Month: February 2019

We have heard from some people that they weren’t feeling very well due to the movement of the ship… We are sailing due south with strong wind from the east. Captain has stabilizers working hard, but there is some stumbling around by the best of us!!!! Today was much better for Susie who ate breakfast and while Chuck went to a movie, I went into the pool for water aerobics and swimming. Have you ever tried water aerobics in 5 foot seas? That is what it felt like in the pool. We were sloshing into each other a lot! It was a lot of fun with beautiful sunny sky. Lunch, followed by a champagne art auction… One glass of champagne and I put in a provisional bid (meaning come down to the art gallery and we’ll talk..), but it was only when I saw the paintings up close this evening that I said… "no… I don’t like them" and secretly I said to myself… .."I could do that." Chuck meanwhile was at a meeting with the veterans again. There are many on board and he has made friends with an Air Force guy. They share air and sea stories. We went to a great Panama Canal talk… They showed a photo of the RCCL Brilliance going through the locks. She’s the same size as the Jewel that we are on, and she had about an inch on each side. Really she is 4 feet narrower than the lock. By length, we are 964′ long and the lock is 1000 feet long. We are called a Panamax ship. The canals are kept dredged to 40 feet and we have a depth of about 26′. So we ought to get through OK. It will take 8 hours to get through. How exciting! It was Teddy Roosevelt who wanted the canal built after France failed. Little did he know that we would desperately need to get the fleet from Atlantic to Pacific during WWII especially after Pearl Harbor. Thanks Teddy. More champagne and red wine, sunset (glorious again), dinner and a great stage production! I’, at a computer on deck 7 over the Centrum, and down in the Centrum, a singer is doing a great job with Whitney Houston’s "If I should stay… I will always love you" (actually written by Dolly Parton). I’m off to bed while Chuck stays awake for the adult comedy! God bless us. Day 3. Out!

Always getting on the ship for us is stressful especially when we have to carry our "jewels" and the tuxedo. I’ll never forget a lady who complained on a back to back cruise where she had to change cabins… "oh! but I have to empty the safe and carry my jewels!"… Chuck and I looked at each other with great mirth. It’s become a catch phrase when I want to claim laziness… "Oh but I have to carry my jewels!" So after the lifeboat drill, I was looking tired and grumpy and Chuck said "Lets go get you some champagne"… There was a BOGO 1/2 of so we ordered 2 bottles of Veuve Cliquot… then moved on to the Safari club for Diamond Club drinking. Watched the sunset from aft sitting on barstools and chatting with new friends… Too much wine and champagne for Susie… We missed dinner and ate in the windjammer. It was good. Then we went to a great comedy show. It was good. Bed. End Day 1.

Cruise Day 2 opened sunny and sleepy for a hung over Susie. I didn’t get my appetite back until 3pm when I snacked on cookies from the Solarium. I did not swim for a full hour as I was feeling very sleepy!!! A 2 hour nap restored me. So in summary: Day 2 was eat, Thomas Kincade, Dali and Disney lecture, swim & hot tub, nap…. Ah!!!! cookies, dress for formal night. drink champagne. Oh!!! While I slept, Chuck met with some veterans and they had a good meeting full of service talk. Finally made it to dinner on time and our dinner partners are from a town near the Mississippi River in Geneseo, Illinois… I’m trying to talk Chuck into going back to Miami, after we see all the monuments, via the Mississippi River Road… We will see. I AM the navigator. But that’s the far distant future… early April. Finally… the show last night was Beatle Maniacs!!!! They sang an hour of Beatles songs with a tribute to the great George Harrison. How sweet and nostalgic. End. Day 2. God bless you!

In the old days we called it a cabin. We are forward and have a nice balcony with 2 chairs and a table. Room #8034 if anyone feels like playing our lucky numbers. Dave took us in his truck to the ship as I sat in the back seat giggling over 2 retired FHP partners who rode together for 24 years trying to figure out the exit to the port tunnel. Shades of Laurel and Hardy! When we got onboard (stood in no line … The benefit of being frequent cruisers … Diamond status) I went immediately to book 2 excursions, and I discovered if I booked 5 excursions, we get 15% off! We’ll have to get the 15 % off! We haven’t been to any of the ports between Colon Panama and San Diego so I booked some overviews, Scenic cruises and a train ride! Now we are unpacking .. George Carlin would be proud of us… We move most of our stuff into suitcases and into a tiny stateroom. It’s an engineering fete. I’m hoping to win a massage at the spa after the life boat drill. If anyone wishes to speak to me, I’ll be on the computer package and checking emails and blogging! God bless you all dear friends! Leaving Miami in a few hours!

Chuck and I are about to go on another adventure to places we’ve never been!!! We are boarding the RCCL Jewel in Miami tomorrow, February 25, and I would like to blog about that and give our impressions of the Panama Canal crossing (what we learn about the building of the Panama Canal, and what it’s like to go through it!!!). Then, we will cruise up to San Diego via Cabo San Lucas. In San Diego we will rent a Grand Cherokee Jeep and head out "North East". Our first stop is Kingman Arizona where a friend we met in the pool on our last cruise is hosting the "Chillin on Beale" antique car and art show at Kingman Arizona… after that we will drive over and jump into the Grand Canyon. We hope to take a helicopter tour of the Canyon!!! After that we will travel north to see Bryce and Zion national parks and then, Yellowstone and Mount Rushmore… Hope by the time we get to Yellowstone it is spring…. Otherwise the bag of cold weather gear we have packed will come into good use. Read along with us as we tour doing things we have never done before!!! I’ll try to blog daily! God bless you!!!!