SLO Live/SLO Jam 5/10/2018 Bliss

[skierjj]

Next day was a day at Sea. Ultra relaxing. Not sure what I did. Slept in late. We made mimosas in our room. We had cheese platters and fruit. We worked out. Swam and did a spa thermal suite session. Went to Haven sun deck. We tried all of the different ways to relax!

 

 

 

 

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[skierjj]

Here are day 6 dailies:

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[skierjj]

Lunch in Haven:

Mike had veal cutlet, I had salmon. Both were excellent.

 

 

Sun deck Haven, watching pretty clouds.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[skierjj]

Next was dinner at Le Bistro. Mike decided to splurge and get our favorite wine on board. Opus One I didn’t get a pic so I’ll get one online:

https://www.bing.com/images/search?view=detailV2&ccid=T8bgem9d&id=6772DCE5E7855EA84116E4BD97E6546D62CD9ECF&thid=OIP.T8bgem9dqI2vZ84Ma43A8gHaKL&q=opus+one&simid=608008689569500901&selectedIndex=1&PC=APPL

 

Tried to get a pic of sunset, it wasn’t the best sunset.

 

 

Here is Mike with wine in decanter:

 

Mike had lamb chops, I had veal medallions.

We also had escargot and shrimp with mushrooms on puff pastry as appetizers, I forgot to get pics. Escargot was excellent. There was only 1 large shrimp included in the appetizer. A little disappointing. Hey but who cares when you are drinking this fantastic wine!

 

 

 

 

 

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[skierjj]

We were having fun now!

 

Hey I thought my bangs were at least strait before we left room! (We made several detours trying to get to Le Bistro, we had to find a tiny screw driver for Mikes glasses at Jewelry store; shot out to Ajay who saved the day..then we got lost...Le Bistro is on deck 17!) anyway my hair looks like $@&%. (I usually have bad hair days every day, just born with unmanageable hair)!

 

 

We split hazelnut flourless chocolate cake to go with the rest of our yummy wine!

 

A little casino action then off to bed for our Costa Rica trip the next morning!

 

 

 

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[skierjj]

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[#55worktoplay]

Your hair looks fine but I feel your pain I have the same problem

 

This is a great review. Great pics and stories to go with them.

[skierjj]

Costa Rica Day: a private tour with Thumbs up tours. Highly rated on trip advisor. Tour called “10 in one”. This tour was suggested by someone in our cruise critic and/or fb group months and months ago. Great idea. Looked to me that included more of the things that I wanted to see in Costa Rica than any of the ships tours.

We were in a nice air conditioned Mercedes passenger van with 15 passengers, we got a discounted rate because we chose to be in a larger group. $70 per person, paid in cash or by credit card at end of tour. Awesome!

We had an English speaking expat USA (from California), guide, Kari. She kept in touch with us by email, even last minute when we had a change of ports where our ship was going to dock. (From Puntarenas to puerto Caldera), she sent a last minute email.

Here is a pic:

 

 

She is pregnant now, due in September. She married a Costa Rican who is a nutritionist at a private hospital. They live at higher elevation closer to San Jose, which gives some relief from the heat and humidity. They will stay in Costa Rica to raise their family. She speaks fluent Spanish.

Our driver was Roberto.

 

First stop: capuchin white faced monkeys

 

They break off dead wood to get to the insects inside. They are omnivores and will eat fruits and proteins. Lizards, baby iguanas etc.

 

 

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[skierjj]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[skierjj]

 

Caldera city sign:

 

Next fruit stand. You can have any kind of smoothie. We shared a strawberry, banana, papaya. Then they asked if we wanted rum!? Sure! They call their rum waca I think, which kind of started out as the word for water.

 

Kari talked about a lot of the fruits and vegetables. They also demonstrated how you press cane juice out of sugar cane.

 

I bought a hat. The hat says Costa Rica Pura Vida. It is their form of greeting and farewell and a lot of other things like the word Aloha in Hawaii. I brought a lot of other hats with me, but none of them was quite right.

 

Mike already had a safari/fishing hat.

 

[skierjj]

Next stop: Crocodiles!

Roberto stopped near a busy bridge. We crossed the street and walked a ways to view the crocs from above.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[skierjj]

I’ll try to zoom in on that first shot:

 

 

Pretty views from other side of bridge:

 

 

Now we drive into the area where we will go on our crocodile river safari. But first we go do a little birding. They spot a scarlet macaw way up in the tree. It was hard to find. Mike got a good shot of it on his camera but I don’t have a way to show you.

You can’t see it in this shot:

We watched the pair fly away, beautiful. They mate for life and when one dies the other one goes into deep depression and will not eat and sometimes the remaining macaw will die within a week.

Ok on to our crocodile river trip. I didn’t get a shot of our boat but here is an example:

 

 

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[BigNance]

Great live report, Thanks!

Also, nice wine choice for your dinner

[skierjj]

Our driver was Luis and our guide was Jason for croc tour.

 

Don’t sit too far back as noise of engine is loud and I couldn’t catch all of Jason’s commentary.

 

Bright green baby iguana:

 

 

They keep their mouths open for cooling. They hunt at night and sun themselves during the day.

 

 

 

 

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[overone45]

Love your hat. Also, love your pictures & narrative. I want to do this tour.

[skierjj]

 

 

 

Black iguana:

 

Tree (couldn’t hear why this was significant). Ha ha.

 

We also went up into a tributary in the mangroves for a pleasant experience in the estuary. No photos here sorry.

 

 

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[skierjj]

Next we stop for some sweeping views of coastline, and the retreat/resort was pretty too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[skierjj]

 

 

 

Next stop lunch:

 

Bread came first with great sauce choices to dip bread in: garlic, spicy chili sauce or cheese they also had olive oil and balsamic.

You could choose chicken or breaded sea bass with beans and rice a fruit side mango I think it was fried plantain sort of a cabbage salad. A fruit drink and water came with meal and you could choose beer or wine for purchase.

We chose fish and wine:

It was all delicious and a hearty meal:

 

 

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[skierjj]

Next stop shopping. No pics here. All products priced in US dollars. Clean bathrooms. There was an artisan creating beautiful wood carvings. We bought some handmade stuff for our grandkids.

 

Next a bit of roadwork

 

Then we went to a beautiful resort next to Carara National Park. Really pretty grounds:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[CoffeeGoddess]

I'm really enjoying your review! I almost booked this one instead of the TA and now I know I need to a Panama Canal trip sometime soon.

[vettprincess]

Next stop shopping. No pics here. All products priced in US dollars. Clean bathrooms. There was an artisan creating beautiful wood carvings. We bought some handmade stuff for our grandkids.

 

Next a bit of roadwork

 

Then we went to a beautiful resort next to Carara National Park. Really pretty grounds:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Your photos and commentary and reviews are the best of any poster on these boards. Keep enjoying your cruise cause we sure are.

[overone45]

I agree. In fact I just got an email from Budget Travel looking for travel writers. Now there’s an idea for you. [emoji4]

[happy cruzin]

I'm really enjoying your review! I almost booked this one instead of the TA and now I know I need to a Panama Canal trip sometime soon.

 

 

 

Come with us on the trip back to Miami in

November! [emoji6]

 

 

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[kr1021]

Could you possibly find out what the 15 day thermal pass cost is? My husband and I are going on this same cruise in March of next year and want to price out whether getting a spa balcony (if/when one becomes available) is worth us changing cabins. Really enjoying the posts so far. Enjoy the rest of your trip!!

[debenson0723]

Could you possibly find out what the 15 day thermal pass cost is? My husband and I are going on this same cruise in March of next year and want to price out whether getting a spa balcony (if/when one becomes available) is worth us changing cabins. Really enjoying the posts so far. Enjoy the rest of your trip!!

Thermal spa pass was $299 for this cruise. (Hi, Joyce!)[emoji6]

 

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