New York City, USA

 Marla, Deb and Grace ~

getting ready for a Carriage Ride in Central park

Feeding the Squirrels in Central Park

Sea Day 27, Friday, Mar. 22

March 21, 2013 day at sea

Mar 21, 2013 day at sea

New York is just around the corner, it seems. Today, the first day of spring, is a cloudy day and cooler as we head north. This morning we had thundershowers, lightening, rain and winds up to 70 miles an hour.

A number of people spent part of today packing some, one bag or two; and sorting through the accumulation of paperwork and miscellaneous items, deciding what goes home and what stays on the ship.

The SASA group had a final meet and greet, where addresses were exchanged, stories told, future cruise plans talked about, and a 'white elephant' exchange (things that do not need to go home).

For us who have an early flight on Saturday, and others like ourselves, checked with the guest services about either self-debarkation (going off with all your luggage in hand), or getting an early call number to debark and pick up luggage in terminal in New York. As we have to go through customs at the port and again at the airport, we have opted for the self-debarkation, though that means packing a number of bags down hallways,in and out of elevators, and up ramps, ourselves.

The Shutterbug group turned in their thumb drives, or camera discs to have the accumulation of group photos added, today. Approximately 3 gbites of pictures taken by various members of the group.

Snapshot Rally pictures submitted to MickeyLive will be ready to pick up tomorrow afternoon.

We will be bringing home our own pictures, the Snapshot Rally pictures and the Shutterbug group pictures—so lots of memories coming home with each of us.

Last night, the eight of us at my dining table had an after dinner gathering on the 12^th deck, relaxing in loungers and talked about our 5 best things about this cruise. It brought back so many memories of our cruise, and created a lot of laughter and new memories. We have made some new friends on this trip and look forward to meeting them again, as we all travel in the future.

 

This is my last post for this blog, and I have had a great time on this cruise and look forward to many more.

Elsie

Sea Day 26 - March 20

 

Antigua March 19, 2013



Bridgetown, Barbados 3/18/13 ~

Our group of 25 of us with Elsie (searaider) as tour leader today are participating together in the Natural Wonders Tour with Glory Tours.  Their representative is: Sarah Taylor, Tel: 246 231-2932, Email: tours@glorytours.org, Website:  www. glorytours.org . P.O. Box 21 T, Welchman Hall, St. Thomas BB22051, Barbados  And I refer them to you!

We started our tour at the Barbados Port outside the gates at = 9am.  We all met under a well shaded area with benches until all of us arrived and we got onto 4 vans.  The van I was in had 6, so the other 3 vans held = 7, 7, & 5. Each van followed the next as we caravanned to Harrison's Cave, Barbados.

Harrison’s Cave is a tourist attraction in the country of Barbados, first mentioned in 1795.  Tourist can access the subterranean environment.  The caves were opened as a tourist attraction in 1981.  The caves  allow visitors to see some of the most beautiful geological features of Barbados.  It is now Barbados’ # 1 attraction.  

The caves are naturally formed by water erosion through the limestone rock.  The calcium rich water that runs through the caves has formed the unusual stalactites and stalagmites formations.  We traveled through the caves by tram, at certain points during the tour we were allowed to get off the tram and get close to the formations for the best pictures.

One main area of the caves is a huge cavern, termed,” The Great Hall,” measuring over 100 feet in height.  After the Hall, the tram stops at “the Village”.  At the Village some of the formations have joined together to form columns after thousands of years.

   

Harrison’s Cave is in the central uplands of Barbados.  It is situated at 700 ft above sea level.  The three (3) characteristics of the central uplands are gullies, sinkholes and caverns.

We then again caravanned to the Flower Forest located on the Richman Plantation about 850 feet or 270 meters above sea level. We spent over an hour here walking in the Flower Forest seeing many different kinds of trees and tropical flowers plus gorgeous views.  See pictures.

Our caravan headed to East beach where we got out and took many pictures of the ocean crashing on sandy and sometimes rocky shores.  From what our guide told us ~ this is a favorite beach for surfers.

Next included on our tour was lunch in a little indoor / outdoor café called, East Coast Sand Dunes.  We had the option of Baked Chicken, Fried Fish or Stew.  Also on the plate was Baked Macaroni and Cheese, brown rice with a bean sauce for French fries a small portion of Potato Salad and regular salad.  Drinks included were ginger beer, coke, sprite or guava pineapple juice.  Everyone said they had a delicious meal.

And the 4 van caravan headed to ~ The Barbados Wildlife Reserve:

An Animal’s world. 

Most prevalent, to our eyes were lots of Green Monkey's, Tortoise's, Brocket Deer, Iguana's and many birds.  Once we were done walking the preserve – they offered us Rum Punch on ice to cool down on a shaded patio with tables ad chairs.

Now it is time to take this caravan back to the ship.  We arrived a little after 2pm with time left over to shop, shop, shop to ones hearts content.  

This is me headed back to the ship.  

We were told to be on board by 330pm because the ship is sailing at 4pm.

All aboard ~ Tomorrow is our last port ~  Antigua!

Saint Patrick Day ~ At Sea Day ~ 3/17/13

 The Chiquita's want to wish everyone a ~

I, (ghjohnson)  got up at 8am, got dressed and headed for the Lido / deck 9 to fill up my coffee jug and then headed down to the El Morocco on Deck 5 for Arts and Crafts at 9am.  Today I will work on finishing my needlepoint Cruise purse and we began a new project today ~ a needlepoint Book Mark.  There were about 350 other women in the Room with us doing the exact same thing.  Barb (bgone08) saved me a seat and I saved Libby (libby10205) a seat and we all worked on our projects together.  * See below for pictures.  Deb (debkjw) showed up about  930am and sat with us and talked about upcoming cruises.  Everyone seems to have at least 1 or more booked already except me!

Around 945am both Deb and I headed up to meet up with Marla (cotatica), Judy (jigjager) and Marilyn (mdeering) for breakfast.  It is sticky bun day. Yum!  They have them every other day here on the ship.  We sat for about 1 hr together enjoying our breakfast and talking about a little of everything.  And then Judy and I headed up to Marilyn’s aft cabin so Judy could pick out 2 lanyards from Marilyn’s collection.  A few days ago Marilyn gave Deb, Marla and I the joy of going through her collection and picking out 2 each for ourselves as well.  Marilyn picks out beautiful beads and makes the most gorgeous  lanyards.  Thank you so much, Marilyn,  from all four of us.  We love you and thank you!

Today John (JWMIddleton) and I are planning the Final CC Roll Call Meet and Greet.  John secured the El Morocco Room on Deck 5, Thursday, March 21, 2013 from 3 – 5pm.  We will say our final goodbyes,  have a drink or 2,  bring business cards and a white elephant gift to exchange one with another.   *White Elephant gifts are any of those things that you do not want to pack to take home, IE: ones man’s trash is another man’s treasure . . . you get the drift.  We are giving those who bring white elephant gifts a raffle ticket to play.  You can pick a gift off the table or take one from someone else.  It should be fun.

 

Once I got the date and time from John, I went up and rewrote the CC Roll Call Group Message Board Notes on our handy dandy message board sitting on deck 9, outside the Glass Lobby elevators / heading towards the Lido pool so everyone will know what’s is going on this coming week.  Many people have been using the board by leaving notes for each other.

Most of the afternoon I spent working on finishing my 2 crafts projects.  See Pictures . . .

 Front / Needlepoint Cruise Purse

 Back / Needlepoint Cruise Purse

Bookmark

I managed to get my coveted nap in from 4 – 5pm.  Yawn!

Since today is St Patrick’s Day our table decided to dress up for the occasion.  We all showed up at 530pm for early dining and a great time was had by all.  See our Picture . . .

Back by Popular demand ~ The show tonight was David Knight ~ The Hypnotist ~ Master of Madness and Mayhem!

And later on at 9 pm in the El Morocco Room was the Punchliner Comedy Club (Adults Only 18+) starring Kenny Miller.

I am going to bed earlier than I usually do tonight because tomorrow is a Port day – Barbados . . .

Yawning, See you then!

March 16, 2013 day at sea

Mar 16, 2013 day at sea

Though we may have only 13 children on board for the third leg of the trip from Buenos Aires to New York, we have a number who are young at heart. A number of people are going to come home very tanned and experienced in the ways of water-slides.

Today, I watched the ongoing building of a boat from various finds on the Splendor. The builders have been spending a few hours each sea day for the last few days scavenging for parts, engineering, and assembling their boat. The ship I am watching is being built by a group of Canadians and will be flying the Canadian flag, named, MS Canada. As there is a fairly large contingent of Canadians on board, I am sure lots of cheering will be heard when the 'float your boat' contest is held in a few days. I am sure to be there supporting my fellow Canadians.

We were also informed today that due to gastroenteritis (GI) numbers of affected cruise ship passengers, following their visit to Grand Turk, that port has been cancelled by the majority of cruise lines for the time being, including the Carnival Splendor. We were originally scheduled to be there on Wednesday, and it was our last port before New York. Our port fee difference of $5.50 USD per person will be refunded, as was port fees for Fortaleza.

Instead we will be stopping at Antigua on Tuesday from 10 am to 5 pm, then onto New York.

Crossing back over the Equator

Mar 15, 2013 day at sea crossing the equator

Are you a Shellback, Hornback or Polywog???

Polywogs have not crossed the equator before in a ship.

Shellbacks have crossed the equator before in a ship.

Hornbacks crossed the equator and went around Cape Horn, and crossed over the equator on a different ocean.

There were a few Polywogs on the ship, as some passengers came on at Santiago or Buenos Aires. We crossed the equator at 4:25 am this morning, earlier than expected due to not spending the day in Fortaleza yesterday. It made us 7 hours ahead of schedule for crossing the equator. Mickeylive had a contest for guessing the time of equator crossing with some great prizes. The Captain and Staff Officer are shown below.

The crossing the equator celebration took place tonight around the pool with a large crowd gathered to watch the ceremony with Neptune and his court. A number of passengers dressed up in outlandish costumes for the ceremony.

 

There were sacrificial Polywogs, who were selected to take the initiation for all the Polywogs on board. The initiation included kissing a fish or Neptune's belly, and being bathed in a disgusting smelly mixture of kitchen discards.

 

 

Fortaleza, Brazil

Sea Day 21, Wednesday, Mar. 13

Recife/Olinda

~ A Few Pictures from the SnapShot Ralley ~

Sea Day March 11, 2013

Salvador, Brazil

I participated on Harry and Aggy’s Salvador City Tour w/Leo Coutinho ~ A Professional Tour Guide.  I, myself would highly recommend him.  His email for future reference is: www.travelingwithleo.com &  telephone is:  (71) 8105-7494.

We had a wonderful time exploring Salvador. 

We started by driving exactly where Mickeylive told us not to go . . . to see” Igreja do Nosso Bonfir.”   It is a small church located in a neighborhood to the north, and is one of the most popular pilgrimage sites in all Brazil.  The colorful votive ribbons or fitas of Bonfim are an easy recognizable item throughout Brazil and even beyond.  Children outside the church will (for a small fee) tie them three times on your wrist and tell you to make a wish for each one.  If the ribbon wears off naturally, the wish will come true; if you cut it off before then, it won’t.  * See picture

We then went to a fort where we could see the Carnival Splendor and the MSC Orchestra across the bay from where we stood.

Afterwards we all climbed back in the van and headed for the Mercado Modelo.  It is the city’s main market located in the lower town and is a good place for crafts and other souvenirs.  In the adjacent square you can often see young men performing capoeira, the famous martial art dance which originates from the area. See Picture.  We spent about 1/2 hr shopping here.

We drove to the opposite end of the city and saw a very popular beach (see picture) and many expensive homes.

Once we finished there we drove to the old part of town,  See the the top most picture, on the left side above is at the center of Cidade Alta where there are two squares which are connected at the corner by the cathedral.  The latter is probably the liveliest part of town, with food carts and stalls through the day and revelers in the evening hours.  Most people take the elevator up from the lower area to the upper city.  *See picture above top right side.

We did a fair amount of walking in the old upper city as well as stopping and having lunch.

And the last thing we did was go to see Abaete’ Park across from the new stadium that is now being built. It is a protected state park around a lake by the same name.  The lake is famous because of the stark contrast between dark water and very white sand dunes.  The dancing ladies are here and there is an entertainment area with many restaurants and live music in the vicinity of the park.

All in all a very good day was had by all.