shadowmeboy

Maersk Tennessee in the distance Gorgeous Sunrise Bulk Cargo Ship Another Bulk Cargo Ship taking some waves Great Outdoors Buffet We are the Orange mark closer to land, the other ship is the Norwegian Getaway. First Breakfast!

Hi Ho; Hi Ho: It's off to the Great Outdoors I go! Its a bit quiet at 6:30 in the morning! I grabbed a coffee from Starbucks. Up to the pool deck - Mandara Spa It was nice and quiet up here! The temperature was only like 45 degrees this morning. Garden Cafe

December 22nd, 2023 Sea Day Location: Atlantic Ocean - off the coast the coast of North Carolina

We sail NCL exclusively. We enjoy the perks we get as Sapphire Latitudes members. Plus with the newly released Teacher Discount, we will get discounts on future cruises and OBC just for Susan being a teacher! I am excited for that.

Guacamole time! Totopos - Nachos Aguachile de Camarones - Shrimp Ceviche Betabel - Beet Salad Al Pastor Tacos Carne Asada with Rice & Beans Side of plantains Dessert Menu Chocoflan Bunuelos de la Abuela On our way back to the room, we checked out our boarding photo. Atrium Christmas tree We stopped by Customer Service, because some of our stuff that should have been in our room hadn't arrived in our room. They said we needed to talk to Latitudes in the morning. We stopped by the Atrium Bar. We asked for a bottle of water, since we had the package, for the evening. They asked which one?? We said the boxed one, we didn't know there were others. One of the guys looks at our card and goes, no no no. Let me get you something better. So we came back to the room with two Acqua Panna's. The first of many on this cruise!

We got ready for dinner and then headed for the Welcome Aboard Art Event the Park West Team was doing, Looking down from Deck 7 A few pieces outside the gallery. I won a Buying credit certificate! Yippee! More Art! Time for dinner at Los Lobos! Margarita!

I love seeing the ships all decorated around Christmas! Taking a Christmas Cruise has become a tradition! Yeah it was a shock to me as well, especially after such a beautiful picture. Unfortunately, Susan got skunked. She did a massage during the cruise, one of the spa combo specials they offered. I thinks I have one or two pictures later on of the Spa.

While I was out Chilling on deck 😉 Susan went to the Spa Raffle! Spa Menu Here is the video of our Baltimore Sailaway!

This post is going to be the toughest one for me. I was deeply saddened when I awoke on March 26th, 2024 to the News reports of the Francis Scott Key Bridge Collapse. This post will share the photos I took of the FSK Bridge as we sailed out of Baltimore on December 21st, 2023. I am saddened by the loss of such a beautiful structure. The FSK Bridge coming into view This was my favorite photo!

Pulling out of the Port of Maryland. A few more people, but they are only interested in the bar! Goodbye Baltimore! Fort McHenry Point Breeze and the Port of Baltimore It is roughly about this location that Francis Scott Key wrote the Star Spangled Banner aboard the British Ship.

As it was quite chilly, the sailaway party did not have very many early attendees. I made my way to the Great Outdoors to enjoy sailaway! oops! A little blurry Topsiders Gingerbread House display inside the Garden Cafe The Great Outdoors was not very full either. Cargo Ship being unloaded off our stern. Still pretty sparse on the crowd It was a beautiful night! Just because it was 38 degrees, everyone stays inside like their cold or something. Compared to home, this is warm! pano Time to throw lines!

We have done 4 sailings on her! She is our favorite!

nice!

I am looking forward to it! We have a variety of activities planned for the trip!

We are missing Hawaii! 49 days to go!

That is the correct answer! Had to inject a bit of humor into the review!

So in 2007, when Susan and I got married, we sailed the Sun on our honeymoon. Our stateroom on that cruise was room 5001. When we got our upgrade notice, the stateroom that we got placed in was room 5002! Right next door. The great thing about these rooms are they are down a dead end hallway! Thus they are very quiet, even as you are literally 100 feet away from the Atrium! Room 5002! Meet & Greet Invite Our bags started to arrive So we started unpacking.

I always get the wedge! Susan got a Cobb Salad. Susan got the Fish & Chips I ordered my normal bacon cheeseburger I got the Creme Caramel Susan got the Five Spice Mango Tapioca Pudding After lunch, we checked in at CruiseNext and signed up for all our Sapphire Perks! This was the awesome gingerbread display in the atrium! We cleared up a restaurant reservation issue. We had purchased the Free at Sea Plus Package - Unlimited Wifi, 2 extra specialty dinners; $50 shoreex credit for 2nd person; Premium Beverage package; plus waters and Starbucks package! Here I am enjoying the first Iced Mocha of the trip! Atrium Cafe & Bar - Deck 5 Susan opted for a hot chai latte. We found a spot to sit as we waited for staterooms to be available.

We headed up to take care of the Muster Station checkin Boarding was on deck 5, so we headed up to 6 to check in. All Muster Stations on the Sun are on Deck 6 outside. Once we checked in, it was time for lunch! We headed to Seven Seas for lunch. Baggage Cart outside Lunch Menu Have you figured out my embarkation day order, yet? I order the same thing every cruise!

Brian Walters, General Manager, was up greeting guests as they got ready to board the ship. I love how he does that! Day 1 Daily! Shore Excursion insert

We had an awesome time at Fort McHenry! We also learned a bunch about the War of 1812 and how Baltimore stuck together. It was time to return to the hotel, so we could grab our bags, and head to the ship! Row houses - I thought these were so cool. There is the Sun! See you soon! We grabbed the bags and checked out! It's Cruise time! Our Uber arrived! Unloading the bags at the pier! I love how they use baggage carts; Great idea! Let's Go Cruising! Security Check-in lines Once checked in, it was time to head to take the boarding photo! There we are! As that sign says, to the ship! How can you tell its a Christmas cruise without me saying its a Christmas cruise? With a Santa greeting guests as the climb up to the ship!

We got to experience the changing of the flag from the overnight modern flag to the historical accurate flag of 1812. The ranger gave an excellent presentation. Modern flag She then asked for volunteers to help raise the historical flag. They have to raise and lower the flags at the same time to fulfill the Presidential Proclamation that requires a flag fly at all times over Fort McHenry. unfolding the flag There it goes! Here is the video of the changing of the flag! This was really informative!

Pano of the Fort inside The brig Here is what it would have looked like if you were a soldier at Fort McHenry during the battle. I am so glad the citizens of Baltimore stopped this from happening.

Fort McHenry This is a hard picture to look at. The Francis Scott Key Bridge was such a beautiful bridge, it is so sad that was hit and it came down. During the summer months, the US Coast Guard places a special buoy out in the harbor to mark where Francis Scott Key was during the bombardment of Fort McHenry. Heading into the Fort! Ravelin Magazine Someone short had to go down and explore the small room.

We had to visit Fort McHenry! So, for those of you who don't know. Fort McHenry is the Fort that the British were firing upon when Francis Scott Key wrote the Star Spangled Banner, our national anthem. Once we booked this cruise, I knew we had to visit the fort sometime while in Baltimore. Inside display area There was tons of info to read and digest. But the fort awaits!