My LONG Sunshine Story - 02/04/23 to 02/09/23

[Alexintheboro]

DW and I are heading on the Sunshine next month (2nd time).  We enjoyed it the first time and wanted to take the In-Laws (DW Parents) on a cruise we live close to Savannah so Charleston is a ride we can take the Morning of the cruise.

 

Did all the men get the "assignment" to wear the same shirts?!? 😂

[mlshum]

6 minutes ago, Alexintheboro said:

DW and I are heading on the Sunshine next month (2nd time).  We enjoyed it the first time and wanted to take the In-Laws (DW Parents) on a cruise we live close to Savannah so Charleston is a ride we can take the Morning of the cruise.

 

Did all the men get the "assignment" to wear the same shirts?!? 😂

Thanks so much for reading along and I hope you have an awesome cruise!

 

Not exactly an "assignment" as much as a surprise!  Some of my pics are a little out of order but the story of those shirts will up in an upcoming post along with some more extensive photos.  LOL  The ladies were quite proud of that achievement!

[bettyboop16]

Cruise ships aren't allowed to make any noise in Charleston, no music, no horns. There are signs in the parking lot not to use your vehicle horn.

[mlshum]

I wound up with a cancellation at work today so I'm going to try to get all of the first Sea Day posted.   Here goes,,,,,,,,,

 

 

 

Sun, Feb 5th - Sea Day

 

 

Morning came as it typically does.  We had slept in a little and awakened to discover that it was STILL cold and windy. (Ugh, what’s up with that!?!)   The seas were rough.  The ship was rocking.   Water was sloshing out of the pool.  Ropes course was closed.  Many passengers reported being seasick.  We didn’t have anyone in our group who was actively seasick, but several were wearing motion sickness patches and Bobby, especially, was not enjoying the rolling seas.   I think he had forgotten to put on his patch earlier.  Once he was wearing it, he felt much better.   A few more of our group were not completely sick but not feeling great either.   Not the best first day we’ve ever had!  I had wanted so badly for their first cruise to be perfect in every way, but the weather just refused to cooperate.  We still had a wonderful time and most of us were already ready to do it again.

 

Bobby wasn't feeling well but he was still up and about

 

 

We went to Lido deck for breakfast.  If you read my Magic Story you might remember that I mentioned...several times...that the croissants really didn’t have much taste and I was disappointed because they were my favorites.  Apparently, I mentioned it enough times that Liz was calling it “croissiantgate”.  I am happy to report that the croissants were good, and my faith has been restored.  Most of our group opted for the Sea Day Brunch and reported it was quite good.  Not being big breakfast eaters, Ron and I usually gravitated to Lido for something quick and relatively light.

 

 

After breakfast we headed down to Ocean Plaza for our first trivia game of the cruise.  We were joined by Aaron, Liz, Daryl and Frances.  The subject was General Trivia, and it was, as expected, quite difficult.  We didn’t even come close to winning on that one.  There was only one trivia game, so Ron decided to go read, Aaron headed for the casino and Liz, Frances and I went to the Fun Aboard, Fun Ashore presentation.

 

Waiting for trivia to begin in Ocean Plaza

 

 

I had never attended the Fun Aboard, Fun Ashore presentation before.  Liz had attended a few and said it was interesting.  It was held in the Liquid Lounge.  There were quite a few people in attendance, which I’m sure was partly due to the bad weather. We sat in the balcony.  As we entered everyone was given a ticket.  They highlighted the various stores on the ship and available excursions at the two ports of call. 

 

 

Me, Liz, and Frances at the Fun Aboard, Fun Ashore presentation  (I've probably mixed those up at least a couple of times!)

 

 

 

They gave away lots of prizes.  One of the last prizes available was a Beach Day for Two at Blue Lagoon in Nassau.  Ron and I had visited Blue Lagoon in 2021 with Liz and Aaron.  Half of our group, Emory, Cami, Kim, Bobby, Daryl and Frances had already signed up to do the Dolphin Encounter at Blue Lagoon. 

 

 

As Leon read off the number of the winner, I looked at my ticket and told Liz that I’d only missed it by one number.  Now… you have to understand that Frances is very quiet.  She nudged Liz and quietly told her that she had that ticket with the winning number.  By this time, they had started to count down and they were going to give the excursions to someone else.  I jumped up and started yelling and waving my arms.  Frances started laughing at me. Leon yelled that I’d almost missed it because they had started counting down.  I told him I was trying and to work with me.  It was a big, glorious mess that culminated with Frances walking out with two tickets to a beach day at Blue Lagoon!  It was something like nearly $200 in shore excursion value. 

 

 

As we walked along looking for the rest of our group, Frances said she wasn’t sure what to do with the tickets since she was already going to Blue Lagoon.  She decided to give them to Derrick and Lucinda because they would have been the only ones in our party who hadn’t been there.  We caught up with our friends and Frances told Lucinda that she’d like to give her the tickets.  Lucinda was so excited!   She gave Frances a big hug.  It was a great surprise, and everyone was thrilled at Frances’s good luck and that Lucinda and Derrick would be going along to experience Blue Lagoon.

 

 

It was lunch time and we headed up to the buffet for lunch.  Different people got food from different places, but we ultimately sat in the Havana area to eat.  After lunch, Ron and I played one more game of trivia, hid a duck and went to read and take a nap.  The constant rocking and rolling WAS rather tiring!

 

 

Gathering for lunch

 

Lunch cakes are the BEST!  (This is actually from the first day because that is Funfetti cheesecake  however, there were great cakes EVERY day.)

 

This would be elegant night.  We all got dressed up and headed out to find a place that could handle a large group for a picture.  I was trying to find our dining room but got turned around and made us walk around unnecessarily.  I felt terrible about it!  During our yearlong planning session, we had an ongoing group chat.  That was a lot of fun.  Emory had said I was his "Julie McCoy".  Remember Julie from “The Love Boat”?  Obviously, my cruise director vibe was way off this time because I totally lost our dining room!

 

 

  We finally were headed in the right direction, thankfully. The first couple of backgrounds we found couldn’t handle the large group.  We finally found a setting on top of the stairs and another on the stairs itself that could photograph a dozen people at once.  It took some doing but we were happy with the results.  I was really glad we made the effort because I really wanted those pictures of our first cruise.  (I seriously doubt it will be the last cruise together but still, this one was special.)

 

 

 

 

On to dinner!  As I said, tonight was elegant night.  Several of our group opted for oysters.  Daryl had been talking about oysters on the drive down and now as the time!  Derrick had also mentioned oysters and was in full "eat-it-all" mode.  Ron and I both had the prime rib.  It was very good.  The whole evening was a lot of fun.  I think the dinners were some of my favorite parts of the trip because we were all together laughing and having a great time.

 

 

Waiting for dinner to be served

 

 

After dinner we headed back out to Limelight to see Carl Faulkenberry again.  This time Daryl and Frances joined us.  Unfortunately, it was the same show we had seen the night before.  It was still funny, and we still enjoyed it.  I had every intention of trying to make it back for his second show later in the week, but it just didn’t happen. 

 

Limelight Lounge

 

 

After the comedy show we headed to the Liquid Lounge for the production show.  It was originally supposed to be “Latin Nights” but due to the weather and the movement of the ship, they changed the show to just singing and did something called “Studio VIP”.  It was very good, and we enjoyed it very much.  The Playlist cast always does a great job.  After the show we got some ice cream.  Not long afterward Ron and I headed to bed.  We were really looking forward to visiting Bimini since we’d never been there, and we were going to get to snorkel at the Sapona shipwreck.  I love snorkeling!

 

Ron and I waiting for the show

 

Ron found a pirate duck!

 

Our second towel animal

 

 

 

On to Bimini!    (to be continued.........)

 

[mlshum]

1 minute ago, bettyboop16 said:

Cruise ships aren't allowed to make any noise in Charleston, no music, no horns. There are signs in the parking lot not to use your vehicle horn.

Yes, I learned about that noise ordinance after the fact.  It was definitely an interesting sail away.

 

[mz-s]

Glad to hear someone in your group won an excursion! I always tell new cruisers to attend as many of these seminars as they can, because there are a lot of giveaways! Same thing with the jewelry store, spa, and the on-shore shopping talks.

[mlshum]

12 minutes ago, mz-s said:

Glad to hear someone in your group won an excursion! I always tell new cruisers to attend as many of these seminars as they can, because there are a lot of giveaways! Same thing with the jewelry store, spa, and the on-shore shopping talks.

I'd never even been to one before.  There are usually other things I prefer to do, but in this case, the timing was just right.  I was happy that it was Frances who won.  Liz and I have both sailed multiple times, but this was Frances's first and probably only sailing.  Daryl says he had fun, but he doesn't want to do it again.  He's the only one from our group who ISN'T ready to go again.  LOL  I wanted her to have a great experience.

 

Thanks for reading along!

[mz-s]

17 hours ago, mlshum said:

I'd never even been to one before.  There are usually other things I prefer to do, but in this case, the timing was just right.  I was happy that it was Frances who won.  Liz and I have both sailed multiple times, but this was Frances's first and probably only sailing.  Daryl says he had fun, but he doesn't want to do it again.  He's the only one from our group who ISN'T ready to go again.  LOL  I wanted her to have a great experience.

 

Thanks for reading along!

 

That's one of the great things about Carnival's home port strategy, they get ships to ports that many people can easily drive to so they can test out cruising without the commitment and extra expense of flying to Miami, hotels, taxis, etc. Cruising isn't for everyone but those of us that love it, love it!

[mlshum]

1 minute ago, mz-s said:

 

That's one of the great things about Carnival's home port strategy, they get ships to ports that many people can easily drive to so they can test out cruising without the commitment and extra expense of flying to Miami, hotels, taxis, etc. Cruising isn't for everyone but those of us that love it, love it!

That is so true!!

[mlshum]

Monday, Feb. 6th - Bimini (or so we thought)

Finally!  The weather was beautiful, the boat had stopped rocking and Bimini was in sight!  We gladly jumped out of bed, cleaned up, put on swimsuits and headed up to Lido for a quick breakfast.  The sky was still slightly overcast but there were definitely areas of blue and some white, puffy clouds.  This was going to be a great day.  I ate my croissant rather quickly because I was anxious to get off the ship and start exploring this new port.  Aaron was up early for some sunrise pics and as we were pulling into Bimini.

 

Pretty sunrise

 

Bimini in the distance

 

We met Aaron, Liz, Lucinda and Derrick on Deck 4 to watch the ship dock. Aaron had been on deck since fairly early because he was taking some great sunrise photos (see above).   The six of us were all snorkeling together.  We were scheduled to snorkel around the Sapona shipwreck, and I’d looked forward to it for months.  Bimini was coming closer and closer but then.....it was moving further away.  Wait!  What’s up with that!  We sailed further out and started passing the island.  You could see the island RIGHT THERE!  What are you doing, Mr. Captain?!??!  About that time the captain came on the speaker system and announced that our call at Bimini would have to be cancelled due to unsafe docking conditions.  I could have cried!  I’m looking at beautiful skies and glassy water.  I can SEE the land right there!  But alas, it was not to be.  We slowly sailed away leaving Bimini behind us, further and further in the distance.  It just seems too mean!  We would later learn that although the surface of the water appeared calm, there was a strong undercurrent that was pushing the ship away from the dock.  Aaron said he had observed this while taking pictures.  Every time they approached the dock, the back of the ship would move away.    They could not safely extend the gangway because the ship wouldn’t stay in one place.  For that reason, we weren’t able to dock.  It makes sense but it was still disappointing.

 

Aaron and Liz on deck waiting 

This looks very much like a plan being hatched!

 

Lots of people were waiting on deck....

 

....including Derrick and Lucinda.

 

Always having fun!

 

Pure sass if you ask me!

 

Apparently this is as close as I will come to snorkeling this winter!

 

 

 

Ron turned to our little group and said, “Since we’re all dressed to swim, let’s find a hot tub!”  We headed up to Serenity and found the hot tub at the top of the waterfall to be nearly empty.  We all got in and sat around talking for the next 30 - 40 minutes.  One thing about that particular hot tub....it was HOT!  You couldn’t stay in it very long.  Imagine lobsters boiling in a pot.  I was feeling the whole lobster vibe.  Although we missed Bimini and were definitely disappointed, we decided to make the best of the day we had and headed to our rooms to change and see what was on the new schedule that had just landed in the HUB app.

 

Our towel animal for the day

 

Lots of trivia was on the schedule so Ron and I joined Liz, Daryl and Frances to go play a couple of games.  We didn’t win but it was still fun.  After the trivia game was over, we caught up with Aaron and the four of us went to play mini-golf.  Mini-golf on the ship is always challenging for me because the ball tends to roll around more than normal.  I’m never a good golfer even on a normal day.  Liz and Aaron play regularly at home, so I was proud to have a three way tie score with them.   Ron had some bad luck with the wind and was a stroke behind the three of us.

 

Aaron, Liz and Ron tee off

 

I look like I'm trying to dance badly...no idea what I was actually doing!

 

I know exactly what was going on here....I lost my ball.  Oops!

 

Still a little windy!

 

 

While we were up on the Sports Deck, we decided to try out the ropes course, which was open.  This particular course has a little different support system than the others I’ve experienced.  All the other courses on the ships we’ve sailed had a fixed metal bar across the top of the course and your harness hooked into that bar.  It didn’t give or sway at all.  This one has two braided metal wires that went across each obstacle.  It shifted way more than the fixed bar.  For me, it was harder to pull myself up since I don’t have a tremendous amount of upper body strength anyway.  Aaron preferred this system and was zipping around the course like nobody’s business.  At one point I fell and was having trouble getting up on the platform.  Aaron pretty much grabbed my harness and lifted me onto the platform.  On the other courses it’s usually possible to make multiple laps but that isn’t the case on this course.  You must go back down to where you were harnessed by the staff at the end of the course. 

 

Aaron and Liz on the course

 

 

Ropes course finished, we headed down to get some lunch.  Ron went to the Mongolian Wok.  I got a salad and some pizza.  We met up back in the Havana area.  On the side of the Havana bar there were four trays.  They had Cuban sandwiches (sliders really), pork empanadas, beef empanadas and a dessert that I can’t remember.  Ron and I tried the empanadas and the sliders.  The slider was the best of the three in my opinion.  Both empanadas were a little bland.  I noticed later in the week that they switched out the beef empanada for the chicken variety, but I never got around to trying that one.  As always, I love the selection of cakes on the Lido during lunch.  I think those are my favorite desserts during the entire cruise.  They are better and have a larger selection than what is offered in the dining room in the evenings.

 

After lunch we went up to Deck 10 to read.  Most of our group went back to their cabins for a nap.  We read for a little while but then followed suit as it seemed like a good idea.  I had a little trouble going to sleep.  I read a while and finally snuck down to Java Blue for a lemon meringue cupcake while Ron was still sleeping.  It’s my favorite cupcake and I will get only one per cruise.  When I got back to the cabin Ron was awake.

 

Liz and I on deck

 

Ron reading

 

 

We decided to go see what we could find to do.  In the hallway, we ran into Aaron, Derrick and Lucinda.  They were going back to the ropes course so we decided to go with them.  Liz was in the casino and opted not to join us that time. 

 

 

 

I knew Lucinda had wanted to try the ropes course, but I was a little surprised by Derrick.  I knew he was afraid of heights, but he tackled that thing like a Boss!!  I did better, too, this time and Aaron didn’t have to pull me up on the platform.  We had a great time!

 

Derrick on the course

 

Lucinda on the course

 

Togetherness!

 

Ron made everyone stop on the same platform for a picture!

 

After we finished with our second round on the ropes course, Ron and I decided to go visit the shops and see if we could find a ship specific magnet.  No luck!  This surprised me.  I’ve never been on a ship that DIDN’T have ship specific magnets.  Go figure.  Liz told me she had looked for a Bimini t-shirt and couldn’t find that either.  Maybe supply chain issues are still a problem?

 

 

It was getting close to time to get ready for dinner.  We had designated tonight as “Island Night”.   Several of the guys had wanted to wear a Hawaiian shirt at least one night.  Ron had several and always enjoys them.  What they DIDN’T know is they were about to be pranked by the girls!

 

To be continued........

 

[mz-s]

If it's any consolation, you're not missing much on Bimini. Personally I'd rather go there than Nassau any day (though like all stops I'm sure many disagree with me!)

 

Carnival usually does carry ship-specific magnets etc, maybe they were just out of them for your cruise. As far as stop-specific memorabilia, that is less common but sometimes you'll see it. Though probably only for the more popular stops like Nassau or Half Moon Cay.

 

Carnival really hasn't been stopping at Bimini for that long. I don't recall ever seeing it on a Carnival cruise itinerary until COVID. I think it's just until the construction in Nassau and Freeport is done, personally.

[ninjacat123]

2 minutes ago, mz-s said:

If it's any consolation, you're not missing much on Bimini. Personally I'd rather go there than Nassau any day (though like all stops I'm sure many disagree with me!)

 

Carnival usually does carry ship-specific magnets etc, maybe they were just out of them for your cruise. As far as stop-specific memorabilia, that is less common but sometimes you'll see it. Though probably only for the more popular stops like Nassau or Half Moon Cay.

 

Carnival really hasn't been stopping at Bimini for that long. I don't recall ever seeing it on a Carnival cruise itinerary until COVID. I think it's just until the construction in Nassau and Freeport is done, personally.

Last time I was in Bimini I looked for souvenirs, like a plaque that I could hang on my "port wall".  Couldn't find one.  Here is my "port wall" on my front porch 

[mlshum]

39 minutes ago, mz-s said:

If it's any consolation, you're not missing much on Bimini. Personally I'd rather go there than Nassau any day (though like all stops I'm sure many disagree with me!)

 

Carnival usually does carry ship-specific magnets etc, maybe they were just out of them for your cruise. As far as stop-specific memorabilia, that is less common but sometimes you'll see it. Though probably only for the more popular stops like Nassau or Half Moon Cay.

 

Carnival really hasn't been stopping at Bimini for that long. I don't recall ever seeing it on a Carnival cruise itinerary until COVID. I think it's just until the construction in Nassau and Freeport is done, personally.

I know that Bimini only become a stop in the last couple of years, which is why I haven't been yet.  It's the only one of the Bahamas ports that I haven't visited...most multiple times.   I was really looking forward to the Sapona snorkel because I do enjoy snorkeling very much and the videos and such on that are very interesting.  You can also climb up and jump off, which is exciting.  

 

My typical port purchase is a refrigerator magnet.  LOL  It isn't much, but I have magnetic boards on the wall of my kitchen with our travel magnets and it's a fun reminder of our trip!

 

I don't know why they didn't have the ship specific magnets.  They've had them on all the other ships.  OH well, who knows?!?!?

 

[mlshum]

36 minutes ago, ninjacat123 said:

Last time I was in Bimini I looked for souvenirs, like a plaque that I could hang on my "port wall".  Couldn't find one.  Here is my "port wall" on my front porch 

Oh wow!  I love that!  I had just written in the post above that I always get a magnet.  I have several magnetic boards on our kitchen wall with magnets through the years. When people come to the house they always spend a couple of minutes looking at that.   LOL  It's a fun reminder!  I think your porch is awesome!

 

Thanks for reading along!

[ninjacat123]

I found this site (Etsy?) that has Sunshine magnets for sale.  

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2047675.m570.l1313&_nkw=Carnival+Sunshine+magnet&_sacat=0

 

I'm going to start looking for a Bimini plaque!😃

[CeleBrat]

On 2/13/2023 at 3:21 PM, mlshum said:

(We were docked beside this building which appears to have been burned at some point.  From looking at past photos, it seems to have been there for a while.  Does anyone know the story on this???)

 

This is likely damage from Hurricane Ian, which arrived in the area on Oct 2022, bringing damaging winds onshore.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mlshum]

23 minutes ago, ninjacat123 said:

I found this site (Etsy?) that has Sunshine magnets for sale.  

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2047675.m570.l1313&_nkw=Carnival+Sunshine+magnet&_sacat=0

 

I'm going to start looking for a Bimini plaque!😃

Great idea!

 

Do you have a Cricut and like to do crafty things?  I love my Cricut!  I'll bet you could totally make something wonderful for Bimini...or anywhere else!

[mlshum]

20 minutes ago, CeleBrat said:

 

That makes sense!

[ninjacat123]

48 minutes ago, mlshum said:

Great idea!

 

Do you have a Cricut and like to do crafty things?  I love my Cricut!  I'll bet you could totally make something wonderful for Bimini...or anywhere else!

I don't have a Cricut but I watched a video on someone using one to iron on appliques on a t shirt.  Very fun!😄

[mz-s]

1 hour ago, CeleBrat said:

 

that roof has looked like that since 2014 at least. That was my first cruise out of Charleston. They have never fixed it. 

[mlshum]

1 hour ago, mz-s said:

that roof has looked like that since 2014 at least. That was my first cruise out of Charleston. They have never fixed it. 

Well…kinda lets us know the hurricane wasn’t responsible.  It does look like fire damage instead of wind damage.

[Guest BasicSailor]

2 hours ago, mlshum said:

Well…kinda lets us know the hurricane wasn’t responsible.  It does look like fire damage instead of wind damage.

It's been like that way back when we cruise on Majesty years ago. Should have been condemned way back when.

[mlshum]

Now where was I??  Oh, that's right!  The girls were getting ready to prank the guys!

 

 

 

The idea was originally proposed by Kim with assistance from Lucinda.  Kim (who is brilliant and I’m SO happy I got to know her better on this cruise!) had seen a video of a bunch of guys who wound up wearing the same shirt that was purchased by their wives.  Lucinda found a fantastic flamingo shirt and we all agreed it was a great idea.  We ordered the shirts for each of the guys.  We didn’t tell them that they would all have the same shirt.  We simply told them “here’s-a-shirt-I-ordered-for-our-cruise” and left it at that.  We used the guise of “Island Night” to get them all to cooperate for the sake of the group.  I had a dress with a sort of palm frond print, Liz was wearing one of Aaron’s other Hawaiian shirts, Kim had a shirt that also had flamingos….you get the idea.

 

You'd never expect such treachery from such a beautiful, innocent face, would you??

 

 

The only one of us to run into any trouble getting the guys ready was Kim.  Bobby had TWO new Hawaiian shirts that he liked very much.  One was the matching flamingo shirt, and the other was purple with flowers. (I loved the purple shirt, too!)   He was debating between the two shirts and was leaning toward wearing the purple shirt.  Kim’s shirt also had flamingos so she finally convinced him to wear his so they would match.  Whew!  Crisis averted!  Little did he know that he definitely WOULD match….but not match Kim.

 

 

Let me pause here to give you a little background on our room layout.  Most of us had booked early on and all of the rooms were in a row together except for Bobby and Kim.  They were on the same floor around the corner but when they booked, there were no closer rooms available.  For that reason, Bobby didn’t get the initial shock that the rest of the guys encountered.

 

 

Aaron and Derrick were first out of their rooms.  They looked at each other and realized that they were wearing the same shirt.  About that time, Emory came out of his room, then Ron and Daryl at about the same time.  They all stood there, taking it in, that they were wearing matching shirts.  We were all cracking up at this point.   The guys took it like champs and thought it was really funny.  We headed downstairs to meet up with Kim and Bobby.  At this point, Bobby still had no idea. 

 

 

Meeting in the hallway

 

 

Emory and Daryl

 

 

We met them in the casino.  As the guys started walking in, I heard Bobby say, “Did I miss something?”  We were standing beside a photographer with a pirate background so....why not?...they posed for a picture.  Everyone that went by complimented them on their shirts.  They got compliments all evening!  It was so much fun, and they were SUCH good sports!  They all seem to actually like the shirts and I know Ron is planning to wear his again at some point.  I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see something unusual come to the girls on the next cruise!

 

Bobby, seeing everyone else wearing the same shirt

 

 

Getting ready to pose....

 

\

The result!

 

 

Bobby and Kim

 

Aaron and Liz

 

Cami and Emory

 

Frances and Daryl (sh'es not having it for some reason!)

 

Derrick and Lucinda

 

Ron and myself

 

Derrick's selfie......

 

.....and someone sitting next to us was kind enough to take a picture.

 

 

 

 

Tonight was going to be the Deal or No Deal game in the Liquid Lounge and it started at 7:30 with card sales happening before that. We had been getting out of dinner around 7:30 each night so the girls opted to skip dessert and go to the Liquid Lounge to pick up game cards.  The guys stayed for dessert and caught up with us just before the game started. 

 

 

The theatre was pretty full, so we sat up in the balcony.  Leon said, "Rub a bald guy's head for luck!"  Derrick where are you?!?!  LOL    The game started.  I don’t remember much about the first contestant.  If I recall she won about $250. Not bad!   The second contestant was the one we all remembered.  He was from West Virginia, too.  He told Leon at the beginning that he was going to risk it all every time.  His first couple of rounds were pretty bad and we didn’t think he’d walk out with much.  About three rounds into the game, things started looking up for him.  He continued with his “risk everything” policy.  When he turned down $300....then $400 we were all screaming at him to take the deal.  He kept on.  I don't ever recall being so invested in one of these games before!   Finally, he got down to just two cases left.  They offered him something like $562, and he took it.  They opened the last two cases which were his, containing about $30, and the other one which had the $1000.  It was the most exciting Deal or No Deal game I’ve seen and probably the biggest pay out.  He played it perfectly.   As for us, pretty much everyone won a bingo package, and several won some casino credit.  It was a lot of fun!  We probably owe that good luck to Derrick!

 

 

After the game we headed to Lido for some ice cream and to hang out a little while as we waited for the Love and Marriage show to get started.  One of the things I really enjoyed on this trip was simply the time spent with my friends and getting to know them all better.  I will always treasure that time.

They deserve ice cream for being such good sports!

 

Jurassic World: Dominion was plying on the big screen.

 

It was a nice night and several people were out watching the movie.

 

 

 

Love the night time pics of the ship!

 

 

Around 9pm we went back down to the theatre for Love and Marriage.  Part of our group sat on the main floor and part of us sat in the balcony.   I prefer the balcony so there's no chance I'll be called upon to do something.  Ron and I don’t always go see the Love and Marriage show because it often has a lot of very cringe worthy moments.  This show would be no exception.  The selection process was pretty much the same for the most recently and longest married couples.  The longest married couple had been married for 62 years.  They were volunteered by their children.  They were, oddly enough, sitting in the balcony.  Hmmmmm.......I may need to rethink my strategy.    This looks like cause for someone to be written out of the will if you ask me!  They were good sports and as usual, the oldest couple was my favorite.

 

 

 

The selection process for the middle couple took a while.  Leon went through the theatre looking for the “best kiss”.  As you might expect, the kissing got more and more outlandish as it progressed around the theatre.  Finally, they narrowed it down and the middle couple was chosen.

 

 

The game progressed as normal.  Many of the questions were the same as previous games and there were some funny answers, some embarassing answers and some answers that just didn’t make much sense.  The truly cringe worthy moment came on the last question from the youngest couple.  I won’t go into the question or the answer here but, needless to say, I would have died of embarrassment.  Leon even said “I can’t read this” when it was time to reveal the answer.  This show would be one of those moments where I would have run from the theatre in a panic rather than to stay around and play.  Those people are much braver than I would ever be!

 

 

By this time, it was getting late and even though we’d missed our port, it had been a fun and very full day.  Ron and I decided to head back to our cabin to read and sleep.  Nassau was the next stop on the next day, and we were crossing our fingers that the weather would cooperate.  At least it was no longer cold and windy!

 

 

To be continued......

[mlshum]

39 minutes ago, BasicSailor said:

It's been like that way back when we cruise on Majesty years ago. Should have been condemned way back when.

Oh wow!  That's been a minute!!

[erstreet2017]

Liz again! I feel like we cannot stress enough to y’all just how “cringe” some parts of the Love & Marriage Show were on this trip. I love the show every time, but y’all…. It was bad 😂

 

To put it in perspective- I tell Michelle EVERYTHING. She has heard words come out of my mouth that she never dreamed, some of which I have been (rightfully) chastised for. I would NEVER say what that “final answer” turned out to be. Ron and I love to joke around, play on words, etc. but even we were speechless, and that’s saying a lot for us 😳

 

Also, the way the middle couple got on stage was that the wife LICKED THE HUSBAND’S WHOLE BALD HEAD!!! Yuck!!