2015 Western Caribbean Cruise - Day 9 (Go Home)

The goal of the day was to get off the ship fast, grab a cab and catch the 8:40 flight from Miami to Houston.  They said we could leave the boat at 6:45 AM.  So naturally I was up at 5:15 AM almost ready to go.  I was also excited to finally get logged back since in port we could connect through AT&T back to the internet.  So at about 5:45 AM I headed up to the top deck (deck 14...we slept on deck 9) to check things out.  It was still dark but the boat never sleeps.  LIghts on, buffet going already and people meandering around.  I immediately sat down and connecte to the web and logged into the United App to check flight statuses and to checkin.  The 8:40 flight still had seats open...looked good. Everything else looked not so good. So we had to get on that one.  At about 6:15 I headed back to the room, stopping by to let Kim and Ilene know that I was grabbing my bags and heading to deck 5 to get into the line to get off the boat.  I then retrieved Denise and the bags.  We were about 10th in line.  Soon, Kim and Ilene joined us.  At about 6:55 we were off the boat heading to customs.  That went really fast (no lines) and out we were to the street.  I thought that we might use UBER for our ride to the airport.  But since taxis were $25 one way, we thought we'd try to get all 4 of us in one and share the costs.  It worked out great.  As a matter of fact, there was a van that had two people in it...but the line attendant asked them to take a car and we got the van.  We paid $30 with a tip.  We were on our way to the airport by about 7:15 AM.  We arrived in plenty of time and got our bags checked in.  But TSA was really, really slow.  Only one line.  But it didn't matter because we were plenty early.  When the Wayment's checked in, they were asked if they wanted $150 credit to take another flight.  They were on the 11:40 flight.  They said no.  But when we got to the gate for the 8:40 flight, they asked if they could get on that one since they were looking for people to jump off the 11:40.  The gate agent granted their wish and we all flew to Houston on the same flight.  Go figure...everything working out so far!

At Houston, our next flight was a Regional Jet (about 70+ Passengers) scheduled to go at 2:30.  We arrived at 10:30.  Kim and Ilene were scheduled to go at 5:30 on a larger plane.  That meant we were in opposite terminal ends.  Since their flight was not leaving for so long, they followed us to our B terminal gate.  We ate lunch together, found a table and played cards for awhile.  Pretty fun.  When it came time to board, we were the next to get seats....but none available.  So the 5:30 flight was our last hope today.  So off we all went together to the E terminal.  Even though they have a tram...the walk is still pretty long.  But we had time as we walked and visited all along the way.  We eventually found our gate and found seats by it.  Again, sat down and played a round of cards.  Before we played 5 Crowns.  This time it was Mormon Bridge.  I stink at all of them!  But it was fun.  Kim started to get the itch to eat in the middle of the game.  We said that we were playing cards.  So he gave us 30 minutes and set his clock.  With each hands of cards, we were reminded of his need to eat and time remaining.   We all laughed each time he called out the time and his excitement to get some food.  Heck...it had been a couple of hours since we had eaten anything!  We're on cruise mode...you know!?  Anyway, at 415 sharp we were off to get food.  Denise and I had  Pand Express.  Kim and Ilene found a deli like place that chicken and stuff.  Anyway, we got our food consumed and then headed back to the gate to board..  It did not look good, as usual, for us.  We wished Kim and Ilene bon voyage and thought we'd be staying thenight.  The plane boarded and a few stand by's got on ahead of us.  We thought that would be it.  But the Gate Agent said to hold tight.  She thought she had a couple more seats.  Sure enough, Denise and I were the last to board.  Another minor miracle flying stand by.

To  conclude this blog about our trip, I want to say how much I appreciated being with Kim and Ilene.  It has been too many years since we've done things together.  We've lived in different states.  We've raised all our crazy kids.  Our hair is getting gray (what is left of it)...but we still feel like it was yesterday when we lived next door to each other, played basketball and softball every night and really enjoyed life.  They have not changed a bit.  And I consider Kim one of my very best friends.  And I hope to not let the rest of the world get in the way of us getting together more than in the past.  Thank you Wayment's for letting the Tiner's tag along on Kim's 60th birthday cruise.  May you have 60 more enjoyable years Kim!!!!

2015 Western Caribbean Cruise - Day 7 (Labadee, Haiti)

Well, day 7 is our last play in a port day!  Hard to believe.  Time goes by quite quickly when you are busy doing things.  The boat arrived at Labadee at 9:00 AM.  Labadee is a penniinsula that Royal Caribbean has leased until 2050.  It is their own private area where they have lots of things to do.  It is quite beautiful here.  The beaches seem nice.  The weather is awesome.

We  had a lazy morning.  At 9:00 AM, we met Kim and Ilene to go to breakfast.  Always a ton of good food to consume.  I had poached eggs on english muffins with a hollandaise sauce.  Pretty good.  We all eat way to much for every meal.  Pretty sad...but pretty fun.  :-)

At about 10 AM, we got off the boat and headed to a beach area.  Everything is provided for you here...beach loungers, beach covers (you'll see in the pictures), food, drinks and even floaty devices.  I naturally wanted to try and snorkel here.  So once Denise was settled, off I went looking for reef or rocks where fish might hang out.  I did find a man made breaker and snorkeled along it a couple of times.  Unfortunately, this area is sandy by design for easy swimming.  That causes the water to be quite mirky and not clear.  Nonetheless, it is fun to watch sea creature lurking in rocks or in the sea grass at the bottom.  I could do this all day long!  It is so fun.  

For lunch, they had BBQ's set up in certain areas where they cooked fish, chicken, ribs, hamburger, hot dogs, salad, and of coursed stuff for dessert!  Hard to take...as much as you want any time you want while you were there.

At about 3:00 PM or a little after, we headed back to the boat to get ready for formal night.  It is lobster night.  Can't wait.  More to report in a few hours!

Lobster night it was.  Huge Lobsters!  Yes!  We also had Beef Wellington with great appetizers, a cold pea soup (which I did not care for) and a Kale Salad.  Kim and Ilene ordered an extra Lobster but were too full to eat it all...so I helped them out.  My pleasure.  After dinner, we once again attended their theater.  Tonight was their premier show.  It was rock music with a set of dancers and acrobats trying to create a Cirque Solei atmosphere.  I really enjoyed it.  After the show, we came back to our staterooms to change our clothes.  We then went up to the highest deck to lay around, talk and see the stars.  We also went to check out the fitness room.  It was really nice....at the front of the boat so  you can watch the boat sail while you work out.  But I made a dcecision early on that I was taking a break from working out while on the boat.  Anyway, we were back in our cabing around midnight.  We then decided to order room service for breeakfast tomorrow.  We have never had room service.  So since it is a free thing...we're dong it! 

Well, last day tomorrow and then we head home.  We are both thrilled and grateful for our trip.  But we are also excited to get home.

A Royal Caribbean boat parked next to ours.  Ours is on the right.  Approxametly 5k people came off the two boats and turned this Haiiti penninsula into a very busy place!

One of the many maps on the penninsula....

A beach view.  If you look closely out over the water you will see cables for the zip line.  This is where it concluded.....

This is looking in the opposite direction down the beach.  Up on the hill, you can see a small tower.  That is where the zip liners would take off from and zoom down and across the water.  All for a cool $95 for one run!

Ilene and Denise enjoying the shade in their own 'tent' like thing....

Me and my GoPro.  As you approach your ship, they give you water or punch and hand you a towel that has been frozen in ice.  Feels so nice after a hot day!

A group of Haitians singing and dancing as we approached the ship on our way back.....

Denise enjoying a nice day on the beach......

2015 Western Caribbean Cruise - Day 6 (Ocho Rios, Jamaica)

Interesting day it was today.  Fun, frustrating and relaxing all in one.  Our boat landed at Ocho Rios at 8:00 AM.  We were up and ready to eat by about 7:45 AM.  Again, we went to the buffet to get whatever and then be ready to head off the boat.  The concern I had was concerning Taxis and how we were going to get to Dunn River Falls.  My concern did not matter much because as you walked off the boat,  you were overwhelmed with Taxis wanting to take you somewhere on the island.  I was told it would be $20 for a taxi.  It was just that $10 per person round trip from the boat to the falls and back.  That sounded ok.  So we jumped on.  But these were buses and not taxis as it turns out.  So we waited for our bus to fill up and then off we went.  It was probably less than 3 miles to get there...real quick.  Crazy driving of course on the wrong side of the road!  We were then dropped off to a lady at the parking lot who then helped us get our tickets to get in.  I think she wanted a tip for that.  Heck...they all wanted tips.  Anyway, we finally got in and were assigned a 'guide' who was going to take us up the falls.  But first we had to get a locker for our stuff  Fortunately, our stuff fit into one locker with Kim and Ilene's stuff so it only cost 5 bucks.  We then all walked down the hill to the ocean beach.  We thought we would have time to spend on the beach.  But no...our taxi driver told us that he would be back in 1.5 hours...not nearly enough time to do all that we wanted.  Anyway...the hike up the rocks, up the river was really fun.  All along the way they had guys taking pictures and videos of us.  Of course we bought one with hopes that we can copy it once we are in the states.  We'll see how it turns out.  Anyway, Denise did things she never dreamed capable of doing in water.  She was so proud (and I was too) of her taking on those fears and just doing it.  The hike took about 50 minutes. So with the wait for lockers and getting a dvd...we did not make the 1.5 hour time.  So we had to try and figure out how to find our bus driver.  We all started asking questions.  I got a guy who, in the end, found me a bus that would take us back.  But just as that was happening, our bus driver showed up.  So off we went with Winston and his bus.  While traveling, we asked about going into town to shop a little.  He said, "No problem Maaaan".  So that is what we did.  It cost me since Denise bought something for every human Tiner relation (I just went over the weight limit on my check in bag!).  Anyway, we were there about an hour or so and then he picked us up and took us to the ship.  We were back on the ship around 1:30 or so.  So we had not eaten for about 2 hours...so off to the buffet for lunch.  Holy smokes there is a lot of food.  And the Ice Cream...so good...so much.  They will need a crane to get me off this ship.   Anyway, we just kind of laid around the ship the rest of the afternoon.  It is tough for me to do nothing.  But I tried.  The whole time I was wishing that I was snorkeling somewhere off the beaches that I could see.  But it would have taken too much time to get there.  Oh well....it looked beautiful nonetheless.

Dinner this evening was great again.  I had escargot and a crab cake for appetizer followed by French Onion soup.  The entree was beef rib ends that melted in your mouth.  I also had the fish entree that had a cajun spice to it.  Dessert was an apple crunch with caramel and vanilla ice cream.  I also had the charries jubillee again!

The entertainment was a single fellow that was accompainied by the ship orchestra.  He sang and danced to a variety of music.  I enjoyed his entertainment.  It was fun.

One more stop tomorroe in Labadee, Haiti.  This should be a lazy day too spending time on their private penninsula.

This boat we are on is clean and very nice.  The food and serices are top notch.  I do wish that they had some other features like big screens for movies and water slides.

Dunn's River Falls Entrance Sign.....

Fancy carvings....

Sitting in the river....

Family picture...

Our guide (and Denise's boy friend up the falls since they held hands the whole way up)...

The pull out point of the falls....

Found these guys walking the streets in Ocho Rios.....

This always awaits us as we board our ship ( Fruit Puncy and Cold Towels)....

2015 Western Caribbean Cruise - Day 8 (At Sea)

We had room service for the first time ever.  It was kind of fun to just say we did it.  We slept in a bit.  I finally got up and showered before our stateroom attendant brought our food.  We had eggs, bacon, hash browns, juice, hot chocolate, breads and rolls.  Pretty yummy.  I am not sure what we are going to do today.  I think I'll head up and check out the deck and then let the day just take care of itself.

So around 9:00 AM, we met the Wayment's and found a place up on top of the ship to play cards.  We did a LOT of card playing on this trip.  It was really fun.  We played 5 Crowns, Sequence, Mormon Bridge and another one that I cannot remember its name!  I don't think I ever won.  But it was nice making others feel good about themselves!    Around 11 AM, we went to a Top Chef competition in the Reflection Theater.  It was fun to see people try to take ingredients and make something edible.  Fortunately, these folks had chefs from the boat who assisted them.  They made one dish with Filet Mignon and another with Sea Bass if I remember right.  The judges said it was all really good.

After Top Chef, we went to the dining room instead of the buffet for lunch.  It was nice to sit in a quiet area and visit, watching the waves go by and having someone serve you.  They serve  you a multiple course meal and of course you can order as many appetizers, salads, soups, entrees and desserts that you can humanly eat.

After lunch, we returned to our card playing ways.  None of us cared to go up top with all the sun seekers.  Let me tell you, some looked like lobsters!  I so do not like much sun!  Anyway, we played cards until about 3:00 PM and then went to a show that was premiering on the boat.  In the lounges, a young Irish/Danish couple entertained each night.  They were called 5 O'Clock Somewhere.  We never saw their act but did hear their music as we walked around at times.  Anyway, they have become known enough that they are now going to be considered criuise ship entertainers and will travel the world, boat to boat, doing an onstage show.  They presented this show for the first time at this matinee.  And...it was really good.  The gal is a guitar and piano player.  She has a wonderful voice.  The guy also plays guitars and percussion stuff...but he is mostly a famous NY DJ.  He did some amazing stuff with electronics.  The music was really good.  I think we all really enjoyed the show.

After the show, we headed to our staterooms to pack up and get ready for our final dinner.  It was kind of sad to know that our trip was coming to an end.  But we are all ready to get home too.  We miss our family.

Dinner was really good again.  Just to tell you, I had shrimp cocktail, a spinach turnover (2 appetizers), Caesar Salad, Veal Cordon Bleu and two desserts (Mango Sorbet & a Chocolate Torte Cake).  So darn good.  The food and entertainment on this cruise was really good.

The final show was a comedian named Rizi Rogers.  I was a bit worried that it might get a little bit dirty.  But that did not happen.  I would have given it a PG-13 rating.  He had us laughing for a good 45 minutes.  

Once the show concluded, we were off to bed as 5:30 AM was going to come quickly.

The cruise in summary...really good for a older crowd.  Lots of great food, good entertainment, lots of lounges (if you are into that scene).  For a younger crowd...probably not what you would look for.  The ports we stopped at were all awesome.  I spent a ton of time in the ocean snorkelilng around.  That is by far my happy place.  And Dunns River Falls was a ton of fun hiking up it.  I think Denise would say that was the highlight of her trip.

Now...we just have to get off this boat quickly and make the 8:40 AM flight to Houston.  Let the travel home games begin!

Room service and breakfast in bed....

Game playing buddies....

Top Chef Competition.....

The Top Chef of the boat and Denise....(he is from Malaga, Spain)

The dessert bar on the last day....

Ice scupltures showed up the last day in the buffet area....

The band...5 O'Clock Somewhere...performing a matinee.

The decks of our boat....

One of 14 lounges on the boat....

Our dinner mates....Donna, Richard, Peter, Angela, Kim, Ilene, Denise and yours truly...

Our waiter Kasuwa from Zimbobwe....

Our assistant waitress, Marina, from Russia....

Funny story...we asked a lady coming down the stairs to take our picture.  She said sure...and handed me her glass of wine.  So we kept it in the picture....

2015 Western Caribbean Cruise - Day 5 (Grand Cayman)

After a great nights sleep, we were up in time to go to the forward part of the ship to see us coming into Georgetown, Grand Cayman.  Our arrival time was 10 AM, scheduled and actual.  This is a port where you get tendered  back and forth from the piers.  But before all this, I got up and went to the place where you get tender tickets to get off the boat.  They do this for the first few boats of the day.  We were #4.  After getting the tickets, I came back and blogged a little, adding photos to the blog until it was time for breakfast.  We then headed up to the buffet for some more of the same...although I made a wild omelet.  It tasted pretty darn good...I thought.  I also had fresh fruit, turkey sausage and english muffins.  Boy people stuff their plates though.  I was pretty reserved!

After being tendered to shore, we found the site where our tour operator was to be.  Nobody was there yet.  It was about 10:45 and we were not supposed to meet them until 12:15 PM.  So I had some backup plans.....to walk to a point where you can put into the water and swim out to a reef.  So off we went walking.  The reef is calleed Cheeseburger Reef.  The reason for this name is because it is right across from a Burger King.  Anyway, it took probabl 7 or 8 minutes to get there.  So Kim, Ilene and I got into our snorkeling gear and headed out.  Denise tended the gear, even dipping herself into the water a bit.  The sun gets pretty hot when it is bearing down on you...and it was.  The air temperature is really nice...high 70's.  But the sun makes you get hot quick.  Anyway, the reef was quite aways from the beach.  I just kept swimming until I got to some boats and asked a guy on the boat where it was.  He said I needed to go a bit further out.  So I kept swimming and swimming.  I finally found the reef and I swear I was halfway back to the cruise ship!  But the reef was nice with quite a bit of sealife moving around.  I tried to get some GoPro videos.  I wish I could post them here...but I cannot.  Pictures only.  After a few minutes of messing around over the reef we headed back into shore.  It was quite the swim.  Ilene took off like a fish swimming pretty fast.  It was her exercise she said later.  We pulled out of the water around 11;30.  We got out of our gear and headed to Burger King because they had free WIFI!  The first place I've seen have it.  So we quickly downloaded emails and I published the first 4 days of posts to the blog.  Once it uploaded...which took quite awhile...we were off to the pier where we came in to hook up with our StingRay Bar and Snorkeling excursion.  When we arrived, our guy was there.  Turns out that there was only 8 people on his boat!  Really small group which made it nice.  We got into a van and headed north to a Yacht Club where their boat was.  From there we headed east into the bay to the Stingray Sand Bar.  We pulled up as the morning folks were pulling out.  So when we got in the stingrays immediately came over to us.  These puppies are pretty darn big in some cases.  They would come right up to you wanting food which we had been given by the tour operator.  It was fun to touch and mess with things you would never see in most areas in the world.  The water was shallow so all of us could just stand there while they swam all around us.  After the food ran out, we jumped on the boat and headed north to the barrier reef for this inlet.  There we snorkeled for 45 minutes or so.  Lots of great sealife there.  Great picture opportunities which I enjoyed much.  I did get hung up on some coral and cut my leg a bit.  I thought for sure sharks would smell my rich, vibrant blood and want it.  But no sharks appeared!!!  :-)  After snorkeling, we got onto the boat and headed east to a point called 'Starfish Point'.  There you could walk on a white sandy beach and look for starfish in the water.  I think we found a few 'planted starfish'.  They looked dead to me but the skipper said they were alive.  I don't know if I believed him.  They were pretty hard.

After our tour was over and we drove back to the pier, we found a liquor store with free WIFI.  Both Denise and I went in and loitered around downloading emails and trying to upload email with photos and videos.  I guess my email was too large and I was too impartient with the slow WIFI so I finally gave up on sending my note.  I did get a text out to the family who have apple devices letting them know that we were alive.  After doing this, we boarded a tender and off we went back to the ship.

We had the usual very nice dinner (Tiramusu for dessert).  We are dining with a couple from Florida and a couple from Toronto.  They are very nice people and we have enjoyed our visits with them.  Our entertainment tonight was the ships dancers and singers performing what they called 'Momentum' which was a series of pop songs with some very nice dancing.  These people are so flexible....it hurts to watch them!

It was really a nice day.  Grand Cayman has 50k people living here.  So not many.  The water is beautiful and the life seems pretty slow.  Everyone was really friendly.

Our ship....

Petty Stingrays .....

Snorkel buddies.....

GoPro Picture down under....

Large stingray approaching!!!

Starfish Point Beach......

Hiking on the beach....

2015 Western Caribbean Cruise - Day 4 (Cozumel)

Well, they rolled the clocks back one hour this morning causing everyone to wonder what time we were really on.  Bottom line is that we were up at 7;00 AM to find our boat docked at Cozumel.  The water is pretty and blue here.  I was excited because this was the first time I was really going to use my GoPro for what I bought it for.  And I've also been buying up snorkel gear.  So excited to give it all a shot.  

After hitting the breakfast buffet, we were let off the boat around 8 AM.  We wandered off around 8:30 AM.  It took about 45 minutes to get the jeep.  It was a nice jeep.  We only wish its top was off.  You can wish for that for cars but not for the sunbathers...right?  :-)  Anyway, we got the car and headed into San Miguel.  I really thought it would be easy to find the turn on the road that takes one across the island.  But we missed it.  We even stopped to ask a guy where to find it and he naturally told us to go the wrong way....which we did.  When we hit the airport on the other end of the island, we knew we had gone the wrong way.  So we then started south gong through the San Miguel Barrios.  We got a real taste of living in Cozumel.  Not too pretty.  Reminded me of parts of Colombia...the way the homes are built.  Eventually we came to the main highway and headed east to go to the San Gervasio Ruins.  

Finding the ruins was actually easy...well marked.  We turned off the highway and headed north for about 6km.  We pulled into the parking lot only to have a guy be our 'security' guard.  He was really nice and watched our car...for a tip of course.  The entrance fee was 9.50.  We spent about 1.5 hours there walking around and seeing the Mayan ruins here.  Nothing like Chitza Itza on the mainland.  But nice...very nice.  

Upon leaving San Gervasio, we headed back to the highway and headed east to the eastern beaches. They are nice.  We stopped at one and got out into the ocean.  We were told the snorkeling was not as good on the east side...too sandy.  They were right.  So we packed up and went to a beach on the western side called Mr. Sanchos.  This was a big place that had water toys and lots of stuff.  More people than I liked.  But even here, the snorkeling was not that good.  But, I did get to get out there and use my GoPro equipment.  It was fun to film fish and stuff.

We headed back to the ship around 2:00 PM.  On the way I stopped to get gas.  Naturally they give you a car that is half full and expect you to figure out how to get it back to half full!  I put 300 pesos in...which finding out later was about 20 dollars.  The guy charged me 29 dollars.  I did not have pesos so I had to pay it.  The guy got a 9 dollar tip for filling half of my takn.  Geez....rip offs!!  And they are proud of it.

Back on the boat we rushed to get some food.  We were starting to get hungry.  I know..hard to believe.  So we got some Ice Cream, fries and split some burgers.  All healthy stuff though!!!  :-)  We then retired to our rooms to get showered and cleaned up while the boat prepared to leave port at 4 PM.

We retired to our rooms for about an hour or two to shower and get ready for the evening.  We then met at a table where we played another round of 5 Crowns...a card game that Denise has yet to win!  Kim has been kicking all our tails at this game.  Such a lucky card bum.  He should be in the Casino making millions!

Dinner ws great again.  We always have multple appetizers, soup, salad, multiple entrees and every dang dessert on the menu!  The food quality and service is really, really good.  I had a small steak and then we split some veal.  Others ordered a seafood plate which I was bummed out that I did not order. It had all the good things from the sean in it.  I'd include pictures of the food here but those pictures are on Denise's phone and with no internet I have no way of sending pictures to other devices unless you have a media card.

The evening entertainment was a group call "Tenors of Rock".  They were 4 guys from the UK who had sung on one of the english talent search shows and did quite well there.  This show was really, really good.  These guys could sing and they covered a wide range of rock-n-roll songs from groups all over the world.  We all really, really enjoyed the show!  So far, the entertainment on this boat has gone beyond expectations.  

In summary, the snorkeling in Cozumel was less than I had hoped for.  Next time I would find a boat to take me out to the reef.  Snorkeling from shore was a c+ at best.  Live and learn though.  We did enjoy the trip in the Jeep around the island.  It would have been nice to have one with the top off.  Fun nonetheless!

Tomorrow....Grand Caymans!

Look out Cozumel...her she comes!

Main road at International Pier in Cozumel....

Our Jeep....(wish the top was off)....

San Gervasio Ruins.....

Temple at San Gervasio.....

Ilene at one of the 'eastern side' beaches that we stopped at....

First adventure out into open water on one of the east side beaches....

Ready to go back out into the water and shoot fishes with my GoPro!

Ahhh....the beach life (Denise getting a beautifully bronzed body!)

Mr. Sanchos beach area for food and drinks.....

Kim and Ilene upon returning to our boat...the Celebrity Reflection.

Great day in Cozumel!  Tim and Denise 2015 Cruise, Cozumel Mexico.

2015 Western Caribbean Cruise - Day 3 (Day at Sea)

Food, food, food...food everywhere.  It is pretty crazy.  In all cases, we have had our option to do buffet for breakfast, lunch and dinner or you can sit down in their nice dining hall and be served.  During non-meal times, you can always find lots of food.  Ice cream is also available constantly...soft serve or hard ice cream.  On various decks, you can find pastry bars where you can grab a pastry.  So yummy!

We got up slowly today and met for  breakfast around 9:00 AM in the dining hall.  We were there for about 1.5 hours slowly eating and just visiting.  At 10:45 AM, they held a galley tour which was pretty amazing.  I think this boat has ovet 1200 people involved in food production alone.   I think they prepare 15,000 meals a day on the boat.  Neza would love to see such production.

After the tour, it was time to eat again!  :-)  We did lunch in the buffet.  When we were done, we went to the game room and played games for an hour or so.  We played 5 Crowns which was really fun.  At 3:00 PM, the Packers vs. Seahawks game was on.  We watched a bit of the first half. More Packer fans than Seahawk fans...which was great.  We left at about half time to go play some more games and then get ready for dinner.  But before we did that, I went back to check the score.  It was 19-7 with 3 minutes left to go and the Packers were winning.  Game in the bag, right?!  I left to go get ready for dinner.  After dinner I came back to see what the Patriots and Colts score was and to find out the score of the Packer game....they lost!!!  I about fell on the floor.  I could not believe it.

Dinner was yummy.  We get two of everything.  The portions are fairly small...so no big deal.  Denise has ordered well each night.  She had some beef tenderloins last night which was so good.  I had blackened salmon with a BBq sauce on it.  It was ok.  We have not been disappointed with the food at all on the Celebrity.

After dinner, we went to the 'show' of the evening.  They had people start it off that could fold themselves every which way...so flexible.  Kind of like me.  :-)  After these folks, the captain of the ship came out and introduced his crew.  It is a huge staff that he oversees.  He is from Greece.  After his presentation, the show began.  It was a cast of dancers and singers doing Broadway and Popular musicals songs.  They were really quite good.  I really liked it.  Following the show, we departed to our rooms ready to get some sleaap and hit Cozumel running.

It was a great day at sea...restful, filling and fun.

Waiting for the  Galley Tour in the Dining Hall.....

Introduction of the staff of chefs.....

Some food carvings that they had on display.....