Day 9 - Homeward Bound

For a change, we did get room service coffee on the last day of the cruise. It is complicated for the staff I am sure, also for those boarding today. This certainly separates civilized people from the less civilized. People who have English as a first language should understand simple instructions but this is not the case when one is already enraged by a late arrival. It does no good to be upset, it changes nothing! It was interesting to see all the dolphins in this water as we came into port. I couldn't get a photo of them, they were small dolphins and hard to catch out of the water. 

Good Morning Galveston

Once we got on our shuttle bus to the airport is was absolutely clear we would not make our flight. I called American Airlines and my call back time was 39-53 minutes, actually they called sooner than 39 minutes. Whereas there were no flights available showing online, we did get booked on the later flight to FAT via PHX. Once we got to the airport we had Panda Express for lunch and I worked on pictures and this blog while John read. Soon enough it was time to board our flight. All went well and we were home (or to FAT) early 9:45p!

In reality, after all the drama, we were got home just a couple hours after originally planned. I think this is a miracle, really. We are thankful to be home from another wonderful trip. "There's no place like home." 

Day 8 - Our Last Full Day Cruising

It a different day for sure, our last full day onboard - But instead of enjoying most of it, I spent between 2-3 hours trying to figure out our flight situation. I really got "no where" so we don't know what we are doing about the flights home just yet. The arrival time in Galveston keeps changing, moving to sooner is good for us but we will just have to wait  and see if there is any possibility of making our flight. If not, we have a chance for one later flight, or it will be the next day for us. So many people are complaining, it doesn't change the outcome, so why complain?

Rough Seas - 16 foot waves, 50+MPH winds across the bow.

We had lunch at Johnny Rockets. It was okay but I wouldn't pay more for it again. Before everything was free after the cover charge, now they charge for a malt or milkshake. 

Johnny Rockets

We enjoyed our last dinner with Marlys and Dennis tonight. We celebrated her birthday. We most likely will not see them tomorrow since they are driving home and we will head to the airport via cruise ship shuttle.

Happy Birthday Marlys

Tonight was the only real production show that was on all week. It was Saturday Night Fever and we enjoyed it very much. The only other night we went to was The Eagles. Of course there is also the Ice Show. Other nights were comedy shows, which did not appeal to us. The dancing was really excellent tonight but I don't think a show for younger children. 

Saturday Night Fever

Dreadful to think of, but it is time to pack our suitcases. Of course there will be time to finish up in the morning as well.

Day 7 - Leaving Nassau & Cruising

As I said, I believe we were to depart at 11p last night. However, by 5a this morning we were still in port. By 7a we were sailing, I'm not sure what time we left Nassau. We got up about 8a and had our coffee and relaxed on the balcony. We decided to go to Johnny Rockets for lunch and began getting ready. Our phone rang and it was a reminder that in just FIVE minutes we had a guacamole demo and Margarita tasting at Sabor! We totally forgot! When we signed up they said they would send us a card but we never got one. We rushed and made it there by 11:02a. We had such a good time, we are glad we did it! We sat with Keith and Sandra (from TX of course). We had some Margarita tastes and Sharon was one chosen to make one of the three samples of Margaritas. After the guacamole demo and drink demo we had a scrumptious lunch. This was $30pp but well worth the price. We had three appetizers, all the Margaritas we wanted, a choice of 4 entrees, and a dessert tray. Of course you can have all you want of everything they are serving. They also gave us recipes for everything except the "smoky" Margarita, which we didn't care for anyway. After that, it was back to the cabin for John to take a nap!

Welcome to Sabor

Appetizers

Dinner - Grilled fish and Chimichingas were our choices

Desserts

When we got back to our cabin after this event we could see Florida from our balcony. It is a bit overcast and we could not get a clear or decent photo from that distance. John napped all afternoon. Not sure if it was the margarita or the abundance of food, or BOTH!

Pre-Sunset

Off to dinner this evening - Formal night and LOBSTER night. Can you believe I am the only one at our table to order lobster? Some people just don't care for it. John and Marlys had the prime rib, which is delicious too of course. Dennis is a chicken lover so he has chicken every night. A delightful end to yet another wonderful day cruising! 

Day 6 - Nassau, Bahamas

Today was our second foodie tour on the island. We were up, dressed, and there an hour ahead of time for the Nassau Food Tasting and Cultural Walking Tour. We perused the Christ Church Cathedral while we waited for the tour to start. We also glanced at the Pirate Museum and decided to pass on that. 

Beautiful Stained Glass

Soon our guide Captain Ron arrived and checked everyone in. 

Captain Ron

He was great and took us around to each stop for our lunch, tastings, and more. It was a great tour. We heard personal stories from people along the way about their life and how things evolved for them. 

Balcony House, the oldest residence in Nassau

Our Main Meal

On to Graycliff 

Brain Coral at the Hotel

 For $29pp you can spend the day at this luxurious hotel. You get a credit of $25pp to spend while there as well. Something enjoyable and relaxing if you have the time.

Graycliff Chocolatier

Wine Bottle Christmas Tree

Hotel Swimming Pool

Athena Cafe & Bar Conch soup and Greek Salad

Rum Cake Factory

We were tired and our feet were aching at the end because it was so humid today. I think the temps were only low 80's but the humidity was overwhelming. Still a great tour! We rested up before dinner. Another nice meal with Marlys and Dennis. Then off to our cabin to rest up for tomorrow. We had not left port yet and it was after midnight. We were scheduled to leave at 11p I believe. 

Day 5 - Nassau, Bahamas

This morning about 1a I heard lots of motor sounds and went to look. It was a pilot boat either dropping off or picking up someone. This took time so I shut the door because of the noise. John was sleeping great, I was still awake at 4a. 

We were up with our coffee delivery and made it to our stop about 45 minutes early. There was a slight glitch...The cruise ship stays on central time and Nassau is on Eastern time. Oh boy, we missed our tour! Tyrone from Tyrone Wilson's VIP Taxi and Tours helped us. We will definitely book the $30 tour with him next time we come. It is not really a food tour but you get tastes of things and he just helped us so much, what a nice man. He called the tour company we had and let me use his phone. There was a mix up but it was the fault of both parties. I should have checked this, but they should say the tour time is EST, not just 10:30a. As it turned out Dwight and Sandy came and picked us up and gave us the complete tour on a personal level. I suggested they could skip things but they insisted the full tour was in order. If they were annoyed, it never showed. What a fun time we had. Conch Salad (like ceviche) was the first item. It was fresh and delicious. This guy had amazing knife skills! I pulled the Conch out of the shell after he cracked it. Conch tastes like abalone to me. 

Rum Cake - soaked in rum. This was a way the slaves could partake of alcohol since it was illegal for slaves to have alcohol.

Tea tasting and bush medicine information. Dwight our guide is informative and FUN too!

Lunch with Tamarind Chicken, Fried Conch, and Fried Swai fish - also Rice and peas, and coleslaw - all of it was delicious!

Back onboard in time to rest up a bit then off to dinner with Marlys and Dennis. Delicious and great conversation. It is nice to share Brazil memories with others who have adopted as well. After dinner there was a great show with a band called the Long Run, which does an Eagle's tribute, they were really good. Back to our cabin and prepping for tomorrow's tour!

Day 4 - Cruising

We aren't scheduled to get to Nassau until 1a now so I just call it a cruise day. Another lovely day. We slept late again, we are having a difficulty with the time change but maybe we should just ignore it and stay on our home time! I forgot to order coffee to our cabin so no call to wake us up! Tomorrow will be different. 

After getting up we decided to go to lunch at Giovanni's Table. This is a "for fee" restaurant but since we got the nice credit we are going to spend some of it! We ate a delightful multi-course meal with wine. This was the highlight of our day. 

Giovanni's Table Lunch

Antipasti

 My Salad

 John's Salad

The Wine was "Good"

Creamed Cauliflower Soup

Seafood Pasta

 Branzino (white fish) with Fingerling potatoes

 Pasta with an egg on top for John

John and his desserts! 

Needless to say, we weren't too hungry at dinner but we still had a great time with Dennis and Marlys. They did the Macarena tonight, I couldn't follow along without my girls here to guide me along. After dinner we listened to Jazz at one on the venues and then headed back to our room to prepare for tomorrow's excursion in Nassau. It is so beautiful on our balcony tonight!

Day 3 - Cruising

What a beautiful day. Neither of us slept too well last night so we slept late and stayed in our cabin enjoying the lovely weather on the balcony. There are lots of things going on around the ship but we are content where we are. John read and I worked on the blog and photos that I could not publish last night. Next time we will order a larger pot of coffee! 

The noon announcement filled us in on some things from yesterday we might have missed. First it was a delay because of fog, then because of poor visibility under water for the work (we knew both of those), but there were also a few tornadoes that passed before we left port. Anyway, it was all fine as we were on board enjoying all that is offered. Some may be disappointed that we are now scheduled to arrive in Nassau at 2am. The previous time was 9pm and we would not have gotten off at that time anyway. I guess the night life is hot and there are casinos, but we aren't really interested in that. After we pass a certain point the current might increase our speed and change that arrival time. We aren't concerned. Earlier today we passed the mouth of the Mississippi River, though we could not have seen it 100 miles away at any rate.  

John ate the few things I ordered delivered to our cabin for breakfast. We headed out just before 1p to eat lunch in the dinning room. It was tasty, I had fish and John had steak and eggs.

We went back to our cabin to refresh ourselves and headed out to the Caymus Wine tasting, the main event of our day. It was well done and very nice. I was embarrassed that they drew attention to me as being a family member and afterwards people wanted to take photos with me! I am an extrovert with friends and family but not in a group like this. Anyway, it was a great event. 

We barely had time to rush back to the cabin, change into formal wear, and arrive after Dennis and Marlys were already seated. We had another delicious dinner with stimulating conversations. Afterwards was the Captain's welcome, viewed from the Promenade on Deck 5. They lowered the Captain on a floating platform, very interesting. There were the typical introductions, then we made our way back to our cabin for the evening.