Last Post

My latest adventure is coming to an end and I will be flying from Miami to Sea-Tac on Thursday.  So much to do today.  A gala tonight, Special Tea, Redemption of all my Dam Dollars, do more packing, 2 trivias and lots more.  

It has beern a good cruise and this was my first Grand other than the World Cruises.  I don't know any better but lots of people are very unhappy with the cruise and say it is like all other non-grand cruises.

So, I will sign off and I will not be taking any more cruises which means I am done with my blog.  When I think of that it does make me sad.  

Continuiing Sea Days

I Noticed this morning on the ship info channel that we have gone over 13,250 nautical miles so far.  We will be over 14,000 by the time we get to Fort Lauderdale.

I have started packing and most of my clothes are in the suitcases but it is all the other stuff I have got to tackle that takes the time.

I joined tthe book club and enjoyed the meetings so I will need my friend, Harriet, to tell me about the book club on the island.   I think it would be fun to join as long as we can have some murder mysteries occasionally.

I think everyone on the ship has booked more cruises for. the future.  I am the only one who hasn't booked any and don't intend to at this time.  I am content to stay home and also have so much to do.

On every cruise there is always one person (usually a grumpy old man) who should never cruise.  They seem to not like people or are in a constant state of annoyance.  Yesterday I met our resident grump. I was sitting on the steps as I have many a time to let the cabin stewards finish my cabin.  Most people just laugh at me when I apologize but not the resident grump.  He told me that I was in his way even after I apologized for sitting in his path.

We still have one more gala and I have a tea tomorrow.

Crossing

I am enjoying our time at sea.  I have never done a crossing that is so smooth.  All the Catholics aboard take credit because Father James gets very sea sick and he has had a great fear of this part of the cruise.  So everyone, including the Father, have been praying for calm seas.  Makes you wonder.

Last night we had the CSI cocktail party which is always fun.  They are my travel agent and their main headquarters is in Seattle.  They also provide the escorts aboard who are Henk and Lucia.  I also cruised with them back in 2013.  A nice and fun couple.

My luggage will be delivered today.  I have the extra bed so I can put my bags on the bed and slowly pack which is what I do when I pack to leave for a cruise.  Most people on board don't have that luxury because they have one King size bed or both twins are occupied.

The food has been quite good except Joan and I went to the Cantaletto and I thought it had gone down hill since the time we went earlier in the cruise.  

The cough seems to be gone.  It is amazing how everyone gets it early on and then it disappears.  Some had secondary infections and I was very happy I avoided that part.  Just an annoying cough.  The other ailment are the foot and ankle sprains or breaks.  There are at least a dozen of people on the ship wearing the boot, including my formal neighbor, Terry.   So many of these accidents are caused by the uneven streets in ports.

If I can think of other general things on the cruise I will post them as They pop into my mind.

The Azores

I am very impressed with the Azores.  The storm by passed us and we had no problem docking at either of the ports.  The islands are very green and with the contrast of the white buildings with red tile roofs they are beautiful.  We are now headed for the USA.

We had a real treat yesterday.  A big pod of whales came very close to the ship.   They were so close the Captain had to veer to the right.  I have not heard what type of whales but they were medium size. About the same size as a humpback; but I don't think they were humpbacks.

We have also had a few schools of Dolphins and I spotted 4 very large Dolphins along side of our ship a couple of days ago.

At 7:00 every evening we have our before dinner drink at the Crows Nest and also play Pub Trivia.  Last night we almost won which is the exact opposite of us asking for the booby prize.  My team consists of Joan and whoever I can find that is close enough to mouth answers or whisper to me.  I call them my roving team members.  I have a feeling the rest of the teams might cry foul if we won but that is very unlikely except for our good showing last night.

We did have a ball last night so we did do some dancing with the officers and some of the other guys. After dancing we went up to the Crows Nest to listen to Lee on the piano.  His wife, Daphna, joined the ship recently.  We have got to know her and I have enjoyed her stories about Israel.  Her home is in Jerusalem.

2 sea days

We really  needed these sea days.  This cruise has been port intensive and they can become tiring especially for the stair climbers. Our friend, Sue, who goes everywhere admitted that this is the first time she has become weary.

I am typing this as we are docked at one of the islands of the Azores.  Ponta Delgada, on the island of Sao Miguel today and Horta, on the island of Faial tomorrow.  The buildings of Ponta Delgada are newer than most of Portugal and white instead of sand color.  A nice change.  I will continue on a separate blog about Horta and as long as I have good WiFi free I will go ahead and post this short post.

The weather has changed and it is raining.  No free WiFi for me.  There are possibilties that we won't be able to dock at  Horta.  A storm is on its way.

Last Ports

Gibralter is not a good place to visit unless you are going to walk the rock.  Not much at the bottom of the rock so I took the opportunity to do things on board.

Our next port was Huelva and it is a delightful city.  Wide pedestrian streets with great stores and great values.  The town is trying to get the cruise ships in and I think the good vibes they sent to all of us will help in that direction.  Our friend, Don, use to live close and he said it is incredible how far they have come.

We found a little restaurant and a delightful waitress who did her best to translate  the menu for us.  The beer and Joan's wine were excelent.  The waitress actually spoke great English except the menu translation and she was a delightful girl.  We had a lot of fun with all the employees.  They laughed a lot at me and my attempts at Spanish.

Lisbon is a beautiful big city and lots of steps and hills.  We spent our time at Casa Colon in the city center and didn't stay out long.  Again, it was Sunday and not much opened except cafes and souvenier shops.  One exception and that was a very large shoe and purse store.  I am not up to walking uip stairs and hills but where we were was flat and we walked quite a bit just looking at the outside of buildings.

The WiFi at the port was really iffy and not good enough to down load for an hour or so.  Besides I would have to sit on dirty cement.  I willl check out the Azores on the 27th and 28th.  Otherwise, this blog is about my only avenue at communication with home.  

Xfinity Problems

The reason I have been getting some emails and not others is because of the need to update my app for Xfinity.  This takes close to an hour so I can't do it on the ship.  I will try to find free WiFi on shore in Seville.  I am at a lost why I get some emails and not the others as most of the ones I get are from other countries but one just came in from Colorado.  I am also getting facebook but I don't open those as it takes too long to down load.  

I am sitting next to the big rock (Gibralter) but there is no where close to do free WiFi plus I am making sure my battery is  at 100%.  You do not want to run out of battery on a long down load.  My advice to everyone is find a cruise line that does not charge for WiFi.