TravelBluebird

After Amor Cubano last night we decided to try Chibang. That didn’t work out because the app said a 50 minute wait. So we just got Miami Slice pizza and sat outside. That was plenty! Didn’t win a thing at Deal or No Deal but had fun. Then went to the Motown Showdown party, hosted by Lee, Your Cruise Director. His energy is insane; i don’t know how he does it. Very well attended; standing room only; people singing along and some dancing, and some friendly competition. I attended all but 10 minutes of the party when I ran to see if I had won Dodge the Bull in the casino (nope). Did not win the 1K either. Gambled a bit but turned in at like 12:01, since I had ANOTHER 8am excursion this morning. I am NOT doing that again, 2 8am excursions back-to-back. I am a creature of the night and can’t stay up as I like to LIVE! Blog, vlog, and just have fun. Did 15,000 steps yesterday! YAY ME. Photos will follow. The RA is bothering my wrist because of all the photography and typing aggravating the joint a bit extra, so I’m now typing these out in my iPad but most of my photos are on my iPhone. I can give you of course, my immediate view:

Photos from Mahogany Bay

Photos from my excursion today and our lunch at Annie’s Boardwalk Cafe:

Currently at Deal or No Deal! $50 is stupid expensive to play, and yet here I am. Usually win a little something

Amor Cubano is about to begin!

Same! Glad a kid didn’t find him too!

Spent a fantastic day in Roatan, Honduras today! For a morning I took a ship excursion to the Botanical Garden, the West End to shop and stroll around, and then to a beach on that side of the island, where we had a lovely seaside lunch of grilled lobster tails and conch fritters. We were super lucky to ONLY have 6 people—3 couples—on the tour, in a small van, with a GREAT guide, Arkin (nickname). It was like renting one of those private van tours! We just lucked out; Arkin said the group can range from 6 people to 26 people! Then after the tour, because I don’t let any moss grow under my feet, I ran around the port area including the beach for “B Roll” for a video I’m working on…plus, I’d never been down to that beach when in Roatan, and last time I was here I went snorkeling and my girlfriends went to the beach and had an adventure and got drunk and had a great time, so I had to check it out! I found a free beach lounger after taking video and photos…NOT all of them were free; the ones in the front row by the water were 2 for $30 with an umbrella. I met some nice people from Minnesota and we chatted quite awhile, and they me a terrible story about the Dad stepping out int the ocean there, and stepping on someone who had passed out in the water. They dragged him out and gave him CPR and he survived but OH MY I’d have PTSD back at the beach after that happened! Speaking of PTSD…there she was in port today. The Carnival Spirit. The ship on which I broke my ankle in 2022. I sort of side glanced on her and hurried along right into the port area as fast as I could. We went out to Summer’s Landing for sail away which was lovely. Had a LEGIT late pier runner entire family (got back after first line to the ship had been un tethered), but they ambled back mostly with just a bit of a jog when everyone on the port side of the ship told them to run! Decided on an appetizer at Emeril’s since we are planning to eat late AFTER the show tonight. I’ve been dying to try the fried oysters and they were DIVINE, and Russ had the ceviche which he also enjoyed. We are on out balcony…sun has set and we can barely see the Spirit behind us. Its following me…. Off to get on line for the Latin Cubano show. My photos are on my phone and I’m on my iPad so I will upload them later.

@lazydayz Going better! NOT winning by any account, but loses are much less than I expected for this cruise (If I were smart, I’d walk away with what I have in my Casino Bank right now, and I’d be down next to nothing. BUT, I gamble, so I’m not what you’d call terribly smart! 😂

There are 5,777 passengers on the ship this week, so at or near full double occupancy, but not at FULL occupancy when there are 3s and 4s in some rooms (I think that is around 6,500)

We received a very YUMMY box of cookies from the casino today, and then tonight some chocolate covered strawberries:

The Most Magnificent Circus is a GREAT show on Celebration—off the chains good! LOVED the dance and physical expression in this show. I’m NOT a fan of circus OR magic, yet still loved the show. Voices and aerialists excellent too. Right before tonight’s show, a glass fell from an upper level, broke and shattered on Level 6 (level of the stage) so the show was delayed about 10 minutes as that was cleared. There’s a little bit in the beginning of the show where the ringmaster pulls someone out of the audience for an impromptu selfie, and that was me this evening!

Ah! That makes sense—but I heard their order and it definitely was not for gluten free ones!

And a couple photos of my Street Eats, set up for the circus show tonight, and some screen shots of my back to back lil jackpots in the casino as they were in progress. 4 o’clock; no idea what I’ll do next—its a sea day, I don’t have to do ANYTHING or I can do EVERYTHING. Not sure which I’ll pick for the rest of today!!

Military appreciation; we have a HUGE group of active military and veterans on this ship! Carnival is THE BEST for appreciating those who serve and who have served, and this is one of the many reasons they are still my favorite cruise line:

Photos from this morning’s activities! Emeril’s and then the window show…just one snap from that; ;I’ll try to put up a video of part of it here; but it really is better in person!

Thanks @princess76021 I’m still truly having a great time BUT after the bad weather on my last cruise, I’ll admit to being a bit surly about the weather!

Woke up LATE like 10am. Got cappuccinos with extra shots, The #2 Vegan juice and Beignets at Emerils. Lightning fast service again! I’m tired because I’m not sleeping well on this ship and I can’t explain it. Bed, pillows comfortable. Hope I sleep well tonight; we have an 8am excursion in the morning in Roatan! After Emeril’s we watched the cool electronic windows light show above Emeril’s and Latitudes. Beautiful; they are like electronic stained windows. It was a “time travel” story. They, off to the Military Appreciation, in honor of my father and all the others who have served or are serving. Lee’s was SO heart felt; good thing I didn’t have my eye makeup on because tears were shed. Turned out that Lee never met his grandfather because he died young after being exposed to radiation in Hiroshima—his Grandfather served on the first allies boat to go there after the bomb. Then time for the Country Line Dancing class led by Harry! Good time! I liked that it was not JUST the usual electric slide, but more intricate steps. We went up to the LIdo to see if the LIne Dancing up there was going on, but it was NOT because of the rain. So we grabbed a Chicken Satay with rice at Street Eats. Then hubby went to casino and lost money, while I taped a video. Then I went to casino and won the money back. While there, ALL the machines turned off (the bells and whistles) and then there was an emergence response team call for 3 aft. I hope that person is OK; I never had seen that happen before. Ooh music is now I’m a Believer; love that tune! I’M A BELIEVER….🎵🎶. we are singing!

So, yep, its been stormy and rainy and I was just going to go type this on my balcony, but the thunder and lightning made me think better of it. Could be worse; I’m in that little alcove off of Latitudes bar typing this and listening to the guitar singer dude sing some Neil Diamond.

The weather is NOT cooperating 😭😭😭

@lazydayz Nice! The big winner also pulled the $200

@pajazz28 Yes! And it was NOT the free lobster night!

Just had my nightly pizza snack—sitting outside on 8. I LOVE. How on Carnival there are places you can eat out by the ocean, which was not true on Wonder of the Seas last month.

Had a bit of better luck in Casino tonight—nothing WILD like a great jackpot but played awhile and didn’t lose more money! Here is one little jackpot I won from a free spins with wilds bonus

Tonight’s MDR menu—even though we did the Cooking Class instead, so everyone can see the new menus!

Ringmaster Rhapsodies is a GREAT show if you love Pippen and The Greatest Showman, and love live music. I do so it was fun to see it again! If you are looking for a big cast and dancing and costume changes, that is NOT this show. And just the 2 Center Stage singers. PLUS I got several Over 90 decibel warnings on my Apple Watch. This happened on Royal last month—WHY are all sound engineers deaf?