Alaska Adventure Part 2, the Ship

For John

It's hard to believe that only 2 short weeks ago we were still on our cruise. It seems like it was months ago!

As I've mentioned, we had a blast with our dinner companions from PA, and wound up hanging out with them after dinner - mainly enjoying Karaoke. They sang, and we enjoyed. Their son, John, has a great big, very fun personality, and lit up the room when he had the microphone in his hand. I told him I was going to video tape him, and so I did.

Here, for John, are the 2 best videos I managed to get. I have to say that I laughed out loud watching these again John, and I will never listen to "My Humps" or "Boom Boom Pow" without thinking of you and your family. I sincerely hope we meet again!

These videos may not be everyone's taste, and you may not "get" it...but it was one of those "you had to be there" times, and it was just, very simply, a LOT of fun.

The Final Day of the Cruise - Friday

We spent Friday, the last day of the cruise napping...








Pretending we hadn't just gotten caught napping...



Taking a galley tour...



(hey-I think you burnt that corn!)



(Yum! An entire cart of crab cakes!)



(Dinner rolls, and LOTS of them! Pass the butter please.)



(One of the many desserts)



(Dragon made of butter? Yup, but don't ask me what for!)



Eating...















And spending one last evening with our new friends from PA.



We hope you had a safe drive home- and you know you jinxed us, right? (Remember when we were talking about who was going to get home first? Well, here it is Sunday at 6:30pm your time, and we are finally in our final decent into San Diego.)







- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad as we just arrived home a few hours ago!

Happy Birthday Hubby!

On our last night of the cruise we had a little birthday cake onboard the ship to celebrate Hubby's birthday. It was very nice, and I think he was genuinely surprised.


Today is his actual birthday, and I've got to say that we are all a bit surprised to be flying all day, instead of being home relaxing, as we'd planned. Sometimes things don't work out exactly as planned, but it helps to keep things in perspective and try to go with the flow. He's been a great sport with all of this going on, and always manages to keep his sense of humor. For that, along with so many other reasons, I am eternally grateful he is mine.

Happy Birthday Honey, and may we celebrate many, many more together! I love you!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad as we are on the last leg of our extended journey home...

Nassau, Bahamas

We spent Thursday in Nassau. It was a fun day, but by far our least favorite of our ports. The best way I can describe it is that looks shiny and pretty on the outside, but if you look just a little bit deeper, it is dirty, and run down. Oh, sure, it is home to some fantastic hotels, such as the Atlantis, but just blocks away from that on the other side of the bridge the neighborhoods look like a ghetto. Seriously, it was that bad.

Now, I'm not saying that it was terrible, but it was not the tropical paradise we were expecting. It was WAY more touristy than we thought it would be and the competition for the tourists dollars was over the top.

For instance, after a little bit of early morning shopping, we'd made our way over to Cabbage Beach, a public beach very near Atlantis's private beach. There were lots of locals on the beach offering to help set your chairs up, sell you trinkets, t-shirts, etc., set you up for a ride on a jet ski...you name it. There were also several tents set up with guys selling drinks. Well...one guy had helped a couple get their chairs set up, and was going to get them an umbrella or something. While he was gone, a different guy came and offered to get the lady a cocktail, which she accepted. Guy number one comes back and is talking to the couple when guy number two comes back with the drink. Guy number one flips his lid, starts cussing at guy number two, the lady feels terrible, doesn't want the drink, or to be in the middle of a beach turf war, and nearly breaks into tears. It was pretty bad. The two guys move away from the couple but continue their VERY heated conversation.

Their argument continues on and off for the rest of the time we were there (about an hour) and was still going when we left. At one point guy number two had a sizable knife in his hand. Needless to say, that was a bit unsettling.

Paradise Island had it's pretty spots, but it wasn't much of a paradise after all.





Sunday, July 10th, the Bahamas celebrate 38 years of Independence. There were lots of buildings in Nassau that were decorated.





This is Cabbage Beach- it was a beautiful spot indeed.





Looking from our ship as we left, we spotted this Hilton. If we did ever come back, this would be on the top of our list of places to stay while in Nassau. It had a beautiful private beach, and perfect location.





A gorgeous lighthouse (posted for my friend Jim, who loves lighthouses)





Oh well, I suppose you have to have some strange things like what happened on Cabbage Beach happen every once in a while to make you appreciate the really great, peaceful, perfect places we do visit.

Adios Nassau. Been there, done that, no need to go back, but thanks for the excitement.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad as we are flying from Charleston to Atlanta.

Half Moon Cay

I tried to post this the other day, from the ship, and didn't have any luck...so I'll try again.

It's late here - just past 1:00am, and I'm pooped! We just got back to our room after a great day.

So....here, in just a few words, and a few pictures, is a summary of our day.

Long wait for our tender into Half Moon Cay due to strong winds and currents.



Snorkeling excursion (underwater pictures to come once I get home and can upload them)


Fantastic afternoon on the beach






Towards the end of the afternoon we had the place to ourselves...seriously!


This is me and AJ-notice the ship in the background?


Cool bar on the island!


Much needed nap.


Another great dinner








Dancing with the staff after dinner.


Our friend John, from PA, forgot the importance of reapplying sunscreen. Ouch! He sat in a lounge chair, which must have soaked the sunscreen off his back, then he snoozed on a raft in the water.


Enjoyed watching our new friends sing "Friends in Low Places" - do you suppose they were talking about us?


Tomorrow (or should I say later today) we will be going to Nassau, Bahamas, which is our last stop. We are planning on another long full, fun day. I'll update soon!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad on our way to Nassau.

Happy 4th of July!

Technically, it's still the 4th of July at home, so I'm sending out a big howdy to all of my family and friends who I usually spend the Fourth with. This is the first time in LONG time that we haven't been home to celebrate. While we certainly missed our regular BBQ and fireworks with friends, we did have a great day on the ship, lounging by the pool, soaking up the sun, eating way too much, and just relaxing.

I hope your Fourth was wonderful as well!

We did have some intermittent rain showers, but it didn't keep us from having a blast, and from Pickle from getting a sunburn...






They decorated the ship with a huge American flag, and later in the evening there were more decorations, especially in the atrium. It looked very festive! It 10:00pm we sung the Star Spangled Banner to kick off an all American deck party. The weather was on and off rainy again though, so they had to hold the deck party indoors.





Before dinner we went to see a Hypnotist show. It was very entertaining!


Saying it was a little crowded for the indoor deck party is putting it mildly...


...but we made the best of it and had a lot of fun!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad while we are in the middle of the Caribbean....how cool is that?