Wednesday, February 7, 2024
Hopefully it will be all smooth sailing the next couple of days as we head back to the port of Long Beach, California.
However, today ended up being a mostly cloudy day with the winds picking up a little.
We got up and went to breakfast at 8:00 a.m. in the main dining room. The main dining room breakfast menu is shown above, which seems to be the same menu every morning.
For breakfast this morning, Mel had an everything omelet along with French Toast. I also had the French Toast, which was two slices of thick-cut brioche dipped in Royal Caribbean's signature batter and cooked until golden brown, served with berries, whipped cream and maple syrup (see above).
Along with my French Toast, I had scrambled eggs, crispy bacon and a hash brown (see above) and a seasonal fruit plate (see below).
After breakfast at around 10:00 a.m., I went up to the library to meet my friend Jarmila to do crafts. Jarmila had already secured a couple of tables and had everything spread out (see below).
Shown above, Jarmila shows me the Stampin' Up! Paper Trimmer. It is a durable, portable paper cutting tool. It can cut and score paper for card making, scrapbooking, and other paper crafts. The extra-wide 7-3/4" cutting base and extendable 17" ruler accommodate large paper projects. (I would love to get one of these.) We worked on crafts until I left around 11:50 a.m. to go meet up with Mel at the main dining room for lunch.
The menu for today's lunch is shown above.
For a starter, both Mel and I had the lentil soup (shown above), which was a hearty soup with green lentils blended with seasonal vegetables and rosemary.
And for our main course, Mel and I both had the seafood sandwich (shown above), which was a fried shrimp, cod and calamari with crisp coleslaw, tartar sauce and pickles on a toasted brioche bun served with truffled french fries (shown below).
After lunch, I went back up to the library to secure a table or two for us crafters.
While I was up at the library, I saw some people playing 'Hand and Foot' and they had a pretty cool scoring card that I took a picture of (see above).
We did crafts until I had to leave to go watch the 'Love & Marriage' game show in the Royal Theater on deck 3. It was similar to 'The Newlywed Game' television show.
The cruise director asked couples that wanted to play the game to stand up in the following categories:
* couples that have recently been married
* couples that have been married between 10-20 years
* couples that have been married more than 20 years
Over the years, couples have screamed, kissed passionately, swept each other off their feet and otherwise demonstrated a great deal of enthusiasm to differentiate themselves from the other couples. Some cruise lines have the men auditioning beating on their chests trying to be the best "Tarzan" and the women "aka Jane" calling for her Tarzan. So a wife who can shout out a nice and breathy, "Tarzan, Tarzan....where is my Tarzan?" would give that couple an edge.
After couples have been selected for each category, there were two rounds -- and in each round -- one spouse was taken backstage to be in isolation while the other spouse was asked a series of questions about their relationship. The questions were usually about the circumstances in which they first met, dates they have gone on and even some personal questions about their relationship. It can be fun and exciting depending on the personalities of those selected.
After the show, I went to the Schooner Bar to find out if I was a finalist for the 'Find the Nations Scavenger Hunt'. For this scavenger hunt, we were given seven days to hunt for signatures of crewmembers from different nations, as well as the senior officers. The scavenger hunt sheet (front and back) is shown below.
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I guess I was lucky as I had gotten the most of the signatures, all in just three days. I had a total of 2,910 points -- which tied another couple for first place. Woohoo! I won! I won! So we both got the winning prize -- which was a nice gift bag of logo merchandise (see below).
The winning gift bag (see above and below) included two Royal Caribbean caps, two Royal Caribbean tumblers, three collapsable sacks, four logo keychains, three logo pens, three logo highlighters and a free set of bingo cards.
Some of the other games on the cruise that I enjoyed playing were:
* Trivia -- I particularly liked the "Where in the World Am I?" trivia (see the sheet below).
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* REBUS Puzzle Brainteasers (they call it something different on the cruise) which were picture representations of a name, word, or phrase. Each "rebus" puzzle box portrayed a common word or phrase. An example is shown below. Can you guess what it is?
Yep, I'm sure you guessed it! Since the word HEAD is over the word HEELS, the answer to the puzzle would be HEAD OVER HEELS! Shown below is the game sheet we had on the cruise.
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Tonight it was "Royal Night" in the dining room (see the menu below).
For my starter, I had the vidalia onion tart (as shown above). It was a sweet onion tart baked with smoke bacon and Parmesan cheese, served with sauteed bell peppers and creamed leeks.
For his starter, Mel had the chilled shrimp cocktail times two (see above).
And for our main course, Mel enjoyed Maine lobster tail times two (see above and below). It was broiled lobster tail with melted butter, saffron rice and sauteed vegetables. Since I don't like lobster, I always order one for Mel -- otherwise you have to pay an additional $16.99 for another lobster tail.
For my main course, I had the New York strip steak (shown below). It was a grilled seasoned steak with herb butter, served with a baked potato and seasonal vegetables.
Then for dessert, we both had the warm chocolate cake (shown below). The warm chocolate cake had a rich molten center, chocolate sauce and a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
After dinner at around 7:30 p.m., we went to the English-style pub, Cooper & Clover.
The pub featured acoustic style music most evenings and tonight was the "Tribute to Johnny Cash with Nate Goodlet".
While we were waiting for the music to start, I had a Mango Tequila Sunrise blended drink. It was full of Caribbean flavor from the orange and mango juices and got its gorgeous color from the grenadine. A recipe to make it is shown below:
Ingredients
* 2 ounces tequila
* 4 ounces orange - mango juice, or 2 ounces each of mango and orange juice.
* 1 ounce grenadine
* Ice
* Use orange slices or cherries for garnish.
Instructions
Put in a blender ice, tequila, and the juices. Blend until a good consistency, than pour into a glass. Slowly pour the grenadine down the inside of the glass so that it sinks to the bottom. Add an orange slice or cherry if you like. Serve without stirring.
The Mango Tequila Sunrise wasn't too bad, but I wanted a mudslide, so Mel went up to the Schooner Bar and came back with a BBC for himself and a mudslide for me (see above).
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Shown above and below is Nate Goodlet playing his "Tribute to Johnny Cash".
Then at 9:00 p.m. we went to the Schooner Bar. While we were there we saw something unusual -- a lady playing the piano in the center of an elevator (see below). The "stowaway, pop up piano player" was a cool thing to behold for at least an hour every night just going up and down in the center elevator.
Mel went over to that elevator, pushed the button and waited for it to arrive (see below).
And shortly the elevator arrived, Mel waved and the piano played gave him gthe peace sign (see below).
All that excitement called for another drink -- a BBC for Mel and a mudslide for me (see below).
Then at 10:15 p.m., we went to the Royal Caribbean's production show "Showgirl! Past. Present. Future." in the Royal Theater on deck 3.
This new and totally original mega-production -- Showgirl! Past. Present. Future. combined next-generation choreography with incredible vocal performances and cutting-edge lighting and video effects, while delivering an entertainment event that stimulated the full range of human senses. This incredible dance spectacular took us on a stunning journey that featured one of the most iconic of all entertainers -- the beautiful Showgirl. Paying tribute to the past, the present, and the future of this enigmatic, famous, and iconic siren of the stage -- the showgirl, this unique and remarkable entertainment experience left us completely awestruck!
Pictures taken at the production show are shown below.
The show was simply spectacular! As it got over at 11:00 p.m., we hurried back to our stateroom to get some sleep. However, before retiring, we had to remember to set our clocks back one hour -- getting back the last hour we had lost earlier in the cruise. Goodnight!
Thursday, February 8, 2024
Today was another cruising day at sea -- cloudy and breezy day with the temperature only reaching 58 degrees.
The monkey towel animal greeted us this morning (see below).
At breakfast in the main dining room, I took a couple of pictures of the waves of the ocean through the window (see below).
For breakfast, Mel had two of the chocolate-filled pastries (see above), while I had one of their crispy cinnamon rolls (see below).
Mel had his everything omelet, hash and French toast, while I had buttermilk pancakes (shown below).
I also had two eggs over hard, hash and a hash brown (see below).
After breakfast, Mel packed his suitcase in preparation for getting off the cruise ship tomorrow morning, while I went up to the library to meet up with Jarmila, the craft lady.
I made the three cards (shown above and below) before I had to leave to go meet Mel for lunch at 12:00 noon in the main dining room.
Shown below is the lunch menu for today.
Mel and I both had the smoked potato soup topped with crispy garlic, Spanish chorizo and fragrant thyme oil (shown above).
I also had the mozzarella sticks, which were mozzarella cheese coated with crispy garlic-seasoned panko breading and served with a zesty marinara dipping sauce (see above).
We both had the bbq pulled pork sandwich (shown above) served on a brioche bun with fresh coleslaw and french fries.
And for dessert, we both had key lime pie (shown above). It was a tangy key lime custard in a brown butter graham cracker crust.
After lunch, I went back to our stateroom to work on the folded hearts made out $10 and $20 dollar bills that we planned to give to Olga and Maria our favorites in the Schooner Bar.
Here's how I made these "hearts" step-by-step:
1. First fold the bill in half, creasing well. Then make 4 creases by folding each corner up to the opposite edge, then unfolding them. Start by taking the bottom left corner and folding it up towards the top so that the left edge of the dollar lines up along the top edge (see below). Crease the fold, then open the dollar up and repeat that fold on all 4 corners.
2. For example, for the 2 top corners, fold them down to line up with the bottom edge of the dollar bill (see below).
3. Push the edges together on each side so the paper collapses along the creases. This forms a triangle shape on both the left and right side of the bill. As you pinch the top and bottom edges of the dollar towards each other on the left side, for example, the bill should collapse onto itself where you created the creases. Repeat on the right side. If the paper doesn’t collapse easily, go back and re-crease your earlier folds (see below).
When you flatten them out, they should look like the picture shown below.
4. Next make triangles by folding each flap over to the corner next to it (see below).
5. Next turn the triangles into squares ( which is called the squash fold) by lifting each triangle one at a time and pushing the fold down into the middle of itself (as shown below).
6. Make more triangles by bringing each side into the center as shown below.
7. Next you will be doing the squash fold again as you push down each little triangle (as shown below).
8. Almost done. To make it look like a heart, fold small part of corners in on the two sides/ Then fold down the tip to the back creating the top of the heart. Last fold the flap sticking out so that the bottom creates a point (see below).
9. Then if you want to add a quarter to the heart, this is what it will look like (see below). Voila!
Having all dollar bills folded, I then prepared the card for Maria (see below).
Next, I prepared the card for Olga (see below).
Having them all prepared, we will give these to Maria and Olga tonight when we are at the Schooner Bar.
The next few pictures show someof the beautiful cards I made while crafting with Jarmila on this cruise. It was so much fun!
We also made a Valentine mailbox to hold candy (see below).
We also made a neat little basket for May Day or Easter that can also hold candy or Easter eggs (see above and below).
I learned how to make an easy orgami Christmas tree (see below).
Since I wanted to remember how to make these again, I have included the instructions below:
1. First you will need a 6-inch square piece of green origami paper.
2. Fold the piece of paper in half. Open it and then fold it the other way in half.
3. Open it back up and flip over and fold diagonally (see below).
4. Open back up (see below).
5. Then fold opposing corners diagonally (see below).
6. Bring corners together, letting sides fold inward at creases to form a square (see below).
7. Squash fold to form a kite from each of the four outside corners (see below).
8. Cut off the bottom corners along the horizontal border of the kite, leaving a triangle shape (see below).
9. Make four cuts along each side of the triangle, about two-thirds of the way towards the center for each cut (see below).
10. Fold the bottom corner of the outer edge of each cut to the inner end of the top of the cuts above to form the triangular tree ‘branch’.
11. Now just repeat for each cut and then your tree can stand on its own. Fan out the eight folds evenly for a cute Christmas tree that will stand upright (see below)!
You can even glue on sequins to make it even more vibrant!
We also made cute little pull candy treats (see above). And a special one for Easter (see below).
We also made paper triangle candy pockets or hugs that contain Skittles (see above) or a Scottish Terrier 'skottie' for a candy treat as well (see below).
We also made a cute little paper purse to hold a candy treat (see above) or a ladybug to attache to a Valentine treat (see below).
Or a paper hug to add to a lollipop (see above). Or a cute flower using a dum-dum lolly (see below).
We also made Easter bonnets using mini Reeses peanut butter candies (see above), or a neat May basket to hold a candy bar (see below).
We also made a ladybug Valentine's Day matchbook candy holder (see above and below).
I then spent about an hour packing my suitcase and then enjoyed the rest of the afternoon and evening.
In the late afternoon, I had Olga make me one of her signature mudslides (see above). So yummy and delicious!
We then went to dinner at 5:15 p.m. in the main dining room.
Mel and I both had the seafood cake (see above), which was panko-breaded and deep-fried golden brown with a mango-carrot slaw and a spicy garlic mayonnaise. Mel had the braised lamb entree, which was fork tender with roasted garlic mashed potatoes, bean ragout, sauteed spinach and rosemary-lamb jus.
For my entree, I had the grilled mediterrean steak with garlic potato wedges, tender roasted vegetables and a classic chimichurri sauce (see below).
For dessert, I had the warm apple cobbler, which was a sweet crumble over cinnamon-dusted apples served with vanilla ice cream (see below).
Mel has the dark chocolate brownie, which was a rich cocoa brownie, sweet whipped cream, carmel popcorn and a carmel drizzle with a scoop of vanilla ice cream (see below).
After dinner, we went to the Farewell Show at 7:00 p.m. in the Royal Theater on deck 3. It featured the comedian, Cary Long, the Royal Caribbean singers and dancers and the crew finale.
After the show we headed to the Schooner Bar for a drink. Mel had the BBC and I had a beautifully decorated mudslide (see below).
We then gave Maria her card with the money hearts inside as a 'thank you' to her for taking such great care of us (see below).
And finally, as we got our last mudslides for this cruise, Mel took Olga her card with the money hearts inside as a 'thank you' to her for taking such great care of us too (see below).
As we were sitting in the Schooner Bar, a fellow cruiser came by and visited with us and gave me a yellow duck with a Mexican sombrero. How cute it was (see above)!!!
Then after listening to Piano Martin for our last night of the cruise, we headed to our cabin to get some shut-eye before getting off the ship tomorrow.
Friday, February 9, 2024
We got up this morning, showered and finished packing before going to breakfast at 8:00 a.m. in the main dining room. Shown below is the last breakfast I ordered on this cruise (two eggs over hard, crispy bacon, hash and a hash brown, and a toasted English muffin and peanut butter). Mel had an everything omelet, crispy bacon, and hash.
We were walking along the outside deck at 8:30 a.m. on our way to disembark (see below).
Shown above is Mel in line waiting to get off the ship.
Next, we had our luggage loaded in the truck and we were at the gate to pay for our parking (see above).
And at 9:00 a.m., we were on our way back to Wilderness Lakes Thousand Trails in Menifee, California.
We drove along California Hwy 91 East.
We got back to Wilderness Lakes Thousand Trails at 10:30 a.m. We drove into the campground and picked out site# 28, which I stood on and waited while Mel went to get the trailer out of the short-term storage lot. We were all done with set up by 12:30 p.m.
We had a marvelous time on the cruise -- and after we heard that they had received eight inches of rain at the campground -- we were sure glad that we had been on the cruise last week!
Now we are anxiously looking forward to our 51st cruise -- a 9 day Western Caribbean cruise out of Galveston, Texas with friends and hopefully some of our family -- on the Royal Caribbean Jewel of the Seas (see map above). It will depart on Saturday, December 7, 2024 and return on Monday, December 16, 2024. We can't wait!
Shirley & Mel
