Day 117 - New York City, New York

We got our wake-up call at 5:45 and looked outside to see a foggy, cool morning. We had coffee on the verandah and looked through the fog at some of the buildings. We got dressed for our departure and the fog got lighter and the view improved somewhat until the Carnival Miracle, a very large cruise ship, pulled into the next terminal and blocked a lot of the city. They started calling for disembarkation around 8:15. Our number was called at 8:30 and the luggage procedure and customs worked very smoothly. We did have to pay $92 duty. We got into our town car and drove across the city past Broadway, near Rockefeller Center, past Wall street and down a part of 5th Avenue and through the Queens Mid-Town Tunnel to La Guardia by 9:30. We did curbside checkin and they didn't even weigh the checked bags. We looked in the stores in the terminal and had a Wendys breakfast sandwich with coffee. We went through priority security check with no line and sat down at the gate at 10:45. Our 1 pm flight had been changed to 12:40. The flight was uneventful and we arrived at DFW a little past 3. We found our driver and he moved his car from one baggage area down the one that was posted for our flight. After waiting about 20 minutes, they made an announcement that our flight's bags were at the other baggage claim area. The driver and I walked down to the other area (not a short walk) and found the bags already on the carousel. We took the bags and walked back to his car and were delivered home at 4:15. We had a great time on the cruise but now we have to return to real life.

Day 116 - At Sea

I woke up at 8:40 and went out to the verandah. It was very cloudy and cool. I started back inside at 9:05 and Glenda had just gotten up. We had coffee on the verandah and made it up to breakfast just in time at 10:15. (They close at 10:30) After breakfast, we went out back where Jeff was tanning in between clouds and Casey was up and at the bar. It is a bad sign when Casey beats us out. At 12:30, Glenda decided to go get into her swim suit and I stayed in the cabin to pack a few more things and update the blog. I went back up at 11:15 and worked on my crossword puzzle while Glenda sunned. We came to back to the cabin at 3 to pack a little more and get ready for bingo. Again, we barely had enough people to play and on two games I needed only the number that would have been called if someone had not bingoed. The same 2 people won all 4 games. After putting out the 5 bags to be shipped home by FedEx, we dressed for dinner. I went by the internet cafe and had my remaining 393 minutes transferred to Aart and Yvonne who are continuing on to Rotterdam. After dinner, we paid our last donation to the casino. It only took about 25 minutes. We went to the Crow's Nest and said our good-byes to passengers and crew over drinks. We got to the cabin around 11:30 and finished packing our last 2 bags and set them outside the cabin and went to bed. We are supposed to dock at 6 am and we have a 5:45 wake-up call.

Day 115 - At Sea

We got up at 8 and had coffee on the verandah. After breakfast, we went out back to drink coffee. The skies were overcast with some dark clouds approaching, so we went to the cabin to begin packing. We made great progress as it began to rain and got 6 of the 7 bags packed in about 5 hours. We only have to pack the last one tomorrow. We went to bingo at 4 and barely had enough players. We got close in several games, but did not win. After dinner, we made a quick contribution to the casino and went up to the Crow's Nest for a drink. We were outnumbered by Dutch speaking passengers, but eventually Jeff, Ellen, Casey, Elinor, and Peter showed up. Peter bought us a couple of drinks and then went to his cabin to bring out his bottle of Old Monk 7 years old rum made in India. We had some and it was really smooth. We finally got back to the cabin around 1:15. One more day at sea left on the cruise. It seems like time just flew, especially the last month.

Day 114 - Ft. Lauderdale, Florida

We got up at 7 and had coffee on the verandah while watching all of the luggage being unloaded. We lose about 600 passengers here with 400 continuing on and about 300 getting off in New York. We went down to meet for our tour at 8:45, but the ship wasn't cleared until around 9 and we left to go to immigration around 9:15. It was a mess as they had given all the non-US passengers a form that said "Department of Justice" on them and they had to fill out another identical form except it says "Department of Homeland Security" on the top of it. This created a back up and when we finally got to the officer, they just looked at our passport and in-transit card and let us pass. We got to the bus around 9:45 and had to wail about 30 minutes or more for everyone on our bus to get processed. When we got to the Sawgrass Recreational Park, we boarded an airboat holding 22 people just as lightning began nearby and they had us all get off the boat. We went to an area where we watched a video on the Seminole Indians and then visited the exhibition of rescued and endangered animals . We got to hold a baby alligator about 3 years old. Finally, we re-boarded the boats and took off across the swamp. We saw one alligator in the grass, but since they have been having a severe drought, the water level was down to a few inches from about 4 feet and the gators were moving to deeper water. We saw a water snake of some sort and lots of birds as we zipped through the sawgrass and water. We got back on the bus and started back just a heavy rain storm approached. We drove about a mile in very heavy rain. We got back to the ship around 1:30 and had some ice cream on the back deck. We also had a couple of beers that Casey bought us while we waited for the sail away at 4:30. We visited with some of the crew and Jackie, the ship's hostess, bought us mojitos and sat with us a while. We left the dock around 5:15 and started on our way to New York City. We went back to the cabin to clean up for dinner and after dinner, we went to the casino. Glenda played for about 35 minutes while I lasted about 10 minutes on twice her contribution. We went up to a spookily empty Crow's Nest for a drink before returning to the cabin at 10:45. We have 2 days at sea before we reach our final destination.

Day 113 - At Sea

We got up at 8:30 and had coffee on the verandah. After breakfast, Glenda went out to sun and I retreated to our verandah to fill out paperwork. I managed to figure out our customs declaration amount by 12:30 and I returned to the pool area. Just before I left the cabin, our stored luggage was delivered so we can commence packing. I came back down and turn in my library book at 1:45 and Glenda came back at 2:30. We went down to the casino for the slot tournament but neither of us made the finals board. At 4 we played in the final bingo session and none of the 4 games was won by a regular bingo player. Even the $1,840 jackpot went to a new player. After dinner, it was to the casino for about 20 minutes and then up to the Crow's Nest. We went back to the cabin at 11:30. Tomorrow we have a tour by air boat to the everglades while about 650 passengers depart the ship.

Day 112 - At Sea

I woke up at 8 and went to the verandah to let Glenda sleep. She got up at 10 and we had coffee in the room and went out around 11. We missed breakfast, so we had burgers and fries out back around 1 pm. I read while Glenda sunned and I went back to the cabin at 2:30 to find mounds of paperwork to complete. Glenda came down at 3:15 and we went to bingo at 4 where we did not win. While getting ready for dinner, there was a bright-star announcement, which means that there is a medical emergency. We later found out that a passenger had died in his cabin and had been found by the steward. Someone told us that he had expressed a wish to die at sea. He looked like he was not at all healthy. After dinner, we spent about 25 minutes in the casino before losing our quota. We went up the Crow's Nest for a happy hour from 11 to 12, but we went back to the cabin at 11:30.

Day 111 - Gustavia, St. Barts

I woke up at 8 when the ship's clearance was announced. I went out on the verandah to watch the tenders load and I let Glenda sleep in. She got up at 9 and we had coffee on the verandah. I went up for breakfast before they closed and brought back Glenda's breakfast. It was Mother's Day after all. We went down around 11 and took the tender into town. Luckily for me, the really expensive stores were closed but Glenda managed to do some shopping in the ones that were open. The town was filled with passengers and crew and the few small stores open were packed. This French island is very expensive, but we found some sales. After walking around the town, we stopped at a restaurant and had a Presidentè from the Dominican Republic as there was no local beer. It cost 8 eruos for 2 beers (about $10) but a couple of the crew had salad, hamburgers, and soft drinks and it was almost $100. Only the very wealthy people can afford to live or visit here for long. We watched all of the passengers and crew as they came and went. Got a good picture of Casey, the Napoleon expert, at the bar. We also got pictures of a cat using one of the bar stools as a scratching post. There were some very interesting rent cars and a metal blue palm tree. We took the tender back to the ship around 2 and I went down to meet with the shipping service people per a letter we had gotten the night before. After waiting for half an hour for my number to be called, it turned out that since I had the correct number of shipping tags and all the information was correct, I really didn't need to see them after all. We went out back and sat around until the sail away at 4:30. We went back to the cabin at 5 to dress for dinner since we felt we should go see Chita Rivera at 6:30. We sneaked out after 4 songs as her voice wasn't great and she doesn't dance anymore and the music she was doing did not grab us. All the bars, lounges and the dining room were decorated for Mother's Day and we had dinner with Don, Norm and Ann at their big table next to ours. Peter, the purser, was our host officer and supplied very nice wines along with his witty repartee. After dinner we went to the casino and I was done in under 10 minutes while Glenda played for an hour. We skipped the Mother's Day Ball and went to the Crow's Nest where we stayed until 1:15, watching the crowd and visiting with the other regulars. We now have 2 sea days before reaching Ft. Lauderdale.

Day 110 - At Sea

We got up at 8 and had coffee while getting read for our 5K walk. We went down at 8:50 and the walk started at 9. We finished just before 10 and they served us pink lemonade. We then went to breakfast and afterwards, Glenda changed clothes to go out and sun, while I stayed in the cabin to catch up on the blog. I went back up to the pool area to read. We came back to the cabin at 2:30 to dress for dinner, since we have bingo at 4, a AMEX cocktail party at 5 and dinner at 8. After dinner, we lost very quickly at the casino and went to the cabin at 9:45. Tomorrow we anchor at St. Barts from 8 to 5 and it is a formal night. The celebrity entertainer turned out to be Chita Rivera and her show is tomorrow at 6:30 and there will be a Mother's Day Ball at 10pm.

Day 109 - Bridgetown, Barbados

We were already docked by the time we got up at 7. Our verandah was facing east and the sun was quite bright. About all we could see were containers and warehouses. Our AMEX tour met at 9 and we drove up the coast through different provinces and towns to the St. Nicholas Abbey, which is not an abbey, but a 450 year old plantation house. We got a tour of part of the house and then viewed a home movie film made in 1935 by the father of one of the recent owners. Then we saw where they bottled 10 year old rum and etched the bottles and applied the labels, all by hand. We got to taste the rum and had the opportunity to buy a bottle for $60, which we declined. Next we went to the Andromeda Botanic Garden which had hundreds of species of flora. Our guide named every plant and tree that we past. She had an amazing memory. Then we drove on to the Atlantic side of the island and had a great lunch at a hotel overlooking the crashing waves. We had flying fish among a great variety of local foods. We then drove back to the ship at 3 and stopped outside the terminal for a Banks beer. There were several passengers and crew at the bar and Steve, the DJ and Bingo man was waiting for our end of cruise celebrity entertainer. He wouldn't divulge who it was so we decided to wait and see. Unfortunately, after waiting for 2.5 hours, we gave up, as did Steve, and went into the terminal where all of the stores had closed. We later found out that the entertainer went in the back way about 1 hour before we gave up. Glenda said that since the shops were closed, she would just have to shop in Gustavia, St. Barts, where every store is a designer store and very expensive. We decided to have dinner at the American BBQ around the Lido pool, thinking that this might mean hot dogs, hamburgers, and chicken. They did have hamburgers on the menu, but when we ask, they went away and brought Glenda back a patty. I ask for one also, but it never appeared. Also we ask for buns and finally got them. Glenda looked for lettuce, tomato, onions, but found none. Finally, I gave up and ended up having peach cobbler and ice cream for dinner. Glenda finished about half of her naked burger. Later, we went to the Crow's Nest for the sail away happy hour between 10:30 and 11:30. We went back to the cabin at 12:15. We have a sea day tomorrow, but we are walking a 5K for On the Deck for the Cure at 9.