mrsgoggins

Monday, 22 January in Dominica We only went for a walk around at this port. There were many stalls right in front of the ship, along with very many trying to persuade you to take one of their excursions in a variety of open-topped and small bus type vehicles - $20 appeared to be the going rate for each of them. They all seemed to be good natured and were not pushy after a 'no thanks'. There is also a supermarket within 100 yards. It was doing a good trade with passengers during our visit. I was surprised to see some Waitrose branded items on the shelves. Who knew? At departure time we were treated to a magnificent rainbow 🌈 where we could see the full arc vividly. I know my phone's camera won't do it justice, but here goes

For those interested in activities mid cruise, here is yesterday’s Horizon. It was a sea day.

Sunday, a sea day and time to catch up. First off my huge thanks to @TigerB for your patience and laughter (don’t make me have to fly out …… I chuckled at the thought 😄). Now I must follow up with apologies since I have cancelled my Death in Paradise tour in Guadeloupe and as expected, was told that the places would go to people at the top of the list. I had hoped to take many photos and assess suitability for you and your lass, but in the end, events made me decide to cancel, after wrestling with the decision. More later. On Friday, 19th January we were on the Dutch island of Bonaire, where we had pre-ordered a golf buggy, something I first saw mentioned on these boards, so thanks to whoever it was. The tent where we first checked in was easy to find from the instructions given. From there, we and another couple, were directed to the office and storage place for the buggies, a 5 minute walk or so away. By the time we had reached this place we had probably been walking for 15/20 minutes or so from leaving the ship in 29C temperatures, and that’s when I realised that I would find the Death in Paradise tour too much from the description given of the 1.5 hours of walking necessary. (I had been to Shorex to see if they could shed some light on the tour, but they merely read out the printed tour description back to me). My disability is hidden (no walking stick or aid but I do stay close to mrgoggins when walking on uneven ground) and there is hope of improvement so, if we visit Guadeloupe again, you never know! The 2.5 hours it took to drive around the island - some of it one-way - had many places where it was easy to stop and take in the glorious scenery. On our return, we took the golf buggy through the main colourful shopping street and went back via the waterfront (Silver Dawn was docked in front of Ventura). Mrgoggins offered to drop me off close to the ship but I declined and we strolled back together. We would do this again if we return (likely), but may just pay on the day to allow for the chance of wet weather. As it was my right arm is now a different colour to my left, as is DH’s left leg 🤭. This was my favourite day of the cruise so far and my pleasure extended into the evening when we dined outside at the Beach House where we enjoyed a scenic, if windy, departure from Bonaire. The tablecloths had to be removed it was so windy. I had the lava rock steak and himself had chicken tenders. All good, but such a lot of food following on from filled potato skins and boneless spicy chicken wings (too spicy for me). We shared a dessert, but only had a spoonful each just to taste it, and I don’t even recall what it was! A photo from our pool view table; it felt very atmospheric. The evening was rounded off by another excellent performance by the Bluejays, this time playing 60s rock music. Again, theatre pretty full half an hour prior, and standing room only by the time the show began. Now with fingers crossed, I am going to press send, in the hope that the photos are not enormous. If it works, thanks again @TigerB and if it doesn’t, our next port of call is Dominica tomorrow 😉.

We had the lamb dopiaza at lunchtime and I'll definitely have it if it appears again. Not too spicy for me - DH says I'm a wuss! Edited to add that I posted this just moments after you without having seen your latest post, which is an interesting and fair assessment. Add me to the list of those who think that given your circumstances, your issues should have been handled a lot better.

Yes they are 😊

Now I was imagining you to have supernatural powers as my good friends all know I love a good cat photo - and on my birthday my cards are all either cakes or cat themed 😄

Apologies, that should have been prices from £2449, a good deal for those who don’t mind/like inside cabins.

You have given me a little glow of happiness! Thank you, I love the photo 😍

The same/very similar cruise for January 2026 shows prices starting at £2499 per person. Currently, if you book on board you can get 10% off that price. As to how much it has gone up; no idea. We didn’t book early and so could book for around £1K per person less, for the same mid-ship balcony by booking now - 2 years in advance! Many on this cruise are booking their long cruises for 2026 on board and Future cruises desk is always busy. No excuses necessary for ‘butting in’ by the way 😉.

My elderly neighbour, with whom I keep in touch when away, likes to tell me her meals for the day and asks about ours, and so I send her the occasional photo and I'll be sending her the ones below for her approval (she will approve 😄). Tonight's meal doesn't pretend to be fine dining but we both agreed that it was all very tasty indeed - it was liver, onions and bacon followed by apple streusel and custard. Our excellent waiter took it upon himself to bring a side order of ice cream 😋. I'll be resembling today's statue even more by the time we disembark!

Sorry @daiB, I don't seem to be able to delete the above 🥴 Thursday, 18th continued Lest I give the impression that we are not enjoying ourselves, well, we are! But another gripe will follow. A daily early morning swim is what DH looks forward to most of all on our cruises. This is the first ship we have been on where pool opening hours have not been published, or displayed by the pool - and it's normally 7 am. This morning he returned at 7.20 am and no one could tell him when it would open. He did manage a swim after breakfast along with a trip to reception to find out what time it should open. If he had a time he'd work with it. I wasn't with him so I'm second hand reporting that the guy on reception looked everywhere for the information, made an unsuccessful phone call and when asking for an appointment with a relevant manager, was told that he would get back to him. Not happened yet, so guess we'll have to be a squeaky wheel. Anyone know the job title of the person responsible? On to the positives. Today we decided on a late short walk into Curacao as we were only here last year and did a ship's tour of the island. However, we ended up doing a local bus tour after we had asked about the leg room and were invited aboard to take a look. Eventually deciding it was okay, we joined 2 other Ventura passengers and later more came from Carnival Magic, which was docked next to us. The tour was $25 per person and included a couple of stops and a visit to the same Curacao liquor factory as last year. The guide, fellow passengers and driver were all friendly and it had a jolly feel to it. Sorry @TigerB I can already see that I've failed to insert the spaces I wanted beneath - I tried! The first photo is the liquor distillery, the second is a sculpture I felt an affinity with, and the third a scene from the colourful street market taken from inside the bus.

I am delighted to hear it 👍. We did once have a favourite Indian restaurant, so we are not averse to Indian food. Sindhu gets lots of good reviews but only an okay from us.

Yes, it was much later when the penny dropped 😁

Thursday, 17th January update Yesterday was a sea day so little to report. We took a walk around the deck, did a lot of reading and visited my newly-discovered Metropolis bar. We dined at Sindhu, which has never been a favourite of mine, and this remains so. At 6pm the service was glacial, the background music, a tad loud and the food just okay - this is probably due to our taste in food however. DH said he prefers M&S Jalfrezi (?). I'll attach a photo of my salmon and DH's Sindhu Signature for anyone who feels differently. I had the cinnamon bread and butter pudding to follow which was incredibly sweet and half of it got left. 'Astonishing' was the theatre show, which we enjoyed, despite having seen it a couple of times. The lone lady who sat next to me wanted to chat before the performance but I'm afraid to say it was a long list of complaints which she had brought to the attention of management but remained unimpressed. In a nutshell, she was a Cunard regular on her first P&O cruise, which would also be her last! Oh dear.

I wish you all the luck in the world. I've had my share of issues with US Immigration in the past - an uncomfortable 2 hour wait to enter Orlando airport about 6 years ago, followed by being taken to a side room, made me vow never to enter via that airport again, and I haven't, despite flying into the USA every year.

I'm so pleased to hear that because whilst not wanting to be a 'Debbie Downer', forewarned and all that, good news.

We are doing the 35-night January Ventura cruise next year, and I've lost count of the number of 'regulars' who have told me that when New Orleans is your first US port of call, as it will be for us, book an early tour to minimise the immigration wait, followed by some horror stories. I realise this might not be easy/possible for you so I wish you well with your ordeal and hope that you are able to post that I was wrong and that the port is now a model of efficiency 🤞

Wonderfully entertaining as well as informative. I laughed at the description of the woman who shouldn't be allowed to dress herself, and, like, the American girls!

I was prescribed this 18 months ago after my shoulder replacement op where they told me that the top figure (systolic?) was 200 just before they put me under anaesthetic, which I wouldn't have thought was too surprising. After the op, my BP was monitored regularly during the next 24 hours and was back to normal - top figure around 120, but I was still prescribed them. I assume because it can go high. No side effects that I can recall however. Agree, worth mentioning to your GP

Not really beach people. Are there other things there? Bars etc? Planning for next time 😉

In my last post, I managed to get a gap between my photos - anyone know how I did that please because I'd like to do it again 🤔? Last night's theatre entertainment was excellent IMO - the Blue Jays, a 4 piece rock band who play 50s and 60s music. The lead singer had played Buddy Holly in a touring version of The Buddy Holly Story and did a few of his numbers including Rave On, the title of their own touring show, which I intend to Google. A packed theatre of course. Today we are in Grenada and although it was a rainy humid start, it wasn't a bad backdrop to my friends' WhatsApp video clips of their gardens covered in snow. I took a look at the CCTV of our own snowy drive and tried to suppress my smug feelings. Actually, 2 weeks in and I am missing my friends and our activities. I can't imagine ever signing up for a cruise longer than this, despite being happy with most things. On to my gripe of the day. Of the 6 mid ship lifts one has never worked from the start. One of the remaining, one goes down intermittently and this morning 3 of the 6 displayed the dreaded X. By afternoon that was up to 4 working. Hmmmm! We have been on a Grenada tour previously and have sufficient nutmegs to last many years, so we only took a walk into the terminal building/shopping arcade and had a short stroll outside, but it was too hot and humid to stay long. Photos attached I hope. We are starboard on C deck and today is the first day we have had full sun on our balcony, and the first time we have had heating gizmo set to cool. Today's menus again are the same as those posted by @Selbourne and so I was able to select the cheese and onion pie before going down for lunch thanks to him - and delicious it was too.

Not Selbourne obviously, but we did a similar course for the first week. There are lots of repeat passengers on my 35 night Ventura Caribbean cruise and they all say the conditions have not been what they normally experience, so you will probably be fine. We've had warm sunny mornings in both Barbados and St Lucia with showers (sometimes heavy) in the afternoon. I'm writing this having a welcome rest in the Grenada port terminal where it is hot, sunny and humid outside. Sure that would appeal to you 👌

Today in St Lucia Another great balcony breakfast in lovely St Lucia. We had an enjoyable brief visit to the Pink Plantation House and gardens and a short tour, complete with refreshments. What we dislike about tours in the Caribbean especially is the way the seats are often crammed and with poor leg room. DH is 6'2" he always tries to get the middle seat at the back. However, as we are getting older and are lucky enough to have visited Caribbean ports many times, I can see us less likely to bother with shore excursions in the future. A photo of his knees pressed against the seat back included for your delight 😄

Note to self - attempt precis! Apologies for the length of the recent post. I'll try brevity 😁. Now a Metropolis photo of that great New York wall. I had hoped to add a small video but it was taking too long to load.

Epicurean, no Marmite butter for us 😉