MSC Magnifica Week 3

Click here for pictures of our days on the ship. 

Day 15: 11/11/23 At Sea

 

After breakfast, Don walked, and I relaxed on the deck and read a book. After that, we relaxed in our cabin until lunch. At 2pm, the retired guy from NASA spoke again and the room was full. He was really interesting and talked about the Shuttle Columbia and other things that have gone wrong.  After that, we had a few drinks until dinner time. We had dinner in the dining room, so we didn’t go to the show. The show starts at 9:15 so we went back to the cabin for the night.

 

Day 16: 11/12/23 At Sea

 

After breakfast, Don walked again, and I relaxed and read on the deck. At 11, we went to a talk about Columbus, Vespucci and other explorers. After lunch, we had another NASA talk where he talked about the Shuttle Challenger and other things. He showed us a model of the “O-ring” that he had made. Then we relaxed in the cabin until it was time to go to the Diamond Party. I got pictures with some of the officers, and it was a nice party. We ate at the buffet so we could go to the early show featuring the singers and dancers performing an Elvis show. They were very good and we enjoyed the show.

 

Day 17: 11/13/23 At Sea

 

We had another lovely day at sea. After breakfast, Don walked, and I sat on the deck reading. While he was walking, he saw a small sailboat out in the ocean. After that, we had some cappuccinos and met a guy, also named Don from Idaho, and enjoyed our conversation until lunchtime. In the afternoon we went to a talk about San Juan. After that we relaxed in our cabin. While we were watching the Whitney Houston movie (again), it suddenly switched to the Discovery Channel. I think we got in range of a TV signal. We also noticed that we got the Travel Channel too. Then we had pre-dinner drinks. After dinner, we went to the show featuring Yuri and Nato again. It was very entertaining. We stopped for some cappuccinos after the show and returned to our cabin. Before going to sleep, we watched some of the Discovery Channel. It was a nice change from seeing those same movies over and over again.

 

Day 18: 11/14/23 At Sea

 

This was our last day at sea crossing the Atlantic Ocean. We relaxed and read on the deck. At 11, we went to a fun Italian lesson. After lunch, we relaxed in our cabin until it was dinner time. Every day, we get gifts sent to our cabin. Today we got another bottle of Prosecco and a fruit basket. We now have 3 bottles in the fridge that we need to drink. While in the cabin, we watched some old movies. One was Follow the Boys with Connie Frances and Paula Prentiss. Another starred Jane Powell and Gordon MacCrae. I started watching one with Frank Sinatra but it was time to get our predinner cocktails before dinner. Don said that he was ready to get home now but he may change his mind once we are going to some ports every day.

 

Day 19: 11/15/23 St. Maarten

 

Click here for pictures of St. Maarten.

 

We got off the ship at 8:30 and walked into town (about 1 mile).  There were 5 ships in port and there were heavy crowds on the beach, so we decided to skip the beach. They were asking $25 for 2 chairs, an umbrella, and a bucket of 5 beers which was a reasonable price, but we knew it was just too hot for me and we wouldn’t be there long enough to enjoy that. So, we found the post office on Pond Island and the clerk there was so helpful. She ended up showing Don all these sheets of stamps that he bought for around $76. We stopped at a supermarket and bought 2 sodas for $2.50. Then we went to Caribbean Blue to say Hi to Suzette. I was so hot and tired that I forgot to take a picture of her! After that, we returned to the ship around noon.  When we got to our cabin, we had a plate of bonbons waiting for us. After lunch, we napped and watched old 1940s movies on TV (TCM channel). Then we had pre-dinner drinks. While eating dinner, we watched the Viking Sea ship leave and people on their balconies were waving their phone flashlights goodbye to us. I thought that was pretty cool. After dinner, we had a cappuccino before bedtime.

 

Day 20: 11/16/23 Tortola

 

Click here for pictures of Tortola

 

We got off the ship around 8:15 and asked at the information counter where the post office was. She gave me a map and explained how to get there. It wasn’t far away at all. So, we went to the post office and the clerk there was very patient and helpful. Don ended up buying around $50 worth of Tortola stamps. Then we walked to Pusser’s store, but they don’t sell hats anymore. We walked around town until 11am and then returned to the ship. When we got to our cabin there was another gift of canapes (caviar, salmon, and prosciutto). We had trouble finding Amstel Light or Dos Equis beer at the bars. They said they were low on supplies. After lunch, we returned to our cabin to relax until dinner. After dinner, we went to the show featuring Magician Juan Alvarez.

 

Day 21: 11/17/23 San Juan, Puerto Rico

 

Click here for pictures of San Juan.

 

We got into port at 8am but we had to do face-to-face customs. Our group C had to meet in the theater at 10am with our passports and key cards but they called us early.  Then they escort the group off the ship to customs. This whole process was well organized and went smoothly. We couldn’t return to the ship until after everyone had gone through customs and there was no one on the ship which was around noon. We walked around town and looked for some thrift stores but didn’t find any. When we got hot and thirsty, we stopped at our favorite fast food place, El Meson, and got mallorcas with cheese. I was able to order them using my Spanish and was thrilled when they understood me. After that, we walked around some more before ending up at CVS to buy some snacks to take back to the ship. Don had a stomach ache so we returned to the ship around 1pm. We had lunch and returned to the cabin so Don could rest. New treats arrived at our cabin again from the hotel director! Before dinner, we had a couple of drinks and ate dinner at the buffet. San Juan was pretty at night.

 

Things I’ve Learned:

• They played the same 6 movies in different languages every day.
• Check out both sides of the buffet because there may be different foods on each side.
• I like the Holland America ships that have movies on Demand in the cabin so you can stop and start them back as needed.
• Walking around the ship is good exercise (especially if you don’t use the elevator).
• Old movies are still fun to watch.
• You need to know how to tell military time on a ship.
• I need to carry 2 bottles of water when walking in the heat.

Click here for the write-ups for

Week 1

Week 2

Original photo by Pat Hensley

Carnival Breeze November 2018 Part 2

For pictures, click here.

This is part 2 of our trip on the Carnival Breeze.

We went on a 14-day Journeys cruise on the Carnival Breeze. Our captain was Guiseppe Giusa, Chief Engineer: Vito Antonelli; Hotel Director: Carlos Santos de Melo; Cruise Director: Steven Schwartz. Our cabin steward was Lorenzo and we were in Cabin 1322. Our dinner table was 552 and our dining stewards were Danilo and Ari.

Day 8: Barbados 11/10/18

We had a lovely day in Barbados. We got off the ship at 9:15 and walked the catwalk out of the dock (and it was a long walk!). Then we turned right and walked into town (about 1 mile). We walked for a couple of hours and the weather looked threatening, so we took a cab back to the port (the cab fare was $2 per person). Then we took a free shuttle from the terminal to the ship because it was raining. After lunch, we sat on the deck and relaxed. Before dinner, we went to the Red Frog Pub to enjoy a couple of beers with Earl to celebrate his 50^th birthday. At the end of the dinner, they brought a cake and sang happy birthday to him. Then we went back to our cabin and decided to go to bed early. While we were watching TV,  a repairman showed up to repair our sink and I told him that we were already in bed. I asked him if he could come back tomorrow and he said if I didn’t have a complaint about it, he wouldn’t fix it. I decided to talk to the hotel director the next day!

Day 9: At Sea 11/11/18

We had a lazy day at sea. I saw Lorenzo, our cabin steward, who knew what happened the night before and told me that the guy would fix our sink. After breakfast, I went to find the hotel director. I gave him the message from Roberta and then told him what a great cabin steward we had because he was fixing our situation. Of course, Carlos wanted to know more about the situation and I told him. Then we walked around the track for an hour. We also went to the Academy of Fun session and learned about shopping apps that will help us save money when shopping.  Then we relaxed and sat on the deck until teatime when I had delicious scones. The hotel director sent us a bottle of wine for dinner which was nice. After dinner, we went to the comedy show featuring Derrick Eason.

Day 10: St. Maarten 11/12/18

We walked into St. Maarten and planned on going to the beach, but the weather looked threatening as we walked into town. We ended up walking around town and stopped at Zee Zee’s for some beer (5 Miller Lite for $10) and talked to Andrea. She told us that Suzette was out of town for her daughter’s graduation.  We missed her! We got back to the ship around 1pm and had lunch. We sat on the outside deck for a little while before leaving to get ready for dinner. After dinner, we went to the comedy show featuring Dwight Slade who was pretty funny.

Day 11: Tortola 11/13/18

We got off the ship around 8:30am and walked around the town. We were surprised how devastated many of the buildings were from Hurricane Irma. We went to Pusser’s store to get Don a couple of more baseball caps with the pirate logo, but they were wrinkled and distorted, so he didn’t buy one ($22 each). Then we walked back through town on the way back to the ship. We got back on the ship by 10am. After lunch, we went back to the cabin to relax. After dinner, there wasn’t any show, so we had an early night.

Day 12: San Juan, Puerto Rico 11/14/18

We had a nice day in San Juan! We got off the ship around 8am and walked to the Castillo del Morro. I love walking there along the water and my daughter and son-in-law have never been there. It was about a 2-mile walk from the ship. We got there before it opened and just sat on the wall and enjoyed the scenery. After visiting the fort, we went to El Meson for Mallorcas and sodas. Then we visited the supermarket. We split up and they went to souvenir shops while we went to my hubby’s favorite second-hand store. It started raining harder about then, so we made it back to the ship around noon and had lunch. After lunch, we relaxed in our cabin and watched Coco on the movie channel. After dinner, we went to the comedy show featuring Billy D. Washington.

Day 13: At Sea 11/15/18

We had a lazy day at sea. We had our laundry done today. We also went to a lecture to learn about astronomy apps for your phone. Then we went to an arts and crafts session where we decorated wooden tags. We spent the rest of the afternoon resting until dinner. Hubby had to leave dinner and went to bed because he has some kind of respiratory thing going on. I think his sinus drip made him nauseous. When I got back to the room, I was able to pack my suitcase and organize some things in the room.

Day 14: At Sea 11/16/18

Another relaxing day at sea. My hubby felt much better today. After brunch, we got our Bloody Mary’s and we packed our suitcases. Then we went to the seminar on Photography using your smartphone. After that,  we went to the Lido deck and hung out until we got hungry. At 2pm, we went to Arts and Crafts but all they had were wooden tags and the earlier session had picture frames, so we were disappointed. We went to the Limelight Lounge to wait until the session on Editing your Photos. Before the session, we saw a crew member who went to the back storage room and gave us a couple of picture frame crafts that they had earlier in the day. We had to leave at 4pm to go to the Captain’s party. We were able to see the bar waiter, Nijo, there and he kept the Miller Lites coming our way. We had a nice farewell dinner in the dining room and then we had to put our suitcases out in the hallway. After that, we went to bed early.

Day 15: Debarkation 11/17/18

We got up to the Lido deck around 5:30 and they started serving breakfast at 6am. After breakfast we went to our meeting place (Sapphire Dining Room Deck 3 at 7:15am) By 7:45, we were getting off the ship. Getting off the ship was very well organized. As soon as we got to our luggage, all of the luggage was in an area marked “Diamond.” Going through customs was a breeze and we went straight to a shuttle desk to turn in our return tickets. We went straight to the bus and got on it. By 9:30am, we were on the road.

Things I Learned:

1.     Cab fare to town in Barbados was only $2 but it wasn’t far to walk if the weather is nice.

2.     We really liked the Academy of Fun sessions! They are informative and well worth going to.

3.     We found a nice outdoor bar to get beer in St. Maarten.

4.     We found out that there was a lot of damage to Tortola from the hurricane!

5.     If we go to Tortola again, we will look at taking an excursion to Virgin Gorda and The Baths.

6.     Tortola was our least favorite port on this trip.

7.     We love walking around San Juan when it is overcast and light rain!

8.     The store Ecomania is still there but it is only half the store that it used to be.

9.     The supermarket in San Juan sells diet Pepsi for .79.

Original Photo by Pat Hensley