Sweety

Woohoo! You got the right one, baby! Un-Huh!! Thank You!

We are going to Dominican Republic in June. We have a private tour planned. I will write about it. My great nephews would love this excursion. I will try to see if we can do this.

Thanks.
 
It's very "resting bitch face" while doing everything in your power to NOT look at your partner. 🤣
 
Right! I loved my Capezios. That was exactly my thought. These are designed for west coast swing, so the toe box isn't blocked for stands and the soles and heels are thinner. Other than than that, they feel just like my old Capezio pair. 
 
So we met up at the dance shoe store and we both bought a pair of shoes. I'm not sure what happened, but somehow a new practice skirt made it into my car as well. They had a cute tank top, but it wasn't meant to be. We have a west coast swing class tonight, so we'll try to break the shoes in. DH will have to get used to the different feel of the more plastic-y soles for sure.
Keeping this a cruise live blog and not a dance journal...I also dropped off a little bit of dry cleaning. The at home laundry saga continues as well. We can ALL officially start packing now too.

That was awesome. You have the tango look on your face.

This is part of our tango routine the day we learned it. It's not polished in this video - just recorded so we could remember the steps at home.
VID-20240127-WA0000.mp4

I remember that commercial with Ray Charles 😂

My purse arrived, and I was a little disappointed, but not surprised, that the pattern was not aligned as in the photo. 
 
However, when I opened the flap, she was waiting for me! I have no idea why I find this so amusing, but I'm taking votes on names. 🤣

 
I mentioned to DH last night that I want some dance sneakers for the ship, and he jumped onboard. I know this may seem weird, but cruising is actually our second obsession. Our biggest concern wearing our usual dance shoes is water or spilled drinks on the floor because they have suede soles. Getting them wet would break down the glue, or cause long term sticking or slipping issues in the case of a spilled drink. Because of that, we leave the cabin in our everyday shoes and carry our dance shoes with us to change into when we want to dance on the ship. It's a little inconvenient to carry them around when we want to also do other things like go to a show or hit the casino without dropping them off at the room first. Plus we still have to worry about someone spilling a drink on the dance floor. I rationalized that I could wear a hard sole dance sneaker around the the ship, and I can use them to teach in this fall - I'm teaching dance at our co-op next semester. Anyway, we're meeting up to buy some for both of us this morning when our local(ish) dance store opens at 11. 💃🕺
I'm sure this seems nuts to most of you, but we all have that one thing, right? 
This also happened yesterday! One more to go!

We all have passports, but the kids' will expire in a few months. Just in case, I'm bringing birth certificates for them too. I don't think we are visiting a country that requires expiration to be 6 month beyond the trip, but I would rather be prepared. Anyway, I went to add them to the case we use to carry our passports, and I was very excited to find our C&A cards from 15 uears ago! Do they still mail physical cards out anymore? I guess we can use them as the card to keep the lights on in the cabin.

I wasn't quite as done with pre-cruise purchases as I thought. I bought two new formal night shirts and a polo for DS. One day, he'll stop growing, right? DD got a new pair of athletic shorts that she will use as a swim suit cover up. She's been using a pair of shorts from a soccer team she was on when she was 10 for almost 5 years... it was time for an upgrade.
My trusty black Travelon mini travel purse has been used everyday for the last 6 years, and the strap finally came unstitched from the body of the purse. I'm not sure how to fix it and it look right because of the anti-theft cable that runs through the strap. So I bought a new, slightly bigger version and deviated from my usual black with a paisley pattern. I really hope the pattern placement is the same at the picture - I see a dragon looking back at me. Amazon should deliver it today. I've been silently stalking the current live blogs, and thanks to the tip from @WAAAYTOOO I guess I need to run out an grab some red undies as well.🤑 
I'm also contemplating purchasing some new dance shoes, but I'm on the fence. I don't know if I mentioned in previous blogs that DH and I met 20 years ago as competitive dancers. 🥰 We competed pro/am, both being the am (amateur) with our respective instructors. When we got married and had kids, we stopped dancing. Last year for Christmas we started dancing again. We decided to start competing again, and our first competition actually dancing together is next month. After buying practice shoes, ballroom shoes, latin shoes, plus costumes...do I really need another pair of dance shoes? Um, probably!🤣 I'll make that decision later today, but the little devil on my shoulder is pretty loud on this one. We're also going to have to find a space to run through our routines on the ship - I'm thinking Dazzles early in the mornings or maybe the gym has an open aerobics floor? We'll scope that out day one.
DH is checking his clothes tonight, but is pretty sure he won't need anything. 

 
 
Paradise Beach sent me a confirmation email this morning. I don't remember getting one in the past, but we haven't been there in a couple years. I haven't heard anything from Roatan Getaway Tours beyond our initial communications, but I did not expect to. No headliners have been posted in app yet, and night 5 MDR is still not showing. 
Pre-pack is in full force now. All the miscellaneous cruise essential type stuff (towel clips, hooks, etc.) gets unpacked from the cruise box and packed today along with our travel pharmacy. Pre-cruise laundry has started, and the ironing board is about to make it's semi annual appearance in my living room. 5 days to go!
 

We are going to Dominican Republic in June. We have a private tour planned. I will write about it. My great nephews would love this excursion. I will try to see if we can do this.

I think we go to DR on our southern itinerary out of Miami next year. DD would love this excursion! Guess I better start saving now!

Looks like you and Dan are having a blast!

Wow, impressive, you are married to a man with four arms! 🤣

Oh my gosh awesome pictures Raye!  Gave me the best chuckle 🤭 especially the pics of you and Dan hosting the “birdies”! Oh and that scuba reflective one is 👍🏻!

I loved this. 😍🥰
I think one of my cruises has a stop in the Dominican Republic and I am going to look this excursion up. Those sea lions are so cute, the nurse sharks are adorable as well. I was cracking up at the birds. 

Amazing pictures! Looks like you had a great time! I love the "I'll ignore the rules but then make sure I don't goto jail" photo op moment 😆 I feel like I would have done the same thing. You needed that picture!! Thanks for sharing.

Ok.  I’m gonna try and upload these Ocean World photos.  Wish me luck.
I know this is hard to read but it will give you an idea of the content of the Park. It’s much bigger than I would have thought before I saw it for myself.

Again, maybe not so easy to read, but some idea of the show schedules
 

This is the only photo I got of an actual dolphin since the dolphin encounter wasn’t included in our excursion.  I will say though, they make it very easy for you to watch all of the interactions/encounters, even if you haven’t paid to participate.  The shows are all readily visible from a distance.  You just don’t get to interact with the animals if you haven’t paid for the excursion.  Lots of opportunities to observe.


 
We (at least, I did not.  Dan watched a bit) did not watch the dolphin show but this is a photo of the dolphin show area.  As you can see, it’s pretty easy to watch a show from this vantage point even if you’re not directly involved.


Fresh water pool

 

Dan actin’ the fool.  This is by the kiddie area of the fresh water pool.  OBTW, the fresh water pool was COLD
 

They have 2 bird houses.  This is the macaw area.  Beautiful birds.

The second bird house was for the smaller birds, primarily love birds.  
 

No explanation needed for this one…

…or this one…

The snorkeling area had a couple of plexiglass viewing areas.  Lots of fish and coral to see.  I really enjoyed snorkeling in this area but we were fortunate enough to have done this early.  Later in the day it was crowded and chaotic as there were kids in there who had no idea how to snorkel and were thrashing about maniacally.  I’m sure it was very disruptive to the fish.  Glad I missed that…
 

Bizarre photo of Dan in the snorkeling area.  Actual arms and reflections of arms.  Yikes !
 

This is a rather crappy photo of the shark encounter area.  It’s actually quite large.

The sharks in this interaction are nurse sharks and the are extremely wimpy as sharks go.  They ran and hid in the rocks once the snorkelers entered the water. When this photo was taken (before the snorkelers got in) the sharks were just looking for a free meal.  They know when the chow is coming out !

 

Moving on to the sea lions.  Here is Dan about to get a kiss.  While I was taking this picture, I had an employee telling me, “Sorry, no photographs allowed”.  I just ignored him and took this one but put my phone away after that.  I had no interest in seeing the inside of a Dominican jail.  😵‍💫

After the encounter was over, photography wasn’t a problem.  This was during an actual sea lions show which was open to the public

Obligatory balancing-the-ball-on-the-snout photo.

Heres the sea lion (I can’t remember his name) giving mouth-to-mouth (or boca-a-boca, depending upon which narration you were listening to) to an unfortunate member of the staff who nearly drowned when this SAME sea lion pushed him off the rocks, moments earlier !

Scene of the crime…
Welp, that’s all of the exciting things we saw and experienced at Ocean World.  If you get the chance to go when in Puerto Plata, I do recommend it.  
 

Dinner last night Chops

the wedge
lobster

petite filet
key lime pie
crab cake
spicy jumbo shrimp

Red velvet I think it’s for @Sweety hope I got that one right

Lunch was Izumi

This morning we enjoyed a dirty duck swap. Renee was the big winner.

Our love birds

Last nights show

afternoon snacks yesterday

Firecracker shrimp

Day 2 at sea
Today we got up early and took a walk on the walking track. Then had breakfast in the Coastal Kitchen. Forgot pictures at breakfast. Had our daily Starbucks. Sister and I hid some ducks. We have not found a hiding place for the big ones yet.
Lunch was Playmakers. The food was outstanding . My favorite this time are the Jalapeño poppers. I’m getting bad at pictures forgot to take one of poppers.

Don't forget to add purple. I will be doing the same three cruises next June. Have fun. Can't wait to hear all about your cruises.