April 26, 2019 Serenade TA - Is it LIVE, or is it Memorex🤔

[John&LaLa]

Well the internet is back up, so let's get caught up.

 

First off I want to go back to Day 7 for the Captains Table dinner Pat had with Chief Engineer.

I think he was very excited about it. I didn't keep the invitation, not even sure we got the paper copy, the original invite was a phone message making sure we were available. They often do that when putting the list together. 

 

Prior to dinner they were to meet in Vintages. I told Pat to order the Caymus if it was available, and the Conundrum if it wasn't.

It wasn't 😉 We spied on them from the Centrum. He looked like he was having fun. In hindsight, we were glad he went without us.

 

Not sure what wine was served during the meal, but Pat said the food was very good

 

Julie and Nathan got the invite for their Honeymoon. We ran into a few others at the table during the crossing, all fun people.

 

Now one interesting thing about the event still confuses me. Pat thinks his name may have been on the invitation as a co host because when people arrived at Vintages they were asking him if he was Patrick or Dennis. I should have asked karen to get me a copy of the invitation.

 

If anyone following along was there, let me know.

Edited May 5, 2020 by John&LaLa

[John&LaLa]

9 minutes ago, Milwaukee Eight said:

Condo issue or Spectrum?

 I think it's the condo construction

[John&LaLa]

Cruise Compass Day 9 - Back at sea

 

 

 

[John&LaLa]

Worked on the contraption today.

Gathered supplies, borrowed markers, stapler, and tape.

 

Good times.

 

Like I said earlier, my original thought was to just do the capsule that would land in the ocean. 

I came up with the perfect idea for the capsule, all I needed to do now was design the parachutes and the landing raft

 

But Shelton said we needed more, so we decided to go full lunar lander. 

It was a cool idea, but I'm worried it's to heavy.

I was afraid it would wobble going down (it's not like you can practice dropping it) so I added soap disks to the feet.

I guess we'll find out tomorrow.

 

Shell complete, ready to cover in foil and decorate

 

Let me describe the features starting at the top

 

Zip pulls to affix the parachute

 

Coffee cup is the capsule, and a cardboard cup insulator is the rotating hatch

You cut a circle in the cup and two circles in the insulator

Then take a plastic ice tea cup and cut a section to line up with one of the circles and staple it together

This then becomes a rotating hatch to keep the egg visible. (one of the only rules)

Fill the cup with cotton balls, first cushion

 

The body is a box of playing cards stuffed with crumpled paper, second cushion

The legs are staws with toothpicks holding then to the body

This allows them to move up and down when it hits the ground, third cushion

I was going to use rubber bands to further absorb impact of the legs, but that was to difficult to execute

Finally the feet are cup lids with soap inside. they are also secured to the legs with toothpicks

 

Tomorrow we'll design the parachute, and decorate it

 

Somehow I also found time or some Zen Coloring in Schooner

That took almost the entire hour, I guess the idea is to work on the same piece the whole crossing

Edited May 5, 2020 by John&LaLa

[John&LaLa]

Chef's Table

 

Finally got a crowd for Chef's Table

It was a good group, good food, and good wine

Unfortunately I ended up with most of Laura and Pat's wine, plus the dessert martinis

I am a team player.😉

 

sorry, but no menu

 

Soup was nice, cheese in the bottom then they pour tomato soup on top of it. Coastal Kitchen does it this way

 

 

Not a fan of the shaved scallops, to sweet

 

Laura can't have scallops, so they made her shrimp

 

Luckily there was a lobster app as well

 

No entree pics, but next up is the World

Edited May 5, 2020 by John&LaLa

[John&LaLa]

 

Here is Royal Caribbeans famous chocolate dessert, The World

Chocolate shell with ice cream in the middle

 

You will find it at Wonderland in particular and it shows up at Chef's Table and Captains Tables as well

 

The neat part is the reveal done by your server.

Oh, and there is my chocolate martini

 

[John&LaLa]

Cruise Compass Day 10 - At Sea

 

 

 

[Sea Dog]

2 hours ago, John&LaLa said:

Not a fan of the shaved scallops, to sweet

I thought the same thing when we did the Chef's table. I would of preferred a grilled full scallop but I figured they wanted to keep it light.

 

And "The World," the best dessert I've ever had in my life, not to mention the most visually stunning dessert.

Edited May 5, 2020 by Sea Dog

[bobmacliberty]

2 hours ago, John&LaLa said:

Worked on the contraption today.

 

Very impressive.  Multiple cushion zones.  Can't wait to see what it looks like fully decorated.  Is there also a contest for best looking device or is it purely about the egg surviving?

[John&LaLa]

6 minutes ago, bobmacliberty said:

 

Very impressive.  Multiple cushion zones.  Can't wait to see what it looks like fully decorated.  Is there also a contest for best looking device or is it purely about the egg surviving?

 

I don't know yet😉🤣🤣

[John&LaLa]

Egg Drop is at 2 pm, so we had plenty of time to finish her up

 

Here is a close up of the capsule decorated, but pre parachute, you can see how the hatch works

Had to move the engine to the top, I wanted it to go in the bottom, but could not get it to stay.

You can also see the names of all the department heads. They have been sending food treats all week, and usually have the name of a department manger attached to the afternoon deliveries.  Also stuck some disco rings that we won at trivia to light her up

 

Overall view, now to work on parachute, and pray it opens

I left the cone on the bottom since it looked good, just no light

[John&LaLa]

Signed up and got an early drop number, I think we are 5 or 7

Parachute was a trash bag and a bunch of Laura's yarn.

It's not quite square, but the cords are equal length, I hope it works.

 

Waiting for the start at the R-Bar

Beach Bums is our afternoon trivia name since we are from Cocoa Beach and Shelton and Leslie are from VA Beach

 

People seem to like her

We added the foil streamers at the last minute. Why not. They might look good as it crashes to the ground

 

Another view of some of the staff names.

I wasn't sure who was voting, and I'm not above pandering.

 

Here we are before the drop describing our contraption.

I also tried to show the staff how the egg comes out after landing

Obviously it it explodes there is no reason to open the hatch

I was also verifying that it was indeed a legal entry

 

 

Edited May 6, 2020 by John&LaLa

[John&LaLa]

Here is the actual drop courtesy of camera man Laura

 

The first one was right before me and got hung up prior to landing. A couple did that.

You actually see me on deck in my Serenade shirt

BTW, we were not given our egg until about 30 seconds before the drop

 

And then it was my turn.

It was slightly nerve racking holding it above the floor not knowing what would happen.

I probably should have swung it forward vs just a straight drop

Maybe next time

 

The Eagle Has Landed. 👍

Not exactly on the mark. 

Our score was practically perfect. 

And it held up until almost the last contestant.

 

The winner had a simple non flashy design that soared above the crowd and landed gently in the middle of the Centrum.

 

I like to think I might have had a chance if I had landed in the middle vs on the drum kit.

 

So we got second place and I was happy for a first attempt

The medal ceremony was a hit

[John&LaLa]

The only other memorable thing from the night was the Cocktail Contest after dinner

 

Leslie was a contestant. 

 

I think they had to make 3 different cocktails, give them names and then get judged by bartenders

 

I don't think Leslie embraced the shaking part of the contest. 

To me that was a key to get the crowd hollering

 

Laura and Pat had a private balcony

 

And that was it for our trip across the Atlantic

Tomorrow is Ireland. Going to be a busy day.

Another aft sunset but this is from our balcony, we must be going north

 

Goodnight

[John&LaLa]

Since we are out of town most of tomorrow, here are the Cruise Compasses for tomorrow

 

Cruise Compass Day 11 - Cobh, Ireland

 

 

 

 

[L454S]

Very pretty site, Cobh, Ireland. The last port for the Titanic before the ill fated crossing.

 

Pronounced COVE from Celtic times I believe.

Edited May 6, 2020 by L454S

[bobmacliberty]

So the egg drop and the belly flop contests are basically the same thing? 5,5,5,4,5,5,4,4, sir that's not the right way to show a 1, 5,5,5,4 🤣  Congrats on second place.  Without seeing the first place winner, I'd say that you were robbed.

[L454S]

Kelly's Pub was a nice refreshing stop after a couple hours in the Titanic Museum.

 

 

[ONECRUISER]

On 5/5/2020 at 5:40 AM, John&LaLa said:

 

What I really deserve is an FCC for all the construction noise from the roof replacement.

 

I mean the nerve, an active construction project on my TA

Know what you are talking about. Do the Brilliance/Serenade Boston-Florida Repo every yr followed by 10/11/5 niters B3B,. Soon as the ship gets back there from her EU and Canada Cruises its Maintenance time! Repaint everything White,. Replace worn Carpet. Every week next month they sand and finish all wood railings on Decks and Balcony's. During one week many Balcony's have it missing. Next sailing on to 100 more. This all while Cruise is taking place. Understand as they wait for the warmer climate to start. Turn around day couple yrs ago it was replace hundreds Mattresses, next week was hundreds more. This back when they got rid the rock hard ones. Two yrs ago was replace all Balcony Furniture. Messes up what should be a quiet day on B2B Cruises. Last Oct/Nov on Turn around day they even kicked me out my room, carpet cleaning day

[John&LaLa]

Welcome to Ireland

 

Cobh, we docked right in town

We'll visit here in the afternoon

 

We had the Blarney Castle excursion through the ship

Bus ride wasn't to bad, probably why Laura agreed to go😉

Just kidding, she was really looking forward to this

 

Some bridge in Cork

 

Google Maps showing Blarney in relation to both Cork and Cobh

It was a pleasant and informative ride.

Learned about the blight/famine, *****(little blue pills), and beer

 

Obviously, this was a morning excursion, and it was still chilly

Admission to the site was included in the excursion, but we had to wait for the site to open

It opened at 9am

 

Map of the grounds

 

Ready to tour

 

Apparently an almost 600 year old castle has a few hazards

 

Somehow, we survived

Edited May 7, 2020 by John&LaLa

[John&LaLa]

Storming the Keep

 

Luckily our excursion tickets got us into an entrance on the right, and we missed most of the que.

Which was good, because by the time we made it to the castle the line was quite short.

 

Don't get me wrong, there was still a mass of people, but we were at least inside the castle

 

We're #1

 

Yes, that's a Tootsie Pop. 

Lots of goodies in the mom purse

 

Selfie time

 

Early on the steps were wooden stairs

 

But soon replaced by rough cut stones, this might be an exit

 

It's really quite tiny inside the great hall

 

Every now and then you see formal features mixed in with the rough rock

The Lady probably pestered Lord Blarney for a remodel. Right guys. 😉

 

Lots of sights on the way up, we pass them again on the way down

 

Almost there

Edited May 7, 2020 by John&LaLa

[John&LaLa]

Looks like we made it

 

Laura and Pat enjoying the view

 

Cherry Walk

 

The line outside the castle

 

Blarney House

 

 

Stable Cafe is over to your right

 

The town of Blarney

 

The Gardens and Battlements

 

 

Lookout Tower

Now I was confused since it is so short.

 

 

 

[John&LaLa]

Kissing the Blarney Stone

 

Pat and Laura both opted to lip lock the stone.

I passed, not because of the obvious hygiene issues, but because I would have trouble getting down and then back up

 

Another line, but now we have an awesome view

 

The stone is set in the upper walls and in order to reach it, you have to lay on your back and lean out

There is a guy there to help, and they take pictures

 

Be kind and tip the dude

 

 

Always graceful

 

Here is this area as seen from the ground

Edited May 7, 2020 by John&LaLa

[John&LaLa]

Mission accomplished, time to head back down.

 

 

How about one without the sucker please

 

We need to get down there

 

 

I guess there is no elevator

 

Last view from the top

[John&LaLa]

Lots of photo ops and signs on the way down.

Like I said earlier, we saw several headed up

 

Master bedroom, so cozy

 

Air conditioning in 1466

 

Went past this tower at least 5-6 times, I gave up counting

 

 

This might be a prison cell

 

last window before leaving

Edited May 7, 2020 by John&LaLa