It's December, so time for a cruise

So, the fun part about this cruise was the fact we were going to 2 new ports for us - the first one being Cartagena, Columbia!  I had pre-booked a tour online with a lady who is named Dora....so it's Dora the Explorer!   I refrained from the Swiper, no swiping jokes - and it was good experience for sure.  We docked super early - at 7am, which meant we were turning around and backing in around 630am, and one of the drawbacks to backing in when you are in an aft cabin is the cavitation noise when they are backing in - what's that you ask?  Well, the propellers create a vibration when in reverse, and it shakes the whole back of the ship....which can make it somewhat impossible to sleep when your whole cabin is vibrating!!!!  Since we had an early tour (meet at 8am!) we had Alen deliver our breakfast at 630am, so we we watched the final docking and getting the lines out while eating.   We're parked in an active container port, which is pretty typical...

Monday rolled around and I didn't have to work!  always the best when that happens!!!  Our fancy bed and breakfast provided another great meal (muffins, some apples and meat & cheese roll-ups from Costco) before we did a quick load of laundry and repacked the bags - as we were off to the port! Took about 90 minutes and we were dropped off at berth 25, which is the terminal they remodeled for the new ship, The Edge, last year.  We were not fortunate enough to be able to dock there last time since Edge was in port, but we had the opportunity this time and boy was it nice!  Especially because it has a dedicated suite line, so we were onboard within 20 minutes - dropped the bags and off we went.   Here's the one photo I took, of us standing in line for a few minutes.  It's a very pretty terminal, but I didn't take too many photos. After we got onboard is when our problems happen....this ship has 2x the number of suites and the same size restaurant an...

Well, I managed to sleep for about 10 hours - which is great since I only had about 3 hours on Friday night!  After taking a quick shower I went out to see what Chris was up to - and the B&B owners had left some bacon, which was really tasty with my leftover Key Lime pie from the night before.  After a quick shower we headed out to pick up a few things we'd forgotten or just planned to buy here, like some sunblock for instance.   A quick trip to Bealls (the Florida store) and Wal-mart and then back to the house, where we headed off to meet our other friends who happen to live in Hobe Sound who were our lunch dates for the day!  We had met Matt and Michelle at the DMB concert in West Palm beach last year - and they moved from Jupiter to Hobe Sound earlier this year, and only live about 2 miles from Pam and Michael.   After meeting at their house, we hopped in their jeep and headed for a local chain called Flanigans so we could keep an eye on the NFL...

So - landed in Atlanta and had a long layover - almost 3 hours, so found a place to sit down and have a bite to eat - and then to the Delta lounge for a bit until it was time to walk down to our gate and to our plane.   It's a short flight to West Palm Beach, just under 2 hours, so settled in to finish the movie and a few short films to pass the time. We landed and taxied to the gate - and were off in record time!  Pam and Michael were picking us up, so texted them to find out what the plan was - and they were going to drive by and pick us up.   After FINALLY getting our luggage, we headed out and hopped in the car and headed to Hobe Sound for some dinner before we crashed...it had been a looonnng day. My favorite place to eat here is this little restaurant called "Taste" and that's where we went for dinner - Chris had an awesome chicken pot pie and I had a slice of prime rib and a baked potato, which was also fantastic.  Back to the world's best B&B...

Boy, there's no really good way to fly to the east coast from Portland....if I take a red-eye, I don't sleep on the plane (because who can sleep sitting up, really?) and then it's daylight again....if I'm lucky, I'll get a nap (especially if I'm staying with friends....!) but it's still a challenge.   And if you leave in the morning - well, a 3am wakeup call is not the greatest thing in the world.   If you leave any later, then you get in at 9pm and you don't adjust to the time change. Okay, enough with the complaining!  Got up at 315am after going to bed at 1130pm.....not what I was planning but hey, had to watch the Ducks crush Utah (at least part of it) and also..... I HATE TO PACK.   I cannot even put it into words - I just wish all my crap (that I want) would magically be where I need it without me having to do anything else - to be honest, this is probably why I like my RV so much, I have duplicates of all my favorite things so I don't have t...

Well, a map and a list of where we are going.   Here's the map And the actual places and dates and times And for the record.....all the cruises I've been on prior (30, this is my 31st) 12/09/19 – Celebrity Reflection 11 Night Ultimate Caribbean (FLL) 12/09/18 - Celebrity Silhouette 12 Night Southern Caribbean (FLL) 12/08/17 - Celebrity Reflection 10 Night Ultimate Caribbean (FLL) 04/15/17 - Celebrity Reflection 7 Night Ultimate Caribbean (MIA) 12/09/16 - Celebrity Equinox 10 Night Eastern Caribbean (FLL) 01/24/16 - Celebrity Eclipse 14 Night Ultimate Caribbean (MIA) 05/15/15 - Celebrity Solstice 7 Night Alaska (SEA) 01/02/15 - Celebrity Equinox 10 Night Eastern Caribbean (FLL) 03/29/14 - Celebrity Summit 7 Night Southern Caribbean Cruise (SJ) 11/30/13 – Celebrity Eclipse 14 Night Ultimate Caribbean (FLL) 02/09/13 – RCCL Oasis of the Seas 7 Night Eastern Caribbean (FLL) 10/26/12 – Celebrity Solstice 16 Night Suez Canal (Barcelona to Dubai) 05/06/12 – RC...

wow - who knew my life was that exciting!  I've had multiple requests for at least updates on where we are going, so I'm going to set up a blog but I'm still working on the format!  I have a feeling this will be a plane-ride activity tomorrow, so just keep checking for the format changes etc. Below is some light reading if you like, of all the previous blogs I did (some are incomplete and will remain so forever, since it's hard to go back and recall what happens)  I did do 2 cruises in 2017, but neglected to blog on either one (and on this same ship!) so don't think I missed a cruise! Dec 2018 - Celebrity Silhouette - Caribbean (mostly complete) https://2018garrenandchrissilhouette.blogspot.com/ Dec 2016 - Celebrity Equinox - Caribbean (incomplete) http://chrisandgarrenequinoxdec16.blogspot.com/ Jan 2016 - Celebrity Eclipse - Caribbean http://chrisandgarreneclipse2016.blogspot.com/ May 2015 - Celebrity Solstice - Alaska http://chrisandgarrensolst...