Three Day Serenade - Escape From The Deep Freeze

[h20skibum]

Day 2 of this 3 day cruise we are in Key West. The cruise compass listed tonight as a formal night. Really, a three day cruise with a formal night on a port day. We made the decision early on that we would not bring formal clothes for a three day cruise. DW was worried about going to the dining room without formal wear or dressy clothes. I assured her that most of the people would not be dressed up, and that was the case.

 

Here is the compass for the day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[h20skibum]

We started out the day with a trip to Windjammers for made to order omelettes. We also stopped at Cafe latitude for lattes. We ordered lattes three different times, and were billed three different rates for the same orders. Of course, once we paid full price for both, but the other two times we used our buy one - get one free.

 

We got off the ship around 9:00, and it was overcast and windy.

 

 

 

 

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[h20skibum]

We are always looking for different things to do at ports we have visited several times before. For our day in Key West, we decided to tour the East Martello Museum. If you have read any of my other reviews, you know we log a lot of miles walking every day. Today, we would log 14.2 miles. The East Martello Museum is about 4 miles one way from Mallory Square. Our walking route would take us along this path.

 

 

Some colorful houseboats along the way as we crossed the causeway on Palm Avenue.

 

 

Found this amusing sign at a yoga studio along the way.

 

 

 

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We continued along our trek to the museum and walked along Smathers Beach. The beach was mostly deserted, possibly because of the overcast sky and wind.

 

 

 

It appears “Reasonable Doubt”was a casualty of the recent hurricane.

 

 

 

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[h20skibum]

The East Martello Museum is an odd little place. The following is an excerpt from one of the museum sites.

 

The main attraction of the museum is Robert the Doll who is rumored to have been a victim of voodoo spells. Robert is a handmade doll dressed in a sailor suit, and was built for Robert Eugene Otto, or Gene as people called him. When Gene was a child, he thought of Robert as his best friend, but he would always blame Robert for anything that he did wrong himself. Gene would always say, “I didn’t do it. Robert did it.” When Gene grew older, he became an artist and helped design the Fort East Martello Museum. Legend has it, you need to ask Robert for permission before you take his photo. If you fail to ask for permission, your camera will mysteriously fail and break, or you would have bad luck. Behind the doll in the museum is a wall filled with letters people have written to apologize to Robert because they didn’t ask for permission to photograph him and they started to have bad luck. Robert has been the focus of TV shows, articles and tours for years and is the main reason many people visit the museum.

 

 

Before I read the sign that said you must ask Robert to take his picture, or you will have bad luck, I had already snapped this photo. Crap!!!! So there is a blackboard on the wall, and I ran over and wrote “Sorry Robert, I didn’t see the sign. I hope you didn’t mind if I took your picture.”

 

So far, so good. Of course, I don’t know what effect it will have on anyone who views this picture. I will have to insert my disclaimer that I am not responsible for anyone’s bad luck if they look at this picture. Maybe that’s what happened with the Reasonable Doubt boat guy.

 

 

If you feel bad luck coming on, at least you can write to Robert, and ask him to lift the bad voodoo.

 

 

 

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When I think of Key West, the last thing that comes to mind is the Civil War. This fort, where the museum is, was used during the Civil War, and there are a few interesting displays.

 

 

 

 

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The museum is also home to various scrap metal sculptures

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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The iguanas were out on our way back to the gift shop. This was before it got cold in Florida and they started falling out of the trees.

 

 

 

If you wanted a large, creepy picture of Robert, you could get one. Robert made me take this one.

 

 

 

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What is a day in Key West without a stop at Sloppy Joe’s?

 

 

Who brings a crossword puzzle to study at the bar?

 

 

 

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[njkruzer]

Love your key West postings! Obviously have been to Sloppy Joes but not the museum. Will have to add it to our list of things to do.

[mszmek]

Great review! We'll be on this ship on March! Can't wait, it will be our first time on this class.

[h20skibum]

Love your key West postings! Obviously have been to Sloppy Joes but not the museum. Will have to add it to our list of things to do.

 

 

 

Unless you like those kinds of things, don’t make the long walk there. There are other unusual things to see in Key West that are closer. We did a walking tour of the cemetery when we were there last January. I have a few photos of it in my Celebrity review from then. (Shameless plug for an old review)[emoji16]

 

 

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[h20skibum]

Great review! We'll be on this ship on March! Can't wait, it will be our first time on this class.

 

 

 

Thanks so much. I know there are much better reviews out there, and you won’t find a lot in common with our 3 day cruise vs. a longer cruise.

 

 

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[h20skibum]

So why is this review called Escape from the Deep Freeze? Well, it is like when you are reading a book, and you have to get halfway through before they work the title in. We were just so lucky that we escaped from the Deep Freeze back home. Temperatures were dropping when we left on the 24th of December, and the highs would not get above freezing until we returned on January 8th.

 

 

This didn’t even factor in the wind chills. I can’t say that I missed it, but the last few days it has been relentless with cold and snow. Hmm, maybe Robert did it.

 

 

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[h20skibum]

Back on the ship after Sloppy Joe’s, we grabbed a bite at Windjammers. DW was looking for chocolate chip cookies. Yesterday, all they had were Oatmeal raisin, or Lemmon cookies. They looked like they were left over from the previous cruise. She was looking forward to something else today. So what did they have? Oatmeal raisin and lemon cookies. I guess nobody ate as many leftovers as they hoped yesterday, so they tried again today.

 

Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad, but DW has severe allergic reaction to anything with raisins in it. We did check Cafe Latitudes, and this was the only day they had chocolate chip cookies. She just told them to give her a half dozen so she could get her fix.

 

Then it was off to the solarium for some time in the pool and the hot tub. For some reason, I was not remembering salt water in the solarium pool. It was nice and warm and salty. The solarium and the hot tub was always crowded this cruise, most likely because of the cooler weather.

 

A few more photos of Key West from the ship, then it was off to dinner.

 

 

 

 

 

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[h20skibum]

Before dinner, we had to stop by the pool so DW could pick up a t-shirt that supports the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). We are on a Caribbean cruise, and what animal do they have on their shirts? Panda bears. DW did find a large kid size that fit her that had a sea turtle, so she bought it.

 

Wow, I checked, and I have no photos from our “Formal Night” onboard. Then I remembered that DW had insisted that we not take our phones tonight. That makes it hard to take photos.

 

The dining room was filled with people who, like us, were in their non-formal attire for the evening. Dinner was so-so, and DW ordered the apple pie for her desert. Just as she is ready to take a bite, what does she spy in it? Raisins! Well, I guess no pie tonight.

 

The Headliner show with James Stevens III was very good. He had quite a range of voices he could do. You will just have to imagine any scenes around the ship this evening, since there are no photos.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[h20skibum]

Time to start day 3 of the cruise. We had loaded up with OBC with the thought we would spend it for a day at the Atlantis water park. With the cool temperatures and windy conditions forecast for this port, we decided against doing it. We were going to go ask shore excursions if we could get in on this zip line adventure.

 

 

Not sure why they would highlight an excursion photo from Labadee, when we go nowhere near there.

 

 

 

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Here is the Cruise Compass for Nassau

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[h20skibum]

We picked up lattes that were identical to yesterday’s buy one get one free, and they again had a different price. DW saw an apple turnover, and got one for a snack before going to Windjammers. When she opened it up to check it, sure enough, there were also raisins in it. So it became my snack.

 

We went down to the casino, but we were close enough to Nassau that it was closed.

 

 

The wind was about 20-25 mph, so the waves were crashing by the lighthouse as we sailed in.

 

 

 

 

 

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We had a couple of nice views as we backed in to the dock.

 

 

 

Until this came in and blocked our view.

 

 

 

 

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[h20skibum]

Walked around the ship to grab a few photos. The kid’s pool was covered and closed, so I guess you have to take them ashore today.

 

 

The lifeguard was ready, in case anyone wanted to get in the pool on a 60 degree day.

 

 

No one was climbing the rock wall.

 

 

 

 

 

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[parrotfeathers]

Thanks for your easy to read, straight forward review without useless words that don't matter. I hope that makes sense.

[h20skibum]

Some people, with a couple more dollars of disposable income than I have, had their boats tied to the dock. I think my boat is closer to the size of the one tied behind this one.

 

 

So with our decision to forego going to Atlantis water park on a cool day, we got off the ship to walk around Nassau. As we walk off the pier, I see my old buddy Phil had his new boat tied up to the dock.

 

 

There was a bartender at the bar on the rear deck who looked like he was ready to take someone’s order. I was going to hop aboard to see if he had a Grolsch.

 

I guess 150,000,000 buys a nice lookin ride.

 

 

 

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[Marylandcruiser89]

Hi! I just found this report today and I'm really enjoying it! Thanks for writing this.

 

Diane

[h20skibum]

I thought maybe Phil would invite me aboard and offer me a cabin, but then I would have to part with my lovely OV cabin. Then we would have to get in to the whole “My boat is bigger than yours” thing. I think Phil got taken. The Serenade cost 350,000,000, so only a little more than double the Lionheart, but it has much more space.

 

Off we go to wander around town to look for a couple souvenirs to bring home to the kids, because we haven’t seen them for 3 days now. Some people were wearing shorts on this cool day.

 

 

DW was going to drop me off at the day care center while she shopped.

 

 

I had to take a photo of the blue and yellow, whatever it is, in front of the Lukka Kairi Restaurant. Maybe you stick your head in it, and get wheeled up and down the street.

 

 

 

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