mauimary

It’s been really fun having Luigi as Cruise Director and hearing all his crazy jokes. He has been very personable and so much fun. Very interesting and fun to see some of his outfits. Such personality and definitely a Cruise Director wardrobe. This has been the first time ever particularly since the pandemic when we have attended all the shows. The Entertainment on the Beyond has been amazing. The best we have ever seen. We have wanted to be there vs needing something to do. The musicians and groups that have played in the Grand Plaza we have enjoyed as well. Fun to watch everyone dancing. I think we have seen the Cappachinos the most. They are a Jazz Band from Argentina.

More later need to jump back on board. We came out to sit in the chairs at the Port to add some more to my review. Ciao 😎

A few views from the Tuscan Countryside from the view out of my window. Lots of agricultural farms and nurseries Your beautiful Italian marble may have originated from here. I love to photograph doors of all kinds another beautiful door who can pass up gelato?Quiet street at the moment. My drink of choice on a hot day. Cool building. Not sure what it is but I like the texture of it.

Yesterday Sat (May6) we were in the Port of La Spezia. We decided to do an excursion that gave us the bus ride and total independent time in Florence on our own. We have never been into Florence as we have never wanted to ride two hours in each direction. Bus excursions tend to make us a little crazy but there are times it is the only way. The excursion involved a stop at a leather factory which is not something like to do but at least it had clean bathrooms. There really wasn’t anything we really wanted except I spotted a beautiful leather jacket but 1000£ was way more than I wanted to spend! Besides we do not have room to take a jacket back. I already brought too many clothes. We could see the temps heating up as it was showing 25.9C on the screen on the bus. We did get to Florence about 11am and by the time the guide got the group into the Square where we were meeting back up @2:45 it was already about 11:30. We found ourselves a nice restaurant that had pizza and Aperol so we were happy campers. It was in the shade and non smoking which is the kind of place we like to be. Besides pizza is quick. A relaxing Italian dinner is going to have to wait for a time when we have more than three hours. Florence really needs to be seen on a land trip. I was here 50 years ago in 1973 as a College kid so my view was way different. I was here on a 14 day bus tour with my Mother. It’s amazing just how much one can see on foot in about three hours. We enjoyed the walk, the side streets, and some of the major sites. We didn’t have time to go into any museums but would have loved to have had time to check out some of the Cathedrals. The most annoying aspect was the aggressive hawkers who kept passing by us while sitting on a bench waiting for our tour guide to show up. How many times do you have to say NO NO NO when they are aggressively trying to get a cheap bracelet on your wrist and then no doubt try to charge you 20£ for it?? Well we are smart and gave them no opportunity even though they try to ask you what time it was causing someone to look at a watch and then boom on goes the bracelet!!! Not us. Sadly we saw some get taken. Here is a sample of sone of the sites we did see. Ponte Vecchio the only bridge in Florence to survive WWll. The Duomo Florence’ Cathedral stands tall over the city with its magnificent Renaissance Dome. Church of St Croce. It’s the burial place of Michelangelo as well as Galileo.

We are back at the Port in Civitavecchia. Sorry about the absence. Internet for CC has definitely been uncooperative for me. A few days ago once I did a Google search for something else I could not get back in to CC to pick up where I left off. Obviously this has been extremely frustrating. Our next Port was Marsaille. We have been here before and could decide what we wanted to do so we ended up staying onboard and making some major progress on our books and enjoying some downtime on a quieter ship. We knew we would be very busy and have a full day in Florence when we reached La Spezia. We have been trying to eat an earlier dinner so we had more evening time w/o staying up too late. We have enjoyed our dinners in the regular dining rooms of Tuscan Restaurant and Normandie Restaurant. Those are our favorites. We did break down and eat in the Buffet one night as we were too tired to get ready and dress for dinner.

Thank you

I’ll try to remember to ask tomorrow. We did not eat dinner tonight after our large lunch. We only have about four kids on this cruise that we have seen!

This Celebrity Ship is along side of us heading in the same direction. Cannot see the name. Wonder if it’s headed to Barcelona like us? Nice to see our older Sister!!

Leaving Cartagena. She plays beautifully at the Sunset Bar even blowing in the wind! Also some fun finds we did not see on the way into the Port.

We stayed at the Marriott Courtyard Fort Lauderdale Beach. It was a fab room. Upgraded from a corner waterway view to the corner ocean view. We were extremely happy of course.

Stay tuned. I promise more to come. Mary aka Mauimary

Mass was ready to start so just had time for a quick photo then on to lunch. After this big lunch we’re planning to skip the dining room tonight! We then walked some more and took some more photos of course. A favorite activity is to find a bench and just people watch. It’s fun to watch others pose for photos and learn some more creative ways. If you want to learn creativity just watch the young folks!

Cartagena cont.

Now to move on to where we are at today while I can. On day 10 we have arrived at our first Port. Cartagena Spain. We are pretty much DIY. We did decide to started with a 45 minute mini tour on this little train to get a quick and inexpensive overview of the city w/o having to be on a bus. Later we walked the streets and found a sidewalk cafe for lunch. Lucky for DH I’m not one to spend time in shops. I did neglect to bring a sun hat but walked by a shop and I couldn’t resist one for 10£. One of our fav things to do us to just roam the streets.

Braden and James were another duo that everyone loved. Talented and also provided some comedy at times. They also did an extra show in the afternoon.

Julian Smith an absolutely fabulous saxophonist provided three great shows including an afternoon up close in the Grand Plaza. Once again a huge following. We came really early just to get a great seat in the Martini Bar.

Thanks Jim. I have 10 days worth of catching up on your blog! I was so very frustrated at not being able to read or catch up. You will have a novel written by the time I catch up. I’m trying to work fast while we’re in Port today on mine.

The Beyond has had some fantastic entertainment. The guest musicians have been a huge hit with packed shows. They have all done an additional different show. Jared Freiburg and the Vagabonds has been one of our favorites. Hard to believe this talented musician is only 26 we were told. He definitely has a fan club and a following with a few groupies!

Yesterday we did a sail by Gibraltar. Very handy that the haze cleared up so we could see it. After we were apx an hour or so past it an overhead page called out for Medical. Turns out the patient had a heart attack and needed shoreside Medical. Captain Dimitrius turned us around and we returned closer to shore to have an airlift. Seas were very calm for that. Short stop and then we were on our way.

We love hanging out on the Magic Carpet. Aperol Spritz is a fav of ours. We have had some pretty good luck avoiding most of the wind and can actually make progress on our books. Im finding the internet for me for posting to CC works best when at a port.

Our Infinite Veranda mid ship. Deck 7 so rides pretty smooth. Minimal creaking in our room.

Sorry for my lack of posting. CC format looked totally different from what I am used to. It frankly would not let me do anything. Others were able to get the forum on the basic package but for some odd reason I could not. We did maintain a decent internet connection all the way across. We very much enjoyed our ten sea days. Several crew members we recognized from last summer. The two of us spend a lot of our time in Al Bachio and the Magic Carpet. Service on the Magic Carpet and the Sunset Bar have been good. The entertainment has been fantastic. We are in an Infinite Veranda and actually have really liked it. We are used to having a Sunset but with the winds it has worked out well for us. The restaurant internet I’m writing from is quite slow and I’m finding photos difficult to submit so will try later. Stay tuned. I’m around! Mary😎

Thank you Karen. I really appreciate your assistance.

Hola.. I am back. Our seas were pretty decent and actually smooth on some days. We did have an evacuation close to Bermuda they were evacuated by boat. We did miss our Port in the Azores. Seas were very rough and we did come into the harbor. The Capt did try to position ourselves to not be as impacted by the wind but ultimately the decision was made that it was not safe to do so. As we all know it becomes a sea day. Shortly after authorities closed the Port. There was another ship RCCL Explorer that was listing 7% in the seas. It was quite a rough sea day. We are now in Cartagena and loving it. We are mostly DIY touring and walking around. We did take one of those little blue trains for a 45 min general tour. It is so wonderful to be here in the Spring when we do not have the summer heat and crowds.

We have done both September and October but definitely have a preference for October. For us it mostly depends on the cruise and our schedules.