Well Mamma Mia was great, even if it didn’t finish until 10.30. Rather nice not having to drive home afterwards, LOL. There were 3 scenes & songs not in the movie, but otherwise it was a pretty good facsimile considering it was all done on a stage with 2 large rotating props (building walls/doors) and lots of smaller props.

Last nights dinner companions were a bit depressing at times. I sat between a retired oncology nurse and her Vietnam vet husband from Illinois and a retired firefighter from Oregon who lost his military son in Afghanistan 6 years ago.

I also attended the Crown & Anchor Society (the Royal Caribbean loyalty club) event this morning. The Captain and the senior staff all said a bit and the top 3 cruisers were presented with mementos and then we had a short show put on by the OceanAria Aqua performers. They are gymnasts and divers and are quite incredible, the pool is 5.45 metres deep and they also have a trampoline next to it. Lots of tight blue speedo’s on the lads, lots of budgie smuggling, LOL.

Doing a bit of relaxing lol before formal dinner night, and then I’m going to the ice show! At Labadee, Haiti tomorrow, and I’ve booked a coastal cruise!

Great moon last nightLocation this morning
Sunrise had rays this morning

The back of the ship at sunrise

Can you see the diver just off the very high diving board?

By the time we arrived in port, we had done 2014 nautical miles.

Breakfast started at 5.30 this morning so that the early leavers could partake before they left! The cooks etc must have been up all night, as one said a few days ago they start at 1 am to get ready for the 7 am opening.

Sat on the peaceful deck reading for a while, then headed downstairs as all the continuing cruisers had to meet in the Schooner Bar. We had to wait until all the other travellers had departed, which from the announcements asking people to leave must have been like herding cats! There are about 80ish of us staying on, so we finally went down the gangway into the embarkation building. Had to show our passport and then get our new sea pass ID cards. Eventually we then once again had our pictures taken for the ID and then let back on board. Even though all the staterooms are closed off until 1 pm, as I had the same room, I was allowed to open up the ‘fire door’ and get back to my room.

Actually had a formal lunch today as just us ‘back-to-back’ cruisers were assigned one of the main dining areas to ourselves, which was very nice.

Now going to have shower, dinner and Mamma Mia, so will catch you later!

 Fort Lauderdale docks! Most of our route!
This is a great bit of art… Has number plate(s) from each mainland state where that state is

Was awake for a couple of hours in the middle of the night, so sort of slept in, lol. Actually got to breakfast after the doors had opened. Today is the last day of cruising for most of the ship, but I had a ‘Consecutive Cruiser’ meeting, telling us what we would be doing tomorrow, whilst everyone else is departing. But, we’ll cover that in tomorrow’s blog.

After brekky, sat up on deck for a while reading, but there was no breeze so once the sun hit the side I was sitting it was like being in a sauna, so back to my room.  Then that meeting, then a walk around. There were ‘sales’ on in the shops so heaps of people and so much noise that I came back again for the quiet.

Met Sondra and Cynthia for dinner, and have been told I have to visit them next time I hit the States, Illinois & Florida. Sondra presented me with a kaftan that she said she never would wear, so I have a sparkly one now for my next formal dinner night. After dinner, Cynthia talked us into joining her at the Parade on Main Street, so we and half the ship went along to see the dancers & costumes and lots of animated animal suits, lol. Very loud, but very colourful.

Said our goodbyes and back to our rooms, only to have Cynthia appear with a pillowcase full of bottled water which they didn’t want to take home with them, so I’ve got 15 bottles to stow in the fridge and elsewhere! Very nice of them.

The blog tomorrow night will either be very early or very late as I have a reservation to see the Broadway hit, Mamma Mia, which is 147 minutes long and starts at 8 pm, dinner is at 5.30 and always takes a couple of hours, so I’ll either write this before dinner or after the show.

 All at sea, lol sailing around in circles Dragon at the parade
The Captain & executive staff saying farewell

Last night wasn’t rocky at all, in fact when I woke a couple of times I thought we were stationary it was so smooth. A bit of rocking at the moment though, lol.

Watched the sunrise, had breakfast and then sat on deck until we docked back at Nassau around 9. I didn’t have a tour as there seemed to be only adventure parks and shopping on offer, neither of which I fancied, LOL. So had another relatively lazy day. I did go down and have a walk along the piers and spent some time inspecting the garden beds next to the buildings for spiders and lizards. Didn’t see any spiders, but several lizards showed themselves! Sat on the pier, there are covered seats at intervals, and watched the people and the seagulls for a while. Back on board and read and played games. I had planned to do heaps of stuff on the laptop, but just haven’t felt like it, lol. I so wish this cough would disappear, I’m quite croaky in the mornings.

Joined Sondra and Cynthia for dinner again and had lobster and steak, very yummy.

 Sunrise Nassau pierAnd one of those lizards

It was a little bumpy last night, woke up several times for a bit of rocking, lol. When I tried to get out on the 16th floor before breakfast it had been closed off, so down to the 15th floor and the wind was incredible, hence no one allowed on the top deck. The 15th floor has glass surrounds, but that didn’t stop the ‘breeze’, it even moved the chairs around at times.

I had another very lazy day, just reading and playing games, lol, so nothing much to report.

So here are some more fun facts. The Central Park area has 12,175 plants, 56 trees and 62 vines. There is a machine in the bakery that makes 4,000 bread rolls in 1 hour. Oh and there is no 13th floor!

 SunriseTowel critters

Not sure if I did much else yesterday to continue it, LOL, so new day today.

Up early and had a wander through some areas that I either hadn’t found before or had been way to many people in them to even think about looking at.

Had breakfast and then watched the sun rise, it was rather late this morning. We docked on the island of Cozumel, Mexico about 9ish, but those of us with tours had had to meet early and sit and wait so didn’t register when we had stopped, tucked in the bowls of the theatre! All of us meeting there had tours over on the mainland, so we had a 45 minute ferry ride to get there there. A short walk down the pier and then on to it with lots of warnings about rough waters and seasickness. It was a little rough and we did occasionally only see the sky out of the windows.

Then our tour had a walk through the dock area and around a few streets until we got to the bus park, and on the way we were treated to the sight of several agouti in a small wooded area. After a 30 minute or so drive we arrived at Tulum where the ruins of a Mayan settlement were discovered and cleared in the early 1900s. Saw a coatamundi family and lots and lots and lots of iguanas! The guide told us that this part of Mexico, the Yucatan Peninsula is limestone, so except for the very lush greenery, the tracks and rocky bits looked like home, LOL The Tulum buildings are all made of limestone and they had to line their wells with a rubber like substance to stop the water from disappearing through the limestone!

From there we drove to Xpu Ha on the coast for a Mexican lunch (no chilli at all in it) and a swim for those who wanted to. We kept having intermittent showers, so I found a dry spot and watched the birds and butterflies until it was time to depart.

Once through all the checkpoints it was back on the 45 minute ferry ride, which didn’t seem as rough as the outgoing ride, then back on the ship and dinner. Whilst at dinner the Captain announced that our visit to Costa Maya on Friday had been cancelled as there is another tropical storm generating itself in that area, so we are heading to Nassau again after our day at sea tomorrow.

 Sunrise Agouti Coatamunid Tulum Largest iguana I saw The beachSo lush and green!

I did go out on to the pier again and had to walk back to the ship and then back down the pier again. I lost my munzee map once outside the wi-fi field of the ship as I accidentally changed screens. The SIM card I bought for the islands doesn’t work, and the online help person didn’t help either. Anyway, got the few munzees that were on the pier and let a couple behind as well, LOL.

The ship set off again just before 4.30 and we left The Bahamas behind us. It was formal night for dinner, so ‘dressed up’ and met Sondra and Cynthia, sisters from Florida. Chatted about family, pets, work and munzee, LOL. Mum, I had duck and red cabbage for dinner, very nice!

Today I woke up feeling not too good. Getting wet yesterday must have set this cough off again, as I coughed half the night. I did think it had gone…..but it was obviously lurking still. So woke with a headache and not much of a voice. Anyway, headed up to Deck 15 and watched the sun come up, not very spectacular at all and then in to breakfast. Found a quiet spot out near the swimming pools where they have tables and chairs rather than lounging deck chair thingies and fiddled on the laptop for a while. It started getting a bit warm as it’s sort of enclosed at the sides and no breeze coming though the windows, obviously the wrong angle. So headed down stairs looking for a cool, quiet spot.  Wandered through a couple of floors and ended up on Deck 5 which has the walking/jogging track around it. Went up towards the back of the ship and found some chairs that were next to the railing almost over the very back. It was a little noisy with the engines and the ship’s wake, but it was lovely and breezy, so sat and watched the water and the sea and read for a while. Did see the coastline of Cuba way off in the distance!

Still feeling headachy though thought a nap might help, but my room was being ‘made up’ so wandered around a bit more. Didn’t really sleep, just rested and read. It’s been a long time since I’ve managed to read a book in day, LOL.

Picked up a sheet of ‘fun facts’ about the ship, so a couple for now.
There are 2.5 acres (1 hectare) of kitchens and 20 chefs, 222 cooks, 102 sanitation & culinary cleaning crew.

 Location SunriseImpressive wake

Yesterday’s mandatory evacuation drill was interesting, and different from the others I have done. First off, we actually assembled inside the ship, in the Comedy Lounge, on seats! None of this standing out on the deck for ages. We all had to have our card scanned so they could make sure that everyone attended. A lady next to me has been on the ship since August and has had to sit through it every Sunday afternoon! The video presentation was also very different, actually making a story out of what to do and what not to do.

I had left the nice spot I had on deck as the very loud music had started up, so checked the stateroom, no suitcase yet and then sat and read for a bit in the Comedy Lounge waiting for the drill!

We were supposed to depart at 4.30, it was changed to 5.30 but we didn’t leave until 6.30. Dinner was at 5.30, very nice and back at my room by 7.30 were my suitcase was waiting to be unpacked!!

Woke early and went up on deck where we had docked in Nassau, The Bahamas. Still quite dark so lots of lights everywhere. Talked to a guy at the rails who said that if he wasn’t on vacation he would be driving over that bridge to go to work right at that time, LOL. He and the family had flown to Florida to catch the ship and first stop was home, how funny. Had the early breakfast as had to meet on the pier at 8 for my Seaworld Adventure tour. Gangway was open at 7.20 so went out for a wander and a look and a photo or two. Lots of people down on the pier when the clouds opened and the rain bucketed down. I had a rain poncho in my bag, but no good putting it on, I was already soaked LOL. Good thing though it was all warm and then a breeze started up, so that by the time I got back to the ship I was almost dry!

Walked down the pier and back and down again and our small tour group of 8 were put onto a small boat heading out to our ‘submarine adventure’. LOL, climbing down into the bowels, it was one of those boats with lots of windows in the sides. It was great not having it full as you could look out both sides easily. Lots of young tuna, yellow-tails and sergeant majors. Also, tiny little jelly fish and huge snapper. They get fed bread which attracts shoals of fish, so lots to see. Amazing how many animals like bread (including people) and it’s not really good for any of us, lol.

Back at the ship to change shoes, as the sneakers were still rather wet, I was going for another walk down the pier but it started bucketing again, which lasted much longer than this morning. As it looks ok now, might brave it again, LOL.

Location is everything!!Room with a viewNassau sunriseNassau  After the rain…. Young tuna leading the way Allure is on the right!

Well, I’m on the ship, and it is ENORMOUS!!!!!

Popped down just after 7 to get my car receipt, and it had already been cleaned and gone out again!! Sat around my room for a little while, updated some software on the laptop and then caught the shuttle at 10. Very organised at the pier, well I suppose with 6000+ passengers they need to be. After check in and the photo ID, we were allocated to rows of seats in specific sections, and then let onto the ship, with the diamond travellers etc going on first. Very orderly. The staterooms aren’t ready until 1, so it was then a case of finding the Windjammer, which is the buffet eating restaurant, which is also enormous, lol. Finding a table was fun, but did so eventually and then had an early lunch. Wandered around a bit after that. Visited the deck with all the live trees and garden beds, they might play bird calls, but I did see a swallow and a sparrow flying around, presumably also sight seeing from the dock, LOL.

Am currently sitting on the pool deck (15) at a nice table next to the window looking out to the wide, not quite blue, yonder. It will be good to get the hand luggage down to the room soon, as well as hopefully finding the suitcase there eventually, so I can unpack for the next 2 weeks!

I don’t understand these computers!!! Since I left home I have been doing the photos a specific way so they are reduced to a size easy to upload to here. Now its not working!!!!! Another Windows update that has stuffed up something, lol.

Once again had a great breakfast and then headed out to a car park with prize wheel munzees. As these are all physicals, I walked around, after parking on the wrong side. Not that that really mattered, I just walked across the grass, lol. From there I went back to Lettuce Lake Park and the munzee event Marie, Tim, Carol and Dave had organised. It was an early Halloween event, so lots of scary doughnuts with teeth and eyes, a long, thin cinnamon something with red icing looking like intestines, spiders scattered around the place, a big pumpkin on the table, all good fun. The event munzees were spiders so had a trail of 50 of them through the park. Such a lovely park, even if very, very sticky as there had been more rain overnight. So capped a lot, talked a lot and had fun!

Then a 426 km drive south to Fort Lauderdale. Quite a few changes of vegetation and quite a few vultures. Some sitting in trees and some obviously scavenging something on the roadside.

Had 2 really heavy rain showers to drive through, so heavy it was difficult to see the road let alone the car in front, yet there were still those who zoomed past in the outside lane!

The GPS decided to sulk, she didn’t want to talk to me at all today, maybe because I told her off last night for not working, LOL. Anyway the map itself worked, but she got me to do a u turn to get to the hotel and nothing was there, just the local cemetery. I used my phone GPS to get here, and was told by the parking man that it happens to everyone, the GPS always goes there! Don’t know why the phone one worked better! Anyway, had a lucky discovery, there is a Hertz return site right here in the same building, so decided I may as well drop off the car now as they have a complimentary shuttle to the cruise port. What unexpected good planning, LOL.

Lettuce Lake ParkSome great lichen  A xeric oak communityScary doughnuts, lol