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.