Honolulu Blue

Ok, I'll take a closer look if and when I decide to purchase them. Thanks for the heads up. 👍

Because I'm a degenerate with more money than sense 🤑, I went back and played two sessions on this machine. The first one didn't go my way as I lost $54. I did gain about 160 points as some consolation. With the second session I experimented with betting 3 hands at the same time. This one went better as I gained $84.20 as I gained another 60 points or so. Being up $240 on a negative expectation game should be good enough, but I'm not certain if I've had enough punishment for this trip.

Mid day update: I went to the Morning Show this morning.it was mostly the same old thing - noting the major items from today's newsletter and encouragement to go out and do new things. No giveaways or trivia this time. Both Nikki and Tyler git bad jelly beans this time. I then spotted a bet that seemed mispriced at basketball. I used the app this time. I could use my player bank or charge it to the room. I charged that $22 which will pay off $42 when it wins. I assume it will go into my bank. I tested the fates some more by playing some more video blackjack. I lost $54, which was actually a comeback from being nearly $100 down. I also gained about 160 points from this play. We'll see if it helps me get some offers. I looked over the selection of 2 for $30 t shirts. Not bad, some looked interesting. Perhaps I'll take a closer look when the crowds die down.

Good morning! The ship is rocking and rolling like crazy (not in the good way 🎵🎶🎷🎹🎸) since yesterday afternoon. I'm more weary of it than sickened by it. I'll be happier than I've ever been to see Cozumel. I didn't do anything of note after last night's post. I slept all right, all things considered. I left my laundry put for Hery to pick up, then went to breakfast. It was not a surprise to see attendance way down at the trough. I only had a few muffins and pastries since I didn't have much of an appetite. I look forward to the Morning Show since we haven't had one for a few days. I also might attend America Rocks tonight IF things settle down and IF I feel like it. I saw it on the Magic in November and liked it. I'm sure it will be a good show if it goes.

UPDATE: The Star Trek Cruise made its announcement for 2025. It will be February 23 - March 2 on Explorer OTS out of Miami. They also announced they will be heading to Cozumel, Costa Maya, and Belize. The reason why I discuss all this is The 80s Cruise has traditionally followed Star Trek on the same ship with the same itinerary. So the rumor I quoted above turned out to be true - or about as true as we can get at this point. I remain happy with it. The ports are ok, as if they mattered anyway. We'll see when the official announcement is and when they start taking bookings.

As others have mentioned, this cruise will NOT go through the Canal, but excursions should be available to take you through if you want to go. I'm on a cruise RIGHT NOW that stopped in Colon a couple of days ago. I've been through the Canal on three previous occasions, so I passed on the opportunity to do it again this time around. That's for the authorities in Panama to determine on arrival, but your chances are very that you will go through the old locks.

One last thing... tomorrow's Fun Times

I had another interesting day today. It looks like it's going to be the whole day, since I didn't get a chance to post after breakfast. In fact, I didn't even go to breakfast today because I was running so far behind. I'm sorry I can't tell you if they served bacon at the trough today. Someone else will have to do that. I've only had a few 7 AM port stops in my cruising history. They're not my favorites - there's too much to do in too short a time, and then there's usually an early departure, which is also not ideal. I had to meet in the main theater at 7 for a 7:30 excursion. it wasn't quite as bad as it was yesterday, but the theater was quite full before they started calling out excursions. My group was the 8th one called at around 7:40. Slowly we wound our way off the ship and through a group of buses. There was a small complication when I passed by my bus. A helpful guide pointed me in the right direction. My friend thought the bus was relatively comfortable. There was rain on and off during the morning. I don't think it ever got too hot, which was a relief compared to our other ports of call. Our main guide was Maria. She noted that she talked a lot, and boy did she. 😝 Our first stop was in an old United Fruits headquarters building. A gentleman named George explained some of the food items he raises on plantations elsewhere and sells here. I learned a few things: * Coffee nubs are really good when laced with caramel. My friend persuaded me to buy some. * I'm a big starfruit fan. They're not for everyone, because they're VERY sour. But I really enjoyed both the juice (which was sweetened) and the raw fruit (which was not). I heard some complaints and I was so tempted to scream to send them my way. But I wanted to save my appetite for reasons I'll discuss later. * There was several other samples handed out - some of which I tried, and some I didn't. * Some of these items were for sale after the presentation- mostly the sweetened coffee nubs and some coffee itself. I'd say there was a decent amount of business from our group. * George disclosed that there were three ships in town that day. There's us, the AIDAluna that I saw docked later... ...I never did spot the third ship. What was it, and where qere they? Our second stop was half an hour out of Limon at a greenhouse that mostly grew fancy flowers for sale overseas, but they also grew some other stuff. We were taken to the dining hall and given some more samples to look at - some were edible and some were just to look at or smell. I accidentally grabbed a couple of starfruit samples and continued our love affair. BTW, this place didn't try to sell us anything other than some coconut water. Coconuts aren't my favorite, so I passed on it. The last stop was at a plantation just a couple of miles outside of Limon. This was a popular stop for several other groups as we mixed and mingled with them. Maria and some of the others on this tour spotted a sloth in one of the trees. I tried but couldn't see it. I did see so.e pretty butterflies that were far too fast to photograph. This plantation had a small restaurant and a nice gift shop. I wasn't hungry, so I didn't do the dining thing. I did load up on some souvenirs fir myself and those that care about me back at home. After a short drive, we were given a choice of stops at the end of the excursion. First was to stop near the gate to enter the city. The second was right by the dock. I chose this latter option. I took some photos then returned to the ship. They were doing some painting outside the ship, but I eventually got back on and was in my cabin again at 1:30. The cabin was cleaned by then. I went by Ocean Plaza at 2:30 for some rock and roll trivia, but it was so busy there I decided to just take pictures and head back to the cabin and wait for sailaway. We were supposed to leave at 3, but we didn't shove off until 4. I didn't hear the reason for this. The ride got bumpy as we got up to speed, and it's still bumpy now. There has been some maintenance work near my cabin and there's currently a blower blowing for some reason. Then came the highlight of my day - a date in the MDR. I signed in on the app right at 5, right when it started. I was worried when I got this message... ...but the wait tirned out to be about 20 minutes. I was escorted to one of the side rooms in the MDR. I never knew they had rooms like this in the MDR. It was nicely decorated and held maybe 50 people, roughly evenly split between tables for 2 and tables for more than two. I liked it. It seemed more initmate than the usual banquet-style MDR experience that I remember (though the last time I set foot in the MDR was several years ago). I was seated in a group of four 2-tops by a window. The other six seats were filled with two couples and a pair of friends. We occasionally talked to each other and found that everyone else was from different parts of Texas and I was not. They had some interesting stories that mostly I couldn't share in. Anyway, the meal was a fruit plate to start and two plates of spare ribs. My waiter recommended them after he served them to me. I have to say he was right on the money. I was surprised that I got both plates at once. You may or may not be surprised that I finished most of both plates. I polished off the ribs, the corn (surprisingly tasty), and the fries OK, nothing special). I don't do coleslaw, so I left that alone. After finishing, I bid my mates goodbye and waddled back to the cabin. I made it back about 6:45. My plan to go to the social media show was shot, since that started at 6;30. But at under 90 minutes for an MDR dinner, I didn't think that was bad at all. SHOWTIME! was special just for us in this room. Two of our waiters did the dancing thing to a song I don't remember. SHOWTIME! isn't my thing, but it's not the first thing Carnival does. And that was the day and night of another day at sea. We'll be in Cozumel in a day and a half. Thank you very much one and all!

You actually seeing us is awesome! I'm having a wonderful time! I have a thread about it elsewhere if you're interested in the details.

I did like them, thanks. I'm on the Dream RIGHT NOW and we were in Colon, Panama yesterday. If we were facing the right way, we could have seen you. 😎

Thank you. I'm glad you enjoy my reporting.

I have a lot to go over, so those of you who aren't fans of long posts can head over to read some other excellent trip reports who probably won't have as many words or pictures. Trust me, I understand. We were cleared slightly after 9, which helped others more than me, since my excursion wasn't scheduled to start until 10. The excursion asked me to meet in the main theater at 9:30. I got there slightly before that, and I found a big old mess - a long, slow moving line into the theater. Did everyone on this silly ship have excursions that met here at the same time? It sure seemed it. After what seemed like forever and a day, I got inside the theater and waited to be called. It was crowded in there. Finally, this nice lady from the shore excursions team told us our group could go outside. So we wound our way outside to the buses. It took us a while to get on and organized. We had five buses for this trip to Panama City. I was put on the middle one. Eventually we got moving away from the port, only a half hour late. Our guide was Armando. I liked him. He tried to run a tight ship, as much as the people around him allowed. Our driver was Marco. No picture of him, but he did a really good job too. Panama, especially the central city, had a lot of traffic and reckless drivers. Marco dealt well with them. Armando was a fountain of information about Panama, its people, and the Canal. I asked him a curve ball of a question about Panama's coins. He mentioned that Panamanian coins circulate beside the U.S. standard issue coins. He also noted that the U.S. mint makes Panama's coins. Clockwise from the left is the 1 Balboa coin, the 25 cent coin, the 10 cent coin, and another 10 cent coin you're more familiar with. The scenery was lovely on the road to Panama City, but Armando noted they were short of rain. We passed over the Chagres River. It's supposed to be much higher than this at this time of year. Panama City has all kinds of buildings - ruins from the old city, rebuilt buildings from its colonial days, and high rises from the here and now. We passed through some of the fancier parts of Panama City to get to the old ruins. The museum is normally closed on Monday, but opened just for us. We were generously allowed to roam the ruins for a while. Eventually we got going to the colonial portion of the city, anchored by a cathedral. We spent some time here and then we had to go. I had a good time on this tour and recommend it to those who like this sort of thing. We eventually returned to the ship about 4, only a half hour late. The ship docked near a shopping mall. The names were moatly different, but it certainly felt like the malls I cruised 20 or 30 years ago, back when online ordering was less of a thing. And getting to and from the ship required a trip through a store. It wasn't as annoying as Dufry's in Cozumel. I looked around for souvenirs, but I didn't find anything worth standing in some long lines for. Oh well, maybe next time. I returned to the room to find that it was cleaned. Thank you, Hery. I took some time to cool down, clean up, and work on some business. One thing I had to do was clean up the mess United made with my return flight. The first leg was on a Max 9 and United finally realized that they weren't going to be allowed to fly that plane by then. So they canceled that part and left the connection dangling in midair. I cleaned it up by going into the app and choosing the one decent nonstop out of there. It's a little risky in that it will leave at 11:45. I'll deal with what could happen when and if it happens. After that I had an early dinner at Guy's. It was as good as usual and should satisfy until tomorrow. Speaking of tomorrow, the newsletter for tomorrow arrived in my box. And now you're up to date. See ya. 😀

What kind of swinger? The upside down pineapple kind? The tennis/pickleball kind? The golf kind? The baseball kind? Or the backyard/public park kind?

Good morning! We're closing in on Colon, Panama this morning. We should be docking soon. I'm sure some here are excited about taking excursions into the Canal. I've done two partials and one full, so I decided to pass up that opportunity. Instead, I have an excursion to Panama City that I'm looking forward to. More about what happens there in a future post. I'll briefly catch up with what happened last night. I cashed my winning tickets at the cashier with no issues. The casino was busy with other activity, including broadcasts of some other football game. I did go up to the trough for a light dinner - strip loin steak and a potato. It was good. KC turned back Buffalo and booked a date with the Ravens next week.

In the Different Strokes for Different Folks department, I don't ordinarily visit bars on cruises, so I would much rather just grab the bottle in the room. I've done this twice on recent cruises. I told the steward what I was up to and that I had status (they probably knew, but it can't hurt to state the obvious). I wasn't charged. On past cruises before the shutdown, they used to bring this bottle IN ADDITION TO any bottle they wanted to sell, either on the desk/shelf or in the cooler.

Thank you for your detailed accounting. I'm glad things worked out relatively well. This confirms my decisions to travel as light as I can everywhere I go.

I didn't check.

You win some, you lose some. Overall I got back exactly what I put in. P.S. I did not approve of Tampa's decision to go for 2 near the end of the game.

I'll cover what happened to me today after my last post. The ship did some refueling while in Cartagena. I guess it's cheap here since we're so close to Venezuela. But we also refueled while we were in Aruba the other day. Anyway, this refueling only took about 3 hours, which I'm sure made the smokers here relatively happy. Those are the ones who were mostly affected by it. Later on I went to lunch at the BlueIguana, near the trough. What can I say? I had a taste for some Mexican food. I had two more chicken tacos, and supplemented it with some desserts and lemonade. Good stuff. BTW, it was Italian day at the buffet. I'm sure there was some interesting stuff there, but what I had filled me up. I'm still full now. We departed right at 4 as the game was going on. We're heading to Panama and we'll be there tomorrow morning. As a chronicler of events, I feel compelled to briefly discuss the game. Sorry Tampa fans. You had a good season, but... I actually figured our how to stream this game. It was on Peacock and I had a subscription to it. I installed the app, logged in, and off I went. It was a good game that went the right way... except for Tampa's attempt at a 2 point conversion. I had them at +7, which would have pushed that bet instead of losing. The total went over 49, which was my other bet on this game. Overall I neither won nor lost money on thus game. As I celebrated our big victory, I grabbed tomorrow's newsletter. I'll go up and cash my ticket, then maybe grab a bite. Thank you for reading, and good night.

@Crookshanks: I'm glad you had a good time on your cruise! I'm not so glad about your disembarking issues. We will be back in Galveston in a few days and hope things are smoother then.

Our ship, the Carnival Dream, passed through Falmouth a few days ago. The immediate port area of Falmouth is very safe, IMHO. I was not offered drugs or had to deal with oysht vendors. I went on an excursion that went to Montego Bay. I did not encounter any pushy vendors there either. As always, your mileage may vary. P.S. I assume Jamaica has multiple Margaritavilles. We went to the one on Monday. Is this where you're heading?

I finally finished Stephen Pearcy's autobiography. Good stuff. Like many other rock and rollers, he's been through a lot. And he had a lot of stories to tell. I could see it in his face when I met him. Now I know better where it all came from. By the way, he mentioned my little city in the book as one of the places his band played on one of their numerous and seemingly everlasting tours. No, I didn't go to see him then; I wasn't much into seeing live music at that time. Besides, I was a college student at that time and didn't have much money to spend on such frivolities.

Happy Sunday! It's day 9 of our cruise. Only 5 more days to go and we'll be back in Galveston. I don't want to go! 😪🥶 After a smooth and mostly eventless night, I got up and made myself ready for the day to come. I should note here that SF defeated GB, so that conference is down to three teams - two of whom square off this afternoon. I don't think it will be broadcast anywhere onboard, and I don't think I can stream it. Breakfast was quite busy, as expected for a port day with an 8 AM arrival time. I got my meal and headed up to my "secret" dining spot on deck 11. Did I mention that it was BACON DAY today? The meal was up to the usual standards. After breakfast, I went around the outer decks to look around and take pictures. Rhapsody decided to join us again. Here are a few other photos I got: It's warm and muggy outside and projected to get worse. I made the executive decision to stay on the ship. I know this will disappoint some of you, and I'm sorry. 🤬 I'll do an update sometime, maybe later today, maybe tomorrow. Until then, please do your best to make your own adventures. I like reading about them!

The latest Internet rumor for TEC 2025 is that it will be on Explorer of the Seas out of Miami on March 2 through 9. It seems credible - there's a 2-week gap in Royal's official sailings that ends on the 9th, its last dry dock was in March 2023, and it's the same class of ship as the Mariner and Navigator which were used for the past two 80s cruises. If this is what ECP is planning, then it works well for me. I like Miami as an embarkation port much better than Port Canaveral. March 2 is a Sunday, which is better than a weekday. It will sail 6 days after the UDC, which means I can either stay in Florida to take another cruise, or i could head home to regroup and repack. And it will end 6 days before Rock and Romance, which means I could fit THAT one in if I really want to torture myself.😱 We'll see. TEC could make this announcement at any time.

I've only seen the throwback day on Journeys cruises though it's possible that any of the elements could show up on another, regular cruise. I have only seen the horse races on my Journeys cruises and not on the non Journeys cruises I've taken.