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Freedom of the Seas - Mar 31 to Apr 8 - Eastern Caribbean LIVE(ISH)


JLMoran

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It took me a few nights before I understood this fully.  I think I 1st called it a 'mermaid thing'  (I blame the drink package).  It's still the favorite of the Freedom class use of this space IMO.

2 hours ago, JLMoran said:

 

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This is exactly how I dance.  All my life I look like this on the dance floor.

2 hours ago, JLMoran said:

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Joe I am loving your blog.  We got off as you got on and I was ready to stowaway in your suitcase!   We loved chefs table (one of the best meals ever) and getting to try the wonderland dessert made my cruise complete!   Every picture you post makes me remember what a great cruise it was!    Glad you are having a great time!   Jane

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I haven’t forgotten about this blog, but the last three days have been jam packed! What free time I’ve had (and it hasn’t been much) was only enough to edit my (many, many) photos and take notes for the daily recaps I’ve yet to write. They are coming and right soon! Now that we’re clear of our four port days and have a sea day tomorrow, plus a chill day in Fort Lauderdale on Sunday, I’ll be getting back to writing about everything that we’ve been up to!

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48 minutes ago, JLMoran said:

I haven’t forgotten about this blog, but the last three days have been jam packed! What free time I’ve had (and it hasn’t been much) was only enough to edit my (many, many) photos and take notes for the daily recaps I’ve yet to write. They are coming and right soon! Now that we’re clear of our four port days and have a sea day tomorrow, plus a chill day in Fort Lauderdale on Sunday, I’ll be getting back to writing about everything that we’ve been up to!

Don't even worry about it!  Enjoy your cruise time.  It will be over before you know it and your blog will still be here :12_slight_smile:

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4 hours ago, JLMoran said:

I haven’t forgotten about this blog, but the last three days have been jam packed! What free time I’ve had (and it hasn’t been much) was only enough to edit my (many, many) photos and take notes for the daily recaps I’ve yet to write. They are coming and right soon! Now that we’re clear of our four port days and have a sea day tomorrow, plus a chill day in Fort Lauderdale on Sunday, I’ll be getting back to writing about everything that we’ve been up to!

Remember , you are there to have fun not for working  live bloging ... we will wait for the updates later 

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OK, we are back home and I've finally reviewed all the photos I took and edited the ones I judged worth keeping (which was still over 400 total!). With that taken care of and only watermarking of the copies for here needed, this blog is officially resuming... NOW

 

Day 4 – St. Kitts

Today is our first port day, and we're really excited because it's also dolphin swim day! We wanted to get up early enough to catch the sunrise today, but my Fitbit alarm wasn't strong enough to wake me up (might have had something to do with all that wine I'd had the night before). At least we still woke up around 7, so we didn't have to race through breakfast before going out to our excursion.

While we missed the sunrise, we were still up early enough to see the island of St. Kitts somewhat far off in the distance, shrouded in clouds and mist.

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We went to breakfast in the MDR, and got a table right alongside one of the large porthole windows. We were treated to more views of the island as we sailed into the port, and could see the clouds rapidly burn away as the sun rose higher.

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After breakfast, we went back to our cabins to get ready for our outing, and got our first view of the port area.

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We disembarked on deck 1 and walked out onto the pier. I finally had a chance to get some shots of the ship's exterior, as well as our approach to the port entrance.

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We actually went out to the port around 9:30, and our meet-up for the dolphin swim wasn't until 10:15, so the girls and I explored the port area a little bit while my wife held our place in line and stayed in the shade. We thought maybe the girls might find a souvenir or two to pick up for themselves or their friends, and we at least wanted to get a view of the place.

I'll be honest, this was not a good first impression of a port village. The girls and I couldn't walk three steps without someone walking up and offering us a guided tour, or a taxi ride to some place, or a chance to take a photo with one of the monkeys the island is known for, or to step into their shops to just look around and get some free stuff in exchange. Even if I had wanted to take any pictures of the place, and believe me I didn't, I didn't feel like I could do that safely or without someone jumping into the shot and then telling me I owed them money for taking their picture. We all quickly grew tired of saying no and having to rush away, and went back to the port entrance.

One important note here, for those who have said in the past they would just bring their Sea Pass cards off the ship and nothing else: The port security people were not allowing anyone out of the village and back onto the main entrance / pier area if they did not have both their Sea Pass and a passport or other valid ID (I think they were accepting driver's licenses, but preferred passports). This was a big surprise, and I was very glad that I had our passports in my foldable backpack; otherwise we'd have been in a lot of trouble since my wife was nowhere near close enough to hear us holler at her to get them from the ship.

So with that little "adventure" out of the way, we waited while the excursion team got everyone grouped together, had us sign in, and gave us the appropriate wrist bands for the specific activity we'd signed up for. The vast majority had signed up for the same Push / Pull / Swim as us, with just a few people doing the higher-end option that included a push by two dolphins, and maybe a dozen or so (mainly families with toddlers or other very young children) doing the baseline "experience" option. Once everyone had signed the checklist and gotten their wrist bands, we were put into vans and driven over to the Dolphin Discovery site, near the Bird Rock Beach hotel about 15 minutes away.

Many others here have written about these excursions before, so I won't go into any great detail here. The staff were quite knowledgable about dolphins in general and the ones in their care specifically, telling us about our particular dolphin's history with the organization. They definitely seemed to care about the dolphins we were interacting with, treating them well, frequently reminding us to be careful around them and not try to stroke their face or under their chins as it was not comfortable for them, and making sure to reward them each time that they successfully did one of the actions with us.

For our package, we got to go into the water and "cuddle" with our dolphin, Dante, get pulled by him by grabbing his lower fins while he swam on his back, and ride a boogie board while he pushed us by one of our feet. We also did the standard "kiss" and cheek peck while standing on the platform by the dock, as well as a couple of other typical trainer tricks. All the while, the photographer was there getting lots and lots of pictures. Since this was a bucket list item for my wife, I did buy the photo package, which was $210 for a CD with all of our photos on it and well as the ability to download the full-resolution images via their app for up to 15 days after our visit. I had hoped to get a chance to haggle about that price a bit, but it was bedlam inside the gift center area where you bought this, and we were getting close to the time we'd have to get on our vans back to port, so I ended up paying the full price. But in my view it was totally worth it. It certainly supports the place and the locals who staff it, and helps keep the dolphins in their care in good shape; and if nothing else, I can make my own prints at larger than 8 x 10 to hang on our walls, and I can also share some of them here (with proper attribution in the watermark).

For here, I just chose the photos that showed our faces, as I think it sums up the experience pretty well. My wife only liked the one photo of her that's posted here, so that's why you don't see more of her.

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After this, we returned to the ship, showered, and then spent the rest of the day doing separate things. My wife and daughters did go back to the village for a bit, aware of what it was like but still hoping to find something decent; and D14 was debating spending the money to get a picture with a monkey. They came back after a short time without anything, and D14 agreed that the prices charged for the monkey pics were ridiculous.

For myself, I relaxed on the balcony and broke out my mini-tripod, Camalapse, and phone bracket (as well as getting creative with stacking our two balcony tables to get a clear view above the railing) to take a nice time-lapse of the port area. I used the telephoto lens for this, and I really like how it came out:

 

Besides the time-lapse video, I also took some stills using my different lenses.

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For sail-away, I went back out to the helicopter deck and tried another Periscope, since the ship was parked "backwards" and I could be closer to the interior while still getting video of the island. On my way there via the Star Lounge side door, I found this sight:

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I really don't get these people. You can find out why when I post my Day 7 recap.

 

After scoping, I was treated to a very nice sunset. My wife had just messaged me to see if I wanted to join her for a bit before dinner, but I had to wait a few minutes so I could get these shots. The sky was just striking at those moments.

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The sky faded far too quickly for me to have my wife join me, but I did message her that it was happening and to get to the balcony fast so she and the girls could watch it. Afterwards, I went to the cabin and my wife and I spent some time relaxing on the balcony together before dinner.

Dinner was in the MDR again, and as with all the prior nights D14 and I made sure to order escargots as part of our appetizers. The girls and my wife were tired and went back to the cabin to relax, and in the girls' case do a little homework or drawing before turning in for the night. For myself, I went to see the headliner act for that night, a ventriloquist named Ronn Lucas. He was very funny, and reminded me in a lot of ways of Jeff Dunham, as their acts shared a lot of similarities. Lucas didn't use as many puppets, but I have a feeling that one of them is drawing on the other's routines; either that, or it's a standard in ventriloquist acts to have things like the "you're arguing with yourself!" bit, or doing the multiple characters / voices in rapid-fire back-and-forth.

As soon as the act was over, I went back to the cabin. I had considered going back to the craps table for a bit, but decided sleep was more important given the long day ahead of us in St. Maarten. We had this fellow waiting on our bed when I came in:

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That's it for our day in St. Kitts. I have to watermark all the pics from St. Maarten now, and I have to get back to laundry, ordering new eyeglass lenses, and a few other chores; so that day's post will be out later tonight.

 

EDIT: I forgot the drink package tally!

  • Fresh squeezed OJ in MDR with breakfast
  • Grande cappuccino at Cafe Promenade right after breakfast
  • 2 Patron reposado margaritas, one right before sail-away and one after the sunset, from Bull & Bear pub
  • A glass of the "La Volte" Toscana I'd had on Day 2, from Vintages ($4 overage applied to my account)

Something of a "light" day, but I think I just broke even with the $43 daily cost, since the three alcoholic beverages were $36 against the package, and the non-alcoholic ones were about $10 total.

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46 minutes ago, twangster said:

Sounds like a great day.  Unfortunately the vendor experience is far too common across the Caribbean.   

I have built up a resistance to it and I think they sense that since they often leave me alone.  Or maybe its the scowl on my face as they approach that is my tell.

Love the pics!

Lol.  I have perfected "the scowl" long ago.  But yes, very common in most ports.

18 minutes ago, melski94 said:

Great pictures! Ronn Lucas was on Harmony the week before. It was much more enjoyable than I was expecting and it was a fun way to have an easy night. Did he pull an audience member up to be a puppet? 

That guy must be all over the place.  We had him on Harmony too back in August and then I just saw on FB that he was back on Harmony again.

@JLMoran great pics.  The first couple shots of St. Kitts reminded me of how much I love that island.  I'm pretty sure St. Lucia and St. Kitts are my favourite.  I need to find a cruise that gets back there.

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18 minutes ago, melski94 said:

Great pictures! Ronn Lucas was on Harmony the week before. It was much more enjoyable than I was expecting and it was a fun way to have an easy night. Did he pull an audience member up to be a puppet? 

YES! And I have a very strong feeling that contrary to what Ronn said during the show, the guy was totally a plant. Was the guy you saw pulled up a really tall, athletic guy? Dark hair, mid-20's, allegedly traveling with his wife? (there really was a young woman sitting next to him, but who knows if they were actually a couple)

I was thinking at first that he really was a random audience pull, but after a while it seemed like he knew the routine and was familiar with the gadget Ronn strapped to his face. And when it got to the singing number he started moving like someone who knew the song cold, had moves prepped, and that he was actually part of the overall act.

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4 minutes ago, JLMoran said:

YES! And I have a very strong feeling that contrary to what Ronn said during the show, the guy was totally a plant. Was the guy you saw pulled up a really tall, athletic guy? Dark hair, mid-20's, allegedly traveling with his wife? (there really was a young woman sitting next to him, but who knows if they were actually a couple)

I was thinking at first that he really was a random audience pull, but after a while it seemed like he knew the routine and was familiar with the gadget Ronn strapped to his face. And when it got to the singing number he started moving like someone who knew the song cold, had moves prepped, and that he was actually part of the overall act.

OMG!  Totally a plant then!  That was the same guy back in August!

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5 hours ago, twangster said:

Sounds like a great day.  Unfortunately the vendor experience is far too common across the Caribbean.   

I have built up a resistance to it and I think they sense that since they often leave me alone.  Or maybe its the scowl on my face as they approach that is my tell.

Love the pics!

HA HA HA I too also use my clint eastwood face works everytime :6_smile:

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St kitts has been my least favorite port so far.   We wandered around trying to find anything to buy or do and it really just was pushy people and seedy stores.   I'm sure if you get away there are beautiful places,  and I hear nevis is really nice,  but I'm ok not going back.   Jane

 

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Day 5 – St. Maarten

To use a @twangsterism – This is going to be a photo-heavy post. Consider yourselves forewarned.

Our day in St. Maarten ran from 8 until 5, and we were in the process of docking around 7 AM when I woke up. What woke me up was the sound of two men in what sounded like an argument. I went out to my balcony and saw these two gents down on the pier, still having a rather animated discussion.

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While the rest of the family got up and ready to go down to breakfast, I continued to take pictures while docking wrapped up. Even from the pier I could see the island was beautiful, and I wanted to capture as much as I could, especially that unparalleled water. It was still cloudy this early in the day, but in a way that was better since the light hadn't yet gotten harsh.

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We went down to the MDR for a slightly hurried breakfast, since we needed to make our way over to Dock Maarten where our excursion with Captain Bob's Soualiga Adventures would depart. We left the ship and started walking through the port market around 9:10, having been notified through email that checkin was at 9:30 and departure at 10 sharp. Thankfully, this market was a complete 180 from the one in St. Kitts; while it still had plenty of shops, we didn't get harassed even once as we walked through. If we weren't in a genuine rush, it would have been nice to wander a bit and maybe give these folks some actual customers.

As we left our ship's pier and headed to the market, we saw the other ships who were in port for that day -- Celebrity Eclipse and MSC Seaside:

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It's actually a pretty straightforward trip from the market to Dock Maarten -- if you're walking, it's only about 15 minutes (20 if you're more slow-moving like me); but since we were running a bit late and needed faster transport, we grabbed the first taxi that was offered to us by the gents at the port entrance, where it meets the main road. The taxi driver was this particular gent's mother, and she was driving a seriously beat-up Hyundai that the four of us had to somewhat squeeze into. It cost us $12 to get there, but for saving the strain on my feet that morning it was worth it. And it gave some funds to the locals who I knew could use it.

We did get a chuckle on our way there; our driver had gone into the left lane to bypass the backlogged traffic and get us to Dock Maarten more quickly, when she saw a police car coming our way. She quickly pulled into a gravel parking area on the other side of the road that looked like it was part of a construction site for some rebuilding work, and while she checked to make sure the policeman had passed by and wasn't coming back, she explained that this was the sole policeman in the area -- and her nephew! She chuckled as she said she'd almost certainly see him again later that evening around dinner, and he was sure to ask her what she was doing on the wrong side of the road by the port; she told us she was going to play all innocent and say she wasn't anywhere near there. It was something of a game the two of them played every day while he patrolled the area and she worked her taxi service, and we had to laugh along with her.

We got to our destination and met up with Captain Bob himself. He handled our checkin, then introduced us to his son, Brett, who would be our tour guide and captain of the particular boat we were going to be on. The first mate was Brett's fiancée, Laura. I'll be writing up a longer review of the whole excursion in the Shore Excursions forum, for now I'm going to stick to the highlights and the photos that go with them...

As promised, we departed at 10 AM sharp. As we pulled out of the port area and into the open water, we saw a Costa ship making a late arrival into the port; so there would actually be four ships in port that day, which I'm sure the people of the island were more than happy to see. I wasn't able to get a photo at this point as the ship was too far away and we were moving a bit too quickly to get a steady shot.

At this point, Brett took us along the Dutch side of the island, and we made our way to the big marina that houses the most expensive yachts. All along the way, there were visible signs of the devastation that Hurricane Irma had wrought and that hadn't yet been repaired. But there was also still a lot that was intact or rebuilt, and a lot that was still really pretty and good to see.

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I took some video while we went through the marina, but my phone's mic picked up way too much wind noise and I haven't been able to clean up the sound enough yet to make it worth sharing. iMovie is still my editing tool for video, and the latest version removed the manual equalizer tool that could have allowed me to clean up that wind noise.

As we exited the marina and made our way to the next area of interest, we passed a graveyard of wrecked ships that were waiting to be destroyed, having been sunk and beyond the point of repair or salvage.

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From here, we moved out into open waters again and made our way to the first destination of our trip. I continued to take lots of pictures, capturing both the beauty and the tragedy that was on display. I was using my tele lens the whole time, and you're going to see that it has some... interesting... effects on the corners of these images. I took most of them using the phone's burst mode, so I could get some reasonable shots as the boat bounced and sped along, and combined with the tele lens it introduced what looks to me like a tilt-shift effect in the corners of many of these pictures. If you've ever watched Sherlock on PBS, you'll know tilt-shift from the show's opening sequence.

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Here we have the governor's house for the French-side governor.

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Not long after seeing this (and Brett kidding with us that it was Oprah's winter home), we officially crossed to the French side of the island as we passed under a small drawbridge.

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Once we were on the French side, we saw a lot more boats docked in the area. Brett explained that the rates for boat moorings on the French side are significantly lower than on the Dutch side, so most of the local folks who have smaller and cheaper boats dock them in that area. It's been nicknamed the boat trailer park of the island.

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Ummm, I can't really talk now. I've got cows...

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Brett and Laura said they stumbled across them one time while just going to that beach on their own for a picnic. The herd has some bulls and they actually charged the two of them; they had to clear out of there in a big hurry!

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The little island above is named Tintemarre, and this was our first snorkeling stop. The prime "catch" here is sea turtles and sting rays. My wife and the girls got their snorkeling gear and dove in to explore. I stayed on the boat and spent the 45 minutes we were there just chatting with Brett, getting to know him a bit and talking about things like the add-on lenses he saw me using, investing (he was a hedge fund manager before he joined his dad in doing the boat tours), and other small talk.

After everyone was back on board, we made our way to the next stop, Pinel Island. The island is both a wildlife refuge / nature preserve, and also a day trip spot for the neighboring locals and people looking for a little pleasure cruise. In addition to the small beach that offers loungers and umbrellas, there are two small restaurants / bars and a little gift shop that offers hand-made items.

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The water here is really only about chest height, so you just jump off the boat and wade to land. I took advantage and made my way up to the little yellow hut at the top of the second picture above, which is the sole restroom on the island. On my way back, I noticed as I passed the gift shop that there was a big cluster of hermit crabs sheltering in a little bit of ground cover around a palm tree. I wish I had my phone, but there was no way with my non-waterproof model that I was throwing it in my backpack and risking it getting soaked in the ocean while I waded from boat to land and back. I did tell my wife and the girls about it, and they went to take a look and also look at the gift shop. D17 bought a couple of sets of hand-carved and -painted cats, one set for us and the other for her boyfriend's family. She also picked out a couple of other knick-knacks.

 

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We spent a little over an hour here, relaxing and having lunch. Lunch consisted of sandwiches, chips, and apples that were packed on board, since the beach restaurant they used to go to was destroyed by Irma and not yet rebuilt. I gathered that the places there on Pinel wouldn't have catered to us, for whatever reason. The sandwiches were quite good, and there was plenty of water and beer to go around and wash it all down. I enjoyed a nice light French lager that was a local favorite and quite tasty.

After lunch, we went to our next stop, which is named Creole Rock. It's literally a massive rock thrusting up from the otherwise open ocean, and which harbors a wide variety of sea life, including urchins that will wreck your day if you swim on the ocean side and get dashed onto the rock by the powerful waves there.

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My wife and the girls took another dip in the water, although this time D17 was content to just swim and not snorkel; she found breathing through the snorkel tube too weird and unnerving to give it another go, especially after swallowing a bunch of sea water the first time when she didn't clear it properly after water got in. D14 and the wife both stayed well clear of the rock, where they'd been told they'd also see octopi as well as the sea urchins, and managed to catch sight of some of the many fish there. I once again stayed on board, having gotten quite refreshed at Pinel and not feeling the need to get in the water again. I also found climbing back into the boat via the rail-less ladder they attached on the back very difficult, and that definitely played a part.

Once our time at Creole Rock was up, everyone got back on board and we sped back over to the Dutch side of the island, where we had a quick stop at a very lavish mansion in Plum Bay that we learned had been bought a few years prior by one Donald J. Trump. Ironically, the water and land surrounding the building are declared public by the government, and people regularly show up around the building just going about their business without the owner or his staff being able to do a damn thing to keep them off his lawn.

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We also passed this ship, which seemed to have a Viking theme to it. I assume it was another excursion vessel.

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From Plum Bay, we made our way to Long Bay. This is the area with the many beautiful white houses and villas with red tile roofs. We spent a half hour here for more beach time and swimming, and in my case more photography.

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Having done this a few times now, I really like how a panoramic image comes out when taken with the tele lens vs. no lens. It's a night and day difference.

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Once we wrapped up our time in Long Bay, it was time to head back to the marina. Brett opened up the triple engines on our boat and we were seriously jetting along, far too fast and bouncy for me to even think about taking any photos. He was in a rush for a reason. We pulled up to Maho Beach just as a big private jet zoomed by overhead. We got there just a little too late; I had needed to stow my phone and lens in my pockets / under my towel, with the lens in its travel bag, because of the splashing we were getting from our fast ride. There was just no time for me to pull everything back out and get a photo before that jet zoomed by. Two of the other boats from Captain Bob were already there and those folks were definitely luckier in that regard.

There were no other planes coming, and we needed to get back to the marina so we didn't miss our 4:30 all-aboard time. The three boats got into a rather fun and exciting race to see who'd make it back to the marina first. Although our boat had three engines while the other two just had a pair, we ended up getting into the marina second. Partly because we needed to yield to some other boats that came along, partly because the captain of the "winning" boat was driving like a bat out of hell.

Once we were back on land, I tipped Brett and Laura $25 to thank them for the great trip, the good food and drink, and the good conversations I'd had with them. We stopped briefly at the cheese shop, where Brett said we'd be able to get a free treat, and a part of me wished we didn't still have five days left before we'd be home. They were selling a really awesome Gouda that I was given a sample of, and while they said it was designed to travel well, I didn't think a wedge would hold up for that long on a ship and also a hotel before going on a plane back home.

As we made our way through the port market, we passed by a yacht I'd seen docked there since we left in the morning.

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Because I had to walk slowly, we barely made it to the ship for all-aboard. We were among the very last to get back on, with a few of the ship's staff who had the day off ahead of us. We laughed privately as we heard two of them getting super-excited because they just found out their next contract would transfer them from the Caribbean to a ship that would be sailing Alaska and then Australia for the winter months.

D14 and D17 both had a scare as they got back on board. Their Sea Pass cards had smudged and faded to the point of being barely legible, we assume from the sunscreen they were using. The security guards told them that while the scan of the bar code on back was good and they could board, they had to get new cards from Guest Services immediately or they would be denied permission to leave the ship the next day in San Juan. Needless to say, they both went straight to Guest Services and got new cards printed out.

While they got that taken care of, I quickly grabbed my standard sail-away margarita (sadly, "just" a Patron Silver and not a reposado) and went back up to my balcony. The Costa ship I'd seen earlier was still there, and I could now see clearly that it was the "new" Costa Classico (which I later learned from our dinner mates was about to be decommissioned, so none of us could figure out what it was doing all the way out here).

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I heard a vehicle coming down the pier, and looked down to see a dock worker release the last of the mooring lines from the pier. It was quickly drawn in and I knew sail-away was about to start.

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Freedom's horn called out to signal sail-away... and HOLY MOTHER OF GOD WAS THAT COSTA SHIP'S HORN CALLING BACK TO US FRACKING LOUD!!!!! I had no idea she was going to do that, and the ship is so much smaller than Freedom that her horn is practically on the same level as our Deck 8 cabins. I was maybe a couple of hundred feet away from it when it sounded. And then sounded again. And then again! I had my ears covered each time I heard Freedom's horn sound again, knowing that Classico was about to respond. Once that ended and I saw we were moving, I took some more pics of her as we pulled away and left St. Maarten behind us.

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Once sail-away was done, I grabbed our towels that we'd checked out and returned them to the pool deck. On the way back, I noticed a tile mural in the solarium that I had somehow missed in my earlier "photo safari".

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After I got back to our room, I suggested to my wife we watch the sunset. We went down to deck 4 and the Schooner Bar so I could get another margarita (an 1800 reposado this time) and she got a mock lava flow. Drinks in hand, we made our way to the Star Lounge to get to the helipad... and found ourselves blocked by a locked door. Rather than try to find our way to the outside walkway on deck 4 and then back up to 5 and the helipad, we went up to deck 12 and then onto the top-most lounging area above the pool.

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We were a little late to catch the full show, but it was still nice and I got one really nice shot, with a cloud edged in fire as the sun went behind it and a visible shadow shooting up from it into the air.

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Sunset over and with some time to kill before dinner, I went to Boleros after getting changed and just people-watched while editing some of my photo backlog. The Latin band started playing while I was there, and some of the passengers got into the spirit of the music and started dancing.

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I joined the rest of my family for dinner, where D14 and I sadly saw there were no escargots on the menu. We ordered some other appetizers, and I also ordered the Tiger Prawns that were the specialty of the evening for my entrée. Much to our surprise, our waiter Jigger brought out a plate of escargots for each of us that he "had found in the kitchen". We were beyond thrilled, although now I was wondering if I'd have enough room for the rest of my meal. The challenge was amplified when Jigger then brought out my Tiger Prawn entree... and then came with another plate that he split between me and my table mate, Debbi... followed a few minutes later by another plate that he split between us! This night was the first time in the whole trip where I felt a little more than comfortably full, but I still didn't feel like I'd over-eaten.

None of us were interested in that night's headliner, a magician duo. So dear wife and the girls went to bed, while I went to the casino for another round at the craps table. Luck was on my side again, and I came out $66 ahead after only a half hour of play. This was good enough for me, and I called it a night and went to bed. I found our night's towel animal still intact.

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Two port days down, two to go! And for San Juan, we were really going to be off the usual path since we were meeting D17's friend Estefania, who lives right in Old San Juan and would be acting as our personal tour guide!

More to come tomorrow! (well, later today at this point)

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18 hours ago, JLMoran said:

for those who have said in the past they would just bring their Sea Pass cards off the ship and nothing else:

I've never understood that or sailing on just a birth certificate.  You're still in a different country, I always have my passport with me as you never know what can happen. 

BTW:  great pictures and recap!  I hope everyone had a great time (looks like you all did).

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D'oh! Just realized that I left out the daily drink tally again! Will post it here rather than editing the St. Maarten posting...

  • Fresh squeezed OJ in the MDR at breakfast
  • Grande cappuccino from Cafe Promenade after breakfast
  • Patron Silver margarita from the Bull & Bear Pub - Not mixed nearly as well by the bartender on duty this day as the one I got there previously
  • 1800 Reposado margarita from the Schooner Bar
  • Kendall-Jackson Reserve Chardonnay at MDR during dinner, to pair with my shrimp entree and seafood appetizer (based on pairing a Chardonnay with the lobster salad course at Chef's Table)
    • Interestingly, this glass of wine was delivered much more quickly than the previous nights; we noticed they had additional staff helping the assistant waiters so that bar drinks, particularly wines, were being delivered before the appetizer course was set on the table
    • The MDR must have received a ton of complaints about the slow service on the prior nights and decided to do this to improve the service
    • The wine was OK but not great; I'm really not a white wine person, but thought I'd at least try to follow the example set for us

Also, forgot to note that when we went through port security this time, we only needed our Sea Pass cards and no other form of ID to get through the village and back onto the pier.

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This is going to be another rather photo-heavy post. Not as big as last night's St. Maarten blowout, but a close second.

Day 6 – Old San Juan, PR

Today was going to be tough. We were only in port from 7 AM until 2 PM, with our all-aboard time at 1:30. Even allowing for getting up as early as possible so we could be in the MDR right when it opened for breakfast, we were only going to have a few hours to see what we could of Old San Juan. Luckily, D17 met a girl who lives here through a vocal training camp they both attended last summer, and she had agreed to meet up with us and be our local guide.

I actually set an alarm for this morning, and even with the early time I'd set we were already docked. The sun was only barely over the horizon off to starboard, bathing OSJ in a warm early morning glow.

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Standing on my balcony, I could already feel how humid it was. We got down to the MDR right as it opened for breakfast and managed to get a table for the four of us without any delay. We had agreed the previous night that we would just use the available "cereal bar" buffet and skip ordering off the menu. It's really the best of both worlds for breakfast – the far smaller crowd of the MDR and potential for a shared table and shared conversation, plus the speed and enough of the variety of food selections that the Windjammer offers to make for a very satisfactory breakfast. While my wife and the girls had taken advantage of this on prior days in the MDR, this was my first time and I was pleasantly surprised. There was a variety of breakfast deli meats and cheeses (including several, like salami and blue cheese, that I'd really only consider for lunch), sausage, bacon (both crisp and not so much), scrambled eggs (DANGER WILL ROBINSON!!!! DANGER!! DANGER!!), pancakes, French toast, and a nice selection of freshly sliced fruits. And you could still order fresh-squeezed orange juice, get your morning coffee, etc.

After a hasty breakfast, we shot back up to our cabins and slathered on sunscreen for the hot and sunny day ahead. We got off the ship around 8:45, a bit later than we'd wanted, and texted D17's friend Estefania that we were on our way to the CVS that we had been told the previous day by another passenger was across the street from the pier...

Except it wasn't...

That's a Walgreens. What the...?

Looking to our left, we saw the CVS about a block and a half down the street. We shrugged and went there, and waited for Estefania and her mom.

While we were waiting, we saw a homeless man panhandling right outside the CVS, sitting in what little shade there was and trying to get some money. I gave him a couple of dollars, and D14 asked if she could buy him one of the fruit popsicles she had seen for sale inside the CVS. I said absolutely, and she gave him one of the strawberry ones; he was happy to get that on what was already becoming a really hot day, and from the corner of our eyes we saw him enjoying it while we continued to wait for Estefania and her mom to arrive.

As it turned out, they also went to the Walgreens; after some chuckles and a bit of texting back and forth, we finally got together. And, it wasn't Estefania and her mom; it was Estefania and her older sister, Nicole. Their mom was busy and unable to get out, so Nicole went instead.

They asked us what we were interested in doing, and we let them know our main goals for the day were to see El Morro and have lunch at an authentic restaurant, not a touristy place. So they pointed us in the direction of the old fort, and off we went.

Now, @Matt has advised many times that if you want to see El Morro, it's better to get a cab there or take the trolley since it's a pretty steep uphill climb and it can kind of wear you out. But that's not what we did; Estefania and Nicole knew a fairly direct way there that would take us by some parts of town you don't get to necessarily see by taxi, certainly not by the trolley. While I was nervous about how I'd do with this, given my mobility limits, I decided the day was short enough and I'd pumped enough Advil after breakfast that I could make a go of it. And I'm really glad that I did.

The first major building we passed was a small local university; Nicole explained that it wasn't the main college on the island, but a smaller place (I think akin to a community college on the mainland) where people could go who wanted to get some classes out of the way before going for their main degree.

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From there, we made our way through a number of colorful side streets. Estefania told us that most of the town isn't that colorful, it's really more the commercial districts and the neighboring nearby homes. Places more on the fringes of OSJ or in areas not so visible to tourists were a lot more low-key.

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As we got close to the fort, we came across this small, one-lane street with a building painted with the Puerto Rican flag on one side. This was apparently a rather popular spot for tourists to take photos, so we agreed to follow tradition; Nicole offered to take our picture while standing in front of the building, which was nice since we didn't really have much in the way of family shots yet on this trip.

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From here, it was a very short walk and were on the outskirts of the fortified wall that surrounds much of this part of the island and city. Looking out over the wall, you could see some building that were still wrecked after Hurricane Maria slammed the island last year.

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We followed the wall down the street; as I paused to get another photograph, another homeless man asked if I could spare any money. I gave him a couple of dollars as well; when there's no way to know who's truly impacted by the disaster that hit the island and who's a hustler taking advantage of the tourists and the situation, I'd rather err on the side of assuming the former. Even if they're hustling me, it's still money that they'll spend on stuff locally and ultimately help the local businesses and other people there.

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We now came into sight of El Morro. I don't know what the "normal" way to get there is when you take a taxi or the trolley, but the way we came brought us in by way of a large field that looked down on the Santa María Magdalena de Pazzis Cemetery, with the entrance to the fort still rather far off. Nicole told us that this cemetery had so little available space that only the most important and prominent individuals could be buried there now.

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The wall in this area had one of the old watch towers (which I have since learned are called "garitas") that you could still go inside of. I've clearly played the Myst series of games far too much, because looking at this little watch tower on the wall, I felt like I was about to step into one of those games' "Ages" as soon as I walked through the entrance, no linking book required. In a way, I did; the view out of the narrow windows gave me a clear view down into the cemetery and the chapel at the far end. I really wish we had been allowed more time in port, as I'd have loved to explore this area as well as the fort. The sculptures and carvings that I could see on many of the graves looked amazing from this distance, and I'd have loved a chance to see them more closely (and maybe learn about some of the prominent individuals buried there in the process).

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While I was taking in the view here, the others had moved on along the wall. I caught up with them at the section you can see in the last photo above, behind the chapel. You can see how the the wall curved out there and had several openings, most likely for cannons or other weaponry to fire on the ground below back when the fort was an active military installation and the cemetery wasn't yet built. On my way there, I passed a trio that included a woman who was in a rather fancy-looking dress. She was noticeably "out of place" compared to the two men walking with her, or the dozens of tourists and students who were there to explore the fort and its surroundings, or just relaxing and playing games or flying kites.

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Once I reached the part of the wall where the others had stopped to wait for me, I looked around and was totally taken by the view here. Once you climbed up the small ramp to where the wall's openings where, you had clear vantages into the chapel side of the cemetery, as well as the ocean and the city center. And we were still only about halfway to the fort's entrance.

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We crossed the field to the path that leads to the entrance into El Morro. Just before we got to the entrance, we were given another amazing view across the bay on that side.

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Finally, we had arrived at the entrance to the old fort. I've seen pictures of it myself, but it's another thing to be standing there and taking it all in yourself.

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Estefania and Nicole can be seen in the photo above; Estefania is wearing the sleeveless red blouse and talking to D17, while Nicole is standing to the left of her. My wife and I wanted to go inside the fort for a bit and at least see a little of the interior, but the girls wanted to stay outside and walk along the walls, so we split up and agreed to meet back at the entrance in half an hour. As my wife and I paid the admission fee, the person working there saw my Deadpool cap and laughed as he said that Deadpool was taking the tour as well.

Once inside, we went into the five connecting vestibule-like rooms that lined the right side of the fort, facing the entrance to the bay and the open ocean. Each of these rooms had an informational display that recounted the history of the fort, starting with its initial construction in the early 16th century through to the end of World War II. We learned a lot about how the fort changed hands over the centuries, and the role it played in Spanish trade and then as a defensive post and sometimes blockade point during the world wars. In each room, there was an open window in the wall looking out onto the lower courtyard and walls.

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After we finished learning about the fort's history, we went out to the main courtyard, where the restored lighthouse now stands. I didn't try to navigate the really steep ramp leading up to it; from what I could see, it was a dead end and you couldn't go inside, at least based on the number of other visitors I saw go up, stay at the base of the lighthouse for a bit, and then come back down.

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At the far end of the courtyard was another garita, from which you could see the bunker added on by the US Army during World War II, as well as the lower levels of the fort and the walking path along the coastline. Looking back into the courtyard from here also gave another nice view of the lighthouse.

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At this point, it was time to meet back up with the girls. There was a gift shop that also sold water and other beverages right by the entrance, so we grabbed some bottles for everyone before leaving. We found everyone waiting for us, but they hadn't been waiting long. We all rehydrated, then moved on to the city center and towards where Nicole had thought we'd be able to get a nice early lunch.

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Unfortunately, the place Nicole took us to wasn't open yet and didn't look like it would be any time soon. They took us along some other roads that started heading us back toward the port, figuring we'd likely find another option along the way. I noticed an unusual building as we worked our way through the central plaza, and Estefania explained it's a museum, but hardly anyone visits it. Since I had asked about it, they led us there so we could have a closer look.

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I looked it up after I got home and learned that It's the Museum of the Americas, and originally was the Ballajá Military Barracks. We didn't explore the museum, only the interior courtyard where I imagine the troops who used to be garrisoned here would come out for practice drills or other activities. It's quite an impressive building, and the one doorway that leads down a stairway into another part of the city looks from the center of the courtyard like it just opens straight onto the ocean.

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We resumed our journey back toward the pier and our search for a good lunch spot. We passed by the island's School of the Arts, which Estefania indicated was really popular with the local students looking to get an art degree.

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We continued onward, and after another few minutes Estefania noticed a gift shop with a sign indicating there was a restaurant in the back, and we decided to take a look. It was a good decision, as it was just 11:30 and we were able to have an excellent and relaxing meal.

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The rest of the family had one of the chicken or shrimp offerings, prepared as mofongo or one of the salads. I was feeling more adventuresome and tried the conch with the spicy criolla sauce; both Nicole and Estefania said that if I liked octopus or squid (I do), then I'd probably be happy with it. I found it very good, and the sauce was a nice complement. The conch was served with rice and beans plus mashed yucca, which I had never had before and found similar in texture to mashed potatoes, but with far better flavor. D14 tried some of mine and agreed that it was really good. I paired my meal with a mojito, which was incredibly tasty and, while a little strong after being in the heat so long, was also very refreshing. I actually ordered a second one to go so I could have one to enjoy on our way back to the pier. Trust me, the next time you're in Old San Juan, be sure to look this place up.

Before we left, D14 went into the gift shop and used the money her grandparents had given her to get a pretty hand fan that was much nicer than ones she'd previously bought online, with actual cloth for the material instead of paper, and good solid spokes mounted to it. Unfortunately, the pin holding it all together lost its cap on one side, and we need to figure out a fix for it; but it's still a nice souvenir and we're definitely hanging on to it. She also bought a tiny mortar and pestle, as Estefania explained most households had one for grinding their spices freshly as part of daily meal preparation. D17 didn't find anything appealing here, so we agreed to try and find another store where she could get something else for herself and maybe her boyfriend. We passed some interesting courtyards and side streets in our search, so I took some more pics while they shopped.

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We didn't really have any luck on the shopping front, but we made one last stop just a few doors down from the pigeon park, located very close to the pier. Everyone wanted to take one last try at finding something in a little shop we found there, so while they shopped I drank the last of my second mojito. As I did, I heard a busker playing a guitar and singing. I tried to take a picture, figuring I'd hand him a tip immediately after; as soon as he saw me holding my phone with the big tele lens on it, he stopped playing and shook his head no. I put my phone down, he resumed playing, and I tried again, and this time he said out loud, "Don't take my picture, man."

At first I was miffed, but then I realized maybe I was doing things in the wrong order. Sure enough, as soon as I walked over and put five dollars into his hat, he chuckled and said, "Now we're talking!" At that point he looked up at me and apologized for being gruff earlier, and told me that while he didn't like having to be an a**hole he also had to make a living. He'd found his image on YouTube and even on TV commercials, where he hadn't been paid a dime for having his picture taken or video recorded, so he was really hard-nosed about no cameras without a tip first. I told him no problem and that I'd guessed as much, and he resumed singing while I now went back across the street and took a picture plus a short bit of video.

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By this point, we had to get back to the ship. But we passed the pigeon park on our way and D14 asked if she could just buy one bag of corn for the pigeons and quickly feed it to them. I figured we had just enough time for that, and let her do it. Words can't describe what happened next. This really has to be seen to be appreciated, and I was really glad I had a tele lens in place to properly capture it all, especially with the burst mode photos I took.

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It got even better when the guy handing out the bags of corn decided to pour another one into their hands free of charge (most likely because he knew the ship was leaving shortly).

 

At this point, we had to really hustle to get back to the ship on time. As we got back onto the main roads, we got some of that "typical port market" hustle, but we just told everyone we passed that we were about to miss our ship and they let it go. Except for one guy -- this fellow came up to my wife, urging her to try this cream he thought would be great for her skin. Even after she told him we didn't have time, he was sure she could just try a free sample really quick; he followed us for almost half a block before giving up! We all were laughing about it, and imagining if my wife had in fact tried this skin cream how the guy might have quickly run into the store and then sprinted after us all the way to the port entrance to try and close a sale.

Just before the port, D17 stopped briefly to give a couple of dollars to another busker playing a sax on the street we were rushing down. After that, we reached the port entrance. We said a hurried good bye and thanks to Estefania and Nicole, and then hurried through the security check (where we needed to show both our Sea Pass cards and passports). We made it to the ship just in time, as the security staff at the gangway were starting to take down the canopies and clearly getting ready to close everything up.

We went back to our room, where I skipped the sailaway beverage to have a few minutes to set up for another time-lapse, this time of our sail-away. No table stacking this time! I wasn't about to risk my phone or the table getting knocked over by a random vibration from the ship. It took some doing to get a decent view through the balcony's plexiglass, especially since I decided to try this time-lapse with the wide-angle lens, but I got it set up just in time. I have to say, I'm not as happy with this one; it seems like time-lapses are best done with no lens if you want a moderately wide shot, or ideally the tele lens. Tele would definitely have been better here, especially as we passed El Morro on our way to the open ocean.

 

After sail-away was done and we were on the ocean again, I showered and changed into fresh clothes after the hot and humid day in OSJ. While the others rested, I worked on editing photos and trying to catch up on my backlog, and nearly caught up with where I was at that point. I totally forgot about catching the sunset until it was too late, but my wife and I still went down to the Schooner Bar so she could get a virgin Lava Flow and people watch. I decided to try a spiced martini for something different; it was OK, but not something I'd order again. We sat and talked while watching a trivia game wrap up. After that, we went back to the cabin, where we all got dressed for formal night, and then headed down to Studio B to catch the early showing of the FreedomIce.com ice show.

I have to say, the show started a bit slowly for me. I was expecting a pretty "WOW" opening number, but I felt it was quite tame. However, as the show progressed the numbers performed by the skaters got more and more intricate. The theme was variations on what "Freedom" meant, in different time periods and different concepts. The songs played included some 70s oldies as well as numbers from the 80s and 90s. There were a few falls, but it wasn't surprising as we all could feel the ship shifting from time to time, as well as feeling the floor vibrating from the engines being pushed harder than the last couple of days. By the time it was done, we all agreed it was quite good and impressive for such a tiny rink on a moving vessel.

After the show ended, we went straight to Leonardo's MDR for our second formal night, which of course was lobster night. But before we got down to the business of enjoying our last fancy dinner, we asked our table-mate Debbi to take a couple pictures of us on the main stairwell.

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I also took a picture of Debbi and her son Matt at her request, as her phone's camera wasn't great, and then I sent it over to her so she'd have a copy. After mentioning them so many times and how she knows @mpoole3 and Jason Poole, I figured I should show them once so they can put face to name.

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Now for the dinner! I started off with the chilled strawberry bisque and a fresh caprese salad, followed by my requested two lobster tails. Then Jigger brought some extras our way, and I wound up having a third one that leaped from his plate over to mine while crying, "I volunteer as tribute!" In hindsight, I really should have said no thank you; I felt very full afterward, especially since I had the lava cake and baked Alaska for dessert and didn't compensate by just having a little of each. It was the first time I really felt like I'd overindulged.

My wife tried my lobster tail, which was a surprise to all of us since she isn't a seafood eater at all. She conceded it wasn't awful, but the texture really wasn't to her liking and she definitely wouldn't order one for with her meal. D14 chose not to have any lobster at all; she got spoiled after having a whole lobster on a trip to Newport, RI that we took last spring; she now will only eat whole lobster. :4_joy:

After dinner, I made another stop at the casino and the craps table, while everyone else went to the cabins to study, relax, and go to bed. Luck had decided to be against me this time, and I walked away after slowly losing $25 over the course of several throws around the table. I came back after a little while and watched for a bit, but the table stayed cold and I didn't get back into the action.

Defeated, I went back to my cabin and called it a night. My wife was thrilled with this evening's towel animal -- a peacock!

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Just one port day left. I really felt like the cruise was going by too quickly! But at the same time, I was kind of glad that this last port day was much more low-key, so I could have a chance to rest my feet and just take it easy.

 

 

Drink package tally and random notes:

  • Standard fresh-squeezed OJ at the MDR and cappuccino at Cafe Promenade
  • Bottle of water for our time on OSJ
  • Spiced martini at the Schooner Bar
  • A glass of the Chianti Ruffina, "Castello di Nipozzano" that I'd had on night two (with $5 overage applied to my Sea Pass card)
    • As with the prior night, the MDR had extra staff on hand to deliver bar orders so there was no long wait; my wine actually arrived while we were still taking our pictures on the stairway!

Definitely a money-losing night as far as the drink package goes, but after two awesome mojitos in the early afternoon, I just didn't want to overdo it.

This was also the point where my Fitbit stopped charging for me. Most likely the contacts got too much sunscreen on them, and I just resolved to stow it for now and clean it up after I got home. I knew by this point that was averaging anywhere between 11,000 and 13,000 steps a day, so I wasn't overly concerned about losing my tracking for the last couple of days.

 

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Day 7 – Labadee

We took advantage of our later port arrival to sleep in a bit. Where in my case, by "sleep in" I mean I naturally woke up at 7 instead of having an alarm jarring me awake at 6. Following my now daily ritual for port days, I went onto the balcony after grabbing my phone and lenses to see what was in view. I thought maybe that Royal had actually routed us to Isla Nublar this time, and instead of lounging in a cabana I'd be running from T-Rexes.

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But after about a half hour, it clear that this was no dino-topia...

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Especially not after spying the tiny rowboat making its way past us...

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When we had gotten close enough, the ship started turning around to actually dock, and I could see the pier and village of Labadee ahead of us.

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I had my YOLO shirt from RCBlog on, so I kept it all in stride... (#RCBlog_Supporter, #Chillin, #Mellow)

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Everyone else was up at this point, and we did need to get to breakfast before my wife and the girls had to get to their scheduled zip line run. So we headed down and once again just took advantage of the "cereal bar" in the MDR to have a quick meal without the Windjammer crowds. This time around, we got to the MDR a little late and had to share a table. Our table-mates were two elderly ladies who had no plans for Labadee, having "outgrown that stuff some time ago."

After breakfast, we did the usual trip back to the cabins to sunscreen up and get ready to head out. Unlike the other times, we had a persistent wood block tapping coming in through our balcony windows. We quickly realized it was from the little band that had set up on the pier. With the window closed, the only thing we could hear was that wood block; after opening the balcony door we could hear the whole group, which was a lot less irritating for us.

We ended up being a little too leisurely with getting up and ready, and found ourselves hurrying down the pier so all the ladies didn't miss their check-in time for the zip line. After we found where they had to go, I took  their bags and made my way to Nellie's Bach and the cabana check-in desk there. I did have to ask a couple of times for how to get there and where to go, but I eventually got there and was checked in. I let them know that not only would my family be there, but we had also invited our table-mates and they should be expected later in the morning.

Our attendant was a man named Fritz, and he led me to our cabin, which was the next-to-last one down the line. I had a chance later in the day to confirm that at least for these cabanas, they are not reserved based on when you booked, just on when you show up to claim one. So the earlier you get there, the better the cabana you'll be given as far as its position in the line and the view you get. Ours was definitely not at all shabby...

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After putting everyone's bags down in our cabana and taking the pics above, I went out and found Fritz, and asked him to please call one of the golf carts for me so I could go and ride the Dragon's Tail coaster before the lines had a chance to build up. It took about ten minutes for a cart to show up, but that was fine; I wasn't in any hurry at that point. Once it arrived, I was quickly whisked to the check-in desk for the coaster, where I filled out my waiver and got my all-day wrist band. While walking the short distance from there to the actual ride entrance, I was surprised to see a wild dog come into view. It was somewhat timid and didn't let me get too close, but I was still able to get a shot.

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I rode the coaster a total of four times over the span of about 45 minutes. I recorded every one of them, but I haven't yet reviewed them and decided which is best to share. Two of the times I went fairly slowly; the second time was a little too slow, as I had applied the brake for so long that I almost stopped dead on the track about half-way through! The other two times I went as fast as I was comfortable with while holding my phone (braced in the ShoulderPod grip) in one hand, and using the brake with the other. It was still plenty fast for me, and I definitely had a blast, as well as getting my money's worth out of my all-day pass. I'll try and get one of those videos up on YouTube to share here this weekend.

By this point it was noon, and I was ready to go back to the cabana. The people at the coaster couldn't hail one for me, so I wandered over to the beach bed checkin spot on Adrenaline Beach and asked if they could do it. They could indeed, and paged someone over the walkie-talkies they had there. While I waited for my ride, I attempted to speak to them in French, dredging up what I could remember of my high-school classes to fumble out a basic conversation (prefaced with me letting them know in French that I honestly didn't speak it well but was hoping to have a little chance to practice). They were pretty patient with me and fell back to English when it was clear I just didn't understand / couldn't translate quickly enough what they were saying to me. But it did come back to me to a surprising degree, and I even understood when they said in French that their Creole language was much easier to learn since it didn't have all the grammatical rules and other complications that "regular" French has. They explained that they all had to learn both French and English in school, so they were at least conversant in all three, if not 100% fluent.

By this time my golf cart had arrived. I thanked the gents I'd been speaking with for the conversation, and then hopped on to go back to my cabana. I got there to find that my wife, the girls, and our table-mates were all there. Everyone who'd been on the zip line absolutely loved it, and none of them found themselves scared all that much. They also said the jolt at the end wasn't as bad as the videos we'd watched beforehand made it look, so maybe the next time we're in Labadee I'll give it a try. They wanted to take video and made sure they had hand straps for their phones, but they were told that only head-mounted GoPros were being allowed since everyone had to hold on to the zipline bars with two hands.

Now I was thirsty at this point, and Fritz had just showed up to deliver some drinks for Debbi and Matthew;. I didn't hesitate, and ordered my first Labadoozie of the day (with alcohol, natch). D14 already had a drink in a hollowed-out pineapple that she bought with her OBC, and my wife and D17 were just drinking the Evian that came with our cabana, so I was the only one left empty-handed. Fritz came back in short order, and I tried it out.

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As you can see, I totally hated it. :10_wink:

After I had a chance to properly sample my beverage, we asked Fritz to call up another golf cart so we could grab some food from the buffet. Our driver was great, staying nearby so that we could grab what we wanted and then eat it back in the cabana without having to hoof it all the way there. The food was just OK for me, but I'm not a big barbecue fan; everyone else thought it was great.

With lunch out of the way, the girls and my wife went to the Dragon's Tail coaster to try and get a couple of rides in. While they were off doing that, Debbi, Matt, and I went into the lagoon and enjoyed the water. It was very odd after a while; we all kept feeling cold patches going by while we stood there, so the water alternated between feeling nice and warm and feeling freezing cold. I eventually got out and decided to take another time-lapse while I warmed back up.

Wade made another visit and gave his seal of approval...

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The ladies came back by this point, having only been  able to get in a couple of rides on the coaster due to the long lines that had formed. Lesson learned -- ride the coaster early if you have an all-day pass, or you won't get nearly as much of your money's worth!

The two girls and Matthew then went to the village to find some trinkets to buy. We adults just hung around in the cabana and enjoyed the lazy day, chatting and relaxing. I had another couple of Labadoozies, because why not?

D17 came back from the village feeling robbed. She tried to haggle, didn't know how to properly do it, and ended up paying the full $25 asked for the two necklaces she wanted. D14 did a bit better, getting a carved bird for $12 (original asking price $20). Matthew was an old hand at this, and got 6 necklaces / bracelets for $4 each. The girls decided to vent their frustrations over haggling with a dip in the lagoon.

I had seen a number of birds flittering around and tried to get some pics, but only got this one fellow as he gathered material for a nest...

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I did manage to get a shot of D14's "emotional support chicken" as well..

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And just when I'd given up hope of catching any more birds, I got two in one shot!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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By this time, the cabanas were being cleared out and the beach was empty of people. We got the not-too-subtle GTFO hint and grabbed our stuff (plus the un-consumed Evian bottles) and started heading back. I tipped Fritz for the four of us, and Debbi tipped him some more for herself and Matthew. And we managed to score one last golf cart ride back to the ship, with the same driver who had gotten us to the buffet and back; my wife tipped him as well for taking such good care of us. We did the short walk back to the ship, once again among the very last to board (without being actual pier runners).

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We really loved having that cabana. If I can score one at the same low price I got this one the next time we're in Labadee, I will definitely do that again. It made the day that much more pleasant and relaxing, especially since that day there was absolutely no wind or any breeze to cool things off. We had the shade of the cabana as well as the fan in it to help us keep cool all day.

No sail-away pics or video this time, we were already facing out to the ocean and sail-away was incredibly fast. I also missed the sunset again this time, but my wife got a nice shot from what we think was the deck 4 jogging path...

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Dinner this night included tiramisu for dessert. Now I've been on a quest for the best tiramisu for a long time, and I had high expectations. I have to say, when it came out and I took my first bite, I was... disappointed is the only word for it. It seemed bland to me, but my wife and D14 both said I was nuts and that it had really great flavor, and was one of the best they'd had. So, I did what anyone would do... I had a second helping. You know... for research purposes.

I kid you not, it was night and day. That second piece was what I was expecting from a good tiramisu. Jigger was as shocked as the rest of us, and he guessed that because my entree that night was extremely savory and I was drinking some Zinfandel with it, my palate hadn't cleared enough to properly taste the dessert. By the time the second portion arrived, I'd had some additional sweet (a bite of my wife's chocolate panna cotta) and also some water, so I was better set for properly tasting my second helping.

After dinner, my wife and I tried going to the helipad again to try and finally see some stars. And we hit the jackpot! The sky was almost completely clear of clouds, and from the helipad the stars just shined down by the hundreds. We saw more than we'd ever seen before, and could even see their actual colors as well! I'd never seen just how orange Betelgeuse, in Orion, actually is, or how blue Rigel is compared to other stars. We just sat there for almost an hour with a few other adults who'd come out before us, everyone in awe at this amazing view.

And then the teenagers arrived...

First a couple, keeping relatively quiet but using their flashlights on their phones. Then a bunch more, and several of them stupidly trying to take pictures with their flashes going off. Within five minutes, a deckhand came out and escorted every one of us off the helipad, telling us it was closed. Damn kids.

We stayed up to watch the 70s party in the Royal Promenade from the chairs in our elevator lobby. It was OK, but I was glad i wasn't down there in the massive crowd. We called it after about 45 minutes, since it seemed the show was going to go on a bit longer and we'd had enough. Everyone else went to bed, but I wanted another crack at the craps table. Once again, it was cold and no one was doing better than winning a little bit followed by losses. I stopped after I'd lost another $33 on top of the prior night's $25, which was actually perfect -- counting the $50 I'd lost on the slots a few days earlier, I was exactly at break-even. I figured fortune was sending me a pretty strong signal, and decided I was done with the casino for this trip.

I went back to my cabin, where I found a little seal pup waiting for me...

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Drink package tally for today -- I definitely made up for the prior day's shortfall!!

  • Fresh-squeezed OJ and cappuccino at breakfast
  • Three Labadoozies -- far too tasty to say no to these! ("Lord, show me how to say no to this!")
  • 1800 Reposado margarita for sail-away, from the Schooner Bar
  • Ravenswood Zinfandel at Vintages
  • Marchesi de'Frescobaldi, Toscana, "Rèmole" at MDR with dinner
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1 minute ago, accio7 said:

LOL, I just noticed in the photo from Labadee, it looks as if your daughter is giving you the double finger :4_joy:

That was no "as if"! She really did it when she saw I was taking her picture yet again, trying to get some candids of her and her sister, and decided she'd had enough!

Like I said.... two birds in one pic! :4_joy:

 

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Ok , @JLMoran, can I just say I laughed so many times while reading these last few posts!

Your family looks so happy!  It looks like you all had such a great time!  I am so happy for you all!

The pigeons, my first thought was, OMG, someone is going to get pooed on LOL!!!  My second thought was, OMG, there is a pigeon on her head!!!  Obviously, your daughters are not as scared of birds as I am.  I have a backstory to go with that, which I will save for if we ever have the pleasure to group cruise together.

Awesome blog!

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1 minute ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

My second thought was, OMG, there is a pigeon on her head!!!

You have young kids, and you're Canadian, so I'm guessing you might have heard of Laurie Berkner. As soon as I saw that pigeon on her, I immediately starting singing to myself, "[D14's name] has a pigeon on her head. [D14's name] has a piiiigeon on her head! [D14's name] has a pigeon on her head. She keeps it there all day!"

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7 minutes ago, JLMoran said:

You have young kids, and you're Canadian, so I'm guessing you might have heard of Laurie Berkner. As soon as I saw that pigeon on her, I immediately starting singing to myself, "[D14's name] has a pigeon on her head. [D14's name] has a piiiigeon on her head! [D14's name] has a pigeon on her head. She keeps it there all day!"

Nope.  Had to google her.  We were more the Dora and Wiggles type. :6_smile:  Glad those days are gone lol.

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