Cruisin’ Again
Ok, show of hands… who thought I quit blogging again? LOL sorry, still here. Things have just been a bit hectic around here with our bathroom remodel, now front porch repair, and in between, a 9-day cruise. Then coming home and having to do loads and loads… and loads of laundry.
With Cruise 2 behind me, I can say that my feelings about cruises haven’t changed. I can take them or leave them… actually lean toward leaving them because being stuck on a floating shopping mall is still not for me.
This time we sailed out of Fort Lauderdale on the Odyssey of the Seas (I preferred the Allure of the Seas. It’s just overall a nicer, prettier ship). We were in a family and friends group of a total of 18 people but I vowed that I would do my own thing and not care what everyone else was doing, and certainly not dictate what what we should do, and that’s exactly what I did. Starting with the excursions. I had told Greg that I would only go on this cruise if we got to decide what we wanted to do (no more booking whatever everyone else was doing!)
We had a room with a balcony again, and I spent time sitting outside, reading. Or early in the morning I would quietly sneak out of the room and go to the Solarium to photograph the sunrise, then enjoy a cup of coffee at a window table in the Windjammer (the buffet style main restaurant). One morning, when I was walking to the seating area, breakfast in hand, I saw Greg walk through the Windjammer, on his way to meet up with some of the guys of our group (for some reason the women all liked to sleep late. Weird.) and like the expert ninja that I am, I weaved through the food stations to avoid being seen by him, JUST to make sure I got to enjoy my coffee in peace.
I wandered the ship, mostly did the trivia games and a scavenger hunt or two. The headliner shows in the evening weren’t all that impressive, although the comedian was pretty funny, especially when he did his adult show. I didn’t really spend any time in the Solarium this cruise, except early morning (too crowded during the day) and avoided the pool deck like the plague. Too many kids and too many annoying people.
Day 1*, 2, and 3 were sea days. Aka stuck-on-the-ship days. On Day 4 we arrived in Willemstad, Curaçao and we were booked on the “Curaçao Highlights & Beach Fun” tour. Such a pretty and colorful place! We spent some time on the bus, learning about the island, then stopped for some Curaçao Liqueur, then spent some time on the beach before heading back to the ship and some exploring on foot and port shopping. Sara and her boyfriend ended up on that same excursion with us. Others in our group booked the same excursion but at a later time, which was just fine with me.
Day 5 we arrived in Oranjestad, Aruba and were booked on the “Aruba Sights, Scenes & Tastes” bus tour with stops at the (collapsed) Natural Bridge, some kind of gold mill ruins, the California Lighthouse, and about 30 minutes at Eagle Beach. Then some exploring on foot and port shopping again after we were dropped back off at the ship. Sara and her boyfriend got back from their excursion not long after we did, so we met up with them for a late lunch at one of the restaurants in town.
Day 6 and 7 were stuck-on-the-ship days again, and Day 8 was spent on CocoCay which is Royal Caribbean’s private Island. Yeah. Was not impressed. Too many things you had to pay a fortune for to get in ($150 per person to get into the waterpark, anyone?) or do ($70 per person for a 10-minute helium balloon “ride”… with 30 other people) so we spent a few hours on the free beach and headed back to the ship early afternoon, after lunch at the (complimentary) buffet. Since this was our last full day, we (I) had to pack anyway and finally got off the ship around 8:30am on day 9.
* On Day 1 I wore my “I’d rather be in London” T-shirt (so true!!) but disappointingly none of our group seemed to notice, or just decided not to comment on it. Pfft. But as we were wandering the ship while we were waiting for our rooms to be ready, we walked by a couple of Royal Caribbean team members and one of them says to me “I like your shirt!!” And one day at breakfast, one of the waiters stops at my table to offer orange juice and then asks what that is on my left arm. I show him and tell him it’s a skyline of London. He looks at it… and looks at it.. and looks at it some more, and finally says “it’s niiiiice.”
Inner Workings
Have you ever wondered what a lens looks like on the inside? I have, and decided to take apart my 10+ year old, much used, completely worn out, very favorite lens, the 60mm Micro Nikkor after I replaced it with another macro lens.
It was surprisingly difficult and I never did manage to get it completely apart. Those things are solid and certainly well made. After several hours of poking and prodding and pulling and prying, I gave up and had a little photo shoot with the bits and pieces I ended up with.
Tattoosday – Part 3
Continuing my addiction obsession body art… This next tattoo is a very special one. It is a memorial tattoo for my oldest son Cameron, who passed away in 2014 when he was only 25 years old. He had this Celtic cross tattoo, although I’m not sure where, I’ve never seen it myself, and to honor him, Cameron’s wife Nicole and my younger son Nicholas both got the tattoo (with the added text). Nicole on her ribs, and Nick on his forearm. I had always planned to get it, too, but it took a while to decide and be sure where, and in 2022 I finally had it done, too.
And last August came this little heart / flower / butterfly (which I still need to get touched up. (I used a filter when editing the picture, which makes the tattoo look a bit faded)
Stay tuned for the Tattoosday Grand Finale, My next session for my London tattoo is later today and I’m hoping he will be able to get it finished.
Cruisin’
Have you ever been on a cruise? Did you love it? Hate it? Somewhere in between?
We went on our first cruise in November 2022 out of Galveston, Texas; with stops in Roatan, Honduras, Puerto Costa Maya and Cozumel, both in Mexico.
Honestly, I could take it or leave it. The ship was great. HUGE! But being stuck on the ship for days at a time was almost as boring as watching paint dry. That was NOT for me because there was only so much to do and I spent most of my time in the (adult only) solarium with a book as company.
We went with a group of Greg’s family (cousins, aunts & uncles) and some of their friends, and Greg just booked whatever excursions everyone else booked, without even looking to see what else was available. The first excursion was snorkeling, which I would not have ever picked because I’m not a very good swimmer, hate deep water, and very much prefer to keep my head above water. I still went, since it was booked, but spent the whole time on the boat.
The next two excursions were beach days, which were ok, but as much I love the beach, I would have rather done some sightseeing instead. I mean, you’re in a country you’ve never been to, why sit on a beach all day?
So yeah, this cruise left me…. not caring if I ever go on another cruise again. I can see why anyone would buy the alcohol drinks package, because what else is there to do on the ship, but spend the day drinking? We, however, opted not to buy it because it is crazy expensive and I would have to teeter on the edge of alcohol poisoning to get my money’s worth. No thank you.
We have our next cruise booked for this coming April, again with the same group (but even more of them this time) and I agreed to go on the condition that we will choose our excursions and don’t just do whatever everyone else does. So as soon as Greg started booking and I was able to log in, I made a list of excursions I was interested in and we decided which ones to book without consulting anyone else first. Two of them will be sightseeing and the last one will be a beach day at Coco Cay, which is all that’s offered.
I’m definitely going to do my own thing more. Including not joining everyone else for dinner every night, but going to the main dining room (buffet) instead.
We briefly considered taking an Alaskan cruise at some point, but I think I convinced Greg that it will be a much nicer vacation, and better value, to fly to Alaska and then rent a car and go see what we want to see.
That’s really my biggest problem with cruises. You have the opportunity to go to all these amazing places, but you don’t actually get to see anything. It’s just thousands of Dollars wasted, sitting on a giant shopping mall. And then there’s all the extras they charge you for. See those cheap cruises advertised? That is SO misleading! That’s per person in the cheapest possible room and (I think) only includes food from the main dining room and a couple of other places. Cruising solo? You’ll still pay for two because the rooms sleep two. Want a better room? of course that would be an extra cost, depending on where the room is and whether or not you want any kind of view. Don’t want to die of thirst? Drinks are extra, and they have three different drinks packages available. Excursions? Extra. Some are more expensive than others. And then there are restaurants on the ship that you have to pay extra for if you want to eat there. So depending on what you want to do, your $400 advertised 7-night Caribbean cruise can very quickly turn into a $3000+ per person vacation. Airfare (if applicable) not included.
2014/120: Uninspired
That’s definitely me. I keep forgetting to schedule a post….can’t think of any good titles….and I keep watching the post count in my reader go up, for other blogs that I follow. I apologize for not being around much, and I promise to do better…soon!
2014/114: Eleven
Can’t believe my youngest is turning 11 years old today! Where has the time gone??
Happy Birthday, sweet Sara ♥♥♥
2014/112: Dallas Skyline
…as seen from the Dallas Arboretum.
Of course all I had with me was my macro lens 😉
2014/104: More Tulips
I hope you’re not getting tired of them, because I have lots more tulip pictures to post.
The Daily Click 