Blount Grande Caribe New Orleans to St. Petersburg

Not far from home yet, but my train leaves soon. I'll be reporting on this thread and with pictures at http://getawaysfrom21044.wordpress.com

I actually board May 19.

Roy

Not far from home yet, but my train leaves soon. I'll be reporting on this thread and with pictures at http://getawaysfrom21044.wordpress.com

 

I actually board May 19.

Roy

Bon Voyage for your latest cruise. I look forward to reading your comments on this unique local cruise line.

Hi Roy,

My husband Duane and I (Joyce) will be joining you late afternoon of the 20th. Our first time on a ship, or is it a boat, of this size.

Safe travels.

Hi Roy,

 

My husband Duane and I (Joyce) will be joining you late afternoon of the 20th. Our first time on a ship, or is it a boat, of this size.

 

Safe travels.

As this is your first small ship (boat) cruise, could you please do a review or provide some comments on your return?

Hi Roy,

 

My husband Duane and I (Joyce) will be joining you late afternoon of the 20th. Our first time on a ship, or is it a boat, of this size.

 

Safe travels.

They use the term small ship rather than boat. Will be looking forward to your and Roy's comments. Roy's a veteran with Blount. We've sailed with them before (but not this ship) and loved it. True, not for everyone since no frills. Happily anticipating a trip with them on Lake Superior later this year.

Thank you MMDown Under and suitcasefull. Duane and Joyce I look forward to meeting you Monday. I'm currently in Chicago with some travel complications, but am back on track now and will be in New Orleans tomorrow.

Roy

Hi Roy, good luck with your travel issues. We have traveled Amtrak from Grand Junction to Chicago and then Indianapolis several times. Once the train was 13 hours late arriving in Chicago (ice storm in Nebraska). We had one of the small roomettes and no problem with extra meals and then Amtrak put us up in a nice hotel for the night before sending us on to Indy via bus the next day.

See you on Monday,

Joyce & Duane

Hi Roy, good luck with your travel issues. We have traveled Amtrak from Grand Junction to Chicago and then Indianapolis several times. Once the train was 13 hours late arriving in Chicago (ice storm in Nebraska). We had one of the small roomettes and no problem with extra meals and then Amtrak put us up in a nice hotel for the night before sending us on to Indy via bus the next day.

 

See you on Monday,

Joyce & Duane

Last segment went perfectly on Amtrak. I don't know if you checked on the exact location of the ship, but we are not at the cruise terminal per se. We are sort of at the end of the cruise terminal, under the bridges, next to the (or a) port administration building.

Roy

Is Jennifer McD the CD on your trip? If so, give her a hug. Also, Little Jen if she's there.

The City of New Orleans was running about a half hour late overnight but when we arrived in Memphis after 6 we were on time. We continued on time through our last intermediate stop, made our way past Lake Pontchatrain, and arrived in New Orleans at 2:45, 45 minutes early. I thought I could walk from the station to the ship, but between not trusting my GPS and it's erratic performance around the city buildings, became lost and ended up taking a taxi to the pier.

My last time in New Orleans we were docked at the South end of the cruise terminal, but this time we were under the bridges about a 3/4 mile walk upstream. I walked up the gang plank about 4 and was quickly settled in my room. Much of the crew is new but there are also a lot of familiar faces. The Captain is John Hunnewell with first mate Sean Hackett and second mate Tim Treacy. Donovan and Megan are in the galley. CD is Jenn McDaniel. Nary Thin now has the title Hotel Manager. I'm not sure what the duties are but it is certainly a mark of her value to the company.

I have long described Blount creature comforts as "somewhere between basic and spartan". I won't really change that but Nancy Blount has been steadily adding woman's touches to the line. My cabin has been spruced up a bit with wood grain finishes but the head is still the traditional toilet on one side, sink on the other, and shower on the wall with a 3-sided curtain defining the shower space.

Surprisingly good meals come from the microscopic galley but there are gradual culinary improvements. The tradition was a "menu" with one choice for each category, last year a second dinner entree was added, and this year wine is served with meals.

Seating for meals is open (at fixed times), and I was with 6 others for dinner. 3 were first timers with Blount and I think the other 3 had one prior cruise. The newcomers were starting to adjust to the size of their rooms, all were very impressed with the dinner. There were no evening planned activities, and I took a walk along the waterfront and retired about 10.

Today's parting shot is about perspective. Blount's cabins are rather tiny, I've more than doubled my space in moving from the City of New Orleans to the Grande Caribe.

Roy

Is Jennifer McD the CD on your trip? If so, give her a hug. Also, Little Jen if she's there.

Jenn said she remembers people better by their names. Can you email me at least your real first names and I'll mention it again.

Also, Little Jenn is Hotel Manager on the Grande Mariner so you should see her soon. Say hi to her and to CD Lisa when you board.

It looks like a Hotel Manager position has now been created as part of the regular crew. I've only seen it once before and not again till now after that person left.

Roy

You're in for some great food, having Donovan as chef! I believe Nary was a stewardess on our trip so she is moving up! Congratulations to her! Will e-mail you. I think perhaps Grand Mariner has separate shower. Didn't realize Grand Caribe was set up like Niagara Prince had been. It will be interesting to hear the new folks' comments to you. Enjoy! Am envious. ;)

You're in for some great food, having Donovan as chef! I believe Nary was a stewardess on our trip so she is moving up! Congratulations to her! Will e-mail you. I think perhaps Grand Mariner has separate shower. Didn't realize Grand Caribe was set up like Niagara Prince had been. It will be interesting to hear the new folks' comments to you. Enjoy! Am envious. ;)

Both ships have some cabins with separate showers but I think the number is relatively limited.

I was up about 5:30 on a somewhat cloudy day which became more sunny and rather hot. The Mississippi meanders quite extensively and in this area actually makes a loop so the sun rose over the river in the direction we would think would be West. There were no scheduled daytime activities and I left the ship about 9:30.

We are near the upstream end of the convention center, which acts as a long barrier between the city and the river. Walking past the end of the center I continued into the center of town, and took a cruise on the riverboat Natchez. Built in 1975, it is a steam paddlewheeler, using the recycled engine from a former towboat. We started cruising downstream, past the French Quarter and the Industrial Canal (which we will take when we leave town) and on by dockyards, refineries, and the site of the Battle of New Orleans, before returning upstream past Algiers, dozens of barges, and the former Navy Base. We turned around and went back downstream to our slip about a third of a mile from the Grande Caribe. The Mississippi is very near flood stage, perhaps 6 feet below the levy tops, and the current is running very swift.

We docked about 1:30 and I walked through the French Quarter and stopped for lunch. I had hoped to ride the hop on hop off bus but the last trip was going to be 3PM and it didn't seem worth while. I took the Canal Streetcar near the end of the line and returned, pausing for ice cream and a little shopping, and returned to the Grande Caribe about 5:45, just in time for dinner.

It wasn't an ordinary dinner. A chef from the New Orleans School of Cooking came on and prepared dishes in front of us, first a gumbo and then a passenger under his direction made a batch of pralines. It was quite an authentic cajun meal.

I don't think Captain John is a fan of the usual safety drill. He believes it is more realistic when we don't expect it. He did a brief safety overview yesterday for the people embarking early, and we watched the video orientation after dinner. We are promised a real drill "when we don't expect it".

Today's parting shot starts with a bit of Maryland Pride. On my first leg of this trip (Amtrak Capitol Limited), USA Today was distributed to sleeping car passengers. Maryland's blurb recognized the day as "Wear your life jacket day" in observance of safe boating week. We had our muster drill today. While this is a brief diversion for us passengers, for the crew of all ships from the Grande Caribe to the Oasis of the Seas, this is an ongoing priority as the crew trains constantly to assure our safety. If they can do that for us, the least we can do is give our full attention to the few minutes it takes for our drill.

Roy

Roy...

We love reading about your new adventures on the Grande Caribe. Give a BIG HELLO to Capt. John, Sean, Donovan, Nary and Jennifer. Jenn is the BEST Cruise Director we have ever had in our 64 cruises to date. We miss sailing on Blount!

We cruised in New Orleans twice on the Niagara Prince so we especially enjoyed your photos today. Barbara would sit up deck and listen to the calliope on The Natchez as it sailed back and forth by the ship. A GREAT memory!

Thanks for the fantastic job you do in taking your Cruise Critic friends along with you in your travels with your most interesting blogs.

The "Cruise-a-Holics",

Barbara and Dan

Internet on the Grande Caribe is based on the cell phone system, is slow, and can be spotty (but it’s free). It was a real problem today so I’m very late in posting.

Roy...

 

We love reading about your new adventures on the Grande Caribe. Give a BIG HELLO to Capt. John, Sean, Donovan, Nary and Jennifer. Jenn is the BEST Cruise Director we have ever had in our 64 cruises to date. We miss sailing on Blount!

 

We cruised in New Orleans twice on the Niagara Prince so we especially enjoyed your photos today. Barbara would sit up deck and listen to the calliope on The Natchez as it sailed back and forth by the ship. A GREAT memory!

 

Thanks for the fantastic job you do in taking your Cruise Critic friends along with you in your travels with your most interesting blogs.

 

 

The "Cruise-a-Holics",

 

 

Barbara and Dan

Message relayed. I’ve posted the final whistle of the Natchez as we approached the dock:

QUOTE=Suitcasefull;38443492]You're in for some great food, having Donovan as chef! I believe Nary was a stewardess on our trip so she is moving up! Congratulations to her! Will e-mail you. I think perhaps Grand Mariner has separate shower. Didn't realize Grand Caribe was set up like Niagara Prince had been. It will be interesting to hear the new folks' comments to you. Enjoy! Am envious. ;)

Nary remembers you. One other thing I like about Megan is I have diabetes and have to watch my diet. It makes things a lot easier if I can plan my meals in advance. Megan generally has a day’s menu posted by the end of dinner the previous day.

It was a bit cloudy in the early morning but the day was pretty much sunny, hot with a very welcome breeze. One thing that's new this year is the furniture on the outer decks, both the Sun Deck and the aft Main Deck.

While Monday was embarkation day with little in the way of activities today was the day for tours, and I signed up for both. Morgan was our guide, a New Orleans native who left the city but returned after Katrina. The morning tour was in and around the city. We drove through the French Quarter and made our first stop at a cemetery. Much of New Orleans is below sea level, and cemeteries here are above ground. Morgan explained that with very scarce land and bodies decomposing very quickly, the vaults have an upper and lower chamber, with the most recently deceased in the upper vaults. When a new occupant needs those chambers, the older bodies are pretty well gone and their remains get mingled in the lower chamber. A tombstone may have a dozen names on it. We continued around to Lake Pontchatrain where we saw several canals leaving the lake. The canals are often above the level of the surrounding land, and massive pumping stations are needed to drain the land back into the canals. The worst of the flooding from Katrina came from a massive storm surge on the lake entering the canals and overpowering the levies, some of which could not stand the pressure. Once the levies were breached, the only way to stop the flooding was to repair them and pump the water back out. Despite the massive pump systems we saw that was a long and difficult operation.

After lunch on the ship we departed on a swamp tour. After about a 20 minute drive across the river we boarded a covered flat boat for about a 90 minute ride. Most of it was on narrow canals and bayous closely framed by trees. Our guide explained that a bayou is a body of water connecting 2 others with a reversing tidal flow. On our tour we saw many turtles and alligators, running up to about 8 feet long. The guide had a small gator on board and passed it around for those who wanted to hold. We also passed a couple of cajun houses, small shacks on the side of the bayou. They did not appear to be occupied. We returned to the ship about 4.

This was the Captain's welcome aboard party with an open bar. At the end of dinner Captain John introduced the crew. The crew is very small with just 3 officers, a Cruise Director who doubles as purser and shore excursion team, 2 in the galley, 6 stewardesses (including the Hotel Manager) and 4 deckhands. The stewardess are a combination of waitresses, cabin attendants, and galley helpers, plus probably other duties. Afterwards we had a show in the lounge with jazz/blues singer Philip Manuel.

Today's parting shot is one of Morgan's comments: "I am not responsible for slavery. I am responsible for talking about slavery because if we do not remember it we cannot do better next time". I couldn't agree more.

Roy

I met jebhoward3 yesterday. So far they are coping quite well with the limited space and have stayed in similar accommodations before.

Mostly a sea day, we arrived in Biloxi in the evening. The day started with only slight cloud cover and I took a final walk in New Orleans with an internet stop at Starbucks and passed the Katrina memorial, opposite the Convention Center. Our itinerary said a 7:00 departure but Captain Hunnewell pushed it back to 8:45.

As we shoved off immediately after breakfast the heavens opened up. Throughout the morning we had anything from a drizzle to a pretty steady rain with lightning. We went downstream less than 3 miles before diverting to the Industrial Canal, a shortcut which bypasses the Mississippi Delta and leads pretty quickly to the Gulf of Mexico. The Mississippi was actually something like 11 feet above sea level and we passed through a lock to make the transition. The canal passes New Orleans' 9th ward, site of some of Katrina's worst effects, and we saw a stretch of levy where a break had been replaced.

We encountered a draw bridge immediately after the lock. We nosed up to within about 2 feet of it and found that our mast was about 2 feet too tall for the current water level, necessitating a pause while the bridge was raised. A scrap yard was doing a thriving business, breaking up ships and emitting smoke.

Since Katrina a new storm barrier has been built for New Orleans with a flood gate that only opened at 11, we arrived almost immediately after the opening. From that point on we made excellent time and encountered a bit of chop but generally decent weather.

Our naturalist, Anne Marie, gave a talk on "Gulf Coast Dynamics" at 3. We approached Biloxi about 5:45, wound through an indirect channel and docked just after 6:30 at a Marina attached to a casino. After dinner local historian Vincent Creel talked about the history of Biloxi and showed video taken during Katrina. While casinos are now the biggest economic activity, the area was largely founded on seafood processing.

Today's parting shot comes from something Captain Hunnewell pointed out as we made our way to Biloxi. He mentioned that where we were a jetliner had lost power on the way to New Orleans. The pilot had planned to ditch in the Intracoastal Waterway but noticed a flat spot on the levy and made an emergency landing with the only damage a blown tire. The plane was repaired and returned to service. It was the first ever dead stick landing of a commercial jetliner. Sometimes significant things happen in unremarkable places.

Roy

Roy,

Enjoying your posts. Can't wait to here from you tomorrow!

Rick and Deirdra

Roy,

Enjoying your posts. Can't wait to here from you tomorrow!

Rick and Deirdra

Thanks, Rick and Dierdra. FWIW, the Grande Caribe is currently having wifi issues, and I'm posting from McDonalds in Mobile, sipping a coffee. I'll post whenever I can.

Biloxi sits at the tip of an East-West peninsula attached to Gulfport at the West end. It was devastated by Katrina both from the Gulf and from the bay on the North. There is still a lot of rebuilding to be done and there wasn't much but the casino near the dock. All new construction on the shore is elevated with parking areas on the ground open so future storms can flow through the bottom of the structures. In most cases an open ramp leads up to he first floor of buildings. In my early morning walk I saw casinos (mostly still with ongoing construction) and a lot of empty lots.

The devastation was quite massive and blue bands on some poles indicate he surge level. We had a morning "train" tour which went through the town, and stopped for a tour of "Beauvoir", the final home of Jefferson Davis, who lived there about 1870-1889. The home was devastated by Katrina but has been restored and a Presidential library is about to open. We passed by Kessler Air Force Base, home of the Hurricane Hunters, and stopped at the visitor center. Outside the visitor center are the town's lighthouse (fabricated in Baltimore) and a collection of sculptures created from the remains of trees lost to Katrina. We returned to the ship and departed for Mobile about 12:30.

It was mostly a quiet afternoon of travel but we had our emergency muster drill and the ship's shop was opened.

We arrived in Mobile about 8:30 and the evening entertainment was the movie "Guilt Trip".

Today's parting shot looks back a year to May 23, 2012. I was on the Enchantment of the Seas and making a port call in Newport, RI. While tendering to shore I spotted the Grande Caribe docked in the marina. I walked over to it and chatted with the Captain (Mike Kiernan) for about 20 minutes. Try doing that on a big cruise ship.

Roy

Ship's wifi still down, but I found a still-closed bar next to the dock.

Mobile is a busy seaport on Mobile Bay. There is a cruise terminal but it is not used (other than briefly by the Carnival Triumph). We are docked at the Convention Center, right in the center of town. This was my second visit, the first in 2009 on the Niagara Prince. We were only here in the morning, and I did not book a tour. I was also looking for internet since the ships wifi is not working.

It seemed like a good day to do laundry. Jenn gave me directions to the laundromat, about 1 1/2 miles away. The city's free shuttle took me about half way and I walked the rest of the way. Job done, and a stop at the library where I was unable to connect but it was a short additional walk to McDonalds. I returned to the ship on foot, making a brief stop at Fort Conde. I returned to the Grande Caribe about 11:30 and we sailed just after noon. We were most of the way out of the harbor when I went down for lunch. Mobile is quite a busy port with bulk and container traffic and ship building and repair. We were docked just across the harbor from a new vessel being built for the Navy, a shallow draft vessel for new missions, and a former catamaran ferry is being adapted for a Navy mission. A former Navy ship sits in the harbor as a research laboratory. Most of our journey is on the Gulf Intercostal Waterway, snuggled between the mainland and barrier islands. It is a scenic stretch of waterway, and pretty sheltered despite some chop from a brisk wind. We are east of the major oil areas but did pass a couple of rigs and a strange, low to the water, lighthouse. At 3 our Anne-Marie, our Naturalist, conducted a display of shells up on the sun deck.

We approached Pensacola with a beautiful sunset and a full moon shining brightly. Our progress to Pensacola was slower than expected due to speed restrictions and traffic. We hoped to arrive at 7 and a welcoming party from the town was due to meet us at 7:30. We actually pulled up to the dock about 8:15 to a serenade from a drum corps and other local representatives. We were given literature and the Captain posed for photos with the party. Blount was last here in 2004 and the facilities are much better today with a nice dock near the downtown area. We are across a small slip from an oil drilling ship.

Today's parting shot is perhaps a bit of a mea culpa. With the travel every day, a holiday and I hadn't really realized that this was Memorial Day weekend. A happy holiday to all.

Roy

The day actually started with a bit of a chill but quickly got hot. With the Grande Caribe's wifi down for a couple of days I noticed Jaco's Bar and Grill across the parking lot. It would be closed for hours, but I found the wifi very speedy and was still online when breakfast started.

There were morning and afternoon tours. I skipped the overview morning tour and instead walked through town. There are museums close to the dock and it's about a half mile to the center of town. I continued through to the north end, and found the main streets quite wide. A tall statue on the north side of downtown honors Confederate veterans, just north of the Martin Luther King plaza, a 3-block stretch of street with a central mall, where an outdoor market was in progress. I returned to the ship about noon and found working wifi.

The afternoon tour centered on the Pensacola Naval Air Museum. Pensacola is the birthplace of Naval aviation, and the museum occupies 2 large buildings full of aircraft from WWI up to the present day. Among the aircraft were the first plane to cross the Atlantic and a transport used to take the participants to the treaty ending WW2 in the pacific.

We next visited Fort Barrancas, one of several forts that guarded the entrance to Pensacola harbor. An affiliated structure, Water Battery, was connected by an underground tunnel and the series of forts was a significant challenge to invading ships. Our final stop was the Pensacola Lighthouse. A tight spiral staircase of 177 steps rises to beautiful views of the surrounding area.

A local singing (father and daughter) duo, Miller Time entertained this evening in the lounge.

Today's paring shot comes from one of Miller Times songs. Sometimes we cannot be sure that what we do will have the unexpected effects, but if we believe what we are doing is right, do it anyway.

Roy

The day actually started with a bit of a chill but quickly got hot. With the Grande Caribe's wifi down for a couple of days I noticed Jaco's Bar and Grill across the parking lot. It would be closed for hours, but I found the wifi very speedy and was still online when breakfast star

 

 

Roy

Thank you for taking the trouble to write your interesting review, despite the wifi being down.

My memories of Pensacola are its beautiful white beaches and hurricane damage.

I take it that you are cruising between these island beaches and the mainland.

Thank you for taking the trouble to write your interesting review, despite the wifi being down.

 

My memories of Pensacola are its beautiful white beaches and hurricane damage.

 

I take it that you are cruising between these island beaches and the mainland.

That's at least mostly correct. Today we cut through one 20-mile canal section, but mostly between the beaches and the mainland.

I was up a bit later than planned Saturday night and slept through the alarm. I woke about 5:45 to the sounds of us leaving Pensacola for a nearly full day at sea, and walked about a half hour on the ship. The weather for the day is very promising with abundant sunshine.

Most of our cruising this voyage is on the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway. We are usually nestled in between a barrier island and the mainland in bodies between about 1 and 10 miles wide. Our journey today took us through 20-mile man-made cut near Freeport, Florida. For most of the natural portions of the waterway there was extensive development on the barrier islands, including some apartments that rose above the surrounding water towers. The dug portion was a bit more isolated and on leaving we came very close to a school of dolphins.

In mid-afternoon Ann-Marie gave a talk on "Fighting Mother Nature". Unlike our journey to Pensacola, today's travel went much faster than expected, and we arrived in Panama City almost 3 hours ahead of our plans. Unfortunately, we needed to take on fuel and the process here was slow. We finished fueling (and the Captain reduced our order from 1000 to 800 gallons because of the pump speed) around 6PM, but by then it was almost time for dinner.

A Blount tradition is "Celebration Night". On this night we have champaign and cake, and everyone makes a list of the things they want to celebrate (for me, a free cruise). The dining room is decorated for the occasion.

After dinner blues singer Jimmy Ward entertained in the lounge.

Communications are at a premium at the moment. Jenn buys newspapers most days, but they are mostly taking a break for the weekend and we've lost the internet again. Today's parting shots is congratulations to the winner of the Indy 500, whoever that may be.

Roy

We are at sea from 8AM Tuesday until 9AM Wednesday and I expect to be off line. I will post again on arrival in Tampa.

With the internet back offline, I took a Sunday evening walk to McDonalds for wifi. Panama City is a nice looking little town, but it is DEAD on a Sunday evening. The walk was about 3/4 mile each way but there was nothing else open, not even a gas station.

We went back to Eastern time overnight, and I left my alarm clock on Central time giving me an extra hour of sleep. Memorial day morning started pretty cloudy and chilly, with a low lying mist hanging over the Apalachola River. Sunrise was officially 6:40, but the sun did not get over the trees for another half hour.

In the morning we had (free) bingo in the dining room; I won one game and a t-shirt. Carrabelle sits about a half mile up the Carrabelle River, and we arrived during lunch. There was a tour to Tate's Hell State Forest that looked interesting but the capacity was very limited. I went for an afternoon walk; the tiny town is about a quarter mile from the docks. Several stores were open and I walked about a mile to the bridge across the river, passing the world's smallest police station and the town war memorial which looked very nice on this day. On the way back I stopped for ice cream and learned that the place had wifi which will remain active after their early afternoon closing. I returned to the ship around 3. Other people explored the area on the ship's kayaks.

During dinner Captain Hunnewell came down and advised us we would be in open water for about 18 hours on our way to Tampa, and there would be some moderate motion. Seasickness preventative supplies will be available in the lounge. After dinner resident David Butler made a presentation on the history of Carrabelle.

As today's parting shot I hope today was a pleasant Memorial Day for all, and for those who it honors, thank you for your service.

Roy

Greetings from Panera Tampa. We are docked across the inlet from the Convention Center.

While most of our travels have been under the protection of barrier islands, we spent most of the day in the open Gulf of Mexico. I did go into Carrabelle for a final walk and email check as soon as the gangway opened at 6. I found the signal from the Carrabelle Junction restaurant was not strong enough to work from the sidewalk, but did find good internet at the public library 2 blocks away, and even a nice picnic table to work from. After about 45 minutes walking and 30 minutes on line, I returned to the ship. We cast off promptly at 8, just as breakfast was getting started. As breakfast ended we spotted our last bit of land, Dog Island, a popular local beach spot.

In the morning we met with some fairly significant swells, not enough to notice with a larger ship, but noticeable to us. Our deckhands were stationed at the stairwells, and people's activities were quite reduced. Ann-Marie had planned to give a morning talk on "Wildlife of the Gulf"; it got postponed to the afternoon. Conditions improved as the morning went on, a few people chose to skip lunch but not many. The talk came at 2:30 and was well attended, and afterwards the dining room became a temporary casino. 11 people paid $3 each for a game that lasted about 20 minutes, and at the end one lucky woman walked out with $33. The afternoon turned pretty warm with a light breeze, but clouds came up as dinner approached. We had a shower by desert, and by sunset (8:20) a heavy shower but with patches of clearing to the west.

The evening entertainment was the movie Argo. I saw it on my last cruise a month ago (Crystal Symphony) and loved it but didn't need to have it again so soon. A little extra sleep felt good.

As a Baltimorean, today's parting shot has a touch of sadness. I have not been on the Grandeur of the Seas, but I to hope to sail her someday on much better conditions than occurred this week. It sounds like the situation was handled quite well, except perhaps for the lengthy period of standing at the muster station. I hope all here passengers now return home with a minimum of further inconvenience, and have a great experience on a replacement cruise.

Roy

When I arose at 5 the Sunshine Skyway Bridge was about an hour behind us, and we were making steady progress up the bay. At the final "Y" where the cruise terminal goes right we forked left and came to a stop by the Westin Hotel on Harbor Island, across the Hillsbourogh River from the Convention. I skipped the morning tour that visited the Plant Museum and went for a long walk, stopping at a Panera for coffee and internet. It was mostly residential but I also passed the statue to Columbus and an AIDS memorial that didn't seem to be much. When I returned to the ship around 11 the ship's wifi was working. Go figure. Lunch today was a barbecue on the Sun Deck.

In the afternoon the ship ran a transfer to the tourist area near the cruise terminal, and I used it to visit the WW2 Victory Ship American Victory. Victory ships were a step up from Liberty ships, faster, larger, and intended to be more durable. Only 534 Victory Ships were built compared to 2770 Liberty ships, but today only a handful of either types remain in existence. The American Victory served with distinction in WW2, and had some service again in both the Korean and Vietnam wars. Despite threatening weather and occasional showers, I spent an interesting 90 minutes on the ship and took a walk around the harbor area before returning on the shuttle.

After dinner we were entertained by Leah Rothe on the violin. The music was mostly classical, but there were more popular songs included like "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" and "What a Wonderful World".

Today's parting shot comes from a sign on the American Victory. "Extra note: The best ships had good stewards, a person who is responsible for buying the food and managing the cooks, bakers, and mess men. It was important to have a good cook and baker. Ships often gained a reputation for having good or bad food, and when deciding what ship to sail on, sailors would tend to go to the better feeding ships." While the Grande Caribe is very different from a Victory ship, that statement still rings true. Unlike a big cruise ship, we still have a relationship with and dependence on the people who provide our meals. We are incredibly blessed to have Donovan and Meagan on our staff.

Roy