important ones), and invitations to a few parties.  This afternoon we had an invitation to a cocktail party at the ice rink.  There were free drinks and hor'douerves, plus a special demonstration of the skaters' skills and a speech by the captain. 

Black Widow

Today is Halloween.  I was hoping for some daytime events, but the costume party doesn't start until 10:30PM.  Since we moved the clocks back an hour today, we already have an extra hour in the day so it will feel like 11:30PM.  We can't manage to stay up that late.  Some people came to dinner in costume tonight, but we didn't.  The sleeve of my dress would have been difficult to deal with at the dinner table, so I changed after dinner and wore my costume to the show.   Ray decided he didn't want to put his costume on.  I brought a cape for him, so the rest would require him to put his tux on again and he didn't want to do that.  He's already worn his tux 5 times this month and we have one more formal night to go.

Tonight's show was a cast production of rock songs.  Some they did ok on, but I thought their interpretation of "Bye, Bye, Love" was way off and some of the others were a bit over-produced.  They did sing some good stuff.  

Time to go to sleep now  I'll try to post this in the morning.

Day 24-25 Tenefire, Canary Islands

We had a nice, relaxing day at sea yesterday.   I went up to the fitness center and spent a little time on the treadmill, bike, and in the whirlpool.   We spent most of the rest of the day sitting on the verandah outside our room.  We are on the south side of the ship so we get the sun mot of the day.   Last night we had reservations for dinner at one of the ship's 2 specialty restaurants - Portofino’s.   We had a wonderful full course Italian dinner.  I started with the restaurant's specialty drink, a cucumber martini and we shared a bottle of Pinot Grigio with dinner.  For an appetizer, we had Risotto al Gamberetti, a shrimp and rice dish.  I had a tuna dish called Carpaccio di Tonno for my 2nd dish and Ray had a Caesar salad.  For the main course, Ray had Spiedino di Mare (lobster, gamberoni, scallops & salmon) and I had Saltimbocca alla Romana (veal wrapped in sage and prosciutto).  We also shared a mushroom & pasta dish. The desserts were hard to choose.  I had a wonderful Tartuffo al Cioccolato, which I can only describe as chocolate heaven.  Ray had a sampler dish with small portions of the 4 desserts  on the menu.  His favorite was berries in Grand Mariner.   We finished with special coffees and practically rolled out of there, we were so full.  It was great. 

Lazy Gorilla

Today we docked at our final port before crossing the Atlantic.  I didn't know much about the Canary Islands before arriving here.  There are 7 islands in this island group, which is located about 180 miles west of Morocco.  We visited the largest island, Tenerife, docking in the capital, Santa Cruz de Tenerife.  These islands are a vacation spot for many Europeans.  The climate is warm almost all year, it is clean, and friendly.  The guide on our tour said that the residents of the Canary Islands have more in common culturally with South America and Cuba than Spain.

Penguins

Our tour for today was different than any of the others so far this cruise.  We took a 45 minute bus ride to a place called Loro Park in the town of Puerto de la Cruz.  This was originally created as a parrot park, but has grown over the years to house many endangered animal species, as well as many exotic palms and plants.  Our guide took us around so that we would get to all the shows at the right time - an Orca whale show, a Sea Lion show, and a Dolphin show.  We also got to walk through the shark tunnel, see the aquarium, penguins, chimpanzees, gorillas, a white tiger, and a large walk-in bird cage, as well as lots of different kinds of parrots in cages along every path.   After we got to all the shows, we had time to walk around on our own for about an hour.

Parrot

We were both very impressed with the island.  We passed through the city of La Laguna en-route to the park,   This former capital city is the university city of the Canary Islands.  The main university specializes in the study of micro biology and astrophysics.  This city is also the location of a teaching hospital specializing in kidney transplants.  So, Pete and Christie, if you are ever looking for a tropical island, this may be the place for you.  You might have to brush up on your Spanish, but they get a lot of English tourists, so most people speak English. 

Orca

The only problem is that the islands are volcanic.  There is one main volcano, Teide, and a number of little ones.  The main one has a history of going off once every 100 years, give or take a few, and I think he said the last time was around 1907, so it's due.   There is also a haze that hangs over the mountains.  Our guide told us this is made up of fine sand that blows in from the Sahara Desert 200 miles away.

Dolphin Jump

By the way, the Canary Islands were not named for birds.  When the Spanish explorers found the islands, the people living there had lots of dogs.  The name comes from the Latin word for dogs, canis.

Now we will be at sea for the next 7 days.  This is the real vacation part of the trip - no tours, no alarm clocks, just plenty of relaxation and enjoyment of the ship's ammenities, as our mood directs us. 

Day 23 Malaga, Spain

Santisma Trinidad

Yesterday we were in Malaga, Spain.  We sleep all the way to 8:30AM, had a leisurely breakfast, and then went to Guest Relations to get tickets for the shuttle bus into town.  Ray was tired and would have liked to just stay in the room, but I pushed him a little to go out for a walk with me.  The shuttle bus dropped us off at the edge of the city, what would have been about a 30 minute walk for us.  From there we headed toward the Cathedral, consecrated in 1588.  Construction was begun around 1527 and continued in various phases through the 1960s.

Malaga Cathedral

Ray decided he had seen enough churches and art, so he waited in the gardens while I went in to see the Cathedral.  It was beautiful.  There were chapels dedicated to various saints all along the sides, each one filled with statues and paintings.  The main altar was mostly gold.  Opposite the altar was the choir area,, with a huge pipe organ on either side and wood carvings of saints on the back of each choir chair.  I spent an hour in there admiring the art.

Pieta in Malaga Cathedral

When I came out, Ray told me he had been watching a group of little old Spanish ladies who were visiting the church.  As soon as they arrived, people appeared to try to sell them lottery tickets.   Know your market.

Next we walked through some old narrow streets which have been turned into a pedestrian mall.  The area was lined with cafes and the expensive shops.  This is a lovely city.  We also saw horse and carriage sides offered in several places around the old town.  This seems to be a common tourist offering in most of the European cities we have visited, just like in New York City.

Malaga Cathedral Main Altar

There were other things we could have gone to see in Malaga, but we decided to just do a little souvenir shopping and go back to the ship.  It was formal night, so we wanted time to get gussied up.   Dinner was great, and afterwards we went up to our favorite bar for a drink and to watch as we passed the Rock of Gibraltar.  It would have been nice to see this during the day, but our schedule had us passing at 8:30PM. 

Archangel Rafael

This morning I woke up a little before sunrise and was able to video a lovely sunrise over Africa from our vantage point on the Atlantic Ocean.   Today is a sea day.  We are going to just relax and get ready for our visit to the Canary Islands tomorrow.

We've been warned that satellite connections may be sporadic over the Atlantic, so there may be some days when I can't post anything.   I'll post when I can.

Horse & Buggy

Day 22 Cartagena and Murcia, Spain

Last night we had a very pleasant surprise.   We were tired so after dinner we went up to a small club on the 14th floor for a drink before skipping the main show and calling it a night.  We found a guy named Segundo Vasquez playing classical guitar.  He was great.  Our original intention was to just order drinks and go back to our room, but we stayed through the end of his set.  He's playing at the same club tonight, so we're probably going back to hear him again.

Cartagena Harbour

Virgin of Fuensanta

We got to sleep a little late this morning.  The ship didn't dock in Cartagena until 10AM and our tour group met at 10:15.  Today's tour was called "Journey to Murcia".   Murcia is the capital of the Spanish province of Murcia.  It is a lovely city, a little less than an hour inland from Cartagena.  We visited a beautiful church at the Monastery of the Virgin of Fuensanta (Holy Spring), the Cathedral in Cardinal Belluga Square, and the Museum of Fine Arts of Murcia.  The countryside between Cartagena and Murcia is mostly flat, with farms, orchards and vineyards.  The foothills begin just beyond Murcia.  The area is struggling with it's water supplies, hence the patroness of the city is the Virgin of Fuensanta.  The locals have a pilgrimage each year carrying the statue of the Virgin, and the first 2 times they did this, it rained.  Our guide said the first time it even snowed, something very rare for the area, which has a climate like California.  

Murcia Cathedral

They also have a carnival each year with a sardine as the mascot.   The picture below is of a sardine fountain in the river, honoring this fish.   I guess they have a sense of humor too. It was a nice, 4 hour tour and David was a much better guide than we had in Barcelona.

It was nice to get back to the ship by 3PM and go for an ice cream at Ben and Jerry's to hold us over until dinner.  This ship is different from others we have been on because it has some food options other than ship's food.  Deck 5 has a promenade with shops, 2 pubs, a coffee shop, and Ben & Jerry's.  There is also the Johnny Rocket's hamburger dinner and 2 specialty restaurants on Deck 11, on either side of the main buffet.  

Sardine Fountain in Murcia

Tomorrow we are going to dock at Malaga, Spain.  We reread the description of the tour we had signed up for and decided it didn't sound very exciting.  There were no others that sounded like they had much to see, so we just canceled the one we had.  This way we can sleep in and just take a shuttle into town after all the tours have left.  We plan to just check this port out on our own.

Day 21 Barcelona

Today we are in Barcelona.  We got into port an hour late this morning because we encountered 80 MPH winds last night.  This is the most we've ever experienced on a ship.  I think it was too much for the stabilizers because we were rocking like crazy most of the night.   It began after sunset, so we couldn't see what the waves looked like.  Of course, neither of us got much seep last night.

Despite the lack of sleep, we went out on a tour called Barcelona and Gaudi.  Antoni Gaudi was a unique architect who built a number of buildings around Spain.  He is known for not liking straight lines.   As we toured the city, our guide made a special point of showing us the buildings Gaudi designed.  The first 2, the Figueras House and the Mila House, we just paused to look at from the bus. Our first full stop was at Park Guell.  This was supposed to be a garden city, commissioned by Eusebi Guell in the early 1900s, but never finished.  The idea was to build about 60 houses in the park, but people didn't want to live that far from the main city of Barcelona at the time.  The gardens, elaborate entrance, stairs, and public square were built, but only one model house. Guell donated it to the city as a public park in 1923.

Our last stop was at the Temple of the Sagrada Familia (Sacred Family).   This amazing church was begun by architect Francisco de P. del Villar in 1882.  Antonio Gaudi took over a year and a half later, working on this until he died in 1926.  Construction was put on hold during the Spanish Civil War and not picked up again until 1952.  Now there is a team of about 300 people working to complete the church by 2026. Gaudi's designs are so unique, so full, that you really can't appreciate them unless you see them yourself.

Although this was a good tour, the guide rushed us through faster than I would have liked.   At the first stop she told everyone where the rest rooms were, then refused to wait until all the women got through the long line.  When the 10 minutes was up, she just continued the tour, leaving 4 of us behind to find her and catch up on our own.  I was lucky that Ray waited for me and watched which way she went, but I heard the others say they went the wrong way and didn't find her until they got to the bus.   That's the first time I ever saw a guide leave without making sure all the group was with her.

The worst thing about today is that Ray lost his small camera.  We think he may have left it on the bus.   Luckily, we have been backing up our photos every night, so we only lost the ones he took today and we still have my videos.  He brought another, larger camera so he can still take pictures on the rest of the trip, but he really liked the one he lost.  It was small and easy to carry on these tours.   Usually the tour buses check and send any items they find left behind back to the ship's lost and found, but this guide was probably in such a hurry she didn't bother.  Oh well, I know what to get him for Christmas now.

Tomorrow's port is Cartagena, Spain.  It will be another short tour so, as long as we can get a good night's sleep tonight we should have a good day.  I think the weather is supposed to be a little warmer.

Days 18-20 New Cruise and Bourmes, France

Cruise 2 Route

For the past few days it has been difficult to either get an Internet connection or, when it became available, to find time to use it.   I used up the last of our paid minutes on our last sea day on Friday.  We arrived back in Civitavecchia on Saturday morning, but the tour we hoped to take was cancelled because not enough people signed up.   That meant we just had to get out of our room after breakfast and find a place on the ship to read for a few hours until our new room was ready at 1PM.  Between Friday night and Saturday night we had no Internet access while they closed out one account and opened the next. 

We met our new dinner companions Saturday night.  We are seated with 5 nurses from Jackson County Hospital in Florida, who seem to vacation together often.  Ray is the only guy at the table, but he doesn't mind. 

Bourmes

Sunday morning there was a mass onboard so we went and discovered that we have an excellent Catholic priest on this cruise.  He is a retired Navy chaplain from Pensacola - Father David.  The amazing thing is that he is recovering from surgery to remove cancer from his kidneys 2 weeks ago and he still managed to make it on board.  There was no priest on the first cruise, so I'm guessing he was scheduled for that and had to cancel because of the surgery.  He is an excellent homilist, vibrant and friendly, you wouldn't know he was sick if he hadn't told us why he needed to keep it short and sit down occasionally.

Bourmes Castle

We took care of Internet signup and a few other things between breakfast & our tour start time.  The ship docked at the port La Seyne-Sur-Mer, across the harbor from Toulon, France, about 11AM.  Toulon has a French Navy base with a number of moth-balled ships in the harbor.   Our tour for today was a village named Bourmes, about an hour away and on top of a high, rocky hill.    This was hopefully the low point of our tours.  It had a bad omen to start, since all the other tour buses had been called and ours was still waiting about 15 minutes after the others for this tour had left.  When we got on the bus we found it had been overbooked.  The bus was packed and there were still 4 people standing.  The 4 had to get off.  I don't know what happened to them.

Flowering Vine in Bourmes

The bus ride up was not much to talk about.  The village was mostly 10th century, with a church and a small castle, but nothing special.  Bourmes is known for it's flowers, but our guide said they mostly bloom from December to March.  We hiked along the village streets, some of which rose at about a 60 degree slope.  It was a very strenuous walk, both up the streets and back down a winding stair.   The guide pointed out a few flowers along the way and talked about the village's defense position.   Then we had an hour free.  The shops didn't have anything I couldn't get elsewhere, so we just took a few pictures , stopped in a cafe for cappuccino and were back on the bus 15 minutes early.   



View of the Med from Bourmes



We did finally make it to a show tonight.  Last cruise we were so tired at the end of each day we decided to skip the shows.  They should be mostly the same on this cruise, so we don't think we have missed much.  Tonight a group called The American Dream were on and they were great.  They are a Motown cover group, with 3 guys and one woman.   People were dancing in the aisles by the end. 



Tomorrow we will be in Barcelona.  Hopefully, it will be a better tour.



Day 17 Sicily

Today is the last day of our first Royal Caribbean cruise.  Tomorrow we have a day at sea then the next morning we dock back in Rome's port, Civitavecchia, where most passengers will leave the ship and a new group will board.  We have a beautiful, calm day at sea today.  This has been such a activity packed cruise that I know everyone needs this day of rest.

Messina

Yesterday we docked in Messina, Sicily.  This is the largest island in the Mediterranean, only about 2 miles from the southern tip of mainland Italy.  The straight of Messina separates the island from the rest of Italy.  Since we have been going off on full day tours with lots of walking at every port, we decided to sign up for something milder here.  The ship didn't dock until 2PM, and was leaving again at 8PM, so we opted for a 4 hour tour to Tindari.   This is a town on top of a mountain with beautiful views of a lagoon and the countryside dotted with olive groves.

Greek-Roman Theater at Tindari

The town is also an important archaeological and religious site. Being up high, overlooking the coast, it is a strategic location.  Sicily has been inhabited at least since the 8th or 9th millennium B.C.  Around the 10th century BC it was settled by Phoenicians and around 734 BC the Greeks arrived.  Later, it was conquered by the Romans. At Tindari, we saw the ruins of a Greek theater which had been restored and modified in the Roman era for their use as a theater for gladiator events.  The area is covered with the ruins of Roman houses and baths, and encircled by a defense wall.

Sanctuary of Our Lady of Tindari

At the very top of the hill is the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Tindari, which contains the Black Madonna.   This is a Byzantine sculpture of the Madonna, carved from mahogany.   It is called the Black Madonna because the wood is dark brown.  The story is that at the time when invaders were destroying all churches and religious items in northern Africa (probably Turkey), the monks packed this holy statue in a crate and sent it off on a ship.  No one knows what happened to the ship, but the crate containing the Black Madonna washed up on the shores of Sicily.  With the people found it, they brought it to the top of the nearest mountain and built a small church on the former site of a temple to the Roman Goddess of Agriculture.  (too many gods and goddesses this trip, I can't remember which one this was.)  Recently a new, large church was built around the original little church.   It is a lovely church, with mosaics depicting the rosary along the sides and lots of stained glass windows.  The Black Madonna has a place at the center behind the alter.  A marble Last Supper sits under the alter. 

Black Madonna

The bus ride was about an hour each way and the scenery was lovely along the road.  The little town around the church was old, quaint, and obviously geared towards tourists.  Every building we saw had a shop in front.  We bought a few souvenirs, some fresh almonds and pistachios, and had a nice gelato before returning to the ship.'

We got back too late for the main dining room and tried to order room service, but we couldn't get through.  It's odd, they advertise the room service dinner menu, and you can order breakfast or snacks from room service via the TV, but the only way to order dinner is over the phone.  After waiting with musak for about 10 minutes, we gave up.  I wanted to go to the buffet, but Ray had his mind set on a milk shake at Johnny Rockets, so we went back there again.   This was more fun than the first time.  When we went the other day, we just got hamburgers and left.  This time the waiter gave us 6 nickels to put in the juke box to play our pick of 60's songs.  Then he made me a nice flower out of napkins.  Finally, they put on Donna Summer's "Let's Dance" on the juke box and the 2 waiters & 1 waitress did a line dance in the aisle for us and the 2 other couples who were in there.  That was fun.  We left singing.  Back in the room we sampled a little bottle of Ouzo I had picked up in Greece before calling it a night. 

This morning I woke up in time to see the sunrise - the first time I've been able to do that this trip.   Ray is really tired so I'm letting him rest as much as possible today.  I think these tours have really worn him out.  Tomorrow we signed up for a tour called "Bracciano Lake & Wine Tasting" to get off the ship while they clean and restock for the next cruise.   We have been in a room at the very back of the ship and will be changing to one more towards the center of the ship for the trans-Atlantic crossing.  Getting off will get us out of the way so they can clean the rooms and move our stuff from one room to the other.  They offered 2 tours for back-to-back passengers, but the other was to Rome to see all the things we already saw 2 weeks ago.  I'm hoping this will be a nice relaxing visit to a little Italian village on a lake.