Back to reality…cruise over

FRI/SAT – Uneventful drive first Best Western (BW) in Tuscaloosa was great, second BW in Slidell not so much.

SUN – NOLA. Convenient parking at the Fulton Garage but elevators were only on every other floor, had to hump the suitcases up the stairs. Boarding was a breeze, lunch with Pauline & Earl. Discovered wrong day was booked for pedicures, called & fixed! Steakhouse dinner, late, slow but delicious. Ended up with heartburn. Combination of very rough seas and eating a heavy meal late in the day.

MON – Sea Day. Took a shower, wandered around, sat and worked for a bit, very queasy, went to room and took 2 hour nap. Got news of one retired firefighter passing away and another having surgery for prostate cancer. Had a great pedicure by Lydia. Nice formal dinner, Highland dress, huge hit, listened to music, met some of the band members (The Midas Touch & Trio Amigo), got formal photos taken.

TUE – Sea Day.  I slept in, more notes for book, two software issues but got both resolved, dinner in the main dining room (MDR), more band time, met the members, now friends on FB with several

NOTE: Sugar straws are HORRIBLE, glad we brought our own stainless straws. Why can I have sugar in packets in the MDR but in the Lido buffet it’s pour from the sugar jar?

WED – Jamaica. I stayed on board and got some writing done. Stu went for a walk, not much to see without taking a cab somewhere, came back. Productive day. A/C in the room went out again, they were working on it when I called. Later that afternoon it was running again. Guest services called just before dinner to be sure it was okay, as a thank you they rebated us Stu’s internet charges. I had stir-fry beef & broccoli, the beef was REALLY tough.

THU – Sea Day. I went to bed early so we were both up early. Breakfast, then I moved to deck 5 where it was quieter (and it got me away from someone wearing too much perfume, giving me a headache)

FRI – Aruba. Stu went diving, they had poor visibility and came back early. Valentines Day. We had dinner in the steakhouse. Okay, but not as good as Sunday. They were very busy, almost no empty tables. Listened to the band and gave them all little ducks with hearts on them for Valentines. Oh, and I got 2.5 chapters written.

SAT- Bonaire. Great diving day for Stu, great writing day for me, Stu asleep by 9:30, me by 10:30

SUN – Sea Day.  I got in lots of writing, Stu has been going to the gym

MON – Cartagena, Columbia. Both stayed on board, little writing due to thinking about a new series. Our friends went on a tour, hot, enjoyed all but the panhandlers. Nice dinner, lasagna, and cheesecake. Rough seas, things sliding off tables, broken glass everywhere, decided to stay in for the night after dinner.

TUE – Panama Canal. We went through to Gatun Lake at 8 am, came back out at 4pm. We thought it was a bit clinical, we actually enjoyed the old locks better. We were disappointed that no excursions were offered as they had been when we did a similar cruise on Princess back in 2009 (our first cruise together). I called it early for the night, I wasn’t 100%. Stu has moved on to reading book two in the Outlander series.

WED – Limon, Costa Rica. Stu went in town and walked a bit. Bought me some gifts! (Photos to follow) Hand-painted sloth on turkey feathers, signed by the artist. Beautiful. Fun little sloth with hang-on-to-something arms. Coffee. Ship was over an hour late, two tour buses were late arriving. When we did get out, it was rough, even rougher than other days. I stayed in the room, ordered room service of grilled cheese & potato chips (my tummy recipe). For some reason they made the sandwich with mayo inside instead of butter. Um, different? Drawers kept opening, finally wrapped phone cord around them so we didn’t run into them in the middle of the night. Stu went out to the comedy club, one good and one terrible, as well as listened to the band for a bit.

THU – Sea Day. Pauline & Stu are doing the sea day brunch and using our drink coupons. I’m writing. Still rough, I feel like a drunken sailor when I walked around. LOL! Hard to find a quiet spot to write, too peopley out here! Formal night tonight…also throw-back 80s day. Went to the comedy club with two new comedians, great laughs. They featured a midnight buffet, Stu went up to take photos.

FRI – Cozumel, Mexico. Absolutely gorgeous day! I was hard pressed to concentrate on anything except the beautiful water and all the boats streaming past our ship. Best dive of all for Stu, of course he always says they’re all good, just some are better than others. Oh, and the towel animals invaded the pool area!

SAT – Sea Day. Finally got the notice of our Platinum party (Never did get our chocolate covered strawberries. Never complained because we don’t really care for them.) So many on the ship they broke it into two sessions. Then it was on to dinner with Pauline & Earl. Took pics with our wait staff, they were awesome.

SUN – NOLA. Arrived in port around 7:30am. Up and out of the cabin at 7:45 (after Stu had breakfast) and headed to the theater area according to our disembarkation instructions. Close to 9:30 before our number was called but it was a breeze from there on. Porters in the terminal and at our parking garage were awesome. Finally stopped at a McD’s for coffee at 10:30. Yeah, we got turned around twice before finally getting on the highway. LOL! Spent the night at the same BW in Tuscaloosa, had a splurge dinner at Logan’s Roadhouse.

MON – Home around 5pm on Monday – we didn’t hurry.

TUE – Brought the #2doods home

FINAL THOUGHTS: It was a good cruise, all in all. Once again, we found a great band we enjoyed. We saw more of them the first week, the second week they were in various productions we didn’t attend or playing on the Lido deck (which was too cold/windy for us at night). I am now Facebook friends with ALL the members, plus a former Carnival singer. They were all amazing! Some of them may find themselves in a future book. 

The food in the steakhouse and MDR was generally very good. The MDR menu was different every night. We did pick one night where we had Guy’s burgers & the buffet instead of the dining room. We would still book the steakhouse (in advance) as well as our pedicures (always enjoyable). We did notice the cutback in portion size (not a bad thing) and for me, way too few vegetables. The lido buffet was pretty much the same as previous cruises. Decent but nothing spectacular.

The internet was a little better than older cruises, at least for most of the cruise. But the last couple of days it got really bad between 4ish and 11ish.

The ship is showing the need for refurbishment. Put into service in 2003, it was last rehabbed in 2010. It’s scheduled again in 2021. We think that it’s overdue.

But the staff was amazing – some of the best we’ve ever had. Stu had the opportunity to chat with the captain as well as several other high level crew. Our room steward, Richard, and his two assistants, Stephanie & Cecelia, were wonderful, keeping our room spotless. Our MDR wait staff was probably the best we have ever had. The head waiter was Petre (pronounced Peter) and he was assisted Jeti and Manila. We requested them every night and were never disappointed. Besides remembering our names, they remembered our preferences in all things. I hope we run into them again.