Wrap-up!

We are home!

Made it off the ship about 8:45 this morning and walked right across the street to our waiting car.  The bad news is that someone broke into the car while we were gone and we are still scratching our heads as to how they did it!  The car was locked when we left it and locked when we got back to it and there is no damage.  They stole an iPod and a car phone charger.....the bastards left the dirty laundry though!!
When Betty and I got into the front seat we both noticed my umbrella was on one of the front seats and that was weird.  I checked the compartment where the iPod was and ......empty!  Sux!

We did not let that spoil our fun and had a very nice drive back home today and since we were still full of laughs the trip flew by.  We made a couple of short stops and made it home in just under six hours.

I almost didn't make it off the ship since my card went "bong" again!!  They stopped me and had to manually enter my information to verify that it was ME getting off the ship!  I volunteered to stay but the Commodore gave me the stink eye!!  Turns out that when I had a new card made the evening before they made it in the Commodore's name and not mine.  I never checked it and assumed it was mine.  They did eventually show me the door........booohooo.

A big thanks to Betty and Don for being such wonderful traveling companions!!  We will remember all the laughs for a long, long time!

Thanks for following along and I hope you enjoyed my rantings.  

Till the next one!!
XOXOXOXO
M

Day 13 – Last Day

(No internet last night :-( so I'm posting this anyway)

Well, another cruise for the memory books!  We have a leisurely day with the ship somewhat slowed since I presume we made some good time the last few days.  Land appeared on the horizon about 1:30 this afternoon and we were tied up in Ensenada by 4pm.  It was pretty rainy and colder than we were used to.  The Commodore stayed aboard while Betty, THE BIRTHDAY BOY, Don, and I spent about 13.5 minutes onshore in the little ‘mercado’ at the pier.

Don’s had some nice attention for his BIG DAY with balloons, a card from the Captain and a special chocolate cake and singing waiters at dinner!!!  The waiters even made the last note of the birthday song last so long they were nearly breathless at the end.  What a riot!

I have to mention that for a couple of evenings now we have seen a couple dancing in the atrium….just the two of them.  Make no mistake……they’re pros!!  They are good but OH, the dramatics!!  The splits!  The wigs!!  The mouth breathing husband!  True enjoyment!

Had to pack up the suitcases this afternoon and that is always a bittersweet time.  We are happy to have been on this wonderful trip, a little sad to see it end but looking forward to being home.

Only played trivia once today and we didn’t get close at all.  I was annoyed because a woman who played with us only once before showed up with a fresh head cold and was snorting and coughing!  I came right back and washed up and changed my clothes!  Beast!

No movies today for us.  They did play ‘Lincoln’ again because they said so many requested a replay.  Based on the makeup of the passengers, I believe they requested it be shown again since they were personal friends with Abe!

Don’t ask me how this conversation started because the Commodore initiated it but we met a couple this evening who know friends of ours from 42 years ago that used to babysit for us!!  Unreal.  That one is a real head scratcher!

I don’t know when I will get this posted since we have been without internet for most of the day.  I have no idea what’s going on in the world!

We will do ‘express walk-off’ tomorrow morning about 8-8:30.  The car is parked about 75 feet from the ship so we should be on our way home pretty quickly.  The ‘express’ means you roll your own bags!

See you all soon!

XOXOXOXO

M

Day 12 – Last sea day

Drop dead gorgeous day!  Smooth seas and abundant sunshine!  The Commodore spent a nice late morning enjoying the balcony and reading his book.  His perfect day at sea.

I went to trivia and it was a beast!  Our little team only managed nine points and the winners only got 11!  This afternoon the trivia was a bit more competitive and we managed to score second place just one answer behind the winning team.  I had no idea who built the Cambridge laptop in the early 80’s.  I did, however, come up with a group of cats being called a ‘clowder’.  I did have to fight for that answer since the rest of the group wanted ‘litter’……..dummies.

We all went to see another movie this afternoon that turned out to be pretty OK.  It was called ‘Butter’ and was pretty overlooked in the theaters.  I can see why but it was perfect to show on a fourth sea day!!  It was better than yesterday’s movie so I was happy!

Attended a very nice wine tasting this afternoon and sure did get our fill!  Maybe all that wine helped with the clowder of cats!

Since it was another formal night we had dinner up in the Horizon Court and they were carving a beautiful roast beef and all the shrimp you could eat!  YUM!

All in all it’s been a nice day with lots to do…or not do.  Tomorrow we arrive in Ensenada about 4pm and will leave at 8pm.  Short but necessary visit since it will be the required ‘foreign port’.  We may go ashore and take a look at the dockside market.

Haven’t seen another ship in four days!  They must be out there…..somewhere!

Lots of love,

XOXOXOXO

M

Day 11 – At sea

I forgot to tell you that yesterday Betty and I made a stab at bingo….that was it…a stab.  Not even close!  The miserable woman next to us won TWICE!  What’s up with that???  Oh, well, moving on!

I won some money in the casino today!  Gave most of it back this evening…..:(

I found some trivia players and we did pretty well today.  This morning we were third and this afternoon there were two teams tied for first and we were just one back.  Not bad for this late in the game!  I am mad at myself for forgetting that Ian Fleming wrote ‘Chitty Chitty Bang Bang’!  I made up for that by remembering what the Scoville Scale is!!  (How spicy certain foods are.)

Went to see a movie today that we actually sat through although we all said later each one of us was tempted to walk out but thought the others were enjoying it since everyone stayed awake!  Do yourself a favor and skip ‘Beasts of the Southern Wild’……..big YAWN!

Had a chance to talk with the executive chef today and it was a pleasure to tell him how much we have enjoyed the food on this cruise.  We have always had good food but on this cruise it has been exceptional.  He was happy to hear it and said he hears a lot of complaints.  I can’t imagine what they find to complain about but there’s always a few to ruin things.

Weather was crystal clear today and again a bit cooler.  Pretty flat seas so not a lot of rocking. 

We have another sea day tomorrow and then on Friday we dock in Ensenada for a few hours.  Actually, that will also be a ‘sea day’ for us since there’s no ‘there’ there in Ensenada! 

Till tomorrow!

XOXOXOXO

Day 10 – At sea

We have managed to stay pretty busy for a day at sea but I’m not sure how!!

Between lectures, movies, art auctions (no, we did not buy!), the casino and taking in a Pub lunch we managed to day quite nicely!

The weather was pretty clear although we can start to feel the lowering temperatures and the ocean looks a different color.  We are still sailing in moderate seas although the swells are a bit deeper and you can feel more deep rolling of the ship.  Not enough to hang onto the rails but you’d better hang on going up and down the stairs!

We’ve had some fun entertainment in the atrium area and yesterday we had the bartenders showing us their tricks.  Also a guy called ‘the checkerboard man’ and he was a very clever juggler with a great ‘schtick’.

‘Lincoln’ was shown in the theater today and we knew it was going to be standing room only and no one was in the mood to go into the theater over an hour early to just get a seat.  Betty went and competed in the Blackjack tournament (darn, didn’t win!) and Don did manage to snag a seat in the theater at the last minute.  The Commodore took his book to the topmost lounge on the ship to do some quiet reading.  I just played for a while in the casino.

Had a nice dinner this evening since it was ‘Italian’ in the dining rooms.  We had limoncello at the end of the meal and I laughed while taking a sip and it really ruins the experience when you snort it.

I am still recovering :O

Hope everyone is well.

Lots of love,

M

Day 9 – At sea

Just found out this evening that we’ve had a change in Captains!!  Marco Fortezze is gone and Nick Carlton is in charge!  We’ve sailed with Carlton before but I just can’t remember where or what ship.

Lazy day today.

Had breakfast on the aft deck outside this morning and it was still warm and beautiful.  Nice to linger over coffee and watch the wake of the ship disappear on the horizon.

We then went to a Scholarship @ Sea lecture about the history of Hawaii which was quite interesting and also pretty entertaining.  I may have already mentioned George Losey, the University of Hawaii Professor Emeritus who is giving all these lectures.  Great speaker and had a depth of knowledge about Hawaii that is amazing.

Lunch was again outside but we had some gusty winds to contend with so there was no lingering!

Betty, Don and the Commodore went to see the afternoon movie ‘The Words’, which we had never heard of but they all enjoyed very much.  I went to another lecture that I had heard about and liked it.  It was by a woman who is a ‘clothing historian’ and she had a great presentation about women’s clothing over the last hundred years.

Another formal night tonight so we hid out in the buffet and then Betty and Don went to the show and the Commodore and I went to the casino.  I’m now down a little and the Commodore is about even so all is good there!

Even though it’s been a quiet, relaxing day we have found plenty of belly laughs!  The seas remain moderate and I’m going to let them rock me to sleep early tonight.

XOXOXO

M

Day 8 – Hilo, the Big Island

The day in Hilo started with a bang in a couple of ways!  As soon as I woke up and saw the island off our side of the ship, I turned on my phone and found a voicemail message from our neighbors saying that there was a water break at our house and there was lots of water in our driveway….great!  I called our friend, Tom, who was on the road and unable to respond so I then called Guy who said he’d be glad to check.  There was only one problem…..Guy thought I said ‘wasps’ so he went to the house to find flying bugs!!!

Meanwhile, I checked my email and found out that Connie and Fred had gotten a call from the first neighbors and they had gone over to find a break in one of the sprinklers and had shut off the water to the irrigation system!!  Yay!!  Guy, in the meantime, is puzzled because he’s not having any success troubleshooting the water once we got on the same page with wasp v. water!!!  All I can say is “thank God” for such great neighbors!!  You are all the BEST!! XOXOXO

While all this is going on the Commodore is taking his shower and then comes out of the bathroom choking and coughing! Now what???

Well, he went to wash down his mouthful of medications with some bottled water and …………wait for it………….yep!  GIN!!!!  He will tell you that is NOT FUN at 7am and being totally unexpected pretty much ruined the taste of his morning coffee!!  Sorry, I think it’s freaking hysterical!  Can you all see now that there aren’t many dull moments around here?

Once that morning fun was resolved we disembarked to ‘follow our noses’ and decided that we would find someone on the pier to give us ‘a three hour tour’ of Hilo.  Easier said than done since we were in the middle of the worst rush off the ship!  We did prevail and found a guy named Mario who was free to give us the tour we were looking for.  It actually was perfect for him since he had another group in the afternoon.  He was terrific and very proud of his city and island and was a great guide.  We saw the Akaka Falls and then the Rainbow Falls, the Mauna Loa Macadamia Nut farm and shop and he just gave us a great tour of the shoreline and parks.  After two weeks of nearly continuous rain, Hilo was dry and sunny today and the temperatures in the 70’s!

At the end of our tour Betty and I decided to stop by Walmart so we asked Mario to drop us off before he took Don and the Commodore back to the ship.  Betty and I planned to take the Walmart or Hilo Hattie shuttle back to the ship.  We were only in the store about 20 minutes and came back out to wait for the shuttle bus when Mario appears!!  He said he felt we were going to have to wait too long for the shuttle so he came back for us and took us to the pier.  See?  I told you he was a nice guy!  Those kinds of heartwarming moments really restore some of my faith in people!

We had a bit of a rest before it was ‘gin and tonic’ time (well, whatever gin was left after the morning slug!).  Betty and I opened a nice bottle red!  We enjoyed ourselves on the balcony watching Hilo disappear.  Tonight’s dinner was in the Sterling Steakhouse where we were again spoiled rotten by delicious food.

Casino opened again and we made our usual deposit. L

The next few days are all at sea and the Captain assures us that it will be pretty comfortable with moderate seas.  Those are the best kind to rock you to sleep!

Lots of love,

XOXOXOXO

M