O Christmas Tree!

Our first Flocked Tree! I love it! Don't know if I will have one next year, but this one has been different. I didn't use any of my other ornaments, these are all new ( bought last year after Christmas - on sale.) I had this vision last year and followed through. We took our 9ft artificial tree to church and used it there. The great thing about a live, flocked tree, is that it comes on a stand, you don't have to water it and it doesn't shed. They guarantee that it will last through Mardi Gras - many people take down their Christmas decorations and then decorate the tree for Mardi Gras. I don't think I will be doing that!! I love decorations, but by the first week of January, I am ready to put them back in the attic and return to a less cluttered house.

Great Time!

Jose & Sandra Ramirez, Jose & Ashley Ramirez, me and Terry

Jose enjoying a little shrimp cocktail at our Thanksgiving Dinner

Red Fish Grill - Thanksgiving Buffet

I suppose I will conclude our Cruise Tour by saying we had a great time! Looking forward to our next cruise with our kids or maybe some couples.

On the day we came back to New Orleans, I woke up with a little bit of a sore throat and didn't feel well. That feeling turned into a full blown, severe cold. It lasted about a week and just drove me crazy. I work on a schedule and a "to do" list....believe me, the days between Thanksgiving and Christmas are full. That cold put me way behind schedule and I just now feel like I am catching up.

We decided to go out to dinner for Thanksgiving, thankfully since New Orleans is full of great restaurants and a lot of tourist during the holidays, there are always many restaurants to choose. We made reservations for a Thanksgiving Buffet at Ralph Brennan's Red Fish Grill. It was very good....what I could taste and had the desire to eat. I was not feeling well, so I didn't get my monies worth, but Jose and Terry did! After dinner, we went home and enjoyed watching the Saints beat the Cowboys! Normally, I would have been working on my Christmas decorations and putting up my tree, but again, I wasn't feeling well.

Finally, later than usual, I have all my decorations out and my tree is up. Terry has not yet put out his outdoor lights yet, maybe this weekend when it warms up a little.

Last Friday, we attended our State Minister's Christmas Banquet. We enjoyed time with friends and family, as Jose and Ashley joined us. This weekend we will attend another Christmas Party in Baton Rouge and then on Saturday, a graduation party on the North Shore.

We are looking forward to my parents and Brittany and Justin coming to our house for Christmas.

Key West - The Conch Republic

Key West, FL was by the far the most interesting place of all of our ports. It would have been nice to have another day to explore and tour. Key West has some great history attached to it and some beautiful homes. The gates above are called the Presidential Gates and are only opened for Presidents. Behind those gates is the vacation home of President Truman. He spent many days during his Presidency there, as much as 150 days at a time. These gates have only been opened for four Presidents. You can tour the home, but we did not have time. I heard it was lovely, from a couple we met that took the tour.

Key West is also the Southernmost point of the United States. There are all sorts of establishments with the name "Southernmost"...like the Southernmost House, the Southernmost Coffee Shop, etc. They also have a Sunset party everyday at Mallory Square. Ken West is known as the Conch Republic and this link gives you history on that. Back in 1982, the United States put up Border Patrol on Highway 1 because of drug running. This did not sit well with the Key West residence because it made them feel less than citizens of the U.S. They had to prove their residency to travel in and out of the Key. The Mayor, who is still currently the mayor announced that Key West was going to secede from the U.S. Of course everything was resolved quickly, but they do have their own flag, passport, and motto. "We Seceded Where Others Failed."

There are chickens and roosters everywhere, just roaming around. When I asked about it, I was told that Key West is a Bird Sanctuary - chickens are welcome!

When we arrived at the Key, we took a Trolley Ride/Tour. It lasted about 1 1/2 hours, but you could also get off and on at the 14 or so different stops. I had read about and someone had told me about a gravestone at an old cemetery, so I looked on the map and decided we were going to find it. It was hot, and we walked up hill and through a neighborhood until we found the cemetery. Once we got in the cemetery, I found out the gravestone I was looking for was at the far corner, opposite of where we were. I was ready to turn back, but Terry said, we came this far, we are going to find it......and we did!

This isn't it.....but I thought it was cute. "Just resting my eyes"

This is it! The story goes that Bertha was the town hypocondriac, she would walk through town telling everyone how sick she was and no one believed her. Obviously, she was right - only 50 years old!

The cemetery reminded me of the ones here in New Orleans, above ground. Not because they are below sea level like we are, but because the Key is built on a Coral Reef and it is too hard to dig into. Many of the family plots had these "Car Ports", as I called them built over their burial sites.

The only Highway in and out of the Key's is Highway 1. Highway 1 runs along the coast all the way to Maine. This is the end/or beginning of the Highway.

Why did the chicken cross the road?

Of course who could go to Key West and not get Key Lime Pie?? I DO NOT like Lemon anything, but I do enjoy a slice of Key Lime Pie...and I really enjoyed this slice, it was dipped in CHOCOLATE!!! Oh my goodness.

There are several...."Famous" Key Lime places, factories, stores, etc....but supposedly Kermit's Key Lime Pie is the best. I don't know, since I only had one piece - but it was really, really good. This is Kermit - who stands outside his store and taunts those going by with his fresh pie.

Sloppy Joe's is a popular eatery....and yes, they serve Sloppy Joe's. We shared Fish and Chips!! Sloppy Joe's are okay, but I certainly didn't want to pay $10.00 for one! When I eat out, I want something that I can't or don't usually make at home.

This is the Audubon House, where John Audubon wrote the bird watching book. Ernest Hemmingway's house is also on the Key and I don't know how I missed a picture of it. You can tour his house as well. I heard it is overrun with Cats...some of the cats of decendants of Hemmingway's cats. I'm not a fan of the cat!

Before we got back on the Ship, we were just hanging around Mallory Square, near the docks and enjoying the weather. Then one of the boat captains that was getting ready to take a group parasailing, said hey - there is a manatee! I was so excited. For years I have looked for Manatee's when we have visited Florida. I was on the upper deck of the dock and shot some pictures and he wasn't going anywhere fast, so I went down to the dock and took several more shots.

It was amazing! He was very gentle, slow and ugly. He was all nicked up on his body and tail from boat propellers. One of the captains pulled out a water hose and the manatee put it in his mouth and enjoyed the fresh water. I was thrilled to have finally gotten to see a manatee in the wild.

I would love to go back to Key West someday. Maybe a trip to Miami and then drive down Highway 1 and hit all of the Keys.

Freeport, Bahamas

On Wednesday of our Cruise, we stopped in Freeport, Bahamas. I said in the last post that Nassau was on the Grand Bahama Island. I was mistaken, Nassau is on the New Providence Island - Freeport is on the Grand Bahama Island. There was not a whole lot to do in Freeport and the port was in an industrial area, not very pretty. We had to take a cab (van) that was not very well air conditioned to the Lucaya beach area. It was a very hot day and very humid. There was a shopping area, but most of the stuff they were selling was the same stuff that we had seen the day before in Nassau and it was more expensive.

We only stayed in Lucaya for an hour or so and were ready to get back on the Ship. The ships must have some sort of deal with the government in which they agree to stop in these less than desirable ports to help with their revenue. The same thing happens on cruises to Mexico. I do feel sorry for the people that live on these small Islands, but at the same time, when you are on vacation, it would be nice to have some enjoyable attractions.

Some tourist helping a local musician.

This is the hotel/casino that we went in for a cold soda to get out of the heat.

The Beach at Lucaya.

Being on the Cruise Ship, you always have a great view of Sunsets and Sunrises. I never saw a sunrise, but did enjoy the sunsets.

Nassau, Bahamas

Our first Port of Call was Nassau Bahamas. The waters were beautiful, crystal clear and aqua blue. Nassau is on the small island of Grand Bahama, but it is the largest city and the seat of Government.

We docked between the Island of Grand Bahama and Paradise Island. Paradise Island is a strip of land that has million dollar homes where many movie stars and famous people have vacation homes. At the end of Paradise Island is the grand resort, Atlantis.

We went on a two hour tour of the city, which included some shopping, a fort, the Queen's staircase and a ride over to Atlantis to walk around the property.

Queen's Staircase

After our tour, we asked around and took a city bus to Da' Fish Fry, which is a group of restaurants that specialize in fish and conch. We enjoyed some conch fritters. Then we got back on a bus and went to a resort at the other end of the Island so we could enjoy some time on the beautiful beaches. I can't believe I didn't get pictures. Terry was using the Flip video camera a lot and I must have been trying to stay alert to make sure we were making the right bus connections and getting back to the ship on time.

This is the restaurant we ate at: http://twinbrothersbahamas.com/dynamicdata/default.asp

During the final hour of our time in Nassau, we went to the Straw Market to shop. This market was full of booth after booth of people selling straw hats, purses, jewelry, and knock off purses and wallets. Each booth had the same stuff...as you walk by, they call out "Lady", "Lady", come buy this, spend your money, what do you want?.....over and over and over. I picked up a few things and bargained my way through and was happy to get out of the market.

I will try and post some of Terry's videos in the next few days.

Day two - "A Fun Day at Sea"

That is what Carnival calls it when there are no ports of call for the day....."A Fun Day at Sea". They do there best to make it just that. There are always a lot of activities that everyone is invited to enjoy, or you can just relax, read and enjoy a tropical (non-alcoholic - in our case) drink.

Every evening when you come back to your cabin, there is a towel animal and a schedule for the next day, along with two chocolate mints. Every time you leave the room, the steward comes in and cleans everything again. Very enjoyable!

Here are a few more shots of the cabin....the bathroom was a lovely shade of pink, reminded me of 70's decor. This ship was a lot bigger than the one we sailed on before, but the smaller ship was more updated.

There is plenty of closet and drawer space to utilize, which is what you have to do. There is really no place to lay luggage out, so it is best to put everything away and stack the empty luggage in the corner or bottom of the closet.

The second evening, was one of the formal dining evenings. Some people go all out in gowns and tuxes...but, that is not a vacation to me. So we settle for dressy/casual, as many guests do. Once again, our kids surprised us with an Anniversary cake. Many of the staff came out and sang, very loudly and had us kiss.

The cake was very good and as rich as it looks. As far as the food on the ship, there is a lot of it....quantity, but not always great quality...at least at the buffets. The dinners in the dining room were always good and very tasty.

25th Anniversary Cruise

These treats were waiting for us in our cabin. A sweet gift from Brittany, Ashley, Jose and Justin. Yum.
The Cabins are not huge, but sufficient room to get ready, rest and sleep. The bed was very comfortable.

A view of the ship's Lido deck. Our cabin was on the Panorama deck, which was through doors right behind the pool and hot tub, under the slide. It was a great deck and very convenient.
On the deck before we left the Port of New Orleans. I loved how the beautiful clouds were covering the skyline.

This was not the order that I wanted the pictures in and I wanted to post many more, but Blogger was not cooperating....(Judy if you have any suggestions, let me know).

The weather was perfect the day we boarded the ship. We decided not to leave until a couple hours after boarding began.....I remembered how crowded it is in the beginning. When we got to the port, the crowds had already boarded, as we walked in, a lady said come with me and we ended up getting VIP check in. It was a great way to start the cruise. Then, when we got to our cabin we were greeted with a sweet treat from our kids!

The first night we didn't go to the dining room for dinner. We had eaten a late lunch at the buffet and we were not that hungry. So later in the evening we had pizza. Besides all of the buffets that are open most of the day and evening, there is a 24 hour pizza bar and 24 hour ice cream.

Our Steward was Puttu and he too was very accommodating. The Ship is very clean and the staff are always ready and willing to help in any way. In the evening we went to the opening night show and we always enjoy the dancers and singers, they are top quality.

We were glad to be on board and ready for vacation! The next day (Sunday) would be a full day at Sea.