calicakes

Messing, Sicily. We booked a ship excursion. Taormina by land and see. 318.00 for 2. Board a coach, n95 required. 1hr ride to Taormina. Board boat. 1hr 40 min ride. Seas are rocky. You can swim off boat for 30 min. Supposed to swim in the blue grotto but it was too rough. We did not swim. Unfortunately Julie felt very sea sick. We were given almond cookies, cannoli and some sparkling wine. Back to city center for time on our own.

Julie is also from Milwaukee, WI. LOL

Beet risotto for a starter. I forgot to ask them for a 1/2 portion. The risotto is very rich. Lobster was the special in all restaurants it was butter poached in lemonade illuminate. They left the green poop shoot in the lobster and that kind of grossed me out. Julie had kids bolognese. Mashed potatoes were cold. Baked Alaska was rock solid.

Lunch is only on sea days. It was tasty, just not lump crab.

I'm not looking forward to that. The humidity in Rome just about did me in.

Yes. I had to show a screen shot on my phone.

Oh yes you are right they tried to sell us products.

Lunch in Luminae. Crab cake sandwich. and fries instead of chips. I only eat half the bun. Desserts were white chocolate mouse and black forest cake revisited. J wasn't hungry.

Currently on Reflection. Boarded Sept 16th. Self Proctered emed test in rome on the 14th. Arrived in Corfu greece on the 16th.

I've never seen this before. All the crew walking through the pool area. Lots of clapping for them. It was nice. The dancers also put on the little show.

Sea day. Pool day for us.

Breakfast. French toast for J. I had A small serving of oatmeal and hard boiled egg. I've asked them to leave the asparagus, potato, mushroom off the plate. I guess they've forgot this time.

Maybe we should add Venice to our "cities to look at ". I don't think Naples is too pet friendly. The beaches are gorgeous. Julie really wanted to move to Marco Island, but I said NO. I won't pay more for a house in FL, than we paid for a house in CA.

We're not actually moving to be closer. We're moving to Naples, FL. We love the beach lifestyle. The beach is our happy place. Also, FL doesn't tax J's pension. I grew up in Ft. Lauderdale( Plantation) FL. What am I enjoying most about the cruise? It has been very relaxing. I don't really have many complaints.

Dinner in Luminae. Potatoes soup notary so scallops no pork Valley. The scallops were a little too undercooked for my liking. The watermelon is in the amuse. Dessert was chocolate soufflé and a pineapple custard. Julie had the kids filet again.

Marella explorer 2 is leaving before us. This ship used to be the Celebrity Century.

The massages were amazing. We went to the room and had a 2hr nap. We're invited up to the helipad for sail away tonight. My app hasn't worked all day, so I don't know what is on the dinner menu at Luminae. I guess we'll find out later.

I can't imagine 100 because 85F was hot enough for me in Rome. We have zero humidity in our part of SoCal, so when its 100F, it doesn't feel that bad. We had planned to take public transport in Rome, but after our sightseeing, I just wanted to get back to the Airbnb and sit in the A/C, so we used Ubers or Taxis. I'm sure you'll have a jacket with you for Amsterdam so you'll be set next year.

It was advertised in the daily newsletter. Another lady in the waiting room told is it was usually 200.00. When the bill was presented to us, it said 149 minus 10.00. I don't think it was Canyon Ranch. They were pushing Elemis products. We kind of fell into the dog sitting, our lives revolve around our dogs. Someone asked us to watch a dog, then another, then they told a friend. I printed up business cards and pushed them on people we meet at the dog park( we go every day). We specialize in poodles and doodles. We include baths if a dog is with us for 3 days or more. People love having a clean dog to come home to. We're moving to Fl next year and we hope to do petsitting there too.

Well, we're not having a lot of luck weather wise. Its pretty chilly and windy. The folks on the tender boats are all bundled up. We did not bring a jacket with us( who knew?). Our excursion was a long one, with 4hrs at a beach. Both J and I could not imagine swimming in this chilly water so we cancelled. Instead, we're going to play Trivia and have massages. There was a special package( swedish or deep tissue, foot, scalp and back exfoliation) for 139 each. We're using the 300 non refundable OBC for that. We have a side gig of a pet sitting business at home, we've been crazy busy with that and my other work so relaxing is A ok with both of us. The beauty of a cruise is you can do whatever you want.

I haven't seen him. The staff is at a minimum. On our first sea day, there were 2 bartenders at the pool bar, they were running themselves ragged. I only saw 2 servers in the actual pool area too.

They had a turkey Pita the other day. No chicken.

All these desserts were good.

Our private excursion is a beach with a boat portion so hopefully we bypass all the crowds..

We walked around the Old Town for about 2 hours. We didn't buy anything nothing really appealed to us. We went to the pool when we came back. Then we went to dinner at OV again. I wanted Luminae, however marriage is all about compromise. We have ordered dessert from luminae with our Butler. IMHO, the desserts at OV are terrible. Speaking of OV, The food is very much under seasoned. I never add salt to most dishes in restaurants, but I've had to add salt to a few things. Tonight they had duck, and rose beef and an entire mediterranean grill.. Unfortunately the chicken kabobs were a ground chicken and they were extremely dry. We walked the track after dinner. Tomorrow in Montenegro it is a tender port. I had no idea about that. we have a private tour booked at 9 AM.