Hi, it’s Christina –
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| My view - Beautiful Bayonne, NJ - NOT |
Good Morning! It’s been ages,
I know, and I’m sorry! Fair warning, this is going to be an unusually LONG
post, because I will not have internet access to be able to post this until
June 5th.
I’m am currently sitting
on my HUGE balcony, overlooking the stern of the Liberty of the Sea. Well,
technically I’m not overlooking the stern because other than the few cabins
below us, all I see is water. (I may have told you, but I cannot recall at the
moment, but for our 25th wedding anniversary, my mother got my
husband and I a cruise to Bermuda.)
So much has happened since
the last time we chatted, I hardly know where to begin. Let’s see…
 |
| Dani's driving instructor |
I went up to Vermont and
picked up Lys from college. She made Dean’s list, so we are very proud of her.
Dani Rose has completed her 6 hour driving course and will now be driving on a
permit until February when she gets her license – good God, my BABY is driving!
 |
| 2015 Indie Book Awards |
Corporate Blues was a
finalist in both the Romance & ChickLit categories for the 2015 Indie Next Generation
Book Awards – yup, that’s right, I had to go into NYC again, by myself, on the
train. Obviously because I writing you right now, you know I survived, and I
will even admit, it was marginally better than the last time. I’m still not a
fan of going into the city, but at least I can handle it now without having a
full blown panic attack. LOL
The Twitter campaign is
still in full swing, and still taking 4 – 5 hours a day even though I am now up
to roughly 7,500 followers. I did figure out how to set up my book tweets so
they go out automatically at noon and three every day. That did still take
several hours to set up, but now I don’t have to worry about it until the end
of June.
So there’s the Reader’s
Digest version of what’s been going on for the past few weeks. The remainder
will be my cruise log.
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| One of the things that did fit him. |
Stardate 2015.05.27 – Passenger’s Log - Cruise Day -3:
I’m going to choke him
yet. It’s been a month since my husband’s birthday, A MONTH, and now he finally
decides to try on the clothes he got (with the intention of bringing them on
the cruise). Wouldn’t you know it, half of it doesn’t fit – including the suit
I got him, so now, three days before the cruise, I have to run around like a
chicken with her head chopped off. How high are the rails on a ship?
Stardate 2015.05.28 – Passenger’s Log - Cruise Day -2:
Laundry, laundry
everywhere. We’ve still had some cool days so the winter stuff has not yet been
packed away, and not all the summer stuff has been unpacked. I’m seriously
starting to feel overwhelmed. Is it Saturday yet?
Stardate 2015.05.29 – Passenger’s Log - Cruise Day -1:
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| 5 checked bags, a carry-on, my computer & my purse SIMPLY RIDICULOUS! |
For the love of God, the
amount of clothes you have to take on a cruise is INSANE! Normally, for a
week’s vacation, I can get my hubby and I packed into one suitcase and one
travel bag, but oh no, you can’t do that for a cruise. Basically, you are
changing clothes a minimum of three times a day, so for a five day cruise,
that’s fifteen changes of clothes, times two people. Now granted, one of the
changes is for pool/beachwear so that is only two bathing suits per person plus
a cover up – for my husband that means a tank top – oh bother, that still adds
up to a lot, plus after adding in sleepwear and accessories (ties, shawls,
etc).
Stardate 2015.05.30 – Passenger’s Log - Cruise Day 1:
*
I’m
going to kill him! Bury him in the backyard, and no one will be any the wiser!
Who cares that we’ve been married for 25 years! Can someone explain to me WHY
if you can get on the cruise ship at 11 and enjoy ALL the amenities at that
time, why would you not want to get on the ship at as close to 11 as possible?
ARGH! Get me on the ship and start this vacation already, because after the
packing nightmare, I am so ready to be out of here!
*
Whoever
the “they” are who says New Yorkers are rude and drive like maniacs must have
actually had a run-in with a driver from Bayonne and not realized it. SHEESH!
Repeat after me “ANGER MANAGEMENT”.
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| It's so big, I can't get it all in 1 picture |
*
Good
grief, it’s a floating city!
*
Warning
– the big bottles of No AD sunscreen will set off a red flag at the security
check in point, subjecting you to a search. Me – bewildered and flabbergasted
at what I could possibly have in my bag. Security Officer – bewildered and
flabbergasted that I so readily handed over my bag for inspection.
*
Pretty
sure this cruise is sold out. There are SO many people.
 |
| This was the only time I saw the characters on the ship |
*
I
am so hopelessly lost. It’s going to take me a week to figure out how to get
around this ship, and I only have five days!
*
Mandatory
evacuation drill – how fun. At least we did not have to wear our life jackets!
*
We
found the pool, so that’s a start. The cast of Madagascar preformed a skit and
got everyone in a festive mood. The ship’s horn cause several heart attacks,
but we are FINALLY on our way! YEAH!!
 |
| Betchya the horn scared them too - LOL |
*
Within
minutes of clearing the Verrazano Bridge, the wind picked up so much we could
no longer stay on Deck – I’m talking Deck chair tumbleweeds, so we decided to
head in and get showered and changed for dinner. Well, that turned out to be a
little harder than we had hoped. The one suitcase which held all out
undergarments was MIA. After making a few inquiries, we were told we needed to
go down to Deck 2.
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| Thank God I'm not heavier than I am or I would have NEVER fit in there! |
After showering in the
smallest shower known to man, I opted not to go commando, and put on the same
clothes I wore onto the ship, then headed in search of my missing bag. Should
have been an easy enough quest – take the stern elevator from Deck 10 to Deck 2
and walk to the conference room at the bow. NOPE. You can’t get there from
here. Here’s to wandering around aimlessly for the next several days…
Before dinner we decided
to check out the free booze tasting on Deck 5. On our way there, we passed a
jewelry display. They handed us a raffle ticket and said at 8:00 there was a
drawing for a free piece of jewelry. Okay, great. We need to be back by 8 for
the drawing, no big deal, our dinner reservations weren’t until 8:30.
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| Sheridan's - Not available in the US |
The next stop was the
booze tasting, where they gave you a coffee creamer cup of one of the featured
sales. Although I’m not a drinker, there was one there which intrigued me so
much, I just had to try it. It was this blue swirled bottle, made in Ireland,
half vanilla and half coffee flavored liqueurs, each pouring out of their own
spout. Oh my, it was DELICIOUS! The sale was 2 bottles for $37 dollars, but you
could mix and match, so back in line we went to sample a different choice. I
tried this one from South Africa, and I did not care for it. The other choices
were Crowne Royal and a peach vodka. We ended up getting two of the one from
Ireland. Then, as we paid, the clerk tells us that we were entered into a
drawing for $50 – cool, if we won, the ship would be paying us $13 to take the
booze off the ship. The drawing was to be held at 9:45. Okay – jewelry drawing
at 8:00 on Deck 5, dinner at 8:30 on Deck 3, booze drawing at 9:45 on Deck 5 –
we can do this.
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| 1st Sunset at sea |
With still over an hour to
kill before we need to be back for the 8:00 drawing, we decided to go exploring
on Deck 4 – the casino, the art gallery, the skating rink. In the art gallery a
painting catches my eye. I had never seen anything like it, and had never heard
of the artist, but it intrigued me. I was standing there long enough, admiring
the painting, that the art director came over to talk with me. Now, although I
loved it, I don’t have a spare $1,500 laying around to purchase it (plus, if
you acquired the one painting, you kind of would need to get the second one by
the artist as well to have a balanced set). Perhaps in my next lifetime I will
be able to indulge. The art director hands me – yup you guessed it – another
raffle ticket, but thankfully, this drawing doesn’t go off until noon tomorrow.
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| My lifesaver! |
*
8:00,
I didn’t win, so it’s off to dinner. With the exception of dessert, I wasn’t
impressed, and let’s leave it at that.
*
9:45,
I didn’t win. Paulie wants to go check out Karaoke at 10:00 on Deck 4. Sure, why
not – I’ll never see these people again as long as I live.
*
10:10,
not feeling too good. Pop some Meclizine. Leave Paulie at karaoke which hasn’t
started yet, and head back to my room for the night. Only three wrong turns, I
may figure out this ship yet.
Stardate 2015.05.31 – Passenger’s Log - Cruise Day 2:
*
Well
I started today with a heart attack. I get up and check the time on my phone
and it says 11:20. Seriously? I haven’t slept past 7:00 in over 20 years. Good
grief! I left Paulie sleeping and headed out to get some coffee, grumbling that
I missed several things I had wanted to do already. The first thing I do when I
get to the buffet is ask, “What time is it?” “Ten minutes to eight.” So
basically I woke up an hour later than I usually do, thanks to the Meclizine
and the hour time change.
*
These
guys can’t make coffee… just sayin’…
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| Wish I could remember the artist's name... |
*
Paulie
finally woke up. It’s really 11:00 this time. We’re headed for breakfast, then
he’s going to go sit by the pool and I’m going to check out the art auction.
*
Well,
I only lasted about half an hour at the art auction. I left before it actually
started. Being inside without windows for any length of time screws with my
equilibrium, and I wasn’t going to risk feeling ill for the day over something
I wasn’t really going to purchase anyway. I was naughty though and snapped a
photo of the two paintings I fell in love with. Aren’t they amazing?
*
The
highlight of the day was the belly flop contest. A dude from Quebec won.
Supposedly this was his 3rd win in the past 6 years. I give all
seven guys credit though, because the water in the pool was so cold, all I
managed to do was get my feet in it. Although I have been in it, hot tubs are
not my favorite, but I guess they are going to be my only option on this
cruise.
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| Paulie LOVES the hot tub! |
*
I’m
bored. We got to the pool too late to be able to snag lounge chairs, and I’m
not one to be sitting in the sun, baking, when I can’t jump in the water to
cool off. I’m going to take a nap.
*
Tonight’s
the formal night for dinner. It’s nice to be able to get all dressed up once in
a while.
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| Do I have to wear shoes? |
*
Dinner
was actually pretty good tonight. The lobster bisque was nasty and I sent it
back for a shrimp cocktail, but other than that, the beef fillet was wonderful
and I got the chocolate dessert to go.
*
Headed
out to check out the “Finish the next line of the lyrics” game show. I hope I
get picked to participate.
*
Well,
we missed the game show. I thought it started at 10:30, but it started at
10:00, so we didn’t even bother. Instead we headed up to one of the lounges on
the top deck to listen to a country band. The music was good, but I don’t know
if the sound system wasn’t working properly or if it was just their singing,
but I couldn’t understand a dang thing they were singing.
 |
| Found out later it wasn't the sound system. These guys barely spoke English - LOL |
After half an hour, when
they started singing a Stones song, we decided to check out Karaoke instead. We
listened to five or six acts. It was hysterical, but then it was midnight, and
it was over. The rigidity on a cruise kinda stinks. Karaoke is exactly from
10:30 – 12:00, not a minute more. It didn’t matter that there were at least
another dozen folks signed up to sing who never got the chance, there was a
huge crowd, and everyone was having a good time. I’m really starting to think
this whole cruise thing is not for me.
*
It’s
12:45. I left Paulie at some bar, laughing and having a good old time with this
group of people – the only names I caught were Gina & Dom. Although I’m not
overly tired yet, I was starting to get a little queasy from being inside so
long, so I came back to the cabin where I could sit on my balcony. I can’t stay
out here for too long. Breakfast is coming at 7:30. I thought it would be smart
to have room service on the day we were leaving the ship. This way they wake
Paulie up and not me, and we can get an early start.
Stardate 2015.06.01 – Passenger’s Log - Cruise Day 3:
 |
| Yup, that's rain you're seeing. It did clear up by the afternoon, so the day wasn't a total washout. |
*
It’s
6:30, two hour before we dock on Bermuda, and it’s grey and cloudy. Oh joy. I
guess we’ll be doing our sightseeing today and our beach excursion tomorrow.
It’s really going to suck if tomorrow’s cloudy too. Oh well, whatchya gunna do?
I didn’t even think to pack an umbrella. The weather forecast said beautiful,
sunny and 77°. UGH!
*
What’s
the point in having a drink package if you can’t have the drinks offered in the
package at room service? Fresh squeezed orange juice is part of our package, so
I ordered it for breakfast, only to find out they wanted to charge us extra to
have it delivered. Seriously?
*
So
basically, we rode the bus around the island today. We disembarked, purchased
our 2-Day Bus/Ferry pass for $31.50 a person, which wasn’t terrible, then
decided to check out the museum which was right here by where we were docked.
Even though we couldn’t get into all the buildings of the museum because some
had been damaged by last year’s hurricanes (they were hit by two in a week), it
was pretty cool.
We were able to see
several exhibits, learn some history of the island, and I may have even seen
some of the bottles my father had pulled up from one of the wreckages.
Obviously I cannot be sure if they were pulled up by him – it’s not like they
had a label “recovered by Bob”, but since he told me to look for them, I am
going to assume, those were his.
 |
| See, he's laughing... |
The dolphin exhibit was
really neat. I think there were nine full grown dolphins and two babies. I took
a slew of pictures, but those little buggers were quick, so I mostly got
pictures of water. LOL. At one point, one of the dolphins came up to the top
and was looking straight at me. I went to snap his picture, but I hit the wrong
button and the camera turned off. At that point, the dolphin actually started
laughing at me. I got the camera turned on again, and as soon as I did, he
ducked back under the water, probably laughing himself silly on his way down.
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| It's hard to tell, and there was no way I was getting closer to the edge to take a better picture, but that's cactus growing up the side of the cliff. |
After the dolphins, we
took a walk around the ramparts. Although the views were fantastic, and I did
get to see cactus that grew up the side of a cliff (had no clue it could do
that), the walk was a bit precarious and rather nasty. Who knew sheep could
poop so much. I initially thought there had been an invasion of Canadian geese,
but then someone told us, it was sheep. Shortly after finding out this tidbit
of information, I discovered evidence that one of these beasties had just
recently given birth, right there, where we were walking. EEEEWWWW! I will not
go into any more details than that…
 |
| High Cave |
After a dash through the
rain, a quick peek at the “High Cave” and one more display, we left the museum
and hitched bus 7 to Hamilton. I have to say, Oh Boy! Riding a bus in Bermuda
is an experience. The roads are narrow, windy, crowded, and disorienting
because they do it all on the wrong side of the road! When we hit the first of
many traffic circles, I had to look away.
I did chat with one of the
locals during the ride, and she told us that Long Beach was the one with the
most pink sand, and that if it was history we were interested in, then we
needed to go and visit St. George.
We survived the 55 minute
harrowing experience, and went on a quest to find the Hog Penny, a restaurant
my father claimed “has the best fish chowder on the island.” After the 4th
time asking folks where we could find it, we found it. Now each of the people
we asked did get us closer to the place, it was just our unfamiliarity with the
area which sent us awry.
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| We didn't eat here, but I just loved the name |
Destination found, we
settled in for a ridiculously over-priced lunch. Paulie had a local beer and an
appetizer of pulled pork potato skins (which was simply delicious), and I had
an iced tea and, of course, fish chowder, and the bill was $50! Just goes to
show, even though I would simply love it, I’d never be able to afford to live
on an island.
Now, I’ve never been one
for spicy food, and I am fairly certain my father is aware of this, so I was
very surprised after my first spoonful. It was a strange type of burn. It
didn’t affect my lips, my gums, my tongue or even my mouth in general; nope, it
burned the back of my throat. I was not about to send it back, because I did
not know if it would be considered to be in bad form in Bermuda, and I was not
going to waste a $12 bowl of soup (more like cup of soup by US standards), so I
begged the waitress for some bread, and I soldiered on. It was an unusual
tasting soup, it may have been because of the dark rum and sherry they add to
it as it was being served, or it may have been the fish they used or the
spices. It wasn’t bad, but I don’t think I’ll be ordering it again.
From the Hog Penny, we
wandered around a bit trying to find the bus terminal. The chatty local on the
bus said if we liked history, we should head on over to St. George, so on her
word, we were off. This time on the bus, I had a normal seat – forward facing,
near a window. Oh dear Lord! I guess I did not quite comprehend how narrow
those streets really were until we were careening two inches away from a wall
and branches were hitting me as we passed. YIKES!
 |
| Mark & Judy |
St. George is exactly what
I pictured a Bermuda town to be; quiet, quaint, cobblestoned streets, each
building a different pastel color. It was lovely. I wish we had more time to
explore, but the last ferry from St. George back to the dockyard was at 5:30,
and I was not willing to take the bus back which would have been an hour and
forty minute ride plus whatever time we would have had to wait for while
switching busses in Hamilton. No thanks, the 30 minute ferry ride did just
fine.
Around 4:45 we realized we
would not be able to see historical site on St. George and be able to get back
to the ferry in time, so we decided to pop into a pub next to the ferry terminal.
Paulie sampled a local beer, and I has something sweet. That’s where we met
Mark and Judy from New Hampshire. They were on the Norwegian Dawn, the ship
that pulled into port right behind us (yes, the same ship that you heard about
on the news two weeks ago when it got hung up on a sandbar).
It seems their poor
captain’s luck hasn’t improved since that cruise. Six hours into this cruise
they had a sever medical emergency, but because of the dense fog coming out of
Boston, the medivac helicopter was unable to land on the ship, and they had to
turn around. The passengers were rather confused when they woke up on day two
of their cruise to find themselves back in Boston.
 |
| Paulie & Me |
When I was getting ready
this morning, I noticed some activity on their ship, which is parked right
behind us, but Mark and Judy did not know what had happened. Perhaps we will
run into some passengers from the Norwegian tomorrow and they’ll be able to
tell us why the ambulances met their ship when they came into port.
 |
| So, is it a bear or an elephant? |
When we got back to our
room, there was a towel animal on our couch. Paulie thinks it’s a bear, I think
it’s an elephant. What do you think?
After we rolled ourselves
out of the dining room tonight, good Lord, we ate so much, we decided we needed
to take a walk. We headed over to Deck 11 with the intention of taking the
stairs by the bar up to Deck 12 where the jogging track is. As we neared the
stairs, I hear, “Mamma!” in a voice I recognize. I look around, and sure enough,
my son’s friend Josh is headed over to me with his arms outstretched for a hug.
To say I was surprised would be an understatement. I have known Josh since he
was roughly 18 months old. He was there with two more of my son’s friends who I
have also known for eons. So our record stands, everywhere Paulie and I have
gone, no matter where in the world, there is someone there we know.
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| Yes, that's an angel costume |
For three nights now our
dinner companions, Doug and Sally, have been telling us about this Hawaiian
piano player named Matt Yee, who does a sing along in the Schooner Lounge, so
we decided to check him out. Dang it, we should have listened to them after the
first night. Matt’s flippin’ hysterical. Oh my goodness we had such a great
time tonight! We will definitely be going back tomorrow.
*
Okay,
I’m headed off to bed, because I want to get to the beach early tomorrow. It
should be interesting trying to get Paulie up early. Wish me luck!
Stardate 2015.06.02 – Passenger’s Log - Cruise Day 4:
 |
| Sunrise |
*
Well,
the sun’s out, so that’s a good sign. If I don’t get my toes in the water soon,
I very well might explode. Our plan for the day is to start off at Long Bay,
then walk down to Horseshoe Bay, stopping at the various beaches in between.
It’s around three miles, but according to the locals, we can walk from one
beach to the next, then we’ll hope on the bus at Horseshoe back to the ship. We
have to be back onboard by 4:30, which means we don’t have a whole lot of time
today, so even though it’s only 7:30, I have to roust the sleeping bear – pray
for me – lol.
 |
| Long Warwick Bay |
*
After
an hour long wait for the bus, and then a half hour ride, we finally made it to
Long Bay. The sand was definitely pink, which is why we chose Long Bay, but I
was very surprised at how cold and rough the water was. We only stayed for
twenty minutes or so, and then decided to start making our trek toward
Horseshoe. We went through the path to the next little beach, which turned out
to be an alcove. It was completely sheltered from the breaking waves.
 |
| Blue Parrot Fish |
I started to wade out so I
could get wet – I needed to cool off even though we had only walked a short
distance – and there, not two feet away from me, was a Parrot Fish. I quickly
grabbed the camera, and waded out again. This fish was quite content for me to
get up close and personal to take his picture. At one point he even rolled onto
his side so I could get a better shot, but unfortunately the photo did not come
out as good as I had hoped (I couldn’t check until I got back to the room
because it was just too sunny to see it on the beach).
 |
| Off in my own little world |
We made it down several
beaches before we realized our helpful native neglected to mention that you can
only travel the seven mile stretch of beaches during low tide, so Paulie and I
had to turn around and go back the way we came to catch the bus to Horseshoe.
When we pulled up to the
bus stop for Horseshoe Bay we could see the beach was nothing but wall to wall
umbrellas – no thank you - so we stayed on the bus for one more stop and got
off at Church Bay. Like Horseshoe, the descent from the road to the beach was
extremely steep, but at Church, it was a set of stairs, so it wasn’t too
terrible. There were roughly 20 people on Church Bay, much more to our liking.
I rented snorkel equipment, Paulie passed because the water was too cold for
him.
 |
| Church Bay |
After my comedy routine of
getting my flippers on, and a few misfires with the goggles and snorkel, I
found my rhythm and I was off. At one point, I had 8 – 10 Parrot Fish and 50 or
so other fish all swimming around me at one time while I was frantically
snapping pictures with my disposable underwater camera. There was this one fish
in particular who was quite insistent on getting his picture taken. There I
was, in rough surf, trying not to drown, and trying to get the camera to
advance to the next frame, all while he kept swimming up and butting the
camera. I finally get the camera advanced, and I raise it to my goggles, the
little fish swims back about a foot, and I swear he smiles at me as I take the
picture, then he swims off. It was the most peculiar experience.
 |
| One of the beaches between Long & Horseshoe Bay |
I PRAY the pictures came
out. The water was a little cloudy, which wasn’t too terrible when the sun was
shining bright, but when the sun ducked behind a cloud, the visibility
underwater was poor. There are still ten pictures left on the roll and I don’t
want to waste them, so I won’t get to see how they turned out until after our
vacation in August. Not sure where we’re going yet, but it will most likely be
around water, so I will use them up there.
 |
| 2 of the I think 6 hot tubs on the ship |
Even though it was only
2:30, we had had enough fun in the sun for one day, so we headed back to the
ship. We grabbed a quick bite from the buffet, and headed up to the pool deck
to eat our lunch. When we finished eating we sat in the hot tub for a while –
it was nice to be in warm water.
 |
| Selfie! It's a terrible picture of me, but I was so impressed I managed to get us fairly centered with no heads cut off, I just had to share it. |
*
I’m
showered and waiting for Paulie to get done with his shower so we can head down
to dinner. I don’t know how long I’ll last tonight. After all that walking and
the snorkeling, I’m pooped.
 |
| Quest - I'll let the picture speak for itself |
*
After
dinner, we caught Matt Yee’s show again, then we went to something called Quest, which was basically a scavenger hunt. Oh my! We had a BLAST! The ONLY thing I contributed to the Quest was a business card - I just wanted to put in that disclaimer if any of you out there have participated in Quest before. LOL
 |
| Monkey! |
* I left Paulie at one of the bars.
I did stay for a little while to chat with Katherine, a really sweet lady I had
met on day 2. She’s cool. She is part of the production crew on a Broadway play
The
Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. If you haven’t heard
about this play, it’s about an autistic boy who solves the murder of his
neighbor’s dog. It sounds awesome, and I may just have to suck it up and make
another trip into the city to see it.
*
Tonight’s
towel animal was a monkey. Isn’t he cute?
*
I’m
toast, so I’m off to bed. I’ll chat with you tomorrow.
Stardate 2015.06.03 – Passenger’s Log - Cruise Day 5:
*
I
woke up this morning with a rash and hives all over my face. I grabbed some
breakfast, and brought it up to my room to eat on the balcony. The rash really
starting to bother me, so I took a Benadryl.
*
The
Benadryl knocked me out until 3. Paulie just woke up too. I guess the late
nights caught up to him. He’s grabbing a quick shower, then we are going to
breeze though the buffet, then it’s off to the ice show. The seas are really
picking up. I hope I can stay in the arena for the show.
 |
| This was the clearest picture I got |
*
Holy
crow, the ice show was amazing. I did not expect such a production on a 40’x60’
patch of ice, but it was. Most excellent, I highly recommend it if you are ever
on the Liberty of the Sea. I have to run and get changed for dinner. We are
stopping by the Schooner before dinner for 80’s music trivia. I’ll let you know
how we make out.
 |
| Matt Yee is a nut! |
*
HOLY
CRAP the sea is getting rough. Doug & Sally were on deck before dinner and
they got a picture of a water spout. The ship is rocking and rolling, and the
spray from the whitecaps is so intense it’s making it look like it’s raining.
Everyone’s walking around like they’re drunk – even the ones who aren’t – and we
passed are several green faces. It’s going to be a long night.
*
It’s
1:00am, I just got back to my room and realized I forgot to put out one of our
bags for pick-up. I hope they take it, because I REALLY don’t want to carry it
all morning tomorrow as we are waiting to get off the ship.
*
We
got a 35 out of 40 on the trivia– not too shabby, but one woman got a 40 out of
40, so no keychains for us.
 |
| Me & Matt Yee |
*
Dinner
was yummy tonight. I had jumbo tiger shrimp which were the size of small
lobster tails. From dinner we caught a little bit of Matt’s show, then headed
to the Platinum Studio (our first time there this entire cruise) for the
comedian.
I think the guy’s name was
Kevin Flynn, and he was in a movie with Jim Carey and was one of the boyfriends
of one of the girls on Sexy in the City, but since I didn’t see the movie, and
I never watched SitC, I had no clue who he was. He did a good job though, and
one line in particular had me in absolute hysterics. He was talking about the
amount of food we consume on a cruise and how we get programmed to eat every 18
minutes, and as that 18 minutes approaches, we are actually hungry. Obviously
the line was delivered far better, but you get the gist. What was funny was
everyone in the arena was nodding because it was so true.
From there we went back up
to catch the end of Matt’s show, and when that ended, we headed to the bar in
the casino where everyone we had become friendly with during the cruise tended
to congregate at midnight. The bar tenders, Nuno & Luis, saw us coming and
handed Paulie a Miller Light as soon as we bellied up. Luis insisted I try a
few drinks, my first of the cruise. He had actually given it a lot of thought,
and made two he knew I wouldn’t be allergic to. One was orange and one was
blue. I have no clue what they were, but they were yummy, and he only made me a
mouthful of each, so it wasn’t enough to make me loopy.
Surprisingly, my stomach’s
doing well, even without any Meclizine – dummy me packed it, so it’s somewhere
on Deck 1 with all my luggage. Now if I can manage not to fall out of bed
tonight – yeah, they seas are that rough – I’ll consider it a success. I’m
wiped, and tomorrow is going to be another early day, so TTFN.
Stardate 2015.06.04 – Passenger’s Log – Disembark:
 |
| Back in Jersey Who turned off the heat?? |
*
The
slowing of the engine woke me a little after 5:00 am. I shot off texts to the
girls to let them know we were almost in port, and another to my niece who was
picking us up. Now I’m sitting on the balcony, wishing I had a cup of coffee,
but I’m not going to wake Paulie until the last possible second. I fell asleep
sometime after 2:00 am, and Paulie wasn’t back in the room yet, so Lord only
knows what time he got back. I have to wake him by 7:00 so we can get breakfast
and then get to our meeting area by 8:45.
 |
| This was our room |
*
Okay,
I’m back home, but I am going to take a nap and I probably won’t post this
until tomorrow. It’s going to take time to download all the pictures and get
everything arranged to go with this post, and quite frankly, I’m just too tired
right now to do it.
For the first time on the
cruise, we had breakfast in the formal dining room. I didn’t even know this was
an option until Day 4. Then we went for a walk, and I realized I forgot my
laptop in the dining room. I went FLYING back and they had already sent it up
to lost and found on Deck 5. I waited in that ridiculous line, got my laptop
back, and then we headed to our meeting area on Deck 3. As we got off the
elevator, we saw the meeting area was emptying out, so we cheated and took the
elevator back up to Deck 4 and got into line up there.
It took half an hour to
get off the ship from there, and another twenty minutes to make it through
customs, but we were in my niece’s car and headed home by 9:50, and we made it
home just before 11:00.
Since I had less than 3
hours of sleep last night, I’m going to bed. I hope you have a fantastic day,
and happy writing!
 |
| Panorama view from our room |
