At Sea Day and Debarkation:

            After our late night dancing, we slept in on Friday morning.  According to the Carnival FUNTIMES, the Lido breakfast buffet was scheduled to close at 10:30 AM; however, it was still open when we arrived there after 11:00 AM.  Before long, we headed for lunch in the Imagination Dining Room for a very light lunch and to redeem our free drink coupons.   We both had Mai Tais, which were very good.   Since we needed to have our packed luggage in the hallway for pickup before dinner, we spent the rest of the afternoon taking turns packing and relaxing.  After dinner, we enjoyed the customary Baked Alaska for dessert, as well as a share of Verna and Earl’s anniversary cake.  Then we tried dancing to music provided by DJ Marius in the Jekyll & Hyde Dance Club, but the music was much too loud (deafening!) for Sally, so we danced only one song.

Tomorrow morning, we will be disembarking and taking the hotel shuttle to Quality Inn New Orleans Cruiseport to pick up our vehicle before heading home.  We’ll stay overnight somewhere along the way and arrive home sometime on Sunday.

Signing off at the end of another lovely cruise!

Cozumel, Mexico:

             Thursday, 13 Dec 2012 – We slept until 9:30 AM and headed for breakfast.  We were expecting an empty ship; however, the leaden sky promised to rain steadily most of the day, so that the majority of the passengers were still on board.  We had planned to go ashore and simply walk a bit in Cozumel, but decided to stay on board and keep dry instead.  By noon, it did clear up, we heard after the fact.  Having an interior cabin for the first time, we are usually in it, watching TV (Jesse) and reading (Sally).  At midday, we went for our usual late lunch, where we sat with family and friends; and at 4:00 PM we watched as the last few passengers hurried to the ship before its departure.
              As usual, we’ve been using the stairs in lieu of elevators on this cruise; but tonight was the first time that we took advantage of a dancing opportunity.  After dinner and beginning at 10:00 PM, we danced to the High Rise Band on the Lido deck; hopefully, this will help slightly with some extra pounds that we’ve been piling on.  (The two lobster dinners each that we devoured last evening and other rich food are to blame, of course!)

Progreso, Mexico:

Pit Stop

Pyramid of Kulkulcan

             We set our alarm clock for 6:00 AM, but luckily, we had requested a wake-up call as a backup, since the alarm clock didn’t go off until 6:30 AM.  After breakfast at the Lido Buffet, we disembarked and met our tour group on shore at 8:15 AM.  We had a 2-1/4 hour bus ride to the Chichen Itza Mayan ruins, with a brief stop along the way for necessities.  Chichen Itza is one of the most important archeological sites on the American continent and was once the home of the great Mayan Empire.  Replicas of the Pyramid of Kulkulcan have been seen in many movies, such as Mel Gibson’s Apocalypso.   Although the sun was very hot and we were tired, the scenery was spectacular.  Most of us enjoyed an afternoon siesta on the bus trip back to the ship. 

Earl and Verna

             After freshening up, we went to the ship’s restaurant for pizza before heading to Verna and Earl’s anniversary party.  The party became quite lively as Verna serenaded the group with Christmas carols.  After the party, we relaxed in our cabin until dinner.

5-day Western Caribbean Cruise

            Sunday, 9 Dec 2012 – Yes, we have departed for ANOTHER cruise.  This time, we’re sailing on the Carnival Elation, roundtrip from New Orleans, LA, with stops in Progreso and Cozumel, Mexico.  We left home late Saturday morning, stopping in West Memphis for the night; and then drove the rest of the way to New Orleans on Sunday.  We left our vehicle in the motel parking lot as part of their Hotel and Parking Package, which includes one night hotel accommodations, parking, and free round trip cruise port shuttle service.

On Monday, it was raining hard as we left the hotel in the shuttle.  In fact, New Orleans was under a tornado watch, and the temperature was much cooler than expected.  We boarded the ship around noon.  Since our ship cabin would not be ready until 12:30 PM, we went to the Lido Buffet for lunch.  We were unpacked in time for the 3:30 PM safety briefing; afterwards, Sally checked out some books from the library and we relaxed in our cabin until dinner.  Although we purchased our cruise tickets separately, Jesse’s sister’s tour agent managed to get us seated the rest of the group.  Our dinner table at 8:15 PM included Jesse’s sister, Verna, and her husband, Earl; Jesse's niece, Catherine, and her husband, Mario; one of Jesse’s high school classmates, Helen, and her husband Larry;  and Shelton and Fanny.   Jesse’s other sister, Catherine; his nieces, Melissa and Dolores; his sister-in law, Julia; and other friends were seated at two other nearby tables.  We looked for places to dance after dinner, but instead, returned to our cabin for an early night – not really that early anymore, as it was 10:00 PM.

On Tuesday morning, we went to the Lido Buffet for breakfast, and a few hours later for a late lunch.  The setup on the Carnival Elation is a lot different from the Princess cruise ships, which takes a little getting used to, but so far, the food has been great.  We’re also finding our way around more easily than usual.  Today the temperature on deck is more comfortable for shorts and sandals.  The pools and hot tubs are full of kids because lots of young families are on this cruise, totally opposite from the last two long Princess cruises we have taken.  Tonight is a formal night, which requires “Cruise Elegant” attire, so Sally will be wearing an evening gown and Jesse will be wearing his tuxedo.  We will be posing in a group photo with Verna’s cruise group at 10:30 PM; then heading back to our cabin.  Our excursion departs at 8:15 AM tomorrow morning.

Return to USA

On Airport Shuttle

             On Monday, 22 Oct 2012 in Sydney, Australia our alarm woke us up at 6:00 AM.  (We set two clocks, just in case.)  After dressing, eating breakfast, and finishing packing, we made it down to the lobby on time.  The shuttle arrived at 8:30 AM, and got us to the airport a half-hour later.  The airport layout seemed a little confusing, but we soon learned that the airline counters were arranged in alphabetical order; however, we still could not locate Qantas Airlines.  We were informed by one of the staff that the Qantas Airline’s counter was located in the C-D area (phonetic alphabet arrangement?).

            Our plane took off at 11:52, almost an hour late.  After only about 3 hours of sleep (typical for her before a trip), very soon Sally came down with stage one of a cold (runny nose and sneezing), which made for a miserable day; our cold medications were stowed in checked luggage.  On the plane, we were served a nice dinner and complimentary drinks (we chose white wine).  Later, we were served a snack consisting of a small, very tasty, packaged roasted red pepper pizza.  Lots of movies were available on the flight.  We both watched “Dark Shadows,” a comedy with Johnny Depp, and Jesse watched several others.  About 4:30 AM, we were served breakfast, which interrupted Jesse’s movie-watching.  We even had a choice of hot or cold breakfast.

            The plane landed in Los Angeles at 6:30 AM, Monday, 22 October which, by the clock, appeared to be five hours before we left Sydney.  Thus, we started Monday all over again!  (Sally’s watch, still on Sydney time, read Tuesday, 12:30 AM.)  Since we were scheduled for a close departure time to Dallas, we were given orange “expedite” boarding passes after we cleared customs, which helped us move faster through security.  Luckily, we made it to our gate just in time for departure.  (Surprisingly, it was also faster to change from the international to domestic terminal in L.A. than in most other major hubs we have used.)

            The flight to Dallas was on a much smaller plane, with no movies and only the usual domestic flight offerings: nonalcoholic drinks with no snacks.  We landed at the Dallas airport 10 minutes ahead of schedule.  There, we purchased cold medication for Sally, which improved her cold symptoms but upset her stomach.  Our flight to Peoria was scheduled for 2:50 PM on an even smaller plane, but due to mechanical problems, the plane did not leave Dallas until 4:30 PM, arriving in Peoria at 6:00 PM.  After driving to Bettendorf, we stopped to eat dinner and then arrived home by 9:00 PM.  Sally was asleep within the next hour – the end of a 40-hour Monday!  (Of course, Jesse stayed up even longer, dozing while watching a replay of the Presidential debates.)

            We slept until the phone rang on Tuesday afternoon after 1:00.  Although Jesse got up, Sally continued sleeping until 5:00 PM.  Probably it will take a few days to resume a normal sleep schedule.  Yes, Jesse is already planning our next cruise, next time maybe to the Far East, but first he has to clean the basement – Sally’s orders.

THE END

Sydney, Australia

             On Friday, 19 Oct 2012, we woke up early but lounged around our hotel room for a long time.  Finally we found out the location of the free “Green Shuttle Bus” and then rode around the central portion of Sydney, which took about 30 minutes.  On the second trip around, we got off at the harbor and walked around there.  The Carnival Spirit cruise ship was in dock, along with several harbor tour boats.  Since Jim and Gail had told us that Australian meat pies were a “must have” dish in Sydney, we bought two.  They were very tasty, but if Jesse had been hungry, it would have taken four of five of them to satisfy his appetite!  Just as we were starting to board the bus again, a German woman called out to us; she remembered us (actually Jesse) from our talking with her one morning on the Sea Princess.  From the bus, we also saw a woman that we had met from the Bahamas.  Sydney is a large city, but with 1,500 or so Sea Princess cruisers wandering around, we were bound to run into some of them.  We returned to our hotel room in mid-afternoon and rested until dinner time, when we walked towards Chinatown.  After checking out the menus (and prices) at several restaurants, we finally settled on the Sakae Japanese Cuisine restaurant.  The meal was excellent; moreover, Jesse ate almost his entire meal with chopsticks until he got a cramp in his little finger.  In spite of a few wrong turns, we made it back to our hotel room by 8:00 PM.



Green Shuttle Bus

Sydney Harbor

            At 1:15 AM on Saturday, 20 Oct 2012 we lurched to wakefulness when a loud, repetitive noise, followed by a loud announcement over and over, bombarded us: “The alarm has activated.”  Then, the repetitive announcement changed to “Evacuate the building.”  After pulling on our clothes, we joined others in going down the stairs to the sidewalk in front of the building.  Fire trucks sat at the curb.  Once there, we talked with a couple who often shared the dance floor with us in the Wheel House bar; it turns out that their room was just down the hall in the hotel.  The walk back up the 90 steps to the fourth floor totally woke us up for the next 1.5 hours!  After finally getting back to sleep, we woke around 8:00, ate breakfast, and boarded the free Green Shuttle around 11:30.   About noon we arrived at the harbor, where we purchased tickets for a harbor cruise for $25.00 AUD each, with a boarding time of 2:45 PM.  Then we walked along the pier to the Opera House.  Since neither one of us was up to following a tour guide around for an hour, we only toured the building exterior and the lobby areas.  (We had been told by someone that morning that the interior of the Opera House is “overrated,” which also influenced us.)  In a lower lobby, we ran into our Reno friends, Toby, Susan, Mattie, and Terry.  Amazing!  After that, we wandered around the pier and shared a waffle ice cream sundae until boarding time.  The harbor cruise lasted an hour and we enjoyed the scenery.  Afterwards, we took the green shuttle bus back to the hotel, where we lounged until dinner time.  For dinner, we had pizza and salad at Macchiato Pizza.  (Yes, the pizza was small and over-priced, but delicious; and the entire meal was probably the most nutritious one that we have had since leaving the Sea Princess.)



View from Sydney Tower Eye

On Green Shuttle

St Mary's Cathedral

On Sunday, 21 Oct 2012, we took the green shuttle bus to St. Patrick’s Church.  Since we must have arrived at the bus stop soon after it had left (and then we had to walk about two blocks), we were 15 minutes late – though there were several who came in after us.  St. Patrick’s Church has Mass on Sunday on the hour beginning at 7:00 AM through 12:00 noon, then again from 3:00 through 6:00, and finally a last Mass at 8:00 PM.  (We wondered where they could find enough priests to cover so many Masses.)  The inside is small, but pretty.  Soon after that, we found a McDonald’s, where we ate their “serious Lamb” (which we would call a lamb burger) and a chocolate frappé.   The lamb burger was topped with a fried egg, sliced beet, sliced tomato, and lettuce.  It was quite good.  From there, we walked into the entrance to the botanical gardens; however, since we didn’t feel up to doing a lot of walking, we didn’t go far.  (There are just too many things to see in Sydney!)  We walked to a place where we could board the green shuttle bus again and went to the Sydney Tower Eye.  For $25 each, we went up to the circular, glassed-in observation deck, where we walked around, viewing Sydney from all angles.  (We didn’t take the “sky walk,” which would have been higher and would require the wearing of a jumpsuit and tether!)  When this structure was built in September 1981, it was the fourth tallest structure in the world.  From there, we walked to St. Mary’s Cathedral and went inside.  The interior is much larger than St. Patrick’s Church.  Unfortunately, photography is not allowed, but the stained glass windows and altar are beautiful.  From there, we boarded another shuttle bus, this time revisiting Market City.  Jesse had wanted to return there, ever since our first visit there on Thursday.  This time Sally bought a Sydney shirt, her only souvenir from here.  (Jesse had found a khaki hat that fits him earlier in the day, after looking for one at every stop on our trip.)  For dinner, we decided to go back to the Japanese restaurant again.



Sydney Tower Eye

Harbor Cruise

              About the weather in Sydney, Sally expected it to be a temperate climate about like San Francisco or Los Angeles.  It is apparently sub-tropical, with palm trees everywhere.  It is spring here, with temperatures expected in the 70’s (though Australians use Celsius).  Saturday was unexpectedly hot, and the Internet prediction for Sunday was 86 degrees.  However, it was cooler than that because more clouds moved in.  Monday it is supposed to be 66 degrees, but we’ll just be going to the airport.  We purchased airport shuttle tickets from the hotel clerk for $16.00 AUD each.  We could have purchased tickets from the convenience store across the street for $12.00 AUD each, but we felt more comfortable making the purchase through the hotel.  We will need to be down in the hotel lobby by 8:00 AM.

Debarkation



Sydney from the Sea Princess

Last Day Onboard with Jim and Gail

             Thursday, 18 Oct 2012 – We set our alarm clock for 6:45 AM; however, the noise from the ship as it docked woke us up around before 6:00 AM.  We called Gail and Jim and met them for breakfast.  It was great getting to spend our last few hours on board the ship with them.  We disembarked around 9:45 AM.   The lines through immigration and customs moved very quickly, so we were at our hotel by 10:00 AM.  However, since check in was not until 2:00 PM, we stowed our bags in the hotel storage room and went out to explore Sydney.  When we needed to make a rest stop, we found Curve Café Bar, where we relaxed with mugs of hot chocolate for a considerable time.  We also surveyed the area for small convenience stores for breakfast groceries before walking more.  We walked to Chinatown and through Market City, a huge building, which looks just like an indoor flea market selling all products from China without named brands.  Sally had a hard time getting Jesse to leave.  We ran into several familiar-looking Sea Princess cruisers, who always recognized us, since we are such a memorable couple.  We finally checked in at 2:17 PM, but were probably nearly the last of those waiting.  The hotel storage room door had been left open to the sidewalk, and only one other set of luggage was left sitting there besides ours.  The hotel attendant said “Someone” had left the door open, but we knew he was the only “someone” who could have done it.  Luckily, everything was still there.  We pulled our luggage to the very slow elevator, and then to our room on the fourth floor, at the far end of the corridor around a corner and down four steps!

Chinatown

Market City

The room is small, but comfortable.  It is equipped with a coffee maker, alarm clock, and TV, but no telephone.  This was disappointing because we had planned to contact our Reno friends regarding a meeting for drinks.  However, we have fast Internet!  The sink and storage areas are almost microscopic, and we won’t bother trying to hang our clothes!  After resting up, we walked back Chinatown for dinner.  Sally immediately asked for forks, and Jesse soon used one, too.  Afterwards, we walked to a “Sydney Paradise Supermarket” for groceries, then back to the hotel where we called it an early night.