Halloween 10-31-14

Debbie had a great night in the casino playing 3 card poker.  We left and went to the show which was Donovan and Rebecca.  They are a married couple that have been on America’s got Talent and have apparently won several trips into the Guinness Book of World Records too.  He sings and she twists her body into unbelievable positions and then they do it together.  Some of their positions were difficult to watch as they looked to be painful.  The cruise director was also very funny tonight talking about them after the show.

We woke up this morning on our approach into St. Lucia.  Debbie and I haven’t been here in about five years and this time we docked at a new terminal.  It poured rain while we were at breakfast and the girls had a hard time deciding if they were going to go to the beach or not but in the end they did. We delivered our Halloween bags and cards to the other girl’s cabins before heading out.  We gave one the Desree who was so excited to get candy!   Judy, Debbie and I went shopping.  Debbie wanted to go to the straw market to look for baskets for her “stuff.”   When we docked here before we could walk to the market but it was a hike in the heat and humidity from this side of the harbor so we got a cab.  It was the same nasty place I remembered it to be.  I took a picture of a sign on the wall that said “No Pissing Here”….okay then, nice place huh?  Debbie had to look through every stall before finding a basket she liked.  She also was buying vanilla beans and other spices.  Judy and I agreed that the spices purchased here in the islands did not taste the same as the ones we get at home.  We said we like the chemicals they use at home that change the taste…of course we laughed and laughed.  It was so hot and humid there that Judy and I looked like we had just gotten out of the pool while Debbie didn’t seem to be affected at all.  We got a cab back to the ship and went to lunch.
 

Ok then...nuff said

This market is huge and oh so hot...

We have finished our T shirts and are getting ready to shower for dinner.    We will see if any of the girls can guess who we are (shhhhhh…The Black Eyed Peas).  They are having a Halloween acrobatic show in the atrium tonight.  We saw them practicing when we got off the ship.  It is quite interesting to see how they set up the wires, hoists and harnesses that they have to for the performers.  I would be skeptical to let them raise me on a wire twelve decks up.  I will let you know how the evening went.

Kay and Judy

Karen

Wine and Cheese (we didn't know them)

Ships decor

Debbie's Chocolate Martini...how did they do that?

Our favorite pre dinner cocktail waiter

More random Halloweeners

Wajdi and Kay

Alejandro and Wajdi

 

Land Ho! 10-30-14

First sight of St. Kitts as dawn was breaking

I was awake before the alarm this morning and since my bed is close to the balcony, I opened the drapes to see very cloudy skies hanging over the islands of the West Indies as we started to get close to St. Kitts.  The Captain told us yesterday that we would arrive during breakfast providing you had your breakfast at 9 AM.  He actually is very funny with a dry sense of humor.  This is our first time to see land since Boston on Sunday. 

Debbie and I went out on the balcony to take some photos before heading up to eat breakfast.  It is quite a shock to the system to have it hot and humid after last week’s cruise.  My glasses steamed up when I went outside and so did the camera lens.  We have all been to St. Kitts before so no one was in a hurry to get off the ship except the 200 or so on the ship that are here for the first time.  Some of the girls were doing the train around the island which I did the first time I was here.  We weren’t interested in that again since it is not air conditioned and they had a guy with a bucket of sand that had to put sand on the tracks for it to get enough traction in some places to move on…..no thanks.  Basically we had planned to just walk through the shops in the terminal area and come back.  It was more of a pain than I remember it to be since the tour operators and cab drivers harassed us the entire time.  They also followed us so we gave up early and came back to the ship.

Had never seen this inflatable that belonged to the ship

We were amused at the size of the butts on the mannequins

Clouds looked threatening

 

Debbie was doing her spreadsheet about who owes who and how much.  Then we did our shirts for tomorrow’s Halloween night celebration and they turned out cute.  I won’t discuss until tomorrow’s blog.

I will post photos when we are able.  The internet continues to be a pain.  Kay had to answer a work email last night and was so frustrated she said she was screaming.  55 minutes to answer and send one email is absurd when you can pull up the RCL website page and it loads immediately.  What is up with that?  Time to get ready for dinner.  I hope Lindsay, Chris and Paige have a Happy Halloween! 

Sea Day 3 - 10-29-14

This cruise is like doing a crossing…..lots of sea days with no land in sight.  We actually ordered breakfast from room service this morning at 7:30 AM to make us stop being lazy.  We got up and had coffee and some of what we ordered then we tracked down our cabin steward, Desree, to get some laundry bags.  Debbie washed some laundry yesterday and today was my day and we are doing general housekeeping and rearranging things this morning.  It is very hot outside now and of course it is not very cool inside.  We think they just want you to think you are in control of the temperature of your room but you really aren’t.  It was comfortable in here until today.

We met Judy and Kay for lunch then Debbie and I went to get a ticket to play in the slot tournament.  We had lots of fun doing it and yours truly is on the board in #11^th place.  The top twenty get to play in the finals on the last sea day.  We had dinner with the girls and since we had already seen the show last cruise, we went to the casino and proceeded to lose again.  I played penny slots for a while and won back some of what I lost on the tables.  The table was empty when we left so apparently the house was the winner last night.

When we left Debbie and I decided to get a cup of tea to take back to the cabin.  It had gotten quite bumpy considering we are now in the Caribbean and not the north Atlantic.  We took the elevator to deck 11 and the Windjammer was closed so we made our way in the wind and rocking across the pool deck where we saw Deb and Patty watching the movie. It was not easy walking and as we entered the Solarium the floor was covered in water where it was sloshing out of the pool.  They were draining it which was a good idea.  We got our tea and Debbie wanted a cookie.  The only cookies in the Solarium Park Café were lemon so we again try our best to maneuver across the pool deck to the elevators and not spill our tea.  We go to deck 5 Lattitudes and they were out of everything so we obviously were not supposed to have anything to eat with the tea on this night.  The rocking was so bad that the drawers in the cabin kept opening by themselves!  Must be the wind since the seas are choppy but certainly don’t look that bad. 

Sea Day #2 10-28-14

The sun was shining and the seas calm when I opened the balcony door this morning.  I said to Debbie “It’s warm..maybe 75 degrees” and later the Captain said it was exactly that and that we were off the coast of Jacksonville, Florida at noon.  Kay and Judy came to the door and we said we would meet them in the Windjammer.  Debbie said we were not going to sit there for three hours again and guess what?....we did!  One by one the girls drifted in and sat down with us.  After we left, Kay and I went for a walk since she wanted to see where the rock climbing wall was.  We stopped to watch the crew vs passenger dodge ball game.  It was quite aggressive and we were glad we weren’t involved although they were having fun.  We walked around and found the shuffleboard game and decided to play.  We thought it would be fun to have the other girls join us for a game and miniature golf on another sea day.  We played several games before a man walked by when Kay pushed her puck a bit too hard and he was about to step on it so she yelled “four” and I got to laughing so hard the game had to come to an end.

We have had restroom issues on the ship and it was rumored yesterday that we may have to stop in Bermuda for parts but that did not come to pass but the problem continues off and on, various decks and areas.  We met at 5 PM today to have a somewhat memorial for the girls that we have lost and remembered past cruises we have done together.  We then had our group photo taken which was a real production number.  After that eight of us, Kay, Judy, Debbie, Patty, Karen, Sharon, Carol & I went to get a pre- dinner drink and then we all ate at Giavonni’s for dinner.  Again it did not disappoint and everyone had a great dinner and enjoyed their dinner.  We got a discount on the booking and the head waiter from the dining room sent us two bottles of red wine so we got a real deal at only $16 each.

After dinner the majority of the girls went to the show (it was the production show we saw last week) and Debbie and I went to play in the casino.  It was a very unlucky night for both of us.  I even tried to learn Caribbean Poker with Sharon and Carol and didn’t do anything there either.  We came back to the cabin, Debbie read the activities for tomorrow and we called it a night.    

First Sea Day 10-27-14

Debbie and I love sleeping with the seas are swoopy so we slept well and long.  It was almost 9 before Kay called and asked us to meet them for breakfast.   We got up there about a half hour later and we sat there and talked until the other girls started wandering in for lunch.  It was quite swoopy and we just couldn’t figure out what we wanted to do so we really spent the day doing not much of anything.  We shopped first and I bought two watches at the watch sale….I have been looking for some time and finally found the right ones.  I also had some help from a gay guy that was shopping with me named Bill who told me if it spoke to me I should take it home and let it be part of my life.  It was so funny and he was such a fun guy. Carol Calvin was with us for a while too.  We ran into Nancy who was shopping too.   We had a blast doing just the shopping!

Debbie and I went to the casino for a little while then came back to get ready for dinner.  It is very rough and people are having a difficult time walking.  We met at the Atrium bar before dinner and had cocktails with a guy named Tom whose daughter was one of the acrobat performers on the ship.  He sat with Nancy, Deb, Debbie, Kay, Judy and I until dinner.  It was very crowded down there.  Dinner was good and we all enjoyed it except Kay.  She was mortified since she picked up the pepper mill and someone had not put the top back on it and all the peppercorns spilled out all over her appetizer and the table and the floor.  The waiter (Alejandro) quickly cleaned up the mess and got her another appetizer but she was so embarrassed it was difficult for her to enjoy the rest of her dinner.  Our assistant waiter’s name is Wajdi but I call him wiji is very cute and fun.  He always asked if you like you dinner or app or salad when he picks up the dirty dishes.  If you say you did he says “thank you very much”.  So I asked him if he made it and he said only if we say we liked it.  He is very cute.  Dinner was hot again but when dessert came the coffee was absolutely cold!  OMG!  They brought another pot but the first one had to have been sitting there since breakfast to be that cold in a thermal container.

The girls went to the show and Debbie and I went to the casino.  I was holding my own but Debbie was winning but in the end we both gave it back came back and called it a night.  So ends our second day of the second cruise.

Boston - Second Cruise Embarkation Day

We were awake early although we didn’t need to be.  It was nice thinking we didn’t have to rush around to wait in lines to get off.  We texted the other girls and they said all of them made it to Boston although for some it was into the wee hours.  They were however assigned a shuttle time from their hotel to the ship of 1 PM so we would not see them for awhile.  We went to the dining room for breakfast and met several couples that sat at our table who were getting off that morning, one from Arizona and the other from Australia.  After breakfast,  we had about an hour before all the back to back cruisers were to meet in the Colony Club to clear customs and get our new cruise cards and info.  There were 84 of us staying on.  Everyone on this cruise…all 2,109 of us are repeat cruisers with RCL, over 1,000 are the top two levels of Diamond (80 to 175 nights cruising RCL) and Diamond Plus (176 to 699 days…bahahaha).  Pinnacle is above 700 nights and there are several of those on this cruise as well.   Anyway, the process was handled smoothly by RCL and it was painless and they have lunch for us in Giavonni’s restaurant.  It was very nice to have the sit down lunch and we enjoyed it.  Debbie and I got off and got back on the have our boarding photos taken and caused a ruckus as the people in the terminal were very confused on how we already had our boarding keys.  We ignored them and did our thing and were back on the ship in less than five minutes.

Carol Calvin and Sharon Templeton

Kay and Deb Ward

Strings in the Atrium before dinner

Dancing to the band after dinner

Getting ready for a show

Before we knew it the girls were on board and we met at the Schooner Bar for cocktails and hugs and conversation.  It was great to see everyone again.  We have not had a cruise together since 2010.  We all headed to change for dinner.  All twelve of us are together at one table this cruise.  We had made such a fuss about our food not being hot last cruise that the Assistant Head Dining Room Manager, Edwin from India, is now making a big show bringing out our hot food.  He helps deliver food to me, Kay Debbie and Judy then disappears for the rest of the meal.  Dinner was hot and good, most of the girls went to the show and Debbie and I went to the casino.  After the show Carol joined Debbie and I at the 3 Card Poker table.  We had fun.  When we got back to the cabin, Carol had left us her traditional nightly “brain teaser” sheet.  Debbie and I had to try to figure them out before going to sleep.  It was a swoopy night in the north Atlantic again.  Still on the chilly side too. 

Our Captain

Our Cruise Director Hello Clo

Our view from Deck 7

 
 

Portland, ME

We docked here this morning and lo and behold the sun is shining!  It is a beautiful day.  I missed Kay and Judy’s instructions and Debbie and I finally get ready and head to the Windjammer for breakfast.  We don’t see them so sit elsewhere.  We later find them and Kay admonishes me for not paying attention to her text messages…I promise to do better next time.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We come back and grab our things and head to the gangway.  It is quite a hike to the terminal building from the ship with a series of catwalks to maneuver along the water.  The four of us have been here before but we all love it so we had a great time walking around the Old Town part of the city and dock.  The locals were out in force as well since it was such a beautiful day.  Most of them were walking with their dogs.  We met one large dog who was very personable whose name was Fenway (after the park).  He was a “doodle dog” of some sort but we saw him everywhere we went today.  They had vendors along the waterfront and we all had a great time looking through all the things they were selling.  Many purchases were made.  We stopped for ice cream and a drink then continued walking through all the stores and shops and found so many cool things.

 

We stopped for lunch at a place recommended by a family member of Kay and Judy’s called Gilbert’s.  We all had a bowl of clam chowder in a sour dough bread bowl.  It was quite good but we decided that yesterday’s was better in Bar Harbor.  No matter, we had a great day.  Kay and Debbie were on a quest to find blueberry pie and Judy and I were tired so we headed back to the ship.  Shortly after we were back, Kay and Debbie arrived with a whole blueberry pie!  Kay went to the buffet in the Windjammer and got some plates and we ate in their cabin.  It was good, but no match for the one we had at the West St. Café in Bar Harbor yesterday.

It was a great day and we will be sailing soon.  Everyone is getting ready to get off tomorrow and we are lucky to be staying on.  We do have things to do and we have decided to bypass dinner tonight.   We had a late lunch.  We want to go look at our photos we had taken last night and Debbie wants to play in the casino tonight.  We are passing on the show.  It has been a fun and laid back cruise.  We are looking forward to the other gals joining us in Boston tomorrow.