New Years 2020 – Day 7

Barb had lost her opal bracelet last night and we went back to the places we had been to about 1am and couldn’t find it.  First thing this morning, Ed went to Customer Service and someone had turned it in.  WOW!!

San Juan and the weather started out perfect and we stayed out on the deck until Noon when we went into eat.  

We arrived at San Juan at about 3pm and were at the dock at 4pm.  We left the ship shortly afterwards and went up into Old San Juan to a local drug store where Barb bought a pack of Prednisone tablets, the ones that she uses when she starts to get sick and just finished using.  They sell these here without a prescription so we bought a pack to have as a spare in the future.  The Pharmacist also heard her coughing and gave her a bottle of their own cough medicine.  It is very strong and we hope it works as Barb still has a bad cough.

We wandered a little bit more, bought some Kahula and were heading back to the ship when the rain came.  We got soaked by the time we got back to the ship, but dried off quickly and sat on the deck until it was time to go eat.

We met two nice couples, both from Ohio at dinner and had an enjoyable evening talking to them.

Then we went to a show with a great sax player.

As the casino did not open tonight, we are back in our room early.

Tomorrow is St. Thomas, one of our favorite islands.

Night for this day.

Here are some photos from the past several days and not in the correct order due to my usb hub broken on this computer.

Out during the afternoon at sea

Out for the evening

The fort at the entrance to San Juan harbor

Having lunch our first day

Leaving Ft. Lauderdale

Jordan - our new puppy at 5 weeks

Barb in our spot on deck

New Years – 2020 – Day 6

What a wonderful day for our first sea day.  We awoke to 81 degree weather with a little breeze – perfect for being up on the deck in the sun.

We stayed out until noon and then went to eat and back to our room to change for the afternoon.

At 2pm Ed played in a blackjack tournament and did not qualify.  We both played a session in the casino and Barb broke even and Ed didn’t play.

We sat in the lobby and watched the band play and people dancing and we even had time to get in one dance before going to the show.

The show was one of elaborate production numbers and it was a good show with wonderful singing and dancing; however, we never did figure what the story they were trying to tell us!!

At dinner, we sat with a different couple and had fun talking with them as we had dinner.  The restaurant we are eating in, Blu seats people as then come in so you never know who you will be sitting next to, so it’s kind of fun.

We then went to the casino where Barb was even again and Ed won – so it was a good day.

At 10:30pm we went to the late night comedy show and he was just ok.

Tonight we move the clocks 1 hour forward and we arrive in San Juan later in the afternoon.

My USB port on my laptop is not working so there will be no pictures on the blog until I get it fixed.  I will take pictures by iPhone and send them instead.

Night for now.

New Years 2020, Days 1 – 5

Day one of our trip started with a 5pm flight from Bloomington to Atlanta and then another flight to Ft. Lauderdale getting us into the airport at 11:30am.   We were able to get our rental car very quickly, an SUV, and made it to the hotel at about 1:00am. 

The hotel was in Aventura, which is between Miami and Ft. Lauderdale, and it was a new AC Marriott.  This is a new brand by Marriott that is patterned after some of the European hotels.  It was very nice and clean and functional, but wasn’t to our liking, except it was $100 a night cheaper that the Marriott we usually stay at, so it was just fine.

The next morning, Barb was still not feeling well so we arranged an OSF Doctor on Call and basically used a type of Face time with a very nice Doctor you happened to be in Wisconsin.  She prescribed the medicine that Barb needed and Ed went to Walgreen and picked it up.  Barb stayed in bed the rest of the day until it was time for dinner.

Dinner was on Miami Beach at Gloria Estefan’s Restaurant.  We had eaten there a couple of years ago on a Miami Beach food tour so we thought it would be fun to go there on New Year’s eve.  The food was very good and after dinner we walked back to the car and went back to our hotel as Barb’s energy level was very low.

Day 3, New Years Day was a nice day and we went to our favorite beach, Haulover Beach in North Miami and stayed on the beach until about 3pm.  Then we drove south to Key Largo and had dinner at a local sea food restaurant before coming back to the hotel at about 11pm.

Day 4, Jan 2 was again a nice day and we also went to the beach.  When we got back to the hotel, Barb was not feeling very good and didn’t want to go out, so Ed went to a restaurant close by and brought back Lasagna, which we both enjoyed.

Day 5 – Jan 3 - Time to board the ship.  We left the hotel at about 10:30am and returned the car, took their shuttle to the ship and were eating in the restaurant by Noon.  We then sat in the sun until 2:30pm and then went to the life boat drill.  After that our luggage had arrived so we unpacked and then went to see the first show of the trip. 

The act was a quartet singing Jersey Boys hits and other songs of that time and they were very, very good.

Dinner was in the restaurant called Blu which is only available for people in the Aqua-Spa class, which we are.  It is more upscale than the main dining room and we had excellent meal and met some nice people at the table next to us.

Then of course we went to the Casino and it was amazing how many of the staff we knew, from the Manager on down so it was fun saying hi to everyone and talking about past ships.

At the end of the night, Barb was down just a little and Ed was up nicely.

Tomorrow is our first sea day so it will be very relaxing.

The pictures are rnot in the correct order, but thought you would like to see them

First night of the cruise

New Years Eve menu

Tuna in Key Largo

Key Largo Dinner - 3 kinds of fish

2019 Corvette Caravan

Videos from the 2019 Corvette Caravan

From the Bridge in Madison, WI

In Henderson, KY for lunch

Stopping at Leman's Chevy City

At Bowling Green

At the National Corvette Museum

At Henderson, KY for lunch

Drone video from Leman's Chevy City, Bloomington, IL

https://www.facebook.com/KWCAerialMapPhoto/videos/694464027683747/

https://www.facebook.com/KWCAerialMapPhoto/videos/694488744347942/

https://www.facebook.com/KWCAerialMapPhoto/videos/694310674365749/

Drone video from Mid America Motorworks, Effingham, IL

https://www.facebook.com/KWCAerialMapPhoto/videos/687284278401722/

https://www.facebook.com/KWCAerialMapPhoto/videos/685884411875042/

https://www.facebook.com/KWCAerialMapPhoto/videos/685018691961614/

To see additional videos go to:

https://northcentralcorvettecaravan.blogspot.com/

Videos from our Cruise in October 2019

Our cabin on the Freedom of the Seas - a Junior Suite

The Parade on the Promenade

The floating bridge in Curacao

Eating lunch in a small town in the mountains of Puerto Rico

Breakfast at the Marriott

A brief shower during breakfast

Lunch at a roadside stand outside San Juan

Twilight on the beach from our balcony at the Marriott

Our room at the San Juan Marriott

At the port of San Juan from our balcony

Day 13 – Monday, October 28

Sadly our last day for this trip.  Of course the weather was great.

We went down to the restaurant and sat outside for our breakfast and just relaxed and enjoyed.

As our plane was early in the afternoon, we basically did nothing at all except relax and pack for the trip home.

The trip home was uneventful and we arrived home at about 10:00pm.

Another fun cruise with friends and memories that we will always cherish.

Breakfast on the last day of the trip

Packed for the trip to the airport

Day 12 – Sunday, October 27

The ship was docked by the time we woke up and other than a brief rain shower at 8:30am, it was a perfect day.

Barb and Tim had what is called a Grand Suite and with that came the privilege of being escorted off the ship in a private group.  The person reasonable for that level of cabin also thought we were in one as it was his lounge that we had drinks and snacks in each night, walking in with Tim and Barb.

Our small group of people left at 8:30am and there was a fast lane for us to depart the ship, get our bags and get through security and customs.  We were probably 15 minutes from leaving the ship to our in a cab to the Marriott.   The regular lines were probably taking an hour to get out.

We had asked our contact at the Marriott to allow us to check in at 9:30am and our room was ready when we arrived.  Barb and Tim put their bags in our room and we took a Uber to Old San Juan so that Barb and Tim could have the famous Mallorca sandwich.  

After that early lunch we walked to the San Juan Cathedral for Sunday service.  It was in Spanish but we enjoyed it.  The church is the second oldest church in the Americas and it was in amazing condition.

After church, Barb and Tim went back to the hotel and we went to the gift shop for the church.  There we met a man who was working on the restoration of the church and he gave us a tour of the parts of the church that the public doesn’t get to see – it was wonderful.

Then we shopped for a bit before taking a Uber back to the hotel where we changed into swimming suits and went down to the big pool.

Barb and Tim left about 3:30pm for their flight back to DC and we later changed and went to dinner.

Dinner was a wonderful Puerto Rican meal. 

Then we played a session in the casino and Ed lost and Barb broke even. 

That’s all for our gambling on trip and while we didn’t win much, we did come out ahead.

We did get some bad news this afternoon,  a your friend, Mike Moss who we knew from our days at the Covered Bridge Festival lost his battle for life and passed away on Saturday – so sad to lose someone who was so young.  Our prayers go out to his wife and two children.

This will be our last blog before we get home; however, I will add videos later in the week.

About to leave the ship

Lunch of Mallorca sandwich

Getting ready to go into church

The door to the orginal part of the church

The view from our room and the Marriott

Dinner - Fish on top and pork on the bottom