tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12942008767406434952024-03-13T12:15:51.170-05:00Mush's BlogMushhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10505667166856318130noreply@blogger.comBlogger270125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1294200876740643495.post-79171296519250693892021-12-11T16:42:00.001-06:002021-12-11T16:42:49.888-06:002017 Escaping Insanity...Blowing the Dust Off and Finishing the Report!<p> </p><p><i>(insert montage...like a dream sequence with blurry edges. Fade to a vision of Mush walking through a library and coming across this blog, only it is in the form of an old book instead of an electronic journal. He grabs hold of the blogbook and wipes off the cover; in the process, his allergies kick in, and he is seized by a sneezing fit....)</i></p><p><br /></p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Hi Folks! It has been
a VERY long time since I last updated this blog. Surprisingly, I’ve
recently had several people ask about the end of this cruise, even though it is over <b><i><u>4 years old</u></i></b>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Who am I to disappoint my
fan base of probably about 12 people?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">I’ll warn
you though…there’s a reason for not posting it…it was a boring day for me, which likely means that it will be a REALLY boring read for you. As you read it, I think you'll understand why the report really never got finished up.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">For those who may need a refresher, you might want to check out the previous several days' worth of posts. <a href="http://blogdumush.blogspot.com/2018/05/2017-escaping-insanity-norwegian-cruise.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Trip Report Index</a> is the place you'll want to go to if you want to do that.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16px;">Sooooooo, without further ado, here is the conclusion to </span><i style="font-size: 16px;">Escaping Insanity</i><span style="font-size: 16px;">.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><i>(For those keeping track, this is late June of 2017)</i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">I think I
woke up, though I’m honestly not entire sure – all I knew was that my mind and body
decided to take a vacation day from our vacation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We grabbed breakfast in Garden Café, where I
enjoyed a pretty good version of eggs Benedict.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We then headed back up to the room to chill for a while as we made our
way to Nassau.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I hopped out on the balcony and could see Atlantis in the distance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhLOt0L7zs-mGcVJjBustGQl_rNLqUW72u5z2Q0SdwXHJ4V26U8esnpmEu6XUJFiAzV79tzgjKQxSpeuMX-pKTqmaZe_ts8BXieVl-KrXlVFruD0xTl6ZglwfMF2_WId9f9GsElCczu4TzjiNi2kyRmcneFq1t32Y2uT5f2HEtgKuJXSVKi-0qAPAqe=s4032" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhLOt0L7zs-mGcVJjBustGQl_rNLqUW72u5z2Q0SdwXHJ4V26U8esnpmEu6XUJFiAzV79tzgjKQxSpeuMX-pKTqmaZe_ts8BXieVl-KrXlVFruD0xTl6ZglwfMF2_WId9f9GsElCczu4TzjiNi2kyRmcneFq1t32Y2uT5f2HEtgKuJXSVKi-0qAPAqe=w640-h480" width="640" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiVBrc4LkhuDr5jBs3kWu-G4wbYpZkT4OxmJKg0OAYgKudjb31ikPuiQC46rT6pd1uy0ChVYy3oPtQZinppTOniqS2ImEq3okYbvxufQn60OmKTKAMbo9lIXuEkDOB4bp_TeuYYu6m7IdxBlfcZW7Q-JxfLf5udkNRuYiCZe7iwtcj9eGrZF4aMciNz=s4032" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiVBrc4LkhuDr5jBs3kWu-G4wbYpZkT4OxmJKg0OAYgKudjb31ikPuiQC46rT6pd1uy0ChVYy3oPtQZinppTOniqS2ImEq3okYbvxufQn60OmKTKAMbo9lIXuEkDOB4bp_TeuYYu6m7IdxBlfcZW7Q-JxfLf5udkNRuYiCZe7iwtcj9eGrZF4aMciNz=w640-h480" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiFOQHQ4VxTJUVfJXImEakcJfvftiqIOMdS0D9B9UnTqzEZo4uu8o3nHbt34Suk9fzdEXbqu1H_wSdDi0wR3VdEfaYBZfKvXokVMPjH67Ulq_TXAseLB6qrCZk2US5W4tlegXa-XlCIuIqxjZqBIMx_LDMBbOyrkP4o3yCU-MqV-BwNlypdX3myXYVW=s4032" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiFOQHQ4VxTJUVfJXImEakcJfvftiqIOMdS0D9B9UnTqzEZo4uu8o3nHbt34Suk9fzdEXbqu1H_wSdDi0wR3VdEfaYBZfKvXokVMPjH67Ulq_TXAseLB6qrCZk2US5W4tlegXa-XlCIuIqxjZqBIMx_LDMBbOyrkP4o3yCU-MqV-BwNlypdX3myXYVW=w640-h480" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgSMJpk_qZhGORHyBl98D6xpj-NLxD6B9EJiTYEP6-NW0hYfBAXtuom2z1LPjNt3folrMbTVPrU29FX7YRf23M1ZQrPaBVOfqeB2hTy8ZLVeTSh8XDbSdS83om8h4poZ2N0tkkYUdHGd7QlD3PfYZdluofwmZE6-slg43S0f_hGoIuyz39imG6nNtPr=s4032" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgSMJpk_qZhGORHyBl98D6xpj-NLxD6B9EJiTYEP6-NW0hYfBAXtuom2z1LPjNt3folrMbTVPrU29FX7YRf23M1ZQrPaBVOfqeB2hTy8ZLVeTSh8XDbSdS83om8h4poZ2N0tkkYUdHGd7QlD3PfYZdluofwmZE6-slg43S0f_hGoIuyz39imG6nNtPr=w480-h640" width="480" /></a></div><br /><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">We had
already decided that we were not going to be getting off the ship, so we headed
down to the Atrium on Deck 6 and took part in a napkin folding
demonstration…well…three of them did.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">I
was content just to sit back and watch the molecules move around me.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiPz1k3uaBWU2feG3J5SVY8opUnsh5K_Cnsda4bj_GW0DQQHGCS81zZR9huwHP1tSb9Jf3vHITmu0ovjfjyeCVIkNMXAjhRu9qYVjNuoHiRuqR0p16Lj0QPNbI6qGK4dckuCDDR2ZUUu-ly8rXQYrGl3my0SsBk2HeleqKGFrh9Ngj0OC_ig4E2WCQI=s4032" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiPz1k3uaBWU2feG3J5SVY8opUnsh5K_Cnsda4bj_GW0DQQHGCS81zZR9huwHP1tSb9Jf3vHITmu0ovjfjyeCVIkNMXAjhRu9qYVjNuoHiRuqR0p16Lj0QPNbI6qGK4dckuCDDR2ZUUu-ly8rXQYrGl3my0SsBk2HeleqKGFrh9Ngj0OC_ig4E2WCQI=w640-h480" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi41CXmYbtV7LJkaccBad5H_YZDhWdtOeLCxfn1Vy2YosYbUSF64-QC9Kotr90ruwtJoqZf6tmJZ06gUDCCGRSSwE6xfYer8ZysyS7f8AB2wynrErKGHc2WtkyAeGQ22H6OUH1JQREsSPWL75JSV-fKs0G-cvDX1JxDhPUwx_-eiWOLInwFkW4ykgZH=s4032" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi41CXmYbtV7LJkaccBad5H_YZDhWdtOeLCxfn1Vy2YosYbUSF64-QC9Kotr90ruwtJoqZf6tmJZ06gUDCCGRSSwE6xfYer8ZysyS7f8AB2wynrErKGHc2WtkyAeGQ22H6OUH1JQREsSPWL75JSV-fKs0G-cvDX1JxDhPUwx_-eiWOLInwFkW4ykgZH=w640-h480" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjzS3OMiX0c3ADlsSW3Kj2IJ4XNakqvPhJreltaAzyuZGLqI6bA5PCqA4OGSi80hlH3MVmJoSSkPf3eGad5ZU2nBeMMHNrzyl7_9r4vmmWraHcmDeQ0H4ZwvO_XD_7u0jMuRzo6yFNJUUlMNC8h18qnBoFBPMrRz4VN-DplZnwBs5xVCy8QoWjjjEon=s4032" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjzS3OMiX0c3ADlsSW3Kj2IJ4XNakqvPhJreltaAzyuZGLqI6bA5PCqA4OGSi80hlH3MVmJoSSkPf3eGad5ZU2nBeMMHNrzyl7_9r4vmmWraHcmDeQ0H4ZwvO_XD_7u0jMuRzo6yFNJUUlMNC8h18qnBoFBPMrRz4VN-DplZnwBs5xVCy8QoWjjjEon=w480-h640" width="480" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Yeah, I was definitely a bit tired.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Once we were
done with that, we wandered around the ship a little bit; e</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">ventually, we made out way up to Deck 8 outside and chilled for a while on the
Waterfront. We enjoyed seeing the ships also in port with us, especially <i>Disney Dream</i>, the first ship that Sheri and I cruised on. </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">With the comfy chairs out there, it was a struggle to keep focused. It was not long before I
curled up and started snoring – I think Sheri was actually talking to me when I
fell asleep.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">I vaguely remember someone
saying that they were going to grab a bite to eat for a snack, and I told them
I’d catch up with them later…..</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">.…</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">…..<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">…..<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">…..<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">About 15 minutes later (that's what I keep telling myself), I woke up and sat up for a bit to watch workers touching up some paint on the <i>Dream. </i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Then I curled back up on those really comfortable sofas on the Waterfront. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">….<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">….<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">….<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">After what
seemed like about 15 more minutes, I grabbed my phone and texted the rest of the
Mushfam to see where they were…and I noticed about 4 texts that I missed.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">“You
coming?”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">“At Atrium…eating…got
tired of waiting for you”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">“In atrium
to watch a movie”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">“You
alive???”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">I was out
for over <i>three hours</i> on the Waterfront.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">In my
periphery, I thought I saw someone shoo away a priest prepared to give me last
rites.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">I sat up and
contemplated laying back down for a while, but I made my way to my feet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Once I realized that I hadn’t eaten for at
least six hours (a mortal sin on a cruise ship), I nearly panicked, but then I
realized that I wasn’t hungry.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The boys
grabbed a game of air hockey and successfully played a match without killing
each other.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We then noticed that there
was no line for the bowling alleys, so we played a game there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My high in actual bowling is 217 – I think I
might not have even broken 100 there.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhKNVQOsjLmkgFoJwY2Ccyls_fjtVdIB8boUI6LrDmfj26hDHuVQ5OnlQ8Zh-hd06BP2W5CjI2C2aa86DTfTkTXenTaN3XJJqo3-RI0IWwYYk_uHLK8Ufjm5lYom9JYYuI-MgE5BigC5qJefIhXdUZkMGV59s3069YfXZ3DEoUHdowHJoloofDzrZFV=s4032" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhKNVQOsjLmkgFoJwY2Ccyls_fjtVdIB8boUI6LrDmfj26hDHuVQ5OnlQ8Zh-hd06BP2W5CjI2C2aa86DTfTkTXenTaN3XJJqo3-RI0IWwYYk_uHLK8Ufjm5lYom9JYYuI-MgE5BigC5qJefIhXdUZkMGV59s3069YfXZ3DEoUHdowHJoloofDzrZFV=w640-h480" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh8QBAGUOO7qVOY_3PtF-nmFk1LrSxnz_cgn5TYc6NGRUEl_isAiDPIRU1rn90fNjz7SCj7TZeK68kDGm09onFeENQoCnGIe4FaPXdD0f8oeUr-Ccn6pyfdUpEEpyHZYFS62oiOKjCEGFd6Wp_q0w_zRqQJTJSbt4NV4cOeKmP_XcZWzGtDYlc6n5ku=s4032" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh8QBAGUOO7qVOY_3PtF-nmFk1LrSxnz_cgn5TYc6NGRUEl_isAiDPIRU1rn90fNjz7SCj7TZeK68kDGm09onFeENQoCnGIe4FaPXdD0f8oeUr-Ccn6pyfdUpEEpyHZYFS62oiOKjCEGFd6Wp_q0w_zRqQJTJSbt4NV4cOeKmP_XcZWzGtDYlc6n5ku=w640-h480" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">After
bowling, we did a bit more exploring of the ship and found the game room and
the portrait studio.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then we went back
to the room, as we had an hour or so before our reservation at Teppanyaki.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjKYIXtUH4flu8tXD2VWrnl-rta5W0o1X2IU6yzwIA8JvzF58fGWOEd8rZ6B6xSwgiCP8A0sw3GfhIMxzZK1yF5pRPLDQ6iHb_p_YSU6nFwRNXiZXAPRb2gSJ1oRSjMBljZ_sM_IbgYmkZnf3xls_2ShqS1DV6SsHkLqY1LcYkHox_EKBZntMM4A1-l=s4032" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjKYIXtUH4flu8tXD2VWrnl-rta5W0o1X2IU6yzwIA8JvzF58fGWOEd8rZ6B6xSwgiCP8A0sw3GfhIMxzZK1yF5pRPLDQ6iHb_p_YSU6nFwRNXiZXAPRb2gSJ1oRSjMBljZ_sM_IbgYmkZnf3xls_2ShqS1DV6SsHkLqY1LcYkHox_EKBZntMM4A1-l=w480-h640" width="480" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhN6aAzZOW7W7Lg_OJEZWH2BJI67LnCfJzs5f3jK72FnzOpR27d7gKWJGPAdZ_oj-2iq19ONcNxvFq7pPuRmPKBTEu9k6S6d760oXpjmsYyq2p6aNWcVkZgF1gKilVmZ21amj5UD7yaBOUb8TMB89u81Zga6_q52j1GoN3JxDgq2rXYPQ7vg_ujugKx=s4032" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhN6aAzZOW7W7Lg_OJEZWH2BJI67LnCfJzs5f3jK72FnzOpR27d7gKWJGPAdZ_oj-2iq19ONcNxvFq7pPuRmPKBTEu9k6S6d760oXpjmsYyq2p6aNWcVkZgF1gKilVmZ21amj5UD7yaBOUb8TMB89u81Zga6_q52j1GoN3JxDgq2rXYPQ7vg_ujugKx=w640-h480" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEirDHt0W_94xYNBProxXIKE0iSr0_njM4X7mTJE5Y8m6E791EWSDMOuBZV-oKvmmGmQ9mZyMXMSI6i7F9-lEyTRyE1rZwxqBKsUIQlB0_djr7euoOYS1UHLSAlvUydsMGfT_GPEzlU4ljvOL5v2y3fJXttC7lkPqrAo3RCV9MvB-5cvfaGEyNol5Sm_=s4032" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEirDHt0W_94xYNBProxXIKE0iSr0_njM4X7mTJE5Y8m6E791EWSDMOuBZV-oKvmmGmQ9mZyMXMSI6i7F9-lEyTRyE1rZwxqBKsUIQlB0_djr7euoOYS1UHLSAlvUydsMGfT_GPEzlU4ljvOL5v2y3fJXttC7lkPqrAo3RCV9MvB-5cvfaGEyNol5Sm_=w480-h640" width="480" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEinCnX9Iobbijg2opBwwuGoGOR74dk8m6y_O35n8rYNHGOmaV4UPhTMQ7cE85ygW21Mg7novrSNmukT9U2SqhJCV-q6QTa7yowDwtR8BUmdaiY8R1NTDEJynZvxu-bdk24TG3p52FqNKMMezl1ZLJz-PXlPhrNBTQcspC1U8TRb_oXyFilY_bCp2Ozg=s4032" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEinCnX9Iobbijg2opBwwuGoGOR74dk8m6y_O35n8rYNHGOmaV4UPhTMQ7cE85ygW21Mg7novrSNmukT9U2SqhJCV-q6QTa7yowDwtR8BUmdaiY8R1NTDEJynZvxu-bdk24TG3p52FqNKMMezl1ZLJz-PXlPhrNBTQcspC1U8TRb_oXyFilY_bCp2Ozg=w480-h640" width="480" /></a></div><br /> </span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">As soon as we made it back to the stateroom, I was out
for the count, and I woke up only after several attempts by
everyone to again make sure I was breathing. In what had to look like a scene
from <i>Weekend at Bernie’s</i>, I somehow found myself at Teppanyaki.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We met a family from New York, and I did my best to carry on a conversation with them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I may also have told our chef that he </span><span style="font-size: 16px;">kindly remove my face from the grill surface if I fell asleep during the meal. </span><span style="font-size: 16px; mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Normally, I absolutely LOVE teppan-style
dining, and I could tell that both the food and the show put on by the chef was
awesome; however, I barely ate 50% of my meal.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">For those who know me, this was an indication that Mush wasn’t quite
right.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">I felt terrible wasting the food,
but I was simply in “try to continue existing” mode.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">I wasn’t sick at all…just exhausted. It was a lesson that I had to learn on a cruise.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">After
eating, we moseyed to the aft of the ship to check out our photos and bought some to bring home...there were some really good ones:</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgqvJmwJYJfF9tX0Jr1IAva00uq9R7JXCz3EQ6x8PU-3iuVFc43CGRAeqORd1WnWwbzpbYI7o2RCzDoIVLT3isOE1Uk7V6mtDFcKMUtHXO3otbtn3bHYxCWAj5gYuR358-oOHQt4Z6WLehsTQUIBEH9DpJ5sKJFNcNC7uWEsJv2vxKkPAqMSvmIZfak=s2998" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2998" data-original-width="2400" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgqvJmwJYJfF9tX0Jr1IAva00uq9R7JXCz3EQ6x8PU-3iuVFc43CGRAeqORd1WnWwbzpbYI7o2RCzDoIVLT3isOE1Uk7V6mtDFcKMUtHXO3otbtn3bHYxCWAj5gYuR358-oOHQt4Z6WLehsTQUIBEH9DpJ5sKJFNcNC7uWEsJv2vxKkPAqMSvmIZfak=w512-h640" width="512" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhaa6cgvCKe7crMYK5Q54BFqNdTPz6F6ateV40xlM738Gan1BhDkHfYnbhd5P5P2ibv9c3uv3-9FvaIKXayJ-ES82h-WUdrSGcbfCSzADDybt8DkYSKNOkr4ycpjEwHYxQpm36oeTks2tyrY9y5uyFDigb0iCTHYpDNP2MFq2X1yY_SS2v_qjeRfOyl=s2998" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2998" data-original-width="2400" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhaa6cgvCKe7crMYK5Q54BFqNdTPz6F6ateV40xlM738Gan1BhDkHfYnbhd5P5P2ibv9c3uv3-9FvaIKXayJ-ES82h-WUdrSGcbfCSzADDybt8DkYSKNOkr4ycpjEwHYxQpm36oeTks2tyrY9y5uyFDigb0iCTHYpDNP2MFq2X1yY_SS2v_qjeRfOyl=w512-h640" width="512" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhzpqkaJJPtxVGmCHjB85C7bwFGDbbUWWdQV6NAu09yIKgNKLFxcAlCLFAwx0x0OOmcDr-_nOqow_JtUu750S3pMtErB0w4ZPhsgz5YisvOScPNkj0pAdFXZ8GfPO3Eh_bfvF3qZv7UnZCDQcRkz4_5rhUN2srd2DdPzLpZwlEGimgBWE435V2YeMZM=s2997" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2400" data-original-width="2997" height="512" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhzpqkaJJPtxVGmCHjB85C7bwFGDbbUWWdQV6NAu09yIKgNKLFxcAlCLFAwx0x0OOmcDr-_nOqow_JtUu750S3pMtErB0w4ZPhsgz5YisvOScPNkj0pAdFXZ8GfPO3Eh_bfvF3qZv7UnZCDQcRkz4_5rhUN2srd2DdPzLpZwlEGimgBWE435V2YeMZM=w640-h512" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgK-UYcHJSc8nU7kRGIDWU9Qz2ev-D9fK-NPi05CDjUptQXH-ChT0CrETOo6zjsWm63wLoOLw7pJxKyyqZ6Z3borSwpNO3tfoQvtgR3-DCA8F34qWHpz4GTiu3ISysy97d8q644rA2UizigO_62FXuUVfTZ1fLBE3pGZTpAzhDSkJYlUcdWD_cR2jbW=s2997" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2400" data-original-width="2997" height="512" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgK-UYcHJSc8nU7kRGIDWU9Qz2ev-D9fK-NPi05CDjUptQXH-ChT0CrETOo6zjsWm63wLoOLw7pJxKyyqZ6Z3borSwpNO3tfoQvtgR3-DCA8F34qWHpz4GTiu3ISysy97d8q644rA2UizigO_62FXuUVfTZ1fLBE3pGZTpAzhDSkJYlUcdWD_cR2jbW=w640-h512" width="640" /></a></div><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEirZztrqIUUv3KoS8RID_R93X734uTpVcgYGKBIGQaf483gQEieZer6y1m727p4nVDtmTNBd1wn6AxR19rvzQEsZ_PqAJx_EAnoGjBUeKjurAhr5XAps0ULdq3GsAEqrPC6cYMZsVNn0oikzvhlnOOEAfkE69FonDGpSJA2rWORcmSPauz8GJWtOG_E=s2998" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2400" data-original-width="2998" height="512" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEirZztrqIUUv3KoS8RID_R93X734uTpVcgYGKBIGQaf483gQEieZer6y1m727p4nVDtmTNBd1wn6AxR19rvzQEsZ_PqAJx_EAnoGjBUeKjurAhr5XAps0ULdq3GsAEqrPC6cYMZsVNn0oikzvhlnOOEAfkE69FonDGpSJA2rWORcmSPauz8GJWtOG_E=w640-h512" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgZgYdlTnpLM34fp2VpsaSGyARfAbNGVqen2koTJ7y3VgKRYM1yRgNPy7J-apLAo8v4oolfjCdj_Y1xM1D3nJuANLehCGwSO0x4CeloRFE6mG_2USsQz0mK-ymTPMhCawdfCgZpCqkOx5c5ZPoOpH1kUtYq97wXGnjp2sy_644OCrcW0lg5bGnU6-kv=s2998" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2400" data-original-width="2998" height="512" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgZgYdlTnpLM34fp2VpsaSGyARfAbNGVqen2koTJ7y3VgKRYM1yRgNPy7J-apLAo8v4oolfjCdj_Y1xM1D3nJuANLehCGwSO0x4CeloRFE6mG_2USsQz0mK-ymTPMhCawdfCgZpCqkOx5c5ZPoOpH1kUtYq97wXGnjp2sy_644OCrcW0lg5bGnU6-kv=w640-h512" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">I had grand plans for our last night – we
were going to check out all the favorite places one more time, see our favorite
crew members one more time, and enjoy the heck out of it!</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Nope.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">I told the
others to go out and enjoy the last evening, but they opted to stay in the
room, despite my protests. The evening was not a complete bust, though; w<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">e were graced with an amazing sunset:</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh_KONlsuk555SaUEQ9ZAPalfX45apLTRwOspkZIgj5Vpf4M7ksMcR7M9ARkQe3L6idueiVwxGLRrSx8m9Uras_npb5ZcLbukQCwsp2HHjHNB62IGvbrhlxsYLkO1ZAnS-sdxKwNtMa2lpGU3SCOfbb8xuaMMsnL9VPwRrEp1XPG1jLgLY1UCWbk_Vt=s4032" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh_KONlsuk555SaUEQ9ZAPalfX45apLTRwOspkZIgj5Vpf4M7ksMcR7M9ARkQe3L6idueiVwxGLRrSx8m9Uras_npb5ZcLbukQCwsp2HHjHNB62IGvbrhlxsYLkO1ZAnS-sdxKwNtMa2lpGU3SCOfbb8xuaMMsnL9VPwRrEp1XPG1jLgLY1UCWbk_Vt=w640-h480" width="640" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjNkdYPIdlN2OtotycfYFZ8qiBe1DXDtfrrXiTjIkTcWtKsjTRL3tEpP9fLNSgNz0i2xn0pEZ8QSY-ds3OMgR_igJHwq-svfZhhcXEp7KY-lwqVyRcD6mit2PWMCIBV2bjiiNYSTrsvyNxDxy0AgtQfXxbCW1WgDkHqBeWHDlH4Y3sekhcNAtMAHsEJ=s4032" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjNkdYPIdlN2OtotycfYFZ8qiBe1DXDtfrrXiTjIkTcWtKsjTRL3tEpP9fLNSgNz0i2xn0pEZ8QSY-ds3OMgR_igJHwq-svfZhhcXEp7KY-lwqVyRcD6mit2PWMCIBV2bjiiNYSTrsvyNxDxy0AgtQfXxbCW1WgDkHqBeWHDlH4Y3sekhcNAtMAHsEJ=w640-h480" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiq8HZd5L23nfmnfS7k2JtocOQsrLsUbmZR8rK30HkR1y0kSIVpVKIVqiLg-ksn_mIuIA9iGZ7R2ZaADMre88gFDYN7loJ_1udArll8BIqwdT2TCvjB2z5tMHuwS0yFUfgmdk5fJ1EDgKqdX1xOd6ZIY4vrRKOu1b98oTSfvvHfnPsBkVhIo_1hOXbu=s4032" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiq8HZd5L23nfmnfS7k2JtocOQsrLsUbmZR8rK30HkR1y0kSIVpVKIVqiLg-ksn_mIuIA9iGZ7R2ZaADMre88gFDYN7loJ_1udArll8BIqwdT2TCvjB2z5tMHuwS0yFUfgmdk5fJ1EDgKqdX1xOd6ZIY4vrRKOu1b98oTSfvvHfnPsBkVhIo_1hOXbu=w640-h480" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">For all I know, they could have
gone streaking on the pool deck…I wouldn’t have known any difference.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was down for the count yet again at around 8:30, and I slept through the night.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">When I woke
up the next morning, I did a little math, and I found out that I had slept nearly
14 hours of the past 24.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I readily
admitted that I felt a lot better on the day that we were getting off the
ship.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sheri and the boys had packed up
most everything the previous evening, which made the last couple of hours
onboard a lot easier, though I felt terrible for not helping at all.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think my feet may have supported a suitcase
that they threw on the bed; other than that, I did nothing.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Sunrise at Port Miami gave us another awesome sight:</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh-pQ_-ihSFR3VUEj_Ox-sV1oRV4Ikp0Gp45oT1AMHEhLk6hraTo7bruYbhmBLs5uPrm7ZuNvn2om04VlYNN1_ry3SaIdx4ZFt7_vQub8-r-L6krPPb44185j3FG4yMO6upkyVuBzxfbu2EUCcVF7VGOyPHuJkaTAek3WcYYmstvaKQU6jqES73EQjx=s4032" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh-pQ_-ihSFR3VUEj_Ox-sV1oRV4Ikp0Gp45oT1AMHEhLk6hraTo7bruYbhmBLs5uPrm7ZuNvn2om04VlYNN1_ry3SaIdx4ZFt7_vQub8-r-L6krPPb44185j3FG4yMO6upkyVuBzxfbu2EUCcVF7VGOyPHuJkaTAek3WcYYmstvaKQU6jqES73EQjx=w640-h480" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><br /><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhTeOaZ-wTPjrh17skRqjU71vLtChxzKwGur9n-LUskJTvsrS-KdrpRTgYEV2WE_TVxQr6EB2hqjbaK_ZLEVZXTwFWAkSywGYUi5SfL7EjPtylkZC_q9sxMuuw8jynvFV9Guqano4_28mwFZAxpI0lC_WOtbYArMuo0Zo-IegyATvIgRuxExM9UFWVY=s4032" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhTeOaZ-wTPjrh17skRqjU71vLtChxzKwGur9n-LUskJTvsrS-KdrpRTgYEV2WE_TVxQr6EB2hqjbaK_ZLEVZXTwFWAkSywGYUi5SfL7EjPtylkZC_q9sxMuuw8jynvFV9Guqano4_28mwFZAxpI0lC_WOtbYArMuo0Zo-IegyATvIgRuxExM9UFWVY=w640-h480" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span><p></p>We headed out and grabbed one last breakfast at Taste/Savor. We all were dreading the disembarkation and the flight back to reality, but I could tell that it was a very successful family vacation - and that the boys were definitely into cruising! <p></p><div>At the appropriate time, we headed out and crossed the threshold off the ship and back onto dry land - this is the point in the cruise that hits me the hardest as I know my time on the ship is done. As this was only my second cruise and just the first cruise for all four of us, it hit a little harder than I had anticipated as I stepped off the ship and onto the gangway. The four of us were relatively quiet as we made our way into the terminal. We found our bags fairly quickly and made our way to the line for Customs We helped the boys a bit as it was their first time with Customs, though we were not quite experts ourselves yet...it was only our second time doing it.</div><div><br /></div><div>Once we were out of the terminal, we found our meeting point for our shuttle, and we were on our way to FLL in no time at all. As we departed Dodge Island, all four of us found ourselves looking back at <i>Norwegian Escape</i> a few more times before it was out of sight.</div><div><br /></div><div>...and that, folks, wraps up the trip report!</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Since this vacation, we have taken several more cruises. I still plan on writing about what we do, though the format may be a bit different from this report. To help with readability, I'm thinking of transitioning to more of a video/photo format with a notes-style writing to supplement...essentially, the pictures and videos will be the primary format instead of the writing. I already have the first half of our next cruise completed and am working on the second half...you won't have to wait four years for this one.</div><div><br /></div><div>Thanks, all!</div><br />Mushhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10505667166856318130noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1294200876740643495.post-14396421214966724872018-05-19T10:34:00.003-05:002021-12-11T16:46:23.658-06:002017 Escaping Insanity Norwegian Cruise Line Trip Index<br />
<b><span style="font-size: large;">Pre-Trip and Introduction</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></b>
<br />
<ul>
<li><b style="color: blue;"><a href="http://blogdumush.blogspot.com/2017/07/escaping-insanity-cruising-trip-report.html" target="_blank">Part 1</a></b></li>
<li><a href="http://blogdumush.blogspot.com/2017/07/escaping-insanity-cruising-trip-report_29.html" target="_blank"><b>Part 2</b></a></li>
</ul>
<br />
<b><span style="font-size: large;">Day 0 (Arrival Day)</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></b>
<br />
<ul>
<li><b><a href="http://blogdumush.blogspot.com/2017/07/escaping-insanity-cruising-trip-report_30.html" target="_blank">Part 1</a></b></li>
<li><b><a href="http://blogdumush.blogspot.com/2017/08/escaping-insanity-cruising-trip-report.html" target="_blank">Part 2</a></b></li>
</ul>
<br />
<b><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="font-size: large;">Day 1 (Embarkation Day)</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></b>
<br />
<ul>
<li><b><a href="http://blogdumush.blogspot.com/2017/08/need-to-see-previous-day-here.html" target="_blank">Part 1</a></b></li>
<li><b><a href="http://blogdumush.blogspot.com/2017/08/escaping-insanity-cruising-trip-report_3.html" target="_blank">Part 2</a></b></li>
<li><a href="http://blogdumush.blogspot.com/2017/08/escaping-insanity-cruising-trip-report_5.html" target="_blank"><b>Part 3</b></a></li>
</ul>
<br />
<b><span style="font-size: large;">Day 2 (Chilling at Sea)</span></b><br />
<br />
<ul>
<li><b><a href="http://blogdumush.blogspot.com/2017/08/escaping-insanity-cruising-trip-report_7.html" target="_blank">Part 1</a></b></li>
<li><b><a href="http://blogdumush.blogspot.com/2017/08/escaping-insanity-cruising-trip-report_8.html" target="_blank">Part 2</a></b></li>
<li><b><a href="http://blogdumush.blogspot.com/2017/08/escaping-insanity-cruising-trip-report_10.html" target="_blank">Part 3</a></b></li>
</ul>
<br />
<b><span style="font-size: large;">Day 3 (MORE Chilling at Sea)</span></b><br />
<br />
<ul>
<li><b><a href="http://blogdumush.blogspot.com/2017/08/escaping-insanity-cruising-trip-report_22.html" target="_blank">Part 1</a></b></li>
<li><b><a href="http://blogdumush.blogspot.com/2017/08/escaping-insanity-cruising-trip-report_13.html" target="_blank">Part 2</a></b></li>
<li><b><a href="http://blogdumush.blogspot.com/2017/08/escaping-insanity-cruising-trip-report_14.html" target="_blank">Part 3</a></b></li>
</ul>
<br />
<b><span style="font-size: large;">Day 4 Swimming in (the) Trunk (of the) Bay</span></b><br />
<br />
<ul>
<li><b><a href="http://blogdumush.blogspot.com/2017/08/escaping-insanity-cruising-trip-report_17.html" target="_blank">Part 1</a></b></li>
<li><b><a href="http://blogdumush.blogspot.com/2017/08/escaping-insanity-cruising-trip-report_18.html" target="_blank">Part 2</a></b></li>
<li><b><a href="http://blogdumush.blogspot.com/2017/08/escaping-insanity-cruising-trip-report_25.html" target="_blank">Part 3</a></b></li>
</ul>
<br />
<b><span style="font-size: large;">Day 5 (Tortola - Spending our 20th Anniversary in a Bath(s) in Another Country</span></b><br />
<br />
<ul>
<li><b><a href="http://blogdumush.blogspot.com/2017/09/escaping-insanity-cruising-trip-report.html" target="_blank">Part 1</a></b></li>
<li><b><a href="http://blogdumush.blogspot.com/2017/09/escaping-insanity-cruising-trip-report_18.html" target="_blank">Part 2</a></b></li>
<li><b><a href="http://blogdumush.blogspot.com/2017/12/escaping-insanity-cruising-trip-report.html" target="_blank">Part 3</a></b></li>
</ul>
<br />
<b><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="font-size: large;">Day 6 (Ropin' and Glowin' ... the beginning of the end)</span></b><br />
<br />
<ul>
<li><b><a href="http://blogdumush.blogspot.com/2018/05/escaping-insanity-cruising-trip-report.html" target="_blank">Part 1</a></b></li>
<li><b><a href="http://blogdumush.blogspot.com/2018/05/escaping-insanity-cruising-trip-report_9.html" target="_blank">Part 2</a></b></li>
</ul>
<br />
<b><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="font-size: large;">Day 7 and Disembarkation</span></b><br /><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><b><a href="http://blogdumush.blogspot.com/2021/12/2017-escaping-insanityblowing-dust-off.html" target="_blank">Part 1</a></b></li></ul></div>Mushhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10505667166856318130noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1294200876740643495.post-56572903625209230122018-05-09T15:20:00.000-05:002018-05-09T15:20:20.220-05:00Escaping Insanity: A Cruising Trip Report. Day 6: Ropin’ and Glowin’…the beginning of the end… (Part 2)<br />
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">You can read part 1 of this day <a href="http://blogdumush.blogspot.com/2018/05/escaping-insanity-cruising-trip-report.html" target="_blank">HERE</a>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">After
eating, we did a little more exploring around the ship and stumbled upon the
Dolce Gelato store when it was open.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For
research purposes, we all had to get one.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The other
three decided that a nap sounded good.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Me?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nope!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>First, I called the box office to cancel our
reservation for that night’s 7:30 showing of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Brat Pack</i>; I would have definitely seen it again, but I think
everyone was a little tired and wanted a down day.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">I think that
this may be a place to stick a pin for future reference…the other three decided
on a nap, but I kept on going…just like I did the previous day.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Folks…this
is known as “foreshadowing”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">I headed to
the casino and was looking for either a craps table or a blackjack table with
$5 minimums. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Unfortunately, it appeared
that $10 was the lowest min on any table that I saw, so I opted to head into
the Skyline and have a drink or two while I did a little video poker.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I decided early on that $40 was the max I
would play with, and I actually only played $20…I made it last about 45 minutes
before it was gone.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">I headed
back to the room around 5:00 to see who was up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I think Aaron was the only one awake, so we watched a little TV while
the others slept.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A little while later,
the other two arose, and we decided on the Manhattan Room for supper.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Being that it was nearing 7 pm, we were
hoping there wouldn’t be too long of a wait, and we were seated within 5
minutes of arriving #yesssss<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Geronimo was
our server…he was awesomely insane!!!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He
had a huge smile and a wit that just comes naturally to some people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The entrees were a bit more hit-or-miss with
this particular meal, but it was still a great experience with the waitstaff.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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We asked to see if he would be able to take a family picture for us, and I jokingly said that he needed to be in the picture...the result?<br />
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Afterward,
we headed outside to the aft to watch the wake…well…we tried to, but I think
Sheri was getting a little vertigo from watching the wake fly behind us though
the motion was the opposite direction.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We didn’t stay in that area too terribly long.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">We still had
a little bit of time before the Glow Party was slated to start. We walked
around the shops a bit and checked out the photos that had been taken; Sheri
and I were both noting which ones we were planning to purchase.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We checked out the art for a bit, too.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Eventually, we worked our way back to the
stateroom and put on our now (just about) dry Glow Shirts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Aaron decided that he didn’t want to go,
despite prodding from me (teenagers…).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Around 10:30, Sheri, Eric, and I made our way back to Spice H2O, where
the Family Glow party had just wrapped up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I wanted to get some video of the party to post, so I wanted to get a
couple of different locations over time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We first started out near the front, just a little left of center.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This ended up being what I think was a
perfect location to experience the party.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I’ll let the video speak for itself here.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<iframe width="320" height="266" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/J66i-TQzE9M/0.jpg" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/J66i-TQzE9M?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p>More pics:</o:p></span></div>
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We then headed up a deck to get an overhead(ish) view of the party...yep...still insane!<br />
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">After about
a half-hour of footage, we all decided that we had received our fill of techno
music, so we meandered around a bit and checked in on the Chocolate Cowboy, who
had his regulars at the bar.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sheri and I
ordered a draft, while Eric got his usual cherry soda.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">…and then…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">…it hit me.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><body: sequence="" shutdown="" starting=""><o:p></o:p></body:></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Yeah, I
probably should have paced myself over the past several days.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Exhaustion came over me, and I just wanted to
crawl into bed and sleep for about ten hours.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I dragged myself up to the room, and I collapsed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As I (quickly) fell asleep, I hoped that I’d
be back to 100% for the last full day of the cruise.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Yeah, right.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />Mushhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10505667166856318130noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1294200876740643495.post-53099571491002250132018-05-07T14:55:00.002-05:002018-05-09T15:28:53.912-05:00Escaping Insanity: A Cruising Trip Report. Day 6: Ropin’ and Glowin’…the beginning of the end…<br />
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Need to see what happened on the previous day? Click <a href="http://blogdumush.blogspot.com/2017/09/escaping-insanity-cruising-trip-report.html" target="_blank">HERE</a> to go to the start of Day 5.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2ZKuFc5W7TAYTBXREZKbzZqVkU/view?usp=sharing" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Freestyle Daily for Day 6</span></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I woke up a
bit before the other three, but I just laid in bed, enjoying the slight rocking
motion of the ship as it was steaming west back towards the Bahamas.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The westward portion of the trip definitely
seemed to be less choppy than the eastern portion for this particular cruise.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Eventually,
we all were up – we were not in any real hurry today, as there were no major
plans.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We all hoped that the ropes
course would be open, and, at first glance on the balcony, the winds didn’t
seem too bad.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Despite having no plans
and not needing to be anywhere, we were all up and ready for breakfast by 7:30.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We decided Savor for breakfast.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Breakfast
was done quickly, so we decided to venture up to the Sports area to see how
busy the mini golf course was.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was
DEAD!!!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I strapped on the GoPro and made
a complete fool of myself videoing the entire round.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ll save you the gruesome documentation
(think <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Happy Gilmore</i> meets <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Blair Witch</i>).<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">After we
finished, we checked the clock to make sure we were doing good on time; we
decided to stop by the 5 o’Clock Somewhere Bar to do a little pre-Glow Party
painting on the t-shirts that we brought.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We played a bit of lawn bowling and then headed down to get in
line.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At 9:15,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>several members from the event staff showed
up with shirts, paint, and brushes/toothpicks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Jackie was among them, and, as I got up to where he was in the line, I
asked how he was still standing after doing the 70s/80s Dance the previous
night.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He smiled and admitted that he
was dragging a little bit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I told him
how great of a job he and the rest of the staff were doing as I grabbed some
paint and made my way to where the others were.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Most of the
Mushfam was putting their names/nicknames on their t-shirts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I opted for something more sentimental…a
tribute to Bob Ross.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I put a happy
little tree on the front and, after realizing just how bad/ugly/forlorn it was,
put an arrow pointing up to the neck with the words “NOT Bob Ross” underneath. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">We took our
shirts back to our stateroom to dry. The time was just before 10:00…the time
that the ropes course was to open.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sheri
determined around the time that we booked the cruise that she was definitely <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">not</b> doing the ropes course, so she
became the de facto photographer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I again
played the role of
“guy-that-looks-like-an-idiot-with-a-Go-Pro-strapped-to-his-forehead” and got
harnessed up with Aaron and Eric.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I won’t bore
you with the details….WHAT A RUSH!!!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I’ll admit here and now that our boys know no fear, and they displayed
that as they walked out on the plank that hung over the ship (with only water
below you).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Neither of them blinked when
the photographer asked them to let go:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBoO-NzpFDA0_vGOhu07UvOZDsh-fOP9ieAvbvWYKCVJiAoDl6124DZeXEjLwactx6_sHBkzdOlecEn4wOVkkVm-mw1gykBjxzsrhardtsddvt-QKhfuautlRJNzkZIDIS9cpisjeTatU/s1600/2516618.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1281" data-original-width="1600" height="512" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBoO-NzpFDA0_vGOhu07UvOZDsh-fOP9ieAvbvWYKCVJiAoDl6124DZeXEjLwactx6_sHBkzdOlecEn4wOVkkVm-mw1gykBjxzsrhardtsddvt-QKhfuautlRJNzkZIDIS9cpisjeTatU/s640/2516618.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOXyhOrkLoZPcuZFYaMcrTTxmlCAA1QBk2guXStfkYHqyBE2U1NqfEKIJv20WLkkPEgySaJ8w_e655fzu7pYuD1zvioWpEYOLG17oWOimbu1mDL0_1GLfUfYhk1vwRiC_OCrxNrH8_Fjs/s1600/2516620.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1281" data-original-width="1600" height="512" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOXyhOrkLoZPcuZFYaMcrTTxmlCAA1QBk2guXStfkYHqyBE2U1NqfEKIJv20WLkkPEgySaJ8w_e655fzu7pYuD1zvioWpEYOLG17oWOimbu1mDL0_1GLfUfYhk1vwRiC_OCrxNrH8_Fjs/s640/2516620.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I made it
out on the plank, too, and got a picture, but remember the role I was playing
(yeah, it was THAT bad).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I had a
couple of women behind me that were probably 5-10 years older than me, and,
while we waited to cross the various beams/ropes/etc., we talked quite a bit to
each other.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One of them got stuck on the
first zipline right after I crossed, and it became the talk of the rest of
their time up on the course!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">If you can
handle heights, I strongly recommend that you do the ropes course – it is about
as high on the ship as you can go, and the views are simply breath-taking on
the top level!!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">We did
pretty much the entire course in about 30 minutes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There were some places where you had to wait,
but that is to be expected.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For
something included in the cruise fare, oh yeah….definitely a thumbs-up from me!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFFuX19WABwjOurJBp5k11HCvxGvUwn14TOwST9l1K82o-qS3_t-CV27K9_nwCj7WW9g1-O5u8flCmUYbk64KDTJRv6OtXwUlcuTfY3mgXBJixeXD59oet_vjjQaJ4CqH-26SMCvBhvJE/s1600/IMG_2976.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFFuX19WABwjOurJBp5k11HCvxGvUwn14TOwST9l1K82o-qS3_t-CV27K9_nwCj7WW9g1-O5u8flCmUYbk64KDTJRv6OtXwUlcuTfY3mgXBJixeXD59oet_vjjQaJ4CqH-26SMCvBhvJE/s640/IMG_2976.JPG" width="640" /></span></a></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6caNQZlEm28dGmRVhcPCuQ_wcmLKx38JRsMwOQpE8c1Gz-EnfCBgXW_Odg2l7SU7hWMtK2Rkd-fDGxjhlmSkGVzZvHD0g0dyMPYsAggwBC23i56ycZXbkMhDCj1VI_wEqEF1joEf6wgg/s1600/IMG_2987.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1600" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6caNQZlEm28dGmRVhcPCuQ_wcmLKx38JRsMwOQpE8c1Gz-EnfCBgXW_Odg2l7SU7hWMtK2Rkd-fDGxjhlmSkGVzZvHD0g0dyMPYsAggwBC23i56ycZXbkMhDCj1VI_wEqEF1joEf6wgg/s640/IMG_2987.JPG" width="640" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Hi Mom (literally)</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJA90j4JyWmOxABAHh1topiTvUDXx1uNOgkl66OAtQudFSVnm7nf1DQF73MGK0nHckZv8Hba8V_jBAPXYcOsGxNWlbvJpX47pXoGKb3lWdzVUrIslfZy0-1Bh0J6nB_h5H3eq2SWXPKWE/s1600/IMG_2992.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJA90j4JyWmOxABAHh1topiTvUDXx1uNOgkl66OAtQudFSVnm7nf1DQF73MGK0nHckZv8Hba8V_jBAPXYcOsGxNWlbvJpX47pXoGKb3lWdzVUrIslfZy0-1Bh0J6nB_h5H3eq2SWXPKWE/s640/IMG_2992.JPG" width="640" /></span></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyWSsUhGuGqMbb3JoRtaItS3SXv2hRu6D8u9SWNAb_baQMVQ6ccFmx4s6x-2Go4vM_2SbVACaACyAZpcAsjcEtkWVlwIJnM62SBcsinnUcfVhkJ6dgcsp9G4SO_eDMZOBCJmMgCLtMRBQ/s1600/IMG_2996.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyWSsUhGuGqMbb3JoRtaItS3SXv2hRu6D8u9SWNAb_baQMVQ6ccFmx4s6x-2Go4vM_2SbVACaACyAZpcAsjcEtkWVlwIJnM62SBcsinnUcfVhkJ6dgcsp9G4SO_eDMZOBCJmMgCLtMRBQ/s640/IMG_2996.JPG" width="640" /></span></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEix35OgT6_5SD8R5huSFI2rstOnYci3aV_STeH1-vE9zoQw9UXsZSa-qACoemEgWo2-aJv5yUAdGN-JvDVRodxIlNm0JKaIWdt_8bGj18G3cFIPDuPVBiJpQLjwkL6MP9vhNqpWD3N5IAs/s1600/IMG_3008.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEix35OgT6_5SD8R5huSFI2rstOnYci3aV_STeH1-vE9zoQw9UXsZSa-qACoemEgWo2-aJv5yUAdGN-JvDVRodxIlNm0JKaIWdt_8bGj18G3cFIPDuPVBiJpQLjwkL6MP9vhNqpWD3N5IAs/s640/IMG_3008.JPG" width="640" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Show-off!</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjI6pG5wEALyjjqX2AbXwsPHaXv8X9BWY4vYxk9WKTYHW4orn7xCC9m15JDvLPc6UKCgsL55I7cWrdwo6Dwz5f5nengR-dEOSnk9nyYmKhUQlJpIcf8YTo_hkwHjApax0F2ZWzKym2ZTww/s1600/IMG_3013.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjI6pG5wEALyjjqX2AbXwsPHaXv8X9BWY4vYxk9WKTYHW4orn7xCC9m15JDvLPc6UKCgsL55I7cWrdwo6Dwz5f5nengR-dEOSnk9nyYmKhUQlJpIcf8YTo_hkwHjApax0F2ZWzKym2ZTww/s640/IMG_3013.JPG" width="640" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Aaron flying through the course</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgThGoer_jP9OmwAF5Oa3-6-C9nPtZHL3l1O4QwHikFNvA9Y4GRWqUdmt2SVhYn55ZD1Krm4T86U-SE8Z9MYg_5E5sxjvPk0BUSwFL6qPVXqFfqWLTwXs3ExShpJrZU2Batg4p4LVux_yo/s1600/IMG_3020.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgThGoer_jP9OmwAF5Oa3-6-C9nPtZHL3l1O4QwHikFNvA9Y4GRWqUdmt2SVhYn55ZD1Krm4T86U-SE8Z9MYg_5E5sxjvPk0BUSwFL6qPVXqFfqWLTwXs3ExShpJrZU2Batg4p4LVux_yo/s640/IMG_3020.JPG" width="480" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Never looked worse! (but the view up there!!!)</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZSSfmUw1xgC6gEgIOXbEFYAXxiTCsRStiTXPH_pjuNfAWKPEluiMnCdngn7ZMR7C8gdDI50TRvjqg_EIJmoYYPV9oKnL-ekuV3azpQX4zK0bj_im9OSVICXHkZwrwCOaFXV8h3oiWOEM/s1600/IMG_3021.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZSSfmUw1xgC6gEgIOXbEFYAXxiTCsRStiTXPH_pjuNfAWKPEluiMnCdngn7ZMR7C8gdDI50TRvjqg_EIJmoYYPV9oKnL-ekuV3azpQX4zK0bj_im9OSVICXHkZwrwCOaFXV8h3oiWOEM/s640/IMG_3021.JPG" width="480" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Seriously...quit showing off!</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsf26CBu1FhtPUumDNxLWLCOaDRI0izD8et9ynx5HoLWK5hAbxL6p0fVwa0a1jb5BYt7iVQeGlvhXgztHD-OHT-DINl8agG63g9zZjMCBzNHQPiW5HrPaFZtqPVyErKASgtC6Jent7BTw/s1600/IMG_3024.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsf26CBu1FhtPUumDNxLWLCOaDRI0izD8et9ynx5HoLWK5hAbxL6p0fVwa0a1jb5BYt7iVQeGlvhXgztHD-OHT-DINl8agG63g9zZjMCBzNHQPiW5HrPaFZtqPVyErKASgtC6Jent7BTw/s640/IMG_3024.JPG" width="480" /></span></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihO572Mc2v8Yv2Y0opz5a2C-scjFYWw7DLc3vmxRCb3aUTP8CbsCdjmKwV8Abk9THgBCgwWVw3he-92D2-u4-W_4XESqfkxOPcYvfQ5P0qUHOyTQO6XCo8G3VKe8aN_2xBff0x0CMeajc/s1600/IMG_3025.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihO572Mc2v8Yv2Y0opz5a2C-scjFYWw7DLc3vmxRCb3aUTP8CbsCdjmKwV8Abk9THgBCgwWVw3he-92D2-u4-W_4XESqfkxOPcYvfQ5P0qUHOyTQO6XCo8G3VKe8aN_2xBff0x0CMeajc/s640/IMG_3025.JPG" width="480" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">After the
ropes course, we headed back to the room to drop off a couple of items and then
made our way to the atrium.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was close
enough to noon (about 10:45), so Sheri and I got a couple of drinks at
O’Sheehan’s while we sat around and people-watched for a while.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The boys made their way to the arcade for a
bit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At 11:15, we grabbed some chairs at
the edge of the Atrium to watch master pastry chef Jackie do a cupcake
decorating demonstration.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Let’s just
say that there were a lot of laughs at that one!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">After that
was TV trivia, so we had to stay and try our hand at that (we didn’t win).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Once the trivia was over, we all realized
that we were getting hungry (though, knowing the boys, they likely had already
been in the buffet twice since breakfast).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The weather was beautiful…actually, I guess I should say that “The
Weather is Here…I Wish You Were Beautiful!” (it’s one of my favorite Buffett
songs). <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Yep – we
opted for lunch at Margaritaville!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Why? <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">We haven’t
had a Cheeseburger in Paradise yet!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">(plus, Orly
was playing up there)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">We walked in
and exchanged big smiles with Orly as we were seated.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sheri opted for a Landshark Lager, while the
License to Chill called to me (silver tequila, blue curacao, and margarita
mix). <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The server accidentally called it
a License to Kill, and, based on the amount of tequila, it may have been a
better name.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was GOOD, but it had
some power in it!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Of course, I
ordered another one later on (insert evil grin here)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">The burgers
were good…really good!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The boys ended up
running out after a while, and Sheri and I just sat and enjoyed being
there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Good food, great music, amazing
surroundings, and I was with the love of my life.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I might have
actually started to relax for a bit around this time.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">(Continued...<b><a href="http://blogdumush.blogspot.com/2018/05/escaping-insanity-cruising-trip-report_9.html" target="_blank">HERE!</a></b>)</span>Mushhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10505667166856318130noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1294200876740643495.post-58737151935402939402017-12-20T15:45:00.000-06:002018-05-07T14:56:30.341-05:00Escaping Insanity: A Cruising Trip Report. Day 5: Tortola! - Spending our 20th Anniversary in a Bath(s) in Another Country, Part 3Need to catch up? The previous installment can be found <a href="http://blogdumush.blogspot.com/2017/09/escaping-insanity-cruising-trip-report_18.html" target="_blank">HERE</a>!<br />
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Eventually, we headed back inside. Sheri felt a nap coming along. I was still feeling great; besides, Eric was snoring on the bed where I usually lay, so I grabbed the camera and headed out to get some more pictures of the ship. 678 Ocean Place was my destination for pics. I spent around an hour gathering pictures before heading back to the stateroom. Sheri had a little nap under her belt and was reading a little bit on the deck. The boys were still completely zonked. We talked for a little bit, while I grabbed some more deck pictures as we passed the islands as we started on our way back west towards the U.S. I know that there are a lot of pictures in here; please allow me this indulgence as I am writing this just a couple of days after Hurricane Irma went through the Caribbean, and much of the scenery will never be the same. To avoid killing everyone's data, I'll send you to the folder that contains the pictures taken. Please head to <a href="https://photos.app.goo.gl/WhPklFmA93Jdqp4b2" target="_blank">This link</a> to view the pictures from around the ship. They are, for the most part, chronological, so, once you get past the pictures from the Baths, you'll know you are close.<br />
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Around 4:15, we headed back inside from our balcony, to this sight.<br />
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Well…they weren’t waking up anytime soon…we decided that it was a good time to check out the Skyline Bar!!!<br />
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We bellied up to the bar and asked for a menu. I honestly am not 100% sure what we ordered for the first round – I want to say I got a Bahama Mama, but I can’t be certain.<br />
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While there, we talked a bit with the bartender, but, as Skyline was a little busier, we tried not to distract him much. Quite a few people came and went, tossing some money into the video poker machines embedded within the bar. One gentleman sat down next to me, and the three of us struck up a conversation as he played. He was from Minnesota, and he was on there courtesy of a Casinos at Sea offer.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Round 2!</td></tr>
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We were hesitant to order this next round, but we were both looking forward to having a Caipirinha. We learned about this drink at what Sheri and I consider “our” Skyline Bar…the one on the Disney Dream. It’s impossible not to compare them. Since the one on the Dream was the first one we visited, I think we’ll always rank that as our favorite bar on a ship. The one we on the Escape is good…don’t get me wrong on that. We’re just bigger fans of the other one. Regardless, we did order one, and the bartender didn't seem too upset that we asked for a drink that involved muddling.<br />
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Sheri finished her drink first and decided to head back to the stateroom to prepare for supper; tonight was our anniversary dinner at Cagney’s. She headed out, while I stayed back for a few more minutes to finish my drink and talk a bit longer with our new friend playing poker next to me.<br />
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The boys had awakened from the dead by the time Sheri had returned to the room, and they were already prepared for dinner. Sheri and I were ready a few minutes later, and, knowing that we were cutting it just a bit close on dinner and our after-dinner entertainment, <i>For The Record: The Brat Pack</i>, we decided to head down to Cagney’s about 15 minutes before our reservation. We were seated immediately, though the restaurant looked pretty packed. Our servers were really enthusiastic as they greeted us, and, as I handed them the voucher for the anniversary cake, our main server asked if we were planning on something immediately afterward, like a show.<br />
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I mentioned that we had reservations for <i>The Brat Pack</i>, and she said they’d accommodate us to make sure we’d make it in time.<br />
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That, folks, is amazing service!!<br />
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One of the great things about cruising and dining is the opportunity to try out new items. I decided to try Oysters Rockefeller for the first time. Hey…it’s our anniversary…we have oysters…it’s foolproof!<br />
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Yeah, none of us really liked ‘em.<br />
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Crab cakes and shrimp cocktail were also ordered for appetizers:<br />
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The soup/salad course was up next, and there was a combination of the lobster bisque and blue cheese wedges – we were too busy enjoying the food to be bothered with taking pictures!<br />
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Now…the main course. I had the smaller prime rib, while the others got strips and ribeyes (maybe one was a small porterhouse?).<br />
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Meat sweats were starting to appear…but we weren’t done! Oh no – we also had a mountain of sides! Baked potatoes, asparagus, au gratin potatoes, mushrooms, and more!<br />
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The timing of the service was about perfect! We still had time for dessert (though we didn’t have room for it!) without having to rush to make it to For The Record. The boys were struggling to decide on what dessert to have; although Sheri and I were going to share the anniversary cake (we had no idea how big it would be, but we were both stuffed), I helped the boys out by ordering an additional dessert (without telling them that they could order multiple desserts themselves).<br />
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The desserts came, and I noticed a handful of servers surrounding our table.<br />
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Uh oh…Sheri’s not big on being the center of attention – that’s why I take the lead…to deflect the attention away from her (at least that’s what I keep telling myself). Our server led the staff in an acapella version of <i>Let Me Call You Sweetheart</i>. Of course, the entire section was watching, and Sheri squirmed a little. As they approached the last stanza, the server told me to finish it…<br />
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…of course, I messed up the lyrics a bit, though, like a true professional, I covered it so that nobody would notice. It was supposed to be “I’m in love with you”, and I changed it to “ ‘Cause I love you.”<br />
The servers got a round of applause for their rendition of the song (Shh…don’t tell Sheri that a couple of them applauded for us), and several tables asked how many years we had been married.<br />
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We split the anniversary cake 50/50…well…it was intended to be 50/50, but Sheri was so full from the meal that she had a total of 3-4 bites and pushed the rest of it to me. I took a deep breath, unbuckled my belt, and mumbled that “sacrifices must be made” as I worked on finishing the rest of her cake.<br />
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Past reviews of Cagney’s have indicated that sometimes the staff seems to have too many tables going or that they try to rush you through the meal. Granted, we were on a time crunch, but we felt like the staff was absolutely awesome, and we showed our appreciation with the gratuity. Oysters aside, the food was great and the service was excellent!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6jdOwLC9REds2CQA_D7LyeHC8uSstiJiEzgNVEer5htmPJczeDP5iiGe7N5KdLgKL6D5RSnfZ5QdAq6hO3rlPI9Pon2ftmr0nwo7Z61JaR8ZGIs7yNWcSeNiQczg9dbdCyu3soET4W0s/s1600/IMG_2966.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6jdOwLC9REds2CQA_D7LyeHC8uSstiJiEzgNVEer5htmPJczeDP5iiGe7N5KdLgKL6D5RSnfZ5QdAq6hO3rlPI9Pon2ftmr0nwo7Z61JaR8ZGIs7yNWcSeNiQczg9dbdCyu3soET4W0s/s640/IMG_2966.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">View from our table at Cagney's</td></tr>
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We were all falling in love with this ship, and I mentioned that I was going to sing <i>Let Me Call You Sweetheart</i> to the ship…Sheri didn’t think it was nearly as funny as I thought.<br />
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We asked the boys to head to the Theater to snag a few seats for us for the show. They headed off, and we talked for a couple of minutes before making our way to the forward area of the ship. She peeled off to freshen up while I searched for the boys. They were a bit farther back than I was hoping for, but, since I didn’t ask them to shoot for a closer view, I couldn’t be upset. A few minutes later, Sheri texted us from the NCL app trying to find us, and we all started waving when she looked our way.<br />
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We had about 15 minutes or so before the show started, so I tried to explain to the boys a bit about what the Brat Pack was and who John Hughes was. I had previewed a number of videos from the show, since they suggested that the show was appropriate for ages 14 and up. Considering Aaron was already 14 and that Eric was already cracking “that’s what she said” jokes, we thought that the boys would be fine.<br />
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I won’t spoil anything…all I will say about the show is that it was AMAZING!!!!!! The plot isn’t the greatest, but the acting…the singing…the music…the raw emotion that sent all of the adults in the audience back to our teenage angst years…wow…just…WOW! There were some absolutely hilarious moments, and there were moments where you found yourself fighting back tears. The reprise for <i>In Your Eyes</i> from one of my favorite movies of my teenage years (<i>Say Anything</i>) saw a bit of dust appear in my eyes. Mind-blowingly good – that’s all I’ll say. I had reservations for the show for the next night in case we couldn’t make it to the show this night, and I seriously considered going back to watch it again. It’s not for everyone, but, for those who were teens in the ‘80s, it will cause a flood of nostalgia to hit you like a ton of bricks.<br />
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After the show, we walked through the atrium to see what was going on. Groove Addiction was in full swing, but we were starting to all feel a little wiped out from all that we did today. We packed a lot into our little celebration. Orly Penate wasn’t playing until 11, and I knew that Sheri wasn’t going to make it that long. We went back to our stateroom and changed clothes. The other three were ready to hit the hay, but I had a little more research to do in Spice H2O. The 70’s and 80’s Dance Parties were scheduled that evening. I grabbed the GoPro and headed out around 10:15 to catch the end of the 70’s party. I had about 20 minutes of footage, but I wasn’t sure about the copyright issues of the videos that appear in the recording; because of that, I decided not to post anything from the dance parties. The 70’s party was good – lots of music, and a decent amount of participation. The 80’s party got the dance floor nearly 100% full, though! Oh, and there is a bit of audience participation and/or special appearances by some of the biggest stars of one of the greatest decades of music! I videoed a little from the floor, and after I put the GoPro away, I may or may not have swayed a couple of times to a song or two.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8g7frsRHxq24z3zYIXUUtEgiVEeQ9w2Oo3nWzhNywqNcsic5OlXRzBCcWwJn5iUxzixWcRlaKByFx_eFe8jJBhfNozpdKK16tuAUveHbxlqzGYnQNABgFEqpaIdBZ3t3iyYUF-EDrySc/s1600/IMG_2590.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8g7frsRHxq24z3zYIXUUtEgiVEeQ9w2Oo3nWzhNywqNcsic5OlXRzBCcWwJn5iUxzixWcRlaKByFx_eFe8jJBhfNozpdKK16tuAUveHbxlqzGYnQNABgFEqpaIdBZ3t3iyYUF-EDrySc/s640/IMG_2590.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Zoomed in - there were a LOT more people on the dance floor!</td></tr>
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I headed back to the room around 11, where I saw Sheri out for the count and the boys flipping through channels to find something to watch. I got ready for bed and was out in a heartbeat.<br />
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Continued...<a href="http://blogdumush.blogspot.com/2018/05/escaping-insanity-cruising-trip-report.html" target="_blank">HERE</a><br />
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Mushhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10505667166856318130noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1294200876740643495.post-44466308682482414182017-09-18T22:04:00.000-05:002017-12-20T15:46:22.839-06:00Escaping Insanity: A Cruising Trip Report. Day 5: Tortola! - Spending our 20th Anniversary in a Bath(s) in Another Country, Part 2You can read the first part of the day <b><a href="http://blogdumush.blogspot.com/2017/09/escaping-insanity-cruising-trip-report.html" target="_blank">HERE</a></b>!<br />
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We made to the exit/entrance around 9:40 and, after a quick bathroom break, we celebrated our success the best way we could that early in the morning…RUM PUNCH AT THE POOR MAN’S BAR!<br />
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We sat around, talked, and people-watched for about 15-20 minutes before heading down to the Baths beach.<br />
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While there, I pointed out to Sheri how far out the moorings were for this beach, and we both agreed that we all would have been able to swim in from there. Around 10:30, we made our way back up to the Top of the Baths in the hopes that we would be ahead of most of the others on the excursion. There were several taxis available, and, as we started walking towards the guides, they asked if we got our free rum punch yet?<br />
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More rum punch? FREE??<br />
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<b>OUTTA MY WAY!!!!!!</b><br />
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The guide pointed us towards the location, and it was surprisingly quiet for being free alcohol. Aaron was first to the table, and I could see the guy sizing him up to guess if he was 21 or not. While I didn’t think he’d actually try to get one, I made sure the guy handing out the punch knew he was only 14 so he and his brother would get the nonalcoholic version.<br />
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We downed the drinks quickly and hopped in a taxi for the ride back to Spanish Town. On the way back, we talked with a couple of girls from central California; inevitably, the discussion turned to Wine Country, as we were interested in what they knew about (Central Coast), and they were interested in our favorite wine area (Napa/Sonoma). They were great; in fact, the entire taxi was awesome. There were a number of times where the entire taxi ended up in the same conversation or a joke.<br />
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We made it back to the ferry a little after 11:00; we had a little bit of time to just marvel at the color of the water and reflect where we were.<br />
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We again opted for the lower level inside. Though it was still before noon, the boys were wiped out, and they were snoring before we even cast off.<br />
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The ride back to Tortola seemed quite a bit smoother than the ride to Virgin Gorda, and we were walking back towards the Escape around noon. The ride back apparently made the boys starving, so we made a beeline for O’Sheehan’s as soon as we made it back on the ship.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Put...the camera...down...and let...me EAT!</td></tr>
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While there, Michell came in and sat a couple of tables away. We talked with her for a few minutes to catch up on how things were going. I had a question or two regarding my being a travel agent and being able to post cruise reports over on Cruise Critic, and she gave some great advice.<br />
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Sheri was getting a bit tired, so she headed out to our room before dessert – the boys and I (of course) had to try out dessert (in the name of research, of course). After dessert, we made our way back up to our room, where Sheri was finishing up putting some stuff away. The boys, after eating nearly half their body weight just a few minutes earlier, decided that a siesta was in order for them. They turned the television on with low volume and found a place to crash. Sheri and I headed out to the balcony to just sit, watch, and talk for a little bit. As much as we loved St. Thomas and St. John, I think we both agreed that Tortola was even more beautiful. We spent around 20-30 minutes out there, watching the watercraft arriving/leaving the area. We also watched the crowds returning to the ship.<br />
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Continued...<a href="http://blogdumush.blogspot.com/2017/12/escaping-insanity-cruising-trip-report.html" target="_blank">HERE</a>!Mushhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10505667166856318130noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1294200876740643495.post-33140982447671659332017-09-12T00:29:00.000-05:002017-09-18T22:05:13.429-05:00Escaping Insanity: A Cruising Trip Report. Day 5: Tortola! - Spending our 20th Anniversary in a Bath(s) in Another Country, Part 1I'm going to preface this post by mentioning that I am writing this only a few days after Hurricane Irma devastated many of the islands that we visited on this cruise; in particular, the British Virgin Islands, along with the U.S. Virgin Islands, received extensive damage. While I write this day's events with the same style that I have thus far done so with the rest of the report, you may notice that there is a significant increase in the pictures included. This is intentional: while these islands begin the rebuilding process, I want people to remember the way it was prior to the damage rather than remembering the impact that Irma had. That being said, please keep in mind that it will take time and money for the residents of these islands to attain some semblance of normalcy. I do not want to include any one particular organization; if you feel so inclined, I'm sure that any donation will help the people of the islands that so many love.<br />
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With that...let's get going!<br />
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Need to see the previous day? Please click <a href="http://blogdumush.blogspot.com/2017/08/escaping-insanity-cruising-trip-report_17.html" target="_blank">HERE</a>.<br />
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<a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2ZKuFc5W7TANFcwSEt6eTAteU0/view?usp=sharing" target="_blank">Daily Planner for Day 5</a><br />
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I set my Garmin Watch to start vibrating around 5:45, and I quietly got out of bed soon after. Following the same protocol as the previous day, I grabbed the GoPro and mounted it outside on the left balcony divider. I started the time lapse just in time, because the pilot’s boat was heading towards us. The other three were stirring, so I got ready first while they worked on waking up. I think it was around this time that both Sheri and I realized that today was our 20-year Anniversary. We exchanged cards and read them for a couple of moments…quick kiss, and then back to the grindstone, as we had a tight schedule in the morning.<br />
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Don’t worry…that wasn’t the extent of our anniversary celebration. More to come later on that.<br />
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We flew up to Garden Café around 6:30 and found it to be eerily quiet. We felt like we could have run around the entire buffet area naked without anyone seeing us. Still, we opted for a quick grab-and-go with some fruit and headed back to our stateroom for final prep for our excursion to Virgin Gorda and the Baths. Sheri was bust getting a day bag prepped, while I worked on getting everyone’s waterproof phone cases set up for the day.<br />
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Coming into Tortola:<br />
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At 7:00, we were at our meeting point for the excursion…the Escape Theater. We received a few quick instructions and were soon following an escort off the ship. It was a short 5- to 7-minute walk from the gangway to the area where our ferry was waiting for us. I contemplated sitting up on the open-air top of the ferry, but I had previously read about how rough this passage could be; 30-40 minutes of constant slamming into the swells might have done Sheri and Aaron in, so I suggested we headed to the lower level indoors.<br />
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Yeah…that was a good decision.<br />
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Once we were full, we left the dock and floated slowly by the Escape, which made for a good photo opportunity. Once we cleared the primary waters of Road Town, they opened up the throttle, and the sea started throwing her swells at us. Immediately, Sheri looked for the nearest life saver and contemplated putting it on. Aaron did his best to not turn green.<br />
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Eric and I put our hands in the air and treated it like a roller coaster ride (complete with an occasional, “WHEEEEEE….GO FASTER!!! LET’S GO UPSIDE DOWN!!!”). <br />
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One of the employees handed out wrist bands for all of those on the excursion as well as liability waivers. We received some more guidance on what to expect once we got to Spanish Town, which was where the ferry was to dock on Virgin Gorda.<br />
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After about 25-30 minutes (to Sheri and Aaron, it probably seemed more like 2-3 hours), we felt the engines slowing down, and we started catching glimpses of the Union Jack flying over the island we were approaching. We all thought that was pretty cool – though none of us thought about looking for it at Tortola LOL. We docked, and the two motion-sickness-prone members of the Mushfam kissed the ground soon after we hopped off.<br />
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There were members of the excursion team guiding us to open-air taxis. As one filled up, it headed out. We were fortunate enough to be the second or third taxi out, and, about ten minutes later, we entered The Baths National Park and hopped off the taxi a few steps away from the Top of the Baths Restaurant. There, we sought out our “contact” for what to expect next. We were to first head down to Devil’s Bay and enjoy the beach there for a little while; then, guides would gather us together, and we would all head into the maze. The guy giving us the instructions also pointed out the flags flying nearby: Yellow and Bluish-Purple. Yellow meant that the waters were a little choppy and that boats mooring should not leave their boats unattended. Blue/Purple? Well, that meant that jellyfish were present in the water.<br />
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Grreeeaaaattttt!!!!!! Oh, and, yes, there was at least one Spongebob Squarepants joke mentioned when the guide told us the reason for the flags.<br />
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Sheri and Aaron, having been jostled around for the better part of an hour, made their ways to the restrooms. I grabbed Eric, and we headed into the restaurant and got 4 waters (yes, they took U.S. Dollars). Sheri met us as we were heading out, and we started our way down the path to Devil’s Bay.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Inside Top of the Baths</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Slightly backed up here</td></tr>
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It was a longer walk than I had anticipated, but there were excursion guides along the way to help make sure we were headed into the right direction. When we arrived to Devil’s Bay, I think all of us took a look at others’ wrists to make sure that we didn’t miss the entrance into the rock maze.<br />
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Despite it being the longest day of the year in the middle of summer, the water was surprisingly cool! We walked around and people-watched for about 15 minutes before starting to get a little nervous about the tour.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The color of that water...WOW!</td></tr>
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Luckily, we overheard another couple talking about it, too, and they were heading to the maze. We quickly decided to follow them.<br />
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About 50 feet into the path back towards the Top of the Baths, a sign pointed us to The Baths. We jogged left past one of the guides stationed on the path, who didn’t object to the direction we were going, and we soon found ourselves at the exit of the maze. Yeah, yeah…we were going to do the Maze backwards, even though hours of research assumed we were entering from the North side. <br />
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This ended up being an amazing decision – we honestly were not sure when (or even if) the tour group was going to start going through, but we knew that we wanted to catch an earlier ferry back to Tortola and also knew that the Baths crowds increased as the morning progressed. We had minimal waits for pretty much the entire walk through, and, other than the Cathedral (which was expected), there weren’t too many people at all in there!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Obligatory Picture in the Cathedral</td></tr>
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I made sure to include several clips in the video from this day.<br />
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Continued...<a href="http://blogdumush.blogspot.com/2017/09/escaping-insanity-cruising-trip-report_18.html" target="_blank">HERE</a>!</div>
Mushhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10505667166856318130noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1294200876740643495.post-41773991563480028082017-08-22T14:59:00.003-05:002017-09-12T00:30:15.757-05:00Escaping Insanity: A Cruising Trip Report. Day 4: Swimming in (the) Trunk (of the) Bay, Part 3The previous part of this day can be seen <a href="http://blogdumush.blogspot.com/2017/08/escaping-insanity-cruising-trip-report_18.html" target="_blank">HERE</a>.<br />
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On tap for dinner tonight was the Supper Club. I had heard that the food was only so-so here, but we didn’t select this venue for the food – we were looking forward to seeing Company Men singing! We arrived around 5:40 and were seated with a column blocking some of the stage. <br />
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Oh well…<br />
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The food was pretty much as previously-described to us…”meh” . The singers definitely were talented, and I actually felt a little bad that they weren’t getting as much applause as I thought they should have received. Granted, that goes along with a dinner/show combination. They have shorter-term contracts, so seeing them on the ship might be hit-or-miss.<br />
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We were out of there by just after 7:00. It would have been about 10 minutes earlier, but the servers misplaced my room key, and we were the next-to-last-table out. No worries, though…we were planning on heading right back in for the 8:30 “Escape the Big Top” escape room. Still, we had about 75 minutes to kill, so we headed back to our stateroom so I could turn off the GoPro, which had taken about 7,000 pictures of us leaving St. Thomas (please see video). On our way to the room, though, we noticed a photographer with no wait, so we hopped in and got a couple of photos.<br />
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This little montage, taken just after we left our rooms, gives you a little peek into how we typically are.<br />
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We started making our way back to the atrium. As we went past the Cellars, we heard the distinct riff of Orly’s guitar. We waved, and he waved back. We then pointed to the boys and shrugged our shoulders jokingly. He laughed as he kept on playing. A couple of minutes later, we found ourselves back at the atrium and sniffed out the onboard Starbucks. We chose to be bad parents and decided to feed our kids’ addiction of caffeine. I’m more of a purist…just give me a venti nonfat cappuccino, and I’m happy; the other three basically had them melt a candy bar in a cup and added a shot or two of espresso (they all got mochas or frappuccinos). Since we didn’t think their pancreases were under enough duress with the candy-bars-in-a-cup, we also ordered some macaroons to share.<br />
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We sat down nearby (rather, we tried to sit down, but our legs were starting to tremor a little from the buzz) and listened to Groove Addiction finish up their set. Around 8:10, we went back to the Supper Club and got assigned to a table with just us. We were expecting to be paired up with another family or two, but it was just us until right before the start. We had a family from Florida at our table – the husband was an on-air personality for a local station, but I couldn’t remember what he said he did.<br />
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The game started, and we all paid close attention to Ringmaster JoJo (it would have been really funny if it were ringmaster Jackie Tang…all the way from Hong Kong) as he gave the instructions for the game. Now, remember…the Mushfam is competitive…this family is, too. I liked our chances! We had to solve six puzzles, which all fed into a seventh puzzle.<br />
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By the time the game ended, we had figured out two of them.<br />
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I felt like I should have put a bag over my head for the rest of the cruise, like Sylvestor the cat’s ashamed son<br />
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After leaving the Supper Club, we headed back to the Atrium. The Celebrity Dance-Off was scheduled for tonight, and research told me that this was not to be missed. We looked for some chairs and found nothing, so we headed upstairs. While we were doing this, “Sing It If You Know It” was going on. I expected this to be a lower-key event.<br />
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Yeah…it was popular. I only have about 20 seconds of usable footage, so I can't really show you how much participation there was. I'd estimate about 40-50 people on the stage, singing their hearts out, with dozens of others sitting down but still singing. One of the guys on the microphone was from Bloomington, IL, and we contemplated heading down to talk to him afterwards. The boys wanted to play pool and/or darts, so they headed out while Sheri and I looked for chairs. We found one, and when the Dance-Off started, the woman in the chair next to us left (apparently, she wasn’t a fan of Tyler).<br />
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SCORE!!! Two chairs together!<br />
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The boys came back after what I could only assume involved a game of whipping darts at each other, and the show started in earnest (after selecting the audience participation and pairing them up with the celebrity dancers). I won’t spoil it, but they had a last-minute celebrity dancer who had to ad-lib. I wish I had the camera going, because it was absolutely hilarious.<br />
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The premise behind this is that everyone dances, and, after a critique by judges (one of the judges was from Company Men), they eliminate a couple. The dancing itself is hilarious, but the interviews with the eliminated couples seriously had me crying a few times from laughing.<br />
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We had an early morning the next day, so Sheri headed back to the room fairly early. The rest of us followed about 30 minutes later, even though there were only a couple of dance teams left. We all collapsed and were snoring within a few minutes.<br />
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Day 5 starts...<a href="http://blogdumush.blogspot.com/2017/09/escaping-insanity-cruising-trip-report.html" target="_blank">HERE</a>!<br />
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Mushhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10505667166856318130noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1294200876740643495.post-15459156085750290072017-08-18T07:52:00.000-05:002017-08-22T15:04:24.753-05:00Escaping Insanity: A Cruising Trip Report. Day 4: Swimming in (the) Trunk (of the) Bay, Part 2The first part of the day can be read <a href="https://www.blogger.com/Escaping%20Insanity:%20A%20Cruising%20Trip%20Report.%20Day%204:%20Swimming%20in%20(the)%20Trunk%20(of%20the)%20Bay,%20Part%201" target="_blank">HERE</a>.<br />
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Okay…I lied. I’m taking over when we got back to Cruz Bay. We decided to hit Woody’s Seafood Saloon for lunch, since we had over an hour before we planned on taking the ferry back to Red Hook. This place has a small capacity, but it has a big reputation…especially later in the afternoon with its Happy Hour. Before then, however, it was completely fine for the entire family. I took a “When in Rome” mantra for this meal: I started with a painkiller to drink (2 oz Pusser’s dark rum, 1 oz cream of coconut, 4 oz pineapple juice, and 1 oz of OJ). We ordered conch fritters for the first time (when in Rome, right?). They were okay, but I consider them more of a “right of passage” for the islands than anything else. The Drunken Shellfish…THAT was good! I also drank a Virgin Islands “Island-Hoppin’ IPA (When in Ro…okay, it’s getting old), which was pretty decent.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiycCLBj92Jwpyz_vhZ9Eh0XD8vEwwH5RwZ03D3bhyiNKeWhw6jHL5I7RtaaeUYzSblsYavR4F8u0wEPfCqKxATdrBQWivW8vsXWkYEpO79b2vM6DEj5Z3cLciY2Nq3UsuM_IWWkKM6JOM/s1600/IMG_2511.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiycCLBj92Jwpyz_vhZ9Eh0XD8vEwwH5RwZ03D3bhyiNKeWhw6jHL5I7RtaaeUYzSblsYavR4F8u0wEPfCqKxATdrBQWivW8vsXWkYEpO79b2vM6DEj5Z3cLciY2Nq3UsuM_IWWkKM6JOM/s640/IMG_2511.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I love their menu!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkHSALbM6UoTV7o_0UtYMXqZtFU50YPTj455idicD2aM0xP5U6flsUMoH1hjS-e2ZXSXrCBEFXNAVbmHSTGc8O9u4OP00ZuYmaAhyYYq2zizc77IX_aw5zHQnlHzNbsRAdPTkqHTIVeAg/s1600/IMG_2514.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkHSALbM6UoTV7o_0UtYMXqZtFU50YPTj455idicD2aM0xP5U6flsUMoH1hjS-e2ZXSXrCBEFXNAVbmHSTGc8O9u4OP00ZuYmaAhyYYq2zizc77IX_aw5zHQnlHzNbsRAdPTkqHTIVeAg/s640/IMG_2514.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Conch Fritters</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4ptg8G1CrKeHVLMpbipPQpjj6JFvdpxOOlb3AxkJUmgZKyx5kl8jS-5L_IMAudIfY4Rv9BEl7u_a20RKAkVQow5ORJWve9dj21dXl8aBviKz6VZjry8apc2wWhLUKrF3XSArgf8PbTi0/s1600/IMG_2517.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4ptg8G1CrKeHVLMpbipPQpjj6JFvdpxOOlb3AxkJUmgZKyx5kl8jS-5L_IMAudIfY4Rv9BEl7u_a20RKAkVQow5ORJWve9dj21dXl8aBviKz6VZjry8apc2wWhLUKrF3XSArgf8PbTi0/s640/IMG_2517.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Drunken Shellfish and a good IPA...Life is Good!</td></tr>
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While we were there, we struck up a conversation with a couple from Texas who were also enjoying their vacation in the islands. We talked for quite a while about getting down to St. John, the national park, and Trunk Bay. <br />
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Eventually, we did have to leave, though I could have stayed there and people watched (and drank) for another hour or so. We wanted to make it back to St. Thomas with plenty of time, though, so we headed to the ferry terminal and hopped on the 2:00 ride back to Red Hook. After we got off the ferry, we were directed to a van with air conditioning for the ride over to Charlotte Amalie. For the same price as an open-air taxi, you know we took hold of the opportunity and got in! We shared the ride with another couple that we saw at Trunk Bay as well as on the taxi ride to Trunk. The driver stopped for us to get a really good shot of the Havensight Docks where the Escape and Carnival Magic where tied up. He dropped us off near the shops (Garden and Main…or Dronningens Gade, if you are a local). As soon as we crossed the street, we found ourselves in the middle of a number of jewelry stores.<br />
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Now is probably the right time to tell you that I had an ulterior motive for going this way. Our 20-year anniversary was the next day. Again, with huge THANK YOU to my friend Karen (see pre-trip report), I was on the lookout for a popular Crucian Hook bracelet to see if Sheri thought they were neat or not.<br />
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Sheri immediately smelled something, because I didn’t do my typical routine of whining, sitting down in the middle of the store, and asking if she was done yet when it comes to shopping. I poked my head into one store and quickly inquired (out of earshot from Sheri) about hooks (they didn’t have any), and she looked at me quizzingly. She then popped her head into a linen store, and we all entered to look around. Aaron and Eric immediately started whining, sitting down in the middle of the store, and asking if we were done shopping.<br />
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I noticed that the back of the linen store had a small jewelry area, so I followed Sheri into there. She started browsing around, while I told her that I was going to sit down and rest for a while…<br />
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…and talk to the guy about the hook bracelets he had on display. <br />
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She was definitely on to me, and she did like one of the bracelets she tried on. I told her that Karen had already helped me out with this and that it was an anniversary present a day early. The price was good, and she didn’t put up much of an argument.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhHVh2hLcpw2w59bxyaapqF_5EcJFOCbv5qaaiMxufF_HxdAXZG7eWIICNpuQWUwF1fDt-NCYLJi0pWz6vMrbXt-dFFCMEZAkgR2bQqHBS7j7BSuAjOQNObcKVr-5_KWLQVMVQCGt0ofY/s1600/IMG_2527.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhHVh2hLcpw2w59bxyaapqF_5EcJFOCbv5qaaiMxufF_HxdAXZG7eWIICNpuQWUwF1fDt-NCYLJi0pWz6vMrbXt-dFFCMEZAkgR2bQqHBS7j7BSuAjOQNObcKVr-5_KWLQVMVQCGt0ofY/s640/IMG_2527.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We found out after the picture that the hook faces toward the heart if it's taken and away from the heart if searching.</td></tr>
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After we bought the bracelet, we grabbed a couple of waters and picked up boys, who were still wailing on the floor of the linen shop. We walked through an arcade down to the waterfront and shooed away the dozens of taxi drivers offering us a lift to the ship (“it’s three miles over there…you don’t want to have your lady walk all that way, do you?”…hint…it’s about a mile, and she wanted to walk).<br />
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As we approached Havensight, we grabbed a picture or two in the Shoppes at Yacht Haven Grande:<br />
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....and, finally, we're on the dock.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7sVHDgmgVy3CA2DMG_MWQfVOeSkGFUQ5V0N-gBN-0S8DSVyPJQybOwzFYIv_3XyO-DlfDhUy1NojMR0cdeyqgKmLbeQnfZVBu0lStuI6m0Xl-DetdFLzaMtGVJiZy6j2NEZOsPOr7Ucg/s1600/IMG_2912.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7sVHDgmgVy3CA2DMG_MWQfVOeSkGFUQ5V0N-gBN-0S8DSVyPJQybOwzFYIv_3XyO-DlfDhUy1NojMR0cdeyqgKmLbeQnfZVBu0lStuI6m0Xl-DetdFLzaMtGVJiZy6j2NEZOsPOr7Ucg/s640/IMG_2912.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yep...definitely a tech nerd on vacation...</td></tr>
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When we got to Havensight, we first had to go through a mild security stop. We showed our passports and were cleared. I asked if pictures of the passports worked, and the guard we had said, “Yep!”<br />
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We then got to experience our first boarding event that Norwegian puts on. We were offered water/lemonade, had lavender-infused washcloths being handed out…it was a nice touch! A few minutes later (with the typical metal detectors upon getting back on the ship), we were clear and walking on the Escape. It was around 3:30, and the ship was really quiet, since there were still a couple of hours left before we were scheduled to leave St. Thomas. We were all a little thirsty, so I suggested we head up to another bar that we had not yet tried…5 o’Clock Somewhere!<br />
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Now, having researched the heck out this trip, I knew that everyone’s favorite bartender, Clarense, was usually seen there. As we walked up, we saw the man…the myth…the legend. It was the Chocolate Cowboy!<br />
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There was only one other couple there, and, after making sure the boys were okay sitting at (near) the bar, we sat down nearby and introduced ourselves. I mentioned to Clarense that he had a huge following and was widely regarded as the best bartender on the ship. The couple next to us played it up and considered him royalty.<br />
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We perused the drink menu, and the boys asked for their go-to drinks (Pepsi and Cherry Pepsi). Cowboy got the glasses and opened up the ice tray…only to realize he forgot to fill the ice!<br />
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“And here you are calling me the best bartender on the ship…”<br />
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We all had a good time with that one for a while.<br />
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I honestly can’t remember what it was that I ordered…maybe you can figure it out from the pic below:<br />
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Sheri asked for a frozen margarita, but the machine wasn’t quite ready yet – he said he’d make sure she had a frozen one in front of her in 15 minutes and then made her one on the rocks.<br />
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If you haven’t had the opportunity to sit down and just talk with Clarense, DO IT! This guy tells it like he sees it with nothing held back, and his stories are epic! Speaking of epic stories, the couple next to us asked if we got off the ship, and we regaled them with our journey to Trunk Bay. We then returned the favor and asked them what they did.<br />
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“Well…we were SUPPOSED to go to Trunk Bay, too…”<br />
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Everyone stopped to listen to this one.<br />
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They were newlyweds and were enjoying themselves a lot the night before (drinking…not what you typically expect on a honeymoon). They were so hung over that morning that they just stayed in their stateroom to try sleeping it off!<br />
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Right at 15 minutes, without Sheri even realizing it, a frozen margarita was placed in front of her.<br />
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Chocolate Cowboy = Awesomeness<br />
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The thing that really got me, though, with Cowboy, is that, as people walked by, he’d call them by name and start making their drink. He probably had several hundred patrons at the bar so far during the cruise, yet he was able to remember the majority of their names and what they liked to drink. Being from Honduras, he is happy that the Escape is doing the western itineraries so he can occasionally see his family. There is a rumor that he might be headed to the Bliss when it starts its sailings; while it would be a loss for the Escape, you definitely want some of your best employees on the newest ship.<br />
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We stayed there talking with him and the other cruisers bellying up for about 45 minutes before sending the boys up to start getting ready for supper. We stuck around for another 10-15 minutes before bidding him adieu and heading back up to our stateroom to get ready too.<br />
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We finish up our day <a href="http://blogdumush.blogspot.com/2017/08/escaping-insanity-cruising-trip-report_25.html" target="_blank">HERE</a>.<br />
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Mushhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10505667166856318130noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1294200876740643495.post-58149108279556149312017-08-17T15:25:00.001-05:002018-05-19T10:28:19.256-05:00Escaping Insanity: A Cruising Trip Report. Day 4: Swimming in (the) Trunk (of the) Bay, Part 1Just starting to read this? The previous day starts <a href="http://blogdumush.blogspot.com/2017/08/escaping-insanity-cruising-trip-report_22.html" target="_blank">HERE</a>.<br />
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<a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2ZKuFc5W7TAQWxNYndQems2dVE/view?usp=sharing" target="_blank">FREESTYLE DAILY for Day 4</a><br />
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They say that a picture is worth a thousand words…this is one of those days where my initial intent was to let the pictures speak for themselves and not provide much narration. Then I remembered that I'm long-winded and boring and that I had to drone on about stuff that nobody cares about to keep my reputation intact. <br />
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With that, let's begin our first port day in beautiful St. Thomas!<br />
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I was wide awake early on (5:30), mainly because I wanted to get a time lapse of the sunrise and our arrival into St. Thomas. I got the GoPro set up and started, and I then started going over the itinerary for the day…again…and again…and again…<br />
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The game plan for the day was to do our own thing and head to Trunk Bay. This would involve a little bit of logistics and a bit of luck on the timing. We were going to try to get off the ship early and then grab a taxi to Red Hook. From there, we hoped to catch the 9:00 ferry over to Cruz Bay and then grab another taxi to Trunk Bay. To get back, we had to reverse it. <br />
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The first order of business, though was sustenance! We headed up to Garden Café, and it was markedly busier than we anticipated. We decided to forego anything that would take a while (omelets were out), so Sheri and I opted for Eggs Benedict while the boys went with the quick pancake and/or cereal fare. I’ll admit, I had my doubts with the eggs, but this morning’s offering was remarkably good!<br />
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There weren’t any 4-tops available (even singing Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch didn’t help), (wow…that was bad, even by my relatively low standards), so we split up and grabbed a couple of 2-tops. I ended up sitting next to a Korean War veteran from the Chicago area who was dining with his granddaughter. We enjoyed a brief conversation as we ate. We couldn’t stay too long, however, because we were on a mission to get off the ship early. We bid them adieu and headed back to the stateroom for final preparation.<br />
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Checklist:<br />
Swimming attire and rash guards…Check!<br />
GoPro…Check<br />
Lots of cash (many places do not accept credit/debit cards…taxis, ferry, etc)…Check!<br />
Day Bag…Check!<br />
Phones in recently-purchased waterproof cases…Check! (the money fit in there well…FYI)<br />
Identification…Check!<br />
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I wanted to test things out a bit, so I did bring our passports with us, but I also had photos of the passports on our phone. I know – there is often a little controversy with taking passports with you vs keeping them on the ship. This was a fact-finding mission for me as a travel planner to see what all would fly.<br />
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We had a little time, so I did a quick download of the time-lapse shots from earlier. As I did that, the other three questioned why I didn’t shoot the arrival into port. I wanted to do it, but logistics wouldn’t really let me – I had enough storage space, but the battery would have been the potential issue. The Hero Session 4 has a rechargeable battery that can’t be swapped out. While the camera recharged and downloaded, the others started shooting pictures on the verandah.<br />
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Around 7:45-7:50, we started to make our way down to the lower decks, and we were rewarded with being off the ship at around 8:01! We made it to the taxis by 8:10 and were on our way soon afterward. All of us were heading to either Red Hook (us) or Sapphire Beach or Coki Beach (everyone else). When the driver turned into Secret Harbour resort, we all kind of looked around, wondering what was going on. The driver hopped out and seemed a bit perturbed that nobody got out. He hopped back in and headed towards Red Hook – he pulled into a strip mall by Ocean Surfari Charters and said that this was the stop for Red Hook. We hopped out, lost and not sure which way to go. We figured it out after about five minutes and, as two other taxis flew by us, made it to the terminal. <br />
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Though we had the stop at Secret Harbour and then got dropped off around twelve miles from the terminal, we still had about 20 minutes to spare before the 9:00 ferry. I hopped in line and got four round-trip tickets. I then put my phone into working mode and started working on emails (stupidly, I (and Sheri) might add). We boarded and raced an auto ferry over to Cruz Bay (we won). This wasn’t a rough ride at all, luckily. We deboarded and found a taxi to get on in about three minutes. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Coming Into Cruz Bay</td></tr>
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The taxi ride to Trunk Bay was beautiful, and I was really looking forward to seeing Sheri’s face when we got to the overlook. I did what I could to keep her from seeing it early online; it was going to be perfect!<br />
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Of course, we flew by the overlook, and we only had about a 2-second glimpse of one of the most-photographed spots in all of the Caribbean.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Taken at about 25-30 mph</td></tr>
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I was having bad luck with taxis today.<br />
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We pulled into Trunk Bay, and it looked like things were quiet. We paid our admission fee (yes, they take credit card) and then rented some snorkeling gear before making our way to the beauty of the beach.<br />
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From here, I’ll let the video take over until we get back to Charlotte Amalie.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/_Is91zB7aQA/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/_Is91zB7aQA?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></div>
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Continued...<a href="http://blogdumush.blogspot.com/2017/08/escaping-insanity-cruising-trip-report_18.html" target="_blank">HERE</a></div>
Mushhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10505667166856318130noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1294200876740643495.post-14016840034519846662017-08-14T21:26:00.001-05:002017-08-17T15:25:48.604-05:00 Escaping Insanity: A Cruising Trip Report. MORE Chilling at Sea (Part 3)The previous installment can be viewed <a href="http://blogdumush.blogspot.com/2017/08/escaping-insanity-cruising-trip-report_13.html" target="_blank">HERE</a>.<br />
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On the agenda for dinner tonight was Food Republic. Aaron, who is a big sushi fan, was REALLY looking forward to this one. We started to make our way down around 5:15, and, at 5:30, when it opened for service, we were the second ones to be seated.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhU8eQ3OuU9kXw6GJHPM1UCWsnj-SdL1XWNsat2q7HO40rCXCLXTIkgXi8_fUVaTTCTgybkhD0UX8Slg4gbiEV_VYtuJdZkR3yusmoky1tLcULB0q2IJ3zAUP2ELREPNKPzWhDBdK7ewqs/s1600/IMG_8244.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhU8eQ3OuU9kXw6GJHPM1UCWsnj-SdL1XWNsat2q7HO40rCXCLXTIkgXi8_fUVaTTCTgybkhD0UX8Slg4gbiEV_VYtuJdZkR3yusmoky1tLcULB0q2IJ3zAUP2ELREPNKPzWhDBdK7ewqs/s640/IMG_8244.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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Food Republic is another one of those hidden gems onboard. Once word gets out, the place tends to get busy; however, if you go there on the first 2-3 days of the cruise, it tends to be quiet. The menu is crafted by the geniuses from the Pubbelly Restaurant group, including chefs Jose Mendin (a 5-time semifinalist of the James Beard award), Sergio Navarro, and Andreas Schreiner, who are very well-known in the Miami area. It is an Asian fusion restaurant with a little bit New England sprinkled in. Guests order from iPads located at each table, and, as a plate is made, it comes out to the table; there is no order of entrees, per se.<br />
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The first order of business was the drink selection. Sheri decided on a “Revolutionary Cure” (Mandarine Napoleon…orange liquor, apple juice, cinnamon syrup, ginger beer, and fresh lemon), while I ordered a Toro Toro (silver tequila, chipotle pineapple syrup, and lime juice…it was interesting!).<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXFTVBCvr1osWRdmTEfJQX0wPXzJckPOxQDuTDnmhLUG4jbJgxBY9Puk_mH1OPBHg7K2yofj8WjAoi2_cKGzgtPLnla3qS0yvSQlh6AMgy6FRA9oSALyFv_Hd_y4nvkbQiwdb9EC7TdUw/s1600/IMG_2483.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXFTVBCvr1osWRdmTEfJQX0wPXzJckPOxQDuTDnmhLUG4jbJgxBY9Puk_mH1OPBHg7K2yofj8WjAoi2_cKGzgtPLnla3qS0yvSQlh6AMgy6FRA9oSALyFv_Hd_y4nvkbQiwdb9EC7TdUw/s640/IMG_2483.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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We let the boys have a little more free reign on what to order, and it was ALL amazing!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtXnjBd7hfCCNBlj0BbKH8LqYrFHzI9DrsLua-U5G3OTTwKtOl3pFBPkTOuhOFOR8A4JbH3yufH_-SdQgm3Vs2RWUVSDyRhv88kDf-s8jlA02slzVHZlcdCPvOsY-PJGlX0-m4GV35VAw/s1600/IMG_2485.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtXnjBd7hfCCNBlj0BbKH8LqYrFHzI9DrsLua-U5G3OTTwKtOl3pFBPkTOuhOFOR8A4JbH3yufH_-SdQgm3Vs2RWUVSDyRhv88kDf-s8jlA02slzVHZlcdCPvOsY-PJGlX0-m4GV35VAw/s640/IMG_2485.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tiger Roll</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoQQVii0b09GkViGPjuRYYYrPrWaiIfmHhJHJ0aVunl2yZnNKq092agnyDBR4zLKjW8cGjn0U4e2h1xaaSEHRhK2EtG0C2c14QYSPof7zY9BduYsntXGyZFWeF_fe6HbP2qWi74034zWQ/s1600/IMG_2487.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoQQVii0b09GkViGPjuRYYYrPrWaiIfmHhJHJ0aVunl2yZnNKq092agnyDBR4zLKjW8cGjn0U4e2h1xaaSEHRhK2EtG0C2c14QYSPof7zY9BduYsntXGyZFWeF_fe6HbP2qWi74034zWQ/s640/IMG_2487.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Chorizo Dates</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVr09RkO03gsSE3VOniMeOG3HATLdgeOGE90ZpuXkc9esQ_yA5wCbknlgRvbh82ZUlJZbksvyIOuyMYUD1QJPvinJLLiFuaaxXqJTrh7n-TNpNobPe-2cEWtezMe8hqDzPtW_KkPhUfkA/s1600/IMG_2488.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVr09RkO03gsSE3VOniMeOG3HATLdgeOGE90ZpuXkc9esQ_yA5wCbknlgRvbh82ZUlJZbksvyIOuyMYUD1QJPvinJLLiFuaaxXqJTrh7n-TNpNobPe-2cEWtezMe8hqDzPtW_KkPhUfkA/s640/IMG_2488.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Short Rib & Corn</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizM3FITgpmtouyss9aJXOew9NHnt-p09w2aZCeLD4U9ihDe0CxGtFa7b_-neixPDcB6KTORxEV1zO4QOFuR9k4eD1g11hTxDUFCMYnUvT68XLVpsjotS2n-xOejLRl23URilJNdDN3GQY/s1600/IMG_2491.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizM3FITgpmtouyss9aJXOew9NHnt-p09w2aZCeLD4U9ihDe0CxGtFa7b_-neixPDcB6KTORxEV1zO4QOFuR9k4eD1g11hTxDUFCMYnUvT68XLVpsjotS2n-xOejLRl23URilJNdDN3GQY/s640/IMG_2491.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Philly Roll</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL0v1s003yx9IvOvotAlG4RAZhi53vvFLoNbZP-CaBWlGZVYbVzratYjrQ9LBAE21XFZrR2zC4ZQnzkUkN6LcpB5An85meKwANl87PP-4zEG75Vv9NSMhZrrPGrJC-wem_8KY25glVyuk/s1600/IMG_2489.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL0v1s003yx9IvOvotAlG4RAZhi53vvFLoNbZP-CaBWlGZVYbVzratYjrQ9LBAE21XFZrR2zC4ZQnzkUkN6LcpB5An85meKwANl87PP-4zEG75Vv9NSMhZrrPGrJC-wem_8KY25glVyuk/s640/IMG_2489.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pork Belly & Scallions</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtI0348Kj-s1fbUhtQkv2GdHWeNQNmOdGLKeDkcQM8Sm41465eSYznzYE4FDH2m4c_mBR2OyL1gX4huAr5NFUdfx5XtJkj2a-JLzb-BGQ1QjgkQvYJDlw2ICU-3Rn8q36yd2MvwPaD9W0/s1600/IMG_2490.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtI0348Kj-s1fbUhtQkv2GdHWeNQNmOdGLKeDkcQM8Sm41465eSYznzYE4FDH2m4c_mBR2OyL1gX4huAr5NFUdfx5XtJkj2a-JLzb-BGQ1QjgkQvYJDlw2ICU-3Rn8q36yd2MvwPaD9W0/s640/IMG_2490.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
Chicken Teriyaki w/ Ginger Miso</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigSfrc5ThSauuo2-n1v2AdETSvPRPWR-W_t_GPppGlgHOpqFy5UZbT1vxDotSkOBRmd-fBkTusEMo7atPT8jAaiLr-ZiWltporLIASDbZ-RnmoZoh-fAiLFqYj1b3S1-K6x3jgpQ7UUS8/s1600/IMG_2492.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigSfrc5ThSauuo2-n1v2AdETSvPRPWR-W_t_GPppGlgHOpqFy5UZbT1vxDotSkOBRmd-fBkTusEMo7atPT8jAaiLr-ZiWltporLIASDbZ-RnmoZoh-fAiLFqYj1b3S1-K6x3jgpQ7UUS8/s640/IMG_2492.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dragon Roll (we think)</td></tr>
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It was a la carte and not part of the specialty dining package that we had, but we would all agree that it was worth the price!!!! You pay as you order at Food Republic, so we didn’t have to wait for the final check. We were out of there around 6:30…less than an hour for our meal!<br />
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Both Entourage and Splash had events going on at 7 that the boys expressed interest in. This was good, because Orly was going to be at District starting at 6:45. We made our way aft and dropped Aaron off first before heading to the Sports Court to drop off Eric. Kidless again, we made our way BACK to Deck 8 Forward and headed into the District. Orly had already about half-way into his set, and he again gave us a “Hi guys!” as we found some chairs.<br />
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Before the cruise, I have delusions of grandeur to attempt to taste every beer that the District had; some words of encouragement from a brother-in-law or two made me even more set on trying it. There was just too much to offer around the ship, however, and the beers I ordered that night were the only ones I had at the District. I feel like I should turn in my man card.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAr_f8AmPV-V4mqzWmuTLA1f7xwxaSmBF2LtkfoLK0IWE_rGhF7cp78gXRNlt7nq5_l5Ql_KjnRUmhrdRVl9YQ2SOkP-5j5cldTIWtYVX1wqXIPPUEMxDi3l-Snyy4p4_rJueZPF9VQ68/s1600/IMG_2821.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAr_f8AmPV-V4mqzWmuTLA1f7xwxaSmBF2LtkfoLK0IWE_rGhF7cp78gXRNlt7nq5_l5Ql_KjnRUmhrdRVl9YQ2SOkP-5j5cldTIWtYVX1wqXIPPUEMxDi3l-Snyy4p4_rJueZPF9VQ68/s640/IMG_2821.JPG" width="480" /></a></div>
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Orly finished his first set and, during his break, he performed some surgery on his guitar; mind you, we all thought it sounded amazing before he started working on it. Before he started his next set, I asked him if he was okay with me recording a little bit. He gave the okay, and I got set up to get some footage of his show. I then told him that he had an impact on our older son and asked us about starting lessons. Orly smiled and said that he’d love to talk to Aaron about it and show him a couple of things on the guitar.<br />
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Me: jaw hits the floor<br />
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We did tell Aaron that evening; unfortunately, the timing just didn’t work out for them to meet up. Still, his willingness to talk to him spoke volumes. I doubt that he’ll ever read this, but I wanted to express our thanks for the amazing job he does on the ship!<br />
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Sheri and I were content just staying in the District for a few hours. It wasn’t too loud in there, the motion wasn’t too much for Sheri, and we were really enjoying ourselves! Howl at the Moon was slated to start at 8:30, though, and we had heard really good things about that show. We decided to listen to Orly until 8:10 and then head to Headliners for Howl; we both agreed that we could come back here if we weren’t feeling the dueling pianos show. We finally pulled ourselves out of the District around 8:18 and did the short walk to Headliners. We figured it would be close to full – we weren’t expecting there to be no chairs available at all when we got there.<br />
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Yes, folks, that was me trying to tell you to arrive EARLY for Howl at the Moon.<br />
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We stood in the back, and the show started a few minutes later. <br />
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There were a couple of occasions where we nearly had tears in our eyes from laughing. The talent of the pianists is remarkable, and they’re quick on their feet with some of the lyrics. Eric texted to say that he was signing out, and we directed him to head to Headliners, not knowing if he would like the show or not. He found us about 15 minutes later. Aaron texted us not long after Eric did, and all 4 of us ended up really enjoying the show; we stayed until around 10:45…a little before the 11:00 cutoff where they were going to amp the show up to an 18+ audience.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0G818cRN9L63NlQm-4xHR51XmRNv2oHPxUqUNFRlTTIorYfYiQnmANv7OBmhTf25uuaZkt-cbijsbrXiTOoNYWA-pYQK973Ao76Xa_t0QC91f3f0gSP0X7GSO3xINFJYILB_VpOCn_NU/s1600/IMG_2825.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0G818cRN9L63NlQm-4xHR51XmRNv2oHPxUqUNFRlTTIorYfYiQnmANv7OBmhTf25uuaZkt-cbijsbrXiTOoNYWA-pYQK973Ao76Xa_t0QC91f3f0gSP0X7GSO3xINFJYILB_VpOCn_NU/s640/IMG_2825.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tyler on the drums</td></tr>
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For those who have never seen this, I’m going to compare it to something at Disney World, since the current majority of my followers on my blog are Disney freaks. If you take Jellyrolls and merge it with the electric audience participation that you see with Yeeha Bob over at Port Orleans Riverside’s River Roost and then make it a bit more PG-rated, you’ll have something along the lines of Howl at the Moon. The video gives a good feel for what to expect with the show. <br />
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If you haven't seen the video yet, it can be viewed here:<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/lL4PolPqkxg/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/lL4PolPqkxg?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></div>
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Tyler, the Cruise Director, made a cameo appearance and ended up staying for a good 20+ minutes. He even had a singing part, which I won’t spoil. One of the funnier parts was during his song: his crew member phone went off during his song, and, in perfect step, sang “I’ll be there in ten minutes” to whomever it was on the other end of the line. We left before it went to adults-only, but we could tell from some of the other humor that these guys would probably be just as funny, if not funnier, with the handcuffs taken off (or put on, for that matter).<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOq60kOINILlUK3A2tYztt0NawbrqV43BzARzehINtbwBuyNix1XZUI7di48f1aeSDly_-DBPCC-3Ob4P8MTyMkf0MjAWp_zel6hIjE4ksa0c4sopLjsRgaBG7JhwIUUNa5mdqrLKE48k/s1600/IMG_2828.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOq60kOINILlUK3A2tYztt0NawbrqV43BzARzehINtbwBuyNix1XZUI7di48f1aeSDly_-DBPCC-3Ob4P8MTyMkf0MjAWp_zel6hIjE4ksa0c4sopLjsRgaBG7JhwIUUNa5mdqrLKE48k/s640/IMG_2828.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tyler's (hilarious) solo</td></tr>
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I actually grabbed the slip of paper used to request a song and filled out "20-year Anniversary" for the event, and for the song....<br />
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...without Sheri seeing it...<br />
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...I wrote down Jimmy Buffett's Why Don't We Get Drunk...<br />
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I chickened out, though, and didn't turn it in. I did show it to her, though, and got a good laugh from it.<br />
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We shipped the boys out a few minutes before we left in the hopes that they would start getting ready to turn in for the night. They were pretty much ready when we arrived at the stateroom. This day turned out to be another fantastic one, but we were all looking forward to tomorrow, when we arrived at St. Thomas!<br />
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Day 4 starts <a href="http://blogdumush.blogspot.com/2017/08/escaping-insanity-cruising-trip-report_17.html" target="_blank">HERE</a>.<br />
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Mushhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10505667166856318130noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1294200876740643495.post-60541288912244098692017-08-13T19:53:00.001-05:002018-05-19T08:31:36.887-05:00Escaping Insanity: A Cruising Trip Report. MORE Chilling at Sea (Part 2)Part 1 can be found <a href="http://blogdumush.blogspot.com/2017/08/escaping-insanity-cruising-trip-report_22.html" target="_blank">HERE</a>.<br />
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After lunch, we decided to head up to the Sports area to see how busy the mini golf was…with the ropes course closed, it was jammed! At the same time, we all glanced at the water slides and noticed that the lines weren’t too bad. It was unanimous – we were heading back to our room and putting on our swimming attire. <br />
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Up first was the Aqua Racer – an enclosed slide that you ride tubes in. We started up the stairs and grabbed tubes. As we ascended the flights of stairs, I realized two things:<br />
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<ol>
<li>It was REALLY windy…holy cow…it nearly took your breath away; and</li>
<li>The Ms. Norwegian Escape contest was going on, and, as we got higher and higher up, I could actually see some of the contest…holy cow…it nearly took your breath away.</li>
</ol>
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<br />
(something tells me I’m going to pay for that last one when Sheri reads it)<br />
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The boys went first, and they chose to go separately (no surprise there). They will allow two tubes to ride down together, so Sheri and I opted for that. I got my GoPro started (there are already a million videos of the Aqua Racer online, but it’s something you just HAVE to do) and sat down on my tube to wait for Sheri to get situated. <br />
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Sheri started down first; however, as she pushed off, she rotated around so that she was heading down backwards. All I’m going to say about this is that you will want to see the outtakes video of this ride down so you can hear the audio of her predicament. I nearly had tears running down my face from her reactions/comments! One word of note, though – if you do find yourself going backwards, do everything you can to grab the wall at the bottom to spin back around, because there’s always the chance that the water at the end could flip you; if that happens, you could be going head-first into the side/end of the slide, which could be a lot of trouble.<br />
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Along with an attendant, there was a photographer grabbing pictures. I really liked the individual black-and-white pictures of the boys. <br />
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Up next were the free-fall slides! Sheri wanted no part in these, so she found a chair (yep, mid-afternoon, there were chairs to be had!) and started reading while the boys and I started back up the stairs. I was going to go first so I could see who won between the boys. As we got the top, the attendant noticed that I still had my wedding band on, and she said that it had to be removed to ride it.<br />
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I didn’t feel like heading down, giving Sheri the ring, and then heading back up, so I told the boys I’d meet them at the bottom. Now, in the attendant’s defense, there are posted signs stating that no jewelry was to be worn on the slides – I was thinking that they were talking about necklaces/bracelets/etc. She was following the posted policy, and I wasn’t going to argue at all with that, even though I know that there was no way that ring was coming off my finger LOL.<br />
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I headed back down to meet the boys. As I was working my way down the stairs, I heard the horn going off, which indicated that someone didn’t make it up the incline a little over half-way through the slide. My assumption was that it was Aaron who didn’t make it. When I got to Sheri, Aaron came walking up, which meant that it was Eric who got stuck. I headed back up the stairs to where the “Escape hatch” was (no pun intended…well…maybe it was a little bit intended…insert rim shot here), and Eric didn’t quite know what happened. When we made it back to Sheri, someone overheard Eric getting stuck and recommended going without the rash guard shirt that he was wearing. Aaron was up for riding it again, and Eric didn’t seem traumatized at the previous attempt, so I grabbed the GoPro, and we all headed back up. I talked to the attendant to see if I could hop in to film them, and she nodded, saying that it was a common request.<br />
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It was a quick ride, as the video shows. Aaron swore that he won, but the photo-finish shows a tie, in my opinion. At least Eric made it all the way down!<br />
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With the water rides done, we decided to take in a little of the lido deck atmosphere...plus, there was a clothing sale going on between the pools. Sheri and the boys looked at what they had to offer while I turned the GoPro on to capture some footage. “A Minor Trio” was performing poolside, and they provided some good background music for the sun worshippers. <br />
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About 6-7 minutes later, the other three had checked out, and we then had a quick pow-wow to decide our next move. Margaritaville was just a few steps (and a deck) away. The Unlimited Beverages Package was burning a proverbial hole through our proverbial pockets, so we went up and grabbed a couple of drinks from the bar. While there, we had fun talking to a couple also at the bar who were interested in the GoPro I was using to take pictures.<br />
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After we finished our drinks, the losers from the previous day’s shuffleboard event wanted to exact revenge on the winners, so we headed down to the shuffleboard areas. Both of them were being used, however, so we decided to head back to the stateroom for a bit to relax before supper. When we opened the door, we noticed another delivery for us:<br />
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I called the box office to cancel our reservations for After Midnight that night and then decided to grab some footage from the balcony; as I headed out to record, I saw something I had not expected: there was a bird flying alongside the ship! The closest land, if I had to guess, would have been the Dominican Republic, but I bet we were still a good 60-80 miles north of there. I opened the sliding door to tell the rest of the crew, and, when they came out, the bird had flown away. As expected, they didn’t believe me and made comments about senility making an early appearance in my life.<br />
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Continued...<a href="http://blogdumush.blogspot.com/2017/08/escaping-insanity-cruising-trip-report_14.html" target="_blank">HERE</a>!<br />
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Mushhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10505667166856318130noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1294200876740643495.post-90313943167951580532017-08-11T23:05:00.000-05:002017-08-13T20:00:08.884-05:00Escaping Insanity: A Cruising Trip Report. MORE Chilling at Sea (Part 1)The previous day starts <a href="http://blogdumush.blogspot.com/2017/08/escaping-insanity-cruising-trip-report_7.html" target="_blank">HERE</a>.<br />
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<a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2ZKuFc5W7TAUDI5b1Uzd243WkU/view?usp=sharing" target="_blank">Freestyle Daily for Day 3</a>!<br />
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We all slept in until after 7 this morning…hey…that’s progress!<br />
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We had nowhere to really be this morning, so we took our time getting ready. We all took in the next installment of the Tyler and Jacky show before heading up to the Garden Café to see how its breakfast was. For a large buffet, it wasn’t too bad. There was definitely a wide variety of dishes to try. I opted for an omelet, and I noticed that the name tag of the crew member working the omelet station made mention of Teppanyaki, so I made a mental note of his face in case we had him as our chef later on in the cruise. There was a guest or two that was making his job a bit tougher than it needed to be, however; a guy first tried cutting in line to get his order, and, then when he put his order in, he vanished for a while…his order was ready for a good 4-5 minutes before he strolled up to get it. I would have paid money to see the Teppan chef, in the flash of a spatula blade, expertly toss the omelet in the garbage can, exclaiming, “Japanese cold breakfast!” as the guy watched.<br />
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We enjoyed the breakfast, but we could definitely feel the motion. The weather channel on the television warned of 11- to 14-foot swells with high winds from the ship’s 10 o’clock position. For the sake of Aaron and Sheri, who were not quite green but definitely not 100%, we decided to stay lower and opted for trivia in the atrium. As luck would have it, there was trivia as 9:30. We arrived a little after 9 am, and the “Guppies: Big and Little” program for toddlers was still going on<br />
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At 9:30, JoJo (another member of the Director’s staff) led trivia, and the Mushfam finished in a 4-way tie for first place with 16 of the 20 correct. All the team members won koozies.<br />
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The ropes course was set to open at 10:00, but, based on the winds, I was reasonably confident that it wouldn’t be open. I took the forward elevators up to Deck 17, hopped outside, and took stairs up to Deck 19. It was 10:05, and there was nobody on the Ropes Course; it was either that or everyone was holding on for dear life over the wake behind the ship. I headed back down to the atrium to deliver the news, and we all agreed to hang out there for a while. One of Aaron’s hobbies is origami, and there was an origami class at 10:15. It was a no-brainer to stay. JoJo again was our host, and he had us making basic tulips. The first three steps were easy; however, everyone was lost on step 4, and Aaron ended up helping about 10 people around him with the step. Then came step 5, and every looked to Aaron for guidance. While waiting for steps, he also made a crane and dropped it off next to JoJo, who exclaimed that it wasn’t one of those rocking ones. Aaron smiled and asked if he wanted one of those made, too.<br />
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In the end, we (kind of) had a set of tulips. We had an older couple next to us that we were talking to, and the gentleman took a piece of paper and turned it into a paper airplane. Of course, he launched it towards JoJo. It took a lot of effort on Aaron’s part to not make a better one and show him up. I think my glares helped him with his decision.<br />
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JoJo gave Aaron’s crane to one of the kids nearby, and she immediately fell in love with it. I joked with Aaron that he might finally have his first girlfriend, but that he might have wait about 8-9 years before her parents would allow her to date. She flew that crane around everywhere…landing on chairs…taking a drink from the paper tulips…I even saw her fly it into the elevator as they left the atrium.<br />
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The food carving demonstration was up at 11. What the heck…we were there…we decided to watch that too! The atrium started out fairly quiet but filled up quickly during the demonstration. Eric had to head out for a couple of minutes, and, having been standing since before the origami class, I grabbed his chair as others were also heading for it. One of them I recognized from the Cruise Critic meetup – it was danddgrandma! Had I known that Eric was going to be more than 3-4 minutes (which he ended up being), I would have offered the chair to her. When he got back, I stepped back and talked to her for a couple of minutes to see how the cruise was going for her and her family.<br />
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This guy was good! It was fun trying to predict what the food would ultimately end up being. It was so popular that everyone got up to take pictures/videos of the final products. You can see in the video that he was trying to start clean-up but always had another request for a picture of his art. As we have seen with most every other member of the crew, he was extremely professional and smiled as people continued taking pictures, even though he probably had to be somewhere else at that time.<br />
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“How to Run a Floating Hotel” was next up at noon in the atrium, and I was interested in seeing this one; however, we had already been there for three hours, and we needed a change of scenery. We decide to grab lunch at Taste. <br />
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For appetizers, I actually skipped it (bikini body, remember?). Sheri got the pineapple/grapefruit, Aaron got the potato skins, and Eric got popcorn shrimp. I did order a Rebellious Fish to drink, though.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjv2-RJmtvx6NpcaAVOJEzdR5EBNZcR6WzBpUhyphenhyphenshlX6vdPCUXnNm-EyyV9P-kWTdjFt2B3W9r5gGQ0hjppS_ybbBvDfZc0rcTy8WhtjG0dFqq52BnzgQMOLrZDjR6-qjD6p_ynz7mInww/s1600/IMG_2479.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjv2-RJmtvx6NpcaAVOJEzdR5EBNZcR6WzBpUhyphenhyphenshlX6vdPCUXnNm-EyyV9P-kWTdjFt2B3W9r5gGQ0hjppS_ybbBvDfZc0rcTy8WhtjG0dFqq52BnzgQMOLrZDjR6-qjD6p_ynz7mInww/s640/IMG_2479.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rebellious Fish</td></tr>
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For the entrée, I wanted to test out their burger. It was decent…not the best I’ve had, but nowhere near the worst I’ve had. I honestly cannot remember what the others had. No pics, either…Sorry!<br />
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Dessert: The boys, as expected, opted for the peanut butter cup cheesecake. I went for the Key Lime parfait, and Sheri ordered the Crème Caramel. All were good!<br />
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Continued...<a href="http://blogdumush.blogspot.com/2017/08/escaping-insanity-cruising-trip-report_13.html" target="_blank">HERE</a></div>
Mushhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10505667166856318130noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1294200876740643495.post-40083135361703617632017-08-11T10:17:00.004-05:002017-08-11T10:17:33.620-05:00Escaping Insanity: A Cruising Trip Report. Freestyle Dailies, Splash Academy/Entourage, & MoreHey everyone!<div>
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I appreciate all the kind words over on Facebook, Cruise Critic, and here on the blog regarding the cruise report being written. I've had a couple of requests for the daily planners that we received each night on our cruise; even though I'm including them by day in the report, some people are traveling soon and were hoping to see the rest of them. </div>
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Here you go!!!</div>
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<b>Freestyle Dailies:</b></div>
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<ul>
<li><a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2ZKuFc5W7TAVWQ2MGJndWZqYmc/view?usp=sharing" target="_blank"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Day 1</span></b></a></li>
<li><a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2ZKuFc5W7TAQUFtcjJYMllLaDg/view?usp=sharing" target="_blank"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Day 2</span></b></a></li>
<li><a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2ZKuFc5W7TAUDI5b1Uzd243WkU/view?usp=sharing" target="_blank"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Day 3</span></b></a></li>
<li><a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2ZKuFc5W7TAQWxNYndQems2dVE/view?usp=sharing" target="_blank"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Day 4</span></b></a></li>
<li><a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2ZKuFc5W7TANFcwSEt6eTAteU0/view?usp=sharing" target="_blank"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Day 5</span></b></a></li>
<li><a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2ZKuFc5W7TAYTBXREZKbzZqVkU/view?usp=sharing" target="_blank"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Day 6</span></b></a></li>
<li><a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2ZKuFc5W7TAcVo3TlcxNW1RcHM/view?usp=sharing" target="_blank"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Day 7</span></b></a></li>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></b></div>
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<a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2ZKuFc5W7TASjJDNjVQUHM3VWM/view?usp=sharing" target="_blank"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Entourage schedule</span></b></a></div>
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<a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2ZKuFc5W7TAeE5aTjZOY2MxbXc/view?usp=sharing" target="_blank"><b><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></b></a></div>
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<a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2ZKuFc5W7TAeE5aTjZOY2MxbXc/view?usp=sharing" target="_blank"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Splash Academy Schedule (Dolphins...ages 10-12)</span></b></a></div>
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<a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2ZKuFc5W7TAbnhoY0pDQk45WGs/view?usp=sharing" target="_blank"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Disembarkation Guide</span></b></a></div>
Mushhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10505667166856318130noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1294200876740643495.post-81580778580213615182017-08-10T11:29:00.000-05:002017-08-11T23:15:22.607-05:00 Escaping Insanity: A Cruising Trip Report. Chilling at Sea (Part 3)Part 2 can be viewed <a href="http://blogdumush.blogspot.com/2017/08/escaping-insanity-cruising-trip-report_8.html" target="_blank">HERE</a>.<br />
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Once the trivia was done, we all made our way back to our stateroom to prepare for our first specialty restaurant – Moderno Churrascaria. The boys were REALLY looking forward to experiencing meat sweats. We had 5:30 reservations…right when it opened. We got there around 5:28 and only had one party ahead of us, though it was a large party. It sounded like there was an issue with trying to seat them, but it took about 5-7 minutes to take care of them. No worries at all, though! We ended up being seated in a perfect location…far aft to see the wake and next to the windows looking down into the Manhattan Room. It was the unofficial formal night (“Dress Up…or Not!”), and there were a few parties dressed to the nines in the restaurant.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Prime Meridian Bar</td></tr>
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The restaurant itself is on Deck 8 aft, situated next to Cagney’s Steakhouse. The Prime Meridian bar lies in between the two restaurants. If seated near the aft-facing windows, the light from the outside definitely brightens the interior. With the sun down, though, I think the restaurant would be warm and very inviting for a meal.<br />
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The awesome servers took our drink orders, and we were released to head to the large salad bar. I warned the boys that they did NOT want to fill up here and to save room for the meat.<br />
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I would have had better luck speaking Portuguese to the fern in the corner and having it understand me.<br />
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They came back from the salad bar with loaded plates. I told them that I didn’t want to hear anything about them hurting after this meal. Meanwhile, I sat down and started working on my loaded plate…<br />
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The sides came out next…mushrooms, mashed potatoes, rice, fried yucca, and the ever-popular cheese bread. I took a bite of the bread and was immediately transported to Epcot from the previous fall when I sampled cheese bread at the International Food and Wine Festival. I’d say that both Moderno and Disney nailed it…this version was just as good as the Epcot version, and I attempted some modicum of self-control to not go all cookie-monster on the bread and eating them all in a frenzy. Our server then asked if we were okay with the meat being served at a medium-rare to medium temperature, and we all said yes. This is important here, because wifey often orders her steaks at “shoe leather” temperature, and I was wondering if she going to be able to handle a little rarer temp. FYI: they will have servers (gauchos) with more well-done meats walking around if you prefer meat a little more cooked.<br />
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I noticed something at both the previous meal at the Manhattan Room and here at Moderno: with no internet service, the boys were talking to us! Yes, they had apps on their phones that did not require internet service; however, our evil plan of this being a FAMILY vacation was working (muahahahahaha).<br />
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We took a couple of pictures (Sheri loved the glassware that they used), and our server offered to get a family pic of us.<br />
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Aside from the light REALLY highlighting my gray hair, I thought it was a really good pic of us.<br />
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We only had to wait a couple more minutes before the meat started coming. The way that Moderno works is by using a cardboard “button” with red and green on it. If the green side is facing up, then it signals the servers with the meat skewers to come on over and offer some to you. Red mean “no mas”. Oh…the meat skewers…it’s exactly as you would expect! The meats were sliced off at the table, and each person had a small set of tongs to grab the meat as it was being sliced. With only around 4-5 tables in our area seated, the meat came out at a rapid pace. We all grabbed a little of everything they had to offer: 5 types of beef, at least two pork offerings, two types of lamb, and a couple chicken servings. We had so much on our plate that we forgot which was which after a while. I remember being surprised at how much I liked the picanha (top sirloin). As a lover of lamb, I was loving those offerings, too! The boys’ eyes were rolling back into their heads with each bite.<br />
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Then…came…the grilled…pineapple.<br />
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After the first bite, I could have died happy right then and there.<br />
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We recently bought a new grill just a couple of weeks before the cruise (pellet grill…Anniversary/Father’s Day gift from Sheri), and I was in full-on planning mode to see if I could replicate the pineapple…the beef…the pork…heck…I wanted to replicate ALL of it!!!<br />
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I think I was the first to flip my card over to red. One of the gauchos walked by as I turned it over, and he smiled and said, “I win!”. Not being competitive at all, I jokingly turned it back over to green. Soon after, though we all flipped our cards over to red. That’s when we noticed the pictures on the cards, and we started having a bit of fun with them.<br />
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Of course, as we were doing that, the restaurant manager stopped by our table (probably wondering just what was wrong with this family) and asked how everything went. We all raved about how we all loved it…especially the pineapple. Of course, he immediately tracked down the pineapple gaucho and asked him to visit our table one more time.<br />
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They win.<br />
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But Wait…There’s MORE!!!<br />
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Our server then handed us the dessert menu.<br />
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Not sure if I would be able to fit through the aisles and door to get out, I looked at the window that overlooked the Manhattan Room (complete with couples dancing to the band that recently started playing) and contemplated just jumping through the window to make it out instead of being rolled out by the gauchos with their skewers. If I jumped at the right angle, I thought I might have been able to land on the piano, which might have slowed my fall enough to survive.<br />
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We all agreed to get one of each kind; however, that plan was foiled when Aaron ended up ordering the same thing as Sheri. Our server, not missing a beat, brought out the last dessert for us to try, too.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3U-6A_bKsv64P0Y02A6SxCiokK1lOB83fq0UGHQbHobZYMlkpYvzvIzlSi9NOXSHV4grH2YQ9x9KTe8QE7jfk7jfMEeQXV40dgatvkrDu6OHDjc2lKQ7WAyxTKjnyvEArr53dRIIq3sY/s1600/IMG_2795.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3U-6A_bKsv64P0Y02A6SxCiokK1lOB83fq0UGHQbHobZYMlkpYvzvIzlSi9NOXSHV4grH2YQ9x9KTe8QE7jfk7jfMEeQXV40dgatvkrDu6OHDjc2lKQ7WAyxTKjnyvEArr53dRIIq3sY/s640/IMG_2795.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Coconut Flan</td></tr>
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The coconut flan that I ordered was good, but nothing to write home about. Tasting what the others had, I would also give a similar review for those. The extra dessert that we got, however, was simply amazing! I honestly wish I could remember the name of it, but I can’t, and I didn’t get a picture of the dessert menu, either. The flavor of the fruit was great, and the texture, while hard to describe, was very refreshing!<br />
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The entire meal took about an hour and a half, which is what we were expecting. While food is always subjective, I would have no reservations at all in recommending this restaurant to clients – even without a specialty dining plan. I definitely think that there is value here. Excellent food, service, and atmosphere combine to make this a great place to eat.<br />
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All of us were hurting tremendously, but we found the energy to get out of the chairs and eventually leave the restaurant. I dropped a hint that we should head to the spa to check it out so Sheri could see what it was like. Besides, we needed to walk off some of the food. We worked our way to Deck 16 forward and walked through the fitness center. I could see Aaron sizing up some of the lifting machines they had there (he had been lifting for football over the summer and knew how to safely use the machines); however, being only 14, he technically was not supposed to use the center (the policy states that guests had to be 16+). Luckily, he didn’t ask us to go to the center to work out during the cruise.<br />
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The spa entrance was just past the fitness center. We asked if we could look around the thermal suite for a brief minute. The boys weren’t allowed in, so they grabbed a seat and pulled out their phones (which I couldn’t argue with at all). We tried to keep the pictures to a minimum to avoid disturbing anyone, and we made sure we didn’t get any pictures of anyone in there.<br />
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After our quick tour, I could tell Sheri was interested, but I also got the vibe that she wasn’t going to take the plunge and spend some of our Nassau day in there.<br />
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We collected our belongings (they didn’t whine too much) and made our way back out. The boys wanted to explore the arcade a little more. It was good timing, because we didn’t want the boys around at that moment (just kidding…mostly). We threatened them with their lives if they overdid it with the money, and they left, talking about dropping a couple thousand at the casino.<br />
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We then headed up to O’Sheehan’s bar to see if we could grab a seat for the upcoming “Newlywed Not-So-Newlywed Game”, which was set to start in about 30 minutes. We only had to wait about ten minutes before a couple of chairs overlooking the atrium opened up. We enjoyed listening to Groove Addiction doing their “Romance and Love” set. As they broke down their set and prepared for the show, the boys returned. The Newlywed Game show was listed as PG-13, but they were mature (immature?) enough to handle it (to my delight/horror, they’re starting to nail “that’s what she said” jokes), so they stood behind us to see if they were going to like it. They egged us on to try being on the show, and, having researched it a little, I knew that there was no way in Hell that we’d try with the boys watching. The therapy bills alone would bankrupt us.<br />
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Tyler started the show by finding the couple married the longest and the finding the couple married the shortest. Then he called anyone else who wanted to be in the game onstage for a contest to pick the third couple. All I can say is, “watch the video!”. We saw our neighbors try to make it, but they ultimately weren’t selected; they were having fun, though!<br />
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The women went off first, and the guys answered the questions as best they could. The hilarity hit a new level when the girls came back to answer the questions. Again, I refer you to the video. If you don’t want anything spoiled (my assumption is that they use similar questions for all the cruises), then I’d skip that part; otherwise, go ahead and watch a couple of minutes from the game show that will help explain why nearly everyone in the audience had tears in their eyes from laughing so hard.<br />
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I have to tip my hat to the couples on there. They put it all out there, (hopefully) knowing that they were going to have to deal with the results of the show for the rest of the cruise. While all three couples were awesome, the newlywed couple, hands-down, provided the most laughs.<br />
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After the show, Sheri was tired and decided to head up to the room. It was around 11:15, but the Mushmen weren’t quite ready to turn in, yet. I decided to head us up to Tobacco Road to catch a little bit of Orly’s set. As we walked up and grabbed a seat, Orly, in the middle of a song, smiled and said he was glad to see us again. The boys got another caffeinated beverage, while I grabbed a Jamison on the rocks to sip while listening. While listening, Aaron divulged that he wanted to take his guitar playing to the next level. Though I know a few chords and played just a bit while in college…<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I'm on the far-right...in better shape than I am now.</td></tr>
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…Aaron is pretty much self-taught. He can read tabs really well. He wants to know more about it, though – especially after watching Orly’s playing on some latin music (which, by the way, was absolutely amazing!). After about 20 minutes, the boys were starting to falter, and they headed back to the room. I decided to watch the end of his last set, and, after he finished, I gave him a big thumbs-up mouthed an “awesome job…thanks!” to him as I left. He came over and said that he was going to be in the District the next evening, and I said that we’d definitely be there if we could shed the kids away from us for a while.<br />
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Sheri was not quite asleep, but close, and the boys had finished getting ready for bed – that’s what I was hoping for by lagging back for about 10 minutes. This was an EXCELLENT first sea day for us, and I think we were all looking forward to the next day, which, as luck would have it, was another sea day.<br />
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Day 3 starts <a href="http://blogdumush.blogspot.com/2017/08/escaping-insanity-cruising-trip-report_22.html" target="_blank">HERE</a>.</div>
Mushhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10505667166856318130noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1294200876740643495.post-20988029974288440652017-08-08T22:05:00.000-05:002017-08-10T11:30:25.875-05:00Escaping Insanity: A Cruising Trip Report. Chilling at Sea (Part 2)Part 1 can be viewed <a href="http://blogdumush.blogspot.com/2017/08/escaping-insanity-cruising-trip-report_7.html" target="_blank">HERE</a>.<br />
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Since the Brew House was scheduled to open at 1, we all started dispersing around 12:45-12:50. Sheri and the boys were going to chill (interpretation: they were probably ordering a drink or two LOL) at the Atrium while I did the group slot pull and the cabin crawl. I talked to Michell a bit while we made our way to the casino for the slot pull. I think we had around 25 people take part, and, when all was said and done, we each only had a net loss of $10. We had a lot of interest, with that size of a group all watching a single machine!<br />
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Once that was done, many said their goodbyes, while the group of us doing the cabin crawl huddled together to hear the logistics and the route that kirkleyv had set up for us. The first stateroom was a studio. <br />
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These first pictures are of the Lounge set up for those staying in the Studios.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Entrance to Studio Lounge</td></tr>
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Inside a studio...they're small, but, for many, it is a no-brainer decision to book one of these since it beats having to pay a 100% supplemental fee for a stateroom to cruise by yourself!<br />
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These staterooms are DEFINITELY cool for a single cruiser. The Studio Lounge was definitely neat, and that, coupled with the rest of the ship surrounding you, will definitely keep you from being bored (unless you’re trying to be bored). <br />
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Stateroom de la Mush was up next, and I went ahead to open things up while the rest of them made their way aft and up to Deck 12. Joseph was around, so we talked for a quick moment while waiting for the group. When they arrived, most initially just popped their heads in, thinking it was a standard balcony. When I opened up the door to the balcony, they saw the angle and all went out to check it out. Sunshine155 and her husband were curious about the price of the stateroom as they were comparing it to their mini-suite (their cabin seemed a bit bigger, but our balcony had a lot more room). Speaking of which…<br />
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…we went to the mini-suite next, and they had their room decorated really nicely, with chocolates for visitors. I made a mental note to do more for the stateroom for the next cabin crawl!<br />
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After that, we all made our way up to Deck 15 aft for a penthouse suite. <br />
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Oh….<br />
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My…..<br />
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I’m just going to let the pictures speak for themselves!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yes...both a shower AND a tub in there!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Two doors to the huge aft-facing deck!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNOJdfzi7cEWuBBLLSptqo_jxaurM3GiXoFiXZ0W9nSuuXeg72C3nSLDIswOc-I-cQSqA0NzwPSjhYuVfiavnC8vdVMBTmrJYWHw2A7fpbuqjDoiJqLIUYKjSrWxzlpyir8-872zaOxBY/s1600/IMG_2468.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1600" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNOJdfzi7cEWuBBLLSptqo_jxaurM3GiXoFiXZ0W9nSuuXeg72C3nSLDIswOc-I-cQSqA0NzwPSjhYuVfiavnC8vdVMBTmrJYWHw2A7fpbuqjDoiJqLIUYKjSrWxzlpyir8-872zaOxBY/s640/IMG_2468.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Awesome views of the ship's wake from the balcony.</td></tr>
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Some of the veteran Cruise Critic folks surprised one of the ones doing the cabin crawl who was celebrating a birthday with a delivered cake, decorations, etc. (you can see some in the pictures). For the life of me, I cannot remember whose birthday it was, though – I forgot to write it in my journal...sorry! Needless to say, they pulled off a good surprise! <br />
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The slot pull and the cabin crawl took about an hour, and the rest of the Mushfam was probably getting a little antsy. I said my goodbyes to all (declining multiple offers to take a piece of cake for the road) and thanked them for helping put on all the events! <br />
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I’m VERY glad that we signed up for the various events that was set up on the Roll Call. I think we had a good mix of people that seemed to get along well, and, as I mentioned earlier, we found ourselves in the same place as those we met on a number of occasions. Thanks to all who volunteered to put everything together!<br />
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Back to the task at hand…linking back up with the rest of the Mushfam. The boys were apparently dying of hunger (on a cruise ship with free food 24/7). I was in the mood for a drink, so, after wandering around Deck 17 and hearing a few minutes of the Mr. Sexy Legs Contest going on poolside on Deck 16, we met up and decided to head to Margaritaville for snacks and a drink. As we walked up, one of the performers had started singing the theme song for the restaurant. As he got to the refrain (“Wasted away again in Margaritaville”), I cleared my throat to do my duty as a true Parrothead after the next line. <br />
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“Searching for myyyyyyyyy…..lost shaker of saallltt”<br />
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That’s my cue.<br />
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<h2>
<b>“SALT! SALT! SALT!”</b></h2>
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I think I was the only one in the entire restaurant that did that.<br />
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At least the performer acknowledged my efforts with a nod and a smile. “He knows it!”, he said. <br />
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By the third refrain, we had about 6 tables shouting it out. I’ll take that as a victory.<br />
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I ordered a bottle of Landshark Lager, and Sheri got something...a zombie, perhaps? (regular & spiced rum, apricot brandy, orange & pineapple juice, and sour mix):<br />
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Even looking at the picture, I couldn’t remember what it was she ordered. It was good, though!<br />
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We also ordered the most-popular appetizer on the menu: the volcano nachos.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Landshark photobomb #finstotheleft #finstotheright</td></tr>
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Messy…but good!<br />
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The food was good and the beer was cold, but that wasn’t the best part of the experience. The guy playing the guitar and singing was REALLY good. <br />
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He was doing mostly music that you would normally hear on RadioMargaritaville (Van Morrison, Bob Marley, etc.). He did an awesome calypso rendition of Hotel California by the Eagles, too! Orly Penate is his name, and I struck up a conversation with him between sets. He mentioned that he’d be doing a different set of music at Tobacco Road that evening, and I told him I’d try to make it for a little bit.<br />
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For those who may have missed it, that is called foreshadowing.<br />
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The boys asked about the arcade, and we set them free with the warning that we knew exactly how much they spent in there. After they left, we talked with a family from Michigan at a nearby table for a few minutes. Despite their rhetoric about staying in there for the rest of the cruise, the boys did return from the acrade after about 15 minutes, and we bid Margaritaville adieu, giving Orly, who had started a new set, a friendly nod as we left.<br />
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It was definitely too windy for the Ropes course, and we didn’t have our swim gear on – our plan was to let people get the water slides out of their system on the first sea day so we could have smaller crowds on the second sea day. We looked at the lines of the slides, but they didn’t look too bad at all. Still, we stayed on course and squelched the idea of changing into swimming suits/trunks. After a little bit of searching around, we figured out which deck we wanted...we headed down to try a cruise ship favorite...<br />
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Yes, folks, it’s that age-old game found on every promenade deck of every ship…it’s Shuffleboard! Now, if we’re going to play it, we’re playing by the rules! We studied the posted rules for a couple of minutes while another family finished up their game.<br />
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It was around 4:00, and the next shot at trivia was at 4:30. We headed to the atrium and grabbed a seat. This round’s theme was “Where in the World is Norwegian?”. This could go really well or, if I mixed up the ports from other cruise lines, it could go really badly for me.<br />
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I prefer not to say how we did.<br />
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Continued...<a href="http://blogdumush.blogspot.com/2017/08/escaping-insanity-cruising-trip-report_10.html" target="_blank">HERE</a>.Mushhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10505667166856318130noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1294200876740643495.post-25520464346184341342017-08-07T08:53:00.000-05:002017-08-08T22:06:08.908-05:00Escaping Insanity: A Cruising Trip Report. Chilling at Sea (Part 1)Need to catch up and read the previous day's events? That day starts with <a href="http://blogdumush.blogspot.com/2017/08/need-to-see-previous-day-here.html" target="_blank">this post</a>.<br />
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Here's the <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2ZKuFc5W7TAQUFtcjJYMllLaDg/view?usp=sharing" target="_blank">Freestyle Daily</a> for this day...<br />
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...and here's the video for this day AND the next day (both days were sea days).<br />
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Yep…slept good. The CPAP didn’t strangle me; the rocking just lulled me to sleep; nice and quiet; BUT I WAS STILL UP AT 6:45 IN THE !#@$$(*&$% MORNING!!!!<br />
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I just don’t know how to vacation, I guess. <br />
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Not wanting to wake up anyone, I laid in bed for about 30 minutes before quietly getting up and working on the journal that would ultimately become this trip report. Sheri woke up at 7:50, about five minutes after Eric arose. Aaron, hearing everyone else and worried that he’d miss something, also woke up. I started uploading the previous day’s GoPro captures – there was a LOT on there, and it was going to take a while to get it on the laptop.<br />
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While we were getting ready, I turned on the TV and found the Tyler and Jacky show, which I had heard from previous reports is pretty good.<br />
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That’s an understatement. “Jacky” is Jacky Tang, who is a member of the Cruise Director’s Staff. I don’t want to spoil too much, but this guy is downright hilarious, and he works really well with Tyler. I can see him moving into an Assistant Cruise Director role very soon, especially as the Norwegian Bliss and Norwegian Joy are coming online soon. I saw Jacky on embarkation day (I think he was leading a ship tour), but I didn’t get the chance to meet him yet. His character on the Tyler and Jackie Show…especially when you know his background and talk to him...is an absolute riot! All four of us watched the show at least twice.<br />
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We decided on O'Sheehan's for breakfast – as we opened the door, Joseph, our cabin steward, walked by. He stopped and introduced himself. We chatted for a few minutes; he was on his last cruise before the end of his contract, so he was excited to get home to see his family. He was really upbeat and seemed to enjoy what he was doing!<br />
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We said our “so long!” and headed up to Taste. Sheri ordered a mimosa – I had never had one before, so I took one for the team and tried one.<br />
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Not bad!<br />
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We all opted for the French toast breakfast. No pics on that…sorry…we were hungry!<br />
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After that, we headed forward to the Box Office to sign up for the “Escape the Big Top” escape room. While there, we decided to also reserve a table at the supper to watch “Company Men”. Once that was done, we headed to Deck 7 and grabbed a seat to see what was going on. They were just finishing up trivia, and, had we played, we would have gotten 2nd place. We all made a mental note to look for the next trivia contests onboard. Not that the Mushfam is competitive or anything, but…<br />
After trivia, we decided to do a round of Cricket on the dartboard (we’re raising our kids properly!). <br />
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Since I had the drink package, I decided to try my first-ever Bloody Mary. Nope…not for me…that one would most likely be my last Bloody Mary. At least I gave it the old college try.<br />
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Aaron won that game; Sheri blamed her score on the movement of the ship.<br />
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After Darts, we headed aft and up to Deck 8 to see what the shops had for us. We perused around for a little before heading out for our first encounter with the Waterfront. For those who don’t know, the Waterfront is a promenade deck with comfortable couches/chairs and outdoor seating for a number of dining venues on that deck. It typically is quiet for the first couple of days as many people don’t know about it. We all commented on how much we liked it. We found a place to sit for a few minutes to watch the ocean go by. <br />
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I then excused myself and ran back up to the room to check on the status of the GoPro. Everything had (FINALLY) downloaded, so I reformatted the card and took it with me to head out. When I made it back onto the Waterfront, it had clouded up and was just about to start raining a bit. We met up and headed inside towards the District Brew House for the Cruise Critic meetup at noon. The boys hit the restroom while Sheri and I walked up to one of the more well-known members of the crew. Rowan, welcomed us and asked if we were part of the meet-up. We smiled and nodded and talked with him for a minute or two while waiting for the boys. When they arrived, without thinking, we put our hands out for some of the sanitizer he was holding, and he instinctively started doing the ever-popular “Washy Washy…good for you…good for me…good for us (to the tune of London Bridge is Falling Down…just search for “Washy Washy Norwegian” on YouTube and you’ll understand). We laughed and shook his hand; on top of the medley that he does at Garden Café most mornings, he probably gets asked to sing that by people 50-75 times a day, and we wanted to cut him a break so he wouldn’t have to sing it. Though you couldn’t tell by his demeanor (all smiles), he has to absolutely hate that song LOL!<br />
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We headed to the check-in table, and Host Michell (I’ll use their online names, though you could probably figure out her name) was there to greet us. We grabbed nametags and talked for a brief second with her before heading to a table near the window. Oh, and I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that the roll call had surged to well over 100 names, with many/most expressing interest in the Meet and Greet! Within a couple of minutes, people starting bringing sample flights of several beers on tap at the District. Immediately after the beer came, we were offered several hors d’oeuvres. We headed up to the bar to get the boys something to drink and then started meeting some of the other families at the meet-up. I recognized a few from the boards who had posted pictures, but, again, being a bit of a lurker on the boards, there were a lot of introductions and “getting-to-know-you” talk. Sheri usually prefers that I do more of the talking at events such as this, but she was getting into it a little bit, too, as we talked with the groups.<br />
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More beer…and more hors d’oeuvres…<br />
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I don’t think we’ll have to worry about grabbing lunch anywhere!<br />
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The senior crew then entered and started mingling around. We got to meet the Hotel Director and the Executive Chef during meet-up. Most other senior officers were also in attendance, which again impressed the heck out of me!<br />
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Then Tyler came over to our table. I felt like I was meeting a celebrity (wrong cruise line…badum bum ching!)<br />
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As he walked up, I asked him if there were 50 clones of him running around the ship because he was everywhere. He spent a good 4-5 minutes with us (he’s from Tennessee but went to school in Chicago). He mingled just a bit more and then took on an emcee role as he introduced many of the staff in attendance. After he was done, he turned the microphone over to Michell who introduced the Cruise Critic members in charge of the cabin crawl and gift exchange (kirkelyv) and the slot pull (Cyndi_at_home and Mike_at_sea). Eric won a CruiseCritic lanyard in a drawing, and he immediately swapped everything out of the lanyard he had to his new one. I think Aaron was just a bit envious LOL.<br />
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I walked up to introduce myself to Cyndi and Mike and got signed up for the slot pull. I also got to meet some of kirkleyv’s family, including danddgrandma, who, along with Michell, we ran into several more times during the cruise.<br />
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Continued...<a href="http://blogdumush.blogspot.com/2017/08/escaping-insanity-cruising-trip-report_8.html" target="_blank">HERE</a>!</div>
Mushhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10505667166856318130noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1294200876740643495.post-37211088544295244952017-08-05T08:20:00.003-05:002017-08-07T09:05:08.766-05:00 Escaping Insanity: A Cruising Trip Report. Embarkation Day!!!! (Part 3)Part 2 of Embarkation Day can be found <a href="http://blogdumush.blogspot.com/2017/08/escaping-insanity-cruising-trip-report_3.html" target="_blank">HERE</a>.<br />
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We were behind Waves just a bit, and, being a smoking area, we caught a couple of wafts of cigarette smoke, though it wasn’t too bad at all where we were. We started moving within a few minutes, and we could hear the Sail Away party starting in full-force one deck below. Across the A1A highway, we saw a guy attempting to use a flyboard (and failing miserably). A few minutes later, we met the car ferry arriving at the Miami Beach terminal. The water was really clear, and we saw a huge ray swimming by (no picture…sorry). Soon after that, the Miami Beach marina came into view, with some REALLY nice boats docked in it. Quite a few were heading out for some Friday evening boating. You can see quite a bit of this in the video posted in the first installment for this day. I'll link it again here.<br />
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Eventually, South Beach came into view, and I instinctively sucked in my gut and made sure my hair was perfect. Sure enough…I saw her. Just across the pier, on the other side of the rocks, a mere 100-200 yards off the beach was this heavenly being, floating in the water. Wearing nothing but what God had given her at birth, she was truly a sight to behold.<br />
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Yep…it was a wild manatee floating just off the shore!!<br />
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Kewl!<br />
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Soon after, we were in open ocean, with the pilot boat cruising alongside us. We watched the<br />
Pilot hop on his boat to help another ship head out. After the pilot left, we headed back to our room and noticed that we had 4 more bags waiting for us.<br />
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Wait a minute…we brought 5 bags…and two were already in the stateroom. The last time I checked, 5 – 2 = 3. Our bags are breeding! We noticed one that wasn’t ours…it was 12888’s bag. I took it down and set it with the rest of their bags in the hallway. I walked back to our room, and Sheri pointed to MORE STRAWBERRIES!!! <br />
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She then told me to read the card.<br />
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11272.<br />
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Uh oh…dilemma…we have someone else’s strawberries. It’s kind of weird to give someone else food, but it was easy to tell that the berries had not been touched. Do I walk down and give it to them, hoping that they don’t think we’re complete freaks? Do we just eat them? Do we contact guest services and tell them of the issue?<br />
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Decisions, decisions...<br />
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I made the executive decision to take them down to 11272. I knocked on the door, and, as luck would have it, the guy answering it stood about 6’4” and could have played onside alongside the security guard we saw at the terminal for the Miami Dolphins. I told him what happened and said that he had my solemn word that we didn’t touch them. He seemed appreciative of them!<br />
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In a five-minute span, I delivered luggage and strawberries. I wondered if I could get a 7-day contract for the cruise.<br />
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Sheri was going to town on unpacking, while I was taking down the GoPro from the balcony. I could see what I was pretty sure was Royal Caribbean’s <i>Harmony of the Seas</i> in the distance, having just left Fort Lauderdale on its Western Caribbean itinerary. I came back in, and Sheri didn't look too happy.<br />
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“The Packing Cubes Don’t Fit.”<br />
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My first reaction? “Whew…I didn’t do anything wrong.”<br />
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Okay - I'm going to take just a minute here and step aside from the report. As you read this, it might seem that, based on my writing style, you'd think that I'm married to a nag and have two spoiled brats for kids. This is as far from the truth as it could possibly be, and, for those who know the Mushfam, they get the jokes. Sheri is, without a doubt, the best thing to happen to me, and the boys are both intelligent and courteous to others...they all have to have the patience of saints in order to deal with me, right? Anything that might indicate otherwise is simply my attempt at humor using the stereotypical family roles. I think that most everyone realizes that it's all done in fun, but I wanted to make sure, just in case. Okay...back to the report...<br />
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The dimensions of the cubes we got matched what we had read in other cruise reports on the same ship, but they simply were not going to fit in the closet. We put one near the bed to serve as a hamper. I helped get the shoe rack put up in the closet and started maneuvering the suitcases under the bed for storage. FYI: we fit 3 large suitcases and two smaller ones under the bed with plenty of room to fit more!<br />
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It was getting to be around 5:00, so we got ready for dinner at the Manhattan Room and showed up promptly at 5:15. There was a larger party working on trying to get seats, and we were waved around to another check-in. I told the maître d’ that we had reservations for later but were hoping to squeeze in. “No Problem!”she said.<br />
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She then reminded us of the dress code of “no tank tops” in dining rooms, which we completely forgot about. We had two boys currently wearing tank tops on their torsos and shocked looks on their faces. I wish our travel planner had told us about that #ohwait. <br />
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Oops.<br />
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The crew member was extremely professional about it, with a kind demeanor. I have to admit that, early on, I was wholly impressed with the staff onboard!!<br />
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The boys went back to the room to change shirts, while Sheri and I were seated. After about ten minutes without seeing the boys, I texted them to see if they fell overboard, and they said they weren’t able to get back in. I went to the front and found them – they were lying in a corner, curled up in fetal positions, worried that they would not be able to eat (despite the fact that there were at least 4 other free options for them to go to). I think they went to the wrong desk, and the hostess there didn’t recognize them.<br />
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Once they were seated in the room, they started breathing again, and smiles crossed their faces as they looked at the menu. They were even happier to hear they got more than just an entrée. Being in the aft of the ship, we were starting to feel a little movement, though I think it may have been more the wind than the seas. Sheri was getting a bit green, but she was tolerating it. I was watching the boys, too. Eric was like me – it’s part of the ride! Aaron, however, was taking after his mother and not feeling the greatest with the motion.<br />
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Menus:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVqMHA11J_m57UsIQd6k5_AFPJLaKf4UYNGyV1RfoOmESp1LhQTWm-t6HSaE7EetL8Cy1OCWjrHuddmp4XvxuwGn2Efxg2xKmGlI4h89qKFmipy_vFMssdeTjYVIfPTGzTI-iWcs7-f3c/s1600/IMG_2432.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVqMHA11J_m57UsIQd6k5_AFPJLaKf4UYNGyV1RfoOmESp1LhQTWm-t6HSaE7EetL8Cy1OCWjrHuddmp4XvxuwGn2Efxg2xKmGlI4h89qKFmipy_vFMssdeTjYVIfPTGzTI-iWcs7-f3c/s640/IMG_2432.JPG" width="480" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrN4mkTbfuHHIG7PChLEzKurxxxypV1cjFsStEZ6civaSBvKomVkOz6bbCEKIAU41S4v4O6MjAw8ZtBp0TnVYN-pH1wO5L0d-EkQH5yCiXubEoHhIn_ouCD2HgEXh0THypTBwpnENQoOo/s1600/IMG_2433.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrN4mkTbfuHHIG7PChLEzKurxxxypV1cjFsStEZ6civaSBvKomVkOz6bbCEKIAU41S4v4O6MjAw8ZtBp0TnVYN-pH1wO5L0d-EkQH5yCiXubEoHhIn_ouCD2HgEXh0THypTBwpnENQoOo/s640/IMG_2433.JPG" width="480" /></a></div>
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I went for the clam chowder. Eric gravitated towards the chicken drums, while Aaron (the foodie) wanted to try the crab cake. Sheri decided she was done kissing me for the day and ordered the french onion soup.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoaT-B9Myixe5sYccVGov9dFubFmnMjW1Wzl-T6678DKWC3Q7rWeOv1LZcRk2cqf2fR98UxSOiZQkv_1ifagvOvhjaocNwZufC4giP8WntzGRwHq_1hN5TUO6CZzedxNvqFzSFjECBqkw/s1600/IMG_2434.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoaT-B9Myixe5sYccVGov9dFubFmnMjW1Wzl-T6678DKWC3Q7rWeOv1LZcRk2cqf2fR98UxSOiZQkv_1ifagvOvhjaocNwZufC4giP8WntzGRwHq_1hN5TUO6CZzedxNvqFzSFjECBqkw/s640/IMG_2434.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Clam Chowder</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXmQeDUTzm5UP4uELOZd-vQyFswnyxiN4y0INjCJd5foWq2YVmztecU8StFufjYlUpzqbSlQdgWPDoPs47eCY9dpwRYcf9i-apETasLTFlt7IUvTk6mXIiKd5-6uJqvBA46V1cRjRwmec/s1600/IMG_2435.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXmQeDUTzm5UP4uELOZd-vQyFswnyxiN4y0INjCJd5foWq2YVmztecU8StFufjYlUpzqbSlQdgWPDoPs47eCY9dpwRYcf9i-apETasLTFlt7IUvTk6mXIiKd5-6uJqvBA46V1cRjRwmec/s640/IMG_2435.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">French Onion Soup</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOiCCWBoRlLDt9nNviUe2OHIk8DcsPi-89ruqeZpN0LKpEDd0vFoJnxDpZBZmm-xYiUwJuAWynB7ayIbeSioWBYPH-w8Z7wRbntOsNV3E7QrafRJ7-Wmm0I4PeBTHEYq4v0M-qFuSuNSs/s1600/IMG_2436.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOiCCWBoRlLDt9nNviUe2OHIk8DcsPi-89ruqeZpN0LKpEDd0vFoJnxDpZBZmm-xYiUwJuAWynB7ayIbeSioWBYPH-w8Z7wRbntOsNV3E7QrafRJ7-Wmm0I4PeBTHEYq4v0M-qFuSuNSs/s640/IMG_2436.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Louisiana Chicken Drums</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZpVQ5UVlTr-4NY488HNZdJb52VW19a5m-rFLtXdFkTBLu8Vzg_opsDcidxwGol1X705ZZYd9UqJU531z5SnRlwSQ-6DKu0ggXuY990w8jpQxYjITihvOkXRvEzyXfDdPzVcYbjUAlznA/s1600/IMG_2437.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZpVQ5UVlTr-4NY488HNZdJb52VW19a5m-rFLtXdFkTBLu8Vzg_opsDcidxwGol1X705ZZYd9UqJU531z5SnRlwSQ-6DKu0ggXuY990w8jpQxYjITihvOkXRvEzyXfDdPzVcYbjUAlznA/s640/IMG_2437.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Crab Cake</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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All the appetizers ranked in the "average" range...okay, but nothing to write home about. No worries, though, because we had the entrees up next. <br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEBVTgGl8-2jU-90RfXiUAoWkzGsW9300eOPU0pS7iIroOWn95PhG8rebge4sbvvugCaEgxAERb7zarGVRVzJNgbKvIoFJameGzi6KBkBx4QNsTAtoHPgvZ4s4ujX_TNWt3KCoOL9DTvk/s1600/IMG_2438.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEBVTgGl8-2jU-90RfXiUAoWkzGsW9300eOPU0pS7iIroOWn95PhG8rebge4sbvvugCaEgxAERb7zarGVRVzJNgbKvIoFJameGzi6KBkBx4QNsTAtoHPgvZ4s4ujX_TNWt3KCoOL9DTvk/s640/IMG_2438.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Prime Rib - Medium Rare!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-hMS9p-_kT2B3k9H7TVfe6PcwKCnq189Wj9fUPcZRzFLAzx-RWbLuhZWYTXzIVBzZVxktiguIQWzS_wzLItCbgrWK3_vxflKT_VUYko7OUevhgdo_0hX3rm_bDiNZP4S5GpMm1fbfA2Y/s1600/IMG_2439.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-hMS9p-_kT2B3k9H7TVfe6PcwKCnq189Wj9fUPcZRzFLAzx-RWbLuhZWYTXzIVBzZVxktiguIQWzS_wzLItCbgrWK3_vxflKT_VUYko7OUevhgdo_0hX3rm_bDiNZP4S5GpMm1fbfA2Y/s640/IMG_2439.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">New York Strip</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjauSez0nPUc9Re0dj-xtXEiFEDg_SsNaNHeRBr8bLjpn6hjTkfyL4TRpQkIkLWeQPOYuZTFdRz5GXUzzCwABhWUvQ8x-daO_s6lWFnzbNthE3qWNpiW0811TjscO5KibqBr5Dhc1SjTcw/s1600/IMG_2440.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjauSez0nPUc9Re0dj-xtXEiFEDg_SsNaNHeRBr8bLjpn6hjTkfyL4TRpQkIkLWeQPOYuZTFdRz5GXUzzCwABhWUvQ8x-daO_s6lWFnzbNthE3qWNpiW0811TjscO5KibqBr5Dhc1SjTcw/s640/IMG_2440.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lasagna - Eric gave it a thumbs-up!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Whenever Aaron or I see prime rib on a menu, it immediately grabs our attention; however, the price on the menu usually has us choosing something else. NOT THIS TIME, THOUGH! We both requested that item, cooked medium rare. It came out exactly as we expected. For a large-scale restaurant, there were no complaints at all about the rib.<br />
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Sheri prefers her beef cooked to what I like to call "shoe-leather" texture (we've gotten her up to medium well, but it's still too done for me). She went for the New York Strip (medium well), and it came out a bit more like a well-done temperature. Cooking temperature aside, she said it had really good flavor on it.<br />
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Eric tends to gravitate to lasagna like Aaron I do to prime rib. He has never met a lasagna he didn't like, and this was no exception.<br />
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Dessert was up next!<br />
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Eric's Choice: Cherries Jubilee<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8Y7gC63ejdU4uzZ9J3zVsUvrjuqhn1BMB0Jh65f_4aO7rzI4aEj2GUouellTDbNqnN0hQrFzb1I_-UXsfhvOBqVyGI2OuR82d7Ih2AEAHEBPpU6wEsTr_pi8JJBHcF2IIcOJttebnT_o/s1600/IMG_2755.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8Y7gC63ejdU4uzZ9J3zVsUvrjuqhn1BMB0Jh65f_4aO7rzI4aEj2GUouellTDbNqnN0hQrFzb1I_-UXsfhvOBqVyGI2OuR82d7Ih2AEAHEBPpU6wEsTr_pi8JJBHcF2IIcOJttebnT_o/s640/IMG_2755.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cherries Jubilee</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Mush's Selection: The staple of all cruise line dessert menus...the lava cake!<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMzcmXH-xEm8juFmdNLHdztkS9fnC0A6NcVs2-rEzW-0jSZ_AAdIMyFjCAaZul23dzjPiW08oEaZ33tgg9Y77pkqUJ6DaDAfokPTPQahtk1w6-oxpcNOz8yAqB3SX-M2QS2qDAkd2F_p0/s1600/IMG_2756.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMzcmXH-xEm8juFmdNLHdztkS9fnC0A6NcVs2-rEzW-0jSZ_AAdIMyFjCAaZul23dzjPiW08oEaZ33tgg9Y77pkqUJ6DaDAfokPTPQahtk1w6-oxpcNOz8yAqB3SX-M2QS2qDAkd2F_p0/s640/IMG_2756.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Warm Chocolate Lava Cake</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Aaron is definitely my son - he went for the Pistachio Creme Brulee!<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgV5vGNO9CJ67cMu-XxQV7nM0Rbx3wpOzkMRbOtQHZ6Ka_s6KXYAf7WpXjpu_f5VBCVe_MnYMH3vZT18YgtXVriZ-K1TzeLJy95_mDRBxKSz961susejMltPpK7uQ6i2soFTJ3_v5Lu6aY/s1600/IMG_2757.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgV5vGNO9CJ67cMu-XxQV7nM0Rbx3wpOzkMRbOtQHZ6Ka_s6KXYAf7WpXjpu_f5VBCVe_MnYMH3vZT18YgtXVriZ-K1TzeLJy95_mDRBxKSz961susejMltPpK7uQ6i2soFTJ3_v5Lu6aY/s640/IMG_2757.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pistachio Creme Brulee</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Sheri chose a bit healthier selection with the cheese plate.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnEivEiyWNZTKw3l0fa9rcthOPQcLHPZagTU8C7YfUgFcbmj_IXrAcbpkUYWxVKmaZxdkb6L7QAfd4o3Wjz6k9z1Jo3DunnfZ-5VQTR3PxG8ZuiYmIza0sOXWE2IEtKZ5qThzoGKyFGq4/s1600/IMG_2754.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnEivEiyWNZTKw3l0fa9rcthOPQcLHPZagTU8C7YfUgFcbmj_IXrAcbpkUYWxVKmaZxdkb6L7QAfd4o3Wjz6k9z1Jo3DunnfZ-5VQTR3PxG8ZuiYmIza0sOXWE2IEtKZ5qThzoGKyFGq4/s640/IMG_2754.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Assorted Cheeses, Grapes, & Crackers</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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All of us enjoyed our desserts. Aaron didn't taste a lot of pistachio in the creme brulee, but it was still good. Sheri's cheese plate was remarkably good! That was my first-ever lava cake, so I have nothing to compare it to; it was awesome, though!<br />
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After dinner, we headed towards the forward area of the ship towards the atrium. On our way, we caught a good picture of the chandelier, which was feeling a little blue.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIlbWtpD1dt83UvJJdgvjSJYZ-MIVcMrhRdFuQd_mDZYcOFzImsBBN6zucXe_lPciYgmI3xjQvXTnqPVsm8jgoGS3m15vvNEjspDt8ffRtxYznldMvfduEGwv5VoEwxiJfIvUXkBwrUmQ/s1600/IMG_2758.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIlbWtpD1dt83UvJJdgvjSJYZ-MIVcMrhRdFuQd_mDZYcOFzImsBBN6zucXe_lPciYgmI3xjQvXTnqPVsm8jgoGS3m15vvNEjspDt8ffRtxYznldMvfduEGwv5VoEwxiJfIvUXkBwrUmQ/s640/IMG_2758.JPG" width="480" /></a></div>
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As we reached the atrium, we noticed that they were in the middle of a “Minute to Win It” contest. I took the opportunity to head to guest services to see about the distilled water for the CPAP machine. While waiting, I gained a new appreciation for the people working behind the Guest Services desk as I heard them dealing with some odd issues with excellent professionalism. When it came to my turn (after a couple of others tried walking up in front others and being told (kindly) where the line was), I inquired, and the woman I was working with initially thought I was talking about bottled water. I ended up bringing up the email from the ship’s Access Coordinator and letting her read it. A phone call later, and all was set.<br />
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Again – excellent customer service!<br />
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As happened the last time I hopped in line for Guest Services, the others headed for a seat and ordered a drink. <br />
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Oh no...nope…she was already up one drink on me. I glanced over the menu and ordered a new selection for me…a Rebellious Fish! We stayed there for a few minutes, since Sheri and Aaron noticed less motion in the atrium (Deck 6 mid-forward). Since our next planned event was the Variety Show in the Theatre, we just hung out and waited, doing a little people-watching in the process. The boys were initially planning on heading to their respective age-specific areas, but they were also starting to show some signs of wear and tear. We arrived to the Escape Theater around 7:45 and found some seats near the back so some of us could sneak out quietly. Aaron could check himself in and out of Entourage, but an adult had to drop off Eric at Splash Academy, though he could check himself out after 2 hours. Both of them were to meet their counselors at 8 and then have events afterwards.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijlZIoOI7xLv4PgAmQaVEg_jvcSu2dlBka7fwGwg6-yZSqpqcnKfQ-W2Pyz9snutYokFB0qmOqvRo7_qSVNyt9HnhrxtYuCovJWoPkVlxwgmeg4gpzXKZ5en2TvpeGW7LNVkI2L8cVomU/s1600/IMG_2441.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijlZIoOI7xLv4PgAmQaVEg_jvcSu2dlBka7fwGwg6-yZSqpqcnKfQ-W2Pyz9snutYokFB0qmOqvRo7_qSVNyt9HnhrxtYuCovJWoPkVlxwgmeg4gpzXKZ5en2TvpeGW7LNVkI2L8cVomU/s640/IMG_2441.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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The show started with the cast of For the Record: The Brat Pack doing a piece from their show.<br />
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The boys decided to stay after that and head to their areas afterward.<br />
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We saw Tyler (Cruise Director) for the first time, and we got to see many of the acts onboard. All of us took note of Company Men, and we made mental notes to figure out when their acts were. After Midnight had a lot of energy, but we could tell that the boys were not that into the genre. <br />
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After the show ended, we immediately went to Splash Academy to drop off Eric and realized that it was being held at the other end of the ship, as far away as it could be – the sports court. We decided to drop off Aaron at Entourage on our way, since it was on the way. After Aaron headed in, we headed up to the court and found something that we were a bit concerned about – Eric was definitely one of the oldest ones there, both physically and socially. He towered above all the others (including some of the counselors) except for one other young man. We decided to stay and watch the interaction for a few minutes. Eventually, the mix/mingle turned into a dodgeball frenzy, and we knew that he would be fine. Once dodgeball was over, they headed back to the Academy. We caught his eye and gauged if he was okay. He wanted to give it a try, so we left as they made their way back.<br />
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It took a few minutes for Sheri and I to realize that we were alone.<br />
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HOT DAMN!!<br />
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Okay…closest bar…closest bar…Spice H2O! We found two seats at the bar and looked at the menu for a bit. There was some movement, but Sheri seemed to be doing okay. We were both a bit warm, so we ordered appropriately. Sheri got a mudslide, and I ordered another new one…a Bushwacker. As we watched him make the drinks, we realized we truly had an artist behind the bar.<br />
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We immediately grabbed our cameras and took pictures of our drinks.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9g-82hgTEows26i2tq3nciT9oTcETgRwhwhyphenhyphenGefZII3uLrl1_w9D8fyJd2wX0YYBUwv5WfmdrIBF2r9ygO_v7HSofJ5T2Q5dog5V0ehEMvGm_j4_ureRLyQuKEi0cdGcdXN_U4WItpXs/s1600/IMG_2759.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9g-82hgTEows26i2tq3nciT9oTcETgRwhwhyphenhyphenGefZII3uLrl1_w9D8fyJd2wX0YYBUwv5WfmdrIBF2r9ygO_v7HSofJ5T2Q5dog5V0ehEMvGm_j4_ureRLyQuKEi0cdGcdXN_U4WItpXs/s640/IMG_2759.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mudslide</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDIGiDI2Q_xrzXf5TZpkUp4ZqE6FUQ77jBQg0VzD52qkdl8HAO7ZvevRbGnjycp8wTS2Vwsc_Kj9c5s_xKp2nFaShJcQSU7VNOYUsqAQAPvSnLb6ot1jjQl0D5XRysFB33tu4uOdC2FGE/s1600/IMG_2443.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDIGiDI2Q_xrzXf5TZpkUp4ZqE6FUQ77jBQg0VzD52qkdl8HAO7ZvevRbGnjycp8wTS2Vwsc_Kj9c5s_xKp2nFaShJcQSU7VNOYUsqAQAPvSnLb6ot1jjQl0D5XRysFB33tu4uOdC2FGE/s640/IMG_2443.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bushwacker</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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The guy next to me was so impressed (and perhaps inebriated) that he also took pictures of the top of the Bushwacker.<br />
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We tipped the bartender and enjoyed our (relative) solitude for a few minutes before heading back to the room. As we emerged from the elevator, I noticed a girl walking around…probably around the boys’ age. When we opened the door, I saw the distilled water waiting for us. Sheri went back to unpacking, and I decided that it would be safer for me to be on the balcony. About 30 seconds after I stepped out, I saw a Celebrity Solstice-class ship passing us on her way back to the states.<br />
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At 10:20, I headed out to get Eric from Splash. It seemed to go fairly well, though the highlight was his “dominance” at dodgeball (in his defense, he was doing really well out there). I dropped him off at the room and then decided to head up to Entourage to see how Aaron was handling the “Battle of the Genders”. It was still going on, so I peeked into Spice H2O, which had their Welcome Aboard Dance Party in full-swing. Andre, the Assistant Cruise Director, was keeping the energy up on the dance floor:<br />
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Around 11:15, Aaron came strolling out. It went well, though he gave me the “What happens in Entourage STAYS in Entourage” line. I just smiled. He’s growing up. We peeked our heads into Spice H2O again to check out the dancing before heading to the room. When we got off the elevator, I noticed that same girl from about 45 minutes before still walking around. I asked her if she needed help, and she said that she couldn’t find her friend’s room (a lot of her stuff was in that room). She was looking for stateroom 12665, which, in her defense, was NOT easy to find. That stateroom is an inside room just in front of the elevators. All of the Oceanside rooms are even-numbered, which drove her crazy, since she was looking for one of only a small number of odd-numbered rooms in the area. She said that she had been trying to find that room for about an hour and a half, even after asking crew members for help. She thanked us, and we headed to our room.<br />
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As we all wound down for the night, I was expecting a major argument from the boys on the sleeping arrangements. Luckily, Eric chose the bottom and was fine with staying down there; this was a good thing, because Aaron wanted the Pullman bed on top. We all changed and prepped for bed. <br />
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Around midnight, we were all out cold!<br />
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The next day starts <b><a href="http://blogdumush.blogspot.com/2017/08/escaping-insanity-cruising-trip-report_7.html" target="_blank">HERE</a></b>.<br />
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Mushhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10505667166856318130noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1294200876740643495.post-40505026474824421722017-08-03T15:34:00.001-05:002017-08-05T08:21:25.951-05:00Escaping Insanity: A Cruising Trip Report. Embarkation Day!!!! (Part 2)Part 1 of this day can be found <a href="http://blogdumush.blogspot.com/2017/08/need-to-see-previous-day-here.html" target="_blank">HERE</a>.<br />
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We continued our way forward, noting that the pool one deck below was essentially empty. We found the ping pong tables as we made our way inside to the forward elevators. We then took the elevator down to deck 5 to head to Splash Academy to get Eric registered. I’ll say upfront that Sheri and I were both a little concerned about the “fit” that Eric would have with Splash. Though he jokes around about everything, he is a mature age of 12, and we thought that much of the activities wouldn’t interest him. I knew that we couldn’t request him to move up to Entourage; we showed Eric an earlier copy of the activities, and he seemed interested in a few of them, so we took the chance and registered him. He received a yellow wrist band that let the crew members know what level he was (he could check himself out after 2 hours of being in the Academy) as well as other pertinent information. <br />
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Once he was registered, we stuck our heads into the Guppies room of Splash, and I grabbed a little video of it. After that, we headed up to deck 6 to the atrium. I wanted to stop by guest services to A) try getting the anniversary cake moved from La Cucina over to Cagney’s on the 21st; and B) to break a $20 so I would have tipping money. While waiting in line, the Director of Guest Services, Odie, was greeting guests and seeing if he could take care of any issues without having to speak to a guest services member. Seeing him there impressed me.<br />
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I received a card to give to the server for the cake, and I hid it in my pocket…I wanted to surprise Sheri with it on our anniversary. While I was getting this taken care of, Sheri and the boys grabbed a seat in the atrium. The timing was good, because a server came around and got drink orders from them. She got a mojito.<br />
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Not that I was keeping score, but she was +1 on me on drinks.<br />
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From the time we got onboard, we heard an announcement that the staterooms were not yet ready every 15-20 minutes. It sounded like a lot of people were trying to get into the rooms early. I wanted to scream to let the cabin stewards do their thing, but I instead took my anger out by gnawing on the straw of my ‘fish. Once we had our drinks done, we started heading around to get a feel for the ship. We worked our way aft and walked through some of the art gallery before finding ourselves in the chandelier atrium (“Atrium #2”, as we called it). I stopped by Headliners to cancel our La Cucina reservation (I saw her typing something about “anniversary” in the Cagney’s reservation, so they knew :)). Since I wanted us to see the variety show, I inquired about trying to move our reservation at the Manhattan Room up to 5:30, and she said that just showing up at 5:15 would be enough. I thanked her and rejoined the Mushfam, who was still staring straight up at the chandelier.<br />
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We walked a little farther aft, past the Mixx Bar and Taste/Savor restaurants. Just as we got to the aft elevators, they announced that staterooms were available. Good timing! We hailed a ‘vator and made our way up to Deck 12. Our room was REALLY close to the aft elevators on the port side…12272. The Mushfam all commented on how close the room was, and I basked in the glory of being a good travel consultant and picking a good room for them. I got my card out…<br />
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…and failed miserably at getting the door open. Being the typical teen, Aaron grabbed my card and tried, with the same unsuccessful result.<br />
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Eric then tried….nope.<br />
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I started getting a bit nervous, until Aaron threw his card in and quickly removed it, giving us a green light on the lock. We all piled in, and I immediately noticed that the bed was near the balcony.<br />
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WOOHOO!!!! All my information led me to believe that it was by the closet.<br />
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We headed out to the balcony/verandah, and I again basked in the glory of a successful stateroom selection. All of us just stood there for a moment, and then Sheri broke the silence: “I see my boats!”, as she pointed to the red lifeboats below us. I noticed that we had three chairs on the verandah, which was awesome. We then heard a “Hi, Neighbor!” to our right. We met the couple in the stateroom next us – a younger couple from Ontario – and talked to them for a couple of minutes. Eric took a panoramic shot, with a...well....an..."interesting" result:<br />
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Sheri started lobbying that we could do sail away on our balcony, which led to a quick exchange between us (I like the excitement of sail away from the upper decks). Aaron then claimed that he was confident that he could spit all the way to the water from our balcony. I contemplated climbing over the railing to stay with the couple from Canada for the duration of the cruise.<br />
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We headed back in to look around the room a little, and I noticed that some of our in-room requests had already arrived. The first thing I saw was another card with “Happy Anniversary” on the front and instructions to give the card to our server when we wanted to use it.<br />
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Oops – I didn’t realize that this was how they did it. I tried to keep it away from Sheri’s sight, but it didn’t work, and I let her in on the plans. This is a big reason why I wanted to take the cruise – to get a feel for how they do things :). We also got the bottled water that I pre-ordered, as well as the tickets for our shore excursion to Virgin Gorda & the Baths. I noticed that the distilled water that was pre-ordered for my cpap machine had not yet arrived. It was still early, though, and I wasn’t concerned at all. <br />
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As if on cue, we heard a knock on the door. It wasn’t the distilled water, but it was a delivery of chocolate-covered strawberries and a bottle of Brut sparkling wine – a perk that Norwegian gives to travel partners sailing with them. The berries were inhaled by all within 12.6 seconds, and the Brut was put into the fridge to start chilling.<br />
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I got the cpap machine set up and, though I brought an extension cord, I was happy to see that I wouldn’t need it, as the cord could reach across the room to an outlet. While the boys explored the events on the Freestyle Daily, I opened up my newest toy that went with the GoPro: a Joby suction cup with Gorillapod arm. I went out to the balcony and looked around for the best place to set it up. I decided to place it on the divider on the left and stuck it on. After I dismounted my GoPro from my handle and swapped out the MicroSD card for a larger capacity one, I heard someone above me shout out, “That’s a really cool idea!!!” as I mounted the GoPro to the Joby. Some guests on their balcony on deck 14 saw what I was doing and loved it. I told them my plan of getting a time lapse of the sail away (see video from previous post). I used my iPad to check the orientation of the GoPro (I love technology sometimes!) and, happy with what I saw, I shut it all down to save the battery. I then grabbed our DSLR camera and started taking some pictures from our view – vacation and anniversary aside, I was still “working”.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fueling us up!</td></tr>
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The boys were starting to drive Sheri crazy (crazier), so I offered to take them with me while I got some ship pictures. Eric agreed, and, since separating the boys is often the best plan of attack when they are in “let’s-drive-our-parents-crazy” mode, she gave us our blessing. <br />
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We immediately headed up to Deck 16 to get a feel for the pool area. It was definitely getting a little more crowded, but it was still manageable.<br />
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The live music had started, and Eric and I stopped to listen for a moment.<br />
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I noticed that both levels of the Wave bar were definitely a lot busier than when we got our drink. My Disney/Universal strategy of “go-where-they-ain’t” is still paying dividends on the ship. I turned around, and we got our first glimpse of the water slides (then closed, as the Muster drill was about an hour away). <br />
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Eric and I headed forward. I had two objectives here: 1) first, I wanted Eric to see the view from the front of the ship; and 2) I wanted to see the crowd levels on the sundecks up there. Aside from us, there may have been only 3-4 couples up on the forward sundecks, and I immediately made a mental note of that in case we wanted to do some laying out the next day. I also thought that this area might be a good spot for sail away. I really liked the small walkway on Deck 19 that overlooked the pool area and gave you a view of both sides of the ship. The pictures below show the view from that location:<br />
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We then headed aft to look at the arcade, and I could see Eric making a mental note of all that was in there. I had a feeling that we’d be checking the onboard accounts a lot on this cruise to make sure they weren’t spending hundreds of dollars a day in there.<br />
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Eric and I arrived back to the stateroom around 3:00, and the other two were chilling a bit after getting the carry-ons taken care of. We had the Muster drill coming up soon, and we hoped that, if we got there early, we might have a chance to be one of the early ones out. Our assigned station was E4, which was Taste/Savor. The setup then (keep in mind that this could change) was that odd numbers were in Taste, with evens in Savor. The crew got set up, and we followed the member with the green “E4” sign, got our cards scanned (yes, they scan to make sure you attend), and grabbed a seat. This was definitely much more comfortable than Disney’s muster station, where you assemble on the promenade near the lifeboats, but Sheri also commented that her lifeboat just for her was more than three steps away. I made a joke that, perhaps they would have a band playing for us while they got the Haven guests to their boats first, like in <i>Titanic</i>. Though I got a death glare from her, I think she preferred this setup for the drill.<br />
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Peter was our station’s crew member, and he maintained an excellent combination of humor (to keep things from being too boring) and professionalism (he knew when to stop the jokes). Our Cruise Director, Tyler Gray, was doing the spiel, and I noticed that his voice was a bit more gravelly than I recalled hearing from the videos I had seen before. Soon after, we were released from the drill, and, while much of the masses went to the elevator bank, we squeezed past them to the stairs. I warned them that it was going to be a climb up to Deck 17, but they seemed like they were okay with it. I then told them that I was stopping at Deck 12 to get the GoPro started.<br />
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I don’t know why, but they didn’t seem too happy about it around Deck 12.<br />
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I peeled off at Deck 12 and immediately saw that two of our checked bags had already arrived. I opened the door and got the bags inside. I then started the GoPro and contemplated sitting down for a second, ordering room service, taking a nap, etc. Then reality set in, and I knew I’d be fish food if I actually did that, so I bounded up the stairs to Deck 17. Sheri texted me their location – port side, under the Aqua Racer (SHADE). I found them a minute later, and we grabbed some railing. I looked over and saw the water eddying from the bow thruster. That meant only one thing…we were going to be the first ship out (you can see it in the video).<br />
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Sweet!<br />
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Continued...<a href="http://blogdumush.blogspot.com/2017/08/escaping-insanity-cruising-trip-report_5.html" target="_blank">HERE</a></div>
Mushhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10505667166856318130noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1294200876740643495.post-62745911578497981732017-08-02T12:36:00.001-05:002017-08-03T15:35:06.657-05:00 Escaping Insanity: A Cruising Trip Report. Embarkation Day!!!! (Part 1)Need to see the previous day? Start <a href="http://blogdumush.blogspot.com/2017/07/escaping-insanity-cruising-trip-report_30.html" target="_blank">HERE</a>.<br />
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I was the first one up (I’m like the kids in an old Walt Disney World commercial…can’t sleep…too excited!). I looked out the window and did a quick count…1…2…3…4…5…yep 5 ships (insert a laugh from “the Count” from Sesame Street… “5! 5 Ships ah-ah-ah…crash/boom”).<br />
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In the foreground was the luxury yacht, Seafair.<br />
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Behind it was Regent’s Seven Seas Navigator, with four large ships on the other side of Port Miami’s Dodge Island.<br />
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There’s MSC Divina, two whale tails, which were Carnival Glory and Carnival Vista, and then…there she was…Norwegian Escape.<br />
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Soon afterward, the other three were awake and wondering what I was doing looking out the window for ten minutes straight. I told the boys to look and see what was out there.<br />
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They couldn’t get past the yacht docked next to the hotel. Once I got them to focus over at Port Miami, their eyes got a little wider.<br />
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We all did the bathroom shuffle to get 4 people ready in one bathroom. I started packing up the electronics, while the others made sure nothing was left in the room. We then headed down to the Starbucks in the lobby for a quick bite. We didn’t want to fill up on a large breakfast – why pay for that when you could have free food on the ship in just a few hours???<br />
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The boys enjoyed their café mochas at Starbucks (which, I should probably add, was their first taste of Starbucks and mochas). I was fully expecting them to start emulating Beavis and Butthead when they had coffee (“I am the great Cornholio!”). Luckily, they seemed rather subdued. It could have been the cute girls in the store that kept them calm. Aaron has this running joke where he’d claim to introduce himself to a cute girl with this falsetto “heellLLOOOOOOOoooo!” I brought that up and told him to try it out with them.<br />
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Yeah…he didn’t listen to me.<br />
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We headed back up to pack, and I made an executive decision to download my videos to have as much storage space as possible on the GoPro, since I was planning on using and abusing that piece of equipment that day. As I was downloading, it started raining outside. I immediately went into planning mode for how to handle this; luckily, I didn’t have to fret for long, because the rain stopped about ten minutes later. Despite my pleas for her to try Bonine this time, Wifey opted for scopolamine, and I helped her get the patch on.<br />
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I did the texting checkout, and we were out! I have to say again that the Intercontinental Miami really impressed me and that I would definitely recommend it; just make sure that you’re aware of any concerts nearby.<br />
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I set up our Uber ride to the terminal, and Carlos was there in less than five minutes. We were on Dodge Island within three minutes, but the tunnel traffic was thick! With five ships embarking that day, it wasn’t a major surprise. It took just over 15 minutes to load the car, ride to terminal C, and unload the car. There was a momentary panic as we realized that the laptop was still on the car after we shut the door; luckily, we were able to flag Carlos down before he took off. Counting the number of bags came in handy there!<br />
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We immediately grabbed a porter and dropped off 5 bags, leaving us with 5 smaller tote bags to haul around (definitely doable). After tipping the porter, we headed up to the door for Terminal C, not exactly knowing how busy it would be. The line for security screening was moving quickly, and we were through it in about 4 minutes. Up next was the medical form. I was a bit concerned, because of allergies that I had been dealing with for nearly a week. My eyes were a bit red, and there was a definite cough bugging the heck out of me. Knowing that it was allergies (I forgot to take an allergy pill that morning), I felt confident filling out the form – I wasn’t going to give someone my case of allergies. As we were filling out the form, a security guard walked by, which got everyone’s attention – he stood around 6’8” and was solid muscle. How he was not in the NFL, I’ll never know. The boys noticed the automatic firearm he was carrying. My wife noticed the guns located above his elbow in his arms.<br />
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(no pic of the security guy...sorry, ladies)<br />
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The line for checking in moved quickly, and we had our cards in our hand within ten minutes. We made our way to the holding lobby and were handing our boarding number…group 5. Well, I guess we weren’t getting Vibe passes for the cruise – good thing we weren’t trying to get them, right? The lobby was filling up, but we were still easily able to find several spots to sit. While waiting, I headed to the part of the lobby as close to the ship as possible and was able to connect to the ship’s wifi. I wasn’t able to access our account via Norwegian’s iConcierge app yet, as it appeared that they were still closing out the last cruise’s guests. After a few tries, though, I was able to log in, and I immediately made a dining reservation on the app for Cagney’s on our anniversary (Wednesday). After more research and talking to friends, we decided to do Cagney’s instead of La Cucina. I wasn’t able to cancel the La Cucina reservation on the app, but I knew that I was able to do it at Headliners after we boarded. I also wanted to modify the anniversary cake over to Cagney’s for that night, as it was initially set up for La Cucina.<br />
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We waited for probably around 15-20 minutes before we started seeing some of the pre-boarding groups getting on. There were a couple of choruses of “Happy Birthday” sung by a few hundred friends while waiting. Finally, the P.A. announcer told us fellow Norwegians that they were about to start boarding. One of the NCL terminal employees got the crowd excited as she gave the instructions on what all we needed to get past her. Groups 1 and 2 boarded at the same time. As they did that, groups 3 and 4 started lining up. We started making our way towards the loading area. As groups 3 and 4 were announced, we were ready. A thunderous cheer was heard every time they announced a new boarding group allowed. When 5 and 6 were announced, we joined in and let out a quick holler. We gave our boarding group card and were granted access past her. <br />
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The line moved quickly, but we still had a minute or two to look at just how big the Escape was. After a couple of minutes, we scanned our cards, and we were on the gangway heading up to board on Deck 7. There were a lot of smiles and a lot of joking around by everyone as we made our way up. As we stepped foot aboard, there were several members of the crew welcoming us and dancing. <br />
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We were on the ship a total of about 5 seconds, and I was already starting to relax.<br />
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We got washy-washyed as we made our way aft. A member of the kids’ clubs (Entourage and Splash Academy) sized up Aaron and decided that he probably had the adult beverage package; he gave Eric a quick piece of paper that reminded guests of when enrollment for the clubs were. Sheri took special notice of the life boats and picked one just for her.<br />
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We entered a crew hallway (not the biggest fan of that) as we made our way into the guest area. There was a stairwell that had Sheri commenting on “where we definitely DON’T want to be”, harkening to Rose and Jack from Titanic. A few steps later, we were inside on Deck 7, in the casino. We immediately saw the impressive chandelier ahead of us, and, along with everyone else around us, we stopped for pictures and jaw-drops. Everyone else was heading to the right all the way around the chandelier. Being an economist, I sought the most efficient route, and, as you can see in the video (link below), we went left and beat nearly everyone around. We made our way through the casino past the Skyline Bar (the other one…the location with the same name on the Disney Dream will always be “our” Skyline Bar). We made it to the aft elevators, and a crew member informed us that the buffet was open. Seeing that very few were getting on the elevators, we agreed to grab lunch while it was quiet. We rode up to Deck 16 with a couple that were already on drink #2. When the elevator opened, I guided us farther aft, while the few others near the bank of elevators headed forward. That’s a piece of advice to give you there…the aft stations of Garden Café are typically not as crowded as the ones more forward. We found a table right in the corner of the starboard aft section. I told the rest I’d hold the table while they got food. While they were gone, I grabbed a few pictures of downtown Miami and of Carnival Vista, parked just behind us. The boys returned first...as I expected, they had their plates full and were already plotting what to put on plate #2. I went up and grabbed my own plate. As we ate, one of the officers came around, welcomed us aboard, and asked if we needed anything.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBWDj9jYEuipBt95SfOFZHDpRSOFWeXtgU-k4H8NFjoT-gyOJm_GjpQ9CsWdfRa3N_XA9lnkOJBoHCHwLRUHWgY7Zmwao1KgiyeS0AOtiz3ZLJUg3dAc318nXQnwW-pT-pX3gA-tS9ml0/s1600/IMG_8048.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBWDj9jYEuipBt95SfOFZHDpRSOFWeXtgU-k4H8NFjoT-gyOJm_GjpQ9CsWdfRa3N_XA9lnkOJBoHCHwLRUHWgY7Zmwao1KgiyeS0AOtiz3ZLJUg3dAc318nXQnwW-pT-pX3gA-tS9ml0/s640/IMG_8048.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijLZJzVagL6XcXV1ghV3GYwD6wK6UjNqXkhM-kKA0QhhESF3jMsZdOQhqArCq00FP80ph34TPkpAwcpQbMtzDtUscXmXuIIZeizBtz-rHi9b17Pohr5-4vn52D8ASLGBy-wO5O6JdJ8tc/s1600/IMG_8053.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijLZJzVagL6XcXV1ghV3GYwD6wK6UjNqXkhM-kKA0QhhESF3jMsZdOQhqArCq00FP80ph34TPkpAwcpQbMtzDtUscXmXuIIZeizBtz-rHi9b17Pohr5-4vn52D8ASLGBy-wO5O6JdJ8tc/s640/IMG_8053.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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Every 2-3 minutes, a crew member would stop by to clear out plates, restock table settings, asking if we needed anything. After a couple of rounds of main courses, the boys sought out dessert…or, rather, round 1 of desserts. When they returned, Sheri and I headed up together to get dessert, and we saw a crew member handing out that day’s Freestyle Daily, which is the information sheet of all that is going on.<br />
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<a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2ZKuFc5W7TAVWQ2MGJndWZqYmc/view?usp=sharing" target="_blank">Freestyle Daily!</a><br />
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We asked for one and took it back with us to the table, along with dessert. Garden Café was definitely getting busier, but there were still a lot of open tables around us. We all got set up on the iConcierge app and paid for the text/voice access. Eric, always the jokester, started texting us from three feet away, which led to an emoji war involving Sheri and the boys. EVENTUALLY, we gathered our bags (counted…5…good to go) and headed out. Since we were only one deck below Entourage, we decided to get Aaron registered up there. A few minutes later, we headed out of Entourage and started to make our way forward. We walked by the upper level of the Waves bar and noticed that there was only one other guest there. Sheri and I immediately changed paths and headed right into Waves to grab a table. The boys watched our bags while we went up to the bar to order our first drink. We both decided on the drink of the day…the “Daydreamer’s Daiquiri” (Silver rum, lime juice, and agave nectar).<br />
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I went to tip the bartender and realized that all I had were $20s. I knew that there was already an 18% gratuity paid for with the drink package, but I wanted to give some more. I secretly kicked myself for not having singles yet, and I sheepishly said, “Thanks!” for the drinks. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfdC8ZEfVcD9-UJ1s7PQlhm6aSRnwml7kNZeKChaMPsqcf7LCMPfJZ34cJV5ZAhIwbUwZHYlDo5DNCVJ0o-XekLZ3vGIPrCuDK3Xe6E8e4rjKBO4QkwWQ51UvP13BIxv1251OLMbTZiCc/s1600/IMG_2727.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfdC8ZEfVcD9-UJ1s7PQlhm6aSRnwml7kNZeKChaMPsqcf7LCMPfJZ34cJV5ZAhIwbUwZHYlDo5DNCVJ0o-XekLZ3vGIPrCuDK3Xe6E8e4rjKBO4QkwWQ51UvP13BIxv1251OLMbTZiCc/s640/IMG_2727.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<b>LINK TO VIDEO OF THE DAY'S EVENTS:</b><br />
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Continued...<b><a href="http://blogdumush.blogspot.com/2017/08/escaping-insanity-cruising-trip-report_3.html" target="_blank">HERE</a></b><br />
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Mushhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10505667166856318130noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1294200876740643495.post-44809683161088894792017-08-01T07:20:00.000-05:002017-08-02T12:43:44.499-05:00Escaping Insanity: A Cruising Trip Report. Arrival Day, Part 2!Part 1 of this day can be found <a href="http://blogdumush.blogspot.com/2017/07/escaping-insanity-cruising-trip-report_30.html" target="_blank">HERE</a>.<br />
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5 bags later, we headed outside, and I set up an Uber request. We walked to the commercial pick-up area, which is where the website said Uber would stop. The traffic on this level of the airport was exceptionally thick for nearly 11 pm, but we were able to find our driver fairly easily, once he was able to navigate through the throngs. We all piled in and started our way down I-95 to downtown. During the drive, we saw a nice Lamborghini in the express lane, which the boys thought was cool, and we saw a pair of street racers doing around 110 on the Interstate as we approached downtown Miami, which the boys thought was really cool!<br />
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We’re going to be in trouble when they start driving.<br />
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We were staying at the Intercontinental Hotel just off of Biscayne Boulevard. This resort went through a $30 million renovation a few years ago, and I hoped that the timing would work out so the we could see the fruits of the renovation. We pulled up when the “Welcome to Miami” marquee was playing.<br />
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Now, for those of you who have absolutely no idea what I’m talking about, I would like to direct you to the video from the previous post.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzBiVQmlRY_vngBFGcTqibjPa_v6ZIHa5TRPQUCT1JPiDGffJZSbHmlbgSxOs2UybwqGPxz62AYqLFcTTJzA4Wii82KsLe9XjSzZvGpBk3eUS4GABgl29cprTRpaGzYug9i3xt2D-GFEk/s1600/IMG_2701.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzBiVQmlRY_vngBFGcTqibjPa_v6ZIHa5TRPQUCT1JPiDGffJZSbHmlbgSxOs2UybwqGPxz62AYqLFcTTJzA4Wii82KsLe9XjSzZvGpBk3eUS4GABgl29cprTRpaGzYug9i3xt2D-GFEk/s640/IMG_2701.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">PALM TREE!!!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyepvkiZVqSYCjQMr-Lt88ZOSjZLpEh8vWY7smd4IiwOskj_EQVhdV-QsKexUOOENUw4_7LhJjuEwwKQg3N3KjEZq3TiqEBmij2mRHQCJvstj-HYUrA3l3cTmFF_C98SaZbidYj1DK4JQ/s1600/IMG_2392.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyepvkiZVqSYCjQMr-Lt88ZOSjZLpEh8vWY7smd4IiwOskj_EQVhdV-QsKexUOOENUw4_7LhJjuEwwKQg3N3KjEZq3TiqEBmij2mRHQCJvstj-HYUrA3l3cTmFF_C98SaZbidYj1DK4JQ/s640/IMG_2392.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Main Lobby of InterContinental Miami</td></tr>
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We pulled up and immediately felt like we were in Miami – the energy around this area is awesome! We made our way inside, and, immediately, bell services asked if we needed help with the bags up the stairs. While the other three marveled at the awesome lobby inside the hotel, I hopped in line for check-in. About 30 seconds later, concierge saw me and called me over to help check in.<br />
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Two-for-two so far on liking this place!<br />
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The gentleman at concierge started working on check-in, and I threw a request out there, fully expecting to be shot down. I booked the room using points from our IHG credit card, and the only option available with points was a city view. I was hoping I could pay for an upgrade to a bay view so we could see the ships when we woke up, but, since I used points, I didn’t know if it was possible. The worst they could say was, “sorry…can’t do it”.<br />
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They didn’t say that.<br />
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In fact, they bumped us to a bay view for no additional cost at all.<br />
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Sweet!<br />
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As we finished the check-in, I talked to him for a bit about the night-audit, capacity, and how things had changed since I worked front desk at a Holiday Inn (IHG owns that chain of hotels). Being IHG members, we received vouchers for coffee at Starbucks. He handed over the keys, and, after thanking him, we headed upstairs to the 12th floor to see our room (with a view).<br />
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No pics of the room when we walked in…it was nearing midnight, and we had been traveling for around 12 hours. Sorry!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8UmqAjjBULUZ3cm5UNXT4DYspOVwStmynn-Ha-IuVBuHMkUn5IgQahWREMm-iAzi7r2O0MGA5IW9Rc6DxuQb1wVvNVK1JiODNCMW4wfSGypI2LnEl1-SfVzb8bzdp85q1nmRejdl_lhI/s1600/IMG_2700.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8UmqAjjBULUZ3cm5UNXT4DYspOVwStmynn-Ha-IuVBuHMkUn5IgQahWREMm-iAzi7r2O0MGA5IW9Rc6DxuQb1wVvNVK1JiODNCMW4wfSGypI2LnEl1-SfVzb8bzdp85q1nmRejdl_lhI/s640/IMG_2700.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I could think of worse views!</td></tr>
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The reviews I have read of this property were that the rooms were a bit dated. While I can see people thinking that, we were completely comfortable in there, and, as Eric said, “compared to the rest of the hotel, the rooms seemed average.” It’s hard to compare the room when the rest of the resort is so stellar – that doesn’t mean that the rooms are “dated”, sub-par, or anything. The sleeping arrangements are great, in my opinion, and I have absolutely no qualms about suggesting this hotel to any of my clients, so long as they would be the type that can appreciate the Miami nightlife. They also might want to check the schedules of events at Bayfront Park, which is about ¼ mile away from the hotel; outdoor concerts at night could definitely impact the noise/crowd/excitement levels at the hotel. I think that it could enhance the experience there, if you’re into those kinds of things.<br />
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Though I knew that Sheri wanted to unpack a bit and get to sleep, I prodded her to head back downstairs so we could see the outside of the building. All three of them thought I had completely lost it by recommending that we head outside at midnight to look at the side of a hotel. I threw another “trust me!” at them, and they (barely willingly) agreed to head back to the elevators, down to the lobby, and, finally, outside to appease what they thought was the request of man entering senility.<br />
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We walked outside, and the last part of the video is what we saw.<br />
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Their mouths hit the pavement.<br />
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Aaron even started smiling.<br />
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I win.<br />
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We stayed and watched the Skyline Dancers for a good 5 minutes. That woke them up, because they then started exploring a little bit, getting pictures of the car stationed near the entrance and in the awesome lobby. There was no concert at Bayfront Park that night, most of the younger crowd was still out clubbing at South Beach, and no convention was being held at the hotel, the lobby and bar area were fairly quiet. I could see the lobby being an absolute party on other nights, though.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Aaron tried to lay claim on the 'Vette</td></tr>
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We headed back up, unpacked a few things, and got ready for bed. I showed them were the ships would be, and all three asked when they would arrive. I simply said, “sometime in the morning”, hoping that they would be surprised when they looked out the window the following morning.<br />
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With that, we all turned off the lights and rolled over. We were all asleep within ten minutes, I think. I was too busy sleeping to see when they fell asleep.<br />
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Embarkation Day Starts <a href="http://blogdumush.blogspot.com/2017/08/need-to-see-previous-day-here.html" target="_blank">HERE</a>!<br />
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Mushhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10505667166856318130noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1294200876740643495.post-35506707458881389512017-07-30T14:38:00.000-05:002017-08-01T07:21:04.962-05:00Escaping Insanity: A Cruising Trip Report. Arrival Day!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Catching up? The Pre-trip starts <b><a href="http://blogdumush.blogspot.com/2017/07/escaping-insanity-cruising-trip-report.html" target="_blank">HERE</a></b>.</div>
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This is one of my first attempts at editing a video EVER, so please remember that when watching this. Hopefully they'll improve as the report goes on. Enjoy the pre-trip and arrival video!</div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/t1VyqFnLdyA/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/t1VyqFnLdyA?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></div>
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Our first flight wasn’t until 2:00 out of Champaign. I’ve always been more of the antsy “LET’S GET THERE NOW!!!!” type of person; however, I couldn’t beat the ticket prices of the itinerary, even if it did mean a three-hour layover at O’Hare. We worked on cleaning up the house a bit so that the guy feeding the cat wouldn’t feel like taking the cat to his house for fear of her safety. I mowed the front half of the yard and then got cleaned up. I then OCD’ed for about an hour, quintuple-checking to make sure we had everything. Finally, around 11:00, we told the cat goodbye; she could tell we were leaving for more than just work and promptly bit me.<br />
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I wish I were joking about that…the cat truly hates me. <br />
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Who is the one that bottle-fed her at 2 weeks? Who came home at lunch between classes to make sure she was okay? Who takes care of her litter box? Gets her food? Plays “fetch” with her at 11 pm? Yeah…and I’m the one she attacks.<br />
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Anyway, the rest of the Mushfam hugged the cat, while I mentally flipped her off as I walk out the door.<br />
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52 miles later (41 of which was one-lane road construction), and we pulled into Willard Airport just south of Champaign. We parked the van, took a picture of the sign telling us the section, and figured out the logistics on how four people were going to carry five pieces of checked luggage and five carry-ons. We made it to the entrance fairly well (it’s the economist in me…we were efficient!) and checked the bags at the counter. My car keys went into a carry-on, not to be seen for 8 days; this is a huge mental thing for me, as it symbolizes that I’m FINALLY ON VACATION!!!!! Next up was securit…….hmmm….security was closed as there were no flights departing for a little while. Ooooookkkaaaayyyy…we sat down and watched a bit of television until the gates were opened. Aaron somehow got TSA pre-check assigned to him a couple of years ago, so he got the special treatment – he laughed at us as he flew through while we disrobed.<br />
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After security, we grabbed a snack at the bagel place. I grabbed a fruit/yogurt thing and promptly spilled around 25% of my yogurt getting the granola cup out.<br />
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We didn’t want to say too much on Facebook that we were going to be gone for over a week, but I was able to convince wifey that a few Instagram posts were okay (@MushrushTravel…shameless plug). We got the requisite selfie:<br />
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Having worked ground operations at the regional airport in Bloomington, I always like to take the time to watch how different crews work arrivals and departures. I saw our equipment arrive and taxi to the ramp area…..and then I watched it hold to wait for the ground crew to make its way to the gate to bring it in. United had only been flying into CMI for a week or so, so I’m willing to bet the cockpit didn’t know which line to follow to come in. After about three minutes, I was about to head up to the counter to let them know that the plane was waiting for them; as I was starting to walk around to get a better view, the plane started moving and finally was “in”. 15 minutes later, we were lining up to get onboard. I was finally going to get to test out my GoPro that the Mushfam got me for Christmas, so I pulled rank (yeah, right...they just didn't want to hear me whine) and chose one of the window seats to test it out.<br />
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It was an uneventful flight to Chicago, as we did the standard 28C approach. We arrived at Gate B1, and the screens showed B4 as our departure gate in around 3 hours. We walked around for a while and grabbed a bite to eat at Chili’s. After that, my brain decided to shut down, because I looked for the gate for Miami and noticed that it had changed to B14. The rest of the Mushfam seemed confused, and they eventually got me to realize that we were arriving into FLL.<br />
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Getting old sucks!<br />
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We headed back towards that gate, stopping for a quick pic by the dinosaur in the terminal:<br />
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FYI - the dinosaur is behind me...not next to me. Have I mentioned how much I love my wife?<br />
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We chilled at B4 for a while, until we heard that there was a gate change to B2. There were multiple aircraft in pre-board near that gate, so we waited for a bit before moving to B2. As soon as we sat down, we had another gate change back to B4. Then we heard B5 on the P.A. system. I asked the gate agent, who was trying to close out the departing flight from B5, which gate FLL was leaving, and he said B5. We grabbed a seat…just as the gate agent from B4 grabbed the gate B5 microphone and announced that they think FLL will be departing out of B4.<br />
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I think she saw me laughing.<br />
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Again, having worked operations at a small airport and seeing some behind-the-scenes operations at an airline hub for a large international airport, I understand how the logistics can go out the window at times. No harm was done, and we made our way BACK to B4. At least it wasn’t B2-B24-B6-B18-B4! I considered it nothing more than assistance in getting my steps in for the day, and my Garmin VivoActive HR chirped happily as I blew past my goal number of steps.<br />
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Having flown into and out of O'Hare so many times, I knew that, with the wind and runway configuration being used, we’d be departing on runway 22L. This meant that the best view out the window would be the port side…wait…not on the ship yet…the left side. I let Aaron have the window seat, with the condition that he man the GoPro on departure. I handed it to him, and he threatened to break it; apparently, he thought filming stuff was dumb.<br />
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Teenagers.<br />
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I drew the short straw and had the screaming kid behind me who was kicking the seat in front of him for the entire flight. I also drew the seat that had the malfunctioning channel/volume console for the video screen; however, this ended up being a non-issue, because they lost their feed about 15 minutes into the flight. Actually, it wasn’t that bad at all. The flight was fairly uneventful: very little turbulence, other than a bit of moderate chop during our decent. Sheri had her Sea Bands on and was engrossed in Downton Abbey. The boys alternated between watching out the window, playing on their phones, playing on their older Nintendo DS consoles, and napping. I kept myself entertained with the current edition of United’s Hemispheres in-flight magazine as well as tracking the flight on the United phone app.<br />
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As I mentioned in the last paragraph, the descent was just a bit bumpy as the arrival route (JINGL4, for you aviation freaks) had us going through a line of cells as we turned over Ft. Myers. We walked away from the landing, which, when I was in flight training, meant it was a good one! A nice, short taxi later, and we were in the terminal. Having flown into FLL just a few months prior, I guided us to baggage claim, where I planned on filming the rest of the Mushfam getting the crap scared out of them when the baggage belt started moving; for those who haven’t flown into Ft. Lauderdale, they use cruise ship horns to announce a belt starting up. Of course, they all went to the bathroom and missed the horn.<br />
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Continued...<a href="http://blogdumush.blogspot.com/2017/08/escaping-insanity-cruising-trip-report.html" target="_blank">HERE</a>.<br />
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Mushhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10505667166856318130noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1294200876740643495.post-19634269043377002132017-07-29T20:28:00.000-05:002017-07-30T14:41:24.389-05:00Escaping Insanity: A Cruising Trip Report. Pre-Trip and Introduction, Part IIPart I can be viewed <a href="http://blogdumush.blogspot.com/2017/07/escaping-insanity-cruising-trip-report.html" target="_blank">HERE</a>.<br />
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In March, we decided to finally tell the boys. We have surprised them in the past with trips, but the logistics for doing such a surprise have gotten harder as they have gotten older. Besides, any time we sound like we’re not telling them the whole story, they think we’re heading on a plane for a trip. We came down from our room on a Sunday evening, dressed in beach attire, wearing brand-new Crocs, wearing sunglasses and carrying towels over our arms. We thought they would first think we had finally lost it before getting extremely excited and running around the neighborhood and screaming about how much they loved their parents.<br />
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They took a moment away from their phones, looked at us coming down the stairs, and nonchalantly asked, “When and where?”<br />
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Grrrrrrrrrr.<br />
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We watched some videos on YouTube about the ship, and I started pointing out some of the features of the ship and the cruise, from the ropes course to the water slides; from the restaurants to the itineraries; and from the excursions to the restaurants.<br />
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No, that wasn’t a mistake – they’re boys that attempt to clean the fridge out every day, so I emphasized the dining!<br />
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Next up was getting down to Miami. Being a good travel agent, I recommended to my clients/family that we head down the day before. We had vouchers from United when we helped them with an equipment change (we accepted a different itinerary the day before our flight), so I started pricing out the options. <br />
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Have I mentioned that I’m a researcher?<br />
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I checked all airlines from Chicago, Bloomington, Champaign, Peoria, Indianapolis, and St. Louis arriving to Miami or Fort Lauderdale. We settled on Champaign to Ft. Lauderdale and then grabbing an Uber to Miami.<br />
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Lodging was the next item on the checklist. Initially, I had booked the Holiday Inn on Biscayne Bay; however, I had clients that stayed there and gave me some feedback on that location, so I looked for another one. It only took a few minutes to find what I was looking for:<br />
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The Intercontinental Miami.<br />
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We had points to use, so I got a City View room booked and canceled the Holiday Inn. I found out about a lot of what the Intercontinental was like, and I kept pretty much all of it to myself without telling the rest of the Mushfam anything about it. I wanted them to be a little surprised.<br />
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About 2 weeks before final payment, I printed off the menus for all the dining on-board, and I FINALLY got three excited family members working together. Based on our tastes, I knew that Moderno and Teppanyaki were going to be definite specialty dining reservations. For our anniversary night, we were flipping between le Bistro, La Cucina, and Cagney’s. We made the mistake of relying solely on reviews, which skewed our views of the options, though. We opted for La Cucina for our anniversary dinner.<br />
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Final payment day arrived, though we had paid a few days before. Still, it was time for the reservations. Though we didn’t really need them (Freestyle…remember?), having them meant that we likely would not have to endure much of a wait at all. At the same time, we applied for passports for the boys, and we were surprised to get them just over two weeks later. Sheri was in full-on planning mode, from the packing perspective. One of her conditions was that we do “The Baths” on our Tortola day. This lead to the age-old dilemma of choosing whether to book it through the cruise line or to do it on our own. I was definitely concerned about the choppiness of the water for the ferry ride from Roadtown over to Spanish Town at Virgin Gorda. I started researching and pricing out charters to get us over to the Baths quicker and, hopefully, earlier than the cruise line, and I found that the prices were very competitive. The only issue was that, based on the companies I looked at, we likely wouldn’t arrive to the Baths until 9:30-9:45, which would kind of defeat the purpose. Bummer…I was hoping to snorkel around Norman Island after the Baths, too #firstworldproblems. We ultimately decided to go though NCL for the Baths excursion, mainly for the guaranteed return. <br />
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For our St. Thomas day, we initially planned on hitting Magens Bay and doing the standard tour of the island. Karen Guglielmo, who is one of my best friends from elementary school, knew the area very well as her mother was raised in Frenchtown, so I hit her with a ton of questions. She asked about the possibility of St. John and Trunk Bay. I had researched that idea but nixed it because it would involve another ferry ride on the cruise. She also talked about shopping in St. Thomas and included some information on the famous Crucian Hook bracelets that the U.S. Virgin Islands are known for. That sent me down a path in scheming up a plan for our anniversary. She also gave me some ideas on drinks…in her words: “Drinks to sip: Bahama Mamas….Hurricanes…Rum…Rum…Rum…”. Of course, she went maternal on me, too: “Don’t get sunburned…drink bottled water…use only taxis with medallions…two pairs of sunglasses…”. I’ve always loved that girl!<br />
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Over dinner, I talked to Sheri a bit about the amazing info that Karen passed onto me and quickly read what Karen sent to me regarding St. John (“If you want to throw all your eggs in a great basket, I would recommend taking the red hook ferry to St. John for the day. If shopping doesn’t interest you but history hiking snorkeling beautiful scenery and less crowds does, St. John is the way to go.”). I did it quickly before moving on to Magens Bay, Paradise Point, Mountaintop, and more.<br />
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Of course, she stopped me and sent me back to talking about St. John. I told her about how it would be a LOT quieter than Magens Bay and that it was consistently ranked as one of the most beautiful beaches in the Caribbean. I then mentioned that it would involve a taxi ride to Red Hook, a ferry ride to Cruz Bay, and another taxi ride to Trunk Bay.<br />
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Her response: “Karen’s the expert…let’s go with her idea!”<br />
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Okkaaayyyy!!!!!??????<br />
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Sooooooooo…..hat in hand, I went back to Karen for her take on St. John.<br />
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For Nassau, Sheri and I both agreed that we would likely stay on the ship, as there were three other ships in port that day.<br />
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When we got to about three weeks out, our house seemed to become delivery central as Sheri, quickly becoming an expert on packing, had ordered a number of items, ranging from packing cubes to rash guards to towel clips to water shoes to lanyards…she was on a mission, and I’m thinking of asking her to post an entry on the trip report on packing tips for a cruise.<br />
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About 400 videos on YouTube and a nearly infinite number of visits to the Norwegian Cruise Line page on CruiseCritic later, I felt like I was ready to be, as my family was now calling me, “Tour Guide Barbie.” I sat the boys down with deck plans and showed them the general idea of where things were. I immediately knew that they would be okay walking around the ship on their own without getting (too) lost.<br />
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With about one week left, I was going through the final checklist of things:<br />
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<ul>
<li>Cruise Tags – printed out and in their plastic holders (I purchased these to give to my clients and had to make sure they worked…they did!)</li>
<li>Cash to bring…around $400, for gratuities, taxis/ferries/etc.</li>
<li>Cat – arranged to be fed so she wouldn’t gnaw my arm off as soon as we got home</li>
<li>Documentation (in order of when they'll be used…yes, I’m THAT anal retentive):</li>
<ul>
<li>Flight information</li>
<li>Hotel information</li>
<li>Cruise documentation</li>
<li>Cruise amenities/dining/entertainment reservations</li>
<li>Travel Insurance documentation/information</li>
<li>Old Freestyle Dailies</li>
<li>Lyrics to “Washy Washy” (just seeing if you're paying attention)</li>
<li>List of drinks to try while onboard AND</li>
<li>Shuttle service reservations from Port Miami to Fort Lauderdale (QLS Transportation)</li>
</ul>
<li>Mail – post office informed</li>
<li>Credit Card companies – let them know we’d be on the cruise</li>
<li>Mobile Phone service – set up to use may plan/data while in the British Virgin Islands and Nassau</li>
<li>Downloads of several episodes from Season 1 of Downton Abbey for Sheri on my iPad to help her endure the flight to Miami (she’s going to be hurting when I get her to Europe or Hawaii)</li>
<li>Weighed all the luggage</li>
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I think we were ready! Sheri had the luggage squared away perfectly, and we were ready to go!!<br />
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Please Click <b><a href="http://blogdumush.blogspot.com/2017/07/escaping-insanity-cruising-trip-report_30.html" target="_blank">HERE</a></b> for our arrival day!<br />
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Mushhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10505667166856318130noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1294200876740643495.post-22404483408533497892017-07-28T20:17:00.000-05:002017-07-29T20:33:06.247-05:00Escaping Insanity: A Cruising Trip Report. Pre-Trip and IntroductionThis trip was most definitely an odd one in the making. Before I get too far ahead of myself, though, allow me to introduce you to the cast of this journey.<br />
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First off, there’s me. I’m Chris…known to many as “Mush”, thanks to my last name (“Mushrush”). It has been my nickname since grade school. It was my father’s nickname, as it was for his father and most likely his father’s father. I’m 44, and, thanks to being A.D.D. and cursed with one of those “you can sleep when you’re dead” mentalities, I wear a number of hats. I’m a full-time non-tenure-track Instructional Assistant Professor of Economics; at the same time, I’m also a full-time Travel Planner (for full disclosure) that specializes in family travel – Disney and Universal vacations, primarily; however, I’m expanding out into the Cruise Industry and am gaining experience so I can provide the best service I can for cruise customers. <br />
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Then there is SWMBO…”She Who Must Be Obeyed”…she responds to “Sheri” or “wifey” every so often. She’s younger than me…I’ll just leave it at that, since I value the air that I breathe. She’s an accounting supervisor at a major insurance company, an awesome wife, and a terrific Mother to the next two entries.<br />
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Did I say that correctly, Sheri?<br />
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Next up is Son #1: Aaron. He’s 14, though he looks more like he’s 17-18. 6’0” and 215 lbs. Yeah, he likes football and can’t wait to start high school this fall. He’s in the typical teenager phase, which makes for some “interesting” discussions.<br />
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Finally, we have Son #2: Eric. 12 years old, but already 5’6”. He’s the comic relief in the family – to a fault, at times. This tends to bring out the monster in Son #1, as you see in most families with siblings.<br />
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With the introductions out of the way, let’s get to how we decided on a cruise. Sheri and I did our first cruise a couple of years ago on the Disney Dream (post link), and we found out quickly that, though I joke about her getting motion sickness on it’s a small world, she definitely gets green on the high seas. Couple that with an accidental removal of a Scopolamine patch two days early (advice: keep the patch ON for 3 days…even if you are back on land!), and she vowed never to go on another cruise. The boys, however, were reminding us every time I got a new cruise booking that they have been on one fewer cruise than we have and wanted to take one.<br />
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After December, the stress levels were nearing an all-time high for both Sheri and me, thanks to work. I actually had a minor scare where my blood pressure went haywire just before the holiday season. Luckily, most everything seemed to point to a couple of issues that are both treatable – completely depleted ferritin levels (most likely from donating nearly 10 gallons of blood over the past 20 years), and the dreaded sleep apnea (which I have probably been dealing with since I was a teen…even when I was in excellent shape and not the donut shape that I am currently in). Ending the blood donations, eating a half-side of beef every week, and downing iron supplements with an orange tree’s worth of juice has my ferritin levels on the rise. Two dreadful sleep studies and a CPAP machine later, and the apnea issue is being taken care of. Couple that with (what I hope to be temporary) high blood pressure medicine, and I’m happy to say that everything is going well, though I still know I look like an idiot with the CPAP mask on. <br />
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Regardless, I realized that, for all of us, we needed to do a family vacation that got us completely away from work. Sheri and I also were to be celebrating our 20th anniversary in mid-June. Being complete Disney freaks, we automatically considered a trip to Disney World, but it would be in the middle of the summer when the central Florida temperatures rivaled the surface of the sun. I then brought up a cruise, and Sheri quickly vetoed it (she was green just thinking about riding Pirates of the Caribbean). We then considered a trip to Napa Valley, which is where Sheri and I have done the past couple of adults-only trips. I again made a subtle nudge at a cruise, when her defenses were down a little (that, or I liquored her up and then brought up the topic).<br />
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Initially, we were planning on waiting until July, because I have been a coach for our boys’ baseball teams for 8 years. This became a non-issue when Eric and all of his friends, at the recommendation of the middle school baseball coaches, decided to skip playing on the same team and opt instead for playing in a league on separate teams in Bloomington (a larger city about 10 miles away). This actually released me from the coaching duties for the first time in a long while (right…you know I still helped out by keeping the books for the team!). It also opened up more of the summer for a trip, including our anniversary week.<br />
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You know exactly what I did then. I started pushing the cruise idea a little more and focusing on early- to mid-June as the time frame. I’ll readily admit that I was working Celebrity Cruise Line hard early on, since I was looking for just Sheri and me. She (rightfully) nixed that one, claiming that the boys had to go on our next cruise.<br />
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Wait…she said “next cruise”, didn't she? <br />
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That meant that she was starting to waver a little bit on the “no more cruises” mandate.<br />
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Okay – I went into full-on travel planner mode (what better way to keep your skills honed than with your own family?!). I started working on finding the best fit for Sheri and the boys, keeping my “wants” in the background a bit. Family cruise – let’s check Disney/Royal Caribbean/Norwegian/Carnival.<br />
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Already been on Disney, and I wanted to gain experience on a different line.<br />
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Down to three…Carnival, Royal Caribbean, and Norwegian. I started looking at itinerary/ship combinations, and Carnival dropped out, leaving the remaining two cruise lines. I wanted a lot of entertainment on the ship, so I had it narrowed down to a Freedom-, Oasis-, or Quantum-class ship for Royal Caribbean or a Breakaway-class ship for NCL. Norwegian Getaway was going to be doing itineraries in the Baltic Sea during the time frame we were looking for, so I defaulted to the Royal Caribbean ships. I just couldn’t find a price/ship/itinerary combination that worked well, so I decided to look at Norwegian Escape.<br />
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Hmmmmmmmmm………interesting…..eastern itinerary with St. Thomas and Tortola for the primary stops…THREE sea days (which could be a double-edged sword; since our last cruise didn’t have any sea days, we didn’t know if we would like them or not)…and…what’s this?...the “Free at Sea” promotion……………<br />
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I texted Sheri at work and threw the idea out there, making sure to highlight the beverage package along with the dining package. She didn’t reject it, which was progress. Now to set the hook.<br />
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I compared the cost of some of our past trips (both adult-only and family) to the cost of a 7-night cruise (which made her cringe). Being an economist, I went to a “per-person per-night” comparison and showed her that the cruise had the lowest price per capita per night than anything we had done in the past.<br />
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The accountant (who hated economics in college) in her kicked in… “JUST GIVE ME THE PRICE!!!” The economist in me returned the volley with marginal costs, opportunity costs, graphs, etc.<br />
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At that point, she nearly divorced me.<br />
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After talking her off the ledge and showing her how we could pay for the majority of it, she agreed to consider it.<br />
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Good thing, because I had already put a hold on the June 17th sailing the day before.<br />
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When I told her that, she started phoning her attorney, but she put the phone down when I told her the deposit was fully refundable for now, but we needed to get the deposit in. I found an excellent stateroom – one of the rare angled balconies! It was 12272 – located on the port side in the aft, near the stairwell.<br />
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The combination of having a Ph.D. and working at a University, coupled with my position as a travel planner, had me going into full-blown researcher mode as soon as the deposit was made. I tried to explain to her the concept of “Freestyle” cruising, which Norwegian is known for. I also explained to her that we’d want to make reservations for the specialty dining and perhaps some entertainment. She looked at me as though I had a third eye forming in the middle of my forehead (“You want to make reservations on a ‘freestyle’ cruise???”), but, after my fifth “Just trust me on this one”, she decided to do just that. As the travel agent on record, I also added the soda packages for the boys along with the 3-meal specialty dining package to match what we got. I also snuck in an anniversary cake request at dinner on our anniversary, and I set up a request for distilled water for the CPAP machine I was bringing onboard.<br />
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It was around this time that I joined the CruiseCritic.com Roll Call for this specific cruise, and, at that point, it was around 30-strong (13 families). This was about the size of the Roll Call group for our last cruise on the Disney Dream. It seemed to be a little quiet; however, being more of a lurker on the CruiseCritic boards, I still took the time to learn about the slot pull, the gift exchange, and, being a travel planner wanting to see as much as possible, the cabin crawl. Since we had an angled balcony, I had a feeling that people would want to see our stateroom, so I immediately signed us up for that.<br />
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Continued...<a href="http://blogdumush.blogspot.com/2017/07/escaping-insanity-cruising-trip-report_29.html" target="_blank">HERE</a><br />
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Mushhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10505667166856318130noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1294200876740643495.post-51368057799928930762017-05-01T06:30:00.000-05:002017-05-01T07:21:23.564-05:00Universally Awesome! April 2016 Trip Report, Day 4; Wrapping up!The previous post from this trip can be viewed <a href="http://blogdumush.blogspot.com/2016/11/need-to-read-what-happened-before-click.html" target="_blank">HERE</a>.<br />
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We were all up somewhat early so we could pack up and drop everything off at the bell service, since we were checking out today. We all took one last prolonged look at our room and stated that this would most definitely not be our last time staying at Portofino Bay; it was unanimous that we all loved it! <br />
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We checked out and made our way to the boat launch one more time, and, within a couple of minutes, our chariot on water arrived. It was a quiet, peaceful trip to CityWalk, even though we weren’t on the first boat in. At CityWalk, we took our time to look around. That was the theme of today – since we had seen most of Universal’s attractions, today was more of a down day to just enjoy.<br />
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We were just a little ways back in the line to enter. We were still able to make it to Gringott’s by around 8:10. We stopped in the queue line to grab some pics of the atrium before heading in for one more ride of this awesome attraction.<br />
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After Gringott’s, we enjoyed Diagon Alley for a little bit while we waited for the Hogwarts Express to start running.<br />
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Right at around 9:00, we made our way to the station and, after a slight wait at the turnstiles, pretty much walked on the train for our ride over to Hogsmeade.<br />
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We immediately made a beeline for Dueling Dragons and hopped on the blue coaster so Sheri could experience that one too. After Dragons, we headed over to the Three Broomsticks for breakfast (research!!). I got the Continental breakfast with lots of fruit, while the others got an assortment of meals (pancake meal, American breakfast, etc.) The theming in here easily rivals some of the best theming that you’ll see in restaurants at their competition to the south!<br />
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We left Hogsmeade and checked out the line for a pic with a velociraptor, but it was around 45 minutes, so we opted out…still, we had to get pics in the area…I call this “Jurassic Pic” (grroooaaaannnnn)<br />
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We then made an executive decision to right the Hogwarts Express one more time and then say goodbye to Springfield…besides, I had to get a beer at Moe’s Tavern!!! Another near walk-on for the train, and we were back in Universal Studios a few minutes later. We slowly strolled around, and I stopped to mention to a particular wizard outside the Leaky Cauldron that he was a perfect wizard (natural beard, amazing personality).<br />
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We made our way around to Springfield and into Moe’s, with a huge smile on my face. It was quiet, and, with the Flaming Moe’s being popular drinks, we were okay with the boys up at the bar. We ponied up and ordered two Duffs. Sheri and I both counted to three for the chimes of, “<b>CAN WE GET A FLAMING MOE? CAN WE GET A FLAMING MOE? CAN WE GET A FLAMING…</b>” Sure – I wanted to see one anyway.<br />
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Our bartender was sarcastic as heck…absolutely awesome! This pic sums it up:<br />
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I wanted to stay for another hour or so to soak it in a little longer, but the other three ganged up on me and threw me out, despite my protests that they needed me to get home. We still had a couple of items left on our plan (Terminator, in particular), but we decided to call it a trip and make our way out so we had time to eat. As we left, we had to take advantage of one final character experience:<br />
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The boys had no idea who Woody Woodpecker was, but I saw a lot of his cartoons growing up.<br />
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The boat ride back to Portofino Bay was calming, yet it was over far too soon. We hopped off and watched it cast off for CityWalk one last time before heading to the main area. We decided to test out Trattoria del Porto for lunch. We opened the door, and I stopped in my tracks...<br />
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I found myself staring at my friends, Deb Wills and Linda Eckworth, who were seated about 20 feet to our right in the only occupied table in the restaurant. <br />
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Deb’s face had to mirror mine! It was a combination of shock, surprise, and happiness as we both recognized each other. There was one other person seated at the table with her back to us, but I knew already that it was Beci Mahnken, founder of MEI-Travel. Sheri saw my face and looked over their way; she recognized Deb immediately. The boys, however, had thought that we were losing it. Deb jumped up (I think she scared Linda and Beci), while we started making our way to their table. I had not seen the three of them since the 2014 Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend. For those who don’t know, Deb is a 25+ year breast cancer survivor and a major fundraiser for the Avon Walk. I was on the running team that raised money for her efforts for three of its 5-year existence. Beci is one of the reasons I contemplated becoming a travel planner, and I have the utmost in respect for her. We all started talking a mile a minute, and I was in full-on A.D.D. mode as Beci was asking us about our thoughts of Universal while Deb, a fellow oenophile with a strong attraction to Napa Valley, was talking to us about wine fridges and upcoming trips to Northern California. <br />
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We could have talked with them for an hour, but they were there for a business meeting in addition to lunch, so we let them get back to their meeting while we were seated. <br />
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It was a pretty restaurant, albeit a quiet one with most people in the parks.<br />
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The boys were gearing up for the flight home (sigh)<br />
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We didn’t eat anything heavy since we ate breakfast in the parks only 2-3 hours before, so we finished up pretty quickly. After paying, the other three headed out while I went back to say goodbye to Beci, Deb, and Linda - and to finish answering a question that I know I only half-answered earlier (ahh, the joys of being A.D.D.). I headed out to meet up with the rest of the Mushfam, feeling really good that our paths had crossed again. About an hour later, Deb texted me lamenting that we didn’t get a picture!<br />
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We had about a half-hour before the car was scheduled to pick us up, so we grabbed our luggage from bell service and looked around the lobby for a bit longer to pass the time. Right on time, our driver arrived, and, after a quick ride to Sanford, our vacation was essentially over.<br />
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We definitely will be visiting Universal again!<br />
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Mushhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10505667166856318130noreply@blogger.com0