Days 6 & 7 ~ Fun Days at Sea ~ 2/5/09 & 2/6/09

We have been relaxing & really getting into enjoying ship board life ~ participating in all activities that interest us.

Carnival’s “Freddy” found Ruth at our Salsas 49ers ~ Happy Hour.

The other pics are from our crossing the equator day.

Barbados ~ 2/4/09

Got up at 6am (ugh!), dressed & headed for breakfast in the Lido Restaurant = 630am.

The ship docked alongside Carnival Victory, Celebrity Summit & the Thompson Destiny and was cleared for debarkation around 730am.

Ruth & I headed off looking for the local taxi rank. Found “Terry Grosvenor “ our tour guide for today who stated he would be happy to escort us to see his beautiful island in his taxi van for $25.00 pp We were off on our tour by = 830am with 6 other people plus Ruth, her scooter & me.

We left Bridgetown and followed the coast North past the West India Rum Factory, Summerland, Holetown and stopped and got out and took pictures at St James Parrish Church. We then proceeded North East past Waterhall, Apes Hill Club then South and upward to a viewpoint called Highland Adventure Center where we saw beautiful vistas, greenery, flowers & the infamous Barbadian Green Monkey.

Our tour continued thru St George ~ south past Harrison’s cave, Wildlife preserve & the Flower Forest. Then we turned South East past Gun Hill Signal Station and headed for St John’s Parrish Church where there we took pictures of many beautiful Vista views, a very old cemetery, flowers, architecture & stain glass windows.

We then headed back the way we came past Orchid World, Francia Plantation House, a very old sugar mill and into Bridgetown from the East where we again paralleled the Careenage (where big and little boats sailed thru & docked along the piers). We saw Central Bank, St Michael’s Cathedral, the Parliament bldg, Independence Square before we dropped off two of our fellow couples on Broad Street to shop & we continued to parallel the wharf until our ship came into view. An overall wonderful tour of Barbados.

Later after Ruth & I had lunch at the deli onboard ~ Ruth went out again and rode her scooter thru a park like setting on the ocean front until the sidewalk ran out where she crossed the street and found the Pelican Craft Center . . . A series of bldg’s all with little shops filled with specialized Barbadian Arts & Crafts. She met some new cruising people there and they walked along with Ruth as she made her way on her scooter back to our ship.

As for me, since I had precious little to no sleep last night – I curled up in our cabin in my bed under my warm down comforter in & took a little nap . . .

I feel so much better now!

Dominica ~ February 3rd, 2009

The ship docked at 12 Noon at Woodbridge pier about 15 min from the center of Roseau. Oveer the houses we could see the Carnival Victory docked there. We had so hoped we would dock at the center of Roseau, but sadly no. We debarked after lunch around 1pm, found a $2.00 shuttle and headed to town. I immediately found an internet café to copy and paste info off of my thumb drive into my Salsa’s 49er’s blog. Then Ruth and I wandered around the little oceanfront town until the heat got to much for us and we headed back for much needed air conditioning found on our spacious ship and a ice cold drink on the Lido deck around 430pm. Enjoy the rainbow we saw on our way back to the ship - It had just started to rain.

2nd day at Sea ~ 2/2/09

Met up with about 7 female passengers in a sunny spot with a beautiful view at the back of the Lido Restaurant and taught a beginner crochet class. They left after 1 hr with the beginnings of a Potholder or a Scarf.

For lunch we found the Mongolian Grill and the Taste of the Nations Indian Grill. Yummy!

The rest of the day was restful until all had to dress elegant for the 5pm Captain’s Cocktail Party and 545pm Captain’s Dinner.

No sooner than we ordered dinner more excitement erupted . . . a lady in distress & her husband were weaving there way thru the tables and had made it to the left of our table near the next waiter’s stand which had his plates of food piled up on it & about that time the lady grabbed her husband coat jacket as she passed out and fell with a thud to the ground pulling her husband and the dishes down on the floor around her. There was bedlam for a little while & then the Doctor came and eventually took her to the Medical Facilty.

Later on we watched the best spectacular show I have seen in a long while starring the Carnival Splendor Dancers called ~ “Fiesta Latina.” The costumes, voices and dancers were absolutely fantastic!

1st day at Sea . . .

We explored this magnificent ship today. The Carnival Splendor is113, 300-tons, is 952 feet in length, has a cruising speed of 22 knots and carries 3,006 passengers. While on the Carnival Splendor we are enjoying delectable dining, endless entertainment and friendly casinos; it's just a small part of the "Fun Ship” onboard experience. With so many things to do, we don’t know where to start. One thing's for sure; we never want it to end.

1/31/09 ~ Embarkation Carnival Splendor

Oblivious to all & rested beyond measure ~ we awoke around 9am and headed for a continental breakfast ending at 10am that we almost missed. Josie of Yellow Cab met us around 1230pm and dropped us off at Pier 21 and a porter sent Ruth in her scooter to the front of the line. We passed about 3 blocks of people all lined up waiting to get in. And before long we had our room key / sign & sail cards and =130pm were walking aboard the Carnival Splendor.

Our cabin when we found it was a surprise . . . not much bigger than a postage stamp!
Smallest modified w/c accessible cabin I’ve ever seen. There is next to no storage & almost impossible for Ruth to turn around in. With some jockeying it’s do-able.

No lifeboat drill today and when the Salsas 49ers met on the rear Lido deck at 430pm rumors started flying . . .

Now y’all need to sit down & belt yourself in cause the excitement starts here – well at least for us lucky ones on board looking down on what was happening below . . .

There was a real live bomb threat!

They cleared the terminal of 1500 or so anxious, hungry & thirsty wannabe cruisers, & all Carnival staff immediately and sent in the bomb squad who promptly set out a cute little robot bomb sniffer. We watched it go ever so slowly 1 by 1 to thousands of still to be loaded suitcases sitting like soldiers on the pier.

There were boxes & boxes of perishables
& food to be loaded left exactly where they had been deposited. Nothing moved for about 3 - 4 hrs, then with the all clear ~ they started embarkation and the loading suitcases & food all over again.

By 10 pm all 1500 weary, hungry, tired and cranky passengers were on board and we pulled up anchor around 1030pm heading for the open sea and immediately hit rough waters due to stormy weather. Hang on folks . . . it’s rocking and rolling in here.

Around 11pm after the show we headed back to our cabin & found that our luggage, which had been held hostage on the pier, had finally arrived . . . Hallelujah!

It is now 230AM adjusted time so I will say goodnight

1/30/09 AA ~ LAX – DFW – FLL

After a mostly sleepless night we boarded American Airline at 730am Friday in LAX for a wonderful plane ride to DFW & ran to make the second plane which was equally pleasant. And 2 very tired travelers’ reached the Comfort Inn Airport/Cruise Port South (FL243) 2520 Stirling Rd, Hollywood, FL, US, 33020 via a w/c taxi around 7pm. We decided not to go to the meet and greet at Bimini’s Boatyard cause horizontal our bodies were pleading fir horizontal time. So we grabbed a quick bite at Taco Bell next door and were in bed by and asleep by = 8pm. A bed never felt so good.