Sea Day

 Thursday, March 14, 2024 - Veterans' Day 

Another morning that begins so much earlier than it needs to! When Maureen's ready we make the trek one deck down to Starbucks and darn-it-all they are out of chai! I order a small (tall for those who speak Starbucks) decaf with cream and add four Splendas.  Oh!  It's pretty good! Not a chai latte, but pretty good.

After some time Robin sticks her head in the door and asks if we're ready to get coffee!!  Too late!  Good thing Maureen ordered theirs, too! After a while we head down to the dining room for our last breakfast.  It is nice to be served, even if the selection is limited.  Tobi and Dean are already eating and when they're finished they come by to see how everyone is doing. I skip the coffee (I think Starbucks counts as two!) and order the breakfast bowl which is two eggs over medium, sitting atop sautéd vegetables.

It tasted better than it looks!

It's not called the Dog and Pony or the Duck Duck Goose!

And it sure looks different without all the drunks, er, patrons!

After a leisurely meal we dither a bit.  The second flash mob rehearsal is at 10:30 and we're all three pretty undecided.  The show is tonight at 10:15 and we don't think we can make it that late and still be up in time in the morning for disembaring.  And there isn't enough rehearsal time or space. And we don't adore the instructor.  Basically, we're old! We wind up sitting and talking before going to deck 5 for a tribute to veterans.  It's quite moving, with the orchestra playing tunes from the '40s and '50s beforehand. There are American flags and the white ceiling is lit with red and blue lights.  Dan Dan makes a stirring speech and the orchestra plays all the armed forces' theme songs.  Everyone claps for the members of each branch of the services and for participants in each of the conflicts since WWII. There is even a veteran from that war!  And the tribute includes policemen and firefighters and medical staff and those people who serve clandestinely.  But they aren't allowed to raise their hands!! The Nashville Tenors sing the anthem and it's stunning.  The band leader plays trumpet, so he plays taps and then reveille and at the end everyone is invited to have a piece of cake that says "Thank you, Veterans, March 14".

Clever way to see the action!

Dan Dan did a moving and respectful job of acknowledging all our veterans.

And high ranking ship's crew was present, too.

The Promenade was packed with veterans and their families.

We go back upstairs and Maureen showers and begins packing.  We head down to lunch at one to meet D&D, who already have a table for six!  As I'm getting in line to make a salad, the waiter asks to see my Sea Pass!!  Then he says the salads arre twenty dollars!!!  He's one of our evening waiters and is just having me on!  He freaks me out and gets Robin, too, since she is right behind me!

There is a scotch tasting at two o'clock and we all disperse.  The girls are going to sit by the pool and Dan and I may go to the tasting if it's not too expensive.  But, wow, it is!  Sixty bucks for four tastings and a discount on whatever you buy!  Nah.  Diana is going to get her brace, I'm going to blog, and Dan is going to the casino. We'll all meet up at three for the ice show.  And dinner will be at five, with a show at seven.

When I get upstairs, Maureen is out on our balcony because it's too windy and cold by the pool.  We're already noticing the change in temperature as we head back north! She is relaxing and I'm blogging when Robin sticks her head in the door and says it's almost three!!  We dash down to deck 3 and look for Studio B.  Happily it is right there and we find seats easily. The show is very good and the skaters perform several tricks that I've never seen before.  The show is called Cool Rock, Hot Ice and combines tributes to various artists with well-known rock music. The set pieces are moved on and off the ice by the skaters and there is clever use of a screen upstage as well as smaller ones hanging about the audience's heads on all three sides of the rink. One of the pieces of music is "Yesterday".

We may have been the last ship to stop at Labadee!

The museum columns disappear into the flies.

We all go to our rooms to change for dinner, not so much for the "look" but because it's going to be a bit chilly when we get off the ship in the morning and we'll all probably be wearing the same clothes as tonight.  Our bags have to be outside our doors before ten tonight, so there's some packing to do!

Mad scramble to get downstairs for dinner, but at least we beat Tobi and Dean, though not by much!  Our last dinner! I have the Mediterranean Tapas Medley, the Pecan Crusted Salmon, and the Warm Apple Cobbler with vanilla ice cream.  Our head waiter visits us and reminds us to give the dining room staff a ten on the survey that will be coming.  So does our waiter!  It must be really important to the staff.

There is a seven o'clock show in the theater featuring the comedian from the first night and the Nashville Tenors.  But there is a little time so Diana shows me the art piece they are considering buying on their next cruise.  They've already bought two on this one!  It's by an artist I recognize from my Mediterranean cruise.  Park West does all the art on cruise ships, I guess!  I love his work, too.

Cool carpet!

He looks a little demonic in this photo!!

The show is very good, a good way to end the evening;  but it's not even eight o'clock!  There's more dithering and we run into Tobi and Dean who are heading for the Duck and Dog.  We wind up going up to the Blue Moon on deck 14 to check out the silent dance party.  It turns out to be almost all kids but it is a neat concept.  Everyone wears headphones so no one hears the music who isn't "wired"!

It gets old pretty quickly and we go home to finish packing and put out our bags.  We've got a towel monkey hanging over my bed! So adorable! We finish off the wine with Robin's help and check out the night sky from our balcony.  More stars than at home but certainly not a "dark skies" kind of night!

I have to be at Dean's door before eight o'clock in the morning and will probably skip breakfast.  I've got another protein bar, and I want to be ready for lunch in St. Augustine! My bag is outside the door with a number tag that matches Dean's and I just have to grab a few things in the morning and stuff them in my backpack.  It's been a lot of fun hanging out with the family! I always feel like I belong and that's really wonderful!  Now it's bedtime!

Puerto Plata, Dominican Republicc

 Wednesday, March 13, 2024

Gulp, we have to meet for our tour at 8:00 in the theater, so there won't be breakfast this morning! I go down to Starbucks with Maureen to get coffee for her, Robin, and Ma.  I discover that I really like their "tall chai tea latte"!  I probably didn't need to know that, but it goes really well with a protein bar and I'm off to the theater at 7:45 to check in, get my orange sticker with the number 32 on it, and wait in my assigned section for Dan and Diana.  They walk in promptly at 8:00 and our group heads out shortly after.  Apparently all the excursions this morning are meeting in the theater!

Always something new to discover on the ship!

We pass this up on the way into town - but they sure are welcome coming back!

We play follow the leader down the long walk along the pier and finally emerge in the new shopping village called Taino Bay. There we group up again, get our wrist bands and trek out to our bus to meet our guide, Mario.  He says we can call him Super Mario!  And he really is, informative, personable, funny, and quite nice looking! He tells us a lot about the Domican Republic and I'll fill some of that in here later, when there's more time!

Our first stop if the Macorix House of Rum! We pass through the dark and chilly aging room where the spirits are aged in American white pine casks, then watch a movie on the history of Dominican rum. We proceed directly to the tasting room where we have sips of six different rums, starting with a very light, almost flavorless one and working up in age and color. The Rebel is my favorite until we get to the Mamajawana (I'll check the spelling when I get my bottles back from the ship's security people!) and it's quite tasty! Mario says it's used as medication when mixed with red wine and honey! There is also one that tastes like a piña colada and a coconut one that smells like sun-tan lotion! Then we cross the street to the store, now that we've been drinking on nearly empty stomachs!

This seems to be the normal condition of much of the housing, or at least 
what we saw from the bus.

It's quite an impressive structure.

With fun photo ops on the property

The aging area is cool ad dark.

Settling in for the movie

And the sales pitch, er, history begins.

Little did we know that those little thimblefulls would be just the beginning!

Lucky we could climb the steps!

Next stop if the town square with lovely old Vicorian buildings faccing on all sides.  We see a large sign with a photo of the three founding fathers of the country and learn that the DR is the only country with the Bible as part of it's national symbol. 

Adjacent to the square is the Catedral San Felipe Apóstol.  It is fairly simple as cathedrals go; but the windows and altar are beautiful and it holds mass seven days a week.  They also provide medical assistance throughout the countryside and even aid in housing. 

The plaza

Constant maintenance!

The three fathers of the country

Juan Pablo Duarte

The DR is the only country with the Bible as part of it's national seal.

Next stop is the Pink Alley, which is a tribute to Doña Blança. Stunning pink color adorns both sides of the alley and there is a statue of her sitting on a bench along one side.  She was actually Mrs. Bianca Franceschini, a pioneer in tourism in the DR.

On to the Rincon Cafe where we get a brief lesson in the growth and manufacture of both coffee and chocolate and sample (in a thimble-sized cup) some hot chocolate.  It's here that D&D have a credit card rejected and later learn that it's been blocked because someone has hacked it! 

There are lots of shops and cafes on both sides of this street and the space overhead is felled with lots and lots of rainbow-colored umbrellas!

She's dressed in the national colors.

Now we go to the larimar and amber store.  We see samples of raw larimar and learn that the discoverer's daughter was named Lara and mar means sea.  The stone is a lovely light blue, so the name is quite apt.  The jewelry is lovely but I sure don't need to spend that kind of money and I don't need more jewelry. But they sure are trying their darnedest!

Then it's the Amber Museum with lots of pieces of amber with fossils trapped inside.  It's also a cigar store!

You'd never know what's inside!

More maintenance

Beautiful foliage, just like home!

Comfy tour bus!

The last official tour is at the Museum of Gregorio Luperón, where our guide is an earnest and charming young man!  He takes us through all the exhibits, telling us Luperón's life story.  When he shows us the one hundred and fifty year old piano he invites people to play it.  There is a rendition of chopsticks by one of the guests and then he says he's had two years of lessons and plays "Mary Had a Little Lamb"!  The DR's history is quite complicated, having gained their independence not once, but twice.  The second time in 1865. 

Before returning to the ship we stop at Fortaleza San Filipe for a quick photo op and then it's back to Taino Bay.  A security person boards the bus and we all have to show our SeaPasses, to be sure no one is going aboard that doesn't belong! You can't get back to the ship without passing all the shops!  Not too stupid a design!  We run into Ma and the girls and I really pleased that they were able to get off the ship and do some shopping and whatever.  We even see Dean!  Timing is everything.

There will always be a vendor!

I didn't realize how close we were to the ship!

Yea, so I bought a turtle.

By the time we see the pier we agree that taking a tuktuk is a fine idea! Yay!  And this time security spots my three little bottles of rum and I will have to reclaim them Friday morning, when we're leaving. (note - they actually brought them to our room Thursday afternoon, in time to pack them!)

Back aboard we head straight for the Windjammer! That protein bar was small and many hours ago!! This is when Dan sees the email about their credit card and much phoning ensues!  They go down to Guest Service and I go back to the room to lie down for a bit, organize my suitcase, and get a shower.  Tonight is Colorful 70's night and we do see some spectacular outfits! Before dinner we finally open one of the bottles of wine that we brought.  We each could bring one on the ship and Maureen and I each brought a red, one malbec and one pinot noir, but we haven't touched them until now.  We agree that it's better to have some now and skip the cocktail after dinner. We use our water glasses and later, when we return, our room steward has brought us wine glasses!

Little bits of this and that because dinner is coming soon!

As colorful as I could get!

Dinner tonight is a Taste of Italy.  I choose the Golden Polenta Fries, Lasagna al Forno, and the Lemon Curd Tartlet which is like a tiny lemon meringue pie. Toward the end of dinner there is another parade but this time all the chefs and assorted other kitchen folk wind up at the foot of the staircase and perform a dancer number after all the head chefs have been introduced!

I love the little girl that's really into it!

After dinner everyone scatters.  D&D have another appointment with the art dealer and we're going to the 7:00 dance show, Can't Stop the Rock, with the Adventure of the Seas singers, dancers, and orchestra. They are all talented, even the sound and light guys! After the show there's a lot of "what do you want to do?  I don't know what do you want to do?" We wind up in the Imperial Lounge where the Flash Dance Band is playing dance music and the floor is crowded with exuberant ladies and one grandfather with his two granddaughters.  So cute!  Gradually more kids join in, almost all girls, and one is about two with all the moves!  When the set is over we sit and talk and laugh for a bit and decide to call it a night.  I still can't get the internet to work on my phone;  but I'm grateful that the computer is connecting.  I'll add photos when I get home from St. Augustine.