Rewind

It is currently 4:55am and we are pulling up to the pier in Norfolk.

They weren't kicking anyone out, but they were not letting people in between 10:30 and 11:30. We could have gotten something from Cafe Latitudes or Solarium Cafe.

Fog horn lasted until about 6:50pm (every two-ish minutes). The temperature outside has dropped significantly. Fog has cleared but now it is just cloudy.

Sitting in the Solarium as 6pm and for the first time in our 20 cruises, the ship is blowing the fog horn.

Captain's Corner this morning. Ship holds 2300 and we are sailing with 1709 passengers.

Yesterday was a pretty relaxing day, we just bummed around a lot. There was the Sexiest Man contest followed by the Belly Flop contest, and we did see the Boogie Wonderland show in the evening. We did head to bed before the 70s night party.

Today and tomorrow are sea days. Tomorrow will be the captain's corner and a behind the scenes entertainment tour. Other than that, it should be a quiet couple of days.

Morning all. After our late start yesterday, it was kind of a "go go go" day. Seeing as how our meeting time for our tour got pushed to 11:45am and the Windjammer didn't open for lunch until 11:30am, we had a quick second breakfast at 10:20am before they closed. We then went back to cabin to change and head down to the theater to meet our tour. Being the longest tour of the day, they let us out first and it was my first time in 20 cruises that I have been the first passenger off the ship in a port. We walked under a tent in the port to meet up with our guide, hopped on the small tour bus, and headed to the Lucayan National Park. Do take their advice to use the restrooms before getting on the shuttle because it will be hours before another is available. Our driver Sam was very informative about the area, economy, and history. After about 45 minutes, we pulled off I to the park to meet up at the area where the kayaks were waiting for us. After a quick paddling demonstration, we were off in the water. The areas we were paddling through were brackish and tidal creeks and we happened to be there while the water was flowing inland and it made paddling very easy. It does get narrow at a few points through the mangroves and you switch from kayaking to canoeing. I think we were on the water for a bit over an hour and we pulled up to a small dock where they could pull the kayaks out. From there it was a small walk over a bridge to the soft sand beach. We only had about 50 minutes here to make up for our shorter time, but it was a nice dip in the ocean and the water was moderately warm. After our beach stop, park.we drove to Garden of the Groves. Due to our late start, we were the only people at the Garden when we arrived. We again only had a out 50 minutes but it was enough to walk around and see the park. Then another drive and we made it back to the port around 5:20pm. Most shops were already closing up but we were able to grab a couple souvenirs before getting back on the ship to clean up. Went went to Caribbean night in the Windjammer. I will admit other ships do it slightly better (if you ever see Coco Bread, don't pass it up) and then saw Mark Preston from The Letterman. He is a great performer and while a bit before our time, we did recognize many of his songs. Then it was time to go back to the room and pass out.

The announcement this morning is we will be arriving into Freeport four hours late at Noon and we will depart Freeport two hours late at 7:00pm. I'm thinking our 6.5 hour Kayaking excursion might get cut down a bit.

11:35pm - just woke up to hear the captain on an announcement over the PA. Didn't open the cabin door to hear what it was, but we are heading back to Canaveral at a very quick pace.

We aren't doing much today in Canaveral, just hanging out on the ship. We are not huge beach people, we have done Orlando in the past on its own, and we did Kennedy just a couple years ago. However we passed by a cool little tug today and now we are watching an unloading process at the port (we are a bit sciency nerds).

Scenes from around Vision. Centrum: Dining room: Casino: Schooner Bar: Crown Lounge: Some Enchanted Evening lounge: Solarium: Viking Crown Lounge: Izumi: Pool Deck: Rock Wall: Windjammer:

I did take a bunch of ship pictures this morning (I woke up too early). I still need to grab a couple more pics, but I will organize and post them soon.

Just got back from our Historic walking tour from Walks of Charleston. It was a very informative tour where we learned about the settlers and why their colony survived when others did not and how they built up the colony. Afterwards we went and had brunch at the Blind Tiger Pub. We got the Hot Chicken Biscuit and the Almond French Toast; highly recommend both. From there we started walking back north when we saw closed street signs for Second Sunday on King Street. Charleston closes off a large portion of King Street for a local craft fair (if I had to guess, every second Sunday of the month). It was fun to walk through but nothing really caught our eye. We then headed over to the Market to check out the local wares there, grabbed one praline from inside the market (for $6) and it was good, but then stopped at Savannah's Candy Kitchen and got another praline (for just over $4) and it was much better. Then back on the ship to freshen up with an hour before heading out.

We made it to Charleston - have to catch a tour soon but wanted to leave you with this: PXL_20240414_114327596.TS.mp4