On our way home

Our WestJet flight was originally scheduled for 4 PM but they changed it to 7 PM about a month ago.  No other flights, oh well.  We took the ships shore excursion that does a tour of New York City and drops us off at the airport.  We had to reroute because of the New York Marathon.  They closed two bridges and two tunnels.  It was very enjoyable and a nice way to kill time before our 7 PM flight!

We got to LaGuardia at 1230 and couldn't go through security until 3 PM.  No restaurants, but we've eaten so well it will do us good to wait.  Our flight from LaGuardia was one hour late.  We got to Pearson and ran to customs, with our Nexus it was so fast.  I didn't realize how far customs was.  We had to go through security AGAIN at Pearson!  Why?  Anyway, with less than 30 minutes until our plane left, we kept going to terminal 3.  Winded and after security, asked a nice lady in one of those carts to get us to B38.  She did and they were boarding.  Got into YVR at 1:00 AM.  It took 20 minutes for them to get someone to get the gate to the plane.  At this point we now have our second wind and feel fine.  Then the baggage conveyor was not working and we finally got home to a warm house at 3 AM (6AM EST).  Long day, but so nice to be home.  We took Lyft from YVR to home and a taxi cost my neighbour over $80 before the tip, we paid $46 and had the nicest lady driver.  I'd highly recommend Lyft!

First stop 9/11 Memorial

Where they Firefighters are remembered, it shows their company!

The Christmas decorations are going up!

Nice stop at Battery Park

This was at 10 AM.  Nice day for the New York Marathon

The last day!

We have thoroughly enjoyed the ship.  The entertainment was fabulous and the food and staff amazing.  Today we do a tour of New York City before they drop us off at the airport.  It should be interesting because the New York Marathon is on so I have no idea where they will take us.  Our flight was originally booked at 4 PM but WestJet changed it to 7 PM.  We don't get home until 1 AM which will be 4 AM our time  Weather is predicting snow, hopefully for the higher elevations.  I'm glad we had an extra hours sleep.

I thought I would show you a bit about the ship on this blog.

Lots of different venues to eat!

I hope you can read it.  These are the activities yesterday!

This is the entrance to 270

This is 270, a three story gorgeous venue in the aft of the ship. 
 In the day and a show lounge at night. 
It's a lot bigger, I was close to the front when I took the picture.  Floor to ceiling windows!

This is the Music Hall.  Trivia and jazzercise by day and concerts all night.  It's two stories high.

Royal Promenade

Bumper cars, turns into roller rink, turns into pickleball court and basketball court each day!

Love and Marriage in the Royal Theatre.  Our favorite game show,  It was hysterical.
They asked for the longest married couple and they were married 72 years!

Surfing machine and the iFly is above.  I didn't catch anyone flying and no we didn't do it.

Outdoor pools.  There is another huge indoor pool area and then the Solarium that's adults only.  

The staff says good-bye in the Royal Theatre

It was very warm when we left Vancouver.  However, the weather has really turned cold and snow is predicted.  Hopefully it will stay at higher levels but we may land to a snowy airport!  Cec in his wisdom, turned our heat OFF!   Thanks to Cheryl, it was turned on Saturday morning.  She said our house was very cold.  Yes, 12.5C/54.5F is bloody cold.  Hopefully it will warm up in two days.

We really had a wonderful cruise but it's always nice to go home.  

A wonderful day at sea

What a wonderful anniversary.  We played trivia, did lots of activities and then had a delicious dinner at Jamie's Italian Restaurant.  

Lots of choices

We chose the Meat Plank for an appetizer along with crispy squid!

We both had lamb chops, I had the arugula salad and Cec had the truffle fries

Tiramisu for dessert.  Neither one of us could finish it.

An evening full of great entertainment and we ended off with the late night comedian.  He was hysterical.  Great way to end a nice night.

Another gorgeous sunset!

November 4th - 55th wedding anniversary

When I opened the mail last month and got this certificate, I called Cheryl.  She said she didn't do it, Roxy the cat did.  Thank you Roxy!

I can't think of a better way than a cruise to celebrate our anniversary.  This cruise is excellent and today is a lovely day at sea!  Tonight we will have a specialty dinner.   Cheryl told me on our 60th, King Charles III will send us something.  

On our 45th wedding anniversary, we took Cheryl, Dave and Lexie on the Allure of the Seas.  On our 50th, we booked a suite and we all went on the Harmony of the Seas.  This year Lexie is in Grade 12 and can't miss any school.  We took her on a cruise in the summer but I feel sad they are not with us on this cruise.  Family cruises are the best!  Maybe on our 60th we'll book a family suite! 

Yesterday we were in Miami.  It was 84F and sunny.  We did the hop on hop off bus.  After the bus we went to the Bayside Mall and had lunch at Bubba Gumps.  We've been there before and it didn't disappoint.  

One thing I like about RCCL is the West End shows.  We've seen Cats, Mama Mia, Chicago and last night we saw the FULL production of "We Will Rock You".   It was fantastic!  I'm not sure if the actors are from the UK but the accents were realy good.

Good-bye Miami

 

Day 5 - Nassau, Bahamas

 

It was a gorgeous day in Nasssau.  We've been here a few times and decided just to enjoy the ship.  Weather was in the high 80's F and it was very sunny.  Lots of day activities still take place even when you are in port. 

The only employees wearing masks just got on the ship.  We met this fellow, wearing a mask.  His pin if you can read it has his picture and says, "THIS SMILE BELONGS TO AND HIS NAME".  What a fabulous idea.  He can take his mask off after 14 days.  Very few people wearing masks, no social distancing and I haven't heard of anyone who has COVID.  

This is our third cruise this year,  We sat beside a couple from New Jersey this morning who are on their 12th cruise this year!   They said the prices are so cheap it's cheaper than staying home!  

One of the venues tonight had Name That Tune.  It was the best game show I've ever seen on a cruise ship!  The singers and dancers were entertaining and ten people played.  I didn't try out, but I did know 80% of the songs in the game!  It was 90 minutes of entertainment.  

We had a very relaxing day and thoroughly enjoyed it!

Day 4 - A Perfect Day at Coco Cay

Coco Cay is a private island owned by Royal Caribbean.  It's known as a fun beach day.  We were here five years ago and it's really changed.  They have added so many activities and fun things to do.  It was 88F!

This map shows the entire area.  

This is one of the many beaches.  There is no way I could take pictures of the entire island.

We left at 5 PM and dinner was excellent.  After dinner we went to the Headliner, Earl Turner.  He was fabulous.  He sang everything from Earth Wind and Fire, John Legend, Elvis Presley and ended with Uptown Funk!  He had everyone on their feet and then came into the audience,  We weren't close to the front and all of a sudden he appeared!

People keep telling me how expensive cruising is.  When I added up our hotel and food bill in New York City, this is such a great price.  We have a balcony cabin that's bigger than our small NY hotel room.  When you take in account the different places we dock, all the entertainment, three full meals a day, a snack anytime you want and because we've sailed so much with RCCL we get four free drinks; alcoholic, Starbucks Coffee or pop every day it's a bargain!

Day 3 - Port Canaveral/Orlando

We are fortunate the launch didn't leave yesterday.  If it would have launched, our shore excursion would have been cancelled because of traffic!  We got in at 11:30 AM and it was a smooth sail all night.  It was 75F when we arrived and very humid!  Nice to feel warm air.

We did a shore excursion to the Florida Mall.  It was an hour drive in to Orlando and we were there for four hours!  Cec found a pair of shoes.  There were no bargains at this mall.  A lot of high end shops and it was a very nice mall.  

When we got tired, we found an Italian restaurant very close to where the bus would pick us up.  We split an order of spaghetti and meat balls.  The meat balls were huge and very good.  He asked if we wanted garlic bread.  We said yes, and this happened:

Halloween on the ship was awesome.  About 1/4 of the people dressed up and I was shocked at how much trouble they went to.  The best one was:

We saw the singers and dancers put on a show that was good and then a couple of hours in the piano bar.  The pianist is from England and he's excellent!  A lovely Halloween!