Spring 2016 – Day 13

Our last day and the weather was partly cloudy when we woke up.

Ed had his breakfast and exercised and when he came back to the cabin not only was Barb up, she had almost everything packed because the sun was not out so it was a great idea to pack early!

The weather had turned a little for the better and so we up to the deck to get some sun.  By 12:30pm we were all hungry so we went to the back of the ship to eat our last lunch on this cruise together.

We had Salmon and also Tuna and they were very good with grilled vegetables.

Then we sat again in the sun and it was hot but hazy so it was good.  At 2:00pm, we came in and went to a show in the theater that was made up of people from the crew and it was very, very good.

Two of the female singers received standing ovations.

Then Barb and Tim joined us in the casino and Ed’s session was short when he lost and stopped early to protect the winnings that we had accumulated to date.  Barb did not play this afternoon.

We headed up to the Ocenview Café as we have almost every afternoon to get some snacks and then came back to the cabin.

We had signed up for the luggage valet program and all of our tags were ready so we finished packing and put 4 pieces of luggage outside.  The valet program cost a total of $40 for the two of us and they pick up our luggage from the hall and the next time we see it is at the airport in Bloomington.  So it saves having to find your luggage and taking it through customs, get it on a cab and then through check-in at the airport.  That’s a great deal for $40. 

The only thing we will have is Ed’s carry-on with our souvenirs and his briefcase.

The 7:00pm show was a production featuring the Equinox orchestra and the pianist and singer that we had seen before as well as the cast of the production shows.  It was a great final show.

Dinner was the same as usual – good but not great, but as good as you will find on a cruise ship.

It is interesting in that 3 nights ago our main waiter was not there as he was sick.  Then Barbara Freeman was sick and yesterday Vera was sick.  Our Barb also did not feel good, but was never sick.  It looks like everyone is feeling better today.

Then we went to the casino where Barb won and Ed also won – we had a hugely successful run at the casino over the past 11 nights and we are happy.  This was probably the largest number of daily wins that Barb has ever had on the slots and between the two of us we both won about the same amount and as it turned out, this was the largest combined total win at a casino that we had ever had!!

We have some fun videos that we will post on Sunday or Monday so we hope you enjoy them as well as you have enjoyed the blog. 

All in all this was a fun cruise with our old friends, some new destinations and we made some new friends but we are also ready to come home and see everyone. 

Night for tonight and see you all soon.

Going out for the afternoon

Our 4:00pm snack on our balcony

Time to go out for the last  evening

Now that's a tan!!

Our Casino Host - Andrew

Barb & Rudy - our favorite dealer

Spring 2016 – Day 12

Here we are at our last port, Georgetown, Grand Cayman before heading for home.  They have no docking facilities here so we had to tender in.   The good news is that we did not use the ships lifeboats but tenders from Grand Cayman which held 250 people in each boat.  They started boarding at 7:30am and we left the ship at 9:30am. 

As we have been here a lot, including with the kids a couple of years ago, we simply wanted to get off the ship and walk around town and buy a magnet and a Christmas ornament, which we did and of course a couple of other items. 

We went into a local church where there was a lady playing the piano and sat and listened to her for awhile- it was beautiful music. 

Then we stopped at a local food stand during a brief rain and split a conch salad cooked with lime juice.  It was a little spicy but good.  They did not have Coke, so Barb didn’t order anything to drink.  A little later, the owner comes back to the stand and he had when out and purchased Coke at the local market – wasn’t that special and he even went there in the rain, just for Barb.

We then walked back to the pier and took the boat back to the ship, just in time to meet everyone for lunch.  As Ed had already had a healthy lunch, he went to the grill on the pool deck and got one of their delicious hamburgers!!  We all sat on the back of the ship outside eating and just talking.  After we left last night, everyone won a little so last night was a good night at the blackjack tables and we had fun talking about it.

Since it was only 2:00pm when we finished eating we then went up on the sun deck and sat for a couple of hours before coming in – wow was it hot.

The entertainment tonight was a fantasy show by the production cast of the Equinox and it was pretty good.

Dinner of course was good and then we went to the casino where Barb only lost a little and Ed won a little – so it was a good night.

Tomorrow is our last day and we will be at sea, heading north towards colder weather and home.

We miss everyone and we will be home Friday at approximately 5:00pm.

Night for now.

Fresh fish for sale

In the old church

Lunch in town

The Carnival Paradise - the ship we took the kids on 17 years ago

The view from our balcony with 4 other ships in port

Spring 2016 – Day 11

This is our second from last sea day and we would normally sleep later than when we are in a port; however, that didn’t happen and we both woke up early.  Ed ate breakfast while Barb got ready and we were both on the deck in wonderful sun by 8:30am.

By 11:00am Barb realized that maybe we were close to burning and so we went in, cleaned up and walked around until it was time to meet everyone in the AquaSpa for lunch at 12:30pm.

After lunch, while Ed was talking to the future cruise sales office about a cruise/tour that included Africa, Barb hit a nice jackpot in the Casino!!

At 2:00pm we went to see a singer/comedian who had preformed earlier in the cruise and she was fantastic.

Then we all went to the casino as they were holding a drawing at 3:00pm for cash prizes.  We didn’t win any of the prizes; however, we all had a huge run at the blackjack table and after 1 hour all of us got up from the table together with nice winnings.  That is the first time we think that has ever happened to all of us.

The 7:00 pm show was a show called “Reckless in Vegas” and it was a terrible show featuring songs of the 1960’s by a trio of performers and they attempted to sing the songs as if they were rock songs.  They were very bad. Jeff said they were talented but there was no excuse for poor taste!!

As usual, we went to dinner and then to the casino.  Dinner tonight was excellent and in the casino, Barb broke even and Ed had a great run.

Tomorrow we arrive at Georgetown on the island of Grand Cayman – our last stop and second to last day of the cruise.

Night for now.

Going out for the afternoon

Time to go to the Casino

Going out for the evening

Spring 2016 – Day 10

For the second day in a row we woke up in the port of Cartagena, Colombia as we had stayed overnight in the port.

We left the ship at 9:00am by ourselves and took a taxi into the Old City, were we proceeded to see the sights that we had missed yesterday.  We particularly wanted to visit the churches of the city and there were three very old Catholic churches that we visited. 

One of the churches was built in the 17^th century and they all were in amazingly good shape.  We happened to walk into one of them as they were having mass and saying the Lord’s Prayer to a packed church – what an experience.

In another church we followed a stairway up to the third floor and came upon the organ which again was from the 17^th century.  In several rooms behind the organ were the restoration rooms where they were working on restoring a number of items from the church.  They let us walk through and it was amazing to see what they were doing.

We finally made our way to the opposite end of the city where we met Jeff, Vera, Tim and Barbara for lunch.  We ate at the place we were going to go to yesterday but it was closed on Sunday.  We all agreed that the food was very good, but probably in 3^rd place of the three restaurants we ate at in town,  but still very good.

Following lunch, we took a cab back to the ship at 3:00pm as the ship was leaving at 4:30pm.  We then had the chance to go to the helicopter pad on the front of the ship, as Jeff and Vera had an invitation and asked us to join them.  We had a chance to see the ship leaving port from the very front of the ship which was interesting.

The show tonight was a piano player who was very good, playing like Jerry Lee Lewis, Victor Borge and Liberace.

We ate at 8:00pm tonight so that the ladies could get to the casino as there was purse give-a-way and none of them won.  As a matter of fact both of us lost tonight in the casino.  The good news is that we are still ahead for the trip.

Tomorrow is a sea day and a great chance to just relax and we heading north for the first time.

Night

At the entrance to the old city

17th century organ

Another great shop!!

Right in the walkway from the port

Spring 2016 – Day 9

It was another beautiful day in our lives when we woke up to the port of Cartagena, Colombia – wow –South America again.

We had a “free” walking tour booked for the 6 of us and we were to get off the ship at 10:00am and take a taxi to the old city to meet up with the tour at the second stop; however, the ship didn’t make it to port on time because of delays in leaving our last port.

So, we walked off the ship and arranged for private guide for the 6 of us in what was to be a 3 hour tour;

however, it lasted until after 5 – what a great day in Cartagena.  The guide first drove us into the old city and parked the car at this this huge fort that guarded the entrance.  It is for sure the largest fort that we have ever seen.

She (our guide) took us to the top where she arranged with a fort tour guide to take us on a short tour of the fort and tell us its history.  The walk up was very, very steep, but we all made it and the tour was great, including going into some very narrow and small tunnels that were used by the soldiers to travel to parts of the fort and fight their enemies.

Then we got back into the van and she drove to the old city where we started walking.  All told, we walked a little over 4 miles but both of us are fine.  It was a great tour. 

At the end of the tour, we all, including the guide went to one of the restaurants we had found that was supposed to be the best of Cartagena.  There was about a 20 minute wait so we went next door and had a drink at a restored convent which is now a luxury hotel.  At the restaurant, called La Cevicheria, we split a couple of seafood dishes, one of which was a dish called Ceviche which is a mixture of all kinds of seafood cooked in lime juice very , very good.

Then she drove us around the new city including past the yacht basin where we saw one of the largest yachts we have ever seen.  It was owned by an individual from Montana named Washington and none of us had ever heard of him.  She finished the day by taking us back to the ship and we arranged for her to pick us up at 8:30pm and take us back to the old city to another great restaurant called La Vitrola and the food there was amazing.  There was no sign on the door and you had to knock to get in and if you didn't have a reservation, they will not let you in.  Thankfully we had a reservation.

We spent 2 ½ hours eating, first starting out with 6 different appetizers and then several main courses and finishing with dessert!!  After dinner, Jeff and Vera stayed to listen to some music at the bar and Barb and Tim and we went for a ½ walk before heading back to the restaurant at 11:30pm where she picked us up and took us back to the ship.

That’s all for tonight and tomorrow we are in Cartagena until 4:00pm and there is a lot of the old city left for us to visit.

Just walking around outside the port!!

Walking up to the fort

Part of the fort - lots of gun holes

In one of the tunnels with the guide from the fort

Snacks for sale on the street

Where we ate lunch

Lunch

More lunch

Some of the dinner apptizers

The door to the restraurant

Spring 2016 – Day 8

Today we were in Colon, Panama which is the port on the east side of the Panama Canal. 

Again, it was a beautiful day when we woke up and we met Tim and Barbara at the bottom of the gangway at 8:30am.  Jeff and Vera had decided to stay on the ship. 

We arranged with a guide with a van to take the 4 of us to the rainforest and the Gamboa Resort where they have an aerial tram to view the rainforest and the Panama Canal.  We were also going to go to the rescue zoo on the way back to the ship.

When we arrived at the resort after an hour drive we found out that all of the slots in the morning were taken so we made a reservation for 1:30pm and went to the zoo which was close, back down the road.

The zoo was not the greatest zoo we have ever seen, but it was fun and there were a lot of animals.  It was also Saturday so there were a lot of families with kids really enjoying the day, as were we with our driver/guide Jacob leading us around the zoo.

Then we went back to the resort and had lunch and talked while we waited for our reservation time.

We took a shuttle to the tram and the ride was amazing.  We were in a tram car for the 4 of us with a naturalist in the front talking about the rainforest and pointing our items of interest.  The ride was very slow and it took about 20 minutes to get to the top of the mountain.  Then we walked about another 20 minutes up the hill until we arrived at the top where we had a 10 story platform to climb. 

During the walk up, the naturalist pointed out a lot of interesting things, including the many nests of termites that were in the forest.  She opened up one next and offered a termite to eat, after eating one herself Ed took her up on it and he ate two.  The taste was that of wood!!

The climb to the top was on a ramp that revolved around the tower and both of us did not have any trouble making the climb.

The view from the top was amazing we could see the main river that feeds the big lake in the center of the canal and then the canal going both directions.

When we finished in the rain forest it was running late so the guide took us back the fast way and we were back to the ship at 4:00pm.

The rest of the evening followed our usual pattern of:

1.       Getting snacks and eating on our deck.

2.      Taking a nap

3.      Going to the show - it was good.

4.      Going to dinner - it was also good.

5.      Going to the casino where Barb and Barbara both played in a free slot tournament but did win,  Then in a regular session, Barb lost just a little and Ed lost.  The good news is that we are still ahead for the trip.

Tomorrow we land in Cartagena, Colombia and we are there for two days so it should be lots of fun.

The Gambio Resort on the Panama Canal

A Toucan

A termite nest

The 10 story tower we climbed

Our snack on the balcony

Spring 2016 – Day 7

Today we are in Puerto Limon, Costa Rica and it is one of the few islands that we visit in the Caribbean and Gulf that does not have tourism as their #1 producer of income.  This island is known for their production of bananas and other fruits.  It has beautiful beaches, mountains and even a rain forest.

We had arranged for a tour for the three couples to see a working banana plantation and then take a boat ride in the jungle, followed by lunch at a local restaurant out in the jungle area of the island.

We met our guide and driver just outside the pier and after driving for about 1/2 an hour we arrived at a working banana plantation.  As we drove in we could see hundreds and hundreds of banana trees and then we arrived at the production facility were the stalks of bananas were hung on hooks, with 5 bunches on each stalk.  Then a person would cut the bunches from the stalks and the bunches would go into water, washed and where they were sorted by grade and then packed into trucks or boxes depending on where they were headed.  It was really neat to see all of this production.  I have a video that I will add to the blog when we get home and have high-speed internet.

Then we boarded a 12 passenger boat for a tour down a small river into the jungle.  Along the tour, we saw many, many different kinds of birds, monkeys, sloughs lizards and a very small alligator.  It was a fun trip that took a couple of hours.

After the boat trip we went to this wonderful local restaurant were we ordered fresh grilled red snapper and also some rice and beans.  It was really good.  While we were there a storm blew up and we had to move our table to keep from getting soaked.  It even blew some of the thatch off of the roof.

We then were driven back to the dock where we shopped for a little bit before going back to the ship and yes going up to the food deck to get some snacks.

After that it was time for our nap.

After our nap, we went to the show which was a female singer who was very good and we had also heard her before – but that was just fine.

Then dinner and on to the casino where Barb broke even and Ed had another great night.

There are only a few pictures posted as the camera crashed while downloading the pictures to the laptop and I won’t be able to download any more from today until we get back home.

Tomorrow is Colon, Panama and I have a new card for the camera so there will be pictures!!

Night

Blue bags to keep the bananas protected

Sorting bananas

Very large bird's nests