island lady

Oh wow. That is interesting...thanks! We have MSNBC...but not regular NBC. I should be able to pull it up online perhaps later and will try it then. 🙂

Some of the things that are happily (IMHO) missing on this ship/cruise so far for us. (Your experience may vary). 😉 Smoke: The one thing I dread on Radiance class ships (though I love most of the rest of the elegant ladies) is the way the big open entrances of the casino face the Centrum. Normally heavy smoking in there on sea days/nights will billow out and up the open Centrum like a chimney...disbursing it up into the various decks. Not on this cruise. Have not smelled it at all for the last 18 days, and even smells fresh in the casino when we walk through (when it's not busy). No smoke smell on our balcony...no cigar, no cigarette, no pipe...or "other type" of tobacco. 😉 Very little smokers outside, but the few there are...being very polite to smoke only on the designated starboard side of the pool deck. No smokers on the open deck of 12. Very little on open deck of 5 smoking area. Kids running wild in the hallway: Now it may be different on other decks, but we have never even seen any children at all on deck 10. Which means ...so far anyway...no "precious snowflakes" running down the hallway ringing the door bells at all hours. Have seen them in the lower decks, and heard crying, screaming children's voices coming though the doors of the inside cabins when we walk by to get from aft/forward through that area. Which makes me shudder to think of a family of 4-5 in one of those small cabins on long sea days, and on this long cruise! 😮 Long wait for food or service in dining areas. Never a problem with food served promptly, as the dining venues are just not that busy. Supply issues: Except for a few days missing fresh bananas...we have not experienced any supply issues with food or alcohol. Getting a seat at the shows: No reservations required and always easy to find plenty of seats in the theater, even a couple of minutes before show time. Theater rarely more than 1/2 full. Crowded in Chops for breakfast: After almost 3 weeks...there has never been more than 10-12 pax in that venue. Some mornings, it was just myself and Bucky. Plenty of bored crew members, but all more than happy to see us every morning. Very happy and friendly group 🙂 Bar service: Once again, lightly populated and no real wait for drinks at all. Yeah, happy to have so much missing on this cruise. 🤗

Recife Brazil. Almost dead on the furthest eastern part of South America. Looking forward to it. 🙂

Saw the show last night...Brazilian jazz singer. Not great...not bad...just pleasant and a nice way to end the evening. Theater was barely 1/4 full. Dinner was not up to usual...still good service, but my seafood stew "special" was fishy tasting (must have been trying to get rid of some leftover seafood) and Bucky's Tuna was drenched in way too much Fennel. Oh well....there was always dessert! 😉

And...yet another day at sea! 😲 Oh well, we get used to it on TAs anyway. For us so far, with almost 3 weeks into it.....has felt like any other longer Caribbean cruise...and we knew it was going to be a PIA to try to go into town in Fortaleza, so we didn't try. 😉 Tomorrow we have an all day tour (our first tour) and really looking forward to it. Being a bit of a "foodie" we have the Recife Gastronomic Experience tour booked. Following a Chef around the large fresh market, picking out veggies and fresh fish for lunch. Then watching him cook it up in one of his restaurants, and enjoy the fruits of his labor with a couple glasses of wine. Mmmmm....hope I am not getting my hopes up...but it is the kind of tour we love, since we are not the types that do the beach, souvenir shopping, or the tour to see 12 cathedrals in one day. 😉

OK...bring it OB!! 😄 😄

Etta May found me in the CL last night...she was out of her costume (she is beautiful BTW) and gave me a hug and a thank you. 😉 🥰

Yes it was...Lala in her happy land. She loves life!

I am asleep at that time. 😄

I suppose only Jake knows what Jake was thinking. 😉 But when he said he realized I was using a cruise hack...LOL....I guess I hacked myself. 😄

Huh? 🤔 I have been using my ceiling magnet hooks for hanging my hand wash laundry for years now. Have posted my laundry method pictures online with CC over the years as well. 😉 Works well for me on our longer cruises.

Eh...not so much for us here...though I am sure others are enjoying Fortaleza today. We have a nice long tour booked for the next stop in Recife though. And with fresh clean clothes to wear. 😄 😄

When we retired, we started traveling a lot...and in fact now we are gone more than we are home. Was no reason to keep the big house on the water with the pool, small orchard, big dock, boats, etc. Too much upkeep. Happy to have sold the Merritt Island house and bought a small house in a gated community, but still only 20 minutes to PC. No more worries about the home when we are gone. 😉

Just a "head's up" literally....Crown and Anchor only goes back 25 years. Not 30. 😉

Sooo...decided it would be a good day for laundry. Sent out very stuffed bag of "boil and fry" and did my usual "beat the clothes against a rock in the stream" hand wash. 😄

Not what you would call a pretty port area, and in fact not even allowed to walk on the pier. Required to take a shuttle bus just to get to the terminal. From there you board tour buses, or other transports. Nothing very close by. Tours they offered did not interest us, and heard too many stories of crime (pick pocket, bag snatching) here to make it worth it for us to go into town or the big shopping mall. Not a city girl.

Skyline of Fortaleza from deck 12.

Coming into Fortaleza Brazil right now. Wow...had no idea how large this seaside city was! Much bigger than coming into Miami! Just picked up the pilot.

When we used to live 3 miles away from PC on Merritt Island, we would hear the ship's horns almost every day. Got us itching go go, even when we were not leaving on one. 😉

😄 Ummm eight ball, corner pocket...or...ooops... flying across the hallway. "Fore"!!!!

Sorry my friend...couldn't resist. 🤭 And I still can't get that picture out of my mind of your luggage on it's fateful trip to EX a couple of years ago. 😁

Didn't I see you on the road construction team out there? 😄 😄

Ummm...not too nicely last couple of days. 😉

OK...just walked down to deck six Safari club to check on the pool table situation. The one on the right is still broken..as the sign states... and has been since we boarded. The one on the left...has been in this "odd" position since yesterday. I don't think I would want to try putting a set up on that surface. 😄

Cash cow...oh no..did I say Cow??!! 😉