sue117

here is a pic of the entire journey that we had...and you can't tell where the "incident" happened...regardless of how dramatic the other pic looks. :)

Here is an EXTREME (from what I can tell) close up of when the engine died. You can see we were floating back and forth. :)

There is no scale listed, but when you look at the OVERALL journey, this is barely a blip.

But it LOOKS dramatic. lol

http://http://www.cruiselawnews.com/2016/12/articles/power-loss-1/lindblad-expeditions-national-geographic-orion-suffers-power-failure/

I was onboard when this happened. It sounds a lot more dramatic than it was. :)

We were halfway across the Drake Passage when in the middle of the night we stopped. My husband got up and went up to the bridge. The engine basically blew up. We had to use the auxiliary engine which could only go like 2.5 knots in the wind we had. We were rockin' and rollin' because the stabilizers don't work when you're going so slow.

The crew was great. The captain made sure we knew we were safe. The passengers were all great. We were one day late getting into Ushiah. We had to take the zodiacs to get ashore (it was COLD and rainy! lol).

Lindblad will reimburse us for all costs associated with being one day late (plane changes, etc). They also reimbursed passengers who were supposed to be on the next cruise AND gave them a free trip. We met one couple in the airport who were supposed to be on that trip and they were THRILLED that they got a free trip...they already booked for next Dec AND are bringing their kids this time. lol

There was talk that the rest of the season will have to be canceled, but it all depends on what the insurance people find out about the engine. If they have to replace the entire engine it could be the entire season.

The expedition crew was on the plane to Santiago with us, so they got off quickly. The Philippino crew was off the ship the next day. I feel bad for them because they are losing the money they really need. But hopefully they can get the ship fixed and get them all back on board ASAP.

Does anyone have any questions? I'm happy to answer anything you want to know!

It was quite the adventure, but one thing we were told at the beginning of the trip was that we were on an ADVENTURE...so it was all a part of it. We were never in any danger and besides rolling in the waves, all was normal. :)

Day 11, St Martin

It was an early day for us. I had to be down at the Casino Bar at 8:15, so we got up, showered and headed down to breakfast. (Yummy as usual).

I met Mark the Marketing officer in the casino bar and the other 6 people who were going to do the tour. Last week there were 16, this week only 7 of us. I told Mark that I had an excursion I had to meet at 8:50, which is a huge bummer because I missed most of today’s tour. :( I get why they do it while the ship is in port, but if I had know before 10pm what TIME it was today, I MIGHT have been able to get on a later excursion. But 30 minutes before I’m supposed to meet doesn’t give me time to change it. *shrug*. I missed the engine room (I think), but I DID get to go up to the bridge and check it out. The captain took a picture with us and I hung out and took some pics for half an hour before I had to run.

I met hubby at the gangway with all our stuff and we headed off. Today we did the “America’s Cup” sailing race. There were about 50 of us, but we split up into 3 boats. We were on the “Stars and Stripes”. Each person decided if they wanted to actively help or just hang out. Then we were “trained” on what we each were doing, and we headed out. We had about 45 minutes of aggressive sailing in the waters near the ships. It was a lot of fun (AND our boat won!). All-in-all it was a great excursion, although we didn’t see much of the island.

There were 6 ships in port today, so it was hopping. The shopping was pretty high pressure, and I have no idea if the beach was “free” or not since so many people were “selling” seats and umbrellas. There wasn’t really anything we wanted to buy (i.e. lots of jewelry and junk like usual), and we headed back to the ship.

We ate lunch, and hung out on the veranda until we left around 3. We pushed off right on time and headed out. St Martin is a big island compared to some that we’ve been to (NOT PR. Lol). We enjoyed sailing by it on our way north.

Tonight was another gala night and we headed up to the dining room. It was semi-empty, but there were a few more people in our area tonight. Surf and Turf for dinner, of course, and good conversation. There were parties all over the ship tonight, the shows were all an hour earlier and there was a lot of live music. The “main” party was at the Lido pool. We had hats and noise makers in our cabin waiting for us after dinner.

And the best part? Clocks went back an hour tonight, so we got to sleep an extra hour! :)

Day 9, Grand Turk

We arrived around 8 and we had breakfast about then as well. A Regent ship was docked RIGHT next to us and made the Eurodam look HUGE! Lol. We got off around 930 and walked around the shops a bit. The area was built just for cruise ships. It’s very clean, no riff-raff, and well maintained. We met our excursion people and off we went on an “open air” bus. My favorite ride so far!

Before this island, Grand Cayman was my favorite, but Grand Turk took over! This island is beautiful! There are some places we passed on our way to the kayak place that were obviously poor, but the island is lovely. It’s 7 miles long and 1 mile wide. There are donkeys and horses wandering free all over the island. Our guide told us that sometimes when the kids are bored they will try to catch a donkey and ride it. I bet that is hysterical to watch!

Anyway, we arrived at the kayak place and with short instructions we were on our way. There were about 20 in our group, which wasn’t too many at all. We kayaked around, picked up a jellyfish hiding in the sea grass, then headed to a beach where they had a kayak filled with water and sea animals. We got to hold a sea cucumber, sponge, conch, and many others. The guide even demonstrated how to break open a conch shell and eat it. Hubby tried it, but I don’t eat seafood. He said it tasted a bit sweet. We then got back into the kayaks and went a bit into the opener ocean (don’t get worried, it wasn’t REALLY the open ocean), just enough to be in a few small waves. Then we headed back.

This was our favorite excursion so far. We kayaked for about 2 hours, walked around a bit, could take shells home if we wanted, the guide was funny and knowledgeable, we got some sun, got away from the hoards of people for a bit…all in all well worth the money spent.

Back to the shops built around the ship. There is a beach there AND a pool built around Margaritaville. It seemed very safe…but also very confined. If you want to experience the island and see a bit more, it’s always good to drive around. There was a couple in front of us waiting for an elevator who said they got a taxi (for $8) to a smaller beach they’d read about online ($10 to rent a chair) and it was almost deserted. Their pics were beautiful. The taxi guy also gave them a tour around the island. I would say it’s much safer to do that here than on some of the other islands for sure.

I’m thinking Grand Turk would be a great place to get a vacation house so I can write…now to convince hubby! Lol

We got back and showered and ate some lunch (the salads in the Lido are awesome. They now use bowls instead of plates and you can get a nice large salad which is very fulfilling. I still haven’t tried the NY pizza place and I want to do that at some point for sure).

Hubby went to work out and I camped in the room, waiting to see if I could see some whales (as the captain said we might) as we went around the north side of Grand Turk. No luck on the whales (darn it!). We went down to dinner and there were only 8 people in our area of the dining room, needless to say, service was VERY fast! Lol. Our table mates decided the day before to do the Lido for dinner, 2 tables around us that were together were eating at the Pinnacle…so it was a scarce night in our area.

We were so fast at dinner our room hadn’t been made up for nighttime yet (and we HAD to find out what the towel animal of the day would be! Lol) so we wandered around, ending up in the Neptune Lounge. We turned in our baggage forms and I did some work online for a bit. Then I went down to the room and hubby went to the back deck of the Lido to read for a while.

All in all it was a good day.

I'm gonna have to do pics when I get home, internet just isn't fast enough to do them here! Sorry!

I'll scope out who the captain is and get back with you. I can't put my hands on it at the moment. :)

Day 8, At Sea

Wow was _I_ lazy today…watched 2 movies on the TV (the New Annie, which was awful in my opinion…there is only ONE Miss Hannigan and it’s Carol Burnett! Lol) and followed that by the new Cinderella (And ANY Cinderella is ok in my book…I’m a romance author after all! Ha!). It was a dress up night, and we went in and had another lovely dinner.

So I mentioned I got bitten by an ant yesterday…well my skin is very reactive and today my ankle was swollen and hot and painful. Grrrrrr. I soaked it then put ice on it and it seemed to help, but hopefully after a good night’s sleep it’ll be better! Darn bugs!

Seriously, I did butkus today. So I’ll keep this wrap up short. :) But I’m on vacation, I’m allowed to lay around and be lazy…right?

Day 7, Ft Lauderdale

We got into Ft Lauderdale early this morning (yes, we were still sleeping). We had an excursion to the Everglades planned, so we got up and ate breakfast earlier than usual, then headed off the ship around 750amish. It was nice to NOT be leaving for good, have to say. :)

We got through customs with no issues and headed out to our bus. We left right on time. Our guide was from Boston, so it was funny listening to her talk about the Everglades with her northern accent.

We got to the place as one of the first buses and headed right out to the airboat. It was overcast, and not terribly warm (but by no means cold either! Short sleeves was still quite nice). We saw one gator who wasn’t very corporative, and we went to a second spot where there was another gator who was happy to hang out at the surface for us to take pics of.

Then we headed in….uh…what? Yup. 30 minutes on the air boat. I don’t know what I was expecting, wait, yes I do…more than 30 minutes and 2 short stops…but we didn’t pay a whole lot, so it’s all good. The place is a “rescue”, so they had lots of other reptiles and animals that people got as pets then realized they couldn’t care for…panthers, gators, lizards, pythons, a skunk named Flower, a hawk with only half a wing, huge tortoises, leopards, fennec fox, etc. They took donations for their rescue center.

I got bitten by an ant while I was sitting on a bench (which comes into play later).

We headed back to the bus after a few hours and dropped off some people at the airport and then back to the ship.

It was probably around 1 when we got back, and the line was LONG for security and check in. We got to bypass the long security line (and I heard someone ask “Why are they special”. Hee hee). And we went right back onto the ship. Nice.

We went up to the Lido and ate a nice lunch. Overall it was a good day, nothing to write home about and I probably wouldn’t do that excursion again, but it was nice to get off the ship and have a few hours pass by.

As I said before we did the life boat drill thing, but it was quick compared to last week. The employees hadn’t even finished taking roll when the captain started talking. After he was done the poor employees were trying to get the late comers to go over to them so they could be marked off. Last week the captain said several times over the loudspeaker that he wouldn’t start until it was silent. Lol

Dinner was lovely, we have the same table and the same tablemates (and stewards) that we had last week, so we settled in nicely and had some good conversation.

lol about the captain's pants.

I haven't written up yesterday's notes yet, but I will. But one thing that REALLY stood out was with Captain John Smith, we stood out on the deck during the life boat drill waiting for every last person to get there...about 30 minutes, before he started his spiel.

Yesterday, the new captain started his spiel about 10 minutes in...before all the attendance had been taken. After he was done the poor workers were all like "If you haven't checked in, come see me before you leave". I've never done a drill where the captain started before everyone got there.

I guess that means no one had better be late getting back to the ship....he won't wait! lol

Don't get me wrong, I was glad because it was hot on the deck, but still. :)

This was the captains talk with the captain John Scott and the cruise director Simon.

The view of key west from the ship(the first time we've been docked on the same side as the pier.

I'm not sure I have any more pics that would be interesting to you guys. Lots of me and hubby but that's boring for you. Lol

Is here anything you want to see? I don't usually take pics of my food, but I could if you wanted to see the kids meals. Ha!! :)

Day 6, Key West.

I have to admit the customs stuff is somewhat confusing on paper, but it turned out to be no big deal. We headed down when we docked, around 720am and were in the first 50 or so people. We went right in and out, and had time for breakfast before we headed out for our excursion.

We were on a sail and snorkel trip…along with 70 others of our friends and neighbors. Lol. Sensing a theme? It was crowded, but still enjoyable. We couldn’t go to the reef, which was disappointing, but whatever. We got there and it was partly cloudy…and the “little reef” that we went to was…um…..not exciting at all. I saw one fish. If you wanted to see the coral you had to dive down about 8 feet. So basically we bobbed up and down in the water for about 40 minutes. Lol

The thing I was AMAZED at was how many people on this tour had NEVER BEEN SWIMMING BEFORE! Seriously. I couldn’t believe it. The water was choppy and they decided THIS was when they wanted to get into the water for the first time? Sigh. There were a LOT of people hanging onto the rope that held us to the anchor. They did amazingly well for their first time, but still.

Not completely sure the tour was worth it, but what else were we gonna do? Lol. We got back to the ship around 1230 and headed up for a quick shower to wash off the salt and to put our stuff down. We grabbed a quick lunch in the Lido and headed out to wander around. We walked the mile to the southernmost point of the continental US, along with 1.2 million of our friends and neighbors. Lol. It was very crowded down there, but we were NOT gonna wait in line to take a pic next to that buoy thing. So we snuck in the side. Didn’t get ALL the words in, but whatever. We were there (And it counted for the geocache).

We saw Hemingway’s house (and it didn’t exactly inspire me to start writing my next book on the ship, but whatevs. Lol). We went shopping in the tourist district and actually bought more than we have anywhere else so far. Go figure. We got back on the ship around 330 I’d say and hung out and watched the late people seeming to not be in any hurry to get on the ship even though they were 10 minutes later. Sigh. People.

Dinner was a “eat off the kids menu” for me, but that was okay. Our dining room steward seemed distracted, but we didn’t hold it against him. It’s a tough time of year to be away from your family for sure (even if they don’t celebrate Christmas!)

Tonight’s show was the “Dancing with the Stars” and 6 of the passengers were going to dance with one of the Eurodam dancers…but yeah, we didn’t go. (no surprise there! Lol). Mr. Stoker read up in the Crow’s Nest and I hung out in the room with a good book.

Day 5, At Sea.

MERRY CHRISTMAS! It sure doesn’t feel like Christmas, but then again, that’s what I hear from friends and family back home as well because it’s been so warm this winter.

I saw a lovely picture of my brother and his family in front of their tree on facebook and posted a holiday note for all my readers on MY facebook page. The internet was very slow this morning, probably because we’re at sea and maybe because lots of people are online (including the crew?) wishing their families back home a Merry Christmas.

Last night there were two midnight masses (Catholic and interdenominational) and I heard they were both quite lovely. The crew also had a Christmas show at 11pm where they sung traditional Christmas songs as well. Again, the crew works very hard and I am so appreciative of them. Without them, the whole cruise experience would be awful.

Hubby’s alarm woke us up this morning…ALARM…what’s up with THAT? On Christmas Day? He had plans to work out, but decided not to. I set off the fire alarm AGAIN this morning. Darn it. But no phone call from the bridge today…I guess they just figured it was the lady who likes to take hot, long showers….but I WAS somewhat expecting the crew of firefighters to badge in the room sine they had the fire last night. lol

Breakfast was good and the ship seemed very quiet at 8am this morning. Guess people were opening presents or sleeping still. Lol

I got a white hot chocolate from the explorations café in the crows nest after breakfast…yum! Then we came back to the room and opened a few presents we had brought with us. (new Hawaiian shirts for hubby with WW 2 planes and ships on them), a DVD or two and a mobile charging device for our electronics).

I sat around today a lot and read. Hubby went to some Windows 10 things, he also did the 5K “walk for the cause” around the ship as well. Then he went and worked out. He was WAY busier than I was today.

I went to the captains talk. It was interesting, but it totally sounded like he has answered the questions 1.4 million times already. Lol. Apparently he is getting off the ship on Sunday and another captain will be taking over and his 2 months vacation will start. Good for him.

Christmas Dinner for us tonight was in the Pinnacle Grill. Living in Texas, we love a good steak and tonight was no disappointment. There was no crème brule, which was sad for hubby. He got it on our last cruise and LOVED the 3 flavor tray that came out. He settled for the lemon tart brule thing. He said it was good, but not as good as the regular stuff he had before.

There was live music all over the ship, but we headed back to our room to relax and wind down from a VERY busy day (ha! That was sarcasm!! Lol).

So, if I read correctly, they now do NOT allow smoking in the casino? If so, that is great news!

Correct. No smoking indoors anywhere on the ship. You can smoke on the back deck of the Lido and on your balcony.

(And of course we are next to a smoker this time...I wouldn't care so much except that it's a CIGAR. GROSS!!! At least a cigarette would be over faster. Every time he comes out onto his balcony I have to come inside. Hopefully he's only on for a week! lol

Definitely not suitable for movies! Still slow. But there are lots of movies on the Tvs now!

As promised, we walked around last night after dinner to scope things out.

The bar right outside deck 3 from the dining room (SORRY! Don't know the name of it!!) has a piano and usually some sort of musical entertainment (singer, last night was a violinist) and chairs lined up to listen). The pic isn't very good, sorry!

We walked to the Gallery Bar (the one off of the casino, and this sign was there...so no smoking indoors anywhere)

Here is a pic of the drink menu in the gallery bar...I'll check tomorrow night to see if it's the same, guessing it is. They have "special "drinks every night (last night at dinner I had a snowtini and today that is the holiday drink of the day as well). But I"m not sure the individual bars have special drinks just for that bar. They might, but since I don't hang out there, I"m just not sure. Sorry!

And last, here is where the "one" piano is in the Casino bar (along the side of the casino instead of behind it), and 2 would definitely fit. I asked one of the servers and she said she thought there would be 2...but she could've just been humoring me...you know? Saying what she thought I wanted to hear. But there is definitely room for another one there so they can have dualing pianos.

me kissing a Stingray! :)

The crowd at the sand bar!

Stingray!

Hubby swimming with stingray (you can see the depth of the water and how these things were just wandering around the people standing around. Crazy!)

Day 4, Grand Cayman

I LOVE sleeping in until I wake up. :) This morning Hubby got up around 630 and went to work out again. I got up and showered (withOUT setting off the fire alarm this time, thank goodness, although I still think they need to put fans in the bathrooms to help dissipate the steam) and we hung out until it was time for breakfast. Weate breakfast (with CRISPY bacon) and waited until our time to head to the lounge to meet our excursion.

There were 4 ships in the harbor today, all tendering in. The shops were pretty busy for sure!

We got on our tender without any issues (And I STILL can’t imagine getting on one of these in an emergency…hot, crowded and crazy scary).

We took a bus ride to the northern part of the island and got on our boat to take us out to Stingray City, a sandbar about 6-7 miles out. It took about 30 minutes to get there and it was a pretty choppy ride out because the wind was very strong.

When we got there we saw 9 or more boats already there. Crazy crowded! Our captain found a spot on the outskirts and anchored us in. There were stingrays swimming all around us. I guess they burrow into the sand usually, but because all the boats were there, they know to expect food. Now, these are “wild” stingrays…there’s no pen or anything, but there they were, swimming around us. And all I could think of was poor Steve Irwin and how he got stabbed by one of their tails!

But the water was VERY warm (warmer than the White River yesterday when we were rafting). The water is only like 4 feet deep too. BUT…I said earlier that it was windy…it was. Very much so and the waves were BIG. It was wild. There are rays swimming around, the water crashing over your head, I was hoping I didn’t step on a stingray and then one of our guides was holding one of the rays and they were taking pictures to sell later. He held that thing for at least an hour. These animals must REALLY want the food the boats give them! I’m still not convinced it’s safe, but we got our pictures taken and it was really need to see them swimming all around! I do have to admit. Totally worth the money we paid for the excursion, even with the weather and the crowds. A good way to spend Christmas Eve.

Then we went back to the harbor and back to the bus and back to the shopping area near the tender dock. We walked around a bit, but since we have no desire to buy any jewelry or watches it was a quick shopping trip.

We headed back to the tender and back to the ship. Unlike yesterday, we decided to go up to the Lido to get some food, even though it was 3pm.

Dinner was very nice tonight, our poor server Edy, Since I am picky I have all sorts of directions for him, but he takes it with a smile and I try not to be TOO obnoxious. I got a snowtini at dinner (one of the drink specials) and it was lovely.

Something weird happened after we went to bed, something that we had never experienced on any of our cruises. Around midnight the captain’s voice came on over the speaker IN the room, saying there was a fire in one of the incinerators and he was very sorry, but he was going to be blasting the fire signal, but that no one was in any danger and it was protocol. So not long after there were 6 (or so) long blasts on the obnoxiously loud whistle in our stateroom. Then a bit later he came back on the speaker and said the fire crews were on “scene” and that the fire was just smoldering and all was well with the fire. He said there were cameras in the bridge and in the engine room and they were keeping an eye on it and putting water on the cardboard in the incinerator and it would be fine. He apologized again and signed off.

I’m sure some will be irritated that they were woken up, but I’d MUCH rather he let us know what was going on than not. It would suck more to wake up to the emergency blasts and him telling us to get to the lifeboat decks and us have no idea what was going on. Ok, that’s extreme, but true.

I fell right back asleep, but of course dreamed of cameras in the room and people watching. HA.

(pictures are NOT gonna load today, but I'll get them up, you HAVE to see those stingrays!):)

Here are some pics from Jamaica!

This is me and hubby ready to go on our float trip. Not sure the helmets were completely necessary, but oh well! lol

More floating down the river. It was a very slow float for sure!

Safety first!!! (yup, there's NOTHING wrong with sitting on the back of a load of cinderblocks! lol)

And this is the driver making his OWN lane in the middle trying to get us back to the ship as fast as he could. My eyes were closed for most of the trip back. ha!

And here is the a pic of the plug next to the bed. It's only on one side though. The other side has the normal 220 and 120 (or whatever...the US one) voltage plugs.

We're on the Eurodam on Dec 27th for 2 weeks, first time with HAL and super excited.:) we have ideas for Ocho Rios and Cayman Islands but if anybody has any tips for the best beaches on our other ports, that would be great!!! And Merry Christmas Everybody 🌲🎉

We will "see" you next week...ok, we probably won't "see" you cos we spend a lot of time relaxing in our cave, but if you see a chick walking around with a big scab on her lip....that's me! (And it's the remnants of a dog bite, not a cold sore! lol)

Honestly, Jamaica was a bit scary for us, but we're homebodies who live in rural Texas, so we aren't that worldly. lol. But there IS a free beach walking distance from where we docked at Margaritaville bar down in the shopping area. Our table mates said they spent the day there. It's probably crowded (as it's between 2 cruise ship docks), but it's a free option and you don't have to get too far away from the touristy areas).

Our bus driver yesterday said that the unemployement was 16% on the island, but he said that number comes from the politicians, so it's probably at least double that in real life.Also, there is no welfare system, so if a "person doesn't work, they don't eat." (direct quote from the bus driver). That's most likely why they are so insistent about "Taxi, mon?" and offering to sell you a joint as you're relaxing (that's what our table mates said happened to them). BUT, they are also pretty good about if you say "no" they leave you alone. (and why there were security people standing along the sidewalk leading from our dock to the shopping and all in the shopping areas). The main industry on the island is tourism.

Anyway, that probably wasn't a lot of help, but just more of my random thoughts. lol. But it could be an option. :)

Day 3, Ocho Rios, Jamaica

We arrived today around 8am, as planned. Hubby got up and used the work out facility. He loves it! It’s big,it has lots of equipment, running, elliptical, lots of weight machines…he says he’ll be sore tomorrow, but he’s

I took a hot shower, and since the bathroom doesn’t have a fan in it, I left the door open to the little “sitting room” thing so it didn’t get too hot in the bathroom. BUT…I didn’t open the little curtain to the sitting room first….yup…smoke alarm started blaring when I pulled back the shower curtain. Dang!!! I waved the towel trying to get it to stop and the phone rings….Hubby is on the balcony and has no idea of the drama ensuing inside the room. I rush butt nekked to the phone and it’s an officer from the bridge!! All in all it took probably about 10 seconds for the call to come in after the smoke alarm went off. Pretty impressive as far as things go.

So I was flustered and trying to explain that it was just the “smoke” from the shower. I couldn’t find my words! He asked if it was the steam from the shower…and I sighed in relief. Yes, that was the word I was looking for. The alarm shut off, and all was well. As embarrassing as it was, it’s good to know that they are totally on the ball. I’m sure if I had said it was a fire the crew would’ve been busting in the room, with me nekked, and dealing with it if I had needed it!

After the drama (and hubby taking a shower with the bathroom door SHUT and the curtain OPEN), we ate breakfast in the Pinnacle again (darn, forgot to ask for crispy bacon!) and headed out to see the sights before our tour around 11.

I can’t say I would ever voluntarily come to this part of Jamaica for vacation. It seemed dirty, and we were accosted by “taxi? Taxi, mon?” every couple of feet (We were down a bit from the shops…about a .3 mile walk). There were “Security” people stationed along the sidewalk all the way to the shops…a bit disconcerting to say the least.

Then when you GET to the shops you are usually followed around the stores by the employees and anything you touch you are asked if you want that and what size, etc etc etc. There was a hint of desperation in everyone we passed and talked to.

Don’t get me wrong, I get it, I know why, tourism is their livihood, but it’s just uncomfortable for this sheltered American. Lol

We did our thing and supported the local economy by purchasing some T-shirts and a few other things, then headed back to the ship to cool off before our river rafting trip.

We met back on the dock at 1115 for our excursion, got put on a bus(ish---not really a BUS like we know a bus, but a smaller version that held about 20-25 people).

The trip up to the rafting (zipline, horseback riding) place took about an hour. They drive on the left side of the road here, like in England, which certainly takes some getting use to when you’re looking out the front of the vehicle! Lol. Once we turned off the main road we were on a one lane road that was windy and went up to the Chakka adventures place. There were a few scary moment with the bus driving on the skinny bumpy road and the huge drop-offs! Lol

The place was a zoo when we got there. They were VERY busy. There weren’t any lockers left to rent, so we stuck our stuff in bags and put them in a closet (which was fine).Then off we went to the put-in point. We had to wait there a bit for more rafts to come, but FINALLY we got started. IMHO there were too many people in one “group”, there were 3 of the little buses together, so maybe around 60 people. The trip down was nice, but mostly very slow. The three guides were funny and kept it interesting. There were only 3 places where there were “rapids”, and they were very short.But again, it was a good excursion for the price.

When we got back to the end we were the only people there. It was now 300, and all aboard was 330. And no busses there to take us. We waited for a bit and finally got going at 3:22.

Why did I report such a weird time? Because I wanted to know exactly how long it took us to get back to the ship. 36minutes. We flew down that mountain! If I thought the trip OUT was scary…woowee!!! That driver was DRIVING! At one point I looked up to see he’d made his own “lane” in the middle and was laying on the horn blasting by traffic to try to get us back to the ship. His phone was ringing every couple of minutes and finally he just started ignoring it, not wanting to tell the person on the other end…again…where he was in traffic.

But we made it back safe and sound, and there were 3 other buses from other excursions pulling in at the same time as we were. So we weren’t even the last on the ship! Some people were nervous we’d get left, but we kept telling them that was the beauty of the ship excursions…you won’t get left.

We showered and went to dinner (we were HUNGRY, we didn’t eat lunch before we left since it was kinda early, so we were ready to eat!).

The show tonight was the BB King Jazz group, and we decided to do our own thing. I did go and ask about the ship tour, you know, the SPECIAL ship tour, the expensive behind the scenes one. It was full, but the thing is that it is in 2 parts, one on Fri (sea day) and the other in Key West…well we have an excursion in Key West and I’d have to miss that part. BUT…I put my name on the list for NEXT week. I didn’t even THINK about doing that! Lol. Thank goodness for the Neptune Suite concierge for suggesting it. I tried to do the tour on this ship when we went to the Baltics, but it was canceled because of a code red. I’ve wanted to do one of the tours since I heard about it on these boards. Hopefully next week it won’t be during one of the stops we have an excursion.

Hubby went up to the crow’s nest to read and work on some spreadsheets he had. He said there was trivia going on and some music playing. I read in the room, cozy and snug and warm in our bed.

Thanks for the updates! Any insights on late night entertainment now that Northern Lights is gone?

Honestly, we don't do the late night entertainment thing, but last night there is always something going on in the Queen's Lounge (last night Karaoke at 10 and late night dancing at 11).The other night they had jazz inthe BB King Blue's Club (floor 2) from 845-11 as well as ballroom dance hour in the ocean bar.:)

oops, I hit return too fast.

I do like the shops area. It's wide open and bright...I don't really shop onboard, but I think they have a nice selection of "stuff" as well as jewlery and watches.There's this REALLY soft dress? coverup? thing that I love, but I would never wear it...but it's soooooooo soft (and a REALLY cute crab purse/bag thing)...

There is no coffee maker of any kind in our Neptune Suite...not sure if that's in the works or not down the line.

The same weird/creepy (in MY opinion...I'm sure they are "art" though) pictures are still in the stairwells...those weird looking men. lol

The day of the week carpets ARE in the elevators. :)

And I just LOOOOOOVE the service on HAL. Seriously. I can be ridiculously picky about food, and they guys just roll with it. Tonight I wanted to know how BIG the scoops of ice cream were in the dining room. I mean, if they were tiny "appetizer" size, then I wanted three. But if they were substantial normal sized, then two would do.:) All Edy did was smile at me and wink and say he'd take care of me.:)

But really, every single one, no matter how weird the request, or what YOU are doing, smile and are extremely polite (for example, we were walking down the skinny hallway and one of the room service guys comes out of a room holding a huge tray loaded down and he REFUSED to go first. lol. He wouldn't hear of it when we stopped to let him by.It's that sort of thing that really sells us on HAL.They don't make it seem like they are irritated with their job or the hours or anything.

I hope the woman that dragged herself to dinner is not contagious. Thx for the pics and the update.

Nope! She was at dinner tonight and ate normally! So YAY for her AND us! lol

I will check out the drinks in the gallary bar. I know in the schedule they have a "drink of the day", but I don't know about other specials. I'll scope it out tomorrow!

I will also check about the piano and see what I can find out. :)

Pics of the casino and the Galley Bar attached to it! It's beautiful!

Day 2- At Sea

Ah, sea days. For me and hubby that means sleeping in, reading and generally relaxing. We ate breakfast in the Pinnacle, as usual, I need to remember to ask for the bacon “crispy” as it was a bit limp this morning. Lol.

In the morning I finished editing my book that is coming out in Feb and got it sent back to the editor for one last review. Then we ate lunch in the Lido and wandered around. I have to say, this being our first Caribbean cruise, there were a TON of people out on the back deck in the sun. lol. I guess I’m used to Alaska and Hawaii where there aren’t that many people out there (and the fact there are a lot more younger people on this cruise than we’re used to).

Then there was me…in my 3-quarter length jeans and fleece jacket. Ha! The Texan in me was coming out…but to be fair I had been hanging out in the chilly room and not on deck in the sun. I observed, of course, a man griping to an officer about how he had his towel on a chair and someone took it. *rolling eyes*. I would say about HALF of the chairs had towels on them, but no people.

I went to the future cruise talk in the afternoon. I was surprised to learn (although you guys probably already knew it) that the Stattendam was sold to another cruise line. That was the first ship me and hubby sailed on.

I got my bronze (copper?) medallion as well…hubby is 5 days from his, so I gloated a bit. Lol. It was a nice little ceremony, with probably around 25 people in attendance…not that many for sure.

Today was a “gala” night…and it honestly didn’t look any different than the “formal” nights I’d seen in the past. One man was turned away as he was wearing a black T-shirt. I didn’t see any tuxedos, but most men were wearing a coat and tie. I told hubby he didn’t need the coat, but he looked nice in his shirt and tie.

One of the women was feeling under the weather, but she came to dinner anyway. I was impressed. If I felt like crap, I certainly wouldn’t have put on a dress and come to the formal dinner! Dinner was slow again tonight. The trio said it was good last night when we weren’t there, so maybe we’re bad luck. I felt bad though because the waiters were obviously trying, but dealing with complaints and promising to be better the next night. We didn’t have anywhere to go or anything to do, so for us, it’s not a big deal. But it did _seem_ slow, even though it was only an hour and a half.

Anyway, we didn’t do the show tonight because it was singing and dancing, and hubby is allergic to that stuff (ok, not really, but you get my point). We went back to the room, changed into PJs, hubby ordered a pot of coffee from room service, and we hung out watching TV. A perfect ending to a lazy day.

One thing I didn’t mention before was that there are 2 USB ports next to the bed now. It’s very interesting, but handy for sure.

The other thing is that we are finding our balcony almost useless. Where we are (mid ship), the spray from the waves comes up and onto the balcony while we are moving, so it’s always wet and salty. It’s kinda a bummer actually. I remember when we went to Hawaii I was always on the balcony…reading, napping, whatever. But today that was out of the question. Poo.

Day 1 Half Moon Cay

I forgot to say in yesterday’s note that there are new (at least I think they are new) little safety lights in the room. One in the bathroom…you can’t turn it off, but it’s great. It’s a small light that comes on when the other lights in there aren’t on. You can see perfectly fine to use the restroom, and you don’t have to turn on the big overhead light. There are also little, what I’m calling nightlights, next to each side of the bed. They are the regular lights, but when it’s dark in the room, they glow faintly. They give the room just enough light so you can see to walk around, but not trip over anything.

I hate lights on when I sleep and these don’t bother me at all. They’re just the right brightness, at least I think so! Lol

Today we slept in (for us) and got up around 730. We “arrived” at Half Moon Cay around 8…right on time. We went down to eat breakfast around 830, making it by thirty minutes. Breakfasts are the thing we love about being in a Neptune Suite the most…we each got an omelet and were on our way. We made it to the island around 1030 I’d say.

There are a lot of younger people and kids on this ship (because it’s the Caribbean and because it’s the holidays) and while the beach was very busy, the island didn’t seem crowded.

We walked around, getting the lay of the land and finally settled on the beach a bit down from the official swimming area. OMG, the water was perfect. The beach was perfect. The sand was perfect. I could move here and be happy for the rest of my life. Lol. We were hot from walking and the water felt great. No shells or rocks, just beautiful soft sand. The blue of the water was amazing.

We didn’t stay too long, as we are whiter than white and didn’t want to be sunburnt after day 1. The way they have lunch set up is great…it’s barbeque (hotdogs, hamburgers, fruit, brownies, beef tip steak…and of course all “free”). There were plenty of picnic tables for everyone to sit.

Overall it was a great day. We headed back to the ship around 1230ish. The tender wasn’t crowded because we still had 3 hours in port, but we had enough sun for the day and hubby had a blister from his new shoes (yes, I told him to break them in, and no he didn’t really listen to me) and sand getting up under them while we were walking around.

The rest of the day was spent relaxing after a shower. Our room attendant came in and told us of a new addition to the room, a Bose Bluetooth speaker. I connected it to my cell phone and played some music. VERY nice!

We ate dinner at the Canaletto. I wasn’t impressed, but I am very picky with my food and don’t eat seafood, so the selection was limited for me. I didn’t even ask for a kid’s menu this time! Lol. Hubby was pleased with the food, but we probably won’t eat there again. We like the conversation of the dining room with our tablemates.

After dinner we walked around the ship a bit and then headed to the comedian/juggler. The funniest parts were when the audience members came up on stage. I swear the second guy seemed “coached”, but he could’ve just been really funny himself. Lol

No dancing or drinking for us today, (I warned you before this started that we were boring!). We watched another episode of Criminal Minds and went to sleep.