Day 23, 12/10 – Nassau, Bahamas

It was nice to see land again although we did have a very nice crossing.  The sun was still shining and it was a beautiful day.

We all met in the lounge and walked off the ship about 9:30.  We caught a water taxi over to Atlantis and walked around for a few hours.

We have been there many times so I’ll post some pics taken during  our day in Nassau.

We received new Diamond pins because of the big RCL December Diamond celebration.  Tonight is formal night, then one more day at sea before we arrive in Galveston.

The guys and gals on our adventure

Atlantis

The aquarium in Atlantis

Two more days at sea

Days 20-22, 12/7-12/9 – At Sea

We have had calm seas and following winds the entire cruise.  I have not used my sea bands or any bonine. 

Our trivia marathon is over and we bombed the last game so we came in 5th.  The winners were taken to Portofinos for dinner! ugh, last year when we won we got a bottle of champagne.  We had a barrel of fun and enjoyed every second.

Del’s olympic team is still going for the next two sea days.

Lots of fun to be had in the concierge each night.  The food had been ok. 

Lots of big groups on board.

We booked the Galapagos trip for March 25, 2011.  Crucon has a deal going and Del has always wanted to go.  Four other couples will be going with us.  We fly to Quito, Ecuador and spend a fabulous week in the Galapagos Islands on a 100 person ship called the Expedition.  So looking forward to that one.

View from our aft balcony in the middle of the Atlantic

In the concierge having a good time

 

Tomorrow -  Land Ahoy:  Nassau

Days 17-19, 12/4-12/6 – At Sea

The weather has been beautiful and the seas calm.  It’s almost like we aren’t on a ship.  We’ve had lots to do and the days go by fast.

The CSI lectures have really been interesting – learning all about DNA, what it is, how they find it, what they do with it.  Today we learn about how some cold cases have been solved.

Del stays for NASA lectures while I go to the trivia marathon.  We are now in 4th place a happy as there are about 25 teams.

Del has joined the Olympics again this year – mini golf, longest drive, ping pong, and other very hard athletic games. :)  They have a fun team and having a fun time.

I won $120 in the casino one day but they haven’t paid off since. :(

We had a bridge tour – they are beginning to let everyone tour the bridge again.  You can take pictures but not videos.

There has been some good entertainment and some bad.  Making friends in the lounge at night – we have free drinks from 5:30 – 8:30 in the concierge lounge – and having a good time with our Diamond + buddies.

Crucon, our travel agent, has had a couple of cocktail parties to thank us for our business.  Last night they had a party for their Loyalty Club members – we ordered what we wanted and talked cruising and prices.  Enjoyed meeting new friends and the Crucon people.

Still have 3 more sea days ahead of us before we reach Nassau.

I hear we had some snow back home – same thing happened last year!

Del on the bridge with the Captain’s scooter.

Before the parade on the promenade.

The guys dressed up on formal night – Jim, Bill, Del and Ken

Day 16 – Thursday 12/3 – Tenerife, Canary Islands

Tenerife is the largest of the Canary Islands with a population of 700,000.

We sailed into Tenerife under partly cloudy skies but still a nice day.  Our group met in the concierge lounge this morning at 10 and decided to walk off the ship together into the town.  We walked around about an hour and returned to the ship.

Another demonstration in Spain

Our group

Del with a Mime on the street – put coins in his cup and he gets very happy!

Sailing away from Tenerife

 

Tomorrow and the next six days – At Sea

Day 15 – Wednesday 12/2 – Madeira, Portugal

Funchal is the capital of the Portuguese island of Madeira which is located some 350 miles from North Africa.

We have cruised to Madeira for at least 3 times and have enjoyed the beautiful island each time.  It is lush with beautiful flowers and has a beautiful botanical gardens.

This year, we had a celebration of life for Ken DeMore, who passed away last February on the Mariner of the Seas.  Ken was an avid cruiser and planned excurisons many times for many of us.  Last year he had planned the excursion with Strawberry World in Madeira, so it was good to remember him with a nice luncheon.

Del and I also remembered Richard Chavanne, another friend and avid cruiser who we lost this September.

Madeira as we arrive in port

 

 

A drink before a wonderful lunch

 

Tomorrow:  Tenerife, Canary Islands

Day 14 – Tuesday 12/1 – Day at Sea

Today we thought we could sleep in but a couple of lecture series are beginning that we want to  hear, so it’s up at 8 to begin the day. 

There was a forensic lecture at 9 and a NASA lecture that Del wants to hear at 10.  My trivia marathon begins at 10 each sea day starting today.  No rest for the weary.

The Forensic specialist was very interesting beginning with the CSI television series explaining how it began, who produced and writes it and how it became such a hit. 

Our trivia team of 6 didn’t do too well today – only 9 out of 20.  Gotta do better than that as there are many teams to beat out.

Had our Meet and Mingle this morning – almost 200 people had registered for the get together.  They had lots of food and drink and gave out prizes.   Instructions were given for the cabin crawl, pub crawl, slot pull and other fun things going on for our cruise.

The slot pull was today – there were so many signed up that we divided up into 5 groups of 20.  Each group decided which machine to play and the denomination.  Only one group came out on top with $15 profit.  The slots are Very tight!

We had a Crucon (our travel agency) cocktail party this afternoon.  Turns out that we were the top couple this cruise with a total of 11 cruises booked with them.  They presented us with nice windbreakers.

It looks like the sea days are going to be very busy!!

Cooking paella by the pool

The Solarium

Merry Christmas with Bill and Liz

Tomorrow:  Madiera and a celebration of life with Pene

Day 13 – Monday – 11/30 – Cartagena, Spain

Arrived to another beautiful day in Cartagena this morning.  We all decided to just walk off the ship and visit this small, clean city.

First glance at Cartagena

Boy with fish statue in the street

Del, Liz and Bill on the streets of Cartagena

 

Tomorrow :  A Day at Sea

Day 12 – Sunday – 11/29 – Barcelona

The first cruise is over and the second is beginning.  We returned to Barcelona today to drop off passengers and pick up others that will return with us to Texas.

We left the ship early to walk the Ramblas with Janice and Alvin.  We stopped along the way to have some delicious Spanisih hot chocolate which you can almost eat with a spoon it is so thick.

We continued to walk toward the hotel we stayed in last year – the Continental.  We stopped in to see that they had remodeled and looking pretty good.  We wanted to see a particular person who made our stay special only to find she had retired a couple months prior.

We decided to walk to another hotel down the street where some friends were staying before boarding this trip.   We stopped in at the Continental Palacete where we met up with Pene and Andrew.

Soon we were walking back down the Ramblas to the ship. 

Once onboard again, we met up with several friends we had made on previous cruises.

I had fogotten to take pictures of our cabin so took some on the way out.  When we got back from Barcelona we would be in another cabin.

Cabin #1388

 

Tomorrow :  Cartegena, Spain