justhappy

Our reservation for dinner at Cagneys was at 6pm. We are both to the point that we’re not really hungry but feel compelled to eat something. We are using Latitudes rewards vouchers and they have made sure to tell us we are only allowed one appetizer, one entree and one side dish. And of course dessert. This was fine by us, we knew we’d never be able to finish what we did have. I had the ceasar salad, ribeye and grilled zucchini while DH opted for the Shrimp trio, ribeye and potatoes au gratin. We did not order dessert. The food was below par, the salad just ok and DH’s shrimp being bland and the cocktail sauce he said tasted like plain ketchup. The steaks although served at the temps we requested were not the best quality, mine had a lot of fat, even for a ribeye and was somewhat tough, as was DH’s. The sides were just average. I ended up eating about a fourth of my steak, just too much food compared to what I normally eat at home. As we left the restaurant the sun was setting making another beautiful sunset We went back to our stateroom to find our butler had left a special surprise for me.

Sorry, not sure why that posted twice. After the Breakaway turned to the north, our shady balcony turned in the blazing hot surface of the sun so we headed inside. We have both had skin cancers removed and although we don’t avoid the sun, we try to limit our exposure and lather up with sunscreen. There were lots of things to enjoy from our balcony besides Jameson for DH and reading for me.. Not sure what kind of fish these were but from as high as we were they must have been a good size We also had a lot of frigate birds putting on a show for us. We’re not sure if they were on the hunt for the fish below. We did notice one school of fish hiding under a large patch of seaweed. Not sure if you can see the fish hiding, but how pretty is that water!

At 12:45 we headed out for lunch, a few folks back from excursions or exploring in the pools and hot tubs but still very nice. I had grilled salmon hold the veggies and add fries. DH had a cesar salad with salmon. We split the seafood fritto misto. Marjorie brought us a sweet chili dipping sauce to go with the fries that was delicious, we used that on everything but the salmon. Back to our cabin for more reading on the balcony and to watch for pier runners. No pier runners but people who take 2:30pm as a suggestion and saunter back as slow as possible at 2:45. Lots of jeering for them though. Wonder of the Seas headed out before us and we were off shortly after.

At 12:45 we headed out for lunch, a few folks back from excursions or exploring in the pools and hot tubs but still very nice. I had grilled salmon hold the veggies and add fries. DH had a cesar salad with salmon. We split the seafood fritto misto. Marjorie brought us a sweet chili dipping sauce to go with the fries that was delicious, we used that on everything but the salmon. Back to our cabin for more reading on the balcony and to watch for pier runners. No pier runners but people who take 2:30pm as a suggestion and saunter back as slow as possible at 2:45. Lots of jeering for them though. Wonder of the Seas headed out before us and we were off shortly after.

Very empty up on deck 16 on the way to breakfast, totally opposite of yesterdays wall to wall people. And a few breakfast pics in case you’re not already sick of my food photos! We are currently on our balcony reading in the shade and people watching the crowds on the pier. The Wonder of the Seas is next to us Not going off the ship and just hanging out has been just the relaxation that we needed.

After quick showers we hot footed it up to breakfast, by this part of the cruise we feel like Norm entering Cheers since “everybody knows our name” 😜 Between the two of us I think we’ve had about everything offered on the breakfast menu. Today I had the waffles, some smoked salmon and another almond croissant. DH had the Poached eggs and a plain English muffin.

Day 6 Costa Maya About 5 am we woke to the movement of what we supposed was the thrusters trying to move the ship into the dock. To lazy to check and find out if we would dock, it wasn’t until dawn broke that we knew we had, in fact, made it. Folks were already making their way up the pier when I went out to check. Still super windy and I’m sure many hats will have their first flying lessons. Even with being at dock the ship is rocking with the force of the winds and waves.

Yesterday at the Ocean Blue window we found another duck. By the time we were getting ready for dinner, the ship had really started rocking. Our walk down the hall to dinner was a swaying motion. Even in the elevator it was an unsettling feeling with the movement. Dinner was at La Cucina again, we asked the concierge to see if he could get us back into Ocean Blue but it was booked solid. He booked us into there on Saturday night but I’ll cancel that as we don’t like to have specialty dining on the last night. I know, I’m weird. Tonight’s choices were the mixed greens salad, and Spaghetti Carbonara for DH, and for me the caprese salad an pepperoni pizza. We shared the tiramisu for dessert. Sadly we left behind a lot of food. Just too full. After dinner we had more time to kill before tonight’s presentation of 80’s broadway hits so we stopped by the casino again and DH stayed away from his previous slot machine and had a bit of luck on a different one. I had a few small victories on All Aboard, then foolish me let the wolves maul me again. We headed to the show venue to discover that there was no seating left, but after a few minutes we realized that the show had no appeal to us. We ended up getting more steps in by wandering around until it was time for the adult comedy show in the theater, featuring A-Train. The theater was packed for the 9:30 show. It was a good show and amazingly for this old fart I was still awake! We made our way back to casino and I let the wolves shake me down for the rest of my nights bankroll. So by 11pm we were back in our stateroom and by 11:30pm it was lights out. Total drinks for me this cruise so far- 13

After breakfast we went by the library to check out the selection and then by the Cruisenext desk and picked up a cruisenext order form. We headed back to the room to chill on the balcony and watch us cruise to nowhere. 12:30pm and we were still full from breakfast and not too hungry but we felt like we needed to get a little bit of exercise so we went to do some laps around deck 8. Lots of folks sitting and chatting, playing games, drinking or staring at the back of their eyelids. We discovered that the Ocean Blue to go window was open for business since it was an impromptu sea day. We decided we had to give it a try since our lovely server from the Haven restaurant and Ocean Blue was working the window. DH had the lobster roll and I had a crab tostada. The lovely Marjorie who we met two years ago on the Encore. after eating we did a few more laps around deck 8 and then took five flights of stairs to continue our workout before deciding to finish on the elevators🤨 We stopped by the bar for a smoky old fashioned for DH and another Pineapple Coconut Mojito for me. We Checked out the Haven sundeck and since it was super windy we decided to head back to our balcony for the rest of the day. The pool on a unexpected sea day

Quite well I’d imagine! A little avocado spray and yum!

I have discovered that these little nuggets of joy are an acceptable substitute for the long lost hash brown patties, in an air fryer at 390 degrees for 10 minutes brings crunchy goodness, even though not as greasy and salty 👍

Since everyone seems resolved to make up for the lack of Harvest Cay plans by treating their livers to an alcohol rinse today, I imagine there will be lots of sunburned zombies about when the sun goes down tonight. My total drink count for the cruise so far- 11 Gone are the days when we could drink all day! You’d never know we have an Irish pub in our house by my drinking, although DH tries to pick up my slack.

Thank you but it’s actually on Sunday, I just used the voucher last night since I knew I didn’t care for any of the dessert items at Le Bistro 😉.

Day 5 Harvest Cay ?? We woke up around 7am to see us sailing away from Harvest Cay, assuming the island with the lighthouse way in the distance was indeed, Harvest Cay. Suspicions confirmed when the Captain announced that they had tried to dock but deemed the winds too dangerous. I was sitting on my balcony so I could hear the collective groaning and mumbling from other aft balconies. We made our way to breakfast and enjoyed more carbs than I’ve had in a long time. During breakfast there was a code ALPHA outside the buffet on deck 15 near the beverage station. Hoping whoever it was is ok🙏 The famous almond croissant Pancakes His eggs Benedict -the country potatoes still sad..

They have definitely reduced the menu choices vs 8 years ago. I rarely eat escargot except when it’s on a cruise ship so I’m not tired of them yet. The ones last night were good, but then I’m just as happy to have French bread dipped in the garlic butter. After all that’s what the escargot taste like, a garlic and butter delivery system!

Onboard right now, no big production shows except Burn the Floor, but plenty of smaller musical acts every night around the ship to be enjoyed. That said I do miss having a second big show like in the past. And yes the ship is worn in places, the dry dock next February will probably take care of that. Right now the ship has 4800 passsengers and the venues are crowded. Probably not enough crew for the passenger count. Service has been good for us, but we go everywhere with a good attitude and a smile and say please and thank you and tip for good service.

Sitting here in my aft balcony I see by the wake we are making slowwww circles. Right now going super slow! Hope we find one of your ducks🍀

We had an hour to kill before the doors opened to the show so we headed to the casino where I seeked revenge from those cheating wolves, and DH went in search of treasure from a Gold Hills machine. After 20 minutes of doing battle with the wolves and falling short, DH popped by to say his machine had shut down and the techs were working on it🤨 After submitting defeat to the wolves again, I found DH surrounded by slot technicians studying the guts of his slot machine. 30 minutes later they asked him how much was on the ticket he put in the machine. And what was that last game he played on. It was not looking good folks… After awhile it was several slot attendants and several suit’s standing around discussing what to do. Finally someone had the bright idea to pull out the last voucher inserted into the game. After they determined it was his, they tried inserting it into another machine and it was rejected, so after much discussion among the suits, they took it to the cashier and cashed it and gave him his money back. The casino staff were very kind and apologetic about the whole thing. By this time the show was about to start and we knew there would probably be no good seats left and DH was scared off of trying another slot. So back to our stateroom, and in bed by 10pm. We passed this artwork in the deck 6 hall and thought about our puppy.

Dinner was at Le Bistro courtesy of Amex. We were served by Rainer, who is the husband of our server from Ocean Blue and the Haven. Although busy when we first arrived the tables emptied as it got close to showtimes onboard. We had a wonderful dinner with my choices of the escargot, the goat cheese croquettes and the Dover Sole. Dessert I opted for vanilla ice cream since I’d brought the celebration card to the restaurant and knew a cake would be coming out. DH had the Mushroom soup and the Lamb shank and lamb chops. So good it posted twice. After cake and ice cream we rolled out and planned to attend the 80’s Broadway show tunes concert in the Spiegal Tent. Would we make it? Stay tuned!

Feeling like limp noodles after excellent massages, when noon rolled around we decided to call our butler and order lunch in. At 12:45pm we had our French dip sandwich (DH) and Cobb salad (me) we both had the Banana banoffee cream dessert. We spent the rest of the afternoon between the piping hot balcony with no shade and the icebox living room reading and digesting lunch. Sailaway was promptly at 5pm and we enjoyed another beautiful sunset.

After breakfast we headed down to the spa to see about booking today’s special. As we were booked for 9am we had very little time to wait. A 75 minute hot stone or bamboo massage for $179. With the gratuity it pretty much used up our OBC but it was worth every free to us penny. Relaxed and renewed, we headed back to our stateroom to continue relaxing. A look at the pool on a port day

Day 4 Roatan NOT TEDS We woke up to discover 7am was only 6 am since we forgot to set the clocks back last night. It feels like we got a bonus hour of vacation but I’ll know it’ll be snatched back from us later. Today is a banner day for me To try keep my senior mind alert and challenged I started learning Spanish on Duolingo. Helpful now that my IPhone thinks I live in Mexico since yesterday. Es verdad. Arriving close after sunrise to Roatan you’re greeted by crowing roosters and barking dogs. The horn honking comes later.. DH decided he wanted some Starbucks coffee so after getting ready we head down to the Atruim at 6:45 to find a 20 minute line for coffee. DH is many things but patient does not even come up on the list of qualities he has. So we head up to the Haven and it’s still 10 minutes until the restaurant opens and the courtyard is not set up yet with coffee. He should have gotten coffee from our stateroom. His mood: Just imagine the word after gonna. So, never giving up we head back to our stateroom and grab the gift bags for the Haven crew and head back there with a detour past the Atrium again to find the line for SB is longer still. The Haven restaurant is now open and he gets his coffee that’s not SB but still very good he admits. Don't worry he gets his SB later this morning. Breakfast is the same as usual, except I do miss those hash brown pucks and would even enjoy regular hash browns instead of the cold undercooked breakfast potatoes. All the back and forth from aft to forward is helping us get our steps in , averaging 10k a day.

Holy Moly no wonder you were stressed being so far away from Smudge! I’m glad she’s still with you ❤️ And your husband for being so wonderful to understand. ❤️❤️ I’m trying not to worry too much as she’s being boarded at the amazing vet we’ve had since she was a puppy and they love her there. She’s in good hands. I don’t know wines, but I know what I like and Shades of Blue is it. NCL used to carry another Riesling that I liked a few years ago that had blue in the name too but I was unable to find it in any stores.

Our La Cucina dinner was good, nothing special but the service was very good. Continuing to have a small appetite I opted for the calamari fritti as an appetizer and the spaghetti carbonara as my entree. DH had with the mixed greens salad with pears walnuts and Gorgonzola cheese, and for his entree the fettuccine Alfredo con funghi. The portion sizes were generous and we both could only finish half of them. Our server seemed surprised we didn’t want anything else, and talked us into looking at the dessert menu. We ending up sharing a tiramisu and glad we did. It was delicious, one of the better ones I’ve had. we both had more glasses of the Shades of Blue Riesling. I wish I could get it or something similar on land. It’s just the right balance for me. Again tonight none of the entertainment options were appealing so we walked around the casino until we found our favorite slot machines. Wolf Run Eclipse started out great and then those wolves turned on me. I ended up giving the casino back $100 of my winnings and DH broke even, which in his mind is winning☘️ So far we are +$40. I started getting tired so we headed back to the stateroom and decided that tomorrow we’d use up the $450 OBC we had (thanks to my Amex card, shareholders credit and my TA) on the port day massage special. Tonight the clocks go back so a bit of extra sleep which I need. Since January 18th I hadn’t had a full nights sleep with having to get up throughout the night to administer medication to our 14 year old dog. For the first 8 days it was every 2 hours, then every 4 hours and just before we left for the cruise every 6 hours. Having to cancel our January cruise last minute, made the anticipation of this cruise get me through it.

Please @sid_9169 let me know what you think of the movie! It’s cornball but a drink or two makes it funnier. I admire all your trip reports so I’m honored that you’re following mine, as boring as it is.