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Adventure OTS, 13 Night Snowbird Migration Quebec to Ft. Lauderdale Oct. 8, 2018


twangster

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Portland Sail Away.

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The local island ferry.

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Portland basking in the sunset.

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On schedule at 5:30pm we cast lines and began pulling away from the pier.  

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This was part of the Fort that defended Portland.

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One last look as we sail away from Portland.

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A short 147 nm to Boston tomorrow at a speed of 8 knots.

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Day 10 - Boston, MA

I woke at 5am and ventured outside.  The helipad was open so I headed there.  This is where I noticed a limitation of this point and shoot camera.  On my A7III this picture would have been much clearer.  In fairness, it's pitch black out so the little camera did pretty good.

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As I endured the strong breeze and wind chill of the helipad a sunrise was starting behind us.

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The lights of Boston had slowly been growing as we navigated through a myriad of boat traffic on our approach.

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Eventually the crew came out to raise the Royal Caribbean flag on the bow.

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Fort Independence on Castle Island, one of a number of forts that protected the city of Boston.

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Logan airport was on our right and I had been watching a steady stream of airplanes taking off.

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As we inched closer I could see two ships in port already.

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Aircraft coming in for a landing in the sky at Logan.

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It appeared we would be docking in front of the AIDA ship.

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Tight fit in this channel.

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Time to slide the ship towards the pier. 

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With that I can add another port I've been to (by cruise ship) on my list.

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On 10/12/2018 at 7:49 AM, firebuck said:

There's something nostalgic for me about that shimmy.  My first cruise ever was on Explorer, and she was down a stabilizer at the time.  The gentle rocking back and forth at dinner was off-putting for some, but I loved it.  Bedtime was even better as I was completely lulled to sleep by the motion while others were searching for the barf bags.

I agree! I like to feel movement on a ship!  That way I know I'm at sea and not just in a hotel. :-)

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On 10/17/2018 at 1:12 PM, Boston Babe said:

I can't wait to see pictures of my beloved city!! (and home of the future World Series Champs! LOL)

Ask and you shall receive...  Boston in pictures.

Exiting the ship there is a moving walkway down to ground level.

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A shuttle is available to a popular tourist area approximately 2 miles away.

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I chose to walk...

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Our cruise terminal on this day.

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I followed the signs towards the Liberty Wharf and wouldn't you know it... a brewery!

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Yes indeed.  Too early to get distracted I kept going...

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Boston is clearly the biggest city on this cruise but very walkable.

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Pretty soon a harborwalk started and much of my day was spent exploring it. 

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Fall colors also ramping up here in Boston.

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Boston has a series of piers and each is named.  This is the fish pier.

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Aptly named and clearly a source of fresh seafood.

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Continuing along...

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You do get a sense of the history of Boston when you see things like where the edge of the pier was in 1876.

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I had a barking squirrel in a previous port so The Barking Crab seemed to fit this journey.

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Too early to stop I continued along the harborwalk.

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Underneath the bridge was the Boston Rowing Club.

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Around the corner I saw some people throwing stuff into the water.

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Fed up with taxation the local population was doing something about it!

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The Boston Aquarium.

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I was getting thirsty from all this walking.  This looked as good a place as any.

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Harpoon IPA.

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Refreshed and recharged I ambled on.

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I needed to head back to the ship for a conference call so I hailed a taxi.

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A water taxi that is.

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Up until this point my day had cost me the price of a beer so I treated the water taxi like an excursion.  A water tour of the Boston shoreline.

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It was a quick and easy way to get back closer to the ship at a reasonable price.

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Approaching the last stop on the route I could see the top of the ship over the buildings.

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A very enjoyable and quick ride back.

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The cruise terminal and area is named after a previous mayor.

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As it turns out the ride back was was faster than I anticipated so I had some time to kill.

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Enough time for a flight of beers at the Harpoon Brewery.

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With that complete I did the final 10 minute walk back to the ship.

Security was quick and easy, typical cruise terminal experience.

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Then up the gangway towards the ship.

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It was a beautiful and sunny day in Boston and I got to explore a harbor front and part of Boston that I never have when flying here for business. 

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Our progress so far...

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Boston Sail Away

I ventured up after I did some work and discovered we were backing down out the channel we had sailed into upon arrival.  The wind was up and rain had moved through.  It was cold and nasty.  Yet our Captain did an amazing job backing the ship down the channel past the AIDA ship that was still docked in place.

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It was so windy this arriving Air France 777 had to abort it's landing approach at Logan and perform a go-around.

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Fort Independence in better light.

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The sky was very dramatic tonight.

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The Silverseas Silver Wind that we started this cruise with in Quebec City was arriving.  At a distance I thought I saw her towing a yacht behind her when I realized it was a pilot boat.  It was so windy the pilot boat took shelter behind her and stayed in her wake.  

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Being a 'company' ship (now owned by RCCL) the ships did a horn salute to each other as they passed.

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The pilot boat then turned in behind us to pick up our pilot.

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The sky ripped open above Boston and it looked like a scene from a sci-fi movie where the whole city was about to be engulfed.  

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Instead a plane flew into this tear in the space-time continuum... wait, that's a different sci-fi movie. 

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6 hours ago, GoodSmith said:

How do you plan where to walk when you get to a new port? You probably open the map and take a look, but how do you read the map and what do you look for?

I just follow my feet.  Subtle clues lead my way.  When arriving into a port I try to be on deck observing.  Population tends to be denser in areas of interest.  Towns grow into cities around waterfront.  On a Canada/New England cruise like this it's easy.  The same patterns don't exist at all ports such as Florida or the Caribbean.  

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Nine pages in and I'm finally commenting!  Loving your pictures as usual!  Nine days from now I'll be walking the same Boston waterfront, and ten days from now I'll be walking through that terminal to get on Serenade of the Seas.  Man...I better start packing!  LOL

Glad you got to stop at Harpoon.  Barking Crab was recommended to us as well.  We check into our hotel in a Boston suburb, and are meeting friends later in the day for drinks, so we're going to Uber to the waterfront, do a walking tour, then walk over the bridge to meet up.  Looks like a great walking area! 

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Day 11 - Sea Day

I woke to an overcast day.  The ship had a small swagger to it, or maybe that just me walking the hallways as if I'd been drinking already.  Nothing too bad, just a subtle shimmy like riding on a train.  

The outer decks were not calling my name so it was an inside day.  The Captain had hugged the coast throughout the night to avoid some rougher stuff farther off-shore.  

Weather improved throughout the day and I've stopped wearing a jacket if outside briefly just to take pictures and look around.  Tomorrow should be even better.

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Day 11 Dinner Menu

Formal Night, lobster night.

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Pretty sunset tonight.

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Our progress so far...

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We are in Grandeur waters.

Distance traveled 2,446 nm.  

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7 hours ago, Auto said:

Thanks for the pics of Boston. I'll be there in a few weeks, and have some time to kill waiting for a co-worker to arrive on a much later flight, so may have to check out the harbor front based on how awesome those pics looked.

The water taxi goes to Logan.

https://www.bostonharborcruises.com/media/3641/map-legend.pdf

 

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Day 12 - Sigh Day... I mean Sea Day

I'm getting really tired of taking sunrise and sunset photos.  Seriously.   

Sunrise this morning.

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Coming back from lunch I spotted some people getting ready to do some scuba instruction with the on-board PADI 5 star dive shop.  It's beginning to look like a normal cruise again!  7am and people are sitting on loungers by the pool!

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By noon it was full cruise mode with people in shorts and bathing suits, swimming, sunning, having fun.

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This may seem all right and normal to anyone reading this but after 12 days of cool weather with no one outside day after day, this is very different!  It's a cruise!

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People were lined up for the flowrider.  People, plural.  More than one.

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Not quite sure what move this is but I took this just before...

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Looking at our progress it just now dawns on me how much of the U.S. East coast we have covered.

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Pretty much all of it by the time we finish.

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Just about at the FL/GA border.

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I hear rumors that several hundred are disembarking in Port Canaveral tomorrow. 

Could it be true?  Might I have a chance at a seat in the Diamond lounge after all?  Only time will tell...

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Yay You Are All Most To Port Canaveral

Just now, twangster said:

I hear rumors that several hundred are disembarking in Port Canaveral tomorrow

Well That Makes Perfect Spence Because The Villages Is An Hour Away And They Want To Save Money By Not Paying For A Rental Car Or  The Villages Shuttle That Runs From Port Everglades To The Villages 

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Interesting enrichment talk the morning of our last sea day.  "How it Works, The Story of Royal Caribbean Voyager Class of Ships" presented by Bill, our Hotel Director.

This is the stuff that @Matt trivia is made of...

Adventure has an "air draft" of 208' depending on loading.  Antennas exceed that a few feet.  Depth numbers are painted on the side of the ship and every day in port a junior officer must record them in a log to indicate how deep the ship is sitting in the water.

Adventure gained ~3 1/2 tons with her make overs.  Originally ~135,000 GT she is now 138,279 GT.   The new cabins on deck 12 and slides have dramatically impacted her top speed.  The original deployment plan for Voyager class in Canada/NE was planned 5 years ago taking into account the top speed of 23- 24 knots.  With the change in aerodynamics they discovered this summer that isn't possible anymore, now she tops out around 20-21 knots.  

There are a number of guest capacity figures.  Max double occupancy is often quoted but Adventure's "SOLAS" capacity is actually 4,000 exactly.  That's the certified capacity based on Safety Of Life At Sea regulations.  Twice this summer she reached that number.  Her double occupancy number is 3,348.  This voyage has 3,280.  This is voyage 888 as indicated on the card provided with the sparkling wine in my cabin.

With 5 diesel generators (DG) or what most folks call "engines" they normally cruise on 3 or 4 DGs.  One DG typically is used for hotel operations or guests purposes versus propelling the ship in the water.  When top speed is needed they kick in the 5th DG.  Depending on conditions that typically gains them an extra 1 to 2 knots of speed but with a 20% increase in fuel consumption.  

The bow thrusters are the same on all Voyager and Freedom class ships.  During the scheduled 5 year dry dock rotation the propellers of some of those are removed and replaced with extra one on hand.  They are sent out for refurbishing and then installed in the next Voyager/Freedom class ship that dry docks.  This cycle continues endlessly ship after ship swapping blades.

The tenders in Bar Harbor cost them around $10k each for the day.  

Lifeboats must be exercised monthly and they do crew life boats drills every 90 days where they must fill a life boat to its capacity in 10 minutes, 147 on this ship, 370 on Oasis.  When Oasis originally came over on it's transatlantic a life boat was damaged.  They had to remove 370 guests from the next few sailings until that life boat was fixed.

Original project name for Voyager class was Project Eagle.  Radiance was Project Radiance,  Oasis was Project Genesis.  Quantum was Project Sunshine.   

When Portofino was added as a specialty restaurant years ago, they neglected to include a galley for it.  They later consumed the nearby flower shop to create a galley for Portofino.  

Back when Johnny Rockets was free they would do 1,700 guests at lunch with a 2 hour wait.  That led to a charge being imposed to manage crowds.  The original charge was $3.25.  

The Verrazano-Narrows bridge sags in the summer due to heat.  In the winter there is an extra few feet of clearance.  Adventure clears with around 14' of clearance.  In theory Oasis could fit under the Verrazano-Narrows bridge if they lowered the stacks for each passing.  Since deployment, the stacks on Oasis have permanent equipment installed at the top of the stacks and they are no longer retractable without removing the permanent equipment used for scrubbing. 

While most ships in the fleet are registered in the Bahamas, Brilliance sails under a UK flag so that they can operate the fleet in the EU and that one ship changes the taxation for all sailings.  One ship is flagged in Malta.

Over the last couple of years Canada has created a whale zone that is 200 miles long.  If a whale is spotted and the whale zone is declared "occupied"  the ship must reduce speed to 10 knots.  This impacts arrival times at ports of calls.

New GPS technology on board has improved accuracy from a meter to mere millimeters.

We lucked out in Bar Harbor.  Recall the weather worsened that day.  The next day Serenade couldn't tender in Bar Harbor but still had to clear U.S. Customs.  Everyone had to get up and be processed by CBP officials who rode out on the pilot boat.

In the rumor department, Super Oasis is in the works, an improved version much like Quantum Ultra.

When in Europe, ships are still reloaded out of Florida.  It's a 6 week order cycle when operating in Europe compared to a 2 or 3 week ordering cycle to supply a ship based in Florida.

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36 minutes ago, twangster said:

They had to remove 370 guests from the next few sailings until that life boat was fixed.

Wonder what the pecking order was on that one? 

37 minutes ago, twangster said:

In the rumor department, Super Oasis is in the works, an improved version much like Quantum Ultra.

This makes me so excited!

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Just now, Lovetocruise2002 said:

@GoodSmith see above.  Case in point.  Walking encyclopedia.  How does one go to a cruise presentation on the 12th day of a cruise and retain all that info???

I thought he was taking notes during the presentation :6_smile:
But very interesting info indeed!

Looking forward to Port Canaveral summary.

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Day 12 - Evening

Dinner menu

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In the Viking Crown Lounge the food and beverage team was doing a presentation for us.

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Dinner in the Windjammer.

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Main theater entertainment wasn't working for me.

To the pub!

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Dancing in Boleros.

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At 10:30pm the Quest was on...

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No words.

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As the saying goes... "What happens at the Quest, ends up on the internet"

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Late night music.

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Finally, in the realm of unicorns and pink elephants, the diamond lounge was empty.

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23 minutes ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

Wonder what the pecking order was on that one? 

I don't think they actually remove guests after they have already booked. They probably restrict the number during the booking process.

EDIT: Actually I may be wrong, by the time the lifeboat broke the ship might have been fully booked for the next few sailings.

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Day 13 - Port Canaveral

I felt the subtle rumble of bow thrusters and ventured up to deck 12.

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The familiar sight of a ship with a mouse problem.

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The sun was thinking about rising.

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Good morning Canaveral, we have arrived.

No plans today, I was just here for my Enchantment cruise and I'll be back after Thanksgiving for another cruise.

I'll probably head down to Grills for a beer in the afternoon.

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Day 13 - Port Canaveral, continued...

Crew life raft drill in the pool this morning.  New crew and every two years crew are required to go through several safety drills and be certified.  In this case they were learning how to right an upside down life raft.  

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My day started off slowly.  I relaxed and enjoyed a lighter ship with a few hundred guests having disembarked and many others on excursions.

I headed down to Grills bar for a beer and a bite to eat.

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Grills is that patio you see right behind the ship for the many Royal ships that use this berth. 

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I didn't have a plan really, I just walked around the port area.  Here is a fishing charter just back with the crew cutting up their catch for them.

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Continuing the history theme experienced in previous ports, here is some history for Port Canaveral.

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A view across to the Disney Fantasy and Carnival Breeze.  

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Yep, we are not in Boston any more.

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We used terminal 1 today, the same terminal that Oasis uses as her current home port terminal.

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It was hot and humid and back on board it was time... Kraken Lavaflow.

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In other news... I mentioned earlier that Kone contractors were on-board doing elevator upgrades.  For anyone familiar with Voyager and Freedom class ships there are four elevators that service the Viking Crown Lounge.  Two of the four elevators have been down for the entirety of this voyage as they are upgraded.  With over 1,200 diamond lounge eligible (plus suite guests) trying to reach deck 14 the two remaining in service elevators have been crazy busy. Finally, a sign of life as the displays are coming to life for the two being upgraded.  They aren't in service yet but it must be close.

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At 4pm the slides and flowrider opened.  No pictures as I was in slide mode and managed several runs having them all to myself.  I was on Mariner a few weeks ago and tried those new slides.  I have to say Adventure's slides are faster.  These slides also have a distinct drop at the very end that dump you into the trough of the watery landing zone absent on Mariner.  Sorry Mariner, Adventure's slides are better.

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Day 13 - Port Canaveral, continued...

Sail away.

At 6:35pm the Captain announced we were waiting for two more guests.  All aboard was at 6:30pm.

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Finally the Captain signaled our intention to depart with a blast of the ship's whistle and we were off the pier.

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Several mildly interested spectators looked on.

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Our escort this evening courtesy of the local Sheriff's department.

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People were out enjoying the local beach.

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As we continued towards our final stop the local pilot boat positioned to pick up the pilot.

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Hail to the pilots!  Day after day, ship after ship, they guide us safely into their home port.

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The Carnival Sunshine was making her way in, now in the darkness of the night.

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Final night festivities were underway.

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Our progress so far...

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We've crossed the 3k milestone.  Total cruise distance so far... 3,074 nm.  

Final MDR menu

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