STILL ON THE SEAS

Wednesday – Very rough day at sea yesterday and last night. Marlene had to wear both her seasick bracelets. Fortunately, we are fine. But the ship rocked and rolled all night long. And today too, is quite rough. Seems to be getting a wee bit better, but every so often we hit a good wave, and everyone looks like they are drunk when walking, swaying from side to side.
Tonight is the last formal night onboard. Thank goodness I can put the tuxes and formal wear away. I have one suitcase out and packed away with clothes that I know we won’t be wearing again. I have a huge bag with laundry. Know what I’ll be doing on Saturday.
It’s back to long pants, no more shorts. You can feel the coolness in the air and with the brisk wind it’s really chilly. Only a few brave souls out on deck. We’re not one of them.
Tomorrow I’ll pack up the rest of the suitcases. They usually have to be outside your cabin door sometime in the evening. Just leave the carry ons with us.
We’re really looking forward to getting home, miss my critters terribly. There’s a Seeing Eye guide dog, a yellow lab, on board. Nice to see a dog. When she wasn’t working I asked if I could pet her. Her name is Agnes, and she’s a really sweet girl. So calm, and gentle. Had to have a dog fix!!
Just checked the map that shows where we are located, it shows around level with Northern Florida, several hundred miles off shore.
There probably won’t be any news tomorrow so this will be my last blog of the trip.
Take care, talk to everyone when we get home. Bye for now..
Cathy & Robin..give my dogs a hug.

ON THE HIGH SEAS

Tuesday…Rough seas, there’s a storm just around Bermuda and it’s causing 65 MPH winds which are making the seas quite rough. The captain has altered his course somewhat to try and avoid the worst of it. The ship is rocking and rolling and I’m sure there are a lot of people a little ‘green’ today. Myself, I’m just fine, have my sea legs and swaying with the ship…LOL. It was sunny earlier but the sun has gone in and with the breeze blowing quite briskly, it makes it a little chilly out on deck, you need a light jacket.
Won’t be much news over the next 3 days, so can’t guarantee any posting after this one.
Cathy if you’re reading this, I will phone you on Friday when we’re about ½ hour away. If you can have all of Jackie’s stuff packed up and ready to go that would be great. Also when I call can you make sure that he goes out for a pee before we get there? Don’t think he will but when he gets all emotional if he had to go, he just might wet himself. Not sure how long it will take us to disembark and get through customs; we’re hoping to be on our way around 11 AM

BARBADOS

Well this will be an easy blog to write. we did absolutely nothing here. It’s Sunday and apparently all the shops in Bridgetown are closed. I find that really stupid as they will loose thousands of $. Imagine almost 3000 people looking for somewhere to spend their money. I know I was one of those 3000. So unless you booked a shore excursion there was nothing to do. There is a small shopping terminal at the pier, which we walked to, but bought nothing. Didn’t even take any pictures here. The pier that we are docked at is ugly, full of containers and machinery. Disappointed, because I love the shopping in Bridgetown, great shops. Oh well, I guess it is money saved. Tonight is dress casual at the dining room.

As I don’t have much input today, I will talk about this whole experience aboard.

All 4 of us are really disappointed in the calibre of food in the dining room at night. It’s mostly good, but certainly not excellent as we’ve had on other ships. Overall I would rate it 7, maybe the odd time 8 out of 10. Our waiters, we think, flunked waiter school. One is nice but can’t remember a darn thing. If you ask for something, he appears to go off to get it, then gets sidetracked and most times you have to ask again. The other waiter is just a pain in the ass. We find him very, very phony. None of us like him at all. His friendliness seems so forced.
The food at breakfast and lunch in the Windjammer buffet is great. Lots and lots of variety, and very tasty. No complaints there.
Ah, Ken just brought me back a bloody Mary, today’s, happy hour special. Happy hour, its 11:15 AM!!!!
We also find that although the overall service is good, we have had better on other ships. But cannot complain at all our room steward. That part has been great. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not a bad cruise, but we just find that the service is not up to the calibre that you except from Royal Caribbean. We are all having a good time, but you can certainly notice the cutbacks.

It’s a beautiful ship, huge, lots to do aboard, always something going on if you wish to partake. Ken has yet to climb the rock wall, but he says he is going to. Will most certainly get pics of that. Haven’t played the mini putt yet, we’re saving all those for the way back, as we are 3 days at sea.

Went to a comic show last night, OMG. Marlene & Bob left ½ way through and we should have too. Thought the last guy was bad, this guy made him look good. It was awful, actually words cannot describe how bad he was. Not much laughter from the audience. There’s another comic act tonight, almost afraid to go to this one, but Ken wants to go, so we’ll check it out.

Got a picture taken the first formal night of the 4 of us, only 1 I have purchased on this trip, just as something to remember the whole cruise by.
So far I have taken 151 pictures, I must ask Marlene how many she’s taken. LOL!!


Boy this bloody Mary sure is good, may have to have another one. Anyhow, overall we’ve really enjoyed ourselves, it’s been relaxing and nice to see some of the islands. Looking forward tomorrow to Antigua as I have never been there before. After that it’s just sailing on the open sea back to Bayonne, then home.

Miss my animals.
Till later then and…give my dogs a hug.

DOMINICA

I had set my alarm for 6:30 AM and phoned Marlene to get her up but she was already up on deck watching Dominica come into view. What a beautiful island it is when you see it like that, all mountains and coastline. Gorgeous. Marlene and I stood up there till the ship was docking, then we went and had some breakfast and got ready to set out on our big adventure.

Well that was a huge disappointment !!! I had made arrangements with someone down here that we met last time we were here, to drive us up to Portsmouth and around to a few other places we remembered from our childhood. We waited at the pier from just after 8 AM to 9:30 AM and he never showed up. Needless to say when I get back home he will receive an email from me and it won’t be cheerful. He basically ruined our visit to Dominica. There were lots of tours available but they were all to places like Trafalgar Falls, the Emerald Pool, Indian River Excursion, Champagne Reef. There were no tours for Portsmouth or the Cabrits. We did not want to take those kind of tours just wanted to see the north end of the island, but I guess it was not to be.

We did walk into Roseau and found our home, Dorset House. Oh my goodness !! Last time Ken and I were here in 1998, it was being used as a lawyer’s office and looked very nice, but between then and now it has been vacated and looks like a dump. It was terrible, heartbreaking really. We noticed how run down Roseau is, we wondered if it was like this when we were kids and just didn’t notice or if it has gotten this way over the years. It really is pretty bad, and sad, very sad. Marlene and I both felt so sad at the condition of the roads, sidewalks, houses. Lots and lots of houses and buildings are boarded up and vacated. Dorset House was one of those too. We walked past the fort and went to the library, the one that had the big (or so we thought at the time) veranda all the way around it. Marlene commented on how small it looked now. The Fort has now been turned into a hotel, Fort Young Hotel. The main market, which is where you would shop for your fruit, vegetables, meat, chicken etc, is now a straw market, it also appeared so small. The market that sells all that stuff is now over by the Roseau River. Both Ken and I commented that we didn’t think Roseau was this rundown when we were here in ’98.

We did take several pictures, and Marlene took many more than I did, oh nice tree, oh look at those lovely flowers, you know how it is!! LOL!! I will upload the one of Dorset House.

So sorry Joyce, that we did not get up to Portsmouth, that was a very big disappointment for both of us. But Bob said well at least then we weren’t murdered !! Geeze !!!!

Tonight is another formal night at dinner, dress up time again.
Til later then..give my dogs a hug.

Still Cruising

St. Thomas – arrived 7 AM.
Thursday – Went into St. Thomas today to browse the shops. Bought a piece of jewellery that I didn’t need !!! LOL !
Sat in a local bar and ordered 2 buckets of beer.
Just watched the ship leave the harbour and she’s on her way to St. Maarten.
Tonight is casual night again for dinner, think I may have to wander on down to the casino before dinner, and make a contribution.
Going to try and enclose a picture with tonight’s post.

 

 

   

Friday – St. Maarten – arrived 7 AM
Walked into town, quite a walk but nice. Did some shopping, not much just a beach bag that says ‘Dominica’ on it. A couple souvenirs to take home.
Came back, had some lunch and am now updating this blog before I go down to the internet café to publish it online.
Last night, after dinner we went to see a comic and his puppet duck, yeah that’s right, his puppet duck. He stunk, big time !!! It was terrible. Not too sure what is up for tonight.
Hard to believe that tomorrow we’ve been on the ship for a week. Time goes so fast.
Right beside us in the port is her sister ship, Adventurer of the Seas. Two monster ships side by side. Impressive. Got some pictures.

Puerto Rico – Arrival

 

San Juan – Puerto Rico – arrive 4 PM.
730 AM Wednesday -Last night was dressy casual night at dinner. Dinner was excellent, first time we all could say that. Food has been good, but disappointing for a cruise ship. Both Ken and I agree that the food and service aboard our Celebrity cruise in the Greek Islands was by far and away, better. Not to say it’s not good here just lacking in some areas.

After the show we went to see the comic again, this time it was an ‘adult only’ show as it did contain some ‘adult content’. He is hilarious. His name is Ed Regine. If laughter is the best medicine then I should be very well for a long time!

Just enjoying a cup of coffee that Ken went up to the Windjammer restaurant to get. This is a ritual every morning while we get ourselves going for the day.We have not booked any tours in San Juan, as there were none that really appealed to us so we are just going to debark and explore. There is a fort there that I have hoping to get to. More later then…….

GETTING CLOSER

We’re now past Turks and Caicos Islands. Weather is most definitely warmer. We were sitting on the deck for a couple hours, but decided to come in cause it’s now almost 1PM and don’t want to burn, first day sunning.
Formal was very nice, had a picture taken of the 4 of us, hope it turns out. Tonight is Smart Casual night, still kind of dressy but no tuxes.
Going to go down and log onto the Internet and publish these blogs..then go get some lunch.Till then…give my dogs a hug.

Water Water Everywhere

Can’t remember the name of this bridge we had to go under

On our way, spent a very pleasant evening. Ship is great, beautiful, will continue blog when offline so my internet time isn't wasting away. Til later then...................
Ok, now I can write without a clock ticking.. We arrived at the pier after a frustrating ½ of trying to find it. Very confusing and New York is so big. But we found it, parked our cars, carted our vast quantities of luggage to the terminal and proceeded to check in. Security is almost as tight as at the airport, but it’s for our own safety. Doesn’t mean it’s still not a pain in the butt though.

Had about a 2-hour wait before we could board, no big deal, but Bob was getting antsy. Got onboard and rooms weren’t quite ready so went to the Windjammer buffet style eatery and had lunch and carted all our coats, carryon luggage with us. OMG!!!

Anyhow by the time we had finished lunch, the rooms were ready. Nice room, great having a balcony, big king bed. Cute little bathroom, but the whole thing is very comfortable.

Went to a comedian show before dinner, he was hilarious. Laughed so hard thought I was going to puke!!! Supper was very good, can’t say excellent, but very good.

Not sure what we are going to do today, although it is warmer out, it certainly is not sit on the deck and sun weather. Might have to try out the casino !!!

Tonight is the first formal, meet the Captain night. Time to get all gussied up.

Tomorrow is another day at sea but I’m sure it will be much warmer and then we can lie out on the deck.

We did go and sit on the deck and read for a bit, but even though we had towels over us, it was still chilly and very windy. But brave Ken did put his shorts on, NOT ME. Maybe tomorrow, it will be warmer for shorts. Still cruising tomorrow, reach Puerto Rico Wednesday.
Till later then – give my dogs a hug.

Made it to Newark!!

We made it to the cruise port, safe and sound. Traffic was great. Except at the border, did have almost an hour wait, but that's all. After that it was clear sailing.

Weather was great, nice and sunny.

Just got back from dinner, had a turkey club and beer. Hadn't eaten since early this morning so was starved.

Tomorrow we'll head out of here about 11 AM to go to the pier.

Will see if I can get on tomorrow on the ship, if so will update further..

Bye..and give your dog a hug...

Scurry Day

Final day before we leave. My sister is leaving this morning and we'll meet up with them tomorrow at the hotel.
I think I've got just about everything I need (plus some things I don't need) packed. Have my checklist of 'things yet to do' and 'things yet to pack'. So I think I'm set.
Drop off my 'kid's' later today. Sniff, sniff. Always miss them when we get back after dropping them off as the house is so dead and quiet.
It's 6 AM and I've been up for over an hour, just can't sleep.
Try and post tomorrow night.
Til then .. give your dog a hug...

ONE WEEK TO GO !!

Well a week today we'll be on our way to the cruise port. Basically all packed except for the stuff that wrinkles. Really hope that our Jackie is not too upset being away from his 'mommy'. Maggie is too spoiled at Uncle Mikey's and Aunt Robin's to miss us...