This morning we woke up to calm seas and on our way to New York. We’ve had a hard time getting internet and see my watch couldn’t even connect for the location and weather today.

We had breakfast at the Grand Dining Room. Jim had the canyon ranch special which was orange juice, whole wheat blueberry pancakes, chicken sausage and a brioche with black coffee. Patricia had tomato juice, and a special lemon custard waffle which was fantastic. She also enjoyed her pot of green tea.

We came back to the room and our suitcases were laid out which meant we had to pack. The time has gone by quickly.

We are now packed. Although we are packing one bag for New York and we have another carry on that we will bring with us to put our last minute toiletries.

We had lunch in the Terrace Cafe. Jim had a ham sandwich, beets and slaw. We both had cauliflower soup. Patricia had a artichoke square ancrab salad on whole wheat toast.

While we were eating we started coming into Staten Island. What a beautiful site!

We have arrived at Pier 88 in Manhattan. What a sight to see our ship on the streets of Manhattan!

Our afternoon tour was at 2:30 PM to see the 9/11 Memorial and Museum. We had a great tour guide.

He started explaining what happened on 9/11 and it was so moving that Patricia didn’t know it would hit her so hard. We got on the bus and then had a sightseeing tour while on our way to the 9/11 Memorial and Museum.

For dinner we ate at the Terrace Cafe. Jim had veal piccata parmesan with pasta, mashed potatoes and crab legs. Patricia had spaghetti with marinara sauce and focaccia bread. For dessert we tried pina colada cream cake and Bounty cake which reminded Patricia of a Bounty bar she would buy in Germany. Jim had a scoop of ice cream.

Today we woke up on the Atlantic Sea on our way to New York.

Due to the storm that made us miss the Norfork, Virginia Port we had rocky seas last night. The rocky seas are continuing today.

We had breakfast in the Grand Dining room this morning. Jim had tomato juice, granola with a banana and a brioche. Patricia had a Tuscan eggs Benedict that had toasted Italian bread with Italian sausage and tomatoes confit.

We went to an Enrichment Lecture by Fuzzy Furr: Funny things that happened on U-2 flights.

We had lunch at the Terrace, Café with Jim having a slice of Margarita pizza and a Diet Coke. Patricia had a vegetable sandwich. The weather was chilly but we sat outside in the sun and it warmed us up.

Where we are:

With a nod to feng shui, Red Ginger radiates harmony and tranquility. We had dinner here tonight in this specialty restaurant. The interior has ebony woods, hand blown glass fixtures and striking, modern Asian art. To complement the stunning decor Red Ginger’s chef’s have created contemporary interpretations of Asian classics. We were pleasantly surprised how good the meal was. We were each given a bowl of edamame beans as a complimentary dish from the chef. We were shown a box of chop stix we could choose to use. They were beautiful and some had mother of pearl handles. Jim and Patricia both had caramelized tiger prawns and miso sea bass that had been marinated for 24 hours. Jim had potato rolls and Patricia had avocado lobster salad. For dessert Jim had soft ice cream Japanese togarashi, chili salt and it was fantastic. Patricia had Bounty cake which was a coconut cream cake and reminded her of the Bounty bars she use to get in Germany.

Because it was our last fine dining experience we decided to drink all our remaining red and white wines and champagne. We emptied them all. But there wasn’t really much in any of them.

After dinner we went into The Boutique and purchased a necklace that Patricia had been eyeing on the cruise for her souvenir of this trip. It is actually from a designer in Germany, Coeur De Lion.

We found some new photo opportunities around the ship.

We have continued to enjoy our reading and Patricia finished her book The Good Girl tonight.

Good night from the Atlantic Sea!

This morning we woke up just as we were coming into Port Canaveral.

We had breakfast in the Grand Dining Room. Jim had granola with a banana and a brioche. Patricia had watermelon slices and a waffle.

Port Canaveral information:

Port Canaveral is a cruise, cargo and naval port in Branford County, Florida. It is one of the busiest cruise ports in the world with nearly 2.8 million multi day cruise passengers passing through annually. As a deep water cargo port, it has a high volume of traffic. The channel is about 44 feet deep.

In 1982, a 20,000 ft.² warehouse on the north side of the port was converted into Cruise Terminal 1. This is the terminal that our ship, the Marina, came in.

We decided to explore the port and see what was outside the ship. We had some fun photo opportunities.

We got back to the ship just as it started to rain really hard.

We had lunch at the Terrace Cafe. Jim had margarita pizza with some swedish meatballs. Patricia had vegetable spring rolls, avocado, green peas and egg salad sandwich and a tomato, cucumber and onion stack. For dessert we each had a scoop of ice cream. Jim had mint chocolate chip and Patricia had swiss mocha.

We went back to the room to read.

Patricia is on her 4h book. So far she has read Joe Biden’s book “Promise Me Dad”, Inheritance: A Memoir of Genealogy, Paternity, and Love” by Dani Shapiro, “An American Marriage” by Tayari Jones and working on “The Good Girl” by Mary Kubica.”

We left Port Canaveral right on time guided out by the security boat.

We had dinner at the Terrace Cafe. Jim had beef wellington and mashed potatoes and gravy. Patricia had chicken a la Kiev and garlic rice.

On our way back to our room we stopped at the Executive Lounge for a cup of coffee and tea.

Good night from the Atlantic Ocean as we go rocking and rolling on the sea!

We woke up in Miami with it still dark and this Miami skylight was magnificent.

We had breakfast at the Terrace Café. Jim had his usual eggs and bacon and brioche. Patricia had muesli and strawberries.

At 8:00 AM we had to go through immigration in Miami. Afterwords we caught our tour which was Millionaires Miami. There were 43 of us on the bus that our tour guide, Ed, said we were all going to be millionaires at the end of the tour.

We left the port driving through South Beach, Collins Drive and Ocean Drive.

We saw the home where Giovanni Versace was killed which is now a luxury hotel.

We saw places where Don Johnson filmed Miami Vice.

We saw lots of Art Deco Buildings on Ocean Avenue.

We drove by the famous Fontainebleau Hotel.

Fancy cars…

We saw the Miami Heat’s stadium and the Miami Mariners baseball stadium.

We fell in love with the Miami skyline with such beautiful tall buildings.

The weather was pleasant and our guide, Ed, was very thorough with his explanations of the city past and present. He talked the whole 7 1/2 hour tour.

We drove by an old area of town that has been renovated. It is called Wynwood and there are lots of murals painted on the buildings. This area in the past has not been an area that you would feel comfortable walking in because of the unsavory characters but it has been refurbished and is growing into a new up and coming area.

We boarded a sightseeing boat at Biscayne Bay for a relaxing one and a half hour cruise. We passed the port of Miami, where our cruise ship was and there were many other cruise ships. We saw mansion after mansion in the luxurious neighborhoods on Palm Island, Hibiscus Island and Star Island. We saw where Gloria Estefan, Sean P Diddy Combs and Al Capone lives or lived as well as other notable people that are famous in their own right. Some of the boats outside their homes were bigger than the houses.

Fisher Island is an exclusive private island that costs $250,000 to join plus additional annual dues of $20,000. We were told Oprah Winfrey, Jennifer Lopez, Andre Agassi all have condominiums there. You have to take a helicopter, ferry or swim to get there.

At Noon we went to a restaurant called The Knife which was a Argentinean buffet. There was various salads and many things to eat including chicken, meat and sausage.

We got back on the bus for a drive to visit the Everglades Safari Park and ride an airboat which was loud and fast for a 30 minute tour. We explored nature’s River of Grass on an Eco-Adventure tour. Our guide described to us the wonders of this unique ecosystem and the native and exotic wildlife that inhabit it. We were on the hunt for alligators and found a few to look at.

Afterwards we went into a walking museum that was filled with crocodile exhibits.

We boarded the bus back to the port. On our way back we saw areas that are being rebuilt from the Hurricanes Wilma and Katrina. Some of the houses still had blue tarps on the roofs. Our guide said the area was hit hard and no electricity for 2 weeks where he lived.

At 6:30 PM we left Miami. We found out that there is some weather issues in Cape Hatteras that have 16-20 feet waves accompanied by gale force winds so they have had to revise our itinerary to ensure our safety. We will not be going to the port in Norfolk, Virginia on April 3. We will have a stop in Port Canaveral tomorrow, April 2 and then we’ll be in New York on April 4 at 4 PM.

For dinner we had reservations at 7:30 PM at the Polo Grill. Jim had lobster bisque, but he didn’t like the soup, a Waldorf salad, a 7 oz medium filet charred black which he loved and steak fries. Patricia had clam chowder, tomato and onion salad, mushrooms and blackened salmon with sauce. For dessert we shared a seven layer dark chocolate cake.

After dinner we walked outside to look at the lights on the ship.

Goodnight from the Atlantic Ocean!

Today we woke up in the Mar Caribe for a day at sea on our way to Miami.

There was a time change last night so we are now on East Coast time.

We had breakfast at the Grand Dining Room. Jim had orange juice and swedish pancakes. Patricia had tomato juice and 1egg benedict. And who can resist the pastry of the day a chocolate glazed donut… not Patricia. Ha!

We were 18 miles from Cuba.

Lunch was at the Grand Dining Room and Jim had vegetable soup, Israeli chopped salad and Patricia had a greek salad. For dessert Jim had peach melba and Patricia had apple ginger cake with vanilla ice cream.

At 3:30 PM we went to an Enrichment lecture with our fellow guest speaker, Frank Fuzzy Furr on: Military Intelligence: Cuban Missile Crisis.

At 4:30 PM we had to pick up our passports so that we can go through immigration tomorrow in Miami.

Beautiful sunset from the back of the ship.

For dinner we ate at the Terrace Cafe. Jim had beef sirloin, crab cake, shrimp and mashed potatoes. Patricia has eggplant Parmesan and focaccia bread. For dessert Jim had chocolate brownie ice cream with mini chips and Patricia had Keylime pie.

Goodnight from the Atlantic Ocean

Today we woke up and were in Costa Maya, Mexico on the Caribbean Sea.

Puerto Costa Maya is an exclusive facility specifically built to accommodate cruise ship passengers. It is located on the Caribbean coast of the Mexican state of Quintana Roo.

Our tour today was the Dolphin Encounter. Because we had to meet in the Marina lounge by 8:00 AM to get our tour number we skipped breakfast. Ha!

We had a 5 minute walk to the end of the pier. Looking out from our window it looked like quite a walk.

We met our guide, Jose, who took us to the Dolphin Encounter facility where we put our valuables in a locker. We were given a life vest and instructions on what to do and expect in the water.

We were allowed to kiss, pet and interact with two dolphins on a submerged platform and learn about these amazing creatures in their habitat. Jim was a little apprehensive but he had a fantastic time and glad he did it. You know Patricia is always ready for a hug or a kiss from any animal including Jim. Ha!

We walked back to the ship taking pictures along the way.

A sight that we think about and dread to see was an ambulance by the ships entrance. They were wheeling off one of the guests on a stretcher and his wife was walking behind him. The captain and some of the crew walked out with him. It’s bad enough in the USA if you have an emergency but in the Caribbean countries and Mexico with faraway hospitals it could be even more life-threatening. Our prayers are with him and his family.

When it came time for lunch we were hungry so we went to the outdoor Waves Grill. Jim had a hamburger, coleslaw, french fries with a chocolate shake. Patricia had a Q-ban sandwich which she thought was something totally different with french fries and ice tea. Dessert was a scoop of chocolate ice cream with mini chips on top. Somehow we were so hungry and got so excited to eat our food that we forgot to take a picture. Ha Ha!

Tonight we decided to have dinner in our room catered by our butler, Georgin, from India, and the restaurant Jacques which is named after the famous chef Jaques Pepin.

Our evening was the sharing of five items. Throughout the meal we shared a complimentary bottle of champagne in flute glasses. We were so surprised at how much we enjoyed eating a fine meal and dining in our penthouse suite.

The first course was Molten goat cheese soufflé with heirloom tomato sauce.

The second course we shared was the goose liver tartlet of the day (very small tartlet).

Patrica had her favorite heart of Boston lettuce with shallots and roquefort blue cheese salad.

Our main course we shared was the sea bass fillet baked in a puff pastry crust with Beurre blanc sauce that was specifically for two to share. The puff pastry was shaped like a fish.

The desert we shared was Pistachio creme Brulé, and crispy baked puff pastry layers with light vanilla cream.

When we were getting our coffee and tea served to us Patricia moved her hand and knocked over her beautiful flute of champagne which was still half full and broke the stem. Jim said Patricia had too much champagne and we both laughed. Jim had a decaffeinated Americano coffee and Patricia had a pot of chamomile tea to end the evening.

Good night from Mar Caribe!

Got up this morning and we were in Harvest Caye, Belize.

We had breakfast in the Grand Dining Room. Jim and oatmeal and bananas with a brioche. Patricia had a special apple bread and a Spanish flat with a grilled tomato. It was nice to just relax this morning before we began the day.

Our tour today is to the Mayan Ruins and Spice farm. We walked from the ship to the end of the pier to catch our guide. It was quite a walk.

We then boarded a covered catamaran for a 30 min ride to the center of Belize. If you are asked about your day in Belize you say…Our trip to Belize was “unbelizeable”.

We met our guides Juana & Felix. Our driver was Caisus. Our transportation was a bus which was like a school bus but it was airconditioned. Roads in Belize are not the best and we had quite the workout riding the bus.

Our first stop was the Spice Farm.

We were welcomed with a orange juice and then boarded a covered wagon with benches that was driven by a John Deere tractor.

The staff was very informative as we departed on the tour. The farm introduced us to so many spices, woods, flowers, that we’ve only ever seen in packaged form. Hearing and seeing the vanilla process, chewing green pepper and the cinnamon leaves, were just a few highlights for us. We saw lily pads, unusual flowers and mahogany and teak trees. They mill the trees and make things with the wood. It was a very relaxing place and even had an area for weddings.

Less than 5 minutes down the road was the archeological site Nim li Punit.

Nim Lii Punit means large hat in the Mayan Kekchi language. The site was named due to a depiction on a Maya stela of one of its rulers wearing a very large head dress.

We first went to the ball court in the center of the complex where we saw where this ball game would have been played by 2 people with a 6 or 7 pound rubber ball. They would have made the rubber ball from a rubber tree. We saw where the spectators could observe these 2 people when they played the ball game.

We saw some graves of common people and of royalty where they found jade and artifacts in the royalty graves. The entire site was shaded by canopy of large trees, which provided a comfortable environment for viewing this very interesting Mayan site.

This unique Mayan ceremonial site had a small museum in the welcome center where we saw some of the large stelas with well preserved Maya drawings and writing, as well as artifacts.

Things we learned from our guides:

Agriculture: Bananas, sugarcane and oranges

Tourism #1 industry and agricultural is #2

400K people

National bird: Toucan

National tree: mahogany

Average wage is $400 per month

Afterward we left for a 45 minute bus ride back to catch our catamaran. It was a very bumpy ride and we bounced all over and was exhausted at the end of our tour.

We got back to the port and took a 30 minute ride back to the ship. They have to go slow as it is a protected environment and it shows with how blue the water is.

We were the last tour back to the ship and once we were onboard we left Belize. Patricia watched as the ship pulled away from the dock.

We had dinner at Toscano Restaurant tonight at 6:30 PM. Jim had a caesar salad and a trio of pastas. Patricia had her favorite volcano pasta, Caesar salad, sea bass with lemon and caper sauce and a special angel hair pasta of the day with cherry tomatoes and artichokes. For dessert we shared cannoli and biscotti.

Good night from the Caribbean Sea!

We arrived into the island of Roatan this morning at 7:00 AM with it raining. Once again it cleared up before we went out on our tour.

We had breakfast in the Terrace Cafe with our usual breakfast. Jim having cantaloupe, eggs, bacon and brioche and Patricia having muesli with strawberries and blueberries.

Roatan is one of the Bay Islands located a few miles north of the Honduras mainland, in the Spanish language known as “Islas de la Bahia.” The three main islands are Utica, Guanaja and Roatan. Of the three, Roatan is the largest (35 miles x 2 miles) and most populated at 70,000.

Coxen Hole is Roatan’s capital and largest town. Roatan’s infrastructure and economy is closely tied to the tourism industry. There are 2 cruise ports and today there were 3 ships in our Coxen Port and 2 ships in Mahogany Bay port. This is a beautiful island, above and below the blue waters of the Caribbean. They are know for a beautiful coral reef.

Our tour today was Island Highlights. We had to take a tender into the port of Coxen as we were anchored in the ocean. The town of Coxen Hole was once home to the pirate John Cox.

We were greeted by a band when we got on shore.

Our guide was Michael who moved here from Germany in 2016. He said that Honduras was the second most dangerous country in the world with Venezuela being the first. He said that Roatan is very safe. There are no guns allowed on the Island except for Police or Security Guards. If you are caught with a gun you go to jail for 5 years.

We drove for about 15 minutes to the Mayan-Eden Eco Park which is home to rescued tropical birds and animals and a butterfly habitat. We were able to even get a picture taken with a bird on Patricia’s arm and on Jim’s head.

We saw spider monkeys who were mischievous little characters.

Patricia got to hold a nocturnal animal and we had to hold it like a baby.

We took a walk through an enclosed area that contained a wide variety of local butterflies. We learned about some of Honduras’s most vibrant varieties of butterflies and about this delicate creature and its intricate lifecycle.

Our next stop was Pristine Bay where we walked up to a tower to view the scenic area and saw the old area and the new area which they have named the new area Hollywood Beach because a lot of Americans are buying houses in that area.

Our last stop was a look at the iconic iguana, which we saw in abundance at the Iguana Hideaway. It was an excellent venue to observe these prehistoric looking reptiles, as iguanas are threatened on Roatan from loss of habitat and being captured for the pet trade. We watched the iguanas basking in the sun, lounging in trees and munching on vegetables. Some of the iguanas were over 3 feet long, and while they looked imposing they were really quite passive unless you were feeding them a big leaf and they all went for it.

We got back to Coxen Port and took a tender back to the ship.

We had a late lunch at the Grand Dining Room and enjoyed the cool and quiet atmosphere with piano music while we had a lovely meal. Jim had mushroom soup and Corsican salad. Patricia had butter lettuce with roquefort dressing which has become her favorite salad and poached salmon on tabbouleh. We shared a almond pear raspberry tart which was really good.

Our Butler, Georgin, brought in our strawberries at 5:30 PM.

At 6:00 PM we left the island of Roatan.

Oceania’s sister ship, the Riviera, was at the same port today and is the same type ship we are on so it was fun to look at it.

Tonight we had dinner at the Polo Grill which is one of the specialty restaurants that specializes in steaks. Our reservation was at 8:30 PM. Jim had beet salad, 7oz filet with steak fries and onion rings. Patricia had an imitation wedge salad but it was tomatoes, cheddar cheese and bacon bits with lettuce and dressing that tasted like cocktail sauce. She had swordfish with firecracker sauce and mushrooms. For dessert we shared a 7 layer dark chocolate cake and vanilla ice cream. We sat next to a table of 4 and we could hear the conversation and tried to ignore what they were saying by talking between ourselves. We started answering questions that they were asking each other.

Good night from the Caribbean Sea!