AKR2011

As you all can probably tell by now, I love a good sea day. I am dreaming of a Transatlantic at some point in the future when I can have days at sea watching the world go by. It will probably be my first cruise when I retire, so I have about 25 years to plan 😄 This morning was a beautiful one for my sea shanty walk. I was up around 5:30 and then woke Alex up for breakfast in Summer Palace. He was still a bit congested, but he always felt better once he left the room. Alex hinks he may have been allergic to the detergent used to wash the sheets or whatever cleaners were used in the room. He always felt better once he was up and moving. We went to the Atrium after breakfast and my parents met us for Trivia. Once again, it was really packed. At one point I was able to find Cruise Director Will and suggest that they move Trivia out of this area. Unfortunately, Bliss was used for art auctions most days and Spinnaker was usually reserved for things during the day too. He said that The Atrium had more seating than the bars on Deck 6 too. They just need a better place for it in my opinion. We did Bean Bag Toss after Trivia and then my parents went to Bingo while Alex and I went to the Platinum Wines Around the World. We didn't get to that the week before and really enjoyed it. There were a bunch of us and many wines to try. It was free-flowing and fun. We then met Mom and Dad for lunch in Summer Palace where I was happy to have a couple of my favorites - Hummus and Milk Chocolate Cheesecake! We went to Deal or No Deal after, which was very fun to participate again, but none of us were chosen or big winners today. Dad and Alex took and walk and Mom and I did the 80s Movie Trivia together. We did pretty well and had a lot of fun. We also played Last Man Standing before Alex and I had to head back to our rooms to get ready for tonight.

My parents were quite hungry after enjoying their first drinks, so we took them to Summer Place. My mom has Celiac's Disease and was able to plan out her meals with the staff there. We all had a great meal, and then we toured them around the ship from top to bottom, stopping at a couple of bars along the way. My parents then went to get unpacked, and Alex and I hung out in The Atrium drinking and grabbing seats for Trivia and the Brain Race. My parents really enjoyed playing with us, and this was the first time that Alex and I really looked around at our new fellow passengers. This was an older crowd than the previous week and there were also a lot more people packing in for Trivia. We had dinner at Moderno tonight with my parents, and I was personally there for the salad bar! Alex and Dad loved the meats and Mom was happy that she could eat just about everything there, with the exception of a few things on the salad bar. The cheese bread is always gluten-free and delicious. Mom and Dad wanted to settle into their cabin and rest after dinner since they had been up since 3am this morning. Alex and I went to The Atrium for Seaside Duo and a few games of Carcassone on my tablet. As usual, the drinks were flowing and the bar staff were rocking out with us. Tip your bartenders and they will always take care of you. We had a funny moment when we ordered our first drinks and called on by name. The people sitting by us were amazed that they knew our names. That is the beauty of a B2B. We headed to bed after the show and were excited for a lovely day at sea tomorrow ♥️⚓

Feel I'm goin' back to Massachusetts Something's telling me I must go home And the lights all went out in Massachusetts... - The Bee Gees Seaside Duo sang this during one of their sets, and I absolutely loved it! What did I not love? Actually sailing back to Massachusetts and our friends going home. It was really bittersweet since my parents were now getting on. They basically swapped places with my parents on the bus this morning, and they even saw each other at the port outside. This morning we met Emilie and Luca for breakfast at O'Sheehan's, thinking this would be a good place to hang out before they had to leave the ship. The bus wouldn't come until after 10am, so they wanted to stay as long as possible. It was also a story day. Not the tornado warning that we had the week before, but it was rainy and gross outside. Because we all did customs in Bar Harbor, anyone B2B did not have to get off the ship this morning. They gave us stickers to wear so that we could feel special, but really so that no one would try to get us to leave! I had this dream of taking over a hot tub or something for the two hours that we had the ship to ourselves, but the weather didn't cooperate for that, unfortunately. Once Emilie and Luca got off, Alex and I hung out at the bar in O'Sheehan's playing some cards and games on my tablet. Yes, we had the whole ship to ourselves and stayed put. Honestly, it was really relaxing. We could have gone anywhere, including our room if we wanted, but the crew were all very busy cleaning and turning the ship over. We didn't want to be in their way, and we also wanted to get the first drinks of the day, because why not? The bartender that we met during Karaoke at Bliss was manning the O'Sheehan's bar, and we had a great time with him before everyone else boarded. He made us all kinds of fun drinks that no longer are offered. My old favorite, Mr. Worldwide, was on the menu this morning and I was not disappointed. I still miss the Daydreamer's Daiquiri that no one can make anymore, but this morning was really fun. Once they let people on, Alex and I took turns doing our muster (which was conveniently right outside O'Sheehan's). Soon my parents sent a text and we sent them to meet us there. My dad is a Jameson drinker like me, and our bartender had a double shot on the rocks ready for him! Below are a few photos that I grabbed this morning. I had gone on deck at one point to pick up the free port wifi and saw these signs about how to get into lifeboats in an emergency. I don't know if the slide would be really fun or incredibly scary. I'm just glad we didn;t have to find out!

I am going to go ahead and wrap up this week and then start Week 2 on the beautiful NCL Pearl. Here are my final thoughts on Week 1: The crew were so incredible. Bar and wait staff were especially wonderful and learned our names and orders very quickly. I really appreciate the Platinum rewards. The two loads of laundry were great, as were the dinners. It was also our first time getting to do the behind-the-scenes tour, and that was a highlight. I love sea days, so I was not upset with having four of them. After trying out the ducks, I could take them or leave them. It was nice to bring a smile to people, but maybe 24 in a week was a bit much. I missed having a magician or aerialist duo in the theater. I also wish there was another show with the dancers. They were only featured in Pure Variety and seemed very talented. Seaside Duo was not to be missed!

Back on the ship, I rested my feet in my new socks and took a nap. Then I went down to the bar for cocktails and read one of my books. I usually read a lot on cruises. This time I only made it through 2.5 books. They're all on my tablet ready for me to read as soon as I have the time again. When Alex came back we got ready for dinner, which was in Teppanyaki courtesy of our second Latitudes certificate. We ate with others who were like us and had been before. Teppanyaki isn't a place we go to often, but I always love the show. The Pearl crew did a nice job and we had a great meal. Tonight was Legends in Concert, and once again photos and video were not allowed. They had Tina Turner, Michael Jackson, and Elvis. All were incredible, but we especially enjoyed Tina. We then fought for seats in the atrium to catch Seaside Duo and drink a bunch of cocktails. No one wanted their shows to end and they did play an extra for us after. Emilie was ready for bed after that and Alex was ready for cold meds, but I don't like going to bed early on the last night. Luca was game to stay up, so we went to O'Sheehan's and played some Cribbage. After a couple more cocktails, it was time for bed. Tomorrow was turnaround day. This week was so relaxing with sea days, and I was feeling so at peace with our trip. It would be sad to see Emilie and Luca leave, but I was also really excited for my parents to have their very first cruise. I will post more tomorrow night. I need to get the photos ready. We have a lot more on the second leg since there were FIVE ports. Stay tuned ♥️⚓

After getting off the tenders, there is a big public bathroom and a small shop with essentials such as coffee and rain gear. Bar Harbor is known for Acadia and is trying to block cruise ships because of all of the people at the park. However, the shops and restaurants in town seem to love cruise ships. I'm not sure what the future looks like of this port, but it was definitely a favorite of mine, so I hope it does not get dropped. There is a free Island Explorer Bus sponsored by LL Bean that does loops to various spots at Acadia, and I researched that Jordan Pond was great for birding. Alex and I had an Acadia excursion the next week, so I didn't feel horrible missing out on this hike. While Alex jumped on the bus and explored Jordan Pond (photos below), I did some shopping. I'm really not much of a shopper, but Bar Harbor is like one of those towns that you see in Hallmark movies. Super cute shops with reasonable souvenirs. I also had my heart set on a Sea Bag. They are made in Maine from recycled sails and I have a tablet cover that I picked up from a nautical museum years ago. I was ready to in a handbag and there is a store in Bar Harbor. That store was set to open at 10, but it was not open yet when I got there. I instead navigated to Walgreens for the compression socks and cold meds. I picked up a $20 hoodie as well, and I grabbed the Christmas ornament. I went back to Sea Bags, but they still were not open. With my swollen ankles, I grabbed a small scoop of ice cream and headed back to the ship around noon. Alex had a lovely day at Acadia exploring Jordan Pond. He reported that the bus was very easy, but they are short on drivers. Most are retired school bus drivers, and he reported that they were very friendly and loved the Bar Harbor area. The hike around Jordan Pond took a couple hours and Alex said that it wasn't too busy. Acadia us huge, so I think the people are quite spread out. There was no admission or anything either, so it's a nice free option. Alex took some beautiful photos:

Bar Harbor Day!! We also had to do customs since we were back in the US. Unlike regular cruises when you do through customs getting back to your home port, it's a bit different when you port in the US before going back. We weren't sure what to expect, but we didn't plan a big excursion. Today I slept in until about 7am and Alex and I got up together. He was still congested but wanted to go on our planned hike. My ankles were super swollen today, and I chose to instead explore the port area and search for some compression socks and more cold meds. We had breakfast in Summer Palace and they started calling groups to customs and then the tenders after. Whether you get off or not, you still have to go through customs. If you get off, you cannot come back until everyone has gone through customs. They group everyone by letter with Group A being those with NCL Excursions, B the higher Latitudes Members, and then C through G were all groups based on muster stations. We were Group B but still in breakfast when they called us. We joined group C around 9am and were led to Deck 7 Forward. We walked downstairs and through the casino, then through Deck 6 Indigo for customs. They then led us down midship and onto tenders. It seemed confusing but was actually really organized. Spoiler alert, next week was a hot mess! We were on a tender by 9:15 and arrived in Bar Harbor by 9:45. If you decided to stay behind, there was of course plenty to do:

This morning I was up early again, but not 5am early, so that was a relief. I started walking and listening to my shanties when I realized that my feet were quite sore. I looked down and saw that I had the dreaded swollen cruise ankles. I was walking a lot and drinking a lot too. I was also consuming a lot more food than I ever do at home, which is why I was trying to walk so much. Anyway, I didn't walk for super long and went to get Alex awake. He was complaining about congestion and my first thought was Covid. I'm one of those weird unicorns who has never had a positive test (I do test a lot since I'm exposed a lot in the mental health field) or even been sick since 2019 (Knock on some wood, please!). Alex had it once last summer and was sure that what he had was not Covid and just a cold. He took some cold meds that I brought for emergencies and joined me for breakfast. We spent much of the morning in the atrium with the 10-Minute Mystery and Trivia, then the Battle of the Cake Masters. I love the cake show and Luca was a new cruiser who I decided needed to see it. It's on a lot of the ships. The Executive Chef, Cruise Director, and one lucky audience member decorate the same cake and have a contest. I really liked Chef Rodney. He was super personable and fun. The audience member was someone who owns a bakery, and she was fun to watch as well. If you've seen the show before, then you know that the Cruise Director always steels the show, and Will did a nice job here. This was the first time that no alcohol was put on the cake and the CD didn't dump an entire bottle on the cake. Still, it was quite entertaining. I was sad when it wasn't on the schedule the following week. I would definitely go back again! In the afternoon we played Song Trivia and Ring Toss. We also drank a bunch of cocktails of course. Plus more games. Alex and I were doing well in Spades and really loved playing in person since the four of us often have to play online since we are so far away from each other. Alex was feeling a lot better when he was not in our cabin, so that was a relief. We had dinner in the more casual Indigo Dining Room, and I remember having lamb again. It was just about as good as Cagney's to be honest. Then we all went to the Elton John show with Jason Ostrowski. He was awesome! Sadly, he left after our second leg, but if he gets back on a ship again, I highly recommend seeing his show. We really enjoyed him and were very impressed. We hung out in The Atrium after for Seaside Duo, who performed a few great sets for us. Once again, they were amazing. The singer walked up the stairs and through O'Sheehan's at times belting out The Beegee's. So much energy and talent and once again the bar staff were dancing and singing along too. They continued to fill our glasses and then we went up to O'Sheehan's for a snack. Emilie wanted the apple pie and we all enjoyed the pretzels. Emilie was tired and wanted sleep after, but Alex, Luca, and I stayed up a while later chatting. I headed to bed next and Alex joined me a bit later. He came in and said that he was feeling congested again and decided to take more cold meds. I just hoped that he would improve soon.

Last Sea Day for this leg! I'll go ahead and post the Fresstyle first. It was very odd not to end the cruise with a sea day since tomorrow was Bar Harbor. As usual, there were plenty of activities to do and the weather was lovely too. They really packed a lot in for such a small ship. I remember sitting with a couple people in Spinnaker who had previously only sailed on Carnival. They were upset that there was too much to do and they didn't have time to eat. I guess Carnival has a show opposite dinner and not much else during those evening times? Not the case on the Pearl, with programs all over the ship all night long. You have to make a lot of choices and you could not do it all.

It is a beautiful place! I now understand why people return over and over again. It may even be a posssibility in 2025. Just waiting for those itineraries to be released! Thank you so much! 😍 Did you know that Pandora is blocked in Canada? I jumped onto the wifi there at one point during my second leg and could only play my offline music. The app explained that Canada blocks lots of things such as Pandora. I was a little shocked but thankful for the music that I had.

It was open from 6:30-8:30 on The Pearl last week, but we didn’t get there until 8:30 and many were still coming in. I think they stayed open late. O'Sheehan's was doing breakfast too and tge buffet opened early. MDR was good but no breakfast specials on the last day. Very simplified menu.

I once sailed on The Dawn and woke up to a flood on multiple morning because people down the hall were backing the system up with wet wipes. The struggle is real! We were gifted wine, chocolate covered strawberries, and all kinds of stuff. The crew felt awful. I remember that our room was by O'Sheehan's and I had to go there in my pajamas some mornings due to the flood. I am with the OP 100%. Throw those wet wipes in the trash please.

I was just on The Pearl with my mom, who has Celiac's. She found plenty to eat and especially enjoyed ordering ahead. The buffet had someone to walk around with her, but she found it very overwhelming. My mom loved the gluten free french toast and desserts especially. We did Modermo together, and that was very easy for her. The bread there is delicious and gluten free for all. They always had a crew member checking on her at meals to make sure she had what she needed and that she ordered her next meal. My mom also enjoyed the nachos at O'Sheehan's with the corn chips. This was her first cruise and so much easier to find food options for everyone at sea than on land. She always feels bad having to choose a restaurant that she can eat at and making everyone miss out on many places. This was not the case at all cruising. She is sold and will probably be back!

We got dressed for dinner at Le Bistro and met Emilie and Luca for the last night of Progressive Trivia. We ended in second place overall and were gifted decks of cards. Alex and I have a large collection of NCL cards, but this was a new deck, so that was nice. Luca noted that we looked nice enough for a photo and the atrium has a slideshow of random landscapes in-between photos. She grabbed us a photo in front of the screen. If you don't want to pay for a photographer to take your photo at a fancy NCL backdrop, just use the atrium! New backdrops every 30 seconds or so. We had our Platinum dinner in Le Bistro tonight, and I was excited for Escargot and the chocolate dessert that I love. I used to get the Fruits de Mer every time with shrimp and sea scallops on a puff pastry, but that was discontinued. They then made it a smaller appetizer without the puff pastry, and I would pay to upgrade that to an entree size. Sadly, this is gone too. I instead had lamb, which was a common trend on this cruise, and it was even better than Cagney's. Of course, we had the chocolate sausage-looking desserts too. I prefer mine without the sauce, but I was able to get photos of both of our desserts. This was a fantastic day for sweets. I skipped dessert a lot of the time, but today was both my favorites! After we rolled ourselves out of dinner, we listened to Seaside Duo sing the 80s before going to the 1969 show. As always, the duo was fantastic! We would have stayed, but I knew that we had to see 1969 after reading the reviews on it. This was in Spinnaker while the theater had Jose Sanduy doing family comedy. After the adult show put us to sleep the night before, we knew to skip this one. We ended up with a booth on the side in Spinnaker, and it was okay seating, but sitting center is definitely best. No photos or videos are allowed, and the show is truly fantastic! They play commercials from 1969 in between their sets and sing some of the best songs from that year. Costumes are great and the three featured singers are the Legends from the show later in the week. All three were great. The dancers are not a part of this show, but they weren't really missed at Spinnaker. It's also the best place for this show. While seating was limited and it was standing-room only, the floor was perfect and the screen came down for the commercials in the middle. It is not to be missed! We grabbed some drinks after the show and then went to bed. I will note that most nights at 10:30 The Atrium played a movie. I could never sit through one that late, but we were often there drinking or playing games when the movies started. They always passed out bags of popcorn and leftover bags were left at the bar for anyone who wanted more. While some cruise lines charge for popcorn, it is a nice gesture to pass out the bags, even though they are a bit small. It was a nice evening snack before we headed to bed on multiple nights. I will pick up Day 6 tomorrow night if possible. Today was a full day back at work and I am a bit tired. Thank you to all following along. Please let me know if you have any questions ♥️⚓

Here is the Day 5 Freestyle:

Day 5 of course was supposed to be Bermuda, but since we left Bermuda at 8am, it was really a sea day. I didn't take a ton of pics today, but I walked into the Buffet that morning for the morning Washy Washy singers and noted that there was both soft and crispy bacon. My mom is the only person I know who likes her bacon soft, so I sent her this photo letting her know how happy she would be next week on the cruise. After breakfast, I played the Sudoku Challenge and Trivia with CC and Raymond while enjoying some lovely morning cocktails. The crew running activities were just awesome, especially Zoran and Tim. Our Cruise Director was Will Oliva, and he did fine at the game shows we saw and with speaking at the end of shows. However, we didn't see him much around the ship. He just meh to us. Although he shares his last name with NCL Cruise Director Alvin, they are not related and have never met. Will was an assistant earlier this year I was told, and I think he was just covering while Cruise Director Carol was on leave. She was covering The Pearl in the spring and returned this week. Will was just fine, but he is no Richard Matic - the greatest Cruise Director we have ever sailed with and have gone on two trips with. One day we will get back on one of his ships! As usual, we played a lot of games together today and we also played the Ring Toss Challenge. On The Pearl, you collect signatures for the games. Then you redeem them for prizes on the last night of the cruise. We ate lunch in Summer Palace today since it was Lunch Menu #3 with my favorite peanut butter cheesecake. We also drank many cocktails throughout the day and while playing games. This time we made it to The Great Outdoors and really enjoyed playing outside. I had to switch out games in the room downstairs and found our new friend of the day. Eventually, I also went to Deck 6 for cocktails and grabbed a Grasshopper. I used to be able to get those in the atrium bars, but I guess they are trying to streamline the menu there. You have to go to Shakers now. The day was going by nice and slow, which is my favorite kind of day on a cruise.

I forgot to post yesterday's dailies. Sorry about that!

I will be back later for another day hopefully. For now, I have a virtual game night to attend ♥️⚓

After Mini Golf we followed the green footprints on the road back to the ship, and once there we found our latest friend being enjoyed by my traveling monkey George. We then headed to Progressive Trivia, where Emilie and Luca met up with us. We did much better tonight and were tied for 2nd place by the end of the game. We all went to dinner in the main dining room together and shared stories from our days. It was so great to be with friends passing photos back and forth over yummy food and drinks. We ate a lot but passed on dessert and instead went out to walk and enjoy the sunset together We popped into the Buffet after for some cake and then grabbed drinks and headed to the theater for Comedian Jose Sanduy. It was his adult show, and to be honest he was not great. There was a big bit in there about the military that just lost us and overall he was just not funny. Luca and I both admitted that we were falling asleep by the end. However, we were energized after to go to Bliss for some games and Karaoke. We met an awesome bartender there with a sense of humor that was much funnier than the comedian. It wasn't too packed, but we left after about an hour out of pure exhaustion. Tomorrow was a much-needed sea day...

I slipped on a rock at one pond on our hike, but it wasn't too bad. Make sure to wear sturdy shoes here. I was too hot in pants the day before and wore a dress with my Crocs Boat Shoes. They're not the worst option and would have been just fine at Paget Marsh, but sturdier shoes would have been better here at Spittal Pond. We thought my fall was the most dangerous part of the day, but sadly we were wrong. Spittal Pond is one long trail and not a closed loop. Sadly the other end of the parking lot does not have a bus stop. We should have walked back through, but it was so late in the day already and I didn't want to waste time. So, we walked on the side of the road trying to get to a place with a bus stop. They're all over, so it shouldn't be hard, right? Well, this is true, but there is not much of a shoulder on the roads in Bermuda and no sidewalks either. Buses often scraped the bushes as they drove and we really thought that we were going to die walking on the road. We made it a graveyard and a worker there pointed to a bench that was a bus stop. There was only a stop on one side of the road and not the direction we needed for the museum, but we took it just to get out of there. Once again, it took a long time for a bus to come and it was getting super hot. Once we did get on, we made the sad choice to skip the museum and head back to the port area by ferry again. It was disappointing, but it gives us a reason to go back for sure. While waiting for the ferry back to port, I saw a bakery close by and popped in for a cold drink and snack. I got some water bottles to fill our bottles up and grabbed a fruity slushie kind of drink too. I asked about raisin bread, but they only had gingerbread. That was quite delicious I will say. We then took the ferry and ended up back at the port area around 3:00. Not wanting to make the day more of a waste, we opted for mini golf. Alex and I LOVE Mini Golf and play wherever we travel. Bermuda Fun Golf gets great reviews, so we had to try it out. Each hole is a miniature version of a famous hole, and Alex was familiar with many of them from a golf game that he used to play. We had a great time here! It did rain for about 20 minutes, but it felt very refreshing. We were close to the ship and headed back after. It wasn't the day that we planned, but it was still a very fun day.

Spittal Pond was open and all was well in the world! This place is a gem and I highly recommend it. The path meandered up and down, over rocks and onto overlooks by the ocean. The path had the pond on one side and the ocean on the other, and there were lots of cool things to see along the hike, including many interpretive signs. I highly recommend this hike! It ended with a farm and took about an hour and a half for us, but you could probably finish in an hour. You see, DH Alex is a birder. Not someone who enjoys bird watching. He is a real citizen scientist with the binoculars and ornithology apps to boot! My job is to use E-Bird to input the birds as he calls them out, use Audobon if he has questions about any new feathered friends, and use Merlin to listen for birds when asked. These are just a few of the apps that Alex has and I'm just a scribe who likes to hike. We break for birds a lot. Sadly, it was later than we wanted, so it wasn't too active for birds. However, the hike made up for that. I'm going to go ahead and let the photos do it justice.

The other hiking spot that I researched in Bermuda was Spittal Pond. It was not very close, but I knew that us #1 would take us there. We just had to catch that bus. So we went out to the bus stop and I looked at the map to make sure that we were heading in the right direction. A bus pulled up and told us to cross and go back to the bus terminal in Hamilton. Then the bus that stopped there explained that it would be easier to just get off at the hospital and then get Bus #1 to Spittal Pond He gave us a transfer ticket so it wouldn't cost anything extra. This driver explained that Bus #1 left the terminal at 9:15, and by going to the hospital a couple stops back, we would not be at risk of passing it. This made sense, so we went for that. It was about 9:00 now, so I thought we would be still making good time. Well, buses are not as reliable as they should be in Bermuda, unfortunately. We waited at the hospital with a local woman who was coming out of her overnight shift and wanted to go home. She also needed Bus #1, which by the way is a very long route that runs through much of the island. It's also the only one that goes to Spitta Pond. The ride from the bus terminal in Hamilton to the hospital was supposed to be 7 minutes, and remember that the bus was scheduled to leave said terminal at 9:15. It was almost 11am when Bus #1 finally pulled up to the hospital. We were really bummed about wasting time but kept our feelings to ourselves, After all, this poor nurse just worked an overnight and was also stuck. She said that this is the norm on the island. About 20 minutes after we got on the bus, we made it! But will Spittal Pond also be a bust? Stay tuned! I do have a couple of photos from Hamilton itself. I wish we had more time to spend here.

OK, I am back for a bit tonight to get another day or two in. We were still in Bermuda on Day 4, and you can bet that I was up for another lovely sunrise! This was an overnight and we could get on and off anytime we wanted. After enjoying the sunrise I woke up Alex and we grabbed a quick breakfast up at the Garden Buffet. The Washy Washy crew on this ship was awesome! They had a singer and guitar player up there who truly made my day each time I walked through. So many different songs! I would sometimes go in just to fill my water bottle and listen to them. They were midship, so if you don't like the songs, just go in from the aft entrance. Today we had a lot of plans. The day before I forgot to mention that we were going to hike at Paget Marsh Nature Preserve, but we were on the wrong end of the island for that and super hot after the caves. We decided to go today instead and took the 8am ferry to Hamilton. It was right on time and a quick walk to the bus terminal where lost of buses were waiting. I knew that we needed #7 and we jumped right on. Our driver was great and told us a bit about the island on the way since we were seated up front. We were dropped right at the entrance and planned to hike here and then to the Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute when it became really hot again. It was only 8:45 when we approached the gate at Paget Marsh...and it was closed. It was just a short gate so we decided to just go over it. Perhaps it was there to stop bikers and cars? At least this is what we thought. Once down the hill and entering the preserve, we saw construction. I did research this spot prior to coming to Bermuda, but I guess I didn't read up on it enough. They were replacing foot bridges and the nature preserve was closed! We were very sad and headed out to catch a new bus. I did have a back-up plan, and I will share that in my next post...

Thank you all for your patience! The Cruise Critic Team has deleted the posts without photos and I hope to get another day or two up later tonight. I appreciate all of your encouraging words and will reply as well later ❤️⚓️

We had a new friend in our stateroom again! I played some Tribond, Alex joined me for Ring Toss, and then we played the first round of Progressive Trivia. It was just the two of us and we only had 9 correct answers, but there were not a lot of teams. Progressive Trivia isn't usually popular during port days. We went to O'Sheehan's for dinner after and were quite hungry since we didn't really have lunch - just ice cream and banana bread. We decided to just order a bunch of appetizers and always order the wings plain and extra crispy with buffalo sauce on the side. I've read all the complaints about the wings, and I will say that the wings themselves were not horrible. However, the sauce was more like a BBQ than a Buffalo. We could not finish them. Pretzel bites, nachos, and dip were all great. We then headed to the Pure Variety Show. This one does not have a plot, but the singing and dancing are pretty great, and there are sets and costume changes. I especially loved the ballet parts. That blond singer was still not our favorite, but we had a nice surprise when Elvis came out and let us know that he would be performing in the Legends show later in the week Afterwards Mojitos were calling, so we headed up to Sugarcane for drinks and some Settlers of Catan on my tablet. We wandered into the atrium after and enjoyed some of Seaside Duo's show before heading to bed. They were our favorite musicians on board, and we started to make it a point to get to as many of their shows as we could. The bartenders and wait staff in the atrium were especially fabulous. I tipped often and received many AMF's with Jameson as well as Irish Mules with Jameson. I am definitely more of a whiskey girl. The crew also loved Seaside Duo just as much as the guests and would be singing and dancing along too. This was such a great day, and we still had another in Bermuda. I am going to end it here and will pick up again soon. Thanks for all those following along. Please let me know if you have any questions. I am always so thankful to everyone here on Cruise Critic and like to pay it forward by posting reviews afterwards. I have to get back to work tomorrow but will try to post throughout the week. This is going to be a long one since it is a back-to-back after all...