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Celebration Nov 2023 (What follows is a tale of changed plans, going with the flow and a visit to the ship’s medical center. If you don’t want to read all of my “before the cruise” story then skip ahead to the section labeled “Embarkation Day”. However, if you want to read the entire story, then YOU ARE MY PEOPLE! Thanks for reading along!) Hi, everyone! Ron and I just got back from another adventure, and I am anxious to share it here with you! As always, I’ll start as we’re leaving the house (including a bit of back story!) and take you with us up to when we disembark. I guess all good stories should start “Once upon a time…..” You know what seemed like a good idea this year? A cruise for Thanksgiving! Not exactly ON Thanksgiving, per se, but immediately after Thanksgiving. I had hoped to figure out a way to actually fly on Thanksgiving, but I couldn’t make the time frames work. Instead, we would be flying on the busiest travel weekend of the year. Can I choose a time to travel or what?!?!?! We originally booked the Jubilee sailing right after Thanksgiving. That would have been the 3rd or 4th sailing of Jubilee. Alas, the delivery date for Jubilee was delayed and we, like many of you, received a sad note of apology and a compensation package. I really wasn’t upset. I will certainly sail on Jubilee in the future, and I appreciated the compensation package so we made a change to a Celebration sailing on the very same days. Ron joked that we need to start booking the inaugural sailings of every ship so that when they are delayed, we get a little extra for our trouble OR we get to go on the inaugural sailing of the ship. Either way it’s a win. Sounds like solid reasoning to me! He’s so smart! With the cruise selected, it was time for the planning to begin. We would be visiting three ports; Roatan (Mahogany Bay), Cozumel and Costa Maya. We had only been to Roatan once before. On that trip, we did a tour of the island. This time we decided to do a Discover Scuba excursion. Roatan is known for its gorgeous reefs and excellent snorkeling and scuba so we thought we should check it out. Ron has dived several times. This would only be my second time of actually DIVING (and two previous experiences of “almost” diving but either not being allowed or chickening out). We would also be visiting Cozumel. This is one of my favorite ports! We’ve done several really interesting things in Cozumel and it’s such an easy port in which to just wander. One of our favorite shore excursions ever was in Cozumel when we ran the Amazing Cozumel Race. It was a long time ago…..9 years to be exact. The reviews seemed to indicate some changes had been made so it should have different experiences from what we had in 2014. Let’s do it! (Side note: We won the last time. This time we are both 9 years older and have more arthritis than we did in 2012. Winning seemed unlikely, still, it’s too much fun to play the game to miss the experience worrying about winning.) Finally, we would also be visiting Costa Maya. We had never been to Costa Maya and didn’t really know what to expect. We booked a private tour through Costa Maya Excursions. This excursion was a private Catamaran Sailing/Snorkeling tour. According to the description, we would be the only two people on the excursion and the captain would teach us how to sail a catamaran. That sounded perfect! Sign me up! Friday and Saturday, November 24th and 25th – Time to travel! In the car headed south!! Our flight wasn’t until Saturday the 25th but Ron’s brother lives in Concord, NC so we took the opportunity to go down a day early and visit with him for a while. Andrew, our oldest son, also met us there. We enjoyed the visit and catching up on family. We took a little time to visit the cemetery and decorate Ron’s mother’s grave. We don’t get down there as often as we’d like, and we didn’t want to miss this opportunity. After dinner, we headed to our hotel, which was the Hampton Inn Lake Pointe near Charlotte Douglas airport. As always, it was reliably clean and well maintained. No problems whatsoever! We spent the night and had breakfast the next morning before heading out. We usually fly from Charlotte Douglas and this trip would be no exception. We were booked on Southwest (a first for us) and we were supposed to leave a little after noon. Since we didn’t know how long it would take us to get through security and what traffic we’d encounter, we left pretty early for the airport. As an aside, our two grown sons were also traveling that day. Andrew would also be flying from Charlotte later that evening and Ben was flying from Nashville. They were meeting in Los Angeles to see the Baltimore Ravens play football. They also planned to spend a few extra days and see some sights, including heading into Las Vegas and driving to the Grand Canyon. Andrew was telling Ron that he had reserved his parking at the airport. I wasn’t even aware that you could do that! Ron promptly got online and reserved a spot for us for the week. Turns out this was a very good thing! When we got to the airport, we learned that all the regular long term lots were by reservation only for the holiday weekend. I’m not sure what we would have done if Andrew hadn’t told us about the reserved parking. I’m sure there’s a plan in place, I just don’t know what. Whew! That was close! In the future I’ll keep a better check on the parking situation! Parking acquired, we boarded the shuttle to go to the terminal. When we got there it was somewhat more crowded than normal but nothing like I had expected. It probably only took about 45 minutes to get through the security process. This time my halo was super shiny and I sailed through without a hitch. I even did a little dance at the end. Ron told me if I didn’t put a lid on the dancing that the TSA agents would think I had gotten something by them and decide to take a closer look. I was in vacation mode at that point, and everything makes me sort of giddy! Since it turned out we had plenty of time, we snagged a couple of rocking chairs and sat around for a while. I love the rocking chairs at CLT. I think it’s a nice touch! I’ve never seen them at any other airport. After a while we found our gate and set up camp there. Like I said, this is the first time we had ever flown on Southwest. I was a little unsure about that whole “no assigned seats” thing. Also, this was the first time in a while that we had a connection. Our connection was in Baltimore, so we basically were flying north in order to go south. Weird. Love the rocking chairs at CLT Waiting for our flight Anyway…on this first leg of the journey we were in the last boarding group. As we waited at the end of the line with the rest of the peasants, we knew there was no way we were sitting together on this leg. Ron wound up in a middle seat about ¾ of the way back. I went almost to the back but had a window seat. That was a little better. It was a quiet ride. My seatmates were both very quiet, so I just read for that leg of the journey, not wanting to disturb anyone. It worked well for all of us. Leaving Charlotte Somewhere between Charlotte and Baltimore..solid cloud cover. Our time between the first flight landing and the second flight boarding was short….I mean SHORT! Like 15 minutes short! Since the airlines coordinated the connection and we didn’t have much to do with it, we figured it must be doable. We were a little late getting on the ground and, being at the back of the plane, I was still seated, waiting to get off, when it was time for the second flight to start boarding. Fortunately, the two gates were adjacent to each other and we walked in one gate and out the other. The second flight wasn’t full, so we got to sit together. Much better! Over Baltimore Getting to sit with my bestie is the best! Finally.....Florida!! We landed in Ft Lauderdale and went to get our bags. It was a proper summer temperature. Yay! I love that! As we stood by the carousel, we saw Ron’s bag slide down. It was immediately grabbed by a woman who was gathering luggage for several people. He went over to ask her about it and show her that the luggage tag had a photo of the both of us. She wasn’t very happy with him but surrendered the suitcase without a fight. Whew! That’s a relief. There was an Airtag inside but still, we didn’t want to have to chase it all over the airport. We got the other bag and headed out to find an Uber. Right outside the door there was a guy who was stopping people and asking if they wanted an Uber. We said we were going to be doing it through the app. He insisted that we didn’t need the app and was trying to talk us into getting into his car. We were sure he WASN’T an Uber driver, especially since he wasn’t anywhere near the ride share area. We politely declined, walked to the ride share area and used the app to get a REAL Uber. Jesus showed up in about 15 minutes…in a Tesla no less! The ride from Ft Lauderdale to Miami was about 40 minutes and cost $53. Very acceptable! Thank you, Jesus! I have now learned my lesson regarding hotels. I had booked a hotel in Miami called Towneplace Suites by Marriott. First time staying in one of those. It was $150+ per night so it was one of the cheaper options but wasn’t a Days Inn or Motel 8 type of hotel. At least, I didn't THINK so. Miami hotels were pretty expensive that weekend. All of the Hampton’s in the area were in the $190 range for that weekend. That SHOULD have tipped me off but I’m a cheapskate. But I digress….back to the Towneplace Suites. The sign and the name SAID Marriott. The reviews were acceptable. I mean, we’re only going to be there for 12 hours. It’s hard to justify spending any more than necessary for that short amount of time. Also, we don’t require a lot. Just a clean, relatively pleasant place to sleep and shower. I walked into the lobby and thought, “Am I in the right place?” I had called a few days before to ask for shuttle recommendations to the port. I was told by a lady who answered the phone that there was an independent shuttle company that came to their hotel and you made arrangements when you checked in. That would work! But…I’m getting sidetracked again….back to the shuttle in a minute. Focus, Michelle!! The lobby was dark and dated. Ugh. Not a good look. The gentleman was polite but not friendly. I checked in, gave him my info and told him I’d like to make arrangements for the shuttle the next morning. He had no idea what I meant. I explained about talking to the lady on the phone. He insisted that I must be mistaken because there was no such service. I asked him if I was at the right place. He assured me that he had my reservation. I knew he was right because he knew my name. I also knew my name so we were in agreement. I looked at Ron…he looked at me. We quickly had one of those silent conversations that you have when you’ve been married for 38 years. I asked, “Should we find someplace else?” and he was answered “It’s late and we’re very tired so let’s make the best of it and do better next time.” All of that occurred in a matter of seconds without saying a word. We accepted our room card and headed upstairs. The hallways and room weren’t any better. It wasn’t dirty…just dated, dingy and dark. Lots of “D” words. None of the good “D” words like “delightful”, “decorated” or “desirable”. We were starved. We hadn’t had a chance to eat since breakfast due to the flight times and connections and it was closing in on 9pm. Breakfast had long since worn off! We ordered a pizza from Dominos and called it a night…..a disappointing night (another “D” word)….but a night none the less. Tomorrow was cruise day and THAT would be DYNAMITE! (Final D word, I promise) The moral of this whole hotel story is don’t be cheap like me!

I was on Celebration last week and they definitely were. Maybe it varies from ship to ship?

Loved the review! We’re headed out on Celebration on Sunday. Thanks so much!

Definitely available on Celebration. We’re booked to do another one on Celebration in the end of November.

Yay! Another Jamman review!

At this time they’re only available on Panorama, Mardi Gras and Celebration. It will also be available on Jubilee, I think.

I’ve only been on one RC cruise, about a dozen on Carnival, and it was on one of the smaller RC ships so I may not be the best person to answer. We’re in our 50’s but very active and we enjoy lots of different things, like the ropes course, water slides, trivia, games, deck parties, etc. To us, it just seemed like Carnival had a younger, more casual vibe. One example was the dancing in the evenings. The dancing on RC tended to be things like Foxtrot, waltzes, etc. We certainly don’t mind that but for us personally, we like our dancing to be a bit livelier. For trivia, RC did a progressive version where you had to hit every one. Carnival was pretty much “stand alone”. Personally I thought the food was better on CCL but entertainment better on RC. Just my thoughts.

I did one on Mardi Gras and I’m scheduled to do another on Celebration next month. They’re usually listed on speciality dining. Keep checking back because they do fill up. My class for the end of November is already sold out.

Looking forward to following along. Thanks for doing this! My turn on Celebration in November…….

I should probably say a prayer tonight thanking God that Willdra survived the golf cart experience and made it back home to entertain us with her awesome (know it will be!) review. Amen.

Oh, thank Heaven! I was hoping Willdra would be on Celebration soon! Following!

We always take our important things…paperwork, meds and jewelry….in a backpack and check anything else. We never bring soda so I can’t speak to that instance. We also don’t go to our room until the doors are open, thus letting us know rooms are ready. The cabin stewards work far too hard to risk getting in their way and making things more difficult.

My favorite cruise EVER was from San Juan. Loved the itinerary!

Sorry, missed your post earlier. I was on Sunshine in February. She looks fine, as you’d expect an older ship to be. If you want pics from February I did a full review with pictures. It can be accessed on the ship name drop down. Hopefully the pictures will help you make a decision. Happy sailing!

Yay! I’ve been waiting for this review! Thanks so much for taking time to do it!

We had kind of a rough start with our PVP but we got used to each other and we’re doing just fine now. Is he new? Or new to you?

Thanks so much for doing this review! I’m looking forward to it as we are on Celebration this fall.

We experienced the very same thing on the Sunshine! We’ve never experienced it before and assumed that the particular crew member was just an anomaly. Maybe point it out on your survey?

Not all of them. The “discover scuba” options are for total beginners. The quality of the class varies with the instructors. The first time I tried it was in St Thomas. I didn’t make it down and it was a wonder none of us drowned. The second time I tried it was in Cozumel and it was excellent. In Cozumel the company was Sand Dollar Sports. Each instructor had only 3 divers. They did a session in a classroom, then a session in the water where you could stand up if needed and when we’d mastered that well enough to suit Raphael, we went down 20 feet. He could tell I was really nervous from my really bad experience before and he stayed right beside me until he felt I was getting more comfortable. Both were ship excursions.

Yay! Can’t wait to get started reading this one! We have to wait until Nov to board Celebration so I’m super excited to read your review!

A duck hunt is exactly what I was going to suggest! If you know the line dances , pull them up on You Tube and do them together. If they don’t know them, learn them together.

That’s awesome! I know you’ll have a fantastic time! We did Bermuda last October and had a great trip, too.

Thank you so much for your kind words and for reading along! Which ship are you sailing this summer?

And finally....the conclusion. Wednesday, Feb 8th. - Sea Day As usual Ron and I got cleaned up and headed to Lido for breakfast. Most of the group went to Sea Day Brunch. In retrospect I wish I had done breakfast in the dining room at least once to have gotten some good French toast. (Gang, looks like we need to book another cruise so I can get French toast!) Today was going to be a day of relaxing, playing and doing those “final” things. Emory's breakfast at Sea Day Brunch. I can see I made a mistake in missing that! Bobby at Sea Day Brunch Ron and I went to the Liquid Lounge for Morning Trivia. A lady named Jem Jem was doing trivia. She was probably my least favorite trivia host yet. The morning trivia would have only ten questions and the topic??? Coffee! I know absolutely nothing about coffee. I don’t even drink it. I think it smells good. That’s about the extent of my knowledge. I was there and I was going to play, even if I crashed and burned! We found a birthday duck on the way to play morning trivia I guessed on literally every question. She commented on some of the questions that no one, ever, had gotten them right on her watch. A couple of them I had sort of an idea. Two questions had three multiple choice answers. I always guessed the middle option, whatever that was. Finally, it was time to tally the points. When we started going through the answers, I was shocked that I had gotten half of them correct. I was more shocked when 5 was enough to win the game! I won a round of trivia! Apparently they don’t give out solid gold plastic ships on a stick anymore...or at least not often....so I got a 50th year medallion. When we got back our "get off our ship heart" was waiting. This was really happening. It was almost over. After trivia we grabbed our books and headed up on deck to find a quiet place to relax. Liz joined us. We read a while and watched a little of The Wave on the big screen. Pretty soon it was time to get the Bingo cards that we won during Deal or No Deal. We headed to Ocean Plaza. There was a very long line, so I just got in line, assuming that it was for Bingo cards. I soon learned that it was NOT for Bingo cards but was for luggage tags/zone numbers. On well....I needed that, too! After I finished getting my luggage tags, I got in a different line for Bingo cards. Hanging out on Serenity. Was this her last ice cream cone of the trip?? The girls from our group were scattered in the Bingo line. Every one of us had won free Bingo on Deal or No Deal cards except Frances. She bought a Bingo card anyway. Liz didn’t realize she had won one at first because it was on the card Aaron had been holding but when they checked her name, she was a winner, too. Good deal! Some of our group headed to the casino.... Frances Kim Bobby Since we were already at Ocean Plaza and Harry Potter trivia was beginning we decided to stay and play....or in reality, to cheer Liz on. She’s the expert in that subject! Back on our Sunrise cruise she had gotten every answer right but lost in the tie breaker. She had come home and looked up the answer afterward. That would prove to be helpful! Daryl and Emory in Ocean Plaza We all sat together and started playing the game. Although several of us were filling out answers, we KNEW who was going to win, at least from our group. Sure enough, she again got every answer right. So did two other people. The three of them went up to the front for a tie breaker question. When they asked the question, it was the same tie breaker question they had asked in 2021 on Sunrise that she had went home and looked up! Yes! She won the game and claimed her 50th year medallion. We cheered loudly! You’d have thought the Super Bowl was being played that day! Finally.....justice! Really.....if they’re going to play the same trivia subject they might want to change up the questions occasionally. My last duck The whole group headed up to Cucina/Ji Ji’s for some pasta bar and Mongolian Wok lunch. We snagged the big corner booth in the back. This lunch set-up works for us! It’s really nice to be able to get lunch from basically any of the Lido food options and still eat together. After lunch we split up. The girls all went to play the big $5000 Bingo game. Some of the guys headed for a nap and some to the casino. Derrick was down about $75 by the end of the cruise. He commented that he’d never had so much fun losing money before. That was offset by the $83.22 that Lucinda WON playing her $30 casino credit from Deal or No Deal. Hey, teamwork makes dreamwork, right?? Frances and I met this guy in the elevator Lucinda took a minute to demonstrate how to WIN in the casino! Several days during the cruise Derrick was wearing his WVU (West Virginia University) Mountaineers shirts, hats, etc. Bobby was wearing a WVU lanyard. Lucinda said that several times people from all over would yell “Go ‘eers” to Derrick when they noticed his shirt or hat. She said one of the things she enjoyed most was meeting people from all over the world and chatting like old friends. Ron and I met a couple that we had known from our previous church that were living in the same hallway as us. I guess it truly IS a small world! One of Derrick's WVU shirts So....back to Bingo. We gathered in the Liquid Lounge to play our game. There were quite a few people. We were in the balcony to the left of the stage. Neither Liz nor I are huge Bingo fans, so we had only the free cards that we won on Deal or No Deal. She has won in Bingo before. I never have. This day would be no exception! I didn’t even come close on any game that we played. Kim was pretty close at one point, but they stopped calling her numbers and, no dice, she didn’t win. It was still fun, and we enjoyed playing and laughing together. Bingo Liz and I might have a little bit of trouble paying attention sometimes....maybe.....sometimes.... After Bingo I decided to take a nap. Sitting still in the lounge had made me sleepy. After laying down for a while I found Ron in Ocean Plaza playing “What You Should Have Learned in Grade School” trivia. He won with a perfect score. He must have paid attention in grade school! He also found a birthday duck in the stairwell. It was really cute, and I was having trouble deciding whether or not to bring the pirate or the birthday duck home. In the end, I brought them BOTH home. I had found a square duck in Ocean Plaza earlier in the cruise. I did hide it again, along with my Valentine ducks...one for each day of the cruise. Ron is awarded the distinguished 50 year medallion for paying attention in school It was late afternoon, and we went upstairs to our room to read and get ready for dinner. Tonight, we would be celebrating Lucinda’s birthday. We had been sneaky and purchased a picture of her and Derrick. Her PVP (we think) had sent her a photo album during the cruise as a birthday gift. We thought the picture would be nice in the album. We also passed around a card for everyone to sign. Our amazing waitstaff brought her an extra dessert with “Happy Birthday” written in chocolate sauce on the plate. They made her a candle and rose out of napkins and a napkin bow to wear. They even sang to her. They were awesome! Surprising Lucinda with a towel rose and candle complete with flame to blow out.... ....and a birthday bow to wear! Ron has always enjoyed collecting unusual or foreign money, both bills and coins. While we were in Nassau, he had exchanged some American dollars for Bahamian dollars. He gave each of the guys one to remember their trip. They all seemed to enjoy it and it made a nice souvenir. We had a little time after dinner before Epic Rock was supposed to start so we went back to our cabins to start packing. Boo!!! I can’t believe it was already the last night! We didn’t quite finish before the show but made a good start of it. Aaron's new favorite drink I’d seen Epic Rock before. It’s actually one of my favorite Playlist shows. Unfortunately, they only did the singing and a very small amount of dancing for the 9:30 show. Aaron had glanced into the theatre during the 7:30 show and he said it was the full show. I have no idea why. The sea seemed to be calm but I’m sure there was a reason. The show was still good, the cast was talented, and everyone had a great time. Kim later commented on how much she enjoyed the shows. I said I wished she could have seen the full production show. She said that since it was her first cruise and she didn’t have another point of comparison, so she thought it was great. Fair enough! We need to fix that ASAP! It might have been her first cruise, but I seriously doubt it will be her last! Last show in the theatre The 80’s party was starting in the Atrium right after Epic Rock and most of our group went to the party. I would later learn that Leon poured both water and sugar on himself and participated in a little crowd surfing. He’s all in, I’ll give him that! I was feeling pretty wiped out and we went back to our room to finish packing and go to bed fairly early. I realized the next morning that I had the beginning of a mild head cold, which explains why I was so tired. It’s winter...it happens. I’m just glad it waited until the last night of the cruise to manifest. Not feeling the greatest February 9, 2023 - Debarkation We had to be out of our rooms by 8am. We had checked our luggage the night before, so we only had our backpacks. As usual, we went up to Lido to grab a bite of breakfast. The temperature wasn’t bad at all, so we congregated just beside Guy’s burgers on the outside deck area. I had noticed that we were hearing announcements when we were inside getting breakfast but hadn’t heard any for a long time while we were out on deck. Finally, Ron and I decided to walk down to another waiting area on Deck 5 since we had earlier zone numbers that everyone else. That explains it! So...if you are cruising from Charleston, be aware that you will NOT hear any of the announcements when out on deck! I quickly messaged everyone to let them know that the zone numbers had already been called and they could come down. We're pouting.... We're ALL pouting We walked down with the crowd where we were supposed to board the shuttle to be taken to the parking area. The shuttle wait was going to be about 15 - 30 minutes. We learned that we were allowed to walk back to our cars, and it was about a 10 minute walk. Sign us up! We grabbed our luggage and set out. It wasn’t a bad walk at all to the car. On the way out of town we drove down Rainbow Row, which we had missed earlier. It was so pretty! We then hit the road. We drove until about noon and stopped at a Zaxby’s for lunch. We had no more sat down than Emory and Cami pulled in! Daryl and Frances had ridden home with them. Like I said, it truly is a small world! We finally arrived home in the late afternoon, tired but happy that we’d had such a wonderful cruise with our friends. Our group chat continues! One of the most recent topics of conversation was how much weight we had gained during the cruise. Derrick believes that it happened because his clothes shrunk while passing through the Bermuda Triangle. Emory, always thinking, suggested that we simply take a cruise in another part of the Bermuda Triangle and see if it would reverse itself. I like that idea a lot better than dieting! The most current topic of conversation is not where but WHEN we will cruise again! So...to quote Paul Harvey, "And that is the rest of the Story!'" . Our first group cruise was SO much fun! I loved these wonderful friends before, but those bonds have grown stronger, and we’ve grown closer. They are like my family. It might have been our first group cruise, but it certainly won’t be our last! Ron and I will be headed out again in late November on the Celebration. Until that time, I’ll be lurking here on Cruise Critic to see what all of you are up to and living vicariously through YOUR stories. See you soon!

**A special shout out and photo credit to Lucinda and Derrick for taking ALL of the Blue Lagoon photos for this part of the review! Thanks guys!! So....continued from earlier today........ In the meantime, while we were traipsing around Nassau, yon is a small private island about 30 minutes from where the ship docks. This island is called Blue Lagoon. There are multiple excursions available including interactions with dolphins, stingrays, sea lions and sharks as well as a beach day. A very nice lunch was included. The island has walking trails, a lovely beach, animal enclosures you can visit to see the animals and you can rent things like snorkel gear, stand up paddleboards and water toys. There is an area near the dock that has several large blow-up water obstacles that you can climb and jump. The water isn’t very deep, but it is very clear. The beach is shaded with palm trees and there are plenty of loungers. It’s a neat place that Liz, Aaron, Ron and I had visited in 2021. Boat ride to Blue Lagoon with Cami and Emory... ...Daryl and Frances.... .....and Bobby and Kim. These two are just too stinking cute! Welcome to Blue Lagoon Island!!! The rest of our group had planned a trip to Blue Lagoon on this day. Emory, Cami, Daryl, Frances, Kim and Bobby had all booked a dolphin encounter. Derrick and Lucinda were doing a beach day and exploring. They all had to be on the pier and ready to depart at 9am. It looked like everyone who was going to Blue Lagoon was leaving at the same time regardless of which excursion they had booked. The boat ride to Blue Lagoon is very scenic. As you pull out, you get a good look at the ships that are docked. You sail along the Nassau waterfront, past Atlantis and past a lighthouse. The staff tells some interesting facts about the things you are passing. Derrick, Kim and Cami all mentioned the Michael Jackson suite at Atlantis. The nightly rate was something like $25,000 and there was a four-night minimum stay. If one has the means, then by all means, I guess! Apparently, some DO have the means because Lucinda said it was booked out for two years! As the boat pulled into Blue Lagoon, Bobby said it reminded him of Gilligan’s Island. Clear water, perfect temps and a nice little cove. Everyone enjoyed the dolphin encounter. The dolphin was again named Shaun. I’m not sure if every dolphin is named Shaun or if Shaun the Dolphin is just an extremely hard-working dolphin but Emory and Cami’s son and daughter-in-law had met Shaun in 2020, we had met Shaun in 2021 and now THEY were meeting Shaun! Frances said the Dolphin Encounter was the highlight of her entire trip. Derrick and Lucinda are anxious to return and take their three kids to the island. Bobby and Kim meet Shaun Shaun must love Emory because he's getting a hug And Kim dances with him You can barely see Daryl and Frances in the distance Frances gets a hug, too! Shaun jumps out of the water.... ....and right back in (of course!)! Exploring the wilds. Lunchtime! Conch fritters, maybe?? He looks like he might be running away from home?!?! Island life Taking a dip in the super shallow water One surprising thing is how quickly the Blue Lagoon group was back on board Sunshine. When we had visited a couple of years ago, we were there so long they had to hold the ship for us because we didn’t make our 4:30 departure time. (This is why I like to book excursions with the ship! They WILL NOT leave you if your excursion runs late.) This time our group was back together on the Sunshine in the early afternoon. Apparently, they had arrived, eaten, wandered around a little, visited with the dolphins and then were told it was time to leave. Go figure! Apparently, they DID have conch fritters and Derrick was able to try them after all. Unfortunately, he didn’t enjoy them as much as Aaron did and they apparently didn’t sit as well later in the day. The moral of this story is to get your conch fritters from Mama Gloria instead of Blue Lagoon! Our towel animal was in our room Back on board and lunch acquired, Ron, Liz and I headed to Serenity while Aaron went to get a massage. Ron opted to take his book and read. Liz and I decided to find a hot tub since we were in bathing suits and hadn’t gotten in the water yet. The inferno hot tub was too “peoplely” so we went down a couple of flights of stairs to the Lido hot tub. Much more temperate and only a couple of people. We hung out there for a while and then decided to go shower and find what else we could find to do. Movie Quotes Trivia was being held in Ocean Plaza, so we agreed to meet there to play a game. Afterwards, we went up on deck to watch pier runners. There were four. We were docked beside the MSC Seascape, which is the newest in the MSC fleet. On the other side of the Seascape was Mariner of the Seas. Lots to see and lots to do....it was a good day! MSC Seascape is beside us Mariner of the Seas pulling into port As we were pulling away from Nassau we headed down to our room to get ready for dinner. Headed down to dinner We met in the dining room at our usual table. Frances was really tired from her day at Blue Lagoon, so she didn’t join us that night. Oka and Gusti immediately brought a bread selection and started getting drink and food orders. They were always fast, and the food was always good during this trip. No complaints about the dining room at all. That night, Lucinda danced with the waiters again. I did something that I’ve always wanted to do but had never been brave enough......I got up and danced, too! It was a lot of fun, and I was glad I had finally done it. Lucinda made me brave! I told her, Liz, Cami and Kim that they were helping me. I wore a dress that was sleeveless that night as well. I struggle with poor body image sometimes and my tribe is helping me get over that. Ron has always been helpful...now the girls are helping, too. I’m so blessed to have Ron and such wonderful “friends who have become family.” Me! Believe it or not, I'm dancing! After dinner, Ron, Liz and I went down to buy some pictures. We got pictures of our group as a whole and of the six guys in their matching shirts. (I've already posted pictures of those pictures.) We met everyone except Aaron (he went to the casino) and Daryl and Frances (back to their cabin to rest) in the Liquid Lounge to see Shaun Brown do a Motown/Blues show. He was excellent! He’s a very talented singer and performer. At one point he invited a couple of ladies from the audience to come on stage as his back up dancers and to have a “twist off”. Everyone had a lot of fun. If you have an opportunity to see him, you won’t be disappointed! When the show was finished, we went up to the Lido Deck for the Mega Deck Party. They were doing the normal line dances....Cupid Shuffle, Cha Cha Slide, YMCA, etc. Ron and I danced the whole evening which is unusual for us and typically outside our comfort zone. We’re branching out! We were joined by Liz, Kim, Cami and Lucinda. Remember when I told you in the beginning that Cami had a double knee replacement in December? She was on the dance floor with everyone else for the duration of the party. She’s amazing! After dancing for a while, we found a table inside the Lido dining room and ate an 11pm piece of pizza. (My 55-year-old self would come to regret that decision later in the night. LOL) It was a wonderful day full of fun and new adventures. Just before I turned in, and before the clock ticked over to a new day, I checked my watch and realized that I had almost 9 miles of walking counted throughout the day. 20,000 + steps! I’ll take it! Ron and I planned to sleep late the next morning on our last sea day. Deck party To be concluded this weekend!